Offshore Fishing June 6th and 7th!

The dolphin (mahi-mahi) bite has been in full swing the past couple of days. Lots of big schools of fish, mostly schoolies still, but a few nice ones mixed in. On the 6th Capt. Raymond on the Kalex caught plenty of dolphin in the morning, and then moved into the reef and caught 5 black groupers up to 30 lbs! On the 7th, aboard the BNM, we put Scotland's Steven Mackay on his first Broadbill Swordfish. It weighed in at 88lbs. We also had our limit of dolphin to 10 lbs.

More Sailfish and Mahi! 6-4-11

The conditions were still right for the sailfish to tail through Islamorada again. The Catch 22 stayed close to the reefs edge all day and managed to catch and release 6 sailfish and keep 10 schoolie dolphin. Several other boats released sailfish as well. The boats that went offshore for mahi all did well too. More schoolies (3 to 5 lb mahi) than anything, but still a few decent fish to 20 lbs were put on the dock. The wind has been strong from the east, which seemed to help the fishing some.

6-3-11 SAILFISH!????? in June...!

Well you never know what conditions will be around till you go out, and today was a prime example. The dolphin (mahi-mahi) bite has been steady the past week, mostly schoolie sized fish (3 to 10 lbs), but each day it seems like more and more slammers (20+ lb mahi) are being caught. We're already a few days into June, well past our normal "Spring-time Tailing conditions" (where sailfish swim/surf down sea in the waves, a lot of times with the tops of the tails out, hence the name), and today the "tailing condition" was upon us. Both the Catch 22 and The Reel McCoy caught and released 6 sailfish apiece, the Kalex had 2, and every boat that fished offshore and concentrated on the Mahi, had a boxful.

5-29-11 An Unusual Catch! Big Fish!

We left in the morning on the BNM with Bill and his son Mark for a Daytime Swordfishing Charter. The wind was blowing a little bit, so we took our time getting out. We caught 10 decent sized mahi on the way out, 4 to 10 lbs, before making it to the sword grounds. We make our first drop, and after about 10 minutes of waiting, we see a whack. We hook the fish for a few seconds, but he comes unglued. We check the bait, and its all mangled up. We drop back down, drift an hour, but no bites. We decided to move out to a little deeper water and send down a fresh mahi strip. After about 10 minutes I see a bite, and then it takes off like a freight train! We have over 2000' of line out when we hook it. After about a minute all the Tuf-Line is off the reel! 3600' of braid and its still going. The fish takes off another 1000' of monofilament backing. We look at the spool and see the gold. We have close to a mile of line out when we stop the fish, with only a few feet left on the reel! We lock the drag completely up and cup the spool. After a few minutes we gain an inch! After 10 minutes we have about 100 feet of line on the reel. Mark starts making progress... Very slowly. Inch by Inch! We were very close to the breaking strength of the line and knots without question. After and hour we have the first 1000' of monofilament back on the reel. I felt much more comfortable when we got the Tuf-Line Braid on the spool. Mark continues to make progress the next couple hours. Something seemed funny though, it just didn't act like a typical sword. I told him you never know what you're gonna hook down deep though. After 3 hours we have the fish 500 feet away. The last 30 minutes Mark never lets up and after a total fight of 3 1/2 hours we look over the side of the boat and a 500 lb THRESHAR SHARK pops up! It's the first one I've ever seen. It wasn't a sword, but it was quite a catch. We shoot a few pictures of the tired out shark and set him free to fight again another day. It was a Big-Eye Threshar Shark, which is the first one I know of ever being caught out of Bud N Mary's Marina! It was a fun fish to Catch and Release! Congrats Mark!

GIANT SWORDFISH aboard the BNM 5-24-11 450 lbs!

It started out just like a summer day. We caught about 20 schoolie size mahi (3 to 5 lbs), then stopped at one of the humps and caught a 20 lb almaco jack. After that Dean wanted to put his time in for a swordfish, so the Florida Swordfish Charter began. We ran out another 15 miles, sent a bait to the bottom, and starting drifting. We drifted for an hour then checked the bait, it was a little chewed up, but not by swordfish. I told him not to get discouraged, we still had plenty of time. We ran back, sent a fresh bait to the bottom, and after about 10 minutes I saw a bite. Dean started winding, the weight broke off, and the fish raced for the surface. After about 25 minutes of winding, the swordfish broke water, and made a spectacular jump. I told him it was a big fish, somewhere between 300-400 lbs. We get the fish near the boat, but something is wrong, the bait and hook are twisted up in the line right at the rod tip, and the fish is still 40 feet away!... The sword had attacked one of the LP LIGHTS! She just had the leader wrapped up around her bill! The fish swims a few circles around the boat, and then heads to the bottom. We were in 1600' of water, but the fish gets a big belly in the line, and manages to take off a total of 2500'! The fish drowns after an hour, and we could feel dead weight. We start inching the big fish up, and after a total fight of 4 hours, we sink the gaffs into her. The fish had a lower jaw fork length of 103''! Great job Dean! Congrats on your first Broadbill Swordfish! We steam for the dock, make the call to fire up the forklift, and up comes the big sword. The fish weighed in at 450 lbs! It's one of the biggest swordfish ever caught in the Florida Keys on rod and reel!