July was a unique month. We saw patriotic firework displays, windy weather, rain, brutal heat and humidity. Fishing dropped off a tad. The dolphin [mahi twice] slowed up in the middle of the month; sailfish remained productive with few takers. Swordfish catches tailed off but the bright spot was plenty of snappers and groupers graced the area. All in all it was an off month but still better than most other venues. There was a third and impromptu shootout in the Bahamas, this one with real lead. An alleged teenage fugitive from Washington State “borrowed” another plane [his forte] and took off for the Island nation to our east. This amoral self styled Huck Fin - Robin Hood character reportedly found an open hanger in Indiana with a plane fully gassed and a GPS took off and headed south for the tropical islands from a small airport where he failed to submit a flight plan. [Not required from a stolen aircraft] Heading south toward his goal he had to fly in close proximity to large cites and maybe evens our space cape. He did this without any interference from our homeland security, no jets scrambled, no nothing, zilch. I wonder how the authorities were aware the craft was piloted by the harmless fun loving barefoot felon with cheeks of tan and not some evil Tommy Taliban from the Middle East. The popular lad [he has a web sight posted by some misguided fans] crashed the plane in the Abacos and burgled his way to Harbor Island where he gave up after avoiding a fusillade of bullets. Strange tale!
Crook’s floor manager Jack Agramonte reports veteran Captain Bill Whiteha and mate Randy Cotton took the Alsome on a diving trip to the Bahamas and did a number on the cueberra snappers. Crewman Rob shot a 53 pound fish. They tired of diving and for a change of pace tried their hand at blue marlin fishing. This proved to be a touch of genius as they caught and released two sizeable blues. Captain Bill is also a manufacturer of state of the art quality marine products.
Captain Bill Harrison received this photo and report from Captain Peter Bristow, the old bush ranger from down under now plying his trade in Madeira. Fred Cansaley, from the city of brotherly love, fishing from the Katherine B released this blue marlin estimated at 999 pounds by the Philadelphian and the crew. But as they say in the NFL, “Upon further review” I would estimate the weight to be 1000 pounds. I wonder if it is a Quaker record. Stone the crows! A couple of days later with a new angler and mate, Peter and company hooked up with a giant fish much larger than the above mentioned beast. As the battle waxed furiously the angler looked to the mate for help, he was told in a combination of Portuguese, English and sign language to tighten el drago. The embattled fisherman responded and in a second the lever went up, the monster shouted sayonara and swam off and the captain went bonkers. That night Captain Peter gave a compulsory course in drags 101.
Captain Quinton Dieterle sends us this intel:
“Back from Cat Cay and the first annual dive tournament. We took firsts with a 42 lb. black grouper and a couple of 20 pounders also had some nice hogs. Our secret was Froggy [Jon Cooper] he is amazing in the water, “Jon is believed by many to be a clone of the legendary Artie Pinder, hopefully only in the water.
Ray Rosher’s gal Friday, the attractive and capable Kristen, reports that Carolyn Peterson decided to give her boyfriend Daniel a memorable fiftieth birthday present. She chartered the Miss Britt and they all sang Happy Birthday and Danny Boy as the ecstatic angler caught his first yellow tail on light tackle. A good time was had by all.
Sophia, Juan and Laura Mullina of Miami and the four beautiful Mullina daughters chartered Rosher’s Miss Britt on fathers day and had a great rime catching a mixed bag of game fish. They even let Captain Ray bring is son Dakota along. It turned out that both daddies Ray and Juan enjoyed the holiday. In the photo young Dakota [the heir apparent] is perched on someone’s shoulders checking out the catch.
That’s it for this month fans.
As usual I close with the quote of the month:
Captain Richard Peeples III posts a pithy quote every day on Facebook. Those of us addicted to this venue check out his pithy bon mots before we start our day. Bric as he is known on the waterfront has a following all over the land from Cooperstown N.Y. to Ocean Reef Marina.
Here is a sample of the Seminole sage’s wisdom:
“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life and comes into us each midnight very clean. It puts itself in our hands; it hopes you’ve learned something from yesterday”
Tight lines and whatever:
Dude Perkins
