Fishing Reports
Sailfish Season Starting Strong!
Report Date: November 17, 2009
It’s been two weeks since my last report. The first week consisted of extremely windy weather which kept us at the dock for a week. During that time we rebuilt all our sailfish gear, made plenty of leaders and got ready for a great sailfish season. We lost some trips and were able to reschedule some. The following week, the wind died down enough to get us back out on the water. Our first trip was a daytime sword trip. Unfortunately the swordfishing is still slow. We did manage to get two bites but didn’t have any success with the hook ups. The following day we had another daytime sword trip, but the wind kept us from fishing. With the same group on board, the next day we dedicated to kite fishing on the edge for sails. It was a good Plan B as we hooked 11 sailfish that day and landed 9 of them. Besides the sailfish were also dolphin, kingfish and a few big bonitas. It was an awesome day with lots of great hookups including a few double headers. The next day we stayed with the sailfish plan. The wind had died down some as did the current, and everyone was trying really hard to find some fish. We were extremely lucky and ended up being in the right spot at the right time. We caught 7 out of 8 sailfish that morning. In the afternoon, the bite slowed down and we ended up catching some skipjack tunas and a few bonitas. The same customers were with us and they had a great day as they hooked, landed and had there hands in on the action all day. Our final day, we tried daytime swordfishing again, but still no luck. We had one brief hookup, but that was it.
Today we had some repeat clients out for a daytime swordfish trip. Although I repeatedly warned them of how slow the swordfishing has been, they still wanted to go. We headed out and about half way through the day we were hooked up. By the fight and the way the fish reacts, I knew it was a decent swordfish. We hooked her in 1700 ft of water and after 20 minutes or so; we had her on the leader. She rose up and jumped in the daylight and showed us almost her entire body. I would put her at around 300 pounds. She was a very fat fish with some girth to her. What stood out though was her big eye that looked like she was staring directly at us. With that said, right after her jump she swam straight to the boat and wouldn’t you know it, but the hook pulled. I have no idea where she was hooked, but when we got the bait back to the boat, the bait looked like it was never touched. The leader was not frayed or chafed. Who knows where she was hooked, and although we didn’t boat her, we got to the leader and saw a magnificent jump out of her. That was it for the rest of the day.
We are definitely in sailfish season now and this has been the best November that I can recall. I really think it is going to be a great year for sailfish. Now is the time of year to book for the upcoming winter season. We already have charters booked but still have plenty of dates. Give me a call and let’s set it up.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Dean Panos