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Captain Dave
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9/24/16 Stuart Offshore - Sails, nice hammerhead, and Maui Jim's
Captain Dave
Posts: 3,392 Captain
My good friend Adam (Kurtinkall) reached out and asked me to tag along with him, his son Alex, and friend Bill to do some sailfishing on his beautiful new 30' Grady "Make It Happen". I was all in and looking forward to getting back offshore.
Before leaving the dock we were able to load the well with a ton of finger mullet to live chum with. Sean (Shoeless) was kind enough to reach out and let me know where to find the threadfin herring as he was out the day before. That was great as we quickly sabiki'd up a few dozen huge threadfins and several big blue runners. Thanks Sean.
We headed east and didn't go very far before we saw a subtle slick in 120' with very little weed on it and dirty water. Regardless, I've been catching all our sails the last few months in dirty water, so that wasn't a deterrent. Adam put us right on em!!! We stopped, I pitched out a threadfin and it swam right down straight into a sailfish's mouth. I kid you not, the bait swam down 30 seconds before being picked up! I came tight and he came up jumping so I immediately passed the rod off to Adam's 12 year old son Alex for him to fight. He did a great job on the rod, and I was lucky to score this father/son image with my I-phone while Adam was on the leader...
After a great fight and a successful release, we were about 1/4 mile from where we hooked up. While looking back up the slick where we first started, I saw a frigate bird circling up high so we ran back to it and immediately tossed some baits out under him. A couple minutes later my spinner started dumping line again so I set up and sail #2 was tight and tearing up the surface. It had been quite a while since I reeled in a sail myself, so I was selfish and enjoyed the ride on a nice new 16 lb class spinning combo that Blackfin Rods just built for me. What great rods with a perfect balance. It's the 4th sail this month we've caught on it and I'm very happy with how they are performing.
We were live chumming with our finger mullet for the next couple hours watching sailfish after sailfish come up on the surface all around the boat and eat our chummers just out of casting range. We finally had a freejumping sail that was to the north of us jumping right towards us heading south. I warned the guys we would probably get bit by him and it appeared my crystal ball was right on that time. Adam hooks up a sail on his beefed up sabiki rod, so that one took some time to catch, but he was patient and did score a successful release. There was a second sail with the hooked fish, but he wouldn't eat a live mullet tossed right in his face.
While I was reaching out to unhook Adam's sail, my Maui Jim's slipped right off my face and into the drink while the boat was in gear. Watching a $225 pair of glasses sink into the wake was not my idea of fun, so I immediately jumped over the transom to try and get them back. Serious luck was on my side when I dove down and was barely able to reach them on time. The guys on the boat were pissing themselves laughing and couldn't believe I got them back. Neither could I, and I was laughing harder than they were. :rotflmao
Back to live chumming, we had more sails still coming up on the surface out of reach picking away at our finger mullet, but we stayed put instead of chasing after each sail sighting. Alex did a great job hooking up and fighting a large hammerhead that came in to check us out a short time later.
It was a very eventful day with a few firsts.
- It was the first time (and hopefully the last) time I had to dive for my glasses
- This was the first time I've seen at least 15+ sailfish feeding right off the surface in a given day
- This was Alex's first ever hammerhead shark
- This was the first time the "Make It Happen" had released three sailfish in a day.
What a blast today with great friends, solid fishing, and tons of laughs. Days like this I'll remember forever.
Before leaving the dock we were able to load the well with a ton of finger mullet to live chum with. Sean (Shoeless) was kind enough to reach out and let me know where to find the threadfin herring as he was out the day before. That was great as we quickly sabiki'd up a few dozen huge threadfins and several big blue runners. Thanks Sean.
We headed east and didn't go very far before we saw a subtle slick in 120' with very little weed on it and dirty water. Regardless, I've been catching all our sails the last few months in dirty water, so that wasn't a deterrent. Adam put us right on em!!! We stopped, I pitched out a threadfin and it swam right down straight into a sailfish's mouth. I kid you not, the bait swam down 30 seconds before being picked up! I came tight and he came up jumping so I immediately passed the rod off to Adam's 12 year old son Alex for him to fight. He did a great job on the rod, and I was lucky to score this father/son image with my I-phone while Adam was on the leader...
After a great fight and a successful release, we were about 1/4 mile from where we hooked up. While looking back up the slick where we first started, I saw a frigate bird circling up high so we ran back to it and immediately tossed some baits out under him. A couple minutes later my spinner started dumping line again so I set up and sail #2 was tight and tearing up the surface. It had been quite a while since I reeled in a sail myself, so I was selfish and enjoyed the ride on a nice new 16 lb class spinning combo that Blackfin Rods just built for me. What great rods with a perfect balance. It's the 4th sail this month we've caught on it and I'm very happy with how they are performing.
We were live chumming with our finger mullet for the next couple hours watching sailfish after sailfish come up on the surface all around the boat and eat our chummers just out of casting range. We finally had a freejumping sail that was to the north of us jumping right towards us heading south. I warned the guys we would probably get bit by him and it appeared my crystal ball was right on that time. Adam hooks up a sail on his beefed up sabiki rod, so that one took some time to catch, but he was patient and did score a successful release. There was a second sail with the hooked fish, but he wouldn't eat a live mullet tossed right in his face.
While I was reaching out to unhook Adam's sail, my Maui Jim's slipped right off my face and into the drink while the boat was in gear. Watching a $225 pair of glasses sink into the wake was not my idea of fun, so I immediately jumped over the transom to try and get them back. Serious luck was on my side when I dove down and was barely able to reach them on time. The guys on the boat were pissing themselves laughing and couldn't believe I got them back. Neither could I, and I was laughing harder than they were. :rotflmao
Back to live chumming, we had more sails still coming up on the surface out of reach picking away at our finger mullet, but we stayed put instead of chasing after each sail sighting. Alex did a great job hooking up and fighting a large hammerhead that came in to check us out a short time later.
It was a very eventful day with a few firsts.
- It was the first time (and hopefully the last) time I had to dive for my glasses
- This was the first time I've seen at least 15+ sailfish feeding right off the surface in a given day
- This was Alex's first ever hammerhead shark
- This was the first time the "Make It Happen" had released three sailfish in a day.
What a blast today with great friends, solid fishing, and tons of laughs. Days like this I'll remember forever.
Your Southeast Florida Real Estate Resource !
www.HomesOfTreasureCoast.com
Search for homes on any mobile device with my FREE MLS SEARCH App !
http://app.kw.com/KW2GYNJDM
Replies
Glad you got your glasses back, I'll admit I laughed reading it, and feel the dread of possibly loosing any gear overboard.
Life begin's as soon as I leave the dock!
X-2
:thumbsup
Pura Vida!
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BONES AND BOOMER. :dog :dog LET'S MAKE EVERY TRIP COUNT
Very nice trip, guys. Y'all slayed them.
The sails have ben THICK in the dirty water, and we'd kill for this good of a bite in winter!
WTG team and thx for report
20 years experience Offshore & Bahamas ( Sailfish, Dolphin, Wahoo, Swordfish & Bottom Fish.)
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Great pics
Great report
You keep saying "Stuart'" but I am convinced we are fishing out of different inlets lol
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:grin The water that has been out on the 6 mile and 8 mile reefs has usually been far from "ideal" in color, but the bait schools are out there in the deep right now and the sails are there with them. The sails have been following the bait regardless of water quality this summer, but the bite seems to be picking up overall the past couple weeks.
Your Southeast Florida Real Estate Resource !
www.HomesOfTreasureCoast.com
Search for homes on any mobile device with my FREE MLS SEARCH App !
http://app.kw.com/KW2GYNJDM
I agree 100% with Dave. Not ideal conditions, but the bait and sails are there.