Venice charter captains invade Miami

[captscott]

The whole week has been a blurr..I guess it began last weekend where we had fair success on tuna and amberjack back home in Louisiana..bad news is the warsaw grouper and the longtail seabass we acquired for the New Orleans Aquarium didnt survive the week but the amberjacks are still ready to fight..think we'll try a fish trap next time bringing it up slowly one atmosphere at a time..if my memory serves me, last weekend the Cabo went Lumping and came home with at least one 50 pound yellowifn each day and everyone had a limit of amberjacks as well..Lance went to test the deep waters coming in with two 80 pound yellowfin and missing what he beleives was a blue marlin..I had two back to back grouper amberjack trips failing on the grouper and finding plenty of jacks..,

It lead into the weeks team building event in Miami we had been trying to do for the last 2 years and finally made it..I have been promising to take the guys on a fishing vacation to show my appreciation for thier years of hard work and helping me build a succesful business..everyone was able to go except Capt. Darryl who is expecting a baby with his wife in the next 2 weeks..anyway, we left as a crew Monday afternoon bound for Miami and three fishing trips we had set up with the Thomas Brothers on the Thomas Flyer and with Capts. Ray Rosher and Alex Castellano on the Miss Britt..Plan was to bag a sail, tarpon and swordfish in two nights and one day of fishing all crammed together with minimal sleep in between a 11 hour drive on each end..on to the fishing..

Night 1 as you would expect was blown out for Swordfish..15-20knt winds was all to familiar for me..but the tarpon bite however was great with 4 bites and 2 releases..Leon had a 50 pounder and I got a 120..We had to wait for the tide to turn and once it did we found the fish..In the mean time everyone else had a ball with the snook catching 1-2 each..Leger was pretty excited about his snook but Lance had the biggest one at 6 pounds..we also passed the time by catching the boat 100 live shrimp using thier dip net..think we'll bring them a casnet next time..... It was more fun to play the annoying customer for a change..we even consdered costuming but forgot the mullet wigs, cowboy boots and Uhal truck with spare coolers..everyone wa thrilled t do soemthing different although it was probably like bull red fishing for a capt and crew..after making it safelty home at 1am we bunked down at the hotel for 3 hour nap and met the Thomas brothers at 6am the next morning..We had a great time..we got to play annoying customer all over again with a few twists involving nudity..winds were 10-15 knots and the sailfish and dolphin were hungry..we tried to explain to Capt. Jimbo that we didnt want any bonita, or kings or dolphin just sailfish..depsite his best effort we only had to deal with 3 kings..The first bite turned into a double and Leon and Sonny took contrl..This was Sonny's first billfish having played captain or wireman 50 some times..He even had us hold his cell phone up to his ear so he could tell his girlfiend about it while it was going on..you know he was having fun as much fun as possible with his clothes on..Leon's fish was about 60 pounds and Sonny's about 50.... I got to hanlde the pole next bite and quickly turned a tag and release on a skinny sail of 40 pounds..the charter bulls were thick keeping Rick busy onthedeck changing up live baits..the final tally was 3 sailfish T/R and eigth 10-15 pound dolphin which went to market..we headed in early leaving us a few hours to stock up for the sword trip..we met Alex andf Jason at 6pm as Ray pulled the "B team - bait and switch again and we were off to meet the Atlantic and a 10 kt breeze..Alex has been on a hot hand and we were glad to have him at the helm..Stopped to top of the live well at the fairway bouy picking up 4 rainbow runners and some hadtails arriving about 1/2 hour before sunset to the G-spot some 15 miles offshore..we all watched as the captain and crew deployed the 6 line spread..mate Jason hadnt even put the live bait on line number 4 when a fish hit the number three..everyone decided that I should go first and without an delay I grabbed the reel handle and started cranking..it was hard to see anything but shortly after the line came tight it shot toward the surface and we could hear and splash off in the distance..this was no shark!..I kept the line tight steadily winding in between the 3 ft swells and in 10 minutes a beatiful eating size swordfish was gaffed and hauled to the deck..it taped out at 48 inches fork to lower jaw and weighed about 40 pounds..dinner for sure! After a quick round of photos we set the lines again and anticipation was high to say the least..I almost felt guilty about taking the first turn thinking there would be many more....we made a total of 5 more drift in the next 6 hours with no more runoffs.conditions deteriorated and wew ere ready to call it but Capt. Alex isnsited on two more drifts..Ilike his tenacity! Still captain ad crew apologized for only producing a single bite but we wouldnt accept any apology..it was a huge success.. in fact when I thought about it.. I personally had a tarpon release and a sail T/R and a caught sword in under 24 hours..just the luck of my turn but a testimony to the resource and captains involved..Leon had a tarpon and sail, snook and dolphin, Sonny and sail snook and dolphin and everyone else with a snook or dolphin..pretty good show for 36 hours of fishing..I can attest to the fact that the fishng in South Florida has definatley turned around in the last few years, and I can recommend two great companies for anyone wanting to go down there to try also..You would be a fool not to consider Miss Britt Charters and Thomas Flyer Charters, they are the top of the heap for sure..we are already planning next years event..Also heading to Grand Isle in the next few minutes to run the 3 trips this weekend..be sure to ask if the ballyhoo are babt sailfish..they like it when you ask that..

As for reality..we have at least one boat open the next few days if anyone else wants to take advantage of 1-2 ft seas..the 36 twin vee is heading to Venice next week and the 32 will stay in Grand Isle for the next few months..Albemarle and Cabo are bound for Seabrook Shipyard and then to Venice for snapper season..cant wait..Paradise Outfitters - 1888-FISHWUS (888-347-4987)