The Last week has had some of the best Bonito action that I have ever experienced. Not only has there been large numbers of fish – but the average size has been BIG (our average has been around 7lbs – with many over 8lbs). Mornings and evenings – it’s just been RED HOT….and to top it off the weather has been beautiful! Beautiful weather in April – can you believe it! I still have several prime days open –
There’s been a whole lot of this lately – Bonito just looks tasty!
4/18, 4/19 & 4/20 – For the third time in the past year, I have very fortunate to have Sean, Corbin and Suzhann aboard. They LIVE TO FISH and love the Beaufort area – and come down with their parents during their breaks. Not only do they love to fish – but they are amongst some of the most skilled and dedicated anglers that I have ever had around. Sean and Corbin came down last fall with the hope of kings, albacore and drum…we did manage a king and some nice drum but the albacore were absent. I told them about Bonito – and they have been looking forward to it ever since. Well, they decided to do three half-days – and they happened to get some of the best weather i can ever remember having in april.
4/18 The first morning was the toughest – cold and blowing out the North (15knots), we worked several areas hard – not seeing Bonito of any kind. Since the bite had been very early (and very consistant) lately, I was a bit flabbergasted as to their early absence. Well, turns out they slept in and come 8am the water exploded with fish. We were the only boat fishing for them and we ended up with an hour of pandemonium – hooking 3 fish instantly. One shook the hook, another broke-off and the third pulled-off an impossible manuever. Sean’s fish raced towards the boat, dove under and surfaced on the other side of the boat – confusing all of us. It splashed around on it’s side and threw the hook before sean could work the line around the transom.
On the way in, we found several small pods of HUGE False Albacore running the beach. While we only got a couple of shots at them – Sean and Corbin were so excited to see them. They’ve both really want to get an albie on light tackle – while we didnt get that opportunity, they were pretty much satisfied just being able to see some pods crash bait!
4/19 – The best day of our three day journey. It started off hot and stayed hot – all day. The boat traffic was light and the seas slick calm. We stated off working the water blind – and i bet them that topwaters would be the first producer – and I was right. Within minutes we had two vicious strikes on topwater. Right after that – they came to the surface and the fight was on. We chased schools all morning – many times having them to ourselves. All four fish they kept topped the scales at 8lbs – except for a lost (and gill-hooked) 1 pounder!
What an awesome day guys – beautiful weather and awesome fishing. Words just can’t describe how much fun we had!
4/20 – Today was a bit tougher – not because the fish weren’t there – but because of the boat traffic. There were a lot of aggressive, “know nothing” fisherman out there running straight through schools of fish while others heaved double-drop bottom rigs with shrimp towards the slashing bonito, cursing when they didnt get a strike. We still had many good shots, did well and had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and we chowed down on some BONITO CEVICHE that I made the night prior – that stuff is AMAZING. I can’t wait to have you guys back – y’all are some of the best fisherman i’ve ever had aboard and a ton of fun too boot.
4/20 PM – This afternoon I took out Dwight, Tim and his wife. They had never fished for Bonito before and were extremely excited Having done very well with the evening bite in years past, I was pretty confident we could find some fish that af Well – it didn’t take long. Less than thirty seconds after we arrived, I had a large school of Bonito busting all aroudn the boat. We had a double hook-up immeadiatly using top-water poppers and 10 minutes later we put a 5 and an 8lb Bonito in the cooler. Tim followed suit – getting his fish, also, on a topwater. After they all had their fish in the boat, we switched between casting and trolling – picking fish up, constantly, the entire afternoon. After they kept their first four fish, we released all the others. Amongst the bigger 6-8lb Bones, we also managed a couple tiny 1-2 pounders (they still fight well for their size)!
Seriously though – for the entire four hour charter, we had busting fish the entire time. We even left them busting and made it home well before dark to clean the fish, etc. What a special day guys!
4/21 AM – This morning I took out Chris and his father, Earl. We started early, but the fish were mostly absent for the first few hours of the day. Chris really wanted to get one on the fly – and so we set that as our goal.
Mid-morning the bite turned red hot, and unlike thursday, the boat traffic wasn’t bad. The majority of the boats were polite and knew how to approach the fish without sounding them – and there weren’t any folks tossing bottom rigs with shrimp at the busting Bonito, either. We chased good schools of busting fish for the better part of 2 hours – we had several on spinning (lead, soft-plastics and topwaters). Chris was able to get 5 hook-ups on the fly – breaking 1 off, missing the strike on 3 and losing one under the boat. Remember to strip-strike these fish đŸ˜‰
Even though we didn’t get one on the fly, the weather was still gorgeous and we had tons of chances with the little speedsters – getting plenty on spinning gear.
4/22PM – I went out by myself in the evening and slayed ’em. Thus, no pictures. I found them busting and left them busting – I caught several and went back to the barn. Fish I would have brought the fly-rod….
