Holiday Season

Report Date: December 8, 2024

Almost Christmas!
Hard to imagine but the end of the year is almost here. The charter boat industry had a rough fall season this year. Whether it was the countless storms and hurricanes that hit Florida (and although they all went to the west coast, it was enough to keep people from visiting Florida), or whether it was the political turmoil with the election, it has been the slowest fall I have experienced in 20 years. Luckily that is all behind us and we are ever so hopeful that this winter business will rebound. Hopefully that’s true as it has been one of the better starts to winter fishing that I have seen in the past few years. Sailfish are already here and in decent numbers. This November we saw and caught a lot of juvenile sailfish which has got to be a good indication of their population and suggest that the next few years will be even better. Now we are seeing more of the adult sailfish and have been consistently catching a few and as many as 7 per trip. Most of the sailfish have been caught on the kite baits and a few on flatlines. It’s hard to imagine but after a lifetime of chasing sailfish, I still get super excited when I see one show up on the baits! We have also had very consistent action with mahis while kite fishing for sailfish. It’s always a bonus when you can catch great eating fish in between your sailfish bites.

Another great start to winter fishing has been the wahoo fishing in the Bahamas. Last year unfortunately we did not have any trips to the Bahamas for high-speed trolling for wahoo. This year we have had four trips already and all the trips were a success. Our best trip we caught 10 wahoo and there is really no sound like the sound of a reel when a wahoo strikes while you are high speed trolling. You are already going at 15 knots when you are trolling, and the speed of a wahoo is estimated to be over 40 mph. Imagine the speed of the line going off the reel at that moment. It sounds like the reel is about to explode. This is a time when you really got to make sure all your tackle is in top notch shape. Crimps, leaders lures, knots all better be perfect! This fishery goes on well into March so get together a crew and let’s go have a blast wahoo fishing in the Bahamas.


Swordfishing has also been outstanding. We have caught a swordfish on every single trip since August except for the last trip. Our last trip we had a swordfish on the bouy rod, but unfortunately the fish came off while fighting it. I was determined to catch one that day and we stayed later that normal and in overtime, we had a swordfish hit the bait 10 times and no matter how we manipulated the bait the swordfish would not commit and eventually after 10 minutes faded off. Besides that, trip though, we were lucky enough to catch one every trip.

As you see fishing is very good, so it is time to book your winter trips. For all my customers from throughout the United States (especially my loyal customers from the NE) that come every year, now is the time to look at your schedules and book your trips. Christmas time is always a busy time of year, and we are fully booked between Christmas and all the way through Jan 9th. I have a few days the week before Christmas so if you are down here for the Holidays, grab those dates before they are gone.
Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year. Hopefully see you soon!

Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos

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