"Great weather and the fish are cooperating."
On Saturday the offshore (and a little to the north) bite was going off. A somewhat indistinct weedline in 120 feet stretched all the way from the NE Grounds out of Ft. Pierce Inlet all the way up to Sebastian. And, it was covered up with 6-8 lb dolphin with a few nice gaffers mixed in. If you were there early enough, a dozen decent fish were a 'done deal'!
Even better, there were sails hanging around in the same area. Twice we trolled through a small school of 'flyers' just on the edge of the weeds and hooked up on nice sails.
Later on in the afternoon as the dolphin bite slowed down from serious pressure by numerous enthusiastic anglers, we eased offshore looking for larger fish and found two separate 'free jumpers' (sails that are airing it out 'just because'), and managed a few knock downs but no real takers.
One of Ft. Pierces 'favorite sons', Tom Eckel, called me early afternoon to say that he had landed five nice gaffer dolphin from an undisclosed spot somewhere close by (the vhf made him sound right next to the Last Mango, but you never know for sure!). Way to go Tom!
By two oclock the fishing had little to offer us offshore of the bar so we eased in to 75' and absolutely crushed the kingfish for our last hour of fishing. With at least two fish on at any given time, we caught our limit of twelve kings and were treated to a serious display of open water agression by an 8 foot hammerhead that wanted a kingfish in the worst way. He put on a real show ten feet behind the boat and surprisingly failed in his repeated attempts to access a nice ten pounder. As sharks will do, he vanished as quickly as he had appeared and left us with two more fish on and a cockpit full of anglers trying to keep their fish from crossing over each other.
Look for more good action this week as the weather continues to cooperate in an unseasonably great fashion.
Don't forget that the SWORDFISH bite is all year long. Night trips drifting for swordies in 1450 feet can produce great results.
Capt. T
Last Mango Fishing Charters
Ft. Pierce City Marina
www.lastmango-charters.com
Tris Colket
www.lastmango-charters.com
267 Marina Drive
Fort Pierce, FL.34949
Cell: 772.559.0594