November 27, 2004 - Thanks For the Nights

[Captain Bouncer]

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We all have things to be thankful for. Among those things I am most thankful for are my family, friends and clients. THANK YOU one and all.

We can be thankful for our evening trips this week. We fished with 3 generations of Bates on Monday night and the youngest, Russ caught a beautiful 66 inch fork length swordfish.

Russ Bates caught a great swordfish


That’s a nine foot battling gladiator. Both the swordfish and Russ were extra tough in that battle.

Tuesday night I fished with Mike Walsh. He had a surprise visit from his mom, so she joined us on an evening tarpon trip. The action was great. We left the dock after 5, caught 2 out of 4 tarpon jumped, plus a ladyfish and a jack and were back at the dock by 7:30 with both anglers worn out and ready for a nice dinner at Monty’s.

Friday night it was back out for swordfish with John Wierman and birthday boy Ed North from South Carolina. Ed got us off to a great start with a awesome 67 inch fork length swordfish. That’s another nine foot beast of a warrior.

Ed North caught his birthday gift


John was not quite so lucky as his swordfish came right to the boat and then ran off several hundred yards of line before the hook pulled.

For those trying for the swords, all three fish this week ate a green lighted bait set around 150 feet below the surface. That is the bait closest to the Hydro Glow light.

Now about those day trips. What a slump! 3 days of fly fishing in the Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament and we caught 2 blue runners. Raised 3 sails, but none that would eat chicken feathers. 2 day trips with great guest produced a couple barracudas, a couple mackerel, a big amberjack and a couple missed sailfish. We did have one very good day trip. It was a Thanksgiving morning family trip with my nephew from Germany, another nephew from here in town and two brother-in-laws. We had a ball with 2 out of 3 tarpon, a bunch of blue runners and several big Spanish mackerel.

We only have 5 or 6 dates left in December and the winter book is filling fast. Let’s plan that dream trip soon. E-mail me at capt.bouncer@att.net and we can set up your trip on Bouncer’s Dusky 33.