“Today was just what we needed,” wrote Excel skipper Justin Fleck, “good wahoo fishing in the morning and a nice hit on big tuna in the afternoon. The wahoo fishing was fast and furious when we first got on them eating everything that hit the water. As luck would have it, one of our wahoo drifts evolved into a hit for 20 big tuna with a couple of cows mixed in. Sam Raiter picked up his second cow of the trip going 216.4 on the scale. And big fish honors goes to Eric Maulhardt with a personal best 239-pound tuna. Congratulations to both of you. There was good visual sign of fish all afternoon as we made one long drift keeping a few tuna hooked all the way into the dark. There is a little bit of a shark problem here and they took more than their fair share, but there is good potential for a monster day. We will be spending the night and trying it again tomorrow.”



Black Tuesday

“The Coral Star Fleet we have working with us on all of our trips down here really had some exciting action today,” said Intrepid skipper Kevin Osborne April 3. “The Star VII had the big hit when an estimated 700-pound Black Marlin hit a trolled jig for John Basmadjian. An hour and a half later he had the beast along side the vessel, quickly unhooked and swam along side the rig for a few moments then watched as she powered away strongly. What a fish! The excitement was felt throughout the entire boat at dinner as the angler and crew re-lived the experience of watching this Giant jump fully out of the water several times and the awesome feeling one gets when you get to see them swim away afterward. The Star IV also had a nice day hooking into a smaller Black around 200 pounds and then getting into some Yellowfin in the 120-pound Range shown in the photo by Capt. Juan and angler Bob Woodard. Inshore the Star V had three more Trophy Rooster Fish, a big Bull Shark, and plenty of Snapper, Pargo and Jacks to keep a bend in the rods all day long. The Mothership Intrepid spent the day sending out the Kayaks and our Skiff, which fished inshore as well hooking into a couple nice Snook and many Snappers. We have more exciting activities planned for tomorrow.”