Islamorada Fishing Charters Florida
Keys
tarpon fishing, flats fishing, & offshore
fishing
800 - 698 - 5773 (305
- 852 - 1131) &
E-MAIL
(Click Here)
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Links
Islamorada Fishing Reports
About Capt. Rick Killgore and the
Tarpon
Photos
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Links About Our Game Fish
and How We Fish for Them
Tarpon
Fishing
blue marlin, tuna, wahoo, snapper, grouper,
kingfish, cobia,
shark, barracuda, etc
Flats Fishing
TARPON,
BONEFISH, redfish,
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Capt. Rick Killgore
800 - 698 - 5773 (305 - 852 - 1131) & E-MAIL "Click Here" (killgore@bellsouth.net)
In the last eight seasons (2006)
1,641 TARPON RELEASED!
Best season was 328 tarpon released in 77 days (2003)
That is 4.26 tarpon released per day
Prior five year average is 4 tarpon released per day
11 tarpon released in a day: On 1 day only
10 tarpon released in a day: On 2 different days
9 tarpon released in a day: On 8 different days
8 tarpon released in a day: On 1
4 different days7 tarpon released in a day: On 21 different days
6 tarpon released in a day: On 27 different days
A "hot fishing action" day: Hooking-up 19 tarpon, out of 30 tarpon
striking the baits, and releasing 7 tarpon that day
2006 Season
Our best year for catching tarpon over 140 lbs. (6% of the the catch)
Our best two days we released 7 tarpon each day
And our best year for catching tarpon 100 lbs. and bigger, 40%
(All catches are verified by anglers signing the fishing log.)
"Global Warming" - I think it's bull!
Like 2001, 2004, and 2005, 2006 season had twice the amount of unseasonably cool weather days which slows the tarpon fishing down.
However, that makes fishing good for sailfish, mutton snappers, groupers, cero mackerel and kingfish offshore. If you are worried about getting "queasy" offshore, we fish inshore for big sharks up to 250 lbs. around the flats (very calm, protected waters).
This is what happened to the +20 days we typically tarpon fish per season, but we caught our share of sailfish, snappers, groupers, and sharks as you can see in the photo galleries. Also, we had a lot of days just catching a couple tarpon only - but they were bigger than average.
It's not easy, and tarpon are one of the toughest to catch! That is why we call it "Sport Fishing."
We had some "hot action days" where the anglers just couldn't get the hook in the tarpon, like catching 4 tarpon for 18 strikes, or catching 2 tarpon for 13 strikes, or 1 tarpon for 9 strikes.
I encourage and teach all anglers how
to "hook their own fish" no matter how young or old they are.
If your getting frustrated and you want me to, I will hook a tarpon or
two for you.
800 - 698 - 5773 (305
- 852 - 1131) &
E-MAIL
(Click Here)
 Islamorada
fishing in the Florida Keys is excellent. Capt. Rick Killgore will take you
fishing with expertise and enthusiasm! Experienced anglers can rely on his skills and knowledge.
Rick had two "IGFA WORLD RECORDS caught on fly fishing tackle. Novice anglers will appreciate his
patience and assistance. Women and children are welcome. Light tackle and fly fishing instruction are just two of his specialties (and he makes
all his own
flies).After 25 years of professional fishing in Islamorada, South Florida, Bahamas, Mexico, St. Thomas and Costa Rica (as featured in Salt Water Sportsman, March 1991), Rick found the truth in Islamorada's reputation as "The Sports Fishing Capital of the World." IGFA world records are caught here every year. The fish Rick targets are prolific. There is an incredible variety of fish and fishing: from the flats, to the offshore, to the reef, to the Everglades, and out to the wrecks of the Gulf of Mexico. Tarpon fishing
from 1999 to 2003 Rick's anglers caught
4
tarpon per day on an average, and have caught as many as
11, 10, and 9
tarpon in a day, numerous times. In the 2003 season
they
caught 328 tarpon in 77 days of fishing. In the last 7
seasons Rick's anglers have
released 1,507 tarpon. (check out
fish pictures galleries, or
fishing log highlights
for more details).
It is Rick's desire to catch more than
500 tarpon in a season for his anglers
one day.
It is "jaw dropping" to watch a huge tarpon inhale
your "live bait" on the surface, sometimes exploding from the water on the
strike less than fifty feet from the boat. Most of the time we can have
numerous tarpon circling behind the boat charging and exploding on the live
baits. Often you can be hooked up in less than five minutes of fishing, and
getting a bite in less than two minutes is not uncommon. This is solely
attributed to the type of live bait and fishing technique Rick uses every
day. Rick catches your live bait before your trip - it makes a huge difference in his success. It is a bait that few guides can get on a daily basis. About 95% guides buy their bait. The bait Rick uses is not sold, because no one can keep it alive. This bait and Rick's fishing technique with it is superior to the often "tired, bought bait" used by the other guides. In the past couple years, some guides have reduced themselves to using "fish carcasses" from the offshore charter boats as "dead bait" on the bottom. Rick calls this "trash fishing," because often they will take the carcasses out in big, stinking, fly infested, garbage cans or coolers. They will fish the exact area that all the boats dump their fish carcasses. This is fishing "dead bait" on the bottom. You do not experience the "classic surface strike - explosion" of the "silver king," and you have to catch a number boring mud rays and lazy nurse sharks to catch a tarpon. For someone who just wants to bend a rod and can be just as amused by a mud ray, this is fine. In contrast, Rick wants to spend all the angler's time catching "tarpon" instead of wasting it on a lazy nurse shark or the sort. Rick
is fishing on his custom 23' SeaCraft, a comfortable open fisherman. It
has a big canvas t-top (lots of shade) and ample seating (maximum: 6
anglers). It is a stable boat with a dry, easy ride. It is extremely
maneuverable for chasing these wild tarpon through the bridge pilings, and it can fish
any tarpon spot on any wind (where the other skiffs cannot go when it is
blowing). Sight fishing the flats for tailing and cruising fish is an experience second to none. A sheer thrill! You will fish the maze of flats in Islamorada and Florida Bay for record size bonefish, permit, tarpon, snook, redfish, barracudas, sharks, etc. He has a 17-foot, custom skiff that is stable, has a shallow draft, and a dry, comfortable ride. The fishing area extends to Everglades National Park (Flamingo - Shark River) down to Duck Key and up to Key Largo. And, Islamorada is just an hour-n-half drive from Miami or Key West. Offshore fishing in the 23' Sea Craft can culminate your "total Florida Keys fishing experience." After flats fishing for a day or so, you can shoot out to the blue water or the reef to fish for a day or more for a phenomenal, "total trip". Or pick either type of fishing for a day or more, it is Rick's desire to guide you to your dream fish. He is very skilled in light tackle and offshore fly fishing. Live bait fishing, kite fishing, and trolling rigged baits or lures are techniques Rick has over 20 years of knowledge. Rick has extensive, offshore fishing experience, catching over 845 billfish for clients (including 112 blue marlin and black marlin) sailfish, dolphin, tuna, wahoo, cobia, mackerel, snapper, grouper, etc. For a quick break down of all the significant catches clients have made over the years, click on fishing log highlights. Islamorada fishing is year round, but there are seasonal migrations both on the flats and offshore. So if you want to target specific fish or can only travel on a specific date, check out fishing seasons for a brief explanation. If you would like to see exactly what we have caught in the past, click on Florida Keys Fishing Report. |
Contact Capt. Rick Killgore at:
800 - 698 - 5773 (305 - 852 - 1131) & E-MAIL (Click Here)
Fishing Videos
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Contact Capt. Rick Killgore at:
800 - 698 - 5773 (305 - 852 - 1131) & E-MAIL (Click Here)
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DECEMBER December is the month all the offshore fishermen are waiting for. “It is sailfish season!” Winter has arrived with strong cold fronts. Temperatures can drop in to the low fifties and the winds can be more than 25 knots for a couple days or more. Conversely, this is not the season the flats fishermen are looking forward to. If I decide to make a run for it, I will have a full ski mask and gloves on over my heavy foul weather gear. We have no protection from the wind in our skiffs and often we are running right into it at 30 to 40 knots. That is more than 55 knots of wind. I do not know what the wind chill factor is, but it is damn cold especially after running 45 minutes into the back country. Then you take a shot of spray a couple times - burr! Do not forget to dress appropriately is my point, because the fish are still biting. About the foul weather conditions on the water, I’m going to paraphrase a little what I wrote last month: Offshore these winds are N.N.W. to E.N.E which are essentially an offshore wind and the chop will be 1 to 3 feet on the deep side of the reef (70’ to 200’) where we are sailfish fishing. When the wind pulls around to the E. to S.E. that is when it becomes an onshore wind and the seas build to 4’ to 6’ with a 20 knot wind. It is sporty, but still very fishable depending on your experience. These are the winds that drive the bait down the E. coast and up against the reef. Right behind the bait are the sailfish, “late-late season” dolphin, black fin tuna, kingfish, and wahoo. When it lays down to 10 knots out of the S.E., it is nice fishing the edge of the reef. Big grouper and mutton snapper fishing is very good on the wrecks and along the reef. Calmer conditions are needed to get the baits down on the wrecks. The fishing on the patch reefs starts to really turn on too. In between the cold fronts we can have beautiful “spring like” days. If we get one of these cold fronts with strong winds do not let it detour you. Getting to the fish in the back country is no real problem with the waves. We just run the lee side of the flats and islands to get to areas that are sheltered by the trees on the islands or mainland shoreline. I’ve been out there catching fish with 30 knot winds blowing over the tops of the trees and virtually no wind affecting us, while fishing!
OFFSHORE FISHING: This is it, sailfish season is here! This is when the sailfish are ambushing the ballyhoo on the reef into 20 feet of water. You can see over 500 ballyhoo fleeing across the water as sailfish are chasing them down, numerous times a day. They call it “showers” of ballyhoo, and it is a sight to see. We will run up to 300 yards with live ballyhoo, cigar minnows, or pilchards ready to throw at the slashing sailfish. Hopefully there are more than 6 sailfish in the melee where we have a good chance to get multiple hook-ups and rack up the releases. This is a very exciting way to fish for sailfish, and everyone has to be on their toes to get it done. An accurate cast with a very fresh bait is often the rule. Sailfish will refuse a perfect cast with a tired bait, or a perfect bait cast off target. Then by the time you’re ready for the second cast, the sailfish might have sensed the boat. They’ll settle down a little, stop chasing the bait, and definitely refuse your bait. This is why you have to monopolize your chances while the sailfish are in the heat of the moment. Believe me this is the “Heat of the Moment” in the boat too. There can be “overly excited directions” being vocalized by the “captain in the tower” to the mates and anglers in the cockpit, that can be heard over a hundred yards away. This can make for some great bar stool stories for years to come, and I’ve got some classics. One of my favorites is the “Reel Circles, not Squares!” story which happened while I was a mate for one of Islamorada’s great captains. The Islamorada charter boats are experts in fishing the “ballyhoo showers” and can catch up to 20 sailfish in a day, and a few have even caught more than 20 sailfish. Now do not be intimidated by my extreme portrayal of “the heat of the moment” coaching by the captain to the team in the cockpit. Typically everyone is very professional, it’s just at times we got to yell over the wind and roar of the engines so all can hear exactly where the fish are to cast at. If it seems “a little over the top” let me give you a tip, refrain from making comparisons to Nick Saban down here in S. Florida. ;-) If the sailfish are not pushing the ballyhoo schools, we will be slow trolling live baits or flying a fishing kite and drifting. While we are fishing for sailfish we can catch black fin tuna, kingfish, dolphin, cobia, wahoo, cero mackerel, and even big barracudas while we are slow trolling or kite fishing with live baits. What I like about kite fishing is we are fishing for sailfish and the other fish on the surface with the kite and flat lines, and fishing for snapper and grouper on the bottom with a bottom rod or a deep jig or both. If the sailfish are showering the ballyhoo we will be slow trolling live baits so we can quickly charge over to the melee of sailfish without having to bring the kite in. The cero mackerel also shower the ballyhoo and are quite fun to catch while waiting for the next group of sailfish. They slash and boil on the live bait we are trolling on the surface. If we get in a good school of them we can cast lures on #10 spinners or fly rods and have some sporty fun. They can be over 10 lbs. and are great eating. More detail on the techniques and description of sailfish fishing is in my web site www.fish-killgore.com under the link: SAILFISH Wahoo show up strong in December. Wahoo are found by mostly fast trolling with lures, plugs, or rigged ballyhoo behind big cigar leads just outside the reef line from 180 to 300 feet deep. If you know spots where they concentrate, you can fish for them with big speedos or blue runners by slow trolling. Wahoo up to 50 plus pounds are caught every year, but most of the wahoo are 25 to 35 lbs. Trolling for grouper is also a good way to catch them in the winter if the water is clear. Big lipped magnum plugs, bonita lures, heavy skirted lures, and rigged de-boned ballyhoos are favorite riggs. They are trolled with wire lines or heavy braided lines with either heavy cigar leads or big planners to get the bait down to where the grouper will dare to leave their lair to eat a bait trolled by. The patch reefs come alive this time of year too. You could make a living fishing these spots during the winter season. What a variety of fish you can catch there. The targets are decent size mutton snapper from 5 to 15 lbs. and keeper size groupers: blacks, gags, and red groupers. We also catch hog fish, mackerel (cero and Spanish), snappers (yellowtail, mangroves, and lane snappers), jacks, barracudas, and sharks for a fun rod bending experience. You can also get a nice cooler of fish fillets to take home or to a local restaurant for a smorgasbord of a meal. Usually they will prepared the fish three different ways.
INSHORE FISHING We can still have some spring like days in between the cold fronts. These days are good for flats fishing for bonefish, permit, barracudas, and sharks on the ocean side flats. And back in the back country the redfish, snook, sea trout, jacks, and sharks will be on the flats too. But after a cold front we have to change our strategy, and fish deeper water where these fish will be seeking warmer water. The water temperature changes quickly on the shallow flats where the strong, cold wind cools the water fast, like a radiator. So all the flats fish will be in the channels, creeks, deeper basins, or deep water edges of these flats. In these conditions bonefish will be mudding and cruising in areas three to five feet deep. We can pole the edges of the flats looking into the deeper areas for schools of bonefish mudding or schools cruising by, then pole out to intercept them with a cast. Some guides like to soak shrimp on three to five rods in areas where they are known to cruise by. This can be very effective in catching winter bonefish and a multitude of other flats fish for a rod bending fun day. Other guides like to throw handfuls of chop shrimp in the area then bind cast a shrimp tipped jig through the area. This is also a great way to catch cold water bonefish along with the other rod benders. A great fish to sight cast to on the flats in the winter when the bonefish and permit are looking for warmer water are the barracuda. They often will be laid up on the white spots or hanging down current of sea fans, gorgonians, or Sargasso weed strings attached to the bottom. Cast a tube lure or a lure close by and crank it back fast. Hold on for a spectacular bite if you can fool them. Get ready for a couple short burning runs and a few nice jumps. The redfish, snook, baby tarpon, sea trout, ladyfish, jacks, and sharks will congregate in the deep channels and creeks when the water gets chilled by a cold front. There can be some bang up fishing when the fish pack it in there. Sometimes it can be as fast as you can put a bait in the water. Pilchards, pinfish, and shrimp tipped jigs are used. Keep in mind that snook season is closed Dec. – Feb. Sea trout, ladyfish, and jacks will school up in the mullet muds in numerous basins around Flamingo. This is always a fun rod bending time. Kids love to do this. Remember, trout season is closed until the first of the year. The Spanish mackerel will be hot and heavy just west of the inter-coastal waterway within 5 miles out. Take a few blocks of chum, live shrimp, pompano jigs, pilchards, spoons, lures, and flies – they will eat it all once you got them chummed up behind the boat. Often you will get mangrove snapper chummed up to, along with the sharks, blue fish, and be ready for a cobia to show up too. Capt. Rick Killgore, 305 - 852 – 1131 or 800 – 698 - 5773.
(For
all fish reports, click on
All Florida
Keys Fishing Reports) Annual Tarpon Season Stats I have decided not to post the season stats anymore. It has become too time consuming. Fact is, we catch tarpon! There will be banner days every season, and slow days. If it is a cool weather season, there will be less banner days. Check the past seasonal stats to see what a hot season and cool season can be like. The stats are pretty much the same from hot season to hot season, and cool season to cool season.
Tarpon Fishing Starts Feb. 15th – Aug.1
For
example, starting March 4th the 2003 season had some incredible
fishing days. We caught 54 tarpon in 10 days of fishing, and
three of them were over 140 pounds (one was 175 lbs. and another 160 lbs.).
The tarpon start to show up here in mid-January. By mid-February we
start to get a break from the cold fronts and the tarpon fishing can be
good.
The
only thing that shuts down the tarpon fishing early in the season, are the
cold fronts. But that sparks up the sailfish fishing, reef fishing, and
Florida Bay fishing (calm leeward waters). What great alternatives for those
of you who must travel this time of year. There is always something to fish
for.
My
23’ SeaCraft was originally designed for this type of fishing especially
kite fishing for sailfish. Now I have caught quite a few sailfish off
Islamorada when I ran a charter boat out of Bud-n-Mary’s almost ten years
ago, before I started working for myself.
I
have caught at least 725 sailfish for clients and quite a few myself while
kite fishing off Key Biscayne down to Ocean Reef, slow trolling live baits
off of Islamorada, and trolling dead baits off Isla Mujeres and Costa Rica.
Check out my fishing log
highlights for the details.
While
you are sailfishing, the grouper, snapper and kingfish can be very good on
the outer reef. If it is rough, and one is prone to seasickness the patch
reefs have nice mutton snappers, med-size groupers, small yellowtail
snapper, some mackerel, and big barracudas. And if one definitely does not
want to take a chance on getting sick, fishing the lee of the flats of
Florida Bay in 10 feet of water for big sharks, Spanish mackerel, mangrove
snapper, small grouper, and sea trout is very fun because there is a lot of
action.
So
if you’re planning a trip early in the season, we have a good chance of
having some great tarpon fishing. But if we get hit by a cold front, we got
some great options too.
So
do not delay, the season will be booking up fast. Call me or e-mail. Capt. Rick Killgore Interesting Stories from Past Fishing Reports HURRICANE "WILMA" FISH STORY: I could go on and on about this past fall, but I'll wrap it up with a hurricane Wilma fish story. I was getting sick of all the news hype. Same crap all the time! Wilma was approaching Cancun at barely 2 mph at Cat 5, but the forecast was it was going to turn with a cold front (which will weaken it) and come right at us. Hey it had not even turned yet and it was hundreds of miles away and barely moving, and they started evacuating tourist and mobile home residents on Wednesday! Remember it hit on Monday morning! Thursday they started evacuation of lower keys, and it had not even left Cancun area and was drifting North. Again Friday morning still drifting North and just north of Cancun, hey screw these "jack asses" this thing is not going to hit till Sunday night Monday morning - I'm going fishing!!!! And what a day of fishing I had! Hey I did the math on when this storm would hit: number of miles away and even if it increases speed I still got Sat. to get ready if it was going to speed up and hit on Sunday. On Friday I told my wife its going to hit Sunday night Monday morning. And every day the forecasters kept pushing back the track 10 to 12 hours. First forecast it was supposed to hit us on Friday night Saturday morning and at that time it was still 100 plus miles southeast of Cancun and moving at 4 mph to the NNW. All of us captains go through this crap every storm, ignore the hype, do your own math, call each other, come to a reasonable consensus, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. So I load up the fly rods and a couple spinners, a few beers, lunch, and a block of ice because I'm putting one of those snook in the box. I run back to Flamingo, and pole into this spot and the snook were going crazy! They were blasting bait so hard I could see them almost a hundred yards away. I fished my way in and caught one on a top water plug on the spinning rod. Then I got my fly rod out, tied on a deer hair popper and poled in to these fish. I caught another one just short of the slot. I catch another one just short. Then I finally hooked this nice fish that was just blasting the bait along the shore line. What a great strike on that popper! What a tug-a-war! I had to keep him out of the roots. He pulled the boat this way and that way. I finally got him up and netted that 30" snook (29 3/4"). Nice snook on top water fly, and dinner! I got a couple self portraits too. So I keep fishing this stretch of water for 5 hours. It was awesome! the snook keep blasting bait, and tarpon are rolling. I get a couple short strike by the tarpon, and just cannot hook one. I was having so much fun. It was beautiful. The Everglades at its best, and I got it all to myself. I get home at dark. I fuel up, and ask Linda at the Marlin gas station if they are still evacuating. Yep, they have issued total evacuation of all keys residents - Bah Humbug! Saturday morning, same forecast crap!!!! Going to hit Sunday night maybe Monday morning - now finally they concede. The Florida Keys are now in "total mandatory evacuation." Bull crap I tell my wife. We got all of Sunday to get ready - LET'S GO FISHING! We pack the cooler and take off to the same spot. The fish are not blasting like they were the day before. She hooks a nice snook on a plug. She has to tease it. It takes her three strikes on the same cast to finally hook it. It's a nice one but just short. Her first snook on an artificial. A little later she hooks a nice tarpon on the same plug. What a jumper. Strong short runs to the mangrove roots. She stops it numerous times. She gets it up along side of the boat, I get a few photos, and it flips off before I have to get down to unhook it. We move spots, and I get back into this creek. The snook are blasting the bait, but I just can not get a strike from one. I catch a couple lady fish. We pole deep into this creek, its getting dark, she hooks a tarpon, snook are blasting, and two owls start hooting at each other - spectacular these Everglades and it is just an hour boat ride from my house. We get back at dark. That night at the the Marlin gas station Linda confirms what I believe, Wilma is hitting Monday morning. Roads are vacant. I see the famous painter Milard Wells and his wife. I give him the fish report, he cracks a big smile, whispers good job. I know that must have touched his heart. He is famous for his dramatic water colors of fishing the flats with these great big Everglades thunderstorms in the background. I just gave him an Everglades fish report while the whole Florida Keys are in a "total mandatory evacuation." Hey there are a lot of us down here still holding the torch. Only 20% of the residents evacuated. We had 110 mph gusts, and 5.5 feet of surge in my neighborhood, but most houses are above this level. Only one house got water in it, an older house on the canal. My house is 22' above flood, 12' above at the garage. Houses facing the water got most damage. The further south the higher the flood, 6 - 8' I think. Flamingo had 13' surge, I talked to a ranger. We are protected from the huge network of flats which act as flood gates on a hurricane coming from the west. We will be totally exposed to the full surge on a storm coming from the east. BIG SHARK ON FLY, (TOP WATER POPPER): A week after the storm, we went fishing again mostly to see the effects of the storm. Slagle ditch had an incredible amount of trees ripped out and aground at the mouth of it extending out maybe 100 yards. The next ditch west the sand bars were 2 - 3 times as big as before. East cape beach looked the same. You can see how high the water got. As we headed to Snake Bite, I came across lot of sharks feeding in the shallows, blacktips and lemon sharks. So shallow their backs were out of water. I rigged my #12 fly rod with a shark fly popper. I got three bites before I finally hooked one. Now if you never have seen a shark take a top water fly or plug, it is great. They stick their whole head out of water, jaws wide open, just 30' or less from the boat, trying to eat the fly. It is tricky to hook them, but worth the effort. This lemon shark I hooked was about 105 lbs., and he took off like a scolded dog, because it was so shallow, at least a 100 yards. I could barely motor out of there. I ran the boat and fought the fish. Elena got video. We chased it around a grounded tree. I got it up to the boat in about 20 minutes. I put the lip gaff in it. Pulled it up on the boat and got some good photos. I'll post them soon along with the snook shots. Lets Go Fishing, Rick
Swordfish! Two swordfish in one night: 180 lbs. and 100 lbs. on #50 test stand-up tackle Awesome! What a fight on a "full moon" night. (I'm all geared up now for swordfish trips: four #50 stand-ups, L.P. lights, Hydro-glow light, belts and harnesses, flying gaffs, terminal tackle, proven technique and know how.) (Swordfish fishing is good all year, weather permitting. That is the key, as we approach winter the calm days will be limited. If we get weathered out by cold fronts, we can fish the edge of the reef for sailfish, tuna, wahoo, king fish, cobia, snapper and grouper.) The big swordfish hit first. It burned off a 200 yard run down. I fought it up to the surface and 30 yards away (we could see the L.P. light just under the surface) in about 30 minutes. Then it took off another 150 - 200 yards, dragging the light just under the surface for the first 50 yards before sounding. It stayed down till the end of the fight. Fighting this big swordfish while standing up, I paced myself by applying constant pressure on the Braid kidney harness and fighting belt. I had not caught a big billfish on standup tackle since charter fishing in Costa Rica 15 years ago, which was a 200 lbs. Pacific blue marlin. (I can assist you on the finesse of using stand-up tackle on big fish with my extensive experience as an angler and as a captain/ mate on charter boats. While charter fishing, I have landed 112 Atlantic and Pacific blue and black marlin up to +800 pounds, many on stand-up tackle. As an angler I've caught 6 blue marlin, the largest blue was 396 lbs. and it was also on stand-up tackle which took 2:20 hours. This blue marlin was hooked in the mouth, but died after it's second blistering run that almost stripped the #50 test Penn reel a second time. After both runs I could see the shaft of the spool through the line - wow! It sounded, then died down below. It took another 1:30 hours to plane it up. Coincidentally, I caught it on the same type of boat I have now, my friend Rick Stiener's 23' SeaCraft in St. Thomas). As I fought the swordfish up, the closer it got to the boat the more stubborn it got. It really dogged it, made short little runs this way and that way. We had to really maneuver the boat to stay in position to the swordfish. It covered a lot of ocean. I was a little worried about how I would do, but it was no sweat! I fought the big fish for 1:15 hours, and never got fatigued. Once I got the braid harness on, of coarse it was quite a bit easier. But I fought it for about the first 15 minutes with out it. After the first 200 yard run, I just held on to the rod as we chased it down to recover line. If it was a small fish, no need to get all geared up, but as it started to bare down after we got over it I got my kidney harness on. When it came up, we were ready! I had brought my flying gaff, and my friend Jim Mulcahy had his 2 straight gaffs (we were fishing his open fisherman out of Key Largo, just the two of us). As the swordfish came up off the port stern corner as we were going forward, it turned to it's right crossing our transom about 10' down and 15' out. The small spreader lights lit up the side of the fish and we could see it was a nice size swordfish. As it came up the starboard side, Jim put his boat in neutral and gaffed the swordfish in the head with a straight gaff. I put the rod in a rod holder, and ran up to the bow, grabbed the flying gaff, and gaffed the swordfish in the head again. What a swordfish! It was big, for a swordfish down in Florida, now. We estimate it was +180 lbs. (we called the second swordfish 90 lbs. which actually weighed 98 lbs. at the dock 2 hours later). We had to core the fish out to get it in the fish box. We got some great pictures which I will post as soon as I get my software form my scanner reloaded. The second swordfish hit about an hour later. I fought it for 30 minutes. This swordfish again made two nice runs: one about 200 yards, the second about 100 yards. We got on the swordfish quickly after the second run. As it came up to the surface it waved its broadbill out of water. What I sight in the "full moon!" We backed down to the swordfish and gaffed it, right away. A respectable swordfish, about 100lbs.
Congratulations to Bob Stephens of Rutherford, NJ Who caught a 13 ¾ lbs. Bonefish on Feb. 23, 2003 Largest Bonefish We Have Ever Released What a great fight it was. He hooked it up on the edge of the flat and fought it through the sea fans, getting hung up once. I thought it was over then, but the line pulled free and we still had him on. The fish took a while to get to the boat even though I was chasing him down with the boat, it was too deep to poll after it and keep up with it, plus you got to be close to them when they are in an area of sea fans (bottom obstructions). Not only was this a very large bonefish, but it was a very significant catch for S. Florida and the world of bonefish. This fish had a relatively old tag in it, full of algae. I was very excited, because of the useful info we could get from it. I thought it had been longer period of time because of the algae, but it had just been about one year since being tagged. What is very interesting is it was the exact same weight as last year. March 19, 2002 Jim Bokar (famous bonefish tournament fisherman) tagged this fish and weighed it at 13lbs. and 12 oz. (at least my “de-lying tool”, the chattilion scale, is confirmed accurate by someone else’s scale. I calibrate it every year any way with known weights here at the house.). It might still have grown a little because in March they should be bigger do to the spawn and they will be heavier with row. Tight lines, Capt. Rick Killgore |
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