Matt is one happy boy today and he can cross that AJ off his bucket list. Wasn't sure we were going to have much success with the amberjacks today as the sharks have been really bad but they let this one through and Matt did a great job fighting it.
The tunas bit well also and we caught a nice black grouper along with assorted other species. We fish Matt and his dad Dan one more time tomorrow evening.

I know I've said it before but we fish some really cool kids. Matt is one of those, he listens well, has great fishing instincts and is fun to be with. Caught the yellowtail, then went mutton fishing, caught 3 we could keep, looked for mahi and kept 2 out of several dozen that were big enough.
Dan and Matt will be out with us again tomorrow to do it all over again.

Carl and his daughter on our 1st half and Bryant and his daughter on the 2nd half were our star anglers today with both the ladies learning quickly what yellowtailing is all about. Two great families and a beautiful calm day out on the ocean.

Harry and his father fished with us today and when we hit the dock after thanking us profusely for a great day, they said they had to catch a plane and left before I could get pictures. This youngster happened by and volunteered to have his picture taken with all these fish, lucky him.
We also caught a large shark, and various other fish species.

We moved Dennis, Jim and their group from Saturday to today and they had a lot more fun today than they would have had in the 20+ knots of wind we had that day. The boys did great with the yellowtails even with some difficult conditions.

Still a little windy today but that didn't stop our folks from Indiana and they were rewarded with 5 muttons and a couple kings. We even left a few out there for tomorrow.
The evening shark trip was pretty good also, catching 4 big ones and several we were not able to get to the boat.

Two half days today and the wind was a little to much for both charters. I gave both of them the option not to go but they insisted, so off we went. James and Doug stuck it out and caught a couple nice muttons, a few tails and a nice black grouper. The 2nd half wasn't as committed and when mom got sick I knew we were heading in. We did catch a decent mutton, tails, a king and a red grouper. Not a total loss and John told me they were coming back but just him and his son would be fishing next time.

Things were a little slow on our evening shark fishing trip. Doug's boys had each caught small sharks and we had a couple big ones on that we didn't get. Dave said he would toss his last peanut butter cup in the water to the fish gods if we could get catch one large shark before it was time to go. A minute later we were hooked up with a big shark. Mom did a great job on the rod and reel, we got him next to the boat for pictures and the peanut butter cup was sacrificed to the fish gods.
I wonder if that would work for sailfish?

Well it was yellowtail again today on our last minute 1/2 day. Great group of Bills (one Becky) from the great state of Wisconsin. We had to break of a few bad fishing habits before they got locked in to our yellowtail snapper fishing.

Dr Ted and his two colleges had fished with me a couple years ago and returned yesterday to fish on the kk once again.
As it been all week, the groupers were biting. We caught one mutton and got taken to school by a number of very large groupers. It sounded pretty slow for sailfish and as these guys were seasick prone I didn't want to risk going off shore farther so we ended up catching the big tails once again on the reef.
Another fun day with quality people.

Had Russ, John and Christine out today on a 3/4 and we kept them very busy. Started out trying to catch a mutton or two but the grouper ate everything we dropped to the bottom. Caught one that was close to 30lbs and i am really looking forward to May 1st when we can start taking them. Had to move on to another spot to get away from the groupers and found some kings, trigger fish, bonitos and jacks. Ended up back on the reef yellowtailing where Christine was high hook with this 4 pound flag.
Great folks and a good time on the water.

Our am charter was all about a sailfish and we got our one shot. We pull the hook when he came up jumping and didn't see another.
The pm half with Ben, Will and Steve was better. Will was our go to guy (middle) and is already a very good fisherman. Had a fun day with them although it was one of those trip where almost everything that could go wrong did. We pulled the hooks on big fish, broke a fish or two off, dropped 2 kites in the water, broke a rigger line, ran over the flat lines and Dave took a nice chunk of flesh out of this thumb. Just one of those "what is going to go wrong next" days.

Caught some really nice groupers today and kept Dan and Jack very business thru the morning and most of the afternoon. We did a little sailfishing toward the end of the day but to no avail.
Lots of good dinner for them tonight and more days.

A little friendly competition between Carley and Shelby  (The Shrimps) and Chris and Fran (The Bonitos) today on a half day. Carly and Chris have both fished with me on many of occasions and have not forgot a thing. Shelby and Fran needed some coaching but caught on quickly and it was pretty close numbers wise for most of the morning but the Shrimps edged the Bonitos out in the end.
We ended up limiting out on the tails and caught a couple  of large bonitos while catching the snapper.

The sharks have definitely made a strong comeback after the blow of last week and they are all BIG. Eric and son Eric had their hand full this evening catching 6 of these 125 to 200 lb beasts.

1st bait in the water after anchoring down and a sailfish eats is the way to start the day, dropping the bait and the hook after a couple jumps is not the way to start the day. Ending the day with 25 yellowtail and 6 muttons helped take the sting out of that missed sail (along with the great group of guys we had fishing with us).

Our two orthopedic surgeons today were very new to offshore fishing but did pretty well considering. The current and the wind made things interesting as we did a 180 on the anchor. The snapper didn't seem care too much about having to chase the boat and we were still able to catch our limit with muttons and yellowtails.
Another beautiful day on the water.

Taylor may not look like he could take on a 200 lb shark but this young man never gave up and never complained in his 45 minute battles with some really large sharks. Taylor didn't have a lot of experience catching large fish but he caught on amazingly fast and (notice his right hand) started using some advanced techniques to put additional pressure on that shark. The bite has been slow the last couple evening but looks like it is starting to get good again.
Looking forward to fishing with Taylor and Jack again soon.

Dana and Ryan had an awesome day on the KK catching their limit of snapper along with many other species. The yellowtail were extra large yesterday and it's one of my favorite fish to catch when they are this size. They test the tackle and the angler, fortunately Ryan and Dana were up to the task.

The wind is finally letting us fish again and it seems like the fish were waiting too. Caught 3 nice muttons with the big one going a little over 15 lbs. There were verms, lanes, yelloweye and yellowtail snapper caught by Keven and his crew today. They were all looking forward to a snapper sampler at dinner tonight.

The sailfish bite has been a little off the last few days so I was a little anxious knowing Dave really wanted to catch one with us today. Guess worry works because a couple hours into our trip a sailfish ate our kite bait. It was not easy as the fish kept circling the boat which meant my kite lines were wound around my tower 3 times and he ran right at another boat which was anchored and couldn't move out of the way. It all worked out in the end, we caught the fish and got some good pictures.
Caught a nice 25 lb kingfish after that and then sat down and caught dinner for the guys.
Another nice day on the water!

Last minute half day that could have been awesome but ended up just good after our sailfish jumped on the leader and broke it. We did catch the yellowtails and Mike had fun with a bonita so there was plenty of fish for Carl and his folks for a few dinners and everyone went home happy.

Dillon and Cooper have fished with us before so they knew what an evening shark can be like but i think the sheer number of sharks we hooked even surprised them.
We started slow but as the sun sank into the horizon it started picking up. As darkness approached and we had to turn on the cockpit lights every bait was getting a bite seconds after it went into the water. The boys were pretty beat by the end of the evening and there was a vague "somewhere between 12 and 15" response to the question of how many were actually caught but it was a good tired and they were looking for that next hookup even as we ran out of time on the trip and pulled the hook on that final shark.