Posted on 14 Apr 2010 by captainjeff
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George Erat & crew from Maryland patiently enjoyed a beatiful calm morning, everyone looking hard for the bluefins to show, but by mid-day none had been seen, so we ran 10 miles to some good bottom and in three drifts boated our limit of tilefish along with George's 15 lb snowy grouper. We ran back north to where we left from and started working north to where we thought the bluefins had moved and found them moving south from above where we had started......anyway they did not bite our trolled baits on our first few passes, so we switched to throwing plugs on spinning rods....got bites on the plug but we never did land one on the spinning rods but did manage to blow up both of my spinning reels....frustrated we left the pack of boats and worked north to find an unmolested bunch and found several schools of small bluefin waking on top and got three trolling bites out of them, boating one 66 lb fish, and catching & releasing another 60 lb fish (limit of only 1/boat/day).
We did hear of some reports of yellowfins down south, so hopefully more of them show up here directly.

Posted on 12 Apr 2010 by captainjeff
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On Sunday, after a long week of boatyard work, we headed offshore....weather was beautiful, and bluefin tuna were rolling and jumping everywhere but very hard to get a bite out of due to the calm weather and lots of boats. Nevertheless we caught a 50 lb fish we released and boated a 127 lb bluefin that Gregory Edge landed after a 45 minute battle, the biggest fish he has ever caught.

Posted on 01 Apr 2010 by captainjeff
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Today was our first trip of the spring season and the seas were calm and weather great....started the day looking for bluefins which bit yesterday afternoon for a few boats, but none were to be seen....when all was looking bleak, we got covered up by yellowfins, boating 5 out of 7 bites, then caught a double header and then caught 7 out of 10 bites, so Debbie Rosselle and her crew from Florida ended up with 550 lbs of 30-50 lb yellowfin tuna. Debbie showed her skill as a great angler, boating 3 all standing up.
Weather for the weekend looks calm and beautiful and although we have a charter tomarrow, we are open both Saturday and Sunday.....would love to take some folks fishing!!

Posted on 24 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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Left ISLA MUJERES saturday around noon.....trip with Glen, on his F/V Floridian across the Gulf was an adventure.....first hundred miles was fine.....next hundred, which was supposed to be calm was rough, especially during the nite, but 16 knots was not that bad.....the next hundred miles was supposed to be choppy with 20 knot SSE, but wind was 20 knots + SE and there was about a 5-7 ft east swell and was flat out horrible.....12 knots trottle watch till daylight then 15 knot trottle watch till we were 40 miles out of Key West than the last 40 miles it was ok, as we finally got out of the current..... took 19 hours total...... fueled up in Key West and got to Ft Pierce at 11 pm......stayed there the next day so that I could pick up a new used generator......joined a S. Carolina boat, friends of mate Richards and left at 4 AM and ran 360 miles to Charleston yesterday....good weather along the beach.....and today ran to Morehead so Richard could hang out with girlfriend and see his folks.......calm today finally......anyway all is well.....back to Nags Head tomarrow.......
Have a few charters coming up.....will be fishing Sunday, Thursday and Saturday.....sounds like yellowfin tuna are showing up as well as very good bluefin tuna fishing....the bluefins are in the 125-250 class range!

Posted on 15 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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With Captain Peter Wright joining me on the bridge, and Big Eric, Eric, Randy & wife Kathy aboard, and calm seas, we started just offshore of Isla Mujeres, but there was not much sign of fish, so Anthony & I headed up north hoping for one more shot at the larger body of saifish that had been hanging around 35 miles north of the Island.....we found some fish, but they were scattered and not very aggressive.... nevertheless, we did catch 7 saifish out of 12 bites.

Posted on 15 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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Continued northwest wind dirtied the water and slowed fishing up. With Captain Peter Wright as the instructor for Marlin University, and Mike Aparicio, from Mexico, Bob Nettles, from Florida on board we caught 6 sailfish out of only 12 bites. I had a great time however getting Peter to tell tales of his days running boats in Austrailia for grander black marlin.

Posted on 15 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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The day started warm and sunny and calm but at noon a cold front moved thru....blew 25+ out of the northwest and cooled down the air temperture and the fishing......Dave Ferrel, editor of marlin magazine, with students Randy & Kathy Davis from Shreveport, TX, Eric Tanzberger from Huston, TX & Eric Seidelman, from Sorrento, FL caught 11 sailfish out of 19 bites.

Posted on 11 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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Capt. Anthony Mendello, running his F/V Keen M and I have Marlin University booked for today and the next three days with instructors Dave Ferrel, the editor of Marlin Magazine and Capt Peter Wright split between the two boats and 3 students on each boat teaching them the techniques of rigging up for and hooking billfish. We had good action all day, and with Dave aboard coaching Joe, Mike and John we caught 20 sailfish out of 45 bites. That gives Richard Wright & I over 1000 sailfish caught this season, far exceeding my previous best year of 782 sailfish. We still have several days left and fishing is still excellent.

Posted on 10 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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Sam Hardesty and girlfriend Stephanie toughed it out in rough sea conditions, 7-8 ft seas and 25 knot winds....they caught a triple header to start the day, but then things went down hill as at least 8 fish pulled the hook well into the battle.....nevertheless they caught 11 sailfish out of 29 bites in a half day of fishing.

Posted on 09 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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Ran back up north but fish were scattered and Taylor Carson & sons John and Andrew, from Bethel, NC caught 14 out of 22 sailfish bites and one wahoo which we all enjoyed for dinner.

Posted on 09 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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There were five boats fishing this tournament, with three anglers to the boat, and anglers hooking their own fish. We got blown out on Wednesday, but fished the next three days. On Thursday, fishing was slow and Jim Motsko & Dick Mullholand, from Maryland, only caught 7 sailfish out of 18 bites. On Friday we all ran up north looking for a new body of fish and found them with lots of spots of birds on baitballs of sailfish, and Mike Sparco, Matt Farazoto & one other man caught 23 sailfish out of around 60 bites. On the last day, Randy deLeon, who was in the lead, fished along with Ron Martin and Walt Hurley. We went back up north and had great action with the crew combining for 26 sailfish out of around 60 bites, and Randy caught 13 himself to maintain his lead and win the tournament.

Posted on 02 Mar 2010 by captainjeff
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The wind shifted to southeast, and pretty warm water moved in right to the island as did the sailfish.....only 5 miles off the beach we started seeing sailfish jumping in 60-70 feet of water, shallower than we usually fish, but the number of jumpers forced me to stop and it paid off as they got after us right out the gate.....first trolliing bites, than around several balls of bait and then trolling bites the rest of the day....steady action with several bites on every tack....David Botley & crew, from Maine caught 41 sailfish out of 65 or so bites, with a quadruple header, several triple headers and numerous double headers.
We have a day off today, and then the Ocean City Light Tackle Club tournament tomarrow, with 5 boats entered.....hope them guys do a good job hooking fish, cause we now have over 920 sailfish releases since we got here and are close to out goal of 1000.....have 10 days fishing left.

Posted on 28 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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After yesterday and last nights hard northwest wind, the water over fishing grounds was thick and green....we found some better water further south and some fish as well, but not in the concentrations we had been.....nevertheless Greg, Rick, Al & Fred, all from Florida caught 12 sailfish out of 31 bites.....the guys are learning to hook there own fish and did hook most all of what we caught.

Posted on 27 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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Another cold front and 25+ knot winds made for a very uncomfortable day, but Charles Greenberg, from Boca Raton, FL, and crew hung in there and caught 16 sailfish out of 28 bites, and should have had several more as at least 7 or 8 fish pulled hooks well into the fight, unusual for circle hooks.....the guys hooked most all the fish themselves, some around birds and some trolling bites.

Posted on 26 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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Mike Donaldson, from Massachussets & crew Ken, from MA, and Dianne & Larry from New York had a great morning fishing around birds and then trolling bites, catching 18 of 21 before noon, but afternoon fishing slowed dramatically, and at the end of the day they ended up with 20 sailfish out of 26 bites. Dianne not only caught more fish but caught them faster than husband Larry!

Posted on 25 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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We had the day off yesterday, so with Mitchell Bateman & wife Connie from Wanchese, Capt Brian Peele & mate Lucas from the F/V Goombay, boat owner Tris from Ft. Piece, FL, we headed out to find some sails under birds.....found a great bunch right out of the gate, and followed them for 1 1/2 hours with everyone taking turns jumping in and swimming with the ball of bait and sailfish.... there were atleast 150 sailfish around the ball, 20 or more on the surface corralling the 5 ft diameter ball of bait and another 100 + below taking turns chasing escaping bait or charging thru the ball of bait.....UNBELIEVABLE..... even I jumped in as Brian maneuvered the boat..... mate Richard, having the best endurance followed them for 2 miles..... when everyone was exhausted, we set the lines out and caught 8 sailfish real quick and headed home for lunch, just in time beat the hard wind shift as a cold front moved thru and wind increased to 30 knots.....We will be fishing again for 4 days straight starting tomarrow.

Posted on 23 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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Finally a calm day, and Richmond McDaniel, wife Rennie & son Richmond Jr, age 11, Griffin, age 11 & Macy, age 8 were at the boat ready to roll at 6:30....when I saw the age of the crew, I figured maybe a half day and a sail or so apiece and we would be on our way home....but the youngu'uns were tough and outstanding anglers....both Richmond Jr & Griffin caught 6 or 7 apiece unassisted and as quickly as any adult....all three did a great job and combined the family caught 30 sailfish out of 42 bites!

Posted on 21 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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Professor Ian Trayer and wife Barbara, from England have fished down here since the early 90's and even they have never seen better fishing.... we got on the north end of the fleet and found several bunches of frigates on balls of bait, each loaded with sailfish, and they were very cooperative.....I don't know if we made a circle all day without a bite, and by 2PM they had released 51 sailfish and we headed home early, tired and about out of bait....fished maybe 5 bunches all day, with every pass producing 2 or 3 or 4 bites, with trolling bites inbetween bunches or trying to get back to the ball of bait..... never went more than 10 minutes without fish on...... Seems like the number of fish around here has increased in the last week or so, maybe due to the cold weather up north, but whatever, whereas often fishing is slowing down around now, with the limited boat pressure, could be some great March fishing..... still have days open!

Posted on 20 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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Randy Johnson and his crew Peter, Tom & Marty, after a great first day, had even better second and third days....Yesterday we were first boat on the grounds and were lucky to find a ball of bait with hundreds of sailfish around it.....in 4 hours circling it we caught 28 sailfish, even having to move off for half an hour for a local boat.....we then caught 15 more sailfish trolling to give the guys 43 sailfish out of 55 bites.
Today, Randy and crew again caught 43 sailfish out of 76 bites, with some caught around a few balls of bait and most caught in nonstop trolling action, often getting bites before getting the spread out.....and we even saw the sun today for the first tiime in 2 weeks as it has been cold (for here) and cloudy.....but the fishing seems to be getting better, with few boats fishing and fish everywhere..... we have now released well over 700 sailfish!

Posted on 18 Feb 2010 by captainjeff
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We started the day where we left from yesterday and had a sailfish bite before we had the whole spread out.... and pulled the hook on it and 17 of the next 20 sailfish bites we had in the next hour and a half..... got a report of even better action north of us so we ran there and had good action around birds & balls of bait with a scattered trolling bite the rest of the day.....Randy Johnson & crew ended up catching 28 sailfish out of better than 50 bites.