Got out on the Big Jamaica for the first time today, I have been out on the Jamaica II a few times before but never the Big. The trip was for bonito and blues, and I hadn’t ever caught a bonito before and I was looking to change that. My girlfriends father was with me, his first trip like this is many years so we were both pretty excited. I got to the boat really early and was talking to a mate and gave my rod a test cast with a deadly dick tied on, reeled it in real quick and ended up getting smacked by a 20” striper. Got him to the rail and he dropped right back in. Pretty cool way to start the morning.
We got out and started fishing around 8:30, with sporadic blues at first. The cap did a fantastic job moving around to find fish and gave us great information. We started finding some bonito and I landed my first one ever! Pretty stoked. Ended up catching a few more and we moved again. We anchored up and got the chum slick going and things really kicked off. Big schools of mackerel showed up and were slamming everything, I killed them on an epoxy. It was madness, first time experiencing something like that. So 2 new species for me today as I had never caught one of these either!! I lost count of how many I caught around then
Finished the day at one more anchored spot and some keeper sea bass were caught along with more bonito, mackerel, and even some ling. We saw a huge hammerhead cruising too, 8-9ft, so cool. Tons of rays too.
The crew was great, personable and helpful. A seriously Can’t recommend the Big Jamaica enough, they run a great operation! my girlfriends dad went home with a cooler full of fish and I helped a few other people fill theirs too. Definitely a day for the books! Tight lines!
