Searched again for some mullet but nothing around the pocket to net this morning. I walked over to check on the cleaning tables and found the Jim Lopilato (Parks Superintendent) raised the surface of the table above the metal lip.

Thank You Jim :applause





Taking Greg & his wife Amanda out today. We exited the Pocket at 6:00am and worked our way to SLI. We found Lake Atlantic at the mouth of the inlet. We hit the buoy out front to see if any baits were holding on it. Picked up a pair of blue runners.

We then move on south to Bullshark with no luck. Then hit the yellow buoys south of Bullshark and picked up a few small runners. As we were trying to catch some baits we spotted this awesome sunrise. The sky looked like a large orange blanket.





Here is the moon setting in the west.



The sun finally made it's appearance...




With only a ˝ dozen baits in the well we stopped at Shrimpers on the way to the Hill and picked up some more runners and a few Cigar Minnows. We then proceeded to the Hill. On the way Greg mentioned that he would like to catch an Amberjack today so the plan was to pick up some BFT then head to my AJ spot.



We arrived on the Hill around 8am and put out a green/yellow daisy chain and a black/purple chain on the outriggers with Billybait Lures. On the flatline clips we ran the same (2) Bluewater Lures from last trip out. We started about a mile west of the Hill and trolled towards the southern tip. Shortly in the port rigger pops but fish was gone.



Once near the ledge we turned north and work our way along the ledge. Hit the northern edge and swung back around towards the south without one hit. Finally the starboard outrigger pops but the fish came unglued. While trolling back south we get a shout out from Fishinbuddies who already had a couple of BFT’s in the box and a few Bonita’s. Thanks for the shout out Jackson.





We turn back north and port daisy chain goes off and Greg is on it with the first BFT in the boat.





Then Amanda grabs the blue & white Bluewater lure rod that gets nailed 50ft behind the boat and brings in BFT #2…



Gotta love the smiles fish tend to put on people’s faces… Congrats on your first BFT aboard the AF… :applause





Do you recognize this lure Richard (G-Spot) - This has been the most productive lure since you gave it to me just like you said it would be. Thank You very much Richard for giving me this lure. It will be deployed in every spread I put out for sure. For those who want one, run down to Boca to Rays Offshore Tackle and show TJ a pic of this lure and he will hook you up.



We trolled around another 45 minutes without another knock down so we pulled in the gear and headed toward the AJ Spot to drop down the (2) largest runners in the livewell then go hunt for some fins. We drop the first Blue Runner down to the bottom and make our first drift to establish a good drift direction then reeled it up and set-up the next drift about 500 yards southeast of the spot.

As soon as Greg’s bait gets down about 140ft it was FISH ON.



Greg brings up a nice size Amberjack…



We head back to our exact same starting point. It is now Amanda’s turn. As she was dropping the bait down her bait gets taken by a very large jack and peels off 100ft of line in seconds





CLICK PIC BELOW TO HEAR THAT REEL SING AS AMANDA FIGHTS HER FISH





CLICK THE PIC BELOW TO SEE HER FISH COME UP TO THE SURFACE FROM BENEATH THE WATER LINE



Amanda's fish is so big, she is struggling to lift it up… That is a good problem to have Amanda :grin





Greg gives her a helping hand with her first AJ… Congrats again Amanda for another first aboard the AF… :applause





We now put away the bottom rod and started our search for some weeds. We ran NE from the AJ spot and located the west wall of the gulf stream and decided to rig up some hoos. We put out two on the riggers with a blue & white Bluewater skirt and a Iland purple & black skirt. On the port flatline clip we ran the blue & white Bluewater lure (no hoo) 50ft off the back of the boat.

I then rigged my large planner off the starboard cleat. This type of planner works great as you don't have to fight a fish with it attached to your line. You simply deploy the planner then hook a double snap swivel up. One snap to the planner (300lb line) and the other to a rubber band that wraps around the mainline on the rod. Freespool the mainline to let the line down to the planner then you’re ready to go.

What is great about it is you never have to bring up the planner until you’re ready to move. You simply get out another double snap swivel and rubber band and deploy another bait. At the end of the day you simply bring up the planner and collect your snap swivels. We put down a large blue & white Bluewater lure that G-Spot gave me. I re-rigged it last night with cable to make it tooth worthy.



We trolled north for about 45 minutes without a bite. As I was pulling in the port outrigger line I thought I felt a bite and quickly dumped some line but by then the bait was gone. We ran back to the 6 mile reef a re-deployed the same set-up and trolled around the scattered weeds for another hour without any knock downs. Spotted this guy during our troll…



We ran in to the Sandpile to finish up the day. Trolled around then dropped in some cigar minnows an made one drift over the pile with zero knock downs. The water clarity wasn’t very good here. We head to the SLI and as we are getting to the mouth of it there was a diver in the water right at the edge of the northern breakwater. The boats flag wasn’t even higher than the driver of the boat. Luckily we spotted the diver. Not a safe place to be diving. Get that flag higher up so people can see it.

Today’s Tally

2 BFT
2 Amberjacks

Good times had by all today :fishing. Your welcome aboard any time. Bring the kids out next time you guys come. We can all fit.

How did you all make out today? The radio sure was dead today. Only heard of Bonita and BFT being caught today

Met Johnalki at the ramp. Nice meeting you today John.

Tip of the day

Save those left over baits. Especially those with scales – Sardines, Greenies etc. Leave them in your Livewell and then freeze them in baggies with some saltwater. I bring a couple bags out on every trip to use for chunk bait to bring up the fins from the deep. Locate any structure offshore and toss in a few handfuls of chunk bait and you most likely will be eating Mahi Mahi for dinner.

Random pics on the day