With the exception of the last two days, the sailfishing continues to be epic. We have had many double digit days since my last report and had our best day this year releasing 20 sailfish out of 26 strikes. The fishing was pretty much non stop and red hot. We also had a day releasing 17 sails in one day and another day releasing 12 in one day. To get those great days, you pretty much need to have the ideal conditions with a brisk wind, north current and blue water. Up to about a few days ago, we had those conditions and the fishing was great. In the last two or three days, the wind died off and the current changed to almost non existent and actually going south instead of the favored direction which is north. Also the water color turned to green which is not preferred either. Knowing what the conditions were, we decided to run offshore yesterday in hopes of find some early springtime schools of mahis offshore. On our way out to the Gulfstream we found a big "floater" which turned out to be a big log in the water that was covered with bait. As our first bait hit the water we hooked up to a nice mahi. Every bait that hit the water resulted in a decent mahi and after we had a cooler full of mahis, I called over one of my buddies so he could join in on the fun. We looked around a bit more but didn't see much else, so we headed in to the edge and set up our drift. The fishing on the edge with the poor conditions was very slow, but we did bend the rods a bit with some over size bonitos.
I expect the sailfishing to turn back on very soon and probably within a day or two as I have already heard of reports of north current farther south which means it should travel up here very soon. We are also expecting more wind in the next few days which will spark the bite back up. Sailfishing is usually very good all the way through the end of May and we are also getting into my favorite time of the year which is spring. The next few months we should see an increase in the size and number of kingfish and mahis on the edge. We should also start seeing a lot more and bigger blackfin tuna. Cobias will also make there way towards the edge. Spring is definitely all about variety and usually non stop action.
We also did a day/night sword combo trip this past week and had great results. It stared slow but quickly heated up. Towards the end of the day we caught a 220 pound swordfish. Immediately after catching that one we sent another bait back down and within 30 seconds got tight another one at about 250 pounds. By then it was time to run and set up our night drift. After a little while we hooked up to a small swordfish on our shallow tip rod but did not get him. We next caught a shark on our deep tip rod. As we were starting to reel everything in, we got tight again and caught a smaller sword which we released. It was a great trip with great action, great people and great weather. I love it when it all works out!
April and May are my favorite months for fishing here in South Florida and I still have plenty of dates open. Give me a call and let's set up a few trips.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos
www.doubledcharters.com
(954)805-8231
