Spent our half day on the reef today catching yellowtail and assorted other scallywags. We had two gentlemen from Sweden and the rest of the crew was from Charleston, SC. 
After we did a little fine tuning the yellowtail started coming on board and we ended up with 25 .
Another good day on the K KAY IV.

We had a really fun day with this family from the west coast of Florida. Allie, this ten year old, is so into fishing and her brother Chase kept a running fish count for us  while we bailed the yellowtail. We caught 25 fat yellowtail and then leaving the reef got lucky with the mahi at 18 miles finding a hand full of 5 to 10 lb fish.
Another excellent day with great people.

Darian and his two sons got to catch a few mahi today but the big one got away. We had a 35 pounder on for probably 45 minutes and just before he came to the gaff we lost him. Darian was philosophical about it, saying they would be back to catch him when he is 45 lbs.
They had plenty of fish for dinner and they were going to ship the rest back to Texas for more dinners,

Lexi was our supergirl tonight catching the 1 tarpon we got to the boat. She wasn't to sure of herself when we hooked up but it didn't take her long to figure out how to fight this fish.
Max, Luke, and Viv had a great time catching sharks in between tarpon bites and Mom and Dad did a great job getting it all recorded for them.
Thanks guys for a fun evening!

I thought we were going 3 for 3 last night but the 3rd fish was a big one and got around something on the bottom after putting on a great show. Rik, his bother and their wives are from the UK and told us they would have been pleased with a couple sharks. We did catch 7 sharks but the tarpon were the stars and we even caught a couple stingrays just to add something different to the catch.
They have some stories to tell and pictures to prove it when they get back to England!

Last year Chris and his group had a ton of fish to take home , this year not so much but it didn't stop them from having an awesome time. I can't wait to see them again next year! Hurry back girls and guys.

Dr Al and his sons are another family that has fished with me for a number of years and it's always a pleasure having them on board. We stayed on the reef today, starting out with the yellowtail and then did some bottom bouncing for the groupers and muttons. Also caught a few vermillions on the chicken rigs just to add a little more color to our catch. A very nice day and we didn't have to look for the elusive mahi mahi but we will be back looking tomorrow!

Found one 18 lb mahi and saw a couple more but that was it today. I was almost 25 miles out and all the weed that was out there yesterday was gone so after spending the morning looking for more mahi, we ran back to to the reef. The yellowtail bit and in the time we had left we caught close to 20. You can tell by the smiling faces these guys had a good time.

Just when you think you have the tarpon figured out they outsmart you. Everyone still had a great time and we did catch 4 sharks in between losing tarpon.

Yesterday it was the wind and today it was the rain that made things difficult. We still caught a decent number of mahi even though everyone was a little damp by days end.

Two out of our group from yesterday decided that there might be more wind than they felt comfortable with this morning and decided to stay on dry land. Good choice, the wind got up to 26 knots at one point today and we had waves in the 6 to 8 ft range with an occasional 10. It was not a day for the faint of heart but Ed and his bud stuck it out and we even caught a few fish although in those conditions everything (including standing up) is a challenge.
Everyone had a good time and Ed is already planning his trip back this fall.

Ed and his guys have us for two days so we decided to spend one on the reef and one off shore. Today was obviously our reef day with yellowtail, vermillion and mutton snapper.
Ed caught one of the muttons, enough said.

David (on the right) caught this 18 lb mutton with us this morning and contributed to the 40 yellowtails we also caught. Elier (zebra shorts) is getting married tonight but wanted to take some of his friends and relatives out for a morning fishing trip before the wedding. Not a bad way to spend his last hours before the nuptials.

The evening trip started pretty slow tonight. We caught a shark had a few more bites that we missed and caught four more sharks over the course of the evening. We did have one run off that probably was a tarpon but never got the hook into that one.
It was really time to head back when a 50 lb tarpon ate one of our bottom baits. Kevin did a great job getting him stopped before he got to a channel marker and 15 minutes later Jamey (Kevin's daughter) took this picture. Congratulations Kevin on your first tarpon!

Had a small 7 boat tournament  out of Whale Harbor today and although once again the mahi fishing wasn't great, it was better then it has been. We saw more than we caught as they were difficult to get to eat our baits but we did catch some decent ones. Last I heard we were still in 1st place with our 18 pounder with one boat still to come in. It was nice to see a decent number of fish today

He caught the 1st fish, the biggest fish, the most fish and the last fish. Quite an accomplishment for this 1st grader who obviously love to fish and is good at it. We limited out on our morning half and once again had great people on board that plan on coming back soon.

Cooper and Dillon got the chance at 7 tarpon tonight but only got one to the boat. But that was OK because it was a total effort by the boys, from drifting the baits back, to setting the hook to was all them. Dillon did set a new record by catching the 15th shark in an evening and Cooper caught the tarpon. It was a fun action pack evening!

Alexie, Gabe and Richard caught some really nice yellowtail on a flat calm day today. We were limited out by 10 so we went out and caught a snowy grouper that we kept and a few more we released. Couldn't find a big porgies or tiles today but we really didn't need them cause there was plenty of fish in the box.

We went out there again looking for the mahi and at 23 miles off I decided that we had gone far enough without seeing one. Did a little deep dropping and caught a grouper, a couple porgies and a decent tilefish. Finally, finishing up the day yellowtailing we managed to catch 15 nice yellowtails even without a speck of current.

Our mahi were a little bigger then yesterday and we had around the same number of tails as yesterday on our charter today. There were a couple boats that found the mahi pretty good but most didn't so there is hope and maybe tomorrow it will be our turn. It was still a good catch but we expect more this time of the year.

Cooper and Dillon both had bragging rights after tonight's trip. One caught an eighty pound tarpon and the other caught a 130 lb shark . Both refused to give up on themselves even after a 40 minute fish fight. These are 2 tough 12 year olds!

Different group then my regular Jersey  boys that come down in January but no question they are as fun loving , in your face, take no prisoners as my other Jersey boys are.
Mahi fishing was pretty tough today so we came in to the reef and yellowtailed toward the end of the day. Caught a dozen or so and along with the mahi they had plenty for a few meals.

Ethan was another inexperienced youngster today but also another quick study. We caught 1 out of 3 tarpon and a couple of sharks on our evening trip and Ethan quickly got the hang of how everything needs to work to get that fish to the boat. Way to go Ethan!

Karlton and Presten did an amazing job today catching mahi. They had never mahi fished before but it didn't take them long to figure out the drill. Almost 20 mahi and a tuna later these guys are now seasoned veterans. Nice job guys!

Paul and Lisa, a nice young couple from Tampa, FL and Ashville, TN , fish a half day with us today. We caught pretty good considering we had 20 knots of wind and rough seas. They plan on coming back as soon as Lisa completes her residency and she get a little free time.