The new boat is truly awesome and she is already showing her luck. After I got her dialed in and got comfortable with the electronics, I have been busy chartering practically every day and without a doubt, she has already proven herself to be a true fish catching machine. We have now done 4 swordfish trips on the boat and have caught some very impressive fish. Last week I had an Australian customer who had pretty much fish around the world. He wanted to catch a swordfish and had booked a couple of days with me. The first day started with a decent bite that we managed to miss, followed by another bite that we got tight on but pulled the hook. The third drop was the charm and he successfully landed a beautiful sword. The short length on the fish was 80 inches with a 56 inch girth. The formula for weight (Length X Girth X Girth / 800) put her at 314 pounds. The angler fought the fish pretty much the whole time and only used the electric portion of the reel to retrieve the weight between drops. We were scheduled to fish into the night but a real nasty thunderstorm blew through so we headed back to the dock just before dark. The next day proved even better as he caught another sword, but this one was bigger. The formula weight put her at 422 pounds and it showed in the way she fought. While we do get some swordfish to jump, the ones that do, usually just get half their body out of water and most often only the head and bill get out of water as they slash the surface showing off their massive bill. This fish decided that it must be the cousin of a blue marlin, because it went completely airborne and did somersaults all over the ocean. If there ever was a time to have a video camera, it was that day. BTW, soon I will have a GoPro camera and will have it mounted to the tower so we are not going to miss shots like that again. This fish was definitely a fighter and wore my angler out and wore me out (mostly nerves) as I had to maneuver the boat so many times to keep her out of the pros. I don't know if these fish go to some kind of school, but they all certainly know where the props are on a boat. With some luck and good angling we got her. We also went day swordfishing today with a very good customer of mine who has caught quite a few sailfish with me. It was our first time swordfishing together. Our first drop we caught a small swordfish that we released and our second drop we caught a beautiful lit up sword of about 150 pounds. As we were making the attempt to drop again, the lightning and thunder from a massive quick brewing thunderstorm was enough for us to hed back into the edge and target other fish.
After a week of pretty slow fishing on the edge, the fishing has definitely picked back up and we are seeing and catching sailfish on every trip. We have been averaging anywhere from 2 to 4 sailfish per day and that is pretty good considering it is still early September. This is hopefully an indication of a banner sailfish season this year.
The added benefit of the tower is already paying off as it is now easier to spot sailfish in the kite baits as well as looking for mahis offshore. The tower will also make it possible to sight fish for cobias this winter and spring.
I can't say how happy and proud I am of the new vessel. Not only is she beautiful, but true to SeaVee tradition, she is really a fishing machine. The electronics from Simrad are simply amazing. The depth recorder with chirp technology is unlike anything I have ever seen. We have already marked swordfish on the bottom with the machine and caught them. Truly, truly remarkable.
As we get farther into fall, the daily thunderstorms will get less and less and cooler weather is in store. The fishing is also going to get better, especially fishing on the edge. The sword bite is already on, so now is the time to plan a trip, check out the new boat and catch some fish.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos
www.doubledcharters.com
(954)805-8231
