fun fishing with Capt. Mitch

Talk about some good eating.   The roe from those raccoon perch is the best!

Perro Vida

Good morning from Hermosa Beach

Cool shit that I saw today. .

I watched Berto make a beautiful sancocho on a blue marlin today.   She came up on the left side.  He was on the left side and so was a big bonito on the 50 as Berto's pitch bait. My side and my 50 had one of those skirted horse ballyhoo, the right bite size for a striped marlin.   Berto’s blue marlin wanted nothing to do with my smaller pitch bait.  She’s on the left teaser, then Berto’s bonito, a short bite, but no drop back because she didn’t touch it, fading off then back on the bonito, fading off and dash to my pitch bait.  REFUSAL.  Back to the bonito and a ferocious bite, drop back to past the long rigger with plenty of time where it all comes tight and a couple jumps and out comes a beautiful sancocho.  

Makes me feel much better about the sancocho that I made during the tournament with the same size fish on the same size bait with a shorter drop back.  

As Berto shrugs his shoulders and says.   "That's fishing."  

At least we got the bite....and a handful of sails.     

The day before was in the double digits. 

Morning roosterfish

On the way to the awards banquet....

.....to congratulate the Tarheel and tarheels.   First place to the Tarheel and cApt. John Bayliss and some other tarheels on the Trophy Box in 3rd place.   2nd went to the Wire We Here.

The highlight of my day was making a BIG SANCOCHO on a blue marlin and catching a sailfish on a spinning rod off the bow of the boat.  

If I'm going to get my ass beat......

.....at least it was by a Tarheel.   Actually several Tarheels.  

I heard that Capt. John Bayliss put on a clinic today, catching 47 sails in one day, with other boats left scratching their heads and watching the show.  

The Dragin Fly was nowhere in the area, hoping that the honey hole that James found all by himself and 25 miles away from the fleet, loaded with birds and bait would fire off.  It didn't.  The last two hours of the day, we had 1 bite, which we lost.  

There were a lot of fish around, but they were lazy, gorging on all that bait.   The bites we got were very finicky and our hook up ratio sucked, hovering at 50% vs our 70% hook up ratio yesterday.   Our two day total equaled John Bayliss' Tarheel's one day total of 47 sailfish.  He now has 84 sails for two days.

Some other Tarheels, fishing on the Trophy Box are looking to add a trophy to their collection, solidly in the top 3 with 74 sails.  

The Dragin Fly is currently sitting in 9th place of the 39 boat field with 47 sails.   Hopefully we can gain a little ground on tomorrow, the last day of the first leg of the 3 tournament series Los Suenos Triple Crown.

Day 1 Report

James got us in the game late in the day, with only 2 hours left, our 13 sailfish releases were 21 fish behind 1st place, but 3 triples and a couple of doubles in short order put us back in the hunt.  We are tied for 6th place with our friends on the Sea Angel with 2900 points.  First place has 3900 points and John Bayliss on the Tarheel is righting in there with about 3700 points.

Going to be a shootout tomorrow.

How about this for a big Mahi?

Your Tour Guide

Not bad huh?

I have not wet a line since my big snook other than riding along for my first day of the year on the Dragin Fly.  I've been here for 3 weeks and offshore fished 1 time.   I'll get my "days in the sun" starting on Tuesday, practicing for the first leg of the Los Suenos Series Triple Crown.    Fishing has been good, but not red hot, everyone is getting a couple of turns at the rod each day.

Thanks for the pics Jay

Belize Special

I don't want to turn anyone away from Costa Rica, but you might want to consider Belize as an option if you want a tropical March vacation.   Here is a little additional incentive.  Buy 1 two-person package and get a 2nd two-person package for FREE.    We have two weeks with last minute cancellations that have resulted in openings for up to 6 people.

Did I mention that?

I caught a big ass snook today?   No pics and I released her, at least 25 pounds.  I've waited a long time for that fish.   I was about to give up when she aired out on a school of mullets, showing me how big she was.   I got a couple shades of sunburn waiting for the bite that finally happened.

Hi George,

James took a picture of me with the striped Marlin and we wanted to see if he could either email it to me   

Thanks again for a great trip!!

Ashley

Check

I caught one big ass snook today.   Just had to say that.

Thanks Mark for the shots!

Great pics, thanks for the shots.  I've been here two weeks and have not had a chance to see a sailfish!
I'm jealous.

Warnin Poisonius Snakes

I hiked another mountain yesterday, this is a sign on the path.

Biggest fish in the Pamlico Sound

http://www.ocearch.org/profile/katharine/

Look where Katherine has been.....probably came in one inlet, swam right up the sound to the mouth of the Pamlico and turned around went down the edge of Brant Island Shoal and out the sound.  Wow.   Would hate to be in a lay out boat out there when she came swimming through the decoys. 

Meanwhile in Costa Rica....

I haven't been fishing much here, but i did go "hike the mountain".....enough vertical relief that my ears popped.   Yoga class and mimosas today.   I guess that's what happens on Sunday morning when you live on the beach with a little white anti-lab. 

Boat caught a grand slam yesterday. 

Calm seas and great fishing is back

Double digit day on sailfish and a dolphin for dinner yesterday with calm seas offshore.

However, up in the bay there was still some chop from yesterday's blow.   There was an overloaded 90+ foot catamaran with over 100 people on board making the trek up to Tortuga Island  for a day at the beach.   The unusual chop apparently blew out some windows in the engine room and the boat started taking on water and sunk within minutes.  We never knew what happened until getting back to the dock, but other boats from Los Suenos participated in rescue efforts.   Unfortunately there were 3 fatalities.

Attached is a press release from Los Suenos:

Today our community was affected by the tragic sinking of a passenger catamaran off the Central Pacific coast. Despite the fact that the vessel was not docked in Los Sueños, nor had any relationship with the Marina, many private vessels from the marina sped out to the accident site immediately to assist in the rescue of survivors. Sadly, of the 108 total passengers and crew on board, 3 died. The remaining passengers and crew have been accounted for. Forty of the passengers were picked up by a large ship and taken to Caldera. The others were brought back to the Los Sueños Marina by private vessels. We would like to give our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wish the survivors peace in the aftermath. At the same time, we would like to shed a spotlight on our marina, security, restaurants, operational and administrative staff, as well as those individuals in and around the Marina who rallied to have emergency services ready and provide whatever support was necessary to government officials, the media, and most importantly, anyone directly affected by the tragedy.

Trophy, trophy

It's a trophy to catch a tagged fish, especially when it's on a trophy fish. 

From Capt. Mitch on the Roanoke: 

"Capt George,

Shad have started their push and some pigs with them." ----Mitchell

NC Double Header with Capt. Mitch

Amazing trip

Mr. Kim started out his Costa Rica trip for a day of inshore fishing for roosters.   After catching 5 or 6 jacks on poppers, they asked about extending the day and shoved offshore on their panga to a reef about 10 miles offshore.   They put out a couple of ballyhoo, landed a pair of dorado, then a pair of sails, then a BLACK MARLIN about 250 pounds.   Not bad for a half day on a panga.

Fast forward a couple of days on the Dragin Fly and the Super Grand Slam is nearly completed with a striped marlin, a double digit day on the sails and a BIG BLUE MARLIN that pulled off right at the leader.

"George,

We had a Great time on the Dragin Fly. Attached is a picture of my Striped Marlin and one of Davison’s Sail Fish and the picture of the team that you took.

I will get back to you with some dates for next year after I get together with my fishing buddies.

Thanks for an Awesome Day!" 

-----Kim

Yesterday from Capt. Ray

Today was a bad day to be a seabass.Ketched a 6 person limit of jumbos.Beeliners , several big sand tigers too , those 200lb + fellas

No snook today

but I did catch a bad ass cubera snapper on a mullet big enough to choke an old drum.

Cast and Blast on my last day in NC

Thanks Capt. Ray and Capt. Joe Ward for helping make it happen. 

Pink Panga Action