Cobias For Frank

Frank Koenig, Gudrun Gornik, and Sebastian Gornik fished with us one Sunday afternoon and we found our first big school of cobias for the season. Frank has been fishing with us a lot lately so I was happy he could be on the L&H when we got the first limit of cobia, (for the fifth year in a row) out of all the boats from our marina. The weather was nice and after the baitfishing I decided to make a pass through the cobia area before we hit the edge. My wife Debbi and daughter Laurel joined me in the tower as we cruised the shallows. The water was a little murky, but still clean enough to see. After only a few minutes of searching we found what we were after! A big stingray glided along the bottom and the school of hungry cobia surrounded it. When we first saw the ray several of the fish came to the surface and Laurel exclaimed "Look dad alot of nice ones"! Our team sprang into action and we had three fish hooked right away. Every one was working together, with Deb and Adam hooking the fish and Frank and Sebastian fighting them on spinning outfits. When a fish would come within range, Debbi would sink the gaff and Frank would grab the handle and help her lift the fish over the side. It was poetry in motion and I enjoyed every second of it. Unfortunately the biggest fish, a 60 plus pounder broke off after a tough battle. Nevertheless we caught our limit of nice size fish and released a few others. What fun! After finishing with the school we hit the edge and caught a shark and a nice king. It was a great trip and hopefully the first of many cobias this season.

11 for 13 on 11/13

John Fischetti, Jim Stern, and Ron Wilson joined my friend Mike Welter, my son James and I for some great fishing on my birthday(11/13). We started the day out kite fishing and caught a few sailfish, a couple nice kings and a tuna off Key Biscayne. When the action slowed we moved to the south and got a couple more kings including a forty pounder that hit the kite. Around mid day we tried our luck over a shallow reef and had nonstop action with barracudas of all sizes. This was great fun as our guys were hooking up immediately after the baits hit the water. After the cudas we hit a couple wrecks and caught two big jacks and lost a few other fish. We decided to run back to the north and try the kites again for the afternoon bite. It turned out to be a great move because after getting a happy birthday call from my daughter Laurel we caught sailfish one after the other, including successfully landing four sails at once. We ended up going 11 for 13 on sails and with all of the other fish it was an awesome day that gave us the record for the most sails caught by anyone at our dock so far this season! Thanks alot guys! This will be a birthday I won't soon forget.

Ben and his Crew...posted by Laurel David (age 8)

Ben and his crew from Airbus Corporation went on a L&H trip. I (Laurel) rode along as the second mate that day. They caught a sailfish and I leadered the sailfish for my first time. Then they caught a black tip shark. Then we were fighting and fighting another fish and when we finally got it up we saw it was a big amberjack. It was almost the end of the trip we caught a baby sailfish and baby sailfish are rare, I also leadered that sailfish. As I was reeling in the right long kite bait to start heading in, my dad told me to put the rod in free spool and then he said, "Laurel reel you have a sailfish on!", after we caught that we headed in.

It was a great day on the L&H for my dad and I!

Thank You For Reading My Post

This Post Published By Laurel David

Dolphin Wahoo King and Sailfish

Miguel and his crew wanted to learn about kite fishing and have some good action in the process. The bait came easy and with a strong north wind I felt good about our chances. The current was out a little deeper than yesterday so we set up in 200 feet. When the first bait went over the side it was immediately eaten by a nice dolphin. With the fish in the boat, Wes and James resumed setting up our kite spread. With everything in position we waited for a bite. After a while I spotted a sailfish tailing down sea directly toward us. I veered the L&H offshore a little bit and Wes flipped out a bait right in front of the sails path. The hungry sailfish lit up, charged the frisky live bait and we were hooked up. Our angler did a great job on the light spinning outfit and soon we had the fish at boat side for a clean release. A little while later we hooked another sailfish on the kite, but unfortunately this fish jumped off. After getting reset again, James hooked a nice wahoo on the kite. The fished raced away on the surface and the L&H backed down in hot pursuit. What a sight to see the wahoo swimming on the top all lit up as water came over the transom. After the wahoo settled down James got the leader and Wes made a great shot with the gaff. He pulled the fish over the side and everyone started celebrating. It was another great day of fishing for the L&H team.

Sailfish for the Brotz Family

Scott Brotz and his family went on the L&H with us for a morning half day to try and catch something big. The weather was good with wind from the north and after catching bait we set up on the edge. After a while we caught a nice kingfish on the deep line. Shortly thereafter we hooked a big mahi on the kite and things were beginning to look up. From my perch in the tower I spotted a sailfish tailing down sea. I maneuvered the boat so the left side kite baits would dangle in front of the migrating sail. It worked perfect, and when the left middle kite bait passed in front of the sail, he ate it and we were on. The fish took off jumping down sea and put on a great show for everyone to see. We set up one last time and a few minutes later we hooked another sailfish on the left kite and again had a successful release. What started out a little slow turned out to be a great trip for the Brotz family.

Sailfish and Mahi for Max

Max Puyanic and a few of his guests joined us for a trip on the L&H today. The bait came easy and we began to work our way south. When we got just below Fowie Light I spotted three nice mahi and our gang managed to hook all three in short order. After some great angling and good gaffing we had all three in the box and resumed our trek to the south. Way inshore and up on the reef there was a big flock of birds and we figured it was worth a look. When we got to the birds we could see a pack of big mahi chasing ballyhoo all over. The fish were full and would not even look at our baits. We finally managed to hook a nice bull dolphin, but unfortunately the hook pulled out just before the boys could sink the gaff. By now the rain was closing in from all directions and we wanted to try the kite before we got poured on. Within minutes of getting the baits out Max had a sail on the right long. Max did a great job on his first of many sailfish to come this season. Soon after we released the fish the rain came and after catching a few snappers we decided to cut the trip short. Our friend Max has several more days coming up so I am sure there will be more to write about soon.