Max Has a Great Day

We went charter fishing that morning and the conditions were great! Our group from the morning trip managed to release eight sailfish so needless to say, I was chompin at the bit to get back out there! There was still plenty of bait so, the plan was to head strait out and start fishing right away! It wasn’t long at all and we were back to the edge and the kites went out. Before the crew was able to get all the baits out we hooked a triple header sailfish! This was just the start I was hoping for! Max was able to release two of the three sailfish and again the baits went back out. Before all the baits were out, two more sailfish were dancing behind the L&H!
After releasing both ends of the double header, I ran to the south to get back in front of the fish. The wind was starting to die so the kites were barely staying up. Max managed two more sailfish releases before the wind stopped and now we were at six releases for only a couple hours fishing! While the guys were working on a helium balloon (to keep the kite aloft) I spotted a free jumping sailfish. Seconds later, we were in position and the second the first bait hit the water a sailfish came up and devoured it! Hooked on light line, this sailfish took off greyhounding for the horizon! Although the fleeing sail did its best, it was no match for the L&H! The maneuverable Miami Charter Boat charged back on the suborn billfish and before long, our mate was able to successfully release our seventh sailfish of the afternoon! Now it was time for the helium balloon to do its job! After only minutes of waiting, Max hooked a sail on the kite and was able to catch and release the fish rather quickly. After that, the L&H was still in a good spot and so out went the baits. Again, Max hooked up right away, but this sailfish was much tougher, and it was a long fight. Finally, Max had his ninth sailfish of the afternoon at boatside. Max was very satisfied with his day and at the same time exhausted! I wanted Max to get to double digits, so we raced back to set up one last time. As soon as the first bait went out it was eaten by a hungry sailfish! We backed down quickly on the sail and my good friend Max released his TENTH SAILFISH of the afternoon! I was so very happy and proud of him! It was an amazing accomplishment and an action packed afternoon that none of us will soon forget! 

A Fun Afternoon With Drew

Drew came along on an afternoon sport fishing adventure aboard Miami's Best Charterboat the L&H!  The weather was beautiful and we took our time catching bait.  There were no other boats out so we had it all to ourselves.  As we ran offshore there was huge amounts of sea weed.  I knew where the fish had been the past few days so the plan was to run strait out and start in the same area we had been fishing.  No sooner had the L&H slowed down and baits started going out, I spotted something floating offshore of us.  It turned out to be a piece of wood with some rope entangled around it.  To get us started we found nice dolphin, a few tripletail, jacks and loads of triggerfish.  The seaweed seemed to go on for miles so we began to ride it to the south.  Right away I began spotting dolphin and when the bait went out the hungry mahi would race over to it.  The fish were all decent size and Drew was enjoying throwing out the bait and hooking the fish himself. A couple hours later we found ourselves in a nice school of keeper dolphin.  All of the sudden like so many times before a big fish swam up while we were busy catching small ones!  Drew was able to quickly hook a bait and throw it in front of the hungry mahi mahi.  The ravenous dolphin raced over and engulfed the happless baitfish much to the delight of every one onboard our successful charter fishing boat.  As usual Drew, our friend and repeat customer was able to battle the stubborn fish to the boat without any issues.  After the big fish was in the fish box our well oiled machine was able continue to work on the school.  Since we were close to our limit I decided to start heading inshore. This turned out to be a good move as I spotted nice size tuna breaking the  surface of the water.  The tuna were moving fast and it was difficult to to get into position.  Adding to the equation was the fact that there was so much sea weed.  Sometimes we would have everything looking right, but just as the fish were about to see the lures we would be covered up with sea weed.  Finally we go what the pass I wanted and hooked a triple header!  Line melted off the fin-nor reels as hooked tuna ran in all directions.  After some fancy footwork and alot of pumping and reeling all three of the tasty tunas found their way into the fish box.  The lines went back out and we caught another double header tunas.  After this Drew was ready to enjoy the air conditioned salon as we made our way comfortably back to Crandon Park Marina in Key Biscayne!  Once again it was another fun and successful day of charter fishing on the Miami Charter Boat L&H!

Richmond Brothers Have A Busy Day

The Richmond brothers have been charter fishing off Key Biscayne before, but never on the L&H!  We were excited to fish with three brothers and got an early start to what would be a great day of sportfishing on Miami's best charter boat.  After loading up with bait we headed out to try the edge first.  In the first hour of fishing the guys landed several bonita and a few kings.  From there we started heading to the south.  A friend on another boat told me he saw a big dolphin and there was a nice weed line so the boys started getting ready for mahi as we motored to the south.  Soon we reached the area where I heard about the mahi, and started to search.  A few minutes later we spotted a big bull dolphin swimming down the weed.  It was very close to where my friend told me he was and it was similar in size to what he said so I was sure it was the same fish.  We backed around chasing the acrobatic bull as our angler gained line at a feverish pace.  Minutes later we gaffed the fish and once again resumed the hunt.  A couple miles further I spotted a couple frigate birds working and this find would vault us into some excellent dolphin fishing.  Before getting even remotely close to the birds we started catching fish.  Within seconds the brothers were all hooked up to dolphin and would stay like that for a while.  More and more fish continued to swim up as the group added more and more mahi to our icy hold.  Around mid day the action started to slow down and we decided to go even farther south.  I was sure the guys had never seen or caught a permit so we pushed inshore to give it a shot.  We reached the area and looked around for a while without seeing anything.  The conditions were not bad, but without seeing any fish I was just about to leave.  Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a truly large fish.  The bait went out and the big, hungry permit raced over and engulfed it!  And just like that we were on!  Bullbuster line melted off the reel as we chased the angry fish in hot pursuit.  As was the norm for the day, our angler did a great job and after an exciting battle had the exhausted fish in the boat!!  We were so happy!!!  The brothers were happy with the permit and and the crew was happy with the great weather and great fishing that we were enjoying!!  By now we were pretty far from the dock and it was starting to get late so we started heading back.  On our way home we added a nice cobia and a few more dolphin to finish up what was a fun and exciting day of fishing on Miami's Best Charter Boat the L&H!!!

Sports Grill Guys Are In The Meat

We took our friends from the Sports Grill for a full day of Miami Charter Fishing!  These guys fished with us a few months ago and had a great time.  We got an early start, pulling out of Crandon Marina in Key Biscayne, FL just before 7:00 am.  The guys relaxed in the air conditioned salon on the way to the bait spot. Because of the early start, the bait was very cooperative and the L&H was on its way offshore in no time!  It was only a short ride to the gulf stream and with a lot of sea weed in the area, it looked fishy! Only minutes later we had our first fish, a nice mahi that Paulie hooked on a live bait. As we continued south, our team started finding more and more fish. Before long, every one was hooked up and with dolphin behind Miamis Best Charter Boat! As more and more of the tasty mahis made their way to our icy hold, the days catch continued to grow. At one point, as the guys were catching school sized fish, a nice one, over twenty pounds showed up. Before anyone was able to do anything, Paulie delivered a perfect cast and hooked up. He fought the fish flawlessly and had the tired mahi boatside in short order. By early afternoon everyone had caught plenty of fish and with the wind picking up we decided to go in and try kite fishing. Our goal was to see if we could get lucky and add a tuna to the tally. There was a lot of seaweed on the edge. That in combination with the sun’s glare in our eyes would make it tough to fish the kite. None the less we put everything out and were soon fishing with twelve live baits in the water. Twenty minutes later, Eddie hooked a big fish on the center kite!  From the way the fish was acting we were pretty sure it was a tuna. The Sports Grill guys know how to fish and Eddie had the fish at the boat rather quickly.  They now had nice tuna to go along with some fresh mahi. A little while longer, another big fish was hooked up and this time it was dads turn. After a fun fight, dad was able to add another nice sized tuna to what was already a great catch! By now it was starting to get late and everyone agreed to start heading back! Back at Crandon Park Marina we pulled out the catch, took some photos for our guys and cut up a bunch of fillets for everyone!

We Win the Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo

Every year we fish the rodeo with my wife, children and a few friends.  It is a family oriented tournament and everyone usually has a good time.  The field is very competitive and we work very hard to get ready for the two day event. Finally after countless hours of preparation and days of bait fishing we were ready to go. Twenty to twenty-five mile per hour winds and ten foot seas greeted us the first day. Taking our time, we got to the area we wanted to start at and got set up. The day started slow and was very rough! We caught a few keeper kings and saw a big mahi that we didn’t get.  The very next drift we caught a weigher dolphin and things were looking up. Next drift, my daughter Laurel, had a nice fish that was acting like a tuna. After a while we could see Laurel did in fact have a big tuna and that there was a shark trying to get it. I feared the shark would bite the tuna and disqualify our catch. After a few nerve racking moments, the tuna decided to take its fate into its own hands.   Rather than getting eaten by the hungry shark, the tuna decided it would rather jump on the boats engine bracket and dry out! And that is exactly what happened!!!!!!!  Laurel’s tuna leaped on the bracket only to have my thrifty son James standing ready and quickly grabbed the tuna and threw it in the boat. Minutes later James had a big fish on that managed to get wrapped in a competitor's line. I tried desperately to get close to the other boat hoping James would be able to untangle the mess. It was just too rough we couldn’t get close enough and unfortunately the other boat broke their fish off and James was able to land another big tuna that would help us out in the standings! Later in the afternoon we added a couple more tunas that would give us our limit for the day! At the end of day one our team would weigh a limit of kingfish, limit of tuna and a nice dolphin which would be enough for us to be sitting in second place. 

Day two would offer up calmer seas and with a shorter day we would have to fish fast and make our bites count. Right away we caught a couple keeper kings including a nice twenty-five pounder for Laurel. Then we had a big king sky on the left long kite, but got the bait off the hook, before anyone could say a word, the  flatline took off with a big tuna. It was just one of those tournaments where most everything went right and very little went wrong. As my friend Louis says, “When it’s for you…it’s for you. We would finish the second day with another limit of kingfish and two big tunas! After waiting to weigh our fish and coming up with a total of way over three hundred pounds we were declared the WINNERS!!!!!!!!!  It was such an amazing feeling and I was so very proud of my family and my team!  We ended up Top Boat, Top Male Angler, Top Junior Angler and Top Family!!!! A great tournament with my wonderful family!!!!

Jake Martin catches his 1st White Marlin!

Jake Martin and his dad wanted to do some Charter Fishing so they booked Miami’s Best Charter Boat!  My son James was the mate for the day and our plan was to head offshore to the gulfstream.   A few miles offshore we put out the lines and began trolling.   About fifteen minutes later I saw a billfish behind the right long outrigger and I went to yell down to James.  When I looked down, James was ready with the rod already in his hand.  The fish rolled on the bait and James made a perfect drop back and we were on.  Everyone quickly cleared the rest of the lines so we could start to chase the fish!  When we got everything clear the fish had a lot of line out and it was time to chase it down. Jake began to get line as the L&H backed down in hot pursuit! James did a great job coaching our young angler as he battled the feisty billfish! The fish was still on the surface so we backed down hard to get close. As we charged back I could see the leader and then … I could see the fish, it was a beautiful white marlin!! White marlin are very rare and this was the first one we have caught in a while. The marlin faught hard and would go down deep for a little bit and then come up jumping! We took our time and the young angler did great. After a tough fight we were able to get the marlin by the bill. James was able to pull it in the boat for some quick photos before releasing our white marlin back to the sea unharmed!! What a thrill!!! It was so exciting, but now it was time to move on and find something else. A few miles further out I saw a big mahi on the surface and James made a perfect cast to the fish. The mahi raced over, inhaled the bait and took off jumping. Again, we started backing up and as the L&H performed that familiar reverse rumble it quickly closed the distance between the big dolphin and the end of the gaff! Moments later, James reached way out, made a perfect shot and hauled the big mahi over the rail! We resumed the hunt and started finding nice sized mahi more and more frequently! Our team was working like a well oiled machine as more fish found their way to our icy hold! As the day wore on, our catch continued to grow as we steadily picked at fish all day. Near the end of the trip the team added a few bigger dolphin to finish off what was already an outstanding day of charter fishing on the L&H!!!

UCA Dolphin Tournament, Ocean Reef

I have been fishing with the Bradley family on the L&H for the past twenty years!  The Bradley children have grown up in front of my eyes.  They booked us to fish the UCA Dolphin Tournament out of Ocean Reef. It was a lot of work to get ready. We had to catch bait a head of time and run down in the dark, but we were happy to put forth the extra effort. After a very early start we made it to Ocean Reef (before light), picked up the Bradleys and headed offshore. The day started out with us catching a few fish in shallow, but since we were ahead of most of the other boats I decided to keep going out.  After spending a good while way offshore, in the deep, without much to show for ourselves, I decided to come in closer.  Around noon things started picking up as we started catching fish. At first mostly schoolies, with a few nicer fish mixed in. Dave got us on the board with the first qualifier and that would get us headed in the right direction. Shortly after catching a few more small fish, we spotted a nice piece of debris. As I maneuvered closer to the debris we could see a big dolphin laying close to it.   The mahi was sporting a shiny lure on one side of its mouth as it had been hooked and lost by someone else!  Nonetheless when we threw our bait out there and it was happy to see it!!!  The unlucky dolphin chased the bait all over, but was having great difficulty catching its meal.  I feared our bait might become tangled in the leader already hanging from the dolphins mouth and pull off. Our angler hooked the fish, but I was not sure where or how good so I instructed him to use light drag! I hoped we could get the fish quick, before it realized what happened. We backed around chasing the big dolphin and had it only feet away from gaff several times. The fish finally went down, but after some strong persuasion came back he to the surface. That is where we raced back and gaffed our prize!!!! Everyone went crazy!!! We knew this fish would be hard to beat! It was a great feeling! On the way home the crew got a few more fish but it was at the weigh in that we found our dolphin would turn out to be the tournament winner!

John Gets His First Sailfish And Then Some

Our friends at Gaffed Up Magazine referred John and his dad to us to try and get the boy his first sailfish! The trip started out a little shaky as we had some battery issues, but the father and son were patient as we worked on the problem.  It wasn't long before we were up and running and headed out to sea.  There had been some fish out front so we didn't have to go very far before putting the baits out.  About forty minutes later a sailfish came to the right long kite bait and John dropped back and hooked the fish.  The sailfish took off for the horizon and bullbuster kite vis mono dumped off our fin-nor reel.  Our young angler took his time and did a great job fighting the fish.  After a while we had the fish at boatside and were able to release the fish unharmed.  I was so excited to get that fish especially after the rough start we had.  Once again the baits went back out and this time we did not have to wait long before another hungry sail came our way.  Just like before, John hooked his own fish and did a great job of fighting it.  With two sailfish already, the father and son team, were on their way to a great trip.  The current was pushing us north and when I saw a free jumping sail, I knew we were going to be in position to get a bite.  Seconds later, a lit up sailfish, came racing in on one of our kite baits.  For the third time today, John dropped back, hooked and released a nice sailfish.  We had a little time left, so I pushed out to a wreck that was near by.  Right away, a big sail came up, but this time John let his dad catch the fish.  Dad must have been watching his son, because he made quick work of the sailfish and we let it go to fight another day.  Just then the deep line bent over and John grabbed the rod and began to fight the fish.  This time it was a big yellow jack that we were hooked up to.  We put the fish in the fishbox and headed for home!  It was a great day of fishing with John and his father and we look forward to seeing them again soon.