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!