Family Fishing for Mahi

One would think that the family of a charter boat captain would get to pick and choose all the glorious fishing days and go whenever they wanted. This is not the case. I love happy customers so whenever we have calm seas and good fishing, all the best fishing days fill up quick. Not to mention family fishing days don’t pay the bills.

Me and the wife packed all the gear the night before. The usual water, lunch, plenty of snacks, gopro, beach bag, etc. We got a good jump on the day and left the house at 6 a.m. Everyone was excited as always and dolphin fish fishing had been really good the past few days. Believe it or not, my wife and I have been married 16 years and I have never taken her on a good mahi trip or to catch a sail fish. Like I said, the opportunities truly are few and far between.

We arrive at the marina in Port Canaveral and load everything on the boat a little after 7 a.m. and I see other charters boats coming back down the harbor. Oh no, that’s not good, I said to Amber. I flip the radio on and hear all the captains talking about how rough it is and how slow of speed they are making. I talk to Captain Brent who just brought his customers back at their request and he informs us that it is very rough but not stupid or unsafe.

Amber and I talk it over for awhile and made the decision to just eat breakfast and take the kids to the beach. My goal was a relaxing fun day of fishing where I could teach my boys how to rig ballyhoo, put out a spread, work teasers and gaff fish.

We were just finishing up a great breakfast at The Grill’s and I got part of a phone call from Capt. Sinclair. He was almost out of cell range but I made out part of what he said. About 15 miles out the ocean seemed to be spreading out and laying down a touch. We talked it over for a minute and decided what the heck lets go for it because we don’t get this opportunity all that often. We were getting a late start, it was after 9:30, but at least we were going.

The ride out was very choppy and we could only make 11 knts. The kids and my wife were just hanging on and I was scrambling around rigging a dozen ballyhoo and a few strip baits while getting bounced around. This was not the fun family learning day I was hoping for.

My little guy Liam just loves being on the boat and as long as he can sleep or have free range on the snacks he is as happy as a clam. The reports from the guys further out were not all that encouraging because no one was really catching much but on a positive note the ocean was getting calmer they said.

I decided at the first sign of anything fishy I was going to stop the boat and put out the spread. No one was catching much further out anyway and it was calming down a touch. Finally I seen a flying fish get blown out of the water and that was all the reason I needed. First bait out and we caught a nice dolphin fish. 15 minutes later we lost a nice wahoo and shortly after that we missed a nice dolphin.

It is tradition when someone catches their first bill fish to be tossed in and who am I to break tradition. Check out the video of our family day out and I hope you enjoy sharing in our memories. We look forward to taking you and your family out to make some memories of your own.