We caught a few tunas at the hump but the sharks were very active so I headed out toward the deeper water, slowing down at times to get a good  around. At 17 miles I saw a couple frigate birds that looked good and as we eased up on the set and hooked up the first fish the rest of the fish showed up. It was the best school of fish I have seen all year, with very few fish under 6 or 7 lbs and a couple that went over 20. Randy, Joann, Christine and Garret did an amazing job of with very few tangles and we ended up with around 30 fish plus the tunas.
Hurricane Dorian is lurking about and will pass north of us, I don't see any major effect in the keys as we are on the clean side and pretty far from it. I have quite a few open days in September for those of you looking for some great fishing with less visitors to contend with.

We fished Dr John and his daughter Lauren yesterday and although we were successful in catching tuna and our limit of mahi it was not without some degree of sadness that John's son Jay was not physically there to pull in some of these fish, something he loved to do. I only knew him for a relatively short time but it was long enough to see how much he loved the outdoors and especially his love of fishing. We met Jay's sister Lauren for the 1st time yesterday and we had a really nice time with her and her dad remembering Jay and the good times we had with him on the KK.

For someone that was not that interested in fishing, Evan was sure showing a lot of enthusiasm  for it by the end of our evening. We caught a bunch of sharks and one ray this evening and dad decided to do a full day on Thursday to give the boys the off shore experience. Looking forward to it!
We also fished Mike and Ian this morning and caught yellowtail, muttons and gray snapper along with a couple sharks and a yellow jack. Nothing special but we kept them busy and they had more fish to add to all the mahi we caught with them yesterday.

I was hoping the mahi would be where they were yesterday (around 800 ft) but no such luck today. We had to go 22 miles but when we got there there were big schools of fish and with a little help from my buddies on 2 other boats we were able to limit out and start that long trip back to the marina on the 3/4 day. We did catch some tunas at the hump on the way out and as Ian and His dad Mike had never mahi fished before they were a little overwhelmed to start when the mahi showed up behind the boat, but they caught on, settled  down and soon they were catching every one that bit. Great day and we will see them again tomorrow on another short day

Our half day worked well as we traveled to the hump and beat the sharks to get a good catch of tunas for Stephen and his buddies. They really wanted some snapper to go with the tuna so we stopped on the reef on the way home and managed to catch a few yellowtails for the dinner plate. Enjoyed fishing with these guys and look forward to fishing with them again in the future.

Mike added one more today. Brian arrived in Miami just a couple hours before driving down and getting on the boat, but what a story due to weather delays last night he ended up flying from North Carolina to Texas and then Miami, I don't think I could have done that!
The tunas did not bite as well at the hump this morning as they did yesterday and the shark were very active. With the wind from the north the weed lines were broken up and we got caught in the rain for a few hours so it was a bit difficult finding  mahi schools but we caught 10 decent ones and together with our 10 tunas it was an OK catch.

Carolina Mike call me a few weeks ago and wanted to know if I had any consecutive days available. I let him know I only had these two days and after waiting a few days for a response he let me know he had gotten permission and today was his first day. We always enjoy fishing with Mike and today we had an awesome day with the mahi and tunas. Hopefully tomorrow will bring similar results.

Erin wanted a half day and probably a good decision on her part as her kids seemed very sensitive to the motion of the ocean. The tunas bit well to start the day and we headed back to the reef after catching 8 or 9 of them. We stopped at a shallow spot on the reef where we have been catching decent mangrove snapper and there we caught some legal yellowtails and legal mangroves, then headed back to  to the marina to get the kids on solid ground.

Sad day today as we say goodbye to Dr Mike and his group. We stayed on the reef today and caught yellowtails and and a few mangrove snapper. Ichen was our star pupil with all the enthusiasm we could ever want in a client  and a joy to have onboard. We look forward to seeing Mike and Patsy again soon or as soon as their busy schedule allows.

The evening trip with the same group as this morning was picture perfect, the sharks bit steadily most of the evening, caught a ray half way through and when Dr Mike started to ask where the tarpon were, there he was. The fish took so much line, by the time I got the anchor up I didn't think we would be able to get him but he went right down the channel and after 25 minutes we had him close enough to call it a catch. Congratulations Dr Mike and Patsy did catch the biggest mahi today!

It was mahi mahi or bust today for Dr Mike, Patsy and their group and fortunately we found them early. To start the tunas did not bite well early in the day but we caught 3 decent ones, enough for tuna appetizers and more and then headed out to the deep woods to find the mahi. The first school was a pack of 15 or so heavy lifters and gaffers of which we caught a dozen, later we found a teenager with a couple schoolies and even later a turtle that had a lot of fish but we caught just a couple. These all add up to a nice rack of fish for our pictures at the end of the day.

Second time for Alan and his family, they were here just before Irma made a mess of things here in the Keys and the rest of Florida. We left early and caught the tunas well then decided I was going to to go back to the reef but heard that there were mahi fairly close in so we spun around and headed offshore. Found some mahi on a turtle but that was the extent of our mahi find . Tomorrow we will be back out there with Dr mike's group and it's mahi or bust!

The mahi bite has really slowed down the last couple days so when Mike and I discussed the plan for today I suggested fishing the hump early and  coming back to the reef and fishing the snapper. A good plan that worked out pretty well as the tuna bit well and as did the vermillons. The yellowtail not so well and when they did the sharks were there. Great to have Mike and Patsy back on the boat and we look forward to fishing with them in the next few day.

These three were on fire today, never missing a fish, moving like cats in the cockpit and following all of Dave and my instructions (the few they needed) as we stopped  on a big mat of weed where there was a beautiful school of heavy lifters and gaffers after running  23 miles to get there. Normally I get guys that have drank heavily the night before and are in such a fog in the morning it takes a few minutes for them to process even a simple instruction but not these guys, Joe #1 got them there right on time in the morning and off we went, by 10 o'clock we had 29 mahi and were looking for that centerpiece. The only problem we had was with the two Joes but once we assigned each a number it all smoothed out. Great job guys, looking forward to doing it again soon.

Not much sargassum at all today until we got 23 miles off shore but when we arrived the fish were there. Caught a couple dozen in the first 30 minutes at that spot and then followed the weed picking off a few here and there. At one point, another boat called us over to a big school and we caught 15 or so more mahi out of that school.
We ended up with over 40 for Kirk and his crew, he is another one of my long term clients (fished with me for 10 years or so) and we always enjoy our day with them.

We had to go quite a bit farther today to find the mahi but there were big schools of fish there when we did arrive. Not all the fish in some schools were big enough but there were enough gaffer and heavy lifter size fish that we were able to put 30 really nice size fish up  on the rack at the end of the day including one that went 20 lbs or better.
John, Regina and her daughter Jazelle got a crash course in what schoolie wars are all about and by the end of the day were getting really good at the mahi dance. Very nice, see you folks next year.

We got done early. Jeff came up to the bridge around 10:30 and said they had all the needed and we headed for home, we did stop and deep drop a couple times just to see if the silk snapper might be there but we were back in our slip by noon. Almost 40 big beautiful schoolies and a dozen tunas were even more then Jeff and his crew could pack up for home but they went home with most of it which was good. We only broke a couple fish off and once we got passed the learning curve that did not happen again. Nice folks, they have their work cut out for them this afternoon vacuum packing and freezing their fish.

The mahi have been noticeably absent in any great numbers for several weeks,  but  in the last 5 or 6 days nice fish and large schools have shown up and in fairly shallow water. I heard reports today of large schools of gaffer (7 to 10 lbs) fish in 350 to 450 ft which makes everyone happy.
William and his boys had there hands full today, especially considering these larger fish, if you tangle, can break off in a hurry. I don't think they broke even one off, good job guys! Williams told me when we were cleaning fish, he is selling his boat and he was going to fish with us every couple months because he catches more fish and its cheaper than owning his own boat. See you in a couple months William!

We started with the tunas, catching 14 in a short time and then headed off to find the mahi. It did  not come easy as we looked hard for a couple hours and even started back toward the reef before find a pack of gaffers and heavy lifters under some birds in the weed. Pat and his family had to learn fast and they did, after the initial confusion they kept lines untangled and moved around in the cockpit to keep things straight. We located the 26 pounder after we were pretty much done with the schoolies so that worked out well also.
Pat and his family are planning a trip back in December for the sailfish run. See you then guys!

We have not been spending much time looking for the mahi recently because they have not been here in numbers, but in the last few days I have gotten reports of decent catches of mahi and today we decided it was time to go find some. Jeremy, Liz and the kids are from Kansas City and had never caught or seen a live mahi but they did great. We caught the tunas first and then found mahi at various times throughout the shortened day. Looking forward to fishing with them again sometime soon.

Bev caught the first tarpon of the evening after  we missed one and Toby caught the second after we missed another. There were many sharks to keep everyone busy between tarpon bites  and plenty of laughter and humor for additional entertainment . We are going to miss Bev, Paula, Rubin and Toby as they head back to the UK  on Monday , they have become more then good clients, they are good friends.

A half day worked out great for this crew this time but next time they want the full day according to Grayson and Christian and I know dad would go for it too. We tried the mangoves but the water was very clean so I decided to go to the hump, which work out well. Caught a dozen tunas or so along with a few bonitos. See you next time folks!

IRubin, Bev and Toby (The Kings) and their friend Dave were in on one of the best tuna bites i have seen in a long time. I could barely move the boat after catching a tuna or two, or three. when we would have another one, or two or three on. It obviously did not take long for us to have all the tuna we needed and because it was a little windy, rainy and rough I decided to head back to the reef were we ended up yellowtailing after trying a few other things. This is the last full day with the Kings, we do have one more evening trip with them Saturday  before we sadly see them go.