22 Sailfish For Diaz Family

The last time the Diaz family (Jennifer, Erica, DJ, and Dave) fished with us, Erica got a sailfish even though it wasn't the time when we normally find them. This time older brother DJ wanted one for himself. With high expectations, Jim, Trav, and I went the day before and caught bait so we could get an early start. The Diaz gang got to the L&H early in the morning and we were off. As Jim and I rode the tower on the way south the conditions looked great and we were excited about what the day had in store for us. Before long I saw two sailfish tailing down sea. Trav threw out two baits and we hooked both fish. DJ got one and Dave got the other. Now that DJ had his fish the pressure was off! We ran down a few more miles, put the kites out, and started getting bites immediately. For the first few hours as fast as the baits went out they were eaten by sailfish or mahi. Just before lunch, the wind switched more from the west and the sails stopped tailing, but we were still getting bites on the kites. By noon we had already released twelve sailfish, caught two kings, twenty mahi, a grouper and a nice wahoo! More and more boats started coming down to where we had been fishing to try and get in on the action. As the afternoon wore on , our team continued to catch fish. DJ and his father stayed on the rods all day and their extra effort played an important role in our success. By 4:00pm we were up to nineteen sailfish releases and Jim came up to the tower with his phone. Our friend Captain Paul Ross had called to congratulate us on the great day we were having. As I talked with Paul, another sail came up. LEFT SHORT!!! I yelled nearly blowing out Captain Paul's eardrums! This fish was very important to me as it would make sailfish number twenty for the day. In my years on the L&H I have caught twenty or more (As either captain or mate) five different times and no other boat at our marina has ever reached this magic number. It is something we are very proud of! DJ caught sailfish number twenty and he and his dad caught another double to finish the day with twenty-two sailfish releases!!!!!! It was even more special to have such a great day with a family like the Diaz's, because family is so very important to me!