07/24/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

Doug and I headed out in the rough seas about 730am. When we got to the inlet I decided it was way to rough to try and catch bait so we just headed out with frozen bait. Has done the trick so far this summer so figured why not. We started the day of quickly with 3 kings and 3 bonito. After that we decided to head out deeper and headed south towards breakers in search of a better weedline. After a rough ride we got in to a thick weedline and instead of stopping I noticed two mooring balls floating about 500 yards away from the weedline so we headed over there to take a look and sure enough mahi and bait were everywhere. Doug also spotted a Triple Tail which he tossed a frozen sardine and fish on! While Doug was fighting the Triple Tail, i was playing with the Mahi. There werent any large ones but still fun. Caught 3 Kings, 3 Bonito, 5 Mahi, and Triple Tail. Due to the intense fishing and heat we were worn out and headed in. Conditions were rough with an east wind which created tricky conditions at the inlet.

07/17/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

Chris, his dad and me hit the inlet a little late due to the Jason Aldean concert keep the captain out a little too late. Nonetheless we got a few livies and headed offshore. We found a fantastic weedline in 200' so we set up a drift and were ready to go. The wind was brisk out of the North due to newly formed Tropical Storm Bret and actually forced us to drift South. I have only had that happen one other time and it meant a slow day. I imagine it happens more in the winter when the ocean is churned up. We managed to get on the board quickly with a Bonito and had several bite offs again. After some frustrating bite offs Mr C's line started screaming and i looked up and it was a monster mahi. We got the hook set and he was in for a 45 minute battle. Got it to the boat with a perfect gaff and we headed in after a successful trip. Mahi means we got to make our infamous coconut crusted dolphin fingers with orange marmalade! Lets hope this storm gets out of here quickly without too much of a swell!

07/16/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

I headed out solo since it was extremely calm. Cleared the inlet around 715 and tried catching some bait however there was a nice cuda that decided he was going to mess with me for 30 minutes and steal my bait and sabikis. I finally got fed up and headed out to find some weeds or rips. I found a decent weed line in 85 but knew that was going to be Bonito heaven so i went out to 400' to some spotty weeds. Sure enough i caught a Bonito within 5 minutes of lines being in. Add some Trigger fish and remoras and i had a SoFlo Garbage Slam! You can also thrown in the 5 or 6 times i got bit off. Since i was going to the Jason Aldean concert, i decided to call it an early day so i could get some things done. Its nice to be able to just run out whenever i feel like it. Conditions were completely flat, a light variable wind. The moon was full and didnt set until 10am or so. I am thinking the day was slow because of the moon and lack of current. Photos below sum up my day on the water but at least it was peaceful after a long week of work!

07/10/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

Chadd, Groff, and me hit the water around 7am. We tried to catch some bait but only managed a couple. Due to the storms in the forecast we headed out to drift to at least get a little fishing in. After one drift of nothing but little bits, we set up drift in 250' and were drifting NW. The wind finally picked up a little and a decent current began to help the fishing. After not catching much i decided to reset up in 140' and at least get some Bonito which sure enough was an easy target. We had 5 hit at one time. Always interesting with only 3 people but we managed to get all the fish in and helped make up for the slow morning. After the battles with the bonito, we headed in. There was very little wind and hardly a current out there. The winds were out of the east towards afternoon. Before heading in we decided to let the live bait out and almost immediately we had 3 mahi come up to the boat. They were small but still would have been fun to catch but the captain couldnt seal the deal. They took the bait but would not get the hook. It was tough to leave them biting but with storms approaching and the hot sun wearing us out, we headed in. I am hoping all this time we put in the bonito end up giving us a Wahoo!

07/09/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

After a week of rain everyday I was not too optimistic about the fishing forecast over the weekend but Doug and I headed out early in search of the prized Hoo! We cleared the inlet around 530am and found relatively calm seas and a great weedline in 250'. I really thought this was the day to high speed troll for wahoo but all we caught was weeds before the storms fired up around 730am. After seeing a train effect set up on the storms from wpb to Miami, we decided to head in. Good thing we did because it rained for 4 hours. Would have been an unpleasant day. While trolling we did see a free jumping sail and lots of weeds in the blue water. What little wind there was, came from the south switching to the southeast and southwest with the storms. Water temps continue to be around 84. Seems a little cooler than this time last year.

07/03/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

Chris and I hit the water around 10am once again after morning storms delayed the trip. This time we at least slept in rather than hoping it would stop. Once we got out we headed south with hopes to avoid the bonito but instead we were greeted by Trigger Fish that just kept eating bait after bait. I then headed up north to see if we could find a sailfish or two. Luck would have it that as soon as we stop to drop baits, a boat next to us hooks up in 150' of water. About the same place where we caught on the week before. I believe we had one hit our freelined ballyhoo due to the way the bait was sliced up but we will never know. After that we began the bonito bonanza. I lost count but i think we caught 11 in about 45 minutes and then ended the day with a nice king in about 130'. Seas were very calm with a moderate swell and then seas picked up as did the current which was basically slack when the Triggers were biting. Never great day when we catch bonito all day but it was fun and we had a shot at a sail but couldnt capitalize. Maybe all these bonito mean my wahoo is coming soon....

07/02/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

Well if the drought isnt over now it should be after today. Me, Alex and his cousins tried to get out early only to find have rain that would not let up. It rained directly over the inlet and boat ramp for about 3 hours. The blob of rain would not move. Nonetheless we made it out and caught 5 bonito just north of the inlet anywhere from 100' to 300'. No pictures because of the sloppy seas and i was about fed up with only being able to find bonito. Seas were very sloppy after the storms and current was ripping. We are about a week and a half into the new moon. Getting close to Wahoo season!

06/26/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

Luke, Kim, LJ, and I hit the inlet around 7am to find 2-4' swells which were a surprise. It may be just me but the weather folks have been awful this year. I am not sure i have seen them get the winds/waves right once so far. Even the day of they seem to get it wrong. I am about fed up with them. Anyhow, once we caught a couple of Bonito, Kim decided it was time for her to go in due to the high seas. After some quality time at Sailfish Marina, we saw a sign from the fishing gods...a giant turtle! We tossed our baits out and sure enough landed a 25lb Cobia! LJ capped off the day with a another Bonito and nice Mutton Snapper. Weedlines were tough to find but we did find a few in 80' of water which is where we got the Cobia. The Snapper was in 140'. Another great trip with the Varadis.

Conditions were terrible for cruising around looking for dolphin so plan b worked pretty well.

06/25/2011 Offshore Fishing Report Palm Beach

The Varadis came down for their annual summer trip and probably experienced the best fishing possible! Despite the choppy seas Kim, Luke, LJ and I hit the inlet around 630am. We loaded up with a few blue runners and greenies and set off in search of Mahi and Sailfish. After about 15 minutes of having lines in the water, LJ hooks up with a 30" Mahi that was in the weeds. Luke caught one shortly after it but we sent it back to grow bigger for the next time they are here. Target species #1, check! Next on to the Sailfish. After finding a solid weedline in 200' of water we set up shop again with some freelines and bottom rigs just to see if we can get a bigger dolphin sitting below the weeds. The slammer rod goes off and a Sail begins dancing across the water as if to say welcome to the Varadis!! Luke fought it for about 25 minutes and finally brought it to the boat. As he got it closer we noticed the Sail had wrapped himself in the fishing line and was not doing well. As Luke pulled him to me, i noticed he was not alive. It was such a great moment to catch a Sail but its shame to see the die! We tried to revive him but to no avail. After the celebration we set up a couple more drifts and could only manage bonito so we headed in before the storms. Aunt Carol wanted to head up to the Juno Pier to fish so we packed up and headed out around 3pm. There was so much bait around the pier it was incredible. Within 5 minutes and his first cast Luke landed a Snook to finish off the day!

Conditions were choppy with water temps around 84. Weed line was heavy in about 150-200. We fished the tide going out.

Here are some pictures from the trip!

06/19/2011 Offshore Fishing Report

After Lincoln overslept we arrived just in time to see the smoke stacks fall. After the show we headed out to try to catch bait but that proved to be very difficult especially with the 500 other boats that had the same idea. Instead we started cruising around and saw a huge ray jump. Naturally we took a run over there and found a cobia that looked to be 50lbs easy. Chris tossed out a ballyhoo in front of it just like they tell you but captain jeff didnt tie on a strong enough leader and the cobia flossed with it. That pretty much sums up the day other than bonita bonita bonita. They have arrived in full force. Anywhere from 50' to 150' we found them. Also saw a great weedline in 50' of water...too bad it wasnt in 200' but we did toy with a baby mahi. He was definitely lost in 50' with no others around. Water was fairly calm with a chop picking up as the morning went on. Still having difficulties find bait. Fished from breakers to lost tree anywhere from beach to 1000'. Could not find any weeds and gave up when we hit 1000'.

06/17/2011 Offshore Fishing Report

Headed out after work to find sloppy seas and strong SE breeze. Ran out to find some weeds however there was nothing to be found. Ran in to try for snapper and caught 2 remora. Only spent a couple of hours on the water which most of was spend looking for weeds and navigating the rough seas. Probably the fishing gods telling me that fishing is not as easy as it was this past Sunday. Storms were in the area but seabreeze kept them inland. Current was pretty strong but hard to tell with the rough seas anyhow. Also probably did not help that the moon was waning and reports of cold water making its first appearance of the summer. Will try again on Sunday.

06/12/2011 Offshore Fishing Report

Chris and I hit the inlet around 1230 and headed straight out with some dead ballyhoo and frozen sardines in search of dolphin. We figured worst case we end up at Peanut Island but little did we know we would run into Dolphin like it was nothing! We started off the day with a small peanut and it tangled all of our lines and we cut the wrong line when trying to sort the mess and lost it. Hoping it wasnt out only chance we went back for more and found a huge school of mahi ready to eat. We got 3 in before we drifted out of the school and found 2 large bonito. We saw 2 barracudas cruising the surface and decided to head back to the sweet spot. Then the chaos began. I swear the school of dolphin we found was hundreds. We couldnt get rods in fast enough and fish off quick enough. It was incredible. Always good to say you left the fish hungry and biting! Conditions were slightly rough by not unbearable. I would say a sloppy 2-3'. Water was very clear with a N/NE wind at about 10-15 knots. All dolphin were caught in about 200-250' and 100' for the bonito. We fished directly off Singer Island. This was the same location that i caught dolphin last summer with my cousin and by myself. Same week too! I think i will be fishing the same spot next June!!

05/20/2011 Offshore Fishing Report

We decided to take part in the 13th Annual Simmons and White Fishing Tournament once again and cleaned up on Kingfish! We ended up with a 28lb Kingfish caught by Reelsgood and won the whole tournament! We tried to catch bait near the inlet but only got a handful so we tried the pier with no luck and then it was time to fish. The ocean was calm for the most part with a couple of gusts that created a bit of a chop but overall was a great day on the water. The Kings were biting in 100' pretty much on first drop. We used dead sardines, live greenies, and dead ballyhoo and all three had success. Once we had the monster king we tried for Dolphin but could not find them! Great tournament as always and was a great day on the water.

04/18/2011 Offshore and Juno Beach Pier Fishing Report

Luke and I hit the inlet bright and early. We caught tons of bait and the day looked promising after several weeks of no bait. Unfortunately all we caught were amberjack and bonitos. Luke fished the Juno Pier and landed a Jack Crevelle and 2 undersized Snook! Luke caught Greenies on the sabiki and caught all his fish on either live bait or cut greenies.

Water Temp - 79 degrees
Air Temp -86 degrees
Water Clarity - Clear/Calm
Weather Conditions - Partly cloudy
Wind - calm to 10 knots W, N
Current - moderate
Waves - 1'-2'
Lures/bait - Dead Sardines, Ballyhoo, live blue runners/Goggle Eyes, sabiki in 20'-30' water just north of Breakers
Moon - Full
Tide - Outgoing and Incoming

02/06/2011 Offshore Fishing Report

After a month long delay Doug and I made up for it in a big way. Sailfish #7 is hooked and landed by 11am! Using the infamous "Always and Forever" Golden Rod, Doug let out a blue runner while slow trolling and it was hit within seconds. Brings more evidence that Sails are attracted to boats and keep the baits close to the boat! Other than the sail, we had a boniton, remora, blue runners and still no luck catching bait as its getting harder and harder to come by. Tried shark fishing with the large amount of sharks earlier in the week but no luck!




Water Temp - 71-73 degrees
Air Temp -80 degrees
Water Clarity - murky but blue out past 100 feet
Weather Conditions - Partly cloudy
Wind - calm to 10 knots S, W, NW
Current - moderate
Waves - 1'-2'
Lures/bait - Dead Sardines, Ballyhoo, live blue runners, trolled 20' by breakers for bait
Moon - Crescent
Tide - incoming