birthday girl and big fish

Today I got to take Elizabeth and her awesome family out for a morning half day charter. We started on the reef catching some bait and a few Yellowtail snappers for the cooler. We then headed to a deep wreck for some big Amber Jack action. After rigging the lines and setting our drift we got what we came for in a big way. Hooking and landing a few before the sharks moved in and ate the last 3 we hooked. We had a blast landing big fish and making memories before heading in for some fresh fish for lunch.

/by

Monster Sharks

Today I headed out at 4 pm. on a sunset charter with 2 clients. We had our sights set on catching some groupers and snappers off the deep reef 6 miles south west of the island. After anchoring the boat and putting out the chum is was just a few minutes and the fish were responding. Little did I know at the time that the sharks we also responding in a major way.

After catching a nice Yellowtail snapper we sent him to the bottom on some very heavy tackle for a big Black grouper. Getting the bite we were after in just a few minutes. We had the fish off the bottom and were gaining line when a huge shark grabbed our fish and started dumping line off the reel. The shark cut through the line shortly after and we lost the fish. Knowing the sharks were there it was time to go on the offensive. We tossed a few nice snappers in the box and then put a big Blue runner freshly caught down again on the grouper rod with wire this time. On our next bite same story but this time we had the shark on wire he was going nowhere. After a long fight we had him boat side it was a monster Bull shark all of 300lbs.

We tried once more for grouper and this time the shark bit first and we landed another big Bull this one 250lbs. With need of a new strategy we moved off the reef to the edge near by in search of Mutton snappers. We had better success with less sharks we landed 2 out of our 3 Muttons and a few extra by catch fish before heading back to home. As we headed in we had a beautiful Key West sunset off our port side. Was a great ending to a great after noon.

 

/by

Monster Tails and Tunas

We loaded up just before 8am this morning before we headed for the reef to do some snapper fishing. I set the boat on my all time go to Yellowtail snapper spot. To my dismay the conditions were not very good and the fish were unresponsive. Given the wind and tide conditions I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I have an awesome patch of reef in 90 feet of water that always has huge Yellowtails and Black grouper with the current conditions. We set up and in no time we hit pay dirt. We caught huge Yellowtail snappers and 2 monster Blackfin tunas on 17lb test as we were trying for Yellowtails.

/by