Pretty good close to September with a great surprise run of wahoo..the tuna bite has also been consistent but this is to be be expected for this time of year..the week started off with a marlin-only trip on Wednesday which is right up my alley even for this late in the season..I caught my first blue marlin 15 years ago as an angler on Sept 30th so as long as I have someone willing I'll give it a shot..I had Scott and Jay from Monroe but despite good conditons there was no luck on bilfish..still I have to say I love people with the resolve to stick it out all day long..they plan on coming back next June..Thursday we decided to shift gears and go look for wahoo with the Air Cybernetics crew from Longview TX; this in the same area where Capt Hunter found a few fish the weekend before..our hookup ratio was good that day but when it came to landing them we were a pitiful 5 for 15; with two fish coming unbottoned a few feet from the gaff and two other trailers hitting swivels and cutting off hooked fish..all 5 were nice fish 30-50 pounds and no meat was wasted by shark attacks....
Friday was a weather day but Saturday would prove to be alot more action packed and perfect weather...Capt Bill Delabar had yet another crew from Longview Tx and I with the Thrivent bunch on the Albemarle..our wahoo success rate about doubled compared to the last outing and at one point we were a perfect 5 for 5..fish were nice too with four good 40-50 pounders in the mix..still we had to cull through a few barracuda and sharks but when the dust cleared we had 9 wahoo and a blackfin..made a quick stop on drop along the way home finding 3 groupers..Capt Bill covered the Gulf looking for bottomfish after he found 5 nice yellowfin that morning but settled for one wahoo on three bites for the afternoon..sharks and cudas have displaced the amberjacks and groupers to the west..I just talked with Capt Scott Leger who returned from an overnight trip with 8 yellowfins..they released alot of bait snatching footballs but filled the overnight box with 60 pounders and two fish in the 120-140 class..all three size-class fish were mixed in together..they also picked up one wahoo on three bites this morning..we will be back at it in the morning...Paradise Outfitters 1-888-347-4987
