Fishing Report -- 07-11-15

Lin & Ollie were on board again to try and get a shot at the last chance Tarpon as they get out of here. This time we didn’t even see a Tarpon to target so gave up on that caught some live baits and went Snook fishing. The Snook bite was pretty decent with some nice sized Snook caught along with a bunch of the smaller male fish. Once the Snook bite slowed with pushed offshore a little way to see what was happening out there. Got some Blue Runners and Jacks and then Ollie hooked into and landed a really nice Kingfish, just to add a little variety to the day. The action was spread out throughout the day, they had to work at it but ended up getting some nice size Snook, Jacks, ladyfish, blue runners and Kingfish.

     

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Fishing Report -- 07-09-15

Today was a night trip for Snook with Lin & Ollie. The trip started catching live mullet and then moving to the inlet. The tide was already outgoing when we started fishing and it was about 6.30 pm. We were marking fish but just not getting any bites, it look till sundown until the bite finally got going but once it was it was game on with every baits doing down getting eaten pretty quickly. We started with the smaller fish but as the night progressed the bigger ladies moved in and were a lot of fun. Overall I think about 15 or so Snook and one Grouper were landed before we ran out of bait. We had to wait it out but the bite finally turned on and yielded some nice size Snook.      

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Fishing Report -- 07-04-15

The Hall fishing team of Lin & Ollie were on board today. The day started looking for Tarpon but no luck with hooking up, we saw a few but didn’t get any really good shots. Giving up on the Tarpon we went to catch bait and noticed there were tons of Bonitos cruising around the bait. There was a nasty storm over land so we opted to stay off shore a little and have some fun with the Bonitos until the storm passed, and fun we had. Baits didn’t last long before getting crushed. Then the hunters became the hunted as the sharks decided to get in on the action and were chasing down the hooked Bonitos. It’s quite eye opening to see how fast a giant Bull Shark can move when it’s chasing down a Bonito, a little scary too! Next predator to feast on the Bonitos was a Goliath Grouper which came up right under the boat and swallowed a whole Bonito like it was an M&M, that too is an eye opener. Once the arms were aching and enough Bonitos were caught we moved into the inlet to see what the Snook bite was doing. Unfortunately it was only so so. They got a bunch of smaller fish but the nice big girls seemed to elude us today. We plan to target the Snook a few days next week, hopefully the bigger girls will be more cooperative. 

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 06-20-15

Today was a family trip for Joe, Nicole, Andrew & Katie. Andrew is 9 and Katie 6 and I believe it was their first ocean fishing trip. We figured it may be a short trip as we didn’t know how well everyone would do in the ocean. The ocean had a little bump on it from the windy evening before and conditions weren’t quite a flat calm as they could have been however pretty decent none the less. The start was a little slow as nothing was really showing any interest in the baits. Andrew caught a Remora just because there was not much else going on and it was good experience for him to at least hook a reel in something. He did a great job by hooking and landing the fish himself. Next Katie hooked into a Bonito just the right size for her, Goldilocks, not too big, not too small, just right. Dad got to help getting the fish on board but Katie wasn’t quite ready to have her picture taken that close to a fish just yet. While we were landing that fish the big rod went off and Joe was hooked into a Sailfish. It was a very slow and gentle bite but once the fish got going it really put on a nice show dancing around the boat. Joe had it on for about 15 minutes and the leader chaffed through. The Sailfish must have gotten wrapped up in the leader or something weird. None the less Nicole got some great action shots. Right after the excitement of the Sailfish died down the motion of the ocean began to take its toll and it was time to come in before breakfast made a showing. We were out for just over an hour and both kids got to catch their first ocean fish and dad got to fight a Sailfish as his Father’s Day treat. Seeing that it was still early and I still had live bait left I called my wife and we went back out. It was really quiet on the fish front but she did get one nice Blackfin Tuna. Not a lot of bites today but some quality fish. Perhaps the fish were off celebrating Father’s Day weekend and were too busy to come and play with us.

     

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 06-13-15

The Double Trouble brother team of Glenn & Craig we onboard today for their annual duel to claim the title of ‘Sabiki King’. With the wind having blown through the night and still strong in the morning I had my doubts as to if we were even going to be able to get into the ocean for the challenge. We found out that the bait guy did not catch bait so with no bait to buy we had to make the trip out into the rough stuff to try get live bait, no bait – no fish. We donned our rain gear and headed out. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be but it was pretty rough and definitely wet, not like sprinkle wet, more like fully submerged wet. Fortunately we were able to reach the bait and the Sabiki challenge was underway. When it was all said and done I’d have to say the number of fish boated by Glenn & Craig were about even however Craig definitely had the edge in the “not tangling the Sabiki” category and seeing that Sabikis cost the captain money this category is heavily weighted and made Craig the clear winner and wearer of the crown for 2015. With the live wells stocked it was time to go and attempt to transform the smaller fish into larger fish. Craig was the first to perform his magic and turned his threadfin into a slot size Snook. He then copperfielded another threadfin into an even bigger Snook, a nice slob that gave a good fight and got the blood really pumping. After this fish the bite was very slow so we started moving around a bunch trying to find the fish. Each spot we went to only offered up one or two fish and then we had to move on. Not sure where all the fish went today however the numbers of fish were just not there. We kept moving and moving until we hit the honey hole where the big honey’s were holding. Three pilchards were transformed into three really nice 20+ lb fish here, with one more slob breaking off. One more slot size fish was landed in this spot before the action shut down and it was back to bouncing around picking away at the fish again. The unusual catch of the day was Craig’s Morey eel. What makes this very strange is that we saw a few Morey eels just swimming along a beach area in the intracoastal. They typically want to be near structure and in their hole, not sure what had them all out swimming around today. Craig was pretty impressed with his catch, the captain was less so as eels tangle up the line and this captain is definitely not handling a nasty green snake like creature. I was tempted to strip Craig of his title of Sabiki King for this nasty catch however the jury’s verdict was that the Sabiki challenge had ended and was a completely separate event. I awarded Glenn the title of “least nasty catch catcher”. At the end of the day although we didn’t catch the numbers of Snook expected (we landed about 15 or so) the four slobs caught (two each) definitely made up for it. Good job guys, congrats to Craig in winning the title this year, cherish it while you have it as I’m sure Glenn will be making at hard run at it next year.    

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 06-06-15

Giovanni & Anita were on board today for a fly fishing trip. This was their introduction to saltwater fly fishing and I have to say they brought some serious mojo with them from Canada to overcome the curse of the full moon. Full moon was only a few days ago which typically means tough daytime fishing, not for these guys though. It’s June and we had a beautiful calm morning so we started the day looking for Tarpon. It started out by us just finding single fish here and there but finally we came across a nice size school of happy fish and within a few minutes Giovanni was hooked up to a really nice Tarpon. He had the fish on a 10 wt and it took quite a while to get the fish to the leader, however it just wasn’t going to give up to allow us to get our hands on it. We eventually cranked down the drag and ended up pulling the hook. We got a bunch of video but didn’t get any stills of the fish in the water, only the picture of Giovanni with fly rod bent flashing the “I’m hooked up to my first Tarpon” smile. After the tussle with Timmy the Tarpon it was time to head offshore and mess with Barry the Bonito. That action was pretty hot too with Anita & Giovanni getting all the action they wanted. The big sharks were lurking around too but we only lost 2 fish to the tax man. Anita got to see a surface attack on one of her fish, quite something to see. All too soon it was time to head back to the dock and for Giovanni & Anita to hit the road to catch their flight back to Canada. What a fantastic start to their saltwater fly fishing adventures, of which I am sure there will be many more to come. Great job guys.   

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 06-03-15

Anthony, Gina, Julio and Peggy joined me for a night trip Snook fishing. Fortunately we had some live shrimp for bait and very fortunately were are able to net some live mullet. Julio started off by getting a nice Snook on a live mullet right before sunset. Julio’s first big Snook. Peggy also got her first Snook, just the right size for a young lady. Gina got into the action with a few medium sized Snook. Anthony however brought out the big guns and landed the two biggest Snook using live mullet. At the end of the night we put out the last mullet we had, a giant that I had to wrestle just to get on the hook. I really didn’t think we were going to get bit on this bait, however Anthony and Julio were soon hooked up to a monster Snook. It was cooperating for a little while but once it decided it had had enough exercise for the evening it headed under a dock and there was just no stopping it. I really wanted to see the size of the Snook that ate the monster mullet, however it was not meant to be. All in all a great evening’s Snook fishing, keep dreaming about that monster gents, we’ll just have to catch it next time.           

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 05-22-15

Spencer joined me for a night trip fly fishing for Snook. This time of year night fly fishing for Snook is one of the best charters for fly fishermen to do as our chum baits have not yet shown and windy conditions can make the daytime fly fishing very challenging. At night the Snook are concentrated around the lights and are typically pretty cooperative. We started fishing right at the tide change and things were a little slow until the tide got moving good. The first few docks we hit had some non-cooperative fish so you just keep moving until you find where the action is. I was pleasantly surprised that Spencer had understated his fly casting ability and once we found the docks that were holding the hungry fish Spencer was able to go to town on them. I think the count was around 10 or 11 Snook landed. The big fish of the night was hooked right under a dock and the inevitable happened with the Snook wrapping around the pylon like it was May pole. None the less great weather, good fly angling skills and cooperative fish all combined for an awesome night of catching.  
        

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Fishing Report -- 05-16-15

Enrique was onboard today with hopes of doing some fly fishing. Unfortunately as often happens when you have your heart set on fly fishing the wind blew through the night chopping up the ocean pretty good. First thing in the morning we hit some docks and only got a small Jack and a Blue Runner on fly. The ocean was pretty chopped up but Enrique was up for trying to get a Kingfish spot that isn’t too far from the inlet. It’s mid May and there should be Kings available. Unfortunately the Kings were a no show but Enrique got a nice big Bonito and two Blacktip Sharks using bait. We headed back to the inlet to mess with the Snook. Surprisingly enough it was fishable on the beach and Enrique was soon sight casting Snook with the fly. These were not the big summertime girls and should have been way more co-operative than they were. We even saw a decent amount of big Jacks go by that would not even chase a popper, one of those days. Eventually Enrique packed in the fly rod and switched to bait to catch some Snook. It turned out to be a beautiful day on the water, if the Snook had cooperated more on the fly it would have been perfect. We’ll have to reserve perfect for next trip.

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 04-11-15

Today was fly fishing only with Ryan. It was a week after the full moon but you wouldn’t think so. The fish that we did find were acting really really kooky. The ocean was a still a little lumpy from the windy day before but calm enough to take somewhat of a gamble and make a long run. We were up in Stuart and were hoping to see some leftover Spanish Mackerel, left over Spinner Sharks and the Jack Crevalles which should be schooled up this time of the year. Well the fish that we did find were nothing spectacular and were behaving extremely weird. The Spanish Mackerel would not come into the chum and the Sharks were also acting somewhat disinterested in the fly. Persistence paid off by Ryan landing a decent side shark on fly. This was the weirdest bite I have ever had on the fly and then the shark didn’t even run into the backing, something that has never happened to me. Even small sharks get you well into the backing, this was a good 70+ lb shark and didn’t run very far at all, too bizarre. With the 14wt fly rod Ryan worked the shark to the boat in about 10 minutes and we were able to remove the fly and release the shark. Truly the weirdest shark catch on fly I’ve seen, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised as the other fish were not behaving as they should either. Ryan did manage to get a Spanish Mackerel and Blue Runner to finally eat the fly. On the way back we only saw one school of 30 lb Jacks that were moving fast and did not eat the fly.  As goofy as the fish were behaving at the end of the trip though Ryan had caught his biggest fish on fly by a long ways, so I suppose we cannot complain too much about that.

         

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com

Fishing Report -- 04-04-15

Michael, Oliver and Aidan were in town and joined me for a quick morning trip. It was full moon which is typically the kiss of death for fishing in this area. We started fishing inside which was really slow with Oliver starting things off by catching a Jack but that was it. Fortunately the ocean had calmed enough to get out so we decided to go on the hunt for the Spinner Sharks. This year the main concentration of the sharks left early but we managed to find a few stragglers. It wasn’t long before we had the first bite, unfortunately this resulted on a broken leader, weird but sometimes strange stuff happens. Next shark hooked was a jumper and broke the wire after a few jumps. Next shark was also a jumper and broke the leader and so it went until Michael and Oliver finally tag teamed a shark into submission and landed it, I think we must have had six sharks on before the first one was landed. Next was Oliver’s turn to pull on and land his shark. Just one of those weird days on the sharks where they are jumping a lot and causing all sorts of terminal tackle issues. I think the count was 8 hooked and two landed. In between catching the sharks Aidan and Michael were throwing jigs and Michael got a nice Pompano and Aidan got a Blue Runner or two. Thank goodness for the school of sharks we found which saved us from the curse of the full moon.

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com