Struggled a bit today as the barracudas were out of control and eating our baits before they could be eaten by the amberjacks at the little hump. Went to the Islamorada where I knew the sharks were bad and they were. A shark ate our AJ, got hooked and Robert wanted to see it, so we spent a hour or so in the fight and finally got it up to the surface where we got a good look at the 400 to 500 pound silky shark. The topper was the huge whale shark  swam by while we were fighting the silky. You just never know what will show up out there.
WE finished up the day with the yellowtails with Ben and his dad doing a go job of catching some dinners for tonight and tomorrow night.

Seventy Eight pounds on the big amberjack and sixty-five on the next biggest were what our scales said when we got to the dock. I know Shelby was absolutely worn out after 45 minutes of fighting the big one and neither of the other two were easy.
After starting with the AJ's we decided to give them a break and pulled out the electrics to catch the silk snapper and then headed back to the reef where the yellowtail snapper started on the small side but after an hour begin to get bigger and were averaging  one and a half pounds at the end.
Eric, Shelly, Austin and Shelby needed a break from studying and work and this was just what they needed to re energize. See you next time folks.

Jumped off the first tarpon of the season this evening but we did have him on for 10 minutes or so it it was very exciting for our folks from Wisconsin. There was not shortage of action as it was one shark after another all evening with one ray thrown in the mix.
 This is Noah with his dad Dan ready for the next bite behind him. More good people visiting the keys!

Tim and Alec were only interested in big fish so we started at the little hump hoping for AJ's. The amberjacks bit well to start but then shut down for us after we caught a couple 40 pounders. We did catch this very nice mutton snapper while dropping for a jack so then we had  one more fish that also met their criteria.
Not able to get another bite we ventured out to the Islamorada hump and although the one report I got was that the sharks were eating everything hooked up on the bottom we were able to get two more large jacks to the surface with no problem (perhaps they were full).
Tim and Alec loved what we were able to hook them up with and are talking about coming back a couple more times this year.

I wasn't sure how long we would last out there today as we were still on the bait patch when our two ladies begin to feel a bit ill but to their credit they stuck it out and recovered enough to make through the rest of the day.
Started with the yellowtails and although not quite as good a bite as it's been it was good enough for us to catch 30 in a couple , 3 hours. From there we headed out to a deeper area and had a really good bite going for quite a while, catching four big red grouper, three trigger fish, some verms, a mutton snapper, two kings and missing a number of other bites that were probably more kingfish. Sailfished at the very end of the day to finish up.
More good people (sorry I keep repeating this but it's true) that we met today, Kathy thanks for booking with us and we will see you and and your group again soon.

Son of CP Kalis, Christopher is here for a few days with his best buds from New Jersey  and today they all or almost all went out with us on the KK.
Chris, best known for coining the phrase "it's always a great day on the KK" didn't break anything on the boat today (a first I believe) and with his buds cheering him on showed great form trying to get a amberjack passed the sharks ( alas the sharks won). Three attempts were tried and all ended with the sharks winning. Chris is holding up the one head that the sharks allowed us to retrieve and I believe there was talk of fish head soup on the menu for tomorrow.
Back to the reef and on the yellowtail spot we caught 25 tails so the boys could eat tonight and soon our half day was done and we headed in.
Great time was had by all and Dave and I hope to see them again in the near future.

A late arrival put us behind the rest of the fleet but that may have worked to our advantage in the long run. Late to the bait patch most of the boats that had been there had caught their bait or decided to go elsewhere to catch bait so we were able to catch what we needed and move on.
The little hump wasn't good to us with the barracudas eating every bait we tried to send down and there was no vermillon snapper bite today. Heading further out we ended up at the Islamorada hump where Dave managed to get two amberjacks passed the sharks (although one has bite marks all over it) and we were able to catch two nice silk snapper off the bottom.
Kevin had expressed an interest in yellowtail so we finished up the day on the hook at the reef with a really good bite of yellowtail snapper. Kevin and his group did great once we got them retrained to the yellowtail way. Kevin has fished with us several times over the last few years and I'm sure we will see him again next year.

Jim wanted to sailfish today even though the sailfishing has been slow so we went up to conch reef caught our ballyhoo and spent several hours watching the baits swim, no sails.
Jim and I decided we had made a valiant effort and it was time to catch some fish so we worked back the reef to our yellowtail spot and with conditions just about perfect we caught almost 20 tails and a few bonitos in a short amount of time.
Jim, Marina and James really enjoyed the experience and plan on returning in December or January when it is prime sailfish season.

Love it when a plan comes together and today it seemed easy. The tunas bit for us at the hump along with a few bonitos and we were once again done before a number of boats even got there.  We  took our limit of tunas and headed back to the reef to catch some snapper, today unlike yesterday there was current and it made things easy for Alec and Casey to learn that yellowtailing technique. Caught a few tails, another bonito or two and headed home.
Another great family that plans to come back again in the not too distant future.

We started slow on our evening trip with small sharks but by 6:15 Kyle said he couldn't move his arms anymore and it was time to go. The sharks had gone from small to enormous and there was no time between releasing one and starting on the next one.
Kyle will be back but he will be back to do an off shore trip next time.

The two brothers were definitely a handful for Dave but he did a good job answering their questions and teaching them the various techniques we use for the different fish we caught today.
Started a the hump and although the tuna bite was not as good as it has been, we caught a few and then tried the bottom for and AJ. I thought we were finally going to get one all the way to the top but the sharks had  other ideas and all we got back was the head.
There was very little current and we were successful in getting some big vermillon snapper off the bottom and past the sharks along with a few silk snapper. Went back to the reef, caught a few yellowtails in the last hour or so and headed back to the marina.

We wore Shane  and Ashley out tonight with big sharks as it was nonstop action with them and one southern ray.

Fishing is getting better! The tuna bit was so good this morning that we were on our way home before some boats even got to the hump and then on the way home we found some debris that held some mahi, caught 6 schoolies, 3 of which we were able to keep.
Once we were at the reef we found the conditions were almost perfect for yellowtailing and we caught over thirty tails in a relatively short amount of time.
Rick, Wendy and their two girls had a blast catching all these fish and at this point Rick said they had more then enough fish to take back to Sarasota  and we headed for the barn.

Still a little bumpy today although we did have a few hours during mid day when the winds died off but then they came back up again later in the day.
We caught the tunas to start and then bounced the bottom the rest of the day catching silk and vermillon snapper along with a few porgies..
Mart, Russel and Russ did well but we didn't see a lot of Shawn at all thru out the day. They are shipping their fish up to Jersey so they can enjoy a few fish meals up there and talk about what a great time they had in the keys.

We have had a lot of great kids on the boat this week and today was no exception. It was windy again this morning but there was no question of backing out for these folks. Steven ask if we could stay shallow and catch fish and I had just the spot for him.
The tails are not big at this spot but they are biting well and it was just what we needed today as we caught over thirty in an hour or so. Ethan was top angler followed closely by Adam and Kate, Mom was good the whole time but I think Dad was ready for firm land as we got the decision to head back. This put Ethan into a funk as he wanted to stay the whole day but he recovered quickly once he was promised another trip on the KK this year.

We don't get a lot of folks from Iowa but today both our groups were from that fine state. Ryan and Katie fortunately brought their sons along because they were the only ones standing when the fishing got good.
Looked for the mahi to start the afternoon charter but the mahi reports coming from the radio were from miles south from us so we decided to go back to the reef.
It's been weeks since we had a good yellowtail bite but today it was almost like old times, hopefully a precursor of thing to come.
The kids were great and Dave and I had a good time teaching them the fine art of yellowtail fishing.

The tunas bit a little better today as we spent just an hour at the hump to reach our limit. No mahi for us but there were a few caught up and down the reef, it's still early but it will get better as we get closer to summer. Billy and his son had a great time catching both the tunas and the tails and expressed their desire to come back during the summer mahi season.

Two nights ago we caught 4 sharks, two early, one about midway and the last shark was the big one, We did the same thing tonight. Kyle couldn't keep one on and his two boys were giving him a ration but when it was down to the wire in the last quarter he caught his shark and it turned out to be the biggest of the evening.
Had a great time again tonight  with another great family.

Charlie and Jake were our heroes today as the brothers team tagged the yellowtails on another rough day. I think their dad Brian was the one not feeling so well most of the day and could have been the reason we came back a little early.
Great to see Shannon, Brian and the rest of the Wing family again after a year or so of pandemic fears. Looking forward to many more outings with the gang.

It was a slow start but everyone  got to catch a shark tonight. Jill started with a medium size one and Adam finished up with big mama, a 200 lb monster.

Gave Kevin the option of staying on hard ground this morning but he didn't even hesitate so off we went into the fray. The first two spots didn't work out but the yellows came right up at the third spot and that was  where we were able to catch 20 tails before the smaller ones moved in and it was time to move on.
Ryan did well all morning but Kate felt better laying down so we didn't see much on her at all. We tried a couple other spots after the good one but the wind had switched and we were fishing under the boat so as time ran out we headed back to the dock.
Kevin and his kids will be back to do it again soon, probably in mahi season.

 This week has been just brutal because of the wind and it's time for it to slow down. They tell us that  by this coming Sunday we may finally get some relief from the beatings, and for Dave, me and our customers  it can't change quick enough.The wind has also limited what we can do while trying to keep our clients as comfortable as possible so the catches have suffered through out the fleet also.
 Today Denny wanted to try for a sailfish so we spent a few hours kite fishing. The water was too clear for deep water yellowtails, caught a few patch tails and ended up taking the guys into the nasty water where we were able to catch the vermillon snapper. We also caught some nice red snapper out there in the deep.
Denny is already planning his next trip and hopefully Marsha will stop by and say hi next time!

Went to the hump again this morning, found light current and lots of boat traffic which is probably why the tunas did not bit as well as yesterday. Did a drop for an AJ and hook either an AJ or a almacco jack that got eaten on the way up. We ran to the little hump where the same thing happened.
Success came at the vermillon snapper spot where like yesterday, we once again limited out with our two folks. Ended the day bouncing the bottom in two hundred feet and then moved in toward the Eagle wreak where we hooked a really nice bottom fish which (wait for it) got eaten by a shark. Fought the shark for quite a while and ended up pulling the hooks.
Dan and Denise said they enjoyed every moment. They will be back in a couple months.

Today was not quite as much of a struggle to find hungry fish as it has been. The tunas were just OK at the hump but then a couple mahi under a black bird showed up and we caught those. Tried a few vermillon spots with some success and then a final try at the last spot put us at our limit. Caught some nice red snapper a long the way and the cudas put up  good fights for our two anglers today.
First time deep sea for Laura and she did great as it was a little bumpy in the morning getting much nice by noon when we had to head in. Clarke was  a veteran  but it had been a while since he had been out. Looking forward to seeing them back here again sometime.