Host, Cyril Chauquet, with one of the few monsters they got onto the boat while filming in Panama.
September 10, 2020
By Florida Sportsman
Recent fishing reports from the Bahamas and tropics.
Discovery Channel's Chasing Monsters in Panama
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
Check out the short promo video Cyril Chauquet from the Discovery Channel show
Chasing Monsters made for us from his recent visit here to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge.
Host, Cyril Chauquet, with one of the few monsters they got onto the boat while filming in Panama.
A little closer to home in this video, the
Chasing Monsters crew fishes off the coast of Florida for big toothy barracuda.
https://youtu.be/Aua-OYogdAY
Catch snips of monster chasing action on the
CHASING MONSTERS YouTube page here , or catch full episodes of
Chasing Monsters on Netflix or the Discovery Channel. To see more reports from Panama, check out the
Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge YouTube page .
Click here to see the forum report from Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge.
Sea of Cortez Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Randy Richter
We caught good numbers of roosterfish and will never forget them chasing the fly and pushing that comb up. I won a battle with a big pargo and lost quite a few other battles with them. We cast to breezing schools of black skipjack that did their best to pull our arms off. Between my wife and I, we caught 22 species of fish and have pictures of quite a few.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Costa Rica Mahi and Sailfish
Florida Sportsman member: pje
We found a submerged tree that was covered in mahi and had five or six on at once. Even Chris was fighting one from the bridge. In the first 90 minutes we kept eleven and cut off a lot more as well as 2/3 on sailfish. As the day went on we released a bunch more mahi and went 6/9 on sails. The second day we got into more mahi and some sailfish. On the third day, we only got a few mahi and a sail. Overall, it was a great trip.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bimini Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: catchemup
We did spend a little time deep dropping one day and got a mixed bag of yellow eye snapper, blackfin snapper, and a small blueline tilefish in 550' - 850'. We got one very nice yellow eye snapper that was in the three to four pound range, a real beauty for this diminutive species. All in all an enjoyable trip, but the lack of wahoo was disappointing.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Gynormous Lobster
Florida Sportsman member: CNTDR
We went lobstering and deep dropping in Grand Harbor last Wednesday and hit the Mother lode.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Fly Fishing West End
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
It doesn't get much better than fly fishing in the tropics, check out some of Docked Wages wade fishing pictures from out of the country this past month.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Exploring Panama
Florida Sportsman member: Alleni
This wasn't my first trip to Panama, but I decided to change it up and book a lodge for this year and it was well worth it. We stay at Panama Sport Fishing Lodge and fished out of Boca Chica for three days. The main target was yellowfin tuna, but many in our group were able to cross some bucket list fish, including cubera snapper and roosterfish. I made new friends and have some great stories to share. The employees at the lodge were exceptional and the captain and mate were very knowledgeable. Overall, an awesome adventure, looking forward to more in the future.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Fishing in the Tropics
Florida Sportsman member: StayinLazy & pje
As usual, exploring the tropics is a fisherman's paradise. On a recent trip to the Bahamas StayinLazy and his partner explored Bimini, where they found happy triggerfish and dolphin. They ended their trip by swimming with some friendly de-barbed sting rays. Forum member pje decided on a venturing a bit father in Costa Rica and Panama for a week in May. Their fishing proved to be much more exciting. Battles with big bulls and billfish was the theme of the trip. For more details and amazing photos, check out the reports below.
Click here to see StayinLazy's Bimini report.
Click here to see pje's Costa Rica & Panama report.
Mahi Madness
Florida Sportsman member: CNTDR
We only saw a couple of flocks, unfortunately they were moving fast and never slowed down. We then spotted a frigate, on the radar, he was on deck and flying fish were everywhere. As soon as we deployed a couple of ballyhoo, we were hooked up. We boated a 15 and a 30 pound mahi. We then continued our hunt for tuna and found a huge east/west weedline that seemed to go on forever. We picked off five mahi on that line and another five off a different line. We left them biting as we had enough "Green Hornets" in the box and headed back home. Even though we didn't catch out targeted species, the weather was awesome and we had a great time!
Click here to see the 4/3 forum report.
Fishing Costa Rica
Florida Sportsman member: pje
On day four the sail bite really picked up. It was non-stop action and we had multiple doubles. We also had a mahi get hooked on two lines. The coolest thing was having a smaller yellowfin tuna alongside the boat for over three hours while we trolled. He was definitely lost and wasn't hungry. We must have caught a half dozen sails and the mahi, all with him shadowing us. We called it a day at 2:30. We went 16/25 sails and landed a couple of mahi. It was an awesome trip and I can't wait to get back again.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bahamas Day Trip
Florida Sportsman member: zh50
I was fortunate to get a call from a buddy to fish on his 37 Freeman for the day. We left Hillsboro inlet, checked in at Bimini, and ran north towards the Isaacs. We picked up four wahoo and a bunch of 'phins in the eight to twelve pound range and three bulls 20-30 pounds. All the wahoo were caught on the back high speed trolling and the mahi were caught in the stream on live pilchards. Awesome day, awesome boat and great people. Can't beat it.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bootle Bay Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: dzank
We then ran north of Memory and ran into a nice bunch of tasty lane snapper, as well as a cero on fly. The next day, we got a nice assortment of snapper, grouper, and hogs north of the Rock and caught a few barracuda for the village. Overall, it was a great trip with good weather.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bimini Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: landshark
We put out the high speed gear for an hour Saturday on the way to the deep drop spot. We got one 30 pound 'hoo in about an hour of trolling. On Monday, we woke up extra early so we could fish before crossing back. We got the spread in around 9am, got one around 10am. The wahoo made for some fire sashimi and sushi.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Dry Tortugas Trip
Florida Sportsman member: Gary M
I went over to my gear, pulled down my seven foot jigging rod with a Penn Torque 200 reel, spooled with high quality 30 pound mono. I grabbed an adequate weight, slid it on the line, tied on a circle hook and baited it with a sardine and dropped it down. It wasn't on the bottom more than 20 seconds and BAM, I was off to the races! I nearly split my face open from the huge smile as we lifted this gorgeous strawberry grouper over the side!
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bimini Bonefish
Florida Sportsman member: probate-r
The weather was hot, but incredibly calm. We managed to muster up some fish on the deep drop, including our first queen snapper, some tuna, and miscellaneous reef fish. The best part of the trip for me was putting my daughter on her first ever bonefish.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Old Bahama Quickie
Florida Sportsman member: e-money
On the first day, we loaded up on some nice yellow eyes and caught some dolphin. We got up early the next day and it was blowing! We got soaked first 20 miles. Instead of fishing, I made the call to make our way towards home. It got disgusting, with 40-50 knot gusts. Finally, the sun parted and I saw a nice weedline. We went on the troll and had a pair of 20 pound class 'fins come in grey hounding! I was stoked and thought we were golden, but they did not eat! I made another pass and hooked a pair of decent gaffers, then pitched to four or five more.
Click here to see the full forum report.
West End and More
Florida Sportsman member: NativeOne
We shot several more hogs, this time in the six to seven pound range. One of the hogs I shot was so powerful that it ripped my polespear out of my hands and pulled it so far into a ledge that it cracked the fiberglass. Definitely not your typical Florida hog. We finished out the day with some more deep dropping, this time in 1,300 feet. After catching several nice queens, our day ended with a crazy surprise. While bringing up what we assume was another queen, the rod doubled over with what we knew had to be a shark.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Dry Tortugas Fishing Fun
Florida Sportsman member: AMPED
We went on a day trip with some family, friends and Captain Rob Hammer to the Dry Tortugas. The conditions were not ideal, but he didn't disappoint. The trip resulted in ten species including: red snapper, red grouper, black grouper, scamp grouper, muttons, amberjacks, dusky shark, kingfish, barracuda, and bonito.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Bootle Bay Trip
Florida Sportsman member: dzank
We were greeted with good weather the next day and ran north of Memory Rock. We got a nice bunch of muttons. Some were even caught trolling diving plugs while we were targeting barracuda for the locals in West End village. You all know how much the Bahamians love their 'cuda! The good weather continued and we got into a nice bunch of schoolmaster snapper not far from the lodge.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Epic Dry Tortugas Trip
Florida Sportsman member: Gary M
Along with Jim's nice yellowtail, I managed to work a nearly 12 pound mutton close enough to the boat with the buggy whip for Jim to slide the net under it. Jim and I had a very nice morning. What a blast to fight and catch nice fish like the mutton on a light rod! What did he eat? My trusty naked, yellow jig with half of a large, whole shrimp on it. It must have drifted down deep enough for him to come up off the bottom to grab it!
Click here to read the full forum report.
Fishing Lucaya
Florida Sportsman member: Maribella
The plan was to billfish and hunt yellowfin tuna with some deep dropping sprinkled in between. The weather was fantastic, up until the last couple days when a very late season gale off the mid-Atlantic whipped up with very gusty 30-40+ knot southwest winds. Aside from that little rush, it was smooth runnings. Fishing for tuna was slow, raised several and released a couple blues.
Click here to read the full forum report.
A Successful Trip East
Report submitted by Chris Scruci
Friends and I went over to Port Lucaya on Friday before Memorial Day weekend, departing from Palm Beach Inlet. On our first day over, we were able to catch a nice yellowfin tuna under a flock of birds, with land still in sight. We were lucky enough to gaff and land the fish before the shark that was circling the boat got it. We also did some deep dropping there in 1200 feet of water, catching a couple queen and silky snappers.
We decided to make our way to Grand Cay after a few days through the Grand Lucayan waterway. We dove on the banks heading there and shot some big hogfish in less than 15 feet on coral heads and in the grass. Also shot a tiger grouper and two nice yellowfin grouper (12-15 pounds) in 35 to 45 feet over rock bottom.
We were deep dropping yesterday off of Grand Cay for yellow eyes in 500 to 600 feet. We saw a huge splash behind the boat, a blue marlin had jumped three times, less than 20 feet behind us! We thought we may have lost a yellow eye in the water column and it hit it, or maybe it was just checking us out, It was unbelievable.
We decided to troll and see if we couldn't hook up, although we didn't catch the marlin, we did land a wahoo on a black and purple skirt.
Chris Scruci with nice pair of hogfish
No marlin, but a wahoo will suffice.
A good nice mixed bag from the reef.
Michelle Boyle, Christine Racobaldo and Leah Scruci showing off their big yellowfin.
Cape Coral to the Dry Tortugas
Florida Sportsman member: Kracken
We did some bottom fishing and caught a mixed bag. Lots of yellowtail, strawberry grouper, red grouper, some big gray snapper. Then the sharks moved in and boy did they move in.
Click Here for the full forum report.
Tropical Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: CNTDR
As soon as we were able to deploy three baits, we had a triple header. That area was infested with 15-35 pound mahi. We had triple and quadruple hook ups for the next two hours and suddenly realized that we were at the limit.
Click Here for the full forum report.
15 Species in Panama
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
Inshore we had luck with pretty much everything except roosterfish! We got a number of species including blue trevalle, jack crevalle, horse-eye jack, yellow snapper, and cubera snapper. We had one monster cubera of about 60 pounds that we caught and released just a mile from our lodge.
Click Here for the full forum report.
Panama Tuna, Roosters and Pomps
Florida Sportsman member: MGD
Tuna fishing was slow. Mostly chunking on the bank and a lot of boats doing it. We caught five over four days and lost one. One guy got a 180lb pig.
Click Here for the full forum report.
West End Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Matt822
I found the first set of frigates diving on flying fish about 10 miles off the West End. It only took one pass and fish were screaming on all four lines, with dolphin jumping in every direction.
Click Here for the full forum report.
West End Fishing
Florida Sportsman member: dzank
We ran north of Memory Rock and had a great day with various snappers and grouper, as well as the ever present 'cuda. We actually had one barracuda rocket into the boat chasing a yellowtail, which was a bit scary, to say the least.
Click Here for the full forum report.
Windy Bimini Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: Barracuda
Saturday was just too rough, but we managed one small wahoo on way to Great Isaac Cay. We turned back towards Bimini and the wind had calmed down some. We did some live baiting and caught sharks and barracudas. Deep dropping produced six yelloweyes.
Click Here for the full forum report.
Panama Fishing Recap
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
These guys got lucky as it started out slow on the first day, but we came across a pod of feeding porpoises that sure enough had Tunas hanging around them. They got a couple of real nice yellowfin tunas on live baits.
Click Here for the full forum report.
Pulley Ridge Trip
Florida Sportsman member: Xaf
There was a steady pick all day long. A few AJs, more snowy grouper, and gray tiles came up. There were yellow eye, hambone, and black fin snapper on almost every drop. Sometimes you could feel them hit before you even got to the bottom.
Click Here for the full forum report.
Click Here for forum member cameron sleep's report from the same trip.
Bucket List Roosterfish
Florida Sportsman: Trip Mitchell
I have been dying to get a roosterfish my whole life and after several trips to the areas in which they thrive, I was finally able to tackle this fish off my bucket list! I am just glad to have made it happen. Long story short, my first attempt was with my father, who has since passed, in Cabo San Lucas 10 years ago and we were unsuccessful. I was finally able to go back this January 2017 and get it done.
Click here to check out our facebook.
Grand Bahama Fishing Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: dzank
We then ran north of Memory and fished what the locals call the "feather bottom" in 25-30' as well as a wreck and did real well with the grouper and snapper as well as a giant AJ that ate a live yellowtail on a stinger rig.
Click here for full forum report.
Panama Tuna and Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
We found a nice school of yellowfin tunas feeding with a pod of spinner dolphins one day 15 miles south of Isla Montuosa. Garrett had a blast casting poppers and pitching live baits and we got six nice tunas that went 40-70 pounds!
Click here for full forum report.
Bimini Wahoo and Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Barracuda
We took a quick trip to Bimini on Wednesday the 28th and struck out that afternoon, but got four wahoo on Thursday the 29th. 58", 36", 29" and 27". The weather was awesome.
Click here for full forum report.
Click here for a video report.
Panama Island Fishing Trip to Remember
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
They caught 14 different species in the five days of fishing including: Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, Almaco Jack, Bluefin Trevally, Roosterfish, Cubera Snapper, Jack Crevalle, Yellow Snapper, Golden Trevally, African Pompano, Yellow Snapper, Dorado, Rainbow Runner, and Broomtail Grouper!
Click here for full forum report.
Non-stop Bahamas Action
Florida Sportsman member: PaulBoat
We came to try something we had not done before. Instead of high speed trolling, we were going to drift live bait over the ledge for wahoo on spinners! In short, the action was non-stop and we caught more than it's nice to show.
Click here for full forum report.
Bimini Wahoo Weekend
Florida Sportsman member: Totally Hooked
After check in at North Bimini, we headed out and it was on fire. Then it just shut off. So we headed back to the Big Game Room, spent the night and headed back to the same area in the morning. And it was on fire again for about two hours. Calm seas and killer music with two boxes full of wahoo. My best wahoo trip ever.
Click here for full forum report.
Abaco Islands Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: Chris7687
We produced a fair amount of meat over the six day trip, but the best was our first day of trolling. Everything was caught in the early morning tide change and these boys were hungry! We caught a total of twelve wahoo over the trip, but the bite shut down on the last day with the current change and the water turning brown!
Click here for full forum report.
Isla Parida Roosterfish and Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
Glenn caught and released his first Blue Marlin. We also had some decent inshore fishing with a few Roosterfish caught and released.
Click here for full forum report.
Compass Cay Bahamas Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: tefird21
There seemed to be a good bite going on north of Highborne in the Exumas, we nabbed a 31 and 23 pounder and a surprise 22 lb mahi high speeding. Our best day was when we ran 40 miles west of Compass Cay to the Tongue and landed a 66 and 37 in a doubleheader. Most of our trolling was at 12-15 knots.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Bimini Bahama Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: Barracuda
Forum member
Barracuda took a trip away from Delray Beach, out to Bimini in the Bahamas and caught some beautiful wahoo.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Chub Cay Trolling Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: OneFastt997
Forum member
OneFastt997 made an awesome video of his Bahamian fishing trip, while traveling in luxury. He and his friends trolled for wahoo with great success amongst great scenery!
Click here to read the full forum report.
Bimini Yellowfins
Florida Sportsman member: HurricaneBK
A couple scoops of live pilchards and they were around us and I was hooked up. Never had time to get the rod out of the rod holder as my bent butt 50 wide made short work of a nice 60 pound class yellowfin and our target species was in the boat.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Green Turtle Adventure
Florida Sportsman member: dpdash
One day at Manjack, we had a turtle come up to the boat. We see turtles almost every dive but have never had one come so close. We ended up hand feeding this one squid and he hung out for almost 20 minutes, very very cool!
Click here to read the full forum report.
Grand Success
Florida Sportsman member: Pensacola
Found a bucket floating with some nice mahi on it, pulled a 30 pound bull off it along with a few of his girlfriends. Next day found the birds and found the yellowfin! They were firing off launching out of the water, pretty epic.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Island Hopping
Florida Sportsman member: dpdash
I had the opportunity to go deep into the Bahamas last week on a beautiful boat with great crew. We got all the way as far as San Salvador and had tremendous fishing along the way.
Click here to read the full forum report.
A Trip to Remember
Florida Sportsman member: zmanwhite
Day three we headed out and by 9am we have already released 20 fish. Around 11:30 a 600 pound plus blue crashes the left flat ballyhoo and all I can do is grab the rod with Brad yelling "big marlin", lock it up! I looked at Brad, he looked at me and says "this is a big girl." When he says that, it's for real, again well over 600 pounds.
Click here to read the full forum report.
A Trip to Spanish Wells
Florida Sportsman member: CNTDR
At times I felt as if I could be pulled over rod and all into the brink. The pressure that these fish put on is amazing. The fight seemed to go on forever as Deek thought that I got sharked. I was determined to beat whatever I had on the line. After twenty or thirty minutes, wasn't keeping track, we finally saw the color of a YFT and Deek gaffed the largest fish of the day.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Action Packed Week
Florida Sportsman member: PaulBoat
We fished two full days (18th and 19th). We raised 56 sails and released 37, also landed a nice yellowfin tuna. I'm not that much into billfishing but when you have a hot bite like we did, you just can't help but like it.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Weekend on the Other Side
Florida Sportsman member: dpdash
For those that cancelled this weekend, it wasn't bad at all. Fished friday afternoon and Saturday, if we wouldn't have used rubber hooks would have got several, pulled a bunch off for whatever reason. Best bite was up by Isaac's.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Fun in Bimini
Florida Sportsman member: Carolina Gentleman
I was leary about towing the the new skiff across in the event that the weatherman was wrong for the return home, this time he was right. We caught a few nice bonefish, I have done a ton of fishing on the flats in Bimini and have never seen more fish than on this trip.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Pounding Them in Panama
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
The Yellowfin Tunas were still around in big numbers but unlike first week of June the Tunas were not up in feeding frenzies and eating everything we pitched at them. The bite slowed down a bit and the weather got a bit sloppy. We had to work for our fish as the Porpoises were keen to the boat traffic and were a bit shy.
Click here to read the full forum report.
The Bimini Blues
Florida Sportsman member: Intrepid377
On Thursday morning we raised our first blue which came in hot on the left teaser. We managed to pull him off the teaser and he turned and crushed the left short rigger lure. He was on and angry! Started tearing up the ocean as only a blue can do.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Epic Trip to Nosara
Florida Sportsman member: KayakDiving
"We came across a piece of debris and caught numerous small yellowfin tuna as bait. A little while later, bam! A blue marlin. After a good 45 minute fight we landed him. The rest of the day we caught numerous small yellowfin which made great boat side sashimi and dinner that night."
Click here to read the full forum report.
Now it's your turn to fish Nosara, Costa Rica. For Free.
Powered by a custom website designed especially for RAM Trucks,
In-Fisherman.Com/Rigged-Ready makes finding the best places to fish simple by dividing the United States into five easy-to search regions. Within each region users will discover: top fishing destinations, local angling legends and weather information, regional fishing tips, gear recommendations and recipes for the best-tasting, local fish dishes. A special section highlights the 2015 RAM 1500 Outdoorsman pickup with models built especially for fishermen.
Click here to register to win a seven day, six night trip to Fishing Nosara.
http://www.in-fisherman.com/rigged-ready/sweeps/
Check out more about Fishing Nosara.
http://fishingnosara.com/
18th Annual International Marlin Tournament in El Salvador
Florida Sportsman member: GT Fish
Well once again I got the invite to join Paco Saca and his sons in the 18th International Marlin Tournament in El Salvador! Bart and I made are way down to Bahia Del Sol Marina and Hotel. We were greeted by Mauricio a Rep for Flora De Cana rum. They sponsor the tournament and others in Central and South America. He explained various ages of rum and the process of how it's made. We then proceeded to "Taste test" We all had a nice testing! We ate some dinner and they brought us Desert. Bart grabbed the bottle of 18 year old rum and drenched it in Flan [...]
Click here to read the full forum report.
Chasing "Blue Ones" in St. Thomas
Florida Sportsman member: INTREPID377
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7npF05AJ7YM
My brother and I had the chance to fish with some guys that REALLY have their game together on "bait and switch" marlin fishing on the north drop off St. Thomas. We fished two days and managed to go three for four on blues and even found a white for a bit of variety.
Click here to read the full forum report.
A Summer in the Bahamas
Florida Sportsman member: TikoLiko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba1SMcqineo&feature=results_video
"Haven't posted in a while, but here's a video and some pictures of some fish shot in the Bahamas over two trips this summer. We forgot the Go Pro's on the second trip when we got to break in our new Invincible, but at least we got some good fish. Check out the video and let me know what you think, watch in HD!"
Click here to read the full forum report.
Chunkin' the Tuna
Lindsey Pankey sent in this photo from a recent trip to the Bahamas. After locating the birds in the northwest channel, a miles north of Little Issac, they began to chunk the yellowfin tuna that were in a feeding frenzy underneath. All the tuna were roughly 60-to 70-pounds. Scott Nichols is on the left, Taylor Pankey on right.
Chunkin' Tuna off Lucaya Monty White of Team Fin-Addict went on a tuna trip for the 4th of July weekend. He had this to say about the trip: "It was an active few days, fish and birds everywere. We were trolling and chunking tuna under the birds circling around Tuna Canyon off Lucaya, Bahamas. We landed 10 dolphin, over 45 tuna, and lost several more to big brown reef sharks that had to be over 350 pounds. Mike Haun caught a 79 and 68 pound yellowfin tuna, Tim Johnson landed a 50 pound yellowfin, and we had a few around 40 hit the deck along with many smaller tuna of both black and yellow sorts. Another epic trip with great friends!" Here are some pictures from the trip: [nggallery id=55]
Cleanin' Up West End
Florida Sportsman member: Blue Devil
We had a great time fishing out of Blue Marlin Cove this past weekend. It was our first trip over there so a big thank you to the forum members who gave me some great advice on planning for and fishing that area. We were focused on snappers, groupers and hogfish and worked hard to find them. Most of the muttons and strawberries and about half the hogs were caught very close to BMC. The tails and the rest of the hogs were caught a few mile North of Memory. Marvin at BMC was a great help and put in the general vicinity of the fish.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Tuna off the Gingerbreads
Bimini, Bahamas. "I caught one and thought I was going to throw up," said Tom Gordon. These fish aren't snapper. “We were fishing yellowtail off the gingerbreads and decided to go look for birds around 2 p.m. in the afternoon on June 14th. About five miles from the yellowtail spot we saw some birds, stopped the boat, threw a couple of baits out and had a double header of yellowfin on within 5 minutes. We found the birds using binoculars (no radar). Ran over to them close, not right into them, just close. Had cut sardines into 3rds and had in a bucket. Just started chucking 2-3 pieces every 20 seconds or so. The tuna found us. Once we saw the tuna we put out some heavy iron with 60 foot of 50 lb fluorocarbon leader, braided line. Worst part of it is we didn't have any rod belts. Tuna was really not on our target list. We were just messing around. Try catching one with an International without using a rod belt.
We got mugged by 5 boats when we had on the double header. Big mistake, those boats steamed right into the birds. Then it looked like most tried trolling. None hooked up and they eventually left. We went on to catch 3 more and could have caught more (enough is enough, like I said catching one made me want to throw up). I think the key was to not spook the fish by running into them. It was a total Cinderella story! Ended up catching five in two hours and quit. We left them there biting. I don't think we will ever get that lucky again. It was stupid easy and just total blind luck. A truly amazing day.”
The Endless Summer
Florida Sportsman member: JohnnyBlack
The Endless Summer started yesterday at 4:30 am as we pushed out of Boca inlet on "The Soundboy", ChadJ55's boat here on the forum. The itinerary for my trip this month will be 5 days in West End Bahamas at Blue Marlin Cove resort then a short one day back here in the states and then it's off to Treasure Cay in the Abaco's for 2 weeks to Marlin fish the Bahamas Billfish Championship on "The Zinn Dog", Captain Jeff Maggio's boat out of Ft. Lauderdale [...]
Click here to read the full forum report.
Quick Trip to West End
Florida Sportsman member: footankleg
I was invitied to cross on a buddy's boat and we left Saturday a.m. for West End after loading up on some livies. We had a nice crossing and encountered a pod of pilot whales and shortly after, we came across a pod of bottlenose. The porpoise hung right at the boat and checked us out for awhile. It was very cool. We then continued on and cleared at OBB which was quick and easy. We then headed out in search of birds. We did find a few but not with any action or bites [...]
Click here to read the full forum report.
Big Boy Fishing Team in Bimini
Florida Sportsman member: DAHOGKILLA
Have not posted much lately, been really busy with school and other stuff, but finally got a break last week and took advantage of the open weather window for this past weekend and decided to cross over for some serious fishing and fun in Bimini. We left Friday evening and returned to Miami Sunday morning, after clearing customs and checking in the hotel we set up out front for the muttons but we had missed the bite by an hour, decided to stay until 2 am, and got cutoff on two big mystery fish. Saturday morning headed south to deep drop for the day, it was a bit slow at first but then it picked up and we caught yelloweye snappers, queen snapper, a mystic grouper, big amberjacks that were released and sharks too.
Click here to read the full forum report.
Hot Yellowfin Tuna Action in Mexico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2P-Erj9lhw There's no doubt you've got another choice to find plentiful yellowfin tuna action:
www.puertovallartafish.com .
April in Guam
FS member Night Moves is back with fantastic action from Guam. "At about 1400, we had made the full round trip down the East side and back up. We didn't feel like gambling on the back side as the front had been so productive. I knew we would have a good shot at a Marlin if we trolled all the way back in the deep water, but to maximize or fishing time, we picked up the lines and did a little "run and gun" to Stu bank, then baby on to Galvez. We even baited up the spinning rods and had a blast bringing in a few more Mahi that followed in our hooked fish. Pulled in the lines at Galvez NE and ran back to Agat arriving at 1730. 12 hours on the water. Finished with 13 Mahi, 4 Wahoo, 2 Rainbows and the Doggie. Mahi averaged a nice size. I hope they stick around just a little longer! Hook up ratio was a little off today as we had about 10 knockdowns that didn't stay hooked. Most were Mahi who took to the sky and did somersaults and back flips to get off. By the time we got the boat washed and cleaned up, it was 2100. After waking up at 0340 that sure makes for a long day, but great days on the water like that are worth it. Its awesome to be able to enjoy Guams beauty and catch some fish in the process!" For more on Night Moves action click here: http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?22674-Return-of-the-Guam-fishing-report!&p=607309#post607309 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Time To Be In Bimini
FS member sam50 shows why it's worth the trip across, "the tide ended so we switched gears and put out a spread of big ballyhoo and some strip baits behind islanders. Out in 900 feet of water the long line(strip bait) gets absolutely freight-trained and is dumping the 30w international quickly, we get the angler into the harness and clear the spread, and realize the Man-in-the-Blue-Suit decided to make an appearance!! The fight lasted a while, but eventually the mono leader gave up, as we were not "equipped" for Marlin. Things slowed down and the group decided to head in for lunch. We took a stroll south on the streets and ended up at Fabian's Conch shack and had some great eats with a few cold Kalik Golds. Afternoon fishing trip was to deep drop again, but a lack of current spoiled that plan, as the yellow eyes are very finicky, only 2 boated. We found some good looking weeds and then Mr. Frigate showed us the way. We nailed some nice phins late in the day to top it all off.
Click here for the full Forum Report:
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?47972-Bimini-Weekend-3-30-to-4-1
Wahoo Snapping Off Walker
Florida Sportsman member Flyers Up made the right call and hit wahoo paydirt.
Flyers Up posted, "we made the walkers trip on Friday, had great weather arrived about 10.45 cleared customs and off to Rosies. Went 20 off to find some YF but no luck, trolled for two hours not one knock down. Saturday did some deep dropping and bottom fishing did ok some groupers and one nice mutton 14 lbs, yellow eyes and black fins and one sm mystic about 8 lbs. Sunday morning get up early to fish home wind blowing 18 gusting to 23 out of the north, not going home today so we decided go get some conch with our new friend Tiko and drink rum. Monday morning with the wind blowing out of the west SW 7 to 10 knots so we checked out and went to Matanilla reef to speed troll for wahoo where we went 7 for 9. Range in size from 30 to 65 pounds and two dolphin."
Click here for the full Forum Report:
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?47730-Walkers-Grand
Panama Fishing Report
Florida Sportsman member: Pesca Pimp Panama
Canadians Andy and Sonya Copeland, and their son Max, joined us for a few days at the island last week. Andy wanted to try his hand at some "Deep Sea Fishing" and boy.....was he ever introduced royaly! We showed up at Hannibal Bank at 8:30 and to my surprise there were no other fishing boats only a Tiara with some spearos working the high spot. Two days before we counted 14 sport fishing boats and 4 commercial boats all on the bank! There was a real good mark of bait on the sonar and Bonitos and Tunny's were busting all around [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Quick Bimini Trip Report
Florida Sportsman member: Cytranic
Headed out of Boca 6am Friday morning to a nice 11 knot wind out of the S. Seas were 1-2 almost the whole ride over till we were about 15 miles off Bimini, then they switched to 2-4. All and all the crossing was pretty much a non event. We cleared customs around 9am and began an hour long search for Kalik golds on the island. The island was pretty dead so alot of stores were closed. Sue and Joy's had kaliks [...]
Click here for the full forum report.
Walker's Wahoo and Grouper Florida Sportsman Member: Docked Wages
Weekend of Jan 8-9, Scott (Bloodstream), Chris (Light_Tackle) , Frank and myself loaded up and ran across to Walkers Cay targeting some Wahoo. This was to be a quick one night trip and back covering approximately 350 miles out of Sebastain in two days. Walkers Cay continues to decline as the docks are now roped off for access and nearly no place to tie up and transit to the Bahamian Customs office.
Click here for the full forum report.
