Incredible Day

 

It was an incredible day, for sure. One of those days when you do all the right things and find the life. It was an 85 mile run for us, and with $4-$5 a gallon gas we had to make it count. We ran out the night before at about midnight and started fishing at dawn about 70 miles out. By 3:00, we had limited out on dolphin and Wahoo, saw two white marlins, had a big blue eat one of our hooked Wahoo, and started passing up huge dolphin because we had caught so many. What a day!

The dolphin were not responding to trolled baits that day, so we used lived bait with light tackle and had a blast. Definitely my favorite way to catch Dolphin. Later in the morning we found some really good debris and limited out on Wahoo trolling by it with only three passes. After that, we caught a bunch of Wahoo on spinning tackle with jigs and poppers. The dolphin were so hot we took the hooks off our poppers and it did not matter how fast you reeled, you just couldn’t keep it away from them.

 

  

• 19 dolphins, 9 of which were bulls in the 30-40lb. range. One with a hole in its' head from a possible earlier encounter with a Marlin or Sword Fish


• 6 Wahoo in the box with an additional 10 or so caught and released.


• Triple tail


• 98 miles from the pass


• 19 Hours on the water


• 42 Hours with no sleep

Reggie Lawrence

Atlanta GA

New Community Website

Stripers and Anglers is a new online community site that we like. The site is not limited to the dedicated striper crowd as the name would imply. There are forums from cooking, political, sports, regional subjects and Bunker Joe’s Trading Hut, which as the name implies, is an online classified for garage flotsam and jetsam. Check it out. It is worth your visit and support.
www.stripersandanglers.com

Winter Fishing 08/09

This great shot of an Atlantic sailfish attacking a trolling lure was sent in by my friend Joe Yeni of MarineMax in Stuart. Joe took this picture on his birthday last December 10th. Joe, it was that beautiful new Cabo 52 Express and those quiet MAN engines that did it. The boat is a sailfish (and chick) magnet without a doubt!

SOUTH FLORIDA SAILFISH ALLEY

The waters off Palm Beach north to the Treasure Coast are some

of the most productive Atlantic sailfish grounds at this time of the

year. The strip, not too far from shore and between 90 and 250 ft of

water is frequently called Sailfish Alley. For the looks of it, this

promises to be a banner season for sailfish in the region and I am

sure we will be posting many more sailfish shots this winter.

 

These beautiful fish can be finicky and unpredictable. The style of

choice for seasoned locals is to live bait with circle hooks on a free

line where there is a confirmed sailfish presence. When specifically

targeting sailfish, we prefer the local method as circle hooks dramatically

reduce fish mortality. Sailfishing is strictly a catch and release activity.

As Joe’s photograph proves, a motivated sailfish will go for a plastic

trolling lure just as well. Such by-catch is common when trolling for other

species that visit our sunny South Florida at this time of the year.

 

BTW. If you need a boat, Joe at MarineMax Stuart is the man!

 

LATE FALL STRIPERS

Jimmy Z from Rhode Island and one of those
big stripers the area is known for.  This one caught

on an Ming reel.

 

PHOTOS

Send us your photos for posting and bragging rights. If you show one of our products we will reward you with a gift certificate. Send photos to ray@stingraytackle.com or use our file trasnfer site below.