Fishing the FAD (Fish Aggregate Device)

Conditions at the moment are pretty good. Waning moon, light wind, calm seas. Catching live bait is always first on our agenda, because a full live well gives us lots of fishing options later on. After a quick stop to fill up the live well, we started trolling close to shore. Caught a decent blackfin tuna and a big barracuda. We then headed out further to open water to see what was going on. A floating tree trunk gave us the action we were looking for. Live bait on the hooks and no sooner were they in the water, the Mahi came to investigate. With one hooked up we then grabbed a few more from the pack. October might be a quiet month on land in Bonaire, but it was busy on the water. A great morning.

This morning we had a lovely couple from Europe on the boat. It was their first charter fishing trip ever, and a bit of a last-minute decision. We were glad to help out. We did an early departure with the October Super Moon low on the horizon, very little cloud and even less wind. Heading north to our favorite spot to catch live bait was an awesome start. Our lights light up the reef and bait fish was in abundance. Hooking up was fun and our guests really enjoyed this part of the morning. With the live well full, it was time to head further along the coast and hunt down wahoo, tuna or mahi. Trolling brought us two nice size barracuda and a beautiful mahi mahi. We then decided to try for some other fish using the live bait caught earlier. A beefy rainbow runners was happy to oblige. It put up a great fight, then broke our gaff, luckily just as we landed it on the deck. Guests had a great time and really enjoyed their introduction to ocean charter fishing. Glad to have them on board.

The last few days we've had light to no wind conditions, perfect for fishing. Early morning fishing is, in my opinion, the best time to go. There's something about watching the sky transition from night to dawn -- and the spectacular sunrises that go with it -- that makes every fishing trip memorable. I took advantage of a quiet morning and headed north for a spot of solo fishing. Water conditions were ideal. Flat calm, with no current running in certain places. My hull lights lit up the reef, displaying 60 feet of clarity and the bait fish. No sounder required on this occasion. I ran lures with bait and was soon landing some nice size barracuda. It was a productive and enjoyable morning. And while solo fishing is nice, it's a lot more fun to share these moments with First Mate Flo and guests.