The current has slowed down in Miami and the blue water has pushed out a bit, but even with these conditions, we have been able to catch sailfish on all our full day trips and at least hooking if not catching a few on the half day trips as well. The bite has been fairly predictable with packs of sails moving south in shallower water in the early morning and as the day progresses, the bite seems to pick up out deeper. The morning bite has been 100 to 120 feet and the afternoon bite has been 150 all the way to 250 feet. One day the current and the blue water were way out deep in 300 to 350 feet and that is where we were catching the sails that day.
Besides sails, the mahis are still sticking around and most are nice size schoolies as well as a few real nice ones. The biggest mahi we caught last week was around 30 to 35 pounds. It was a nice fish that put up quite the fight.
As many of you know, this year I am running a boat called the Showtime for a few of the sailfish tournaments. It is a 39 SeaVee with a tower equipped with twin diesels with IPS drives. IPS are propulsion drives that stick down below the hull and make this boat extremely maneuverable. I will have to say it is probably the most maneuverable boat I have ever driven or been on. Either way, this past weekend we fished the Sailfish Kickoff. We had great bait, a great crew and although we didn't win, we were right up there. We ended up in 7th place (Big Boat Division) with 7 sailfish releases and were within 3 fish of the lead boat. Just one triple header would have put us in the lead and just a double would have moved us to 2nd or 3rd place. As I mentioned before, we all had a great time and there is definitely team camaraderie on this boat and I really feel we will do well this season.
The holidays are coming very quick and I believe I am fully booked already. I do have some opening after the New Year and some openings next week, so if you still want to fish give me a call soon. Also if you need to find that perfect gift, I offer gift certificates for either full, ¾ or half day fishing trips. So if you know someone that loves to fish and you just can't find the perfect gift a day on the Double D may be it!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos
www.doubledcharters.com
