The family will love the bow with its padded lounge seating and removable cocktail table. The front seat of the console rounds out the conversation pit and below the cushion is an insulated drink cooler. Step down inside the center console to find a pottie and dry storage that extends under the deck. Helm seats adjust for standing or sitting and behind the seat is a tackle rigging station with ample storage. The stern seating in the cockpit is just forward of a live baitwell with clear lid and to the port is a bait prep area complete with sink and wash-down. Just the right length for fishing beyond the inlet, diving the reef or taking the family out for the day, all in a trailerable size.
Recent fishing reports from the Bahamas and tropics.
Green Turtle Adventure
Florida Sportsman member: dpdash
One day at Manjack, we had a turtle come up to the boat. We see turtles almost every dive but have never had one come so close. We ended up hand feeding this one squid and he hung out for almost 20 minutes, very very cool!
Found a bucket floating with some nice mahi on it, pulled a 30 pound bull off it along with a few of his girlfriends. Next day found the birds and found the yellowfin! They were firing off launching out of the water, pretty epic.
I had the opportunity to go deep into the Bahamas last week on a beautiful boat with great crew. We got all the way as far as San Salvador and had tremendous fishing along the way.
Day three we headed out and by 9am we have already released 20 fish. Around 11:30 a 600 pound plus blue crashes the left flat ballyhoo and all I can do is grab the rod with Brad yelling “big marlin”, lock it up! I looked at Brad, he looked at me and says “this is a big girl.” When he says that, it's for real, again well over 600 pounds.
At times I felt as if I could be pulled over rod and all into the brink. The pressure that these fish put on is amazing. The fight seemed to go on forever as Deek thought that I got sharked. I was determined to beat whatever I had on the line. After twenty or thirty minutes, wasn't keeping track, we finally saw the color of a YFT and Deek gaffed the largest fish of the day.
We fished two full days (18th and 19th). We raised 56 sails and released 37, also landed a nice yellowfin tuna. I'm not that much into billfishing but when you have a hot bite like we did, you just can't help but like it.
For those that cancelled this weekend, it wasn't bad at all. Fished friday afternoon and Saturday, if we wouldn't have used rubber hooks would have got several, pulled a bunch off for whatever reason. Best bite was up by Isaac's.
I was leary about towing the the new skiff across in the event that the weatherman was wrong for the return home, this time he was right. We caught a few nice bonefish, I have done a ton of fishing on the flats in Bimini and have never seen more fish than on this trip.
The Yellowfin Tunas were still around in big numbers but unlike first week of June the Tunas were not up in feeding frenzies and eating everything we pitched at them. The bite slowed down a bit and the weather got a bit sloppy. We had to work for our fish as the Porpoises were keen to the boat traffic and were a bit shy.
On Thursday morning we raised our first blue which came in hot on the left teaser. We managed to pull him off the teaser and he turned and crushed the left short rigger lure. He was on and angry! Started tearing up the ocean as only a blue can do.
“We came across a piece of debris and caught numerous small yellowfin tuna as bait. A little while later, bam! A blue marlin. After a good 45 minute fight we landed him. The rest of the day we caught numerous small yellowfin which made great boat side sashimi and dinner that night.”
Now it's your turn to fish Nosara, Costa Rica. For Free.
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18th Annual International Marlin Tournament in El Salvador
Florida Sportsman member: GT Fish
Well once again I got the invite to join Paco Saca and his sons in the 18th International Marlin Tournament in El Salvador! Bart and I made are way down to Bahia Del Sol Marina and Hotel. We were greeted by Mauricio a Rep for Flora De Cana rum. They sponsor the tournament and others in Central and South America. He explained various ages of rum and the process of how it's made. We then proceeded to “Taste test” We all had a nice testing! We ate some dinner and they brought us Desert. Bart grabbed the bottle of 18 year old rum and drenched it in Flan [...]
My brother and I had the chance to fish with some guys that REALLY have their game together on “bait and switch” marlin fishing on the north drop off St. Thomas. We fished two days and managed to go three for four on blues and even found a white for a bit of variety.
“Haven't posted in a while, but here's a video and some pictures of some fish shot in the Bahamas over two trips this summer. We forgot the Go Pro's on the second trip when we got to break in our new Invincible, but at least we got some good fish. Check out the video and let me know what you think, watch in HD!”
Lindsey Pankey sent in this photo from a recent trip to the Bahamas. After locating the birds in the northwest channel, a miles north of Little Issac, they began to chunk the yellowfin tuna that were in a feeding frenzy underneath. All the tuna were roughly 60-to 70-pounds. Scott Nichols is on the left, Taylor Pankey on right.
Chunkin' Tuna off Lucaya Monty White of Team Fin-Addict went on a tuna trip for the 4th of July weekend. He had this to say about the trip: “It was an active few days, fish and birds everywere. We were trolling and chunking tuna under the birds circling around Tuna Canyon off Lucaya, Bahamas. We landed 10 dolphin, over 45 tuna, and lost several more to big brown reef sharks that had to be over 350 pounds. Mike Haun caught a 79 and 68 pound yellowfin tuna, Tim Johnson landed a 50 pound yellowfin, and we had a few around 40 hit the deck along with many smaller tuna of both black and yellow sorts. Another epic trip with great friends!” Here are some pictures from the trip:
Cleanin' Up West End
Florida Sportsman member: Blue Devil
We had a great time fishing out of Blue Marlin Cove this past weekend. It was our first trip over there so a big thank you to the forum members who gave me some great advice on planning for and fishing that area. We were focused on snappers, groupers and hogfish and worked hard to find them. Most of the muttons and strawberries and about half the hogs were caught very close to BMC. The tails and the rest of the hogs were caught a few mile North of Memory. Marvin at BMC was a great help and put in the general vicinity of the fish.
Tom Gordon of Miami completes his afternoon workout session with a 50 pound "tuna.
Fulton Ivy stands two fisted with a pair of quality yellowfin tuna.
Bimini, Bahamas. “I caught one and thought I was going to throw up,” said Tom Gordon. These fish aren't snapper. “We were fishing yellowtail off the gingerbreads and decided to go look for birds around 2 p.m. in the afternoon on June 14th. About five miles from the yellowtail spot we saw some birds, stopped the boat, threw a couple of baits out and had a double header of yellowfin on within 5 minutes. We found the birds using binoculars (no radar). Ran over to them close, not right into them, just close. Had cut sardines into 3rds and had in a bucket. Just started chucking 2-3 pieces every 20 seconds or so. The tuna found us. Once we saw the tuna we put out some heavy iron with 60 foot of 50 lb fluorocarbon leader, braided line. Worst part of it is we didn't have any rod belts. Tuna was really not on our target list. We were just messing around. Try catching one with an International without using a rod belt. We got mugged by 5 boats when we had on the double header. Big mistake, those boats steamed right into the birds. Then it looked like most tried trolling. None hooked up and they eventually left. We went on to catch 3 more and could have caught more (enough is enough, like I said catching one made me want to throw up). I think the key was to not spook the fish by running into them. It was a total Cinderella story! Ended up catching five in two hours and quit. We left them there biting. I don't think we will ever get that lucky again. It was stupid easy and just total blind luck. A truly amazing day.”
The Endless Summer
Florida Sportsman member: JohnnyBlack
The Endless Summer started yesterday at 4:30 am as we pushed out of Boca inlet on “The Soundboy”, ChadJ55′s boat here on the forum. The itinerary for my trip this month will be 5 days in West End Bahamas at Blue Marlin Cove resort then a short one day back here in the states and then it's off to Treasure Cay in the Abaco's for 2 weeks to Marlin fish the Bahamas Billfish Championship on “The Zinn Dog”, Captain Jeff Maggio's boat out of Ft. Lauderdale [...]
I was invitied to cross on a buddy's boat and we left Saturday a.m. for West End after loading up on some livies. We had a nice crossing and encountered a pod of pilot whales and shortly after, we came across a pod of bottlenose. The porpoise hung right at the boat and checked us out for awhile. It was very cool. We then continued on and cleared at OBB which was quick and easy. We then headed out in search of birds. We did find a few but not with any action or bites [...]
Have not posted much lately, been really busy with school and other stuff, but finally got a break last week and took advantage of the open weather window for this past weekend and decided to cross over for some serious fishing and fun in Bimini. We left Friday evening and returned to Miami Sunday morning, after clearing customs and checking in the hotel we set up out front for the muttons but we had missed the bite by an hour, decided to stay until 2 am, and got cutoff on two big mystery fish. Saturday morning headed south to deep drop for the day, it was a bit slow at first but then it picked up and we caught yelloweye snappers, queen snapper, a mystic grouper, big amberjacks that were released and sharks too.
Hot Yellowfin Tuna Action in Mexico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2P-Erj9lhw There's no doubt you've got another choice to find plentiful yellowfin tuna action: www.puertovallartafish.com.
April in Guam
FS member Night Moves is back with fantastic action from Guam. “At about 1400, we had made the full round trip down the East side and back up. We didn't feel like gambling on the back side as the front had been so productive. I knew we would have a good shot at a Marlin if we trolled all the way back in the deep water, but to maximize or fishing time, we picked up the lines and did a little “run and gun” to Stu bank, then baby on to Galvez. We even baited up the spinning rods and had a blast bringing in a few more Mahi that followed in our hooked fish. Pulled in the lines at Galvez NE and ran back to Agat arriving at 1730. 12 hours on the water. Finished with 13 Mahi, 4 Wahoo, 2 Rainbows and the Doggie. Mahi averaged a nice size. I hope they stick around just a little longer! Hook up ratio was a little off today as we had about 10 knockdowns that didn't stay hooked. Most were Mahi who took to the sky and did somersaults and back flips to get off. By the time we got the boat washed and cleaned up, it was 2100. After waking up at 0340 that sure makes for a long day, but great days on the water like that are worth it. Its awesome to be able to enjoy Guams beauty and catch some fish in the process!” For more on Night Moves action click here:
FS member sam50 shows why it's worth the trip across, “the tide ended so we switched gears and put out a spread of big ballyhoo and some strip baits behind islanders. Out in 900 feet of water the long line(strip bait) gets absolutely freight-trained and is dumping the 30w international quickly, we get the angler into the harness and clear the spread, and realize the Man-in-the-Blue-Suit decided to make an appearance!! The fight lasted a while, but eventually the mono leader gave up, as we were not “equipped” for Marlin. Things slowed down and the group decided to head in for lunch. We took a stroll south on the streets and ended up at Fabian's Conch shack and had some great eats with a few cold Kalik Golds. Afternoon fishing trip was to deep drop again, but a lack of current spoiled that plan, as the yellow eyes are very finicky, only 2 boated. We found some good looking weeds and then Mr. Frigate showed us the way. We nailed some nice phins late in the day to top it all off.
Florida Sportsman member Flyers Up made the right call and hit wahoo paydirt.
Flyers Up posted, “we made the walkers trip on Friday, had great weather arrived about 10.45 cleared customs and off to Rosies. Went 20 off to find some YF but no luck, trolled for two hours not one knock down. Saturday did some deep dropping and bottom fishing did ok some groupers and one nice mutton 14 lbs, yellow eyes and black fins and one sm mystic about 8 lbs. Sunday morning get up early to fish home wind blowing 18 gusting to 23 out of the north, not going home today so we decided go get some conch with our new friend Tiko and drink rum. Monday morning with the wind blowing out of the west SW 7 to 10 knots so we checked out and went to Matanilla reef to speed troll for wahoo where we went 7 for 9. Range in size from 30 to 65 pounds and two dolphin.”
Canadians Andy and Sonya Copeland, and their son Max, joined us for a few days at the island last week. Andy wanted to try his hand at some “Deep Sea Fishing” and boy…..was he ever introduced royaly! We showed up at Hannibal Bank at 8:30 and to my surprise there were no other fishing boats only a Tiara with some spearos working the high spot. Two days before we counted 14 sport fishing boats and 4 commercial boats all on the bank! There was a real good mark of bait on the sonar and Bonitos and Tunny's were busting all around [...]
Headed out of Boca 6am Friday morning to a nice 11 knot wind out of the S. Seas were 1-2 almost the whole ride over till we were about 15 miles off Bimini, then they switched to 2-4. All and all the crossing was pretty much a non event. We cleared customs around 9am and began an hour long search for Kalik golds on the island. The island was pretty dead so alot of stores were closed. Sue and Joy's had kaliks [...]
Walker's Wahoo and Grouper Florida Sportsman Member: Docked Wages
Weekend of Jan 8-9, Scott (Bloodstream), Chris (Light_Tackle) , Frank and myself loaded up and ran across to Walkers Cay targeting some Wahoo. This was to be a quick one night trip and back covering approximately 350 miles out of Sebastain in two days. Walkers Cay continues to decline as the docks are now roped off for access and nearly no place to tie up and transit to the Bahamian Customs office.
County commissioners on Tuesday approved a deal paving the way for 13th Floor Investments and the Adler Group to build their 7-acre development at the Douglas Road Metrorail Station.
The deal boils down to a ground lease for Adler and 13th Floor to redevelop county-owned land at the Metrorail station, which is currently occupied by a parking lot and the county's Water & Sewer Department headquarters.
Under the approved deal, Adler and 13th Floor have a lease on the land for 30 years, plus two options to extend the term for another 30 years each.
The two partners now have the green light to move forward with their massive mixed-use development, complete with 970 residences, a 150-key hotel, 70,000 square feet of retail space and a public plaza.
According to a news release from the developers, Link at Douglas will be built in four phases. The first will include a residential tower, the hotel and a portion of the retail section that will include a “premium supermarket.” Driftwood Hospitality Management, which primarily owns and operates hotels under brands like Marriott and Hilton, will be a partner in the project's hotel portion.
Attorneys Ryan Bailine and Nancy Lash of Greenberg Traurig represented the developers, helping negotiate both the ground lease and development agreement.
Rendering of the Link at Douglas
The deal appears to be a fruitful one for the county: Link at Douglas is expected to create 1,400 jobs during its development, according to the county, along with a minimum of 223 permanent positions once it's completed. Along the way, $464 million in revenue is projected to flow during the first 30 years to the county's Department of Transportation and Public Works, which will be the only public entity to see proceeds from the project.
Meanwhile, 13th Floor and Adler will still have to submit their designs and construction plans for approval to the department before each phase begins.
The deal came with other county-mandated stipulations: 13th Floor and Adler will have to reserve at least 12.5 percent of its 970 residential units for workforce housing, spend $14 million on improving the Metrorail station and make a $600,000 contribution to the Underline Project.
13th Floor and Adler had been competing with the Related Group for the project, which came about from a “request for proposals” issued two years ago by Miami-Dade. Besides the economic windfall, the county's goal for the project is to promote “maximum patronage of the transit system” that links the nearby neighborhoods Coral Gables and Coconut Grove to downtown Miami.
Adler and 13th Floor pulled ahead in June 2015 when their proposal received top marks from the county's selection committee based on cost, square footage and phasing.
“Transit-oriented development is the wave of the future and Miami-Dade County has proven itself to be a pioneer in helping to redefine the way we think about – and experience – urban living,” 13th Floor's Managing Principal Arnaud Karsenti said in a statement. “By building around, and investing in, our mass transit, we can reduce congestion on our roadways and connect neighborhoods in our community for greater quality of life.”
