We had several trips but I've been a bit too busy with the Holidays, to sit down and write reports, but I figured I better make time to write a quick report anyway. There has been plenty of Dolphin, Tuna's, and Sails around if you can tough out the wind and seas. The BEAST makes it a lot easier to deal with on her catamaran hull.
Andrew Fitzpatrick was an exchange student at UM a while back. He came back to Miami on holiday to visit his buddies here in Miami. They wanted to reminisce and catch fish. We shoved off on time and made way for our bait patches. We had no trouble catching bait that morning but we were on pre-front conditions, which I absolutely hate. After catching our bait we headed out to the blue water. We struggled for a while getting our down rod bit up but not hooked up. We could tell by the bite marks that the fish were small. We finally nailed a small Cero Mackerel. That answered that question. As the day moved along we caught several Skipjacks. This seemed to be the predominate catch rolling down the corridor we were fishing. The day dragged on and the seas built up with each minute. As the time was running low we had a taker on the short rigger and here we go. Sailfish! The guys were happy to see that fish as it did its acrobatics out of the water. It was a great ending to a relatively unspectacular day.
The next day we had a ½ day trip with Tyler and Justin. It was a morning trip and I was a bit concerned because I really don't care to do half days during live bait season. By the time you run out there catch bait and allow for running back in, you only get about 2 to 2½ hours of good fishing time, I was praying that the bite was on. We hit our worm bed and quickly collected plenty of good baits. We blasted out of there, heading for the edge. We had barely come to rest and put the spread out when we were hit with some nice chubby Dolphin. We worked the birds in the area and came up with a small "Gaffer" to go along with the "schoolies".
The Dolphin passed on through and the action slowed for 15 minutes or so and then the Bonito arrived. We caught some hefty 15 pound Boneheads until it was time to pack it up.
OK! I spent Christmas eve with all the grandkids and today I just lazed out. I hope everyone had a really nice Holiday season. We're all rested up now and the fish are definitely out there… so let's get after 'em.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
305-233-9996
beastcharters@aol.com
www.beastcharters.com
