March 21, 2004

[Captain Bouncer]

Windy Fish

Well it has been a week to remember. The wind blew and then it blew some more. Luckily we were fishing with some tough anglers. Paul and Kathy Herman fished with us for 5 days. The first day it was blowing so hard we stayed in the bay. We caught some good sized jacks in a canal as well as enjoying some sightings of nesting night herons. This was the first time I ever had a conflict with a great blue heron. He repeatedly attacked our live bait, and even tried our surface plug once. A couple ladyfish gave us some action in the bay.

At 3 PM I was worried about finding some action to fill the final 3 hours of our day. The tarpon rescued me. Fishing live shrimp at Government Cut we caught 5 out of 6 tarpon that struck over the next 3 hours. They ranged from 60 to over 80 pounds and saved the day.

The next day was a little calmer and the dolphin fish made the day with fish averaging about 8 pounds coming frequently to the live herring under our kite. We closed this day with a sailfish. Even fishing an extra hour failed to allow Kathy to catch a grand slam as both her tarpon threw the hook and got away.

Day 3 was hot. 4 out of 6 sailfish raised were brought to boat side and released along with several dolphin, cero mackerel, barracuda and bonito. Once again an extra hour saw two tarpon get away.

Day 4 was slow. We caught a sail early in the day and then the wind and current quit. Bottom fishing did not produce, deep water live baiting was a flop and a ship cut off Kathy’s tarpon after an hour of hard fight.

Days 5 was high winds and loads of dolphin for most of the day. Sail were being caught, but the ones we saw came to the baits and swam away. Paul and Kathy were a pleasure to fish with and I hope they come back and get their grand slam next year.

The Lapnow boys fished with us the last two days. Dad was acting as coach as Taylor (9) caught a sailfish, a 30 pound cow dolphin and 60 pound tarpon along with some smaller dolphin, a skipjack tuna and king mackerel. Cody (11) caught a 15 pound dolphin, 8 pound mutton snapper, some smaller dolphin and a king. In the bay they caught several ladyfish, 2 flounder and a pompano. In the final hour of their trip, Cody scored big with a 80 pound tarpon, while Taylor closed out their trip with a 12 pound jack crevalle.

If you see us out there on Bouncer’s Dusky 33 say hello. Or we will see you at the kingfish and tuna catching seminar at Dusky Sport Center on March 23rd at 6 PM. Guest experts will be from Penn Reels, Strip teasers and Evinrude. Call 954-922-8890 for further information