Lots of important things to go over to help you on your July-August bookings. I will not be operating Lobster Mini Season trips. Do not book it. I do not have any referrals. I will be offering fishing trips for those 2 days. I will be offering regular season lobster trips beginning August 6.

Lobster Info: Every lobster season is unique. From year to year the pattern has been that there are more people using a finite resource that is mismanaged. I have found that the more people that are here, the less legal sized lobster there are to catch. The last few years later in September and October have been pretty good. Wednesday-Fridays have been better and so are morning trips. Full moons are bad and dark moons are good. Lobstering has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. The trip I offer is about the experience and not filling limits in a half day trip. For my average customers, that is unrealistic. The focus should be learning, progressing and setting achievable goals while having fun. This year our water temperatures are far above normal, which has impacted fishing. I can’t say what we will catch trip to trip. I can provide a high quality experience where you have opportunities to earn your catch. Most importantly, I carry the insurance to operate this trip.

As with everywhere, heat and weather conditions has been what dictates every plan. I can’t stress enough how important proper planning, sun protection, hydration and having extra consideration for the unique members of your group affects your trip. Yes, it’s generally hotter here than anywhere else. Yes, the sun is stronger too and you need to prepare for it. Recently, the type of teenager that does not like to listen, prepare and spends little time outside of a climate controlled environment has had some difficulty. Please address the needs of every member of your group and work together. Teamwork has been not as abundant as I like to see on board. Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe you don’t want to be involved. I don’t know. The whole appeal of my business is you are actively involved in your success. My programs are 2 or 3 step repeated basic steps or actions that make the technique. Once you get the basics, there is room to refine the technique and create some independence. There is tons of room for teamwork for someone that is excelling to help the less skilled members in your group understand the game on your terms. I want to see more teamwork on my boat and on my trips. This heat has put a strain on my ability to operate at peak day to day and the more you work with me the more pleasant these adventures are. It is your adventure, so get involved!

Reef fish get hot too, so early is the best solution. 8am is my normal advertised start time. 7am is our new normal if you can do it. Sunrise is ideal. I understand that is not popular among the kids. I am offering night trips now through August. This can only be done on calm nights with a good weather forecast. We leave around sunset and get back around 10pm or so, depending on our departure time. Book an afternoon 1/2 day trip and put in the notes “Night Trip”. Super helpful to call me and give me as much advanced heads up. Last minute trips may be declined if I have previous plans or can’t get prepared properly with bait in time. Communication is good. Fill out the notes section with good information for me please.

Offshore fishing has been OK. Not as good as years past. Heat and early starts are the influencers to failure and success. Tuna have been ok early 27 miles out on the humps. Sharks have been bad. How you fight the fish makes a significant difference. Most customers like to learn on the spot. That means after you have several fish eaten, you generally start to get better. Tuna stop eating at 10am, which is usually about when my customers understand how fishing tackle works and we move on to mahi. YouTube is an endless resource of information that you can learn about anything. For example “How to fight a saltwater fish on light tackle” will probably bring up tons of videos. That’s the easy way to learn. Moving on, mahi fishing has been unusual. Lots of undersized fish among the keepers. Working hard has put together nice catches. Working hard. Not working hard is the same as doing nothing. When we work hard together and capitalize on our opportunities we get results. When I bring us to the opportunities and we don’t execute as a team, the reality of not participating becomes clear. Outside of bad luck, we are a team and we make our success. So, there tend to be some slow offshore days this time of year. Not uncommon. If the conditions are right, fishing the bottom in 650-1000 feet of water can be a great option. It’s done with electric reels, heavy weights and some very basic steps of reeling up or letting line out with a button. It’s not complicated. It can be boring until something happens. When something happens it is pretty great. You are catching a delicious fish in deep cold water under thousands of pounds of pressure that has never seen the sun before. It’s basically alien ice fishing.

I want to thank all of my customers for their business and support. I want my trips to be fun, safe and successful. My goal is to turn everybody into a repeat customer. The environment I work in is ever changing and unforgiving. All of the moving parts of successfully operating my business daily is the sum of many calculations among an infinite set of changing variables. Experience and consideration allow me to make your trip good. Having your group prepared for our activities and then some completes our partnership. The more solid our foundation we create the more potential we have to have a great adventure on the water. I hope to see you out there soon!

Oh, I forgot! I just had my appendix removed, so I’m going to be figuring out what I can do on what scale of progress. Having your help in operations on deck is pretty important. Let’s work together!!

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