First, I'd like to warn everyone not to fish South Florida unless you want to catch a sailfish. We have been catching at least one sailfish on every trip and most trips have consisted of multiple fish. The most recent example of the hot fishing action took place this past weekend during the Mayor's Cup tournament. The action was hot and heavy right from the start with over one hundred fish released in only the first hour of fishing. Our team had four single fish during that hour. At the end of the day the tournament had set a new one day record with over four hundred releases.(See Pics Below)
On day two of the tournament the action slowed down a bit but was still pretty good. The north current coupled with the north winds had the fish "tailing" on the surface and despite fishing aboard a boat without the height advantage of a tower we were spotting fish cruising the surface. We caught two fish right away before the winds laid down and the action slowed a bit. After two days of fishing our team had mangaged to catch 9 of 11 sailfish. Incredibly, we did not have any multiple hook ups (more than one fish at a time). I could only imagine what our final tally could have been with a little luck.
A week prior to this tournament I participated in another one day tournament with very similiar conditions. Unfortunately on this day our bite to release ratio was way down. Fishing is full of mysteries and why things like this are difficult to explain.
On the day after the Inter Club Challenge tournament I fished with Mike and his wife Kim from San Diego, CA. We headed out in the afternoon in search of Mike's first sail. The winds were calm and the action had slowed significantly. Without enough wind to fly the kite and very little action on the flat lines I decided to set out a goggle eye under a small balloon. Within a few minutes a very nice sail had gulped the bait and Mike was hooked up. After a dirty fight Mike emerged victorious with his first Atlantic Sail. After some video and pictures the fish was released to fight again.
Besides all of the sailfishing, I did do some bottom fishing with James and his gang from Ft. Lauderdale. Even though the conditions were not ideal we still managed to catch about fifteen nice yellowtails and a nice mutton. The crew also caught a nice assortment of almaco and amberjacks. They are now looking forward to their next trip.
As you can see the focus is still on the sails but there are also plenty of nice dolphin being caught off the kite baits intended for sails. Anglers that have been dropping on the wrecks have been rewarded with amberjack, grouper, and some snapper.
January is now coming to a close and February should be just as good if not better. If you're ready to get in on the action give me a call so that we can put something together. (786)266-0171
Tight Lines,
Capt. Orlando Muniz
Nomad Fishing Charters
www.NomadFishing.com
