Hello everyone, and welcome back to this week’s report! The weather has been treacherous this week with a lot of thunderstorms and lightening. It appears as of now that the weather is going to 5 to 10 knots out of the East to Southeast, so it should make for a pretty weekend if the rain and such stays away…..I am keeping my fingers crossed. We have been in the boat yard all week and just got back in the water today, but there were a few boats who managed to tough out the conditions and it doesn’t appear that too much has changed. The Sword ledge didn’t get the pounding it normally would have due to the weather, but there were a few fish caught this week up to 180 pounds was all I heard of. This is going to be an incredible next few weeks of fishing for these gladiators, so stay tuned as the weather gets better. The rest of the offshore critters have been staying right on plan just like we though, as if you can find some Sargasm weed, you will find Dolphin. Some nice fish still hanging on with a mix of all sizes, but the average size is in the gaffer range. The best depths I heard of were 800 to 1000 feet, but I did hear of some fish caught a little shallower, but the deep bite seemed to be a little more consistent. The Tunas are SWARMING on all of the humps, although there are some Skip Jacks mixed in with them, if you can get the Pilchards to live chum with you are going to be very happy. Still a few guys deep dropping, but with the new regulations the pressure has definitely decreased. These fish rarely live when released, so do your best to try and target specific areas that you know hold what you are looking for and that is legal.
The reef remains to be incredible as the Yellowtails and Mangroves are still on fire. The current has been good, with some dirty water this week, but is cleaning up as we speak. I actually heard today that it was pretty clean already, but the fish seem to be hungry so I think the weekend will be good. The deeper ledges of the reef have been holding decent size Mutton Snappers and Red Groupers with the wrecks in these areas doing their part as well. The bait is out of control right now with what seems like Pilchards everywhere. The patches have Cigar Minnows, Ballyhoo, and lots of little Blue Runners, so bait is definitely not an issue as of writing this. All in all the fishing remains strong, and we are looking forward to some Sailfish showing up in the near future as we have already had a few reports of some fish moving in close to the reef. Sailfish season can’t get here soon enough, as those of you who know me know I love to catch them!
On a different note, the new Catchalottafish is set to go in the mold on October 7th, so follow my “Catchalottafish charters” Facebook page for exciting news as I will report throughout the build. She is a Freeman 34VH, and is going to be an absolutely incredible machine! She is going to look very similar to my current boat with the black and gray, and will get the Line X treatment just the same. We are changing some stuff up though with some exciting new sponsors so tune in to see what all the excitement is about!
The reef remains to be incredible as the Yellowtails and Mangroves are still on fire. The current has been good, with some dirty water this week, but is cleaning up as we speak. I actually heard today that it was pretty clean already, but the fish seem to be hungry so I think the weekend will be good. The deeper ledges of the reef have been holding decent size Mutton Snappers and Red Groupers with the wrecks in these areas doing their part as well. The bait is out of control right now with what seems like Pilchards everywhere. The patches have Cigar Minnows, Ballyhoo, and lots of little Blue Runners, so bait is definitely not an issue as of writing this. All in all the fishing remains strong, and we are looking forward to some Sailfish showing up in the near future as we have already had a few reports of some fish moving in close to the reef. Sailfish season can’t get here soon enough, as those of you who know me know I love to catch them!
On a different note, the new Catchalottafish is set to go in the mold on October 7th, so follow my “Catchalottafish charters” Facebook page for exciting news as I will report throughout the build. She is a Freeman 34VH, and is going to be an absolutely incredible machine! She is going to look very similar to my current boat with the black and gray, and will get the Line X treatment just the same. We are changing some stuff up though with some exciting new sponsors so tune in to see what all the excitement is about!
Tight Lines,
Capt. James
