Today I had a 2-day charter with the same guys so on the first day the 14th we took the Local Knowledge out with the old famous Captain Mate team Mike Johnson and myself Taco.
Mike and I have not worked together on a boat for well over a year now so we were both looking forward to it.
We agreed that Mike would work the cockpit the first half of the trip and he could run the boat on the second half and I would work the pit. (Funny how things turned out but we'll get to that a bit later)
While I have never met these guys before I did know that one of these 5 brothers insisted that they fish with Captain Taco.
I than found out that this guy was in some way involved with this radio talk show I talk on from time to time. (I'll get to that also later)
Ok let me take a second to introduce our players for this 2 day fishing trip.
The father of these 4 brothers is none only but the world record holder for the 1-mile relay set way back in 1952 and still holds today Bill Conrardy. I believe he is now 82 years old but you would never know it by looking @ him.
We've got Patrick and Tim from the Conrardy Company out of Chicago. As it turned out they both had this addiction call CRACK BERRY because both of them were playing with their phones all day both days. At first I thought they we just on line and playing with their face book BUT I've got to admit that later when I saw the pictures they got of us fishing well lets just say that I very glad they did not forget to bring their Black Berry's with them.
Then we had John we like to call him Gabby because he talked so much it was hard to get a word in edge wise.
We also had Will out of Chicago and the CEO of C&C Power Inc. The only guy I know that would charter a boat for 2 days and only bring beers in a bottle.
And last but not least we had the famous or should I say the infamous Matt Monroe better known in Radio land as M&M but the girls just call him Mmmmmmm.
Matt had been a DJ down here in South Florida for years and he now lives in Chicago and now he's a producer for radio shows witch is how he and I get in touch in the first place.
He's got me talking a bit about fishing in South Florida on I believe Sat mornings but if you'd like to find out times and channels in your area just click on httpwww.fishtalkradio.com '
Or @ httpwww.webtalkradio.net
Ok now the good part let me tell you about a couple of GREAT DAYS of fishing aboard the Hooked Up and the Local Knowledge.
On the 14th we started out trolling with Captain Mike working the cockpit.
We went off shore catching black fin tunas and oceanic bonitos' (Skip Jack) and dolphin fish. O yea I forgot and this Wahoo that Tim caught.
We were pretty proud of this 30-pound plus Wahoo that we don't catch a lot of till later when we were kite fishing and Matt caught another big Wahoo.
Yep just as we switched over from trolling to kite fishing I mean we only had 2 baits in the water and BAM we got 2 sailfish @ the same time eating our baits.
We managed to keep 1 out of the 2 hooked and Gabby I mean John jumped in the chair and the fight was on. This fish peeled off so much line before we knew it that we had to go chase him down just to get some line back on the reel. It was a back and forth tug a war for over 25 min but John hung in there and @ last we got him to the boat to get a few quick pictures and than we all watched him swim away in great shape.
After some high fiving and some hand shaking the kites went right back out there and the trap was set.
All of a sudden I seen this bullet crash our left short kite bait but then the line went slack. Bare in mind the Captain Mike @ this point was still working the cockpit and it was way after half way threw the trip. Mike just let the half a bait just set there and than BAM he came back and shot off like a rocket peeling line off the reel as if it was never going to sop.
Ok it was time for M&M I mean Matt to get in the chair and fight what ever it was on the other end. Within 10 min of hooking this fish Mike leaned over the back of the boat and sunk his gaff into this nice second Wahoo of the day.
It seemed we could do no wrong today everything we tried paid off.
We ended up with 4 skip jacks, 2 small black fin tunas 1 big sail fish' 2 nice Wahoo's, 1 king fish, 1 barracuda and one nice amber jack that we got trolling witch is not how we catch them but heck we'll take it any way we can get it.
And Mike ended up working the cock pit all day when asked why he said that when ever I work the pit I end up leaking some where weather it be cause of a hook, gaff, knife or bitten by a fish he said it was less work to work the pit then to bandage me up. (LOL)
Wow what a day! What to do tomorrow to top this??
The following day we fished aboard the Hooked Up and today our mate was the one and only J.J.
Today it was big fish or bust so we went right to kite fishing.
Today it was Big Daddy Bill getting the first fish and once we set out the kites it was all over but the crying. Remember we could do no wrong and I just knew it was just going to be a matter of time.
And soon enough BAM we were Hooked Up with Big Bill fighting a nice sail fish.
It only took about 15 min for Bill to get him near the boat but what a show he put on for us right behind the boat.
Check out these photos!!
Ok Will's turn so back out went the kite baits and the wait was on and on and on then BAM again we were Hooked Up with a big sailfish
It took some waiting but @ last we were Hooked Up and Will jumped @ the shot of catching a sailfish.
This must not have been this sailfish first rodeo because every time we would get a little close to this sail he would just take line at will. But after about 30 min Will finally got this monster sail to the side of the boat. While we never did measure this fish I would bet that he was around 90 inches long truly a big one. After a few photos we watched him swam away tired but in good shape.
Just when you thought things couldn't get any better I had a little surprise for these guys. Since they had taken me out for dinner and drinks the night before I thought I would seer up some of the tuna with sesame seed crusted around it broke out the chop sticks some soy sauce and of course a little wasabi and let me tell you that's good eating.
Bill, John, Patrick, Tim, Will and Matt thanks sooo much guys a better bunch has never fished with us except the girls in my photo album. (LOL)
Tight lines and in the infamous words of a wise man it's 80 and the sun is shinning.
Captain Taco (954) 764-4344 or toll free @ (877) SEA-4344
