12 Year Old James Does Super Mating For Victor

Wes had not been fishing for a week or so because of an infection in his finger. I had been using my brother Fred or Mike Welter but they were both busy today so I took my twelve year old son James as first mate. Victor Delatorre and his friends booked us for a full day and since Victor likes to get eating fish I knew what we needed to do. The baitfishing was tougher than it had been, but we finally got enough and made our way to the south. Our first stop was at the edge of the reef where we had been getting some snappers. The wind was light and we put up the helium and got some bonitas and a decent kingfish. When the action slowed I decided to run offshore and look for some dolphin. A few miles out there was a weedline with dolphin on it. At first, just a few fish then it started getting better and better. James did great with the dolphin, making great casts to get the first fish hooked, then working quickly to get the school going. The dolphin were mixed sizes, some that were too small to keep, but plenty of keepers and a few bigger fish. For almost three hours we stayed busy catching dolphin and James never missed a beat, doing as well or better than any mate twice his size. Finally the weedline diminished and it was time to try something else. At the shipwreck we were hoping to get a snapper or cobia for Victor and his gang, but today it would only be amberjacks. Again, James worked with precision, keeping baits going down and fish coming up. Before long we had our limit of amberjacks including one fish close to ninety pounds. James would hook the big jacks, hand the rod off, and then grab the leader and pull the fish all the way up to the gaff. He made his father very, very proud. We ran back to the north and put the kites up for a little bit. James needed a break so he ran the boat. We caught a nice sailfish and headed back to the marina! It was a great day for everyone, but I think I was the happiest of all, being able to fish with my boy as first mate and have a box full of fish to show for it!!!!!!!!!!!!