Obsession Charters Spring Newsletter 2009

The OBSESSION headed down to Isla Mujeres, Mexico with two other Oregon Inlet charterboats in early January. Trip down there went well with good weather and no problems. Fishing in January was excellent.... we released 300 sailfish in 15 trips. Weather was unusually rough, with winds out of the north virtually the whole month, and for that matter thru February as well... all related to the cold weather in the states.... still tempertures were in the mid 70's to low 80's but that was a bit cool for down there. The first day we fished, January 13, with three deckhands from other boats, we caught 22 sailfish out of 45 bites! A few days latter, Wayne Decker, with son's Geoffrey and Wesley, enjoyed two 20+ fish days. Paul Kamp and his crew fished 4 days and released 122, with a top day of 37 sailfish.

Fishing was unusually sporadic in Februay, which has always been our best month down there. We had a week of 20+ fish days and ended up averaging 10 sailfish/day for the month, but that average was well off from the last two years when we averaged 15-16 sailfish/day. Generally, there are two bodies of fish off Isla Mujeres.... one I call the resident fish, which hang around close to the island in an area that
holds a lot of bait... we usually work on these fish early in the season. As more boats get there and fishing pressure increases, we run north where we generally find what I refer to as the migratory fish, which is usually a larger body of fish.... these sailfish have produced the epic 50+ fish days but move around more from day to day, often with the wind. Typically, when the weather is fit the fleet runs up there and find them, reducing the fishing pressure on the resident fish, which we save for the rougher days. This year, even with the north winds, which typically moves the migratory fish closer to the island, after a few days of great fishing in early February, they disappeared, scattered or just moved out of range. Consequently, the majority of the fleet just pounded on the residents, so fishing slowed up on them. A few of us continued to run up north every few days trying to relocate the migratory sailfish, but we only had limited success. Anyway, fishing picked up again in March around the full moon. Peter Watson and daughter Currin, caught 35 and 29 sailfish in successive days, and overall for the month we averaged 12 sailfish/day. We ended the season releasing 685 sailfish.
Baitball

As luck would have it, we got the OBSESSION all the way back to Pirates Cove with no problems, only to hit a submerged object right at the mouth of Pirates Cove creek..... nearly 3000 miles of traveling and we are less than 200 yards from my slip.... anyway hauled the OBSESSION out the next week, got the propeller repaired and we are back in business.