The wind has been keeping us from getting offshore for the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, it laid down a little on Friday and Saturday, although it was a little windier than expected. On Friday Mr. Jimmy Wilkinson and family were down from New York. We left the dock at 6:00 a.m. with the rest of the armada, making it to our fishing ground in about an hour. It took about 30 minutes to get our first bite but after that it was non-stop. The first fish we put in the boat was a 70lb. Yellow fin and then it went crazy from there.
We had doubles on for about the next 1.5 hours. We would hook one and there would be 3 or 4 more with him. The best part was if the hook pulled there was another one there that would bite. They were all about 30-40lbs.except for a few smaller black fin mixed in. They managed to put 7 more yellow fin in the boat and 4 black fin. The wind started to pick up even more so we all opted to call it a day and head North. Saturday morning I had the Lyle Russell gang ready to catch snapper. Our first stop yielded nothing, not even a bite. I did get a little worried. Next stop, for the first 10 minutes nothing and then it started. The guys put the limit of snapper, which was 28, in the boat by 8:30 a.m. Great Job. Best part was that the fish were all 20-40 ft. down which meant no break-offs. Most of the snapper were 19-22 inches, we only had a couple of throw backs. I knew we would get a limit, but I didn't think we would get it that fast, I thought we would have had to bounce around a little picking up a few here and there. But it wasn't the case, and after talking to a few different boats out there, everyone was catching their limits quick. With the limit of snapper in the boat we went chasing Amberjack. We found two about 55lbs. and 20lbs. They bit immediately, after that we couldn't buy another bite. The wind picked up to about 20 knots and we called it a day.Capt. Bob Kenney had the Max Dougherty crew down on Sat. They decided to tuna fish and finished the day with 10 black fin tuna in very rough conditions. Yesterday, Capt. Bob K took them snapper fishing and to no surprise had a five man limit by noon. The bite yesterday was not as fast and furious as Saturday, but most of the boats that fished had their limits. The wind kept me from tuna fishing yesterday and it looks like it going to blow for at least the next couple of days. The tuna fishing has been very good to say the least. They are all at the normal spots for this time of year and there are plenty of them. The snapper bite is insane as well and we can still catch 4 snapper a person until May 1st, after that it goes to 2 a person. We've got dates open for April and May. From what I can see right now this will be a very good season.
Damon McKnight/Super Strike Charters/1 800 318 1720/ www.superstrikecharters.com
