Expecting the usual Kingfish and Bonita bite for this time of year, we had a much more pleasant surprise when we came across two schools of Mahi- Mahi. We had a nice spread of live bait out drifting inside of 200 feet when the long bait gets eaten. The fish went deep so I was thinking Bonito. Then the close rod bends over and up jumps a Mahi. We had a double header until the third rod bends over and up jumps another Mahi. I was fishing with only one client, Andy Lightfoot, so I made sure my fish was set put the rod down and made sure the third was set. We managed to get the first two to the boat and I was surprised to see they were gaffers. I gaff Andy's fish and he grabs the third rod. I gaff my own fish to put two in the box. As Andy brings his fish to the boat I see it's another gaffer and then we notice another Mahi swimming around him. So I baited up a livie and tossed it out and sure enough we were on number four. Long story short we put four gaffers in the box all over 10 pounds. We did a few more drifts without a bite and made our way south near the bubble. We decided to troll for some bait and caught two bullet size Bonito's and saved them for a deep drop later. As we made our way out to the deeper parts we both noticed a large tarp floating in the water. We made our way there and saw all kinds of bait on it, mostly Bar Jacks. We toss a few livies of our own around the structure and emmediately the Mahi showed up. These fish were lifters but not peanut size. We ended up with three more fish in the box and left a few others that wouldn't bite.
We tried to finish our day with a few deep drops. The conditions for it were perfect but we never got the bite. Totall tally for the day was seven Mahi-Mahi.
The weather offshore was very pleasant. A mild breeze, beautiful clouds and seas at 1-2 feet most. The conditions hopefully will remain like this through the weekend.
See you on the rip,
Captain Cary Hanna
