Weekly Fishing Report

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Well, we are into October now and, for the first time that I can remember, we have had no Fall Wahoo run.  Sure, we are catching a few Wahoos here and there, but just a few - no big catches of tens and twenties.

The Tuna fishing also remains slow, with a few being caught on the northern side of Challenger, but that’s about it!

It’s been a hard month for James & I.  We have been digging deep into our bag of tricks to make each trip a successful one and, so far, we have managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat each time!

Water temperatures are still a little high, for good Fall fishing, so let’s hope that things will improve later this month - Don’t give up yet!

Despite the windy weather, we managed a few days offshore this week and it looks as if the Wahoo bite is on the increase.  Today was the best day, in terms of time fished.  We left the dock at 10.15 a.m., in 15-25kts. of wind, with the “Cracker Bay Cowboys” onboard.  We fished Challenger Banks and returned to the dock at 3.00 p.m.  It sure is nice to have a BIG fast boat on trips like today!  Even though we were out for a short period of time, we managed to catch 7 Wahoo’s out of 16 bites.  I know, lots of missing going on…. hey, it’s not easy fishing in 10 foot seas!  The main thing is the bite is improving. 

As Wilma passes to the west today, we will see some confused seas for a few days, but this can be a good thing.  Storms like this churn up the ocean and can make for some good fishing afterwards; so don’t be surprised if the Wahoo fishing improves next week.

Charters have backed off to only a few a week, if you are lucky.  This week, we fished Friday & Saturday and both days we saw good weather and fishing, with Friday as the star day.

 Andy and the “D&J Destroyers” racking up an impressive 12 Wahoos & 1 Yellowfin Tuna!

Fishing with live baits, we caught some good sized fish, with the top three coming in at 70lb, 61lb and 53lb.

Miss Nina and I are heading out on Thursday to what’s left of the Fort Lauderdale boat show, so no fishing for DeMako until November.  Hey, it’s up to you to get out this weekend and catch them for me!

We did manage two trips offshore this week, with our best day on Sunday, catching 5 Wahoo (largest 55lbs.), 1Tuna (50lbs.) & a 15lb. Dolphin.

We fished both Challenger & Argus, catching one Wahoo on Argus and everything else on the south & eastern side of Challenger.  There is a fair amount of bait there, but still no real signs of the fishing really taking off anytime soon.

 I hear the fishing to the north & east side of the island is about the same, with a few good-sized Tunas and a few Wahoos being caught.

We managed to catch 4 Wahoo’s and 4 Yellowfin Tuna, and still get back at the dock before 4.00pm.  We caught the 4 Wahoo’s while trolling on the inside edge of Challenger Banks, in the morning and, at noon, we decided to try our luck chumming. We made four drifts and hooked six Tunas, pulled the hooks on two, and caught four.

Peter caught the two largest with an 80lb & 65lbs. Travis and I had to settle for a 50lb and 35lbs.  It sure felt good to be out fishing again, as I have been doing a lot of house and boat maintenance lately.

Although September and October fishing was not up to par, with almost no fall Wahoo run to speak of, the rest of the 2005 season was good. The weather was great, with very few weather days and NO Hurricanes!  We had pretty good Wahoo & Tuna fishing, plus a great Marlin bite!

James and I ended up with 40 Blue Marlins (all released) out of 102 bites. This was more than enough to put “DeMako” way out in front as top Marlin boat, once again. This makes 21 years in a row for Mako Charters having the most Blue Marlin releases.  

I have been blessed with the best mates in the business.  My first mate and business partner, Dean Jones, for 20 years followed by James “Bigger” Robinson for the last 6 years.  You can only get results like this with the best of team work.

Many thanks you guys, it’s been fun!