With gale forced winds predicted in the afternoon, we set out before sunrise to find calm seas and overcast skies with light winds out of the southwest. The Varadi's were out for their first offshore Florida experience. LJ started the day off by boating a nice size Cuda while Paul pulled in his first Cuda as well. LJ then decided to catch us dinner by reeling in this nice 4lb mutton snapper. The winds began to pick up but we set out on the drop to snag this big AJ. The fish finder was full of fish from 100' to 130'. Paul then used his SC fishing experience and caught dinner for the family by reeling in this nice Spanish Mackerel. Winds reached Gale force out of the southwest by 1230. Temps were in the lower 90's with overcast skies early in the morning giving way to bright sunny conditions. Water temps continue to rise to about 78 with blue water making a reappearance in close to shore despite the offshore winds.

Cleared the inlet around 10am and set up shall0w in about 60 feet as the brisk northwest wind was pushing us out to sea. Landed a nice size grouper just under the limit. Then we set up on the drop and landed a couple of small amberjacks. Then came the big one. Jackman fought the fish for about 45 minutes when we finally got a glimpse, a +/-35lb amberjack, that he decided that he didnt want to get in the boat and pulled the hook right of its mouth. We did atleast get a quick look but its another one that got away!! Winds shifted throughout the day eventually ending up coming from the east very lightly to almost non-existent. This shut off the bite which was almost instant. All fish were caught prior to noon. After the one that got away, we fished anywhere from 40 to 200 feet with no luck.

With 30 mph winds, we were forced to stay in the ICW and get some snook action. Doug caught this snook in the Earman River under the US 1 Bridge with IHOP in the background on a DOA Soft Plastic. The tide was extremely high with the strong southeast winds. Water Temperatures in the ICW have increased about 3 degrees this month and fishing reports are starting to heat up again.

Hit the water near Munyon Island around 8am and hooked up with a snook on a Skitterwalk soon after. No bites all morning and then caught this Redfish weighing about 10lbs. on a DOA jerkbait. Camera ran out of battery just as I got it to the boat! Overall, not a bad day on the water and great weather.

Cleared Lake Worth Inlet about 10am and trolled south to the Breakers with no luck. Most reports said Kinfish and Cobia along with alot of bait were being found along the Dodge Wall however we had no luck. Our only fish of the day came when Jon was able to hook a small spanish mackerel to save our one year and counting streak of catching atleast one fish. Conditions were choppy with a south/southeast wind with it picking up as the day went on. Water temperatures are still hovering around 70-73 degrees within 3 miles of shore.

Hit the water about 11am with Chris and his dad. Started a drift in 110' with a strong current. The fish were biting almost every drop but they must have been small as none got hooked. After losing sardine after sardine with no fish to show for it we decided to head out deep to about 5 miles offshore and troll for dolphin. We saw a few birds but nothing was doing so we came back in close and had some success in 70' off of singer island. Mr. Calabrese stepped it up under pressure and boated this nice spanish mackerel however between the three of us we lost about 10 others that could have made a nice feast. All in all it was a reasonably calm day with a light north-northwest wind.

Set up for drift fishing around 90 feet straight out Palm Beach Inlet with several bites and no hookups. The water was dead flat with the gulf stream very close to shore so we headed out to 200 feet and hooked up with this 23"/5lb Mutton Snapper over a wreck. Jon also caught a bonita and a baracuda as i was 0-2 today on what i believe were sharks biting through my leader. There was a ton of bonita and blue runners feeding on the surface from 60' to 130'. It was difficult to get your bait in the water without a bonita hitting it. We did see some dolphin in about 120' but were not able to get them in the boat. Great conditions today with a south/southwest wind and very calm seas and 84 degrees with barely a cloud in the sky. Must have been a wildfire burning nearby as the air was filled with smoke for most of the morning.

Cold, Windy Weather kept us inshore this weekend with a few jack crevelle's creating most of the days action. We set out around noon to allow the weather to break even though co-captain Murray said there was no way it could get cold. I wont say anything more about that other than please take note of the jackets. As far as the fishing went, I had a few hits on my Trout Skitterwalk with no hookups and Bryan had a hit on a free-lined sardine but was unable to hook up as well. The best entertainment of the day came from the manatees on the flats, Hayes protecting us from pelicans, a seagull eating one of my Skitterwalks, and Doug catching every man-made object around. All in all it was a slow day but it was nice to get back out on the water after the latest cold spell kept us in port in recent weeks. Conditions were a strong east wind, extreme low tide with a full moon, and water temperatures in the ICW were around 66-70 degrees, the coldest i have seen it in 3 years.

We Sstarted out early this morning with cold temperatures and unexpected rough conditions. Plan A was to start the day off by trying to catch some goggles eyes or blue runners around the buoys with no luck. Plan be was to drift towards a wreck in 150' with no luck. Emergency Plan C was to troll towards the beach to get out of the rough conditions and the cold temps with no luck trolling however it was much warmer closer to shore. After warming up we set another drift off Breakers in 50-70'. We finally started to get some action with a grouper, spinner shark, bonito, and some blue runners. We did see a few dolphin but weren't able to get them in the boat. All in all a slow day on the water but well worth the trip with our first shark!

Bottom fishing was slow in the morning so we decided to troll for a while with no success. We then decided to re-focus and head back to the lucky spot where Amy continued to catch fish after fish. After catching and releasing several small snappers, and other bottom dwellers, Amy, Stephen, and Bryan stepped it up and landed these 3-5lb mutton snappers and barely legal Yellowtail to feed everyone prior to New Year's Eve festivities!