LOTS of Blackfin Tuna!!! Seems that they are everywhere. The “Pretty Work” has had almost a steady diet of Blackfin, with some nice 30lb fish coming in the boat. As you know, these are the smallest of the Tunas so 25 to 35lb fish are lots of fun on 20lb spinning tackle, and even better on the table!! The mornings start by catching Pilchards in about 15 to 20 feet of water, loading up on as many as 300 or so before we start fishing. Once the bait has been gathered off we go. We have several Humps to choose from. The closest is the Islamorada Hump, then we have the 409, the Middle Hump and then the furthest is the Marathon Hump. The “Pretty Work” has spent most of her trips at the Islamorada Hump with great success. With a few Dolphin mixed in on the troll, we head to the reef edge to try our luck at some Permit. This too has been rather productive. Brad Hoffman managed to catch a real lunker — close to 40lbs! Live Crab and 20 pound test brings an honest 45 minute fight. The Reef has been tough most days, with gin clear waters or no current, both of which make for tough fishing. However, there have been some nice King Macks on some of the deeper fades and wrecks. An occasional Sailfish and Cobia drop in the mix from time-to-time as well.
The backcountry has been full of life and plenty of action. Sea Trout and Redfish are just about all you want, with an occasional big Black Drum mixed in. The Tarpon fishing has been getting better each day since the moon is off. It can be pretty tough getting a good hook set with live mullet, so it helps to get plenty of bites. The Shark fishing is also getting better with some nice Bulls, Lemons and Black Tips coming to the boat. The Permit are showing up in big schools out back and are responding nicely to the live crabs.
“That’s Right” has been away down in the Dry Tortugas and doing some day trips mixed in. We had an absolute blast. Great groups and good fishing. We enjoyed some real nice Flag Yellowtail Snapper fishing on every trip. Plenty of 24 to 28 inch fish that gave all the anglers plenty of action. Mixed in were some African Pompano and plenty of arm wrenching action on the Amber Jacks. One day we had a Large Whale Shark swim to us and aboard with him WERE about half a dozen Cobia with the biggest one being about 60 lbs. In the evenings, we had some great Mangrove fishing with fish up to 7 pounds. While we had several run-ins with Sharks, they never really got too bad. The Porpoise bothered us once or twice but over all things went well. I know Tony Turner, his Pop and the rest of the gang went back to Maryland with lots of coolers full. John Ciccarone and his guys had plenty of action and we enjoyed mostly catch and release, which was kinda different for me, lol. The guys even had an absolute blast with the Permits on our final day with them. We went through two dozen Crabs and released 16 Permit ranging 15 to 25 pounds, great class of fish on 12lb Spinning tackle.
Overall things are going very well for the whole gang down here and we are looking forward to a great summer of Fishing!!