Today my fishing buddies were my son's coworkers from Culpepper and Terpening in Fort Pierce who had been wanting to go across to the other side for a long time and we were finally able to get everyone's schedule adjusted so that we could make the trip.
    We splashed the boat at Sebastian Inlet and made our way across running a course of 99 degrees and good crossing weather. The weather on the other side was a little bumpy for most of the day and with the southwest winds the good weed line was spread out over about 4 to 5 miles of water between 83 and 89 nm offshore, We found one pack of birds holding quality YFT and on the first pass we had four knockdowns. Three of the fish were actually hooked but one cam unglued before we could get it out of the rod holder and the second one pulled the3 hooks well into the battle. Eric did a fine job on his and fought his to the side of the boat in about 45 minutes when I sunk the iron. Unfortunately we lost the pack of birds and the school of fish during the battle and with over a half mile of clutter on the radar screen we were not able to get on them again. We found plenty of bird packs but unfortunately with the scattered weeds and the few packs holding quality fish Eric's fish was going to be the fish of the day. We did manage to catch and release some Skipjacks and Nate was able to catch a decent Blackfin for the ride home as well.
    A really big disappointment was the absolute lack of Mahi on the other side. Ordinarily they are pretty reliable this time of year and when you find a lobster pot buoy whit a 100 feet of rope, stacked with bait and no Mahi, it just doesn't figure. We also found a big mat of weed with bait and small Triple tail as well as a ladder with Tripletail and bait, all great places to catch Mahi, but nobody home.
    Once we made it back to the Gulf Stream the seas laid down really nice and we all agreed that this wasn't over yet and we're all committed to another crossing to chase them again.

Final tally for the day:
1 Yellowfin between 75 and 80 pounds
2 Blackfin Tuna
A number of Skipjack Tuna released
1 Barracuda released to fight another day