Brooks, Conner and Trev did a pretty good job of catch mahi today on a 3/4. We saw a lot of fish today which was a great change for the better as this past weekend was very slow for the mahi fishermen. Seemed like most boats did well and we all hope it continues for the rest of the summer.
The boys weren't out there by themselves, we also had Tim, Jocelyn ( mom and dad ) and uncle Lee along to help out with the catching.

We had Conner and his dad out this morning and unfortunately the wind had come up a little last night and thus it wasn't a calm as yesterday. They tried to stick it out but finally through in the towel after a couple hours. Conner is a great kid and we were disappointed (as was he) that we didn't get a chance at more time and thus more fish.

Two big black grouper, 4 muttons, 5 kings, 15 yellowtail and an AJ is making CP smile or maybe it's because I added the picture of him and the African Pompano he caught last Thursday, to the wall of pictures behind the KK that's making him smile. Cp didn't do a lot of fishing today but let Gary, Rob and his son Rob do most work and a fine job was done by all. They even left a few out there for us to catch tomorrow.
Another good day on the KK!

Another year done for Bill and his guys. Bill always fishing with me this weekend and I just put on the calendar for next year's return.
Yesterday we went  mahi fishing or tried to, it was very slow and after discussing it with Bill we decided to stay close and bottom fish today. As you can see (and from reports offshore) it was the correct decision. The grouper was 28 lbs and the large mutton came in at 15 lbs. We also caught a number of other AJs, almacco jacks, yellowtail, smaller muttons and a few triggerfish.
A pretty good recovery from yesterday's fumble.

Dan and Melissa fished with us yesterday on a really rough day and we had a great day with them. This evening was just as good, with Dan catching the 1st tarpon and Melissa catching the 2nd. They also caught 3 sharks and we did break a tarpon off at the very end of the trip but what a fabulous evening for these folks from Wisconsin.

The Wing kids , their friends and moms went out with us today and the oceans was just about as flat as it gets. Imagine my surprise when one of the moms is not feeling well and they decide that they want to go back to the reef. We had caught a few tunas and I was just heading out toward mahi land when I got the word. We got back to the reef, caught a few yellowtails but the boat was still rocking and it was HOT so Shannon decided that her friend Becka needed to get back on dry land so it was back to the dock we went.
The kids had a great time so next time we will take just them!

CP and Trish came back into town yesterday and CP wanted to fish, but all I had available was an afternoon half for today. Turned out to be a really good pm half as we caught these two African pompano, a 20 lb black grouper and our limit of yellowtail snapper.
Not a bad way to start your vacation CP!

Thought most of these 30 lb groupers had been already caught this year but guess there is still some around as we found out today on our morning half. We were catching yellowtail when this guy ate our bottom rod and ended up in our fish box. Dan and his wife are taking their 40 yellowtail fillets and the grouper fillets back to Wisconsin with them but not before fishing with us one more time tomorrow evening.

A bit of a struggle today to get the mahi behind the boat because they are chasing flying fish and it was difficult  to get them in front of them. The tunas were biting and we caught a half dozen so Al, John and Tom could have some seared tuna tomorrow for dinner. A little bouncy out there today, tomorrow we are supposed to get some rain (needed!) and more wind. The weathermen say it is supposed to get nice for the weekend and through next weeek, hope so.

We had a great time this evening with our new friends from New Jersay, John and Maria. It started with the sharks, catching 4 before the tide change and once we had the boat turned around and tide started running in, the tarpon showed up. The first three threw the hooks on their first jumps but we were able to get the next one to the boat after a 20 minute battle, from then on it was all sharks with the exception of one lost crevalle jack.
Plenty of action and John caught his first tarpon!

A second day of good mahi fishing with Ed, Murtis, Matt and Jim. I had a request from the guys for some  tuna today so we headed to the hump and caught a few tunas before leaving it and going looking for mahi.
I thought it was going to be a little nicer today but the current started around 250 ft and from there on it was rougher then yesterday.
We caught 15 decent mahi and 7 or 8 tunas to add to the 30 fish we caught yesterday and sent the guys home with a lot of fillets for them to vacuum pack and freeze.
Always a pleasure having these guys on the boat and Dave and I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Got cancelled the last two days off shore due to the wind but today Ed and his buddies said they were going no matter what the wave height. It was fairly rough but I can say that I have fished worse and the best part was the mahi were there and they were nice heavy schoolies. We caught 30 and one blackfin tuna with the guys hanging on when the big ones  rolled through.
They are out with us again tomorrow for a full day and it's forecast to be pretty much the same conditions. I'm sure they will all sleep well tonight ( I know I will).

After last Tuesday's evening out with Blanca and Doug our expectations were pretty high but the tarpon did not cooperate tonight. In fact there were probably 8 boats in the area fishing tarpon and I did not see anyone with a tarpon on. Fortunately the sharks did bite and of coarse Blanca got to catch the big one. It took her 30 minutes but she never gave up and she got some great pictures and a good story to tell..
Look forward to fishing in January with these two and their son Daniel.

On Saturday we fish an evening with Doug and his wife and fishing was terrible so when he said he wanted to go again this evening I was a bit apprehensive.
Caught a shark within the 1st 15 minutes and I felt a little better, then we jumped a tarpon, caught a few more sharks, had a big tarpon jump right across the transom and go through the leader, caught a few more sharks and then after a 40 minute battle caught this 80 lb tarpon and then caught some more sharks.
Awesome evening. You just never know and that why we keep doing it.

For the boats that had full days the mahi bite was better than it's been. We started at the hump catching tuna and had some mahi show up while we were doing that. Caught an almaco, an aj and another big american red while dropping in 300 ft to finish up on our short day.
Looks like this week i have mainly full days so we will see if the mahi bite stays good.

Tim with the american red snapper we caught the other day.

Tim and Denise were out with us on a half day today. We limited out on the yellowtails and then went to the little hump were we caught a couple almaco jacks and a 15 lb american red snapper.

Two days with the Keymorada tournament was tough.
We caught a lot of fish but only big fish count and only certain species. Stayed on the reef the 1st day and caught muttons, kings, aj's and groupers but only had one that counted. The mahi fishing was not good today and we ended up coming back to the reef, catching another grouper and assorted other noncounters.
Back to regular fishing tomorrow.

Started with the tails this morning and it looked like the perfect day for it until they disappeared after we caught 10 or so. Went looking for other fish and Justin caught this nice mutton and 2 really nice red snapper.  Easy half on a beautiful day and Justin and his girlfriend are talking about coming back soon

Not the greatest wind direction today for mahi, as it was blowing out of the north at 10 to 15 but it certainly was comfortable. Didn't hear about any great numbers of mahi caught today either but that will change as that wind starts coming around to the southeast.
Bill and his son Robert were patient as we were finding smaller fish The last fish of the day was this teenager that Robert caught and Robert was pretty happy about his 1st decent mahi.

We try going off shore today but the wind picked up and blew 20 out of the north, At 11 miles we decided the beating we were going to take out there and on the way back wasn't worth the mahi we would catch so we headed back into the waves and back to the reef. Nasty ride but we got back in and the tails bit along with one legal grouper. Also caught one of the biggest nurse sharks I've seen in quite a while and assorted other fish.
Steve and Charlie have fished me for many years and we always look forward to see them again.

Big waves and little current made for a difficult morning half. The boys stuck it out for most the morning but finally said they had had enough of the rough seas and we headed in. Caught 2 dozen yellows and a small mutton for our efforts and we look forward to seeing them again next year for another go.

Three more black grouper today. Steve, Steve and Jeff caught 40 yellowtail before we went looking for the big boys farther down the reef.

Wayne brings a large group of guys down to Islamorada this time in May each year and the seem to bring the good weather and good fishing with them.
Last year we killed a bunch of 20 to 30 lb grouper in the 3 days they were here, this year wasn't quite as good but we caught a couple nice ones along with a mutton and 25 yellowtail snapper. Tomorrow we get a different bunch of guys from Wayne's group and we get to do it again.
FYI .... little or no wind today!!!