We released 50 stripers yesterday with three fishing - Steve Brackmann, Alex Rogers and Jaime Jr., who's fishing with two stitches in his left thumb from a fillet knife cut from the day before. I leadered and took over on tough fish - arm is 110%..one guy stops fishing to tag the fish. It is tough to keep them on the light leaders (Suffix Fluorocarbon rocks...first time using it and sold on it!) when they are jumping around. 10' Top Shot tag stick helps heaps. Lots of fun fishing on feeders all day. We were at the Finger Bank and had the place all to ourselves until 12 when two other boats came. Other boat (60' Buddy Davis) said on the radio to us they ended up with 40 on live baits..it is nice to kick ass and catch the most fish out of harbor that had 60 boats out.

We had a tough time making bait from 5:30 - 7:00 AM at the Golden Gate, too many sardine and too many seals and makos stealing baits ..so ended up catching most of our fish on big frozen sardines I saved and packaged and froze with Magic Brine. I like catching them on the dead bait better as it's a blast pulling up to a sardine school being worked by a pod of stripers and cast and retrieve and watch the fish pile on near the boat. Major benefit is faster fight times as we go to a light drag and fish stay up top where we can back down and release them fast. We tagged 12 and caught two fish with TBF tags in them. We were able to get one of the tags off one of the fish and will mail in to get the data back on when and where the fish was tagged from the Billfish Foundation. We need another angler can cast and work a dead bait and we could have caught 75..or more fish if Chris Badsey was driving and backing down at 12 knots into the three foot chop. Chris wish you were here as we could really put up some big number right now with our team on your REELAXE. Blingo says hi and misses you. We reminisced on how you are able to drive a boat and get us back on a fish as soon as it come up right on the bite. We could have never caught the numbers without the way you drive - never!

We saw two or three tuna boils right when we got to the bank with the tuna popping up once on a sardine meatball and then the marlin took it over. I rigged up the kite to slow troll a Yummy flyer in the zone. We then speed trolled the bank for an hour searching for them with Black Bart Rum Cay Candy and San Sal Candy in tow for wahoo. Dorado were a pain every time we tried to fish around the shark buoys on the bank. So by then the frigates were on the meat balls and stripers was the game plan. Looked for mackerel on the bank to make and couldn't find them with the sonar. Mackerel at the Gate and straight deans and rockfish on the Finger.

Thick Blue Water Aftco gloves (the yellow cloth padded ones)..a must! I had two 240 lb. Spro Swivels rocket back while I was leadering during the day and the swivels buried through the cloth in the outer part of the gloves leaving small divots in my left hand. Anyone who leaders with orange gloves or the softer Aftco gloves is suicidal! I wonder if a glove could be made with bullet proof kevlar (like in a bullet proof vest) sew to the back of a glove and then a cloth sew over that? This would make the glove swivel safe, yet soft enough to feel the leader when using 100 lb. or less leader material - Greg or Chris?

Kaenon sunglasses..thank you..your glasses saved my left eye from a direct hit from a swivel. The lens chipped but did not break and took the bullet like swivel hit without fail.

The Avet 6/3 reels are bullet proof and never failed. Try that with a Shimano Trinidad..no way.

Steve and Alex are both complaing about sore shoulder problems today (bad rotator cuff) from the injuries that occurred last November and December fishing. Told them if they would step up to the plate and get surgery as their doctors have told them, they wouldn't be such pussies and could handle deep sulking fish without having them take forever and have to hand them off to get the fish released so we could go catch some more. There are some real slug fish down here, with a number of them we are catching in the high one hundreds. Sardine are as thick or thicker than last winter here with tremendous volume on all the high spots. Also more fin back whales then I have ever seen in and around the sardines being pushed up by the marlin.

That's it for now.

Happy New Years!!

Dave

For more information on fishing Cabo on the Caliente, please contact Dave for charter information.