Hockey Player Scores Big Catch On L&H

Today Trevor Kidd (former Florida Panther) and a few of his friends joined us on the L&H for a full day of fishing.  The weather was great and I wanted to have a good catch for these guys.  We got bait and headed straight for the gulf stream.  As soon as we hit the blue water we found some tuna.  After a while we were still fishing the tuna when I saw some nice sized mahi swimming.  Everyone on the boat sprung into action and before long there were six guys all hooked up.  Sometimes the boys would throw a bait at a mahi and a tuna would race up and grab it.  It was very exciting fishing!  After a while the tuna went away and our gang kept searching for the mahi.  After lunch I found an area with a bunch of seaweed.  From there the guys caught about twenty more mahi and everyone was happy with our success.  The guys decided to head back in a little early so we began making our way in.  On the L&H you are never done fishing until the boat is tied up and we proved it again this time.  As I steered the L&H toward home, I spotted a floating tree branch.  We quickly caught a few tripletails and a couple more mahi.  When we switched over to start wahoo fishing is when the action really began.  The wahoo were there and they were biting!  Doubles and triples were now coming over the rail with mixed sized wahoo.  Our gang stayed with the fish until they stopped biting and it turned out to be the perfect ending to another great day on the L&H!

A Great Reunion For Leo

About ten years ago when I was mating for John L. Dudas on the L&H, Leo Rodriguez would fish with us quite a bit this time of year.  Then, Leo disappeared, and I had not heard form him until he booked us for a morning half day.  I was very happy to see Leo that morning as he sported his L&H tee shirt.  On the way out Leo told me he had tried fishing up in Fort Lauderdale and Hillsboro, but was unhappy with the effort and results.  Leo said he was unable to find an operation like the L&H and was happy to be back.  With the boat fresh out of the boatyard, I knew everything would be to his liking, but now we need to have a good catch to get Leo back.  James had the day off from school so he joined Jim, Travis, me and Leo's group.  After getting bait we headed offshore and found a huge area of sea weed.  I was excited, but the excitement proved to be short lived as the sea weed had no bait or life at all and our hot spot turned cold.  Further out we went and then I found a current edge with some life on it.  We quickly got a nice mahi to take the pressure off and gave hope that the current edge was holding fish.  A few minutes later, James spotted a mahi feeding in the weed and when we got closer there were ten nice fish there.  Everyone sprang into action and we boated every fish in the school.  All of us were happy (especially me because I wanted so badly to have a good catch today).  Forty minutes later we found some more nice dolphin and things were looking good.  Then the edge went straight into the reef line and forced us to fish much shallower than we would like.  Not to be denied, we adjusted our spread a little bit and the change worked as we quickly boated a nice, 35 pound wahoo!  This is Leo's favorite eating fish and it could not have come at a better time.  We continued to get action as we trolled the edge of the reef with tuna, bonita and a few more mahi.  Just before heading back in, we made a quick stop and got four snowy groupers just to put an exclamation point on Leo's reunion!

Time For The Boatyard

It is time for the L&H to make her annual trip to the boatyard for routine maintenance.  Every year we pull the 46' Hatteras, L&H out of the water so we can do the necessary work to keep the boat running and looking in pristine condition.  This year, Jim, Trav and I took the boat up the Miami River to haul out.  It was a relatively short two week window we had to get everything done.  The boys and I worked really hard and put in long days.  We accomplished everything we needed to do and are very happy with the outcome.  I also would like to thank Captain Stan who provided us with wonderful information, great advice, and shared a huge amount of his knowledge (Stan owns two beautiful charter boats for nearly forty years) with us only to make our jobs that much easier!  Finally, when we were finished and returned to the marina, we knew that we had done a good job in the boatyard. The owner of the boat tied up right next to the L&H started telling his mate about all the work they needed to do so their boat would look as good as ours!

Mike And Allison Get Mahis

Our friends Mike and Allison Lawrence along with Moe joined us for a day of fishing.  The fishing had been good lately, but we had a big storm go through and no boats had been fishing for several days.  When we got offshore it was evident that things had changed.  There was a big body of green water where we had been fishing and this pushed us farther offshore.  When we were about fifteen miles from shore I spotted a big log floating.  As I steered the L&H toward the possible dolphin haven, fish started showing up from all directions.  Before long Mike, Allison, and Moe were pulling in dolphin one after the other.  Unfortunately almost half of the fish were undersized and had to be released.  We still ended up with a good amount of nice fish before we resumed the search for more fish.  As the day wore on, we continued to find more fish with the majority being undersized.  Finally, later in the afternoon we came upon a big stick floating and were able to get some more nice size mahi.  It was a great day of fishing with our friends, and even though the fishing was tough today we still ended up with plenty of fish for everyone!

50 For The 50th

JD who fishes in Panama, and his guys were here to celebrate a 50th birthday.  After a couple days of flats fishing, they were excited about going offshore today.  The bait was biting very good today so we were able to head into the gulf stream early.  Once we got to the area we have been fishing there were tuna all around.  The first pass on the first school we hooked six at once.  A couple got off but it set the pace for what would be a great day.  I steered the L&H south and we continued to hook multiple fish at once.  Today we would catch a lot more of the skip jacks than blackfins, but the skipjacks were all nice size and boy do they take line.  After catching a dozen or more of the skip jacks we continued trolling through the sea weed.  From my perch in the tower I spotted a few nice mahi which the team quickly hooked.  Then more and more of the mahi started showing up.  JD and the guys were now catching mahi as fast as they could go.  Before long we had a bunch of mahi in the fish box with the skipjacks.  One of the guys told me that it would be great if we were able to catch fifty fish on the 50th birthday.  Now we had a goal to shoot for.  As the afternoon wore on the L&H continued to stay in the fish.  We got a few here and a few there and when it was time to head for home the fish box was looking pretty good.  When we got back to the marina all of the guys were counting the fish as I threw them on the dock.  Who would ever have imagined, but we ended up with fifty fish for the 50th birthday!  It was a great day for all of us and we all had a great time getting to fifty!

Ricky Q Gets A Sword

I have been fishing with my friend Ricky Q on the Jichi (owned and operated bu Louis Isasis) for the past few years.  Ricky is an important part of our tournament team and has caught several clutch fish for us in the past.  Unfortunately, Ricky has terrible luck in pursuit of a daytime swordfish.  With at least fifteen fishless trips in a row, some even call him the "Black Cat"!  Ricky met Jim, Trav and I at our marina early one morning and we loaded up on Rickys boat and headed out to find a sword for the Black Cat.  We ran strait out to one of my best spots and began fishing.  We did not get any action all morning as we fished hard and tried several spots.  Finally early in the afternoon, we got a bite but didn't get lucky with the hook up.  We quickly ran back to the same spot and dropped again.  A few minutes later another bite, with the same result...nada.  It was starting to get late, but there was one more spot I wanted to try.  Ricky agreed to make the ten mile run for one last shot.  As we approached the area, Jim told me he had a good feeling we would get one here.  A few minutes after setting out we were bit again.  Finally the boys were able to get this one hooked and Ricky began to work the fish toward the surface.  As soon as the leader came up, the swordfish shot straight to the top.  Then, we all watched as the sword jumped completely out of the water.  I leaned hard on the throttles and Ricky's boat charged backwards as we tried to get a gaff in the fish.  The fish went back down just out of gaff range and I feared we might not get another shot.  After some great teamwork we got the sword back up and this time the gaffs went in and the fish came in the boat!  It was a tremendous sense of accomplishment and everyone was so very excited!  I steered the boat for home as everyone celebrated the catch all the way back!

Gabriel Gets Great Fishing

Gabriel and a couple of his friends joined us today on the L&H.  The fishing had been good lately so I was excited about our chances.  After getting bait we ran offshore and almost immediately found a big flock of birds with feeding tuna underneath.  On the very first pass we hooked six tuna!  James, Travis, Jimmy, and our three anglers battled the fish as I happily watched from the tower.  For most of the morning we stayed with the school and continued getting multiple hook ups.  After landing nearly two dozen of the hard fighting tuna, our team was ready for a break.  Time to try something else.  As we pushed farther offshore, I came across a weedline that was running east and west.  A little while later James and I spotted two big dolphin swimming down the line.  Felicia got the biggest dolphin and decided to have a trophy made of her catch.  Everyone onboard was really excited about how much action we were having and it was about to get much better!  Not much further down the line, I spotted a few more nice dolphin and as we worked on those, I saw the big tree branch that the fish were on.  When I got closer to the branch, more and more dolphin were showing up.  Soon there were fish all over and our team was having a field day.  With three really good mates and three very eager anglers the L&H caught the limit of sixty mahi in short order.  The fish were coming over the sides like crazy and it seemed like we couldn't lose any.  It was just one of those days when everything seemed to go our way!  After we were done with the mahi, the team got a few wahoo and we decided to head back early!  It was a great day with great weather and great fishing.

Nagen Guys Get Em

Mr. Nagen has been fishing with me on the L&H for a long time.  He prefers to enjoy the day and let his grandsons do the fishing.  One of them, who we nickname el nino, loves to fish as much as anyone I have ever seen!  Still single digits, I watched him stare at the rod tips on the planers in a driving rain storm and no matter what he is fishing hard the whole time he is out there!  This time we got an early start and after getting a few baits headed strait offshore.  A few miles out there was some sea weed and we slowed down and began heading south.  A few miles down James and I spotted a nice board.  When we got closer, mahi began to swim up.  Before long all of the boys were hooked up.  Everyone got to catch dolphin and just before we left, el nino, the fisherman, caught a small wahoo.  With some fish in the box I was happy as the L&H headed south.  Trav spotted a big flock of birds and when the L&H got closer everyone could see tuna breaking the surface.  The tuna grabbed the lures dragging behind us and again the boys were enjoying multiple hook ups.  Blackfin and skipjack tuna were now coming in.  Even after leaving the birds and  trolling for home we continued to get blind strikes from the delicious tuna.  We made it back to the marina and took some photos and cut the fish up for the Nagen family!

Back To Florida Fishing

Today, we fished with Gabriel Gaber after our long summer of fishing in Hawaii.  I was excited to fish on the L&H again with Jim and Trav.  These guys did a great job for us while we were gone and it made the summer much more enjoyable knowing the L&H was in good hands.  The small bait was very hard to catch, but Jim Trav and I went the day before and caught bait up north so we had plenty.  After running offshore the boys found some frigates and we headed that way.  When I got to the area there were several frigates and some other birds flying around.  Jim and I scanned from the tower as the birds were acting as if there was debris somewhere.  Then we spotted it!!!  A tree branch was floating off the bow and it was loaded with fish.  Gabriel and his gang went right to work.  Before long nice sized mahi were coming over the sides one after another.  When the team finished catching the mahi, Jim and Trav switched to wahoo and immediately got a double.  They followed up with a few more much to the delight of everyone!  What a great start for the L&H with great weather and a bunch of fish first thing.  As everyone regrouped I headed south and found another frigate with a few more nice sized mahi.  Shortly after a big storm came and we headed right into it as we pushed offshore.  After the weather cleared up we found a nice weedline.  Soon they spotted more birds and we got more dolphin by another piece of small debris.  Right after that we caught a few more and decided to head back a little early with a bunch of nice fish!

A Day To Remember

It was the third day of the five day long Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament and so far our boat had zero points.  We had seen some fish but were unable to keep any hooked long enough to get a tag in and secure the points.  Today the Old South Marlin Club would join Captain Jason Holtz, Brian Toney and I on the forty-three foot "Marlin Magic".  The day started off slow as we trolled south down the Kona coast.  Then, around mid-morning a boat hooked a nice marlin in front of us.   A few minutes later a Pacific Blue Marlin raced up from behind and grabbed the marlin magic lure running closest to the boat.  "Short Bait" I yelled from my perch in the tower!  No sooner had the words left my mouth then the clip popped open and line started coming off the reel.  Our angler Sue Vermilion jumped in the chair and did an excellent job fighting the fish on fifty pound tackle.  After a great fight, and a lot of jumps, we were able to tag and release the marlin and we were on the board!  After setting back out, I went back to the tower in hopes of seeing another strike.  It was then that Captain Jason turned away from our marlin "hotspot" and began trolling back up the coast.  I wondered why Jason would just leave like that after we had landed our first blue marlin in three days.  A while later the reason started to become more evident to me.  On the horizon, at one of Jason's favorite spots (a landmark known as red hill)  there were three boats and all three were hooked up!  Jason would later tell me that he received a call from a friend telling him about a boat that had six marlin bites including a triple header.  From that information, Jason knew there would be a big fish somewhere in that area and big fish are what Jason and Brian specialize in!  When we got closer to red hill another marlin grabbed the small lure running on the long outrigger.  The fish didn't get hooked, but tried again and again.  Finally the marlin grabbed the lure and ripped off some line before coming unhooked.  Jason had the angler reel the lure back into position, hoping for one more strike from the hungry fish.  Then I spotted the marlin at least a hundred feet behind the lure.  The fish had its eye on the lure and was coming in fast!  "Get Ready" I yelled from the tower, "He is going to eat it again"!  The marlin closed the gap between itself and the lure in seconds and this time when it grabbed ahold it was hooked.  The fish did not fight much and we had our second release in only minutes.  Now our team was getting excited and things were looking up.  Less than ten minutes later another marlin came up and ate the same lure on the short bait that we caught our first fish on.  We were on...AGAIN!  This fish was wild, jumping all over the place.  When the leader came up, Brian Toney (who is the best wireman I have ever seen) took hold.  Brian got the leader and did a great job keeping the hook in the wild fish as well as keeping the fish out of the boat!  As the feisty blue marlin jumped across the transom and up the side of the Marlin Magic I did my best to stay out of Brians way.  "Get In There!!!!" Jason ordered from the bridge, fearing the fish might come off before the tag went in.  In this tournament no tag no points.  I leaned way out the side and placed the tag while the marlin was in mid air!  Now with three releases our team was kicking some tail.  Just a short time later I was back in the tower hoping for one more fish.  Then under the same lucky lure, I saw the neon blue flash of a big blue marlins tail as she swam by, deep underneath.  Before I could say a thing the marlin came from behind in hot pursuit.  "Short Bait" I cried again, as the fish swam behind the big marlin magic lure.  This time the fish did not get hooked.  Instead of giving up, it came to the long corner lure and ate that one.  I wasn't sure how big, but I knew this fish was much bigger than the three we released already.  Ken Onion was up and worked on the fish for a while.  After a half hour the big blue marlin came up jumping and we clearly saw that it was much bigger than the three hundred pound minimum size.  Brian got the gaffs ready as this fish would be coming back with us!  The fish went out to sea (the big ones usually always do this in Kona) and Jason showed his boat handling skills trying to make the big marlin come back up.  Finally after an hour and a half Brian was able to get the leader.  With the fish swimming down deep and strait away from us, Brian showed both strength and finesse as he was able to turn the big fish and get her coming alongside the boat.  I reached out as far as I could with the big flying gaff and nailed the marlin with a perfect gaff shot.  At that moment, the big marlin stuck her head out of the water showing us that it wasn't even hooked.  The hook was just stuck on the bill and came flying off!  I quickly cleated my gaff rope off and Jason came off the bridge to set the second gaff.  Brian got a meat hook in the marlins jaw and the fish was ours!!!!!!!  I knew immediately the fish was bigger than the 531 pounder I got with Jason and Brian in this same tournament two years ago.  We slid the fish in the boat and with her head sticking inside the cabin, headed for the scales.  It was a great experience for me as my family was there to watch us weigh the marlin. It pulled the scale down to 638 pounds!  And just like that we went from last place to first!  By using fifty pound we got 300 points per release and 1.5 points per pound for the big fish in addition to a 100 point bonus for biggest fish of the day as well as a bonus for most points that day. This would not only be the best few hours of fishing I witnessed in my summer at Kona (not only our fish, but many others caught in the same area as well), but it would propel the Marlin Magic and Old South teams to FIRST PLACE in the 2012 HIBT.  Jason, Brian and I would release two more blues and a spearfish during the final two days to secure our victory. Needless to say this was a day to remember!

Summer Family Fishing In Kona, Hawaii

I am back home from our family summer trip to beautiful Kona, Hawaii!  Everyone had a great time and we did a lot of fishing and caught a lot of fish.   There were so many memorable days and exciting catches that I do not know where to start.  The summer started off with great yellowfin tuna fishing with the average size being over 150 pounds!  The entire family got in on the yellowfin action with Laurel catching a nice one without any help.  Debbi followed suit with a 180 pounder that swallowed a live six pound skipjack we were using for bait.  My yellowfin tuna highlight came while fishing a porpoise school with the greenstick rig.  After boating a hundred plus pounder, I watched in awe as two big tunas crashed the artificial squids dangling from our greenstick line!  After a tough and exciting battle our angler was able to boat two, hundred plus pound yellowfin tuna at the same time on one rod.  I will never forget holding the first tuna on gaff and looking below into the clear, blue, Hawaiian water and seeing the other tuna swimming around waiting for its turn to go for a boat ride!  The tuna crown for the summer would belong to my thirteen year old son James.  On a stint where he would fish around the clock, all day and all night, James was commercial fishing with our friend Kaiwi Joe Thrasher one night when the duo would land a giant yellowfin tuna that was over the two-hundred pound mark!  James and Joe would also boat several other yellowfins, some large albacore tuna and even a pacific swordfish!
The rare (but not so rare in Kona) spearfish made its presence known throughout the entire summer.  These fish have eyes bigger than their stomach and will often try a big lure with big hooks set for big blue marlin.  Spearfish are notorious tail biters and are very difficult to hook.  That being said we were fortunate enough to get many shots at spears and were able to catch fifteen of the rarest billfish in the world!  My ten year old daughter Laurel's potential IGFA record 36.5 pound spearfish is one I will not soon forget!  I will also remember a spear hooked on the fourth day of the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament.  We were leading the tournament and every fish was very IMPORTANT!  Captain Jason Holtz backed down hard as we chased the spear all over.  The shortbill spearfish jumped fifteen times as we fought it with minimal drag to avoid pulling the hook.  Unfortunately the spear jumped off before we could get a tag in, but what fun it was chasing that fish around on the surface!
The blue marlin is the king of all fishes in Kona, Hawaii!  These fish were hard to find in the early part of the summer, but as the season wore on they became more and more abundant.  Everyone in the family had action with the blue marlin.  Laurel had three marlin on that would have been world records for her, but unfortunately they all got off, including a fish over five hundred pounds that Laurel had on for several minutes.  She was able to catch and release blue marlin, but none big enough for the record.  James got in on the blue marlin action as well, catching them from the chair as well as pullling on these fish with the leader.  James handled the leader on a day when his uncle Trey released three blue marlin and a spearfish.
Debbi also caught Pacific blue marlin including a nice fish in the ladies tournament.  Later that same day we had a big fish come to the teasers, then fade back and eat a lure armed with a 9/0 hook.  Another female member of out tournament team was up at the time, but the tournament winning marlin got off the hook shortly after the strike.  I spent lots of time in the tower, and saw many blue marlin come to the lures, each and every one very exciting in its own way.  The fish I will remember the most, however, came one afternoon while fishing on the Marlin Magic with Jason Holtz and Brian Toney.  We had just jumped off a small blue marlin when the biggest fish I have ever seen came nearly all the way out of the water after the short rigger lure and missed!  Not to be denied, the GIANT blue marlin raced from behind the lure, pushing a wake from its massive size and grabbed the lure.  The marlin went to the air immediately, giving everyone on board a great view of the size of the fish.  When the fish hit the water again, it stripped hundreds of yards of line from the reel in seconds.  As Brian and I cleared the other lines, Jason chased the fish down.  Our angler (a big guy from New Zealand) did a great job on the fish.  Jason ordered us to "Get the Gaffs out!" and my heart started beating faster and faster as we will only pull out the gaffs if we think the fish is over the magical thousand pound mark!  Jason would later tell me that this fish impressed him more on the bite than the fish they caught only a couple weeks earlier in a tournament that would weigh in at 940 pounds!!  Unfortunately the blue marlin we were fighting this day would pull the hook less than a hundred feet from the boat after an intense forty-five minute battle:(  There are stories like this that happen nearly every day in the calm, deep waters off Kona.  During our stay fish over 600, 700, 800, 900, and even 1000 pounds were weighed and or released making for exciting fishing knowing that at any time you could be hooked into a true monster!  One fisherman who travels to Kona every year to fish big marlin summed it up best by saying "Kona is the only place in the world where someone catches a fish over five hundred pounds every day!!  Why would you want to fish anywhere else". 

Our family will be heading back to Kona next summer, so if you are interested in big yellowfin tuna, the rare shortbill spearfish or the magnificent (sometimes gigantic) blue marlin let us know and we can arrange a trip for you.  There are tons of other things to do on the big island of Hawaii, but fishing flat calm waters in the lee of the island is what does it for me!

Frank Has Huge Day

Today, another repeat customer, Frank Bottia came to fish with us.  Frank was joined by his wife and two other couples.  The day started off slick calm.  We took our time getting bait as I knew the fishing would be tough until the afternoon.  After trying a few wrecks and only one amberjack to show for our efforts I decided to try and find the permit.  And boy did we find them.  A huge school of fish right on the surface.  The water was so calm that the permit would sometimes have their entire back out of the water as they swam on top.  In no time we had the two fish limit.  This time instead of leaving we decided to stay and catch and release some.  We caught and released four nice permit to over thirty pounds, including a triple header (something I have never done before)!  It was great fun, but we needed to find something else.  So, reluctantly, I steered the L&H away from the hungry permit school.  Less than ten minutes later we caught a few nice mahi.  As we headed north looking for a spot to fish the afternoon, my brother told me he was seeing tuna, but they would not bite.  I knew that we had great bait and we would be able to get some bites.  When we reached the area, Trav threw out a bait.  Seconds later four sails were up chasing Travs bait!  Jim and Trav sprung into action as I stayed with the pack of sails.  Soon we had all four sails on and jumping in all different directions.  Everyone did great and we were able to release them all.  We put the kite up and two big blackfin hit at the same time.  We boated the pair of tuna, set up again and were hooked up instantly!  The action continued for the next two hours and was just about as good as it gets.  Big kingfish and big blackfins were biting like no tomorrow!  When the smoke cleared, the fishbox on the L&H was filled to capacity!  The final talley for the day was 5 sailfish, 12 blackfin tuna (twenty-five to thirty-five pounds),  8 kingfish (four of them over thirty pounds), a few mahi, snapper, jacks, and 6 permit   (four of them released)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was a great day for Frank and everyone on the L&H!

Max Gets Em

Today our good friend and long time customer, Max Puyanic, came to fish with us.  I decided to let Jim run the boat and Travis and I would work the cockpit.  After getting bait, we ran to the south to start fishing.  We had good conditions and after the first bait went over the side, we started getting bites.  At first we had a few kingfish bites and then a big blackfin tuna jumped out of the water and ate the right middle kite bait.  Max made quick work of that fish and the L&H was off to a good start.  Max caught a nice sailfish a little later and then the action slowed.  Our plan was to head farther south to see what we could find.  We were rewarded for our efforts when we came across a nice school of permit.  Max and his fishing partner for the day, each boated a permit, and we secured the two fish per day limit.  Now it was time to try something else.  Jim ran the boat back to the area where we started our trip.  The water was still nice and Trav and I put the kites back up.  Again bites started coming shortly after the baits went out.  At first a couple sails, then another nice tuna.  Just before it was time to head in, a big fish ate the left long kite bait and took off on a long run.  After a tough fight we gaffed a forty pound wahoo!  It was a great day with lots of good eating fish!

First Cobia School Of The Season

For the sixth consecutive year the L&H has been the first boat in the marina to come back with a limit of cobia! This year we had young Chris Marlin David on his first ever cobia fishing trip and that would bring us the luck we needed. With my family on board we decided to catch bait for tomorrows trip and then look around for a little while. After catching the bait, we began to search for the cobias. About forty minutes into the hunt, James and I spotted them. It was a good school with some nice fish in it. Everyone went to work and before long, there were bent rods all over. Soon after, cobias began coming over the side and headed to the fishbox. About a half hour later, we had our limit and released a bunch more. Soon after heading the L&H for home I found another cobia school a short distance away. There were a lot of fish, but small ones mostly so we released a few and left the others to continue doing whatever it is that cobia do.

Another World Record For Laurel

My daughter Laurel David (9) caught her third IGFA world record for girls under ten. We caught two big african pompano the day before so I knew the fish were there. The next day we loaded up the family in the dark and headed out with Jim and Trav. After getting a bunch of bait we were the first ones to the spot. At first we got a couple small jacks then Laurel got a big bite on a flatline. The fish took a bunch of line and from the way it was fighting, I was sure she had the fish we were after. For twenty minutes Laurel slowly gained line back until we could see her big pompano circling below. A couple minutes later we gaffed the fish and pulled it aboard!!! A beautiful african pompano that would later weigh in at thirty-four pounds! Another record!! We fished the rest of the day and ended up with another pompano, some amberjacks, and groupers! It was a great day for Laurel and everyone on the L&H!!!!!!!!

Tom Kuljuus Day Two

After such a great day of fishing yesterday, we were very excited about what today would bring. Instead of worrying about sailfish bait, we began to concentrate on bait for dolphin and wreck fishing. As soon as we got to the deep water our team began to catch dolphin and it was looking like another great day. After getting some mahi mahi, we had a big strike on a trolled lure. The fish ran off a bunch of line and after some great angling by Tom, we gaffed the twenty-five pound wahoo and put it in the fishbox with the mahi. After the wahoo, we stopped at a shipwreck and were rewarded with three nice black groupers. When the groupers slowed down, our team picked up where we left off by catching more dolphin. A few miles to the south, I stopped the L&H near another sunken shipwreck. Just like yesterday, the action was fast and furious! When the baits got down, they got eaten. At first we were getting big amberjacks, then Tom pulled up a nice African Pompano. After the pompano we caught a few almacos before deciding to start heading back. On the way home the L&H found mahi almost the entire way. With all the mahi, bottomfish, and Tom's wahoo it was another great trip. We took some photos and cut some fish for our crew back at the marina, excited about tomorrows trip!