by Michael Landress, Contributing Writer
The unmistakable silhouette of a magnificent frigate differs from the gannet and so too, this fishing excursion was like no other. I’m moving sloth-like this Saturday morning after an eight-hour split charter in three-to-five Atlantic seas on Friday.
It’s winter in South Florida and the cool winds wail from the Great White North. The churning seas have a bounty of sails, pelagic reptiles hunting drifting man-o-war, bastard sharks; seabirds, sky-rocketing mackerel royalty, baitfish and dolphins.
We witnessed all on this trip.
Ryan, a Minnesota native and I chugged North from the Palm Beach Inlet to the waters off Jupiter with Captain Alex Burgess and his 29′ center console built by Sea Vee. The twin Mercury outboards pushed us through the slop to the fishing grounds.
On arrival, our brassy young captain set the kites as Ryan and I bantered about life. Although we didn’t solve any pressing world issues I enjoyed his company.
I captured 2,000 images on three different cameras which is normal, but I also free-spooled and hooked a sail, and gladiator-gaffed two hefty kingfish which is not.
Captain Chris Lemieux has taught this elder well over the previous ten years of fishing on the Conch Cruiser.
“The gaff is a rake not a shovel.” A quote from a friend of mine they call Jake that is forever engrained in my brain.
We finished an extremely cool, bumpy day with a tally of four-for-five on sails all hooked and released, five-for-nine on kingfish — the largest, perhaps 40-pounds, was taken by a giant bull shark as the sun vanished in the western sky.