Sept 28,
2023
puerto Cañaveral
Friday September 28th.
It’s been a slow September with weather being a significant factor and few reports from those venturing offshore. But when I heard of a friends recent Mahi, “dolphin fish” catch, my ears perked. I have several clients waiting for the Mahi run and this year it’s been few and far between. Looking at the weather and rip charts daily, scouring the vhf, calling on other fish captains, reading fishing reports, news feeds, talking to the guys at the tackle shop are helpful but nothing like being out there on the water fishing.
It’s a passion for some, an obsession for others, and most certainly addictive. All three describe me. Fortunately, it’s my occupation, otherwise I would be paying others for the experience more often, which I still do at times, venturing to unknown parts with the help of a local guide.
The truth is we could all use a little help from our friends. This is why I thought it would be good to share the experience of the day with you.
It was a full moon. Not just any moon, it’s a harvest moon bringing large tidal swings. Off the dock and headed out to sea before 5 am by the light of this moon. A tank full of bait, caught fresh right there at the dock because the mullet run is in full swing. Most days we’re catching bait on either side of the entrance to Port Canaveral at first light, which was still a couple hours away.
As soon as we were past the jetty fishing lines went in the water as we headed east. Driving a 45’ Hatteras Sportfisher with a tuna tower offers the advantage of sight distance beyond most smaller charter boats and recreational pleasure craft. Still no substitute for an excellent radar and echo sounder, which are under constant observation. Plenty of potential hazards along the way to be avoided, such as cruise ships, dredging barges, unlit anchor buoys, potential floating debris as well as other boats. No near misses or close calls to report today, it was a smooth sail out for this Captain.
I’m a pelagic hunter always in search of migrating species like, tuna, wahoo, swordfish, Mahi and the like. These fish are often the best challenge and require a lot of time trolling rather than sitting on anchor or drifting for bottom fish. The edge of the Gulf Stream is usually where we find them traveling east to west over the cones and Oculina Bank 30 miles off of Cape Canaveral. However, we caught plenty of sailfish and wahoo in 130’ of water 15 miles from shore.
It’s always a good thing to have a destination in mind and still be flexible. On this day there was an ominous lightning and thunderstorm storm well offshore in the direction I wanted to head and being cautious I chose to go NE towards 8A around the outside edge of the shoals staying way outside of the storms reach. Nothing on 8A so we went to Hummingbird which always produces something for me. By this time, it’s 9:30 am, we had trolled, dropped to the bottom, and still nothing is biting. Next, we trolled over the L Barge, no sign of life, nobody’s home.
From there we went to the Warts, caught sharks where we usually catch snapper and grouper. It was a slow start to say the least. Let’s face it, most prefer to be catching but it’s called fishing for a reason.
The storm had passed, and the outside edge was clear, so we headed for the cones. We trolled from the Top end of the Oculina Bank at Wart 3 all the way down to the Cooper wreck with only one Barracuda to speak of. So, then we dropped down 275’ on the Copper wreck, quite still.
By this time, it’s 2pm and the Coast Guard is sending me notifications via AIS that the waters will be closed due to a rocket launch at 1730- 5:30 pm. We’re 32 miles from Cape Canaveral and I would have stayed well into the night because I’m just that kind of guy, like I said it’s a passion, a little bit of an obsession and definitely an addiction that usually rewards me with a healthy supper. This time I’m on my own dime, nobody is paying me for the experience today. Thankfully, because I would hate to disappoint and still everyone has days when they don’t bite. But you don’t know unless you go. And I really wanted to go. My first mate Caleb and I enjoyed the day, we never have bad days on the water, it’s just some days are more exciting than others.
So here is where it gets interesting. On the way in at 4:30 the bottom sounder begins lighting up, all kinds of life where usually it’s a desert. Only this day we couldn’t stop because we had to be out of the zone by 1730. There was so much life on the screen for 4 miles between 100’ and 65’ feet of water. I would have liked nothing more than to fish that all night. The water temp there was a cool 84.5 degrees compared to 87 degrees 30 miles offshore. That Mahi run is coming soon, you never know when or where they will be, but you won’t know unless you go and get your lines wet. And sometimes you don’t have to go far, they could be right under your nose.
Aloha
Captain Rick
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