January 1, 2004 -New Year Report

[hannaman]

January 1, 2004

New Year Report

Our morning trips have been outstanding with plenty of action to keep you thrilled. There has been a hot Kingfish bite all week with fish as big as 30 pounds ating live bait. We have been getting the best results from large Pilchards bought from Rays Live Bait as we head out of the inlet. Kingfish are always auxillarating as they peel line off the reel. One customer said to me, "How do I stop him"? I said, you don't, just wait till he slows down and then start cranking as fast as you can. Dean Henderson from ohio caught a whopping 30 pound Kingfish on a live Pilchard that screamed the reels drag as fast as 25 mph. That will get your adrenaline going.

Sailfish have been around, but not as much as the Kingfish. The Kings are beating them to the bait it seems. It's always nice to see a Sailfish come up on the kite bait and swim off with it without a clue of what is going to happen next. The Dolphin have been showing up in pretty good numbers on the easterly winds, mostly schoolie size which are the the perfect table fare.

The evening trips are hot if you can find that window of weather opportunity to fish. This week of the new year is a great week since the weather is cooperating with winds basically less than 10 knots from the east to southeast and seas at 2 feet. On the average we are getting 2-3 shots at 100 pound plus fish on each outing. Until you hear the sound of a clicker go off on a Tiagra 50 wide coming off a Sword bite 300 feet down , you haven't heard nothing yet!

Till next Tide,
Captain Cary Hanna