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We headed out Saturday morning and were greeted with great fishing conditions. We had blue water and North current and a good breeze. I joked and said that these looked like great sailfish conditions, and although sailfish didn�t count, we would probably catch 10 sails that day. I wasn�t that far off as our first bait in the water turned out to be a sailfish. My daughter grabbed the rod and I was amazed at how well she handled this fish. Soon after, we were into fish practically all day. We ended up catching 8 out of 11 sailfish, a boatload of dolphin, a few kingfish, a cobia and a small balckfin tuna. Most importantly we got to fish with our kids and I watched my daughter enjoy what I enjoy the most � catching fish. We watched together in amazement as acres of flying fish were getting torn up by sailfish and dolphin. We watched sailfish up under the kite baits and I watched my daughter catch fish after fish.
With lines out at 4:00pm, we headed back to the dock proudly displaying our 8 sailfish flags. The tournament was structured for only 3 fish per species for top team and only one fish per species for top captain. Most of our fish were in the 10 � 20 pound range and we heard of plenty of big dolphin caught that day, so we weren�t really thinking about being on the leader board. Much to our surprise, we were the only ones who caught a cobia and a tuna and along with our dolphin and kingfish, we won 2nd place. Most importantly, my daughter won 2nd place Junior Angler. I was so proud of her as she accepted her trophy. The top prize was for Top Captain, and I thought for sure that the angler who caught a 46 pound dolphin was going to win. Right before the trophy was announced, my daughter whispered to me that she hopes I win it because I worked hard all day putting them on fish and that I was a great Dad. At that point the trophy didn�t matter as I already got my reward. That being said, I won the trophy beating out the 2nd place Captain by 0.6 pounds.
Fishing with your kids is a great experience and one that should be done often. Brittany and I are already planning our next trip. Now is the time that you should be planning a trip with your kids as well!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos