Well the month of May has come and gone and what an awsome month it was for almost everyone. I've heard other Captains say they haven't seen the Dolphin fishing so good in over 10 years. Last month I heard of 2 Dolphin weighing over 70 pounds, one of 67 pounds and many more in the 50 pound range. There's nothing like being in the right spot at the right time. Big fish are still coming through as of yesterday were we landed 2 nice Kingfish in the 40 pound range.
I had the priviledge of hosting Paul Fazio's clients on an excersion where we live baited large Pilchards all morning. The biggest fish slammed a line I set for a big Dolphin. We were drifting in 220 feet and coming in slow on a NE wind. I put a Pilchard on the deep rod that went 35 feet under the boat. Next thing you know that line gets hammered and line was ripping off the TLD 25 like it got snagged to a locomotive. Well over a 100 yards came off the spool. I kept looking out over the water to see the jump if it was a Dolphin. The fish never jumped but made a few more blistering runs making me think Wahoo. The fish finally makes it to the boat. I see a torpedo shape but I recognize the yellow in the tail of a mogan size Kingfish. So we put this fish in the box but not before we take a few pics. Just as we close the lid on the fish box the close surface bait gets nailed just as hard as the last fish hit. Now I know we found the big Kings. This fish hits the deck just a little smaller than the other.
On the other end the Sword bite is still there but not in any big numbers. For those of you who want to get some practice in before the bigger fish come through nows the time. A fish close to a 100 pounds will teach you alot, enough so that when your on a big fish you will know how to act, with my coaching of course. My barber George and his brother David and their friend Lance booked a last minute Sword trip last week. We had so much fun, I love fishing with these guys. We caught some bait around the bouys and got into a bunch of peanut Dolphin on the Bullet jigs. We managed some nice Runners and had plenty of squid. Our spread is all set up and out with our live bait on the tip rod. Seas were 3-4 so our drags were set just a little bit tighter. We get a hit on the tip rod when we hear the line roll off for about 10 feet and stop. That was enought to set the hook I guess because I started to crank her up and lead the fish to the boat. I was able to get the weight off and noticed we were dragging something. I look out and can barely see a silver object just hanging out about 60 feet or so from the boat. The fish didn't know what was going on, so we took advantage of that and muscled him on the leader for awhile. George was on the gaff and let me know he was ready to stick his first Swordfish. He's caught quiet a few already but has never gaffed yet. I finally was able to lead the fish to the gunnels.
He was angry as he swung his bill from left to right in big sweeps. We waited just a few seconds for him to settle down as I saw the hook, placed perfectly in the corner of his jaw. George placed the gaff nicely in his hard head and we lifted him in the boat. The fish didn't weigh much over 70 pounds but I never saw such a strong fish. It took 3 of us to hold him down as he went bollistic on the deck. I sat on him, Lance kept his bill down and George sat on his tail. The fish was still throwing us in the air. This lasted for almost 10 minutes. You can count on just about every morning being flat calm and gorgeous. The early start is best. We start out at 7am or earlier if you can do it. Sometimes we are buying our live baits or catching Ballyhoo on the reef which is a lot of fun. Everything is eating Ballyhoo right now. We were watching Porpoise spend hours eating them a couple days ago. They would knock them in the air and eat them as they came back down. I also saw Ballyhoo flying across the surface just like Flying fish, it was amazing. They use the same technique as the flyers as they beat their tail on the surface to keep them in the air longer, but without the wings. Nature is amazing.
Summertime is a bit slower for us Captains so we have plenty of days open to fish. Call me anytime.
See you on the rip, Captain Cary Hanna
