The bite has been hot the past few days and guests have been taking advantage. Off shore we have had huge shoals of Yellowfin Tuna, (more than we know what to do with in fact) and we have been releasing as many as possible. On the reef, the smaller tuna have been feeding on squid; and the Black Marlin feeding on the tuna. Closer to shore the roosterfish have continued to stun guests with their size, power and crazy looks. Those old Cubera snapper are making a showing and so are the Almaco Jacks.
The water has definitely started to warm up and with it we are seeing the pelagic species making their way back into the mix. It has been tough to choose between the non- stop tuna action offshore or the more challenging, but very rewarding, inshore bite. Inshore anglers can really wrack up a big species count, many of which are ridiculously large specimens. With the rains starting we are also finding our first signs of debris off shore which has been holding dorado, and hardtail– which is a good sign that the Blue Marlin and sailfish should not be too far behind.
Guests Gregg Bedell and Cindi Baird came to the lodge with their friends John and Patricia Stauffer and Michael and Julie Fields. The six of them love to fish and travel all over together enjoying adventures in new parts of the world. The couples got to fish on our 45 Hatteras, Pollyanna, and had some great fishing. They got to catch more than a boat load of tuna and everyone was in on the action. Michael Shields got an oversized Almaco Jack of over 50lb. Cindi got to release a Roosterfsih of around 70lb. and Patricia got to release an Incredible Black Marlin of 400lb. It was great spending time with the group and we can’t wait to see them back next March.
Bruno Van Marckle and Ilse Govaere had their first trip to Tropic Star lodge and it was all sorts of fun and games. The couple fished on Scandia with Capt. Jose who really put them on the fish. The couple got to release a prehistoric Cubera snapper along with some great roosterfish while checking out the inshore bite after having their arms stretched on some Yellowfin tuna action on the surface. Hugo also got to realese a beautiful Black Marlin of around 400lb. Hugo is no beginner to fishing and actually has a world record for a Bronze Whaler shark caught off West Africa, in a little spot in Namibia called Henties Baai.
Daniel Ghiragossian brought his two sons Guido and Matais for some boys bonding and to chase some fish. Daniel wanted his boys to catch some fish that would really test them and their main goal was tuna– which was perfect since they were feeding like crazy. The gents had a request when they arrived, they really wanted to try and catch yellowfin and have fresh sashimi on the boat. Well… let’s just say that was not a problem. Capt. Azael of Spain put them on some incredible tuna which they got to catch on surface lures and Mate Elio prepared them the freshest sashimi they have ever had.
Jeff Shroeder, his son Fredrick and Jeff Gerard came back with a great group of gents to enjoy the time away from the world in the jungle, swop stories and make some new ones.
Hans Pomeroy and Alfred Corrier, have been to the lodge before, and brought their friends Dennis Fetch and Richard Franz to show them a good time on the water. Well, the guys really started off with a bang– on day 1 they released 9 Roosterfish with the biggest being around 45lb, and the best part was this was after catching around 30 Yellowfin Tuna in the 20lb – 60lb range. For the rest of the time Capt. Candelo really had the guys working hard on the reels and the gents celebrated each afternoon when they came back with a Rum, well except for Hans, he had his Absolute and Grapefruit as always.
In the end, everyone had become great friends and it was amazing to see all our guests bonding and telling large tails! The best part was they were all true! We can’t wait to see everyone back again as we always miss our fishing family once they leave but with the bite turning on like it is we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Tight lines and fair seas,
Capt. Richard White
Tropic Star Lodge
