Cape Coral - Fort Myers - Sanibel
|
RSS Feed
|
Today's charter was great, getting out on the boat today with Shipley, Richard and Patrick. Richard and Patrick are Marines who just finished their basic, and are off for the weekend. Thank you for your service gentleman.
The guys were staying on Ft Myers Beach, so we headed offshore to go play tug of war with some grouper. On the run out, lots of bait schools moving around with some flipping up on top. We picked up about 2 dozen Spanish sardines to go along with the the dozen or so horse pilchards I picked up at A span. (Bait was tough this morning). Our first drops were some lane and vermillion snapper. We put a few in the box ad continued out. The next stop resulted in a great bite, with all 6 of our keeper grouper going into the box (3 man limit, 2 per person). We lost the tug of war to a few BIG girls, but we also landed a few of them with the biggest at 30.5 inches. We moved out a bit deeper and found some good sized lanes and vermillion to add to the box. An american red was caught as well. They will come home in just a few short days from now (season open June 1st-3rd recreational...I can fish them till July 19th) With plenty of meat, we tried running to a deep wreck but there was already someone sitting directly on top of it. We began working back in and made a stop at the Fantastico. Lots of boats in the area, and ran into a buddy of mine out there as well. We hooked into a few BIG bottom dwellers that evaded us and got into the wreck. The cudas wanted to play with the flat line but kept short striking, biting thru the leader, and even bit above the metal leader twice. With a long run back, we called it a day and enjoyed a nice ride home. We were greeted a few times by dolphins who wanted to play. Weather is supposed to be good the next few days l.. get out and fish! Headed out with a 4 man crew to look for some grouper meat. We pushed off the dock a little after 5AM making our way downriver from the cape coral yacht club and out thru redfish pass. We witnessed a beautiful sunrise as we cruised towards the fishing grounds thru 2-3 ft seas. Our first stop showed good marks on the sounder. We dropped down the small spinners with small baits and immediately were pulling up lane snapper. One by one the anglers swapped out for the bigger rods and bigger baits, and it became a methodical pick of keeper grouper. We managed 6 keepers over the coarse of the drifts before moving on to another area. One short drift resulted in the two biggest grouper of the day, the biggest just shy of 30". We moved on to see if we could find some alternative species to bend a rod. We tryed for amberjacks, but they just werent in the eating mood with the sun high in the air. We did get a 10-15 lb barracuda to join the party, which was quickly released after being landed. We moved back in a little shallower and played with the snapper a bit before deciding to head on home. Lots of smiles and good times were had, and the boys went home with lots of meat for several meals. Look forward to having you guys out again.
Tuesday took out my intl crew Kevin Mayo Nally Bill, trevor, Andre and Jane for their second charter to look for some more rod bending action. We certainly found it today. Target was primarily AJs, with a secondary focus on something big off the bottom.
We made it out to a wreck in 100 ft of water and immediately were hooking up and catching AJs on top water poppers and livebaits. The action continued thru the day with many AJs and barracuda making their way to the boat. We shifted focus to getting something large. We anchored up current of the wreck and put down big baits. First bait down gets eaten and after a few minutes the shark chewed thru the steel cable, likely a large bullshark. Second bait down is again eaten, this time running towards the wreck. Break off. Goliath grouper.... third bait, same results. In between the big bait, we had the opportunity to see not 1, but two whale sharks! What big and amazing creatures. They swam right under our boat. After a few quick shots, we rigged up for a 4th attempt at the big nasty down below. This time we would use the boat's forward momentum to assist in getting out from the wreck. Once hooked up, we pulled anchor and the battle ensued. On a 7 ft star rod and Penn 4/0, we had a roughly 15-20 minute battle before our fish surfaced. A Goliath measuring in at 77" estimated 300-325 lbs! Some quick photos were taken before the fish swam back down to its lair. We began our run back in and made one quick drift over an area we marked in 75 ft which produced a few BIG hits that bent our hooks, and put a keeper size grouper in the boat. A fantastic overall day on the water with some folks who truly appreciate our fishery. Had my international crew from 3 different continents join me for a deep sea adventure. Primary focus was amberjack. We headed out and picked up some bait with the sabiki rods, and continued our way out to 95 ft of water. Immediately we were greeted by a giant school of hungry fish. Our first hook up was fighting fantastic till the line went slack..... Bill reels in nothing but the head of an amberjack, with a 6-7 ft hammerhead shark in hot pursuit! He circled the boat a few times before sounding down to the wreck.
We continued to hook up with ajs with both live baits and artificials. Large poppers were the hot ticket with the ajs chasing in hot pursuit to outdo the other. A 4 ft bull shark was caught on the vertical jig. We picked up a dozen or so edibles for dinner with a quick stop made up of yellowtail snapper, lane snapper and porgies. A legal kingfish was also added to the box by Andre who casted a small spoon to some fish who were working a baitschool on the way out. A great day with a great crew. |
Archives
January 2026
|