We took a break from charter fishing today to join friend’s Brian Prince, Mike Maizer, Noah Prince, and Justin Maizer on the Prince of Tides – a 37′ Intrepid leaving out of Boca Inlet. My good friend Walter Shellabarger joined as well to celebrate Memorial Day. Walt served two tours in Iraq in the United States Marine Corps and fought valiantly during the invasion of Fallujah and countless other skirmishes during the war.
With bait being scarce in Boca Inlet since the dredging last year – we made the run south to Lighthouse Point to scrounge up some Goggle Eyes – the absolute go to bait for sailfish, wahoo, and big blackfins off Boca Raton. The wind was kicking hard from the south east and we had no trouble getting both kites up in the air. The first drift didn’t provide much action – so we picked up and headed north in search of bluewater. We found a nice edge just to the south of Boca Inlet and quickly deployed the spread – not 15 minutes later a big bonita slammed the left long line while a nice bull mahi grabbed the starboard long. The battle ensued and ened with some tasty dinner in the boat!
The wind picked up the rest of the afternoon – turning 1 to 3 ft waves insto a steady 3 to 5. We fished hard and hooked up on a big wahoo which ate a large goggle eye off the kite line. Brian battled the hoo for about 25 minutes before bringing him up. Although we couldn’t get a good glimpse of the fish, we knew he was big from the vicious head shakes and stalemate battle. Tragically, the hook pulled just four feet before we could grab the leader – a heart breaker of a loss but an epic battle nonetheless.
We deployed the spread once more in hopes of hooking up once more. After 30 minutes battling the waves, a nice sailfish blasted out of the water on the long bait! We stayed tight for about 30 seconds before the line snapped! Frustrating…a big hoo gone at boat side and a sailfish breakoff??? We started wondering if someone had bananas on the boat or ate bananas for breakfast.
Either way – we took it as time to leave as the waves continued to build, although we did manage one more small mahi mahi on the short bait just before pulling in the kites! All in all, a solid day fishing off Boca Raton!
Total: 1 bonita, 1 bull dolphin, 1 schoolie dolphin, 1 escaped wahoo, and 0/1 on sailfish.
Capt. Charlie Ellis
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