December ended with great bottom fishing . On the 26th we had 7 mutton snappers to 13 pounds, a couple small kings, a cuda and an almaco jack with George Bubrick and his son.
The Benitez Party Ate Well
On the 27th Sandy Blake made her last appearance of the year. As usual she kept Don busy keeping score as she caught 21 mangrove snappers, 21 amberjacks, 11 spanish mackerel, 1 king, 1 tuna, 4 little tunny, 4 yellow jacks, 8 bluefish, a mutton snapper and an almaco jack.
On The 28th we had the Russ Siegel party and they caught 2 black groupers, a scamp grouper, 3 mutton snappers, a genuine red snapper, a sailfish and an almaco jack.
Black Grouper Mutton Snapper and Red Snapper
The Della Monicas struck out with swordfish on the 29th, but had a better day on the 30th with a sailfish, 2 mutton snappers, a big red grouper, a king and 2 tarpon.
We ended the year with Van Stapleton and his boys. They had a great time with 3 mutton snappers and several almaco jacks.
I started the year with a special day with my family. I chartered a boat for the day and fished with my two sisters and my brother in law. We had a great time catching 3 sailfish, a dolphin and a barracuda. It was nice not having to decide where, or how to catch the fish. Just relaxing and having fun with the family.
On the 2nd the wind had quit and we were back to bottom fish. We caught 3 muttons, 1 king, an almaco jack and a 40 pound amberjack with Jay Stafford.
Hank Dinardo loves his bottom fishing. He and his son Andrew were busy on the 3rd with 3 mutton snappers, a huge porgy, a large red grouper, 2 black groupers, 2 amberjacks and 2 sailfish.
On Sunday Joe Lobianco and his friends caught a sailfish, a black grouper and 2 mutton snappers. That evening we had a young family from Spain out for tarpon and they caught 4 up to 80 pounds for Mark 13 and Alex 11.
On the 5th we had John and Phyllis out for swordfish. John fought a 125 pound swordfish up from 1700 feet in the late afternoon and Phyllis caught, tagged and released a 50 pound swordfish in the evening.
John Crimmin Swordfish
Dr Russell Nelson and his daughters Kate and Becka had a busy morning catching 8 dolphin and a black grouper. The afternoon was slow, but they did catch a nice blackfin tuna to end the trip.
Buck , Scott and Todd fished the 9th and 10th . They had quite a couple days with a 35 pound wahoo, 2 sailfish, a 10 pound red grouper, several mutton snappers, 2 kings and 2 tarpon.
Tom Hobbs, the guy who gave me the nick name Bouncer, flew in on business and fished with us a few hours on the 15th. He caught 5 sailfish and a big bonito on live ballyhoo and blue runners.
Saturday and Sunday the Della Monicas were in town again. They caught 4 sailfish, 3 dolphin, 3 muttons to 12 pounds, 4 amberjacks, a shark, 4 red groupers and a barracuda.
Pete and Alex fished on Monday and caught 4 mutton snappers, a black grouper, 5 jacks and a sailfish in howling SW winds.
On Tuesday we fished with Darren, his 13 year old son, Jake and Evan. Darren and Jake each caught 2 sailfish apiece. They also caught a bonito, a king, 4 dolphin, 6 jacks, a mutton snapper and Jake topped things off with a boat record tying 17 pound red snapper.
On Thursday Captains Alex and Andy from the west coast of Florida caught a couple sailfish and a couple dolphin plus a shark.
We have several days available before the end of the month. The sailfish and tarpon are thick and the bottom fishing has been good. February is almost sold out. So send us an e-mail and we can set up your fish catching day.
We will be appearing at the Florida Sportsman Show in Fort Lauderdale the weekend of Jan 31 and Feb 1 at the big Dusky stage at 11 AM talking about daytime swordfishing.
We will be doing a seminar on catching king mackerel at Dusky Sport Center on January 29th. Please call 954-922-8890 for details.
