I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and got to spend time with family and friends. Holiday season is always busy for us charter guides but it was great taking families out fishing and catching fish. I was a but under the weather with the flu but my mate Leo took care of one of my trips and we also had a cancellation one day which gave me enough time to rest and recover. Now I am back to normal and ready to get the year started. The fishing on the most part was excellent and we caught sailfish on every trip in the past two weeks. Our best day we caught 8 and our slowest day we caught at least two. We have been lucky enough to have current, some days as much as 3 knots. There has also been a pretty well defined edge although the edge has been pushed out to 300ft. Optimally we want that color edge to be in about 100 feet of water so it rides right along the top of the reef system. Even with the edge out deep, the sailfish still tend to follow it and that is were we have focused much of our attention to. Most of the sailfish have been singles but we did have a few doubleheaders and even some tripleheaders these past two weeks. The ability to hook multiples demonstrates that the fish are starting to move in to our area in good numbers and also shows that we are being patient enough to hook another fish while we are getting tight on the first fish. Catching any sailfish is a blast but hooking two or more just amplifies that.
Besides sailfish, there have also been a few mahis, especially on the deeper side of the edge and there have also been some decent kings in 100 or so feet of water. Along some of the wrecks there have been a few African Pompano, which is something we may try for on tomorrows trip. I have not been swordfishing in the past month but I have gotten solid reports back with some real big fish as well as a few boats getting 2 to 4 shots a day. We do have a swordfishing trip coming up soon so hopefully they continue to bite.
January is about ¾ of the way full although I do have some openings next week. The weather looks like it should be decent all next week as well. Something new for this year, we are starting to get into the world of social media and started a Facebook account at https://www.facebook.com/Double-D-Charters-939289456161008/?skip_nax_wizard=true
And also an Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/doubledcharters/
Click on those links and like us. Eventually I’ll have them added to the website to make it easier to follow.
P.S. I was just informed that I won The Billfish Foundation Award for Top Release Captain – Atlantic Sailfish. This is the second year in a row and it could not have been done without all my amazing clients. Thanks for giving me the opportunity!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos