Jeremy, Sarah and their two sons had a great day on the water with us. Started once again with the tails, caught a dozen or so of them and then headed off shore ending up at the Islamorada hump where we caught eight tunas (one really nice one) and a couple almaco jacks.
 Had a great time with this group from Colorado and we look forward to fishing with them again.

Last night's evening trip was busy. Dave said they caught 7 or 8 sharks including a large lemon shark and topped that  with the last fish of the evening an eighty pound tarpon.

Captain Dave found a sailfish today, he said it came up in the spread, was looking for something to eat but before Mitch could get a bait out to him, the fish ate the lure on one of the flat lines. They also caught a dozen snapper today so they had dinner and a movie!

After a less than stellar catch yesterday we recovered and blasted it out of the park today.

Just when I think you have seen it all something new pops up. Caught this mahi along with eleven others today, dropped 3 or 4 mahi at the start of the day which always takes time to recover from, but we did. Caught a couple tunas to start the day and finish up with a few yellowtails at the end of the day. At some point in the day we caught the schoolie mahi with this strange affliction.
Mike fished with me back in time on the Challenger and Dan and he hope to get back next year to do it all over again, maybe with a lot less wind.

Not sure what"s going on with the pictures Dave sent me today but they are small and out of focus. Maybe it was the rough seas that he has had to fish in the last couple days.
I was scheduled to fish yesterday with the same guys that fished Monday but they said they were too beat up from the day Dave fished with them..
Dave caught tunas, mahi and snapper today and although his people couldn't stay out in the deep water today  due to the waves, he said it sounded like the mahi bite really improved. We will hopefully see tomorrow if it's true.

Another rough day according to Dave. Evan had a tough time with the seas and Dave said they had to come back inshore so that he could recover somewhat and they were able to get the day in. Tried the tunas and caught one along with caught a couple mahi while out there. Came back to the reef and caught over 20 snapper to finish up the day.

We had Tom and his group out on Friday, it was rough and the fishing was tough. Today it was at least as rough, maybe more than Friday but much better fishing. Started with the tails and we had to work it hard but we did catch over 20 nice fat ones. Tried some other stuff, had some big fish on but came up empty with most of it.  I decided to finish the day looking for mahi and we ended up hooking 6 and getting 5 to the boat. A decent catch day and the guys were happy to get on solid ground also.

As happens with an afternoon trip sometimes the bite wasn't quite as good as in the morning but in this case the fish were bigger in the afternoon. On some very rough seas everyone in John's group did great with the exception of one person who shall remain nameless. Everyone was smiling when they stepped on the dock and that is all that matters.

Dave did two trips on Saturday and this was the morning one. Caught 40 yellowtails to start the day and fortunately that was enough as there wasn't much happening after that. Good times for the guys from Colorado.

I have been waiting for the sharks to show up and become a problem when we are catching vermillon snapper, today was not that day.
Dave caught a shark on the down rod and turned him loose but it didn't sound like it was a major problem after that. I guess the shark got discouraged after being caught and decided there was easier meals elsewhere.
Dave put together nice catch of vermillon and blackfin snapper for Jamie and Dan to take home with them. More great folks we love seeing come back to fish with us.

We have fished for years with various groups associated with GAF and they are always great fun to fish with, today was no exception.
The mahis have been up and down but the guys wanted to try it, so off we went 19 miles in search of the elusive green hornets.  Dave said he saw two little ones under a patch that I didn't see but that was all there was to report and thus we returned back to the shallow water still in search of.
We found the silk and vermillon snapper biting well and caught  six silks,  five blackfin snapper, three rudderfish and our limit of vermillon snapper,  ending the day with a good rack of fish and happy clients.

Dave told me the conditions on the reef were really poor for the yellowtails, the tunas didn't want to bite at the hump but there was little if any current so he decided to do some drops for the verms.
After a slow start where they couldn't get the hooks into the fish Jimmy and his group started bringing fish into the boat. They ended up limiting out on vemillon snapper andhad a really nice almaco jack to go with the snapper.

Bonnie and Denise had a little help from Doc and Rick today to catch all of these tails along with the kingfish and bonito. Beautiful day once again and it looks like it will continue for quite a while. Same group tomorrow, looking forward to it.

Adam's dad Ron was telling me about how he took his dad out fishing late in his life and how much his dad loved the experience. Today Ron got to be the one taken out by his son Adam and I hope we also created many good memories for the two of them.
Started with the tales which cooperated somewhat but not well enough to stay when things slowed down after we caught 14 or so. The sharks kept us from catching an AJ so we switched over to the vermillons, caught 9 and a blackfin snapper. Tried some other deep spots which did show much except a couple small snowy groupers and finished up looking for mahi, catching three.
Enjoyed the day with these two and look forward to fishing with them again.

The Crohn's and Colitis  benefit tournament  happened the last two day and we fish these fine folks (as we have for many years) once again.
I let Dave do the honors this year and although fishing was slow the first day, today was a much better day as they caught 20 big tails and four permit with our one lady angler catching the biggest.
As always it was a pleasure fishing with this group and we look forward to doing it again next year.

Oscar and Daniel had a introduction into the savage world of the sea today and one incident in the morning was a little too close for comfort.
We were at the bait patch and I was catching a small jack on a bait rod and as I brought the jack into the boat a barracuda shot out of the water following the jack just missing my arm, slammed into a rod right beside Oscar and ended up back in the water. Needless to say I haven't had an adrenaline rush like in a long time. No hurt , no foul as they say.
Later in the day we had other barracudas eating our yellowtail and vermillon snapper and a shark that took everything but the amberjack head that Oscar was catching.
It all made for an exciting day and most importantly we were able to send the guys home to mom with plenty of fish for her tacos

Kevin and Joe were not interested in staying on the reef today so off we went into the blue. Saw quite a few small fish around the weed patches (lots of weed) and caught all but 3 of the legal fish we encountered. As there was no current we tried the deep dropping and on the first drop caught a decent snowy grouper and later caught some black ear and silk snapper. Ended up with quite a few fish dinners by the time we had everything filleted for Kevin and Joe.

More great people returning to fish with us and today it was Captain Dave's turn to take them out. I did get a report from Dave but it looks like they got to the hump and caught a couple tunas along with their limit of tails and a kingfish from the reef.

Captain Dave had a great day with these folks catching eight tunas at the hump and then coming back to the reef and finishing up with their limit of yellowtails. The mahi bite is still spotty but getting better each day, the weather has finally settled down and it looks like good weather for a while.

CP said he wanted to catch fish till his arms hurt, he got his wish on the last fish of the day with this sixteen pound mutton. Caught our limit of snapper and eight blackfin tuna during the rest of the day but the mutton was the pièce de résistance.

I think Dave is trying to out do me .......and he is doing a great job of it. He ran the boat today with Mike and his guys and the caught a sailfish along with 25 big tails and a couple kingfish. Dave is definitely making "taking a day off" a lot easier for me. See you next time guys.