The Cruz Family Comes From Orlando To Fish On The L&H

Our friends from the Cruz family have been following us on Instagram  (@LANDH_SPORTFISHING) and decided to come fish with us for the day! Driving down from Orlando, the family and friends passed hundreds of other charter boats so we wanted to do everything in our power to make sure the trip was worth it for them! Looking for action on the edge of the reef to start the day was the first order of business. Moments after the first lines were set, they were bit. Only minutes after getting started, the Cruz crew boated a nice kingfish. Continuing to work the area, bites kept coming and the family and friends enjoyed good action most of the morning with nice sized kings and smaller bonitos. Suddenly a frigate bird swooped down to the surface of the calm blue water. Up in the tower I could see the dark color of a feeding sailfish underneath the whirling frigate. Quickly, James presented a bait, but unfortunately the sail was not interested in what we had to offer and slowly sunk out. By now the action on the reef edge had slowed and it was time to head further offshore and begin our search for pelagic gamefish in the vast gulf stream. After a while, I spotted a big piece of floating debris off in the distance and was very optimistic about what might be lurking below! Much to our dismay, the possible "fish haven" was completely barren, void of any life, bait or gamefish. Seeing that, it was time to switch gears and try a different technique. Not far from an area where our crew had enjoyed some successful deep dropping, that seemed like a good spot to start. Conditions were fair as our baited hooks plummeted to the ocean floor far below. Bites came rather quickly, but we were having trouble hanging on to them. Finally the stout rod warped over and bounced violently from the tug of a nice sized fish over thirteen hundred feet below. The team worked the fish to the surface and much to the delight of even-one aboard it was a nice barrel fish! Things were looking up as we ran back to the spot to hopefully find another. This time as we waited for a bite on the bottom, the surface bait went off. One of the Cruz group set the hook and a beautiful mahi mahi took to the air! I quickly ascended the tower to get a better view of the situation, hoping to spot another fish! "More Fish!" I shouted down to the cockpit, and no sooner had the words left my mouth, more baits were presented!   All of the sudden we had a few nice mahis hooked up and our team worked together to avoid tangles and get the fish to the boat. Everything worked out the way we hoped and all of the colorful, tasty mahi mahi made their way to our variety filled fish box. With all the attention to the surface action the bottom rod was getting good bites, seemingly unnoticed! It was time to take it up and find out what was on there this time. From the strain on the reel it was obvious that we were tied into something good. This time a variety of great big rose fish and barrel fish. We made a couple more drops and added a couple more barrels for good measure before starting to fish our way home. By now the wind had really picked up and the seas were building. On the way back the Cruz's boated a couple small tunas for good measure. Even though we were faced with some adverse conditions, our friends made the best of it and ended up with a great variety of good eating fish. Back at the dock after a long day at sea, we took some pictures of the catch and filled the cooler with bags of fillets for the family to enjoy back home in Orlando!

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.

Great Family Fishing With The Kids

We went out on a family fishing trip with my wife Debbi, our three children, my dad, brother Freddie and his two kids (Jody and Hayden) along with our long time friend Jim Hendrix and boy did we have a good time!  After getting an early start, the L&H headed offshore.  Before the sun even broke the horizon, Debbi spotted a frigate bird off in the distance and as we got closer everyone could see hungry tuna feeding under the diving frigate!  Excitement mounted as we approached the school of fish and when we got into position, lines started popping out of the outrigger clips, rods began bending over, and reels and children started screaming from the pull of the fast moving tuna!  Five tuna pulled for all they were worth, but they were no match for the five eager children who battled the strong fish to the boat!  Before long, blackfin and skipjack tuna were coming over the rail and landing in the fish box!  Jim and Freddie stayed in the tower and kept up with the rapidly moving tuna school.  Multiple hook ups were the rule rather than the exception and Debbi and I worked feverishly to keep getting the lines out!  Before most people were even out of bed that morning, our crew of kids (most of whom were under the age of 10) had boated over twenty nice tuna to about fifteen pounds!  Everyone was having a blast!  As the sun continued to climb, the tuna became more difficult to catch so we decided to head further out!  Several miles offshore, I was watching the bottom machine when I watched the water depth plummet from 1000 feet to over 1200 feet in less than one hundred yards!  We had found a deep hole in the ocean floor out in the middle of nowhere!!  Freddie and Jim quickly spun the boat around to the spot I had now marked on our gps!  James readied a rig and we baited several hooks and sent them to the bottom with a large lead.  The instant our rig hit the bottom, we began getting bites!  The kids started taking up the fish with the help of an electric reel.  As everyone peered over the side, anxious to see what we had, we were delighted to see a full string of nice sized rose fish!  There was one on every hook!  We sent the rig down again, and this time with even better results!  Although I didn't think it was possible, we had a fish on every hook, but this time one of the hooks had two fish on it!!!  It was amazing!  We made a few more drops with great success and then decided to call it a day.  We headed back to the marina where we had pizzas delivered and took a bunch of photos with the kids and cut up lots of great eating fish for my brother, dad and family!!!!!