Fishing Reports
New Boat - New Year
Report Date: January 27, 2019
Sorry for the long delay between reports but a lot has been going on. To start, we got our new 2019 SeaVee 370Z. This new boat has a lot in common with our older 37 SeaVee but with some hidden and additional features to make it an even better fishing machine. We still have the tower, but have upgraded electronics, and an additional livewell, new Aquatraction decking on the entire floor and hatches, new Gemlux outrigger and bases, the new Mercury 300 V-8 outboards, and a whole bunch more features. The new motors from Mercury are incredible and the new decking from Aquatraction is not only beautiful, but it is also so functional (you will not slip on this) and is very easy to clean. The boat is simply amazing and in the first two and a half weeks we already put 100 hours on the motors and are almost to our second 100 hours. That means one thing, we have been fishing quite a bit.
We did a trip to Bimini over the holidays and we did catch some wahoos and also did extremely well with deep dropping for snappers. It was a fun filled three days with great people and everyone had a blast.
On this side we have been mostly kitefishing for sailfish, and although we have been catching anywhere from 1 to 4 sailfish per trip, the sailfish season so far is not in full swing. We have not seen the double digit days yet, but it will not be long as there have been plenty of sailfish up to the north that are making their way down with every cold front. Luckily we have been getting one to two cold fronts per week, so the main body of fish should show up at any time.
Besides sailfish, we have seen a consistent bite from mahis while kitefishing for sailfish. The mahis have been decent size for 10 to 20 pounds and always a welcomed addition in between sailfish bites. There have also been a few blackfin tunas and they have been anywhere from 5 pounds to 25 pounds. This is good to see as the main blackfin tuna season is not usually until Late March through June. Since we are on the subject of tunas, just a few days ago we hooked two huge bluefin tunas on our kite baits. One of the bluefins ate the bait 15 feet behind the boat as we were letting out the kite. What an incredible sight to see a 500-pound fish eat a bait so close to the transom. Since we were fishing 30 pound leader and 20 pound mainline, the fight didn't last very long but it was impressive to see.
Daytime swordfishing was also on fire last week. I was unfortunate to have missed it completely as I was up in Palm Beach that week, but the boats in Miami that went were getting 3 to 5 fish per day and some decent size ones as well. The weather since that bite has been on the bumpy side so nobody has gone back out, but I am really hoping they are still around so we can give it a try.
January is almost over and February’s schedule looks about ¾ full, which means we still have a few dates open and I can bet you that the sailfishing will be very good in February. So get out of the cold or if you are local come enjoy some of the great winter fishing Miami has to offer.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos