Wahoo Saves the Day!
Capt. James Ewing
August 5, 2013
Stuart - Saltwater Fishing Report
August 1:
On our half day charter today we had Kirven, Joe, their sons and one of their friends son. We did not try to catch live bait because it has been so hard to come by and we didnt want to waste time on a half day trip. We ran out to the east-southeast to 200 feet of where there was some scattered grass and a temperature change. After trolling for about 30 minutes we had our first bite and it was an estimated 20 pound Wahoo. Great way to start the morning!
Shortly after that i heard that another boat had caught a mahi inshore on an edge in 80 feet of water. So I trolled in that way hoping to get in on some mahi action. There weren't many Mahi's around though and we never had a bite from one of them. However, we did catch one bonito and had another bonito eaten by a porpoise while we were trolling around the edge.
With two hours left in the trip we changed gears and tried to catch some Sea Bass using the fresh bait that we had caught earlier. Bonito makes great bottom fishing bait. We made some drops in 130 feet and caught a couple of keepers and several that were to small to keep. The current was so strong, running 2.5 knots, that it was hard to hold bottom. I moved in to a shallower spot in 75 feet and all we could catch were throwback Sea Bass and one ugly Scorpion fish.
The guys had a great time though, and we will be taking Kirven and some other friends of his out for a full day at the end of the month.
August 2:
Today we had a 3/4 day of fishing with Jeff, Laurie, Gary and Denise. The trolling proved to be super slow. We hoped to troll around in some deep water and catch a Wahoo and maybe a Mahi. No such luck! The conditions looked good in several areas where we fished, but the only thing we saw were a few Mahi that weren't even as big as the Ballyhoo we were trolling.
We did have 2 bites from the small Mahis, but they weren't big enough to eat the baits! After some time we did catch a Bonito while we were trolling which we used for bait to catch other fish.
We moved inshore to 40 feet and put a Bonito carcass out behind the boat as chum for Goliath Grouper. The rest of the Bonito we used for bait. The water in that depth is pretty dirty from the water they are discharging from Lake O and we didn't see a Goliath coming up from the depths to steal the head from our Bonito until its tail splashed water all over the cockpit!
We ended the day by catching 3 out of 5 Goliath bites up to 200 pounds. We had some bad luck by breaking a hook, and pulling one off after a long battle. That is what happens when you use 60 plus pounds of drag on a fish that big. We have to use that much drag to keep them from getting down to the structure and cutting the line. Everyone had a good time with the big fish.
Capt. James Ewing
www.boneshakercharters.com
(772) 286-5504
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