Fishing Snook Islands (Lake Worth) 9/26/12

On Wednesday, I met our students from Lake Worth High School and Santaluces High School at 7:30am, at Snook Islands in Lake Worth.  The weather was perfect, a little cloudy and not too hot.  The fishing was extremely slow throughout the day, but we did have a few moment when the fishing would pick up and we would start catching fish, but as quick as they started biting they would stop.  I am extremely proud of all the students for sticking with it, as it was a long day, and they never gave up trying to catch fish even if the fish weren't biting.  Hopefully next time we go fishing, the fish will cooperate more!

The New Charter Boat is Broken In !!

                                               Four Fish On

Capt John and I took the FFA's new charter boat out for its 1st charter this morning.  We could not have asked for a nice day, cool weather and flat seas.  The fish started biting right out of the inlet, and did not stop.  We caught bonito after bonito for almost 2 hours before trying some bottom fishing to give everyones arms a break.  Bottom fishing was a little slow, but we were able to find a few triggerfish before trolling again.  We caught a few more bonitos trolling for home, and a spanish mackerel as we cleared the mouth of the inlet.  Thank you so much Tim and Jim for coming out with us, and hope you had as much fun as us

Pahokee Pals and New Hope Charities fishing trip at Pahokee Marina

Riviera Offshore Fishing Camp 7/17/2012

                                   Time to head back in....

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to join the offshore summer camp for a day out on the boat.  We could not have asked for a nicer day, thats until around 2 when it was time to head back in.


The day was spent catching monster bonito after monster bonito, we a shark or two every once in awhile.  We had 4 large sharks under the boat at one stage. Sadly we caught very few edible fish, but I am sure the campers slept extremely well after reeling in all the bonitos.  I lost count, but I estimate they caught close to 30 bonitos during the trip

South Grade Elem and Highland Elem Fishing Tournament

After spending 4 weeks in class learning about fishing and how to go fishing, I had South Grade and Highland meet me this afternoon for their final sessions.  We met at Lake Osborne in Lake Worth, and tried to have a fishing competition.   The students had to take everything they learned to set up their own fishing rod and put on the bait.  Sadly it was super windy and they had trouble casting into the wind.  At the end of the day the final result was that the fish won!  We had a few fish bite the bait, but unfortunately none of the fish were hooked.

Hopefully the students will have better luck next time they go fishing with their new fishing rods and tackle boxes, donated by FISH FLORIDA.

Offshore Fishing Summer Camp July 2012

This past week we held our first offshore fishing summer camp out of the Riviera Beach Marina.  The start of the week was terrible weather wise.  Monday through Wednesday we battled high winds and even higher seas.  All the campers were troupers, and each of those day we ventured out into the ocean for a short period, but had to come back in and fish the intracoastal the remainder of the day.  The camps caught snappers, grunts, triggerfish and stingrays around Peanut Island; and we lost a nice shark on Monday afternoon on the east side of Peanut Island.  

Yesterday and today the weather finally decided to cooperate, and we spent both days trolling and drift fishing off Palm Beach.  Yesterday we trolled north and south of the inlet and caught 4 blackfin tuna, 2 kingfish, and more bonitos than we could count.  This morning we headed offshore in search of dolphin and wound up landing 2 large baracudas.  Around 11am we headed into 120ft and drifted for some reef fish.  The camper caught trigger, grunts, and many other reef dwelling species.  As we were packing up to head in we hooked into 2 large bonitos while drifting squid.

All the campers seemed to have a blast fishing offshore, but I feel like the best part of the week for them was hand-lining giant Jack Crevalles at the dock.  Each day after cleaning the boat and the fish, the camps used the scraps and left over bait to hand line some very strong jacks.  I am amazed that none of them were pulled in!!!!!