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KulJc and I were in Pompano/Boca Raton area from 11/7 - 11/15 and we had the opportunity to go out for 2 days with Deep Blue Kayak Fishing. Let me start by saying that I highly recommend these guys to you because they are out there to get you on the fish and are not so stiff necked about the time you are on the water.
The two days we went out with them are probably by far some of the worst conditions we could have faced. The weather was awesome, but in order for pelagics to move and the fish to bite they said we need at least some North Current. The days we went out there was nearly zero and maybe even some south current that is not ideal.
The first day we went out probably the highlight of the days was KulJc hooking onto a full string of blue runners on a sabiki rig. Even those were tough to come by and that one full string was the only sighting / hookup for bait. We flat lined an vertical jigged. We saw huge schools of Rainbow Jacks, but we got no love. I had one on but fell off at the boat. We managed only 2 sharks on the day, but our guides friend had better luck fishing some wrecks further out coming in with 2 nice barracuda's and a nice grouper.
The second day we started with hopes of a better current and some better bites, but started slow with baitfish not cooperating. We managed to hook 0 baitfish let alone even get a bite from them. So we hooked up some bait that our guide had bought and started flat-lining while heading out to deeper water. Then things got interesting. About 30 yards from me I saw some baitfish scattering and i saw something that looked like a black fin. A bit of excitement, but also fear, started creeping up on me. I approached slowly thinking it might have been a shark, but the fin surfaced again and IT WAS A SAILFISH!!!! Now only about 10 yards in front of me I called out to the guide and KulJc. I offered my blue runner several times, but it gave it no interest. I Started casting lures in the form of anything that looked like ballyhoo, but I had no luck. It was like watching Nat Geo, because the sailfish was using its fin circling the ballyhoo then striking. It was an amazing sight and after each cast I clenched onto my rod thinking my rod would have a sudden bend, but I was left clenching with no purpose. The sailfish submerged and was gone in 20 minutes.
For another hour or two we floated around with again the nearly 0 current when our guide decided to take us to one of the wrecks he had marked on his chartplotter. Let me tell you... vertical jigging in 300' of water is not for the faint of hearts. I made 2 drops with 0 strikes and was beat. KulJc on the other hand.... come right to where we were dropping first drop... FISH ON!!! Immediately the fish started peeling line and He started screaming just as dramatically. Even near by charter boats started coming over for a gander. As soon as he boated a nice Jack the charter boats were not leaving. We all continued to jig for a while picking up a variety of Jacks. It seemed to be the most action any charter service had seen the whole day by the way they all gathered where we were.
After a little more than an hour or so of jigging I decided to break away just north of them to give flat lining another shot. I noticed a long line of sea grass floating maybe 50 yards from where we were so I started to paddle over as Kuljc and the guide were wrapping up with their jigging and getting ready to head in. As I made my way up to 20 yards from the grass I notice on the other side of the grass what looked like a blackfin crash the surface. I picked up the pace of my paddle, but then to my left I saw larger splashes and swirls in the water. I turned towards it. I tossed my bait over towards it then suddenly my line shot left about 20 feet. I tightened my line but felt no weight so I waited then my line shot right another twenty feet. At this point I was about to call out to the others, but because I feared all those other boats rushing over and spooking the fish. Then at that point my line started coming towards me and out of the glare into the clear water just in front of my came a mahi with my bait in its mouth along with a school of others. At this point I called out to the others to get them over so they wouldn't miss the school. The mahi that had my bait was smaller so it could not fit my large bait into it's mouth fully so it ended up spitting it out. The bait was lifeless and a sudden fear of them not being interested because the bait was dead started settling in. I started working my now dead live bait like a husky jerk when fishing for bass and that did the trick. The Bull of the group chased it down and smashed the bait engulfing it whole. FISH ON!!! I immediately understood why people love Mahi as a game fish. The jumps that bluefish make have no competition agains the acrobatic jumps that Mahi make.
After several jumps and deep dives and a broken rod as it made one final dive while I tried to gaff the fish I managed to boat it. We all managed to keep the school around long enough for us to catch 7 at which point our guide was saying that we should head in. Not because we had exceeded our 6 hour time slot but because the tip of his outback had stated to fall even with the water line and was at risk of going under if head loaded any more fish into his fish bag on his bow.
if you guys are in the Pompano, Boca Raton Area look them up. Deep Blue Kayak Fishing. They are awesome people and fun to fish with. Fully rigged Hobie Outbacks and a Revo, rods, rigs, baits, tackle. They had it all read for us. Give me them a shout.
PB130023.jpgPB130025.jpgPB130045.jpgPB130047.jpgPB130060.jpgPB130062.jpgPB130064.jpgPB130068.jpgPB130069.jpgPB130079.jpg
The two days we went out with them are probably by far some of the worst conditions we could have faced. The weather was awesome, but in order for pelagics to move and the fish to bite they said we need at least some North Current. The days we went out there was nearly zero and maybe even some south current that is not ideal.
The first day we went out probably the highlight of the days was KulJc hooking onto a full string of blue runners on a sabiki rig. Even those were tough to come by and that one full string was the only sighting / hookup for bait. We flat lined an vertical jigged. We saw huge schools of Rainbow Jacks, but we got no love. I had one on but fell off at the boat. We managed only 2 sharks on the day, but our guides friend had better luck fishing some wrecks further out coming in with 2 nice barracuda's and a nice grouper.
The second day we started with hopes of a better current and some better bites, but started slow with baitfish not cooperating. We managed to hook 0 baitfish let alone even get a bite from them. So we hooked up some bait that our guide had bought and started flat-lining while heading out to deeper water. Then things got interesting. About 30 yards from me I saw some baitfish scattering and i saw something that looked like a black fin. A bit of excitement, but also fear, started creeping up on me. I approached slowly thinking it might have been a shark, but the fin surfaced again and IT WAS A SAILFISH!!!! Now only about 10 yards in front of me I called out to the guide and KulJc. I offered my blue runner several times, but it gave it no interest. I Started casting lures in the form of anything that looked like ballyhoo, but I had no luck. It was like watching Nat Geo, because the sailfish was using its fin circling the ballyhoo then striking. It was an amazing sight and after each cast I clenched onto my rod thinking my rod would have a sudden bend, but I was left clenching with no purpose. The sailfish submerged and was gone in 20 minutes.
For another hour or two we floated around with again the nearly 0 current when our guide decided to take us to one of the wrecks he had marked on his chartplotter. Let me tell you... vertical jigging in 300' of water is not for the faint of hearts. I made 2 drops with 0 strikes and was beat. KulJc on the other hand.... come right to where we were dropping first drop... FISH ON!!! Immediately the fish started peeling line and He started screaming just as dramatically. Even near by charter boats started coming over for a gander. As soon as he boated a nice Jack the charter boats were not leaving. We all continued to jig for a while picking up a variety of Jacks. It seemed to be the most action any charter service had seen the whole day by the way they all gathered where we were.
After a little more than an hour or so of jigging I decided to break away just north of them to give flat lining another shot. I noticed a long line of sea grass floating maybe 50 yards from where we were so I started to paddle over as Kuljc and the guide were wrapping up with their jigging and getting ready to head in. As I made my way up to 20 yards from the grass I notice on the other side of the grass what looked like a blackfin crash the surface. I picked up the pace of my paddle, but then to my left I saw larger splashes and swirls in the water. I turned towards it. I tossed my bait over towards it then suddenly my line shot left about 20 feet. I tightened my line but felt no weight so I waited then my line shot right another twenty feet. At this point I was about to call out to the others, but because I feared all those other boats rushing over and spooking the fish. Then at that point my line started coming towards me and out of the glare into the clear water just in front of my came a mahi with my bait in its mouth along with a school of others. At this point I called out to the others to get them over so they wouldn't miss the school. The mahi that had my bait was smaller so it could not fit my large bait into it's mouth fully so it ended up spitting it out. The bait was lifeless and a sudden fear of them not being interested because the bait was dead started settling in. I started working my now dead live bait like a husky jerk when fishing for bass and that did the trick. The Bull of the group chased it down and smashed the bait engulfing it whole. FISH ON!!! I immediately understood why people love Mahi as a game fish. The jumps that bluefish make have no competition agains the acrobatic jumps that Mahi make.
After several jumps and deep dives and a broken rod as it made one final dive while I tried to gaff the fish I managed to boat it. We all managed to keep the school around long enough for us to catch 7 at which point our guide was saying that we should head in. Not because we had exceeded our 6 hour time slot but because the tip of his outback had stated to fall even with the water line and was at risk of going under if head loaded any more fish into his fish bag on his bow.
if you guys are in the Pompano, Boca Raton Area look them up. Deep Blue Kayak Fishing. They are awesome people and fun to fish with. Fully rigged Hobie Outbacks and a Revo, rods, rigs, baits, tackle. They had it all read for us. Give me them a shout.
PB130023.jpgPB130025.jpgPB130045.jpgPB130047.jpgPB130060.jpgPB130062.jpgPB130064.jpgPB130068.jpgPB130069.jpgPB130079.jpg
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