InTheBite 2007 Captain of the Year, Capt. John Louis Dudas

InTheBite Magazine salutes Capt. John Dudas, the 2007 Captain of the Year!

by Jan Fogt

It comes as no surprise to Miami sportfishing captains like Ray Rosher and Jimmy David that Capt. John Louis Dudas, 42, should be the overwhelming choice for big game fishing’s most coveted professional title. The hard working, low key captain is after all a member of Miami sportfishing royalty. The eldest son of Capt. John B. Dudas, who for two decades dominated the South Florida tournament sailfishing scene with his deadly dueling live bait kite fishing techniques, John Louie Dudas is InTheBite’s 2007 Crew’s Choice
Captain of the Year.

Captain of the 57-foot Spencer Wound Up, Dudas, was nominated in 2006 and again in 2007 by the boat’s owner Warren Sands, who says, People ask me all the time how I managed to put together this dream team, this ‘New York Yankees team of sailfishing.’ The truth is I’m blessed to be in a position where I can afford to have my best friend and his little brother as my crew. The fact that they are two of the best sailfishermen in all of South Florida is the cherry with the Coke. I’m 45 and John Louie is 42. We fished together as young men, we were in each other’s weddings and we were there for one another when our children were born. I enjoy fishing with my best friend “ who just happens to be the most competitive and hardest working fisherman in Miami.

First place wins in 2007 in the (Miami) Mayor’s Cup, Islamorada Fishing Club Tournament, the 2nd leg of the Billfish Extreme Release League Series and the Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish Tournament were more than enough to qualify Dudas for the title this year, yet it was largely his consistency competing in South Florida sailfish events these past six years that set him up for victory, said publisher Dale Wills.

A professional captain and mate for the past 25 years, Dudas and his brother Brett, 40, have been apprenticing under their father for more than 30 years, which explains why the brothers are at the top of their game in sailfish competitions from Key West to Fort Lauderdale.

The Dudas family arrived in Miami in 1965. Originally from New Jersey, John B. Dudas’ grandfather Louis, had a huge influence on my father’s career. He loved to fish and he was the one who introduced my dad to the sport. My dad put himself through college working charter boats out of Brielle,
said John L.

Soon after graduating from college, John B. and his wife Joan Helen set out for Miami with an outboard boat and one young boy in tow. My dad taught physical education and social studies for years in Dade County Schools, yet every weekend he would be out charter fishing. That was his passion.
The extra money helped his parents buy a waterfront piece of property which his grandmother described as swampland. A swamp no more, we kept our boats there and now I keep the Wound Up and all my live bait pens there,
said John Louie.

Soon after buying the property, his father set to work building a 36-foot charter boat called the Molester “ the boat John and his brother Brett caught their first sailfish from. Next came the Indair 5, then the Enchantress and L&H, which their father ran for their uncle Jack Meyer. By this time the boys were crewing full time during summer vacations and weekends and their father had left teaching to fish full-time. This was the 80s, when Dudas was making a name for himself with his kite fishing techniques in tournaments.

For the uninitiated, kite fishing was first developed by native fishermen in the Pacific as a technique for getting live baits up on top and away from the boat. Kite fishing was first introduced to the United States at the turn of the century by Catalina tuna fishing guide George Farnsworth. By 1950, Capt. Tommy Gifford of Miami had begun experimenting using kites to catch sailfish on live bait off Key Largo. Gifford shared those techniques with Bob Lewis, then a policeman and part-time captain at Miami’s legendary Pier 5 docks. By 1965 Lewis had improved upon Gifford’s ideas, taking the fishing kite to the next level. Known as the Bob Lewis Fishing Kite, Lewis replaced the handmade silk kites with cotton that wouldn’t rot after a dozen or so uses. He also came up with a bridling system and knock down design with light, medium and heavy wind condition kites. Kite fishing techniques for the next ten years changed little. Then the Dudas family got interested in kite fishing, and that changed everything. Instead of flying just one “erratic” kite with two baits, John B. and his sons John L. and Brett, through trial and error, took the ancient fishing method to the next level. They started experimenting adding weights to the kites in an effort to stabilize them. By adding subtle amounts of weight “ a quarter, half and one ounce split weights, they were able to stabilize the devices, which allowed them to actually position the kite. Instead of fishing just one kite, they were the first to fish two kites and up six baits positioned from the surface to the bottom “ a technique that is now well known and practiced by fisherman from Palm Beach to Key West.

Today, John B. Dudas is retired and living in the Florida Keys. However, his sons John Louie and Brett “ whose daytime job is a pilot captain in Government Cut “ are carrying on the family tradition. John L., who works full time for Warren Sands and his brother Brett, who works as a freelance crewman in tournaments and during trips to the Bahamas on the Wound Up, fish a spread of two kites and six to nine live baits ranging from goggle eyes, herrings and blue runners. Says John L., I’d guess we kite fish about 90 percent of the time, adding a helium balloon to the mix on those days when the wind is too light to float a kite.
By now the family secrets are well known, yet like his father, John L. has a few tricks up his sleeve which have served him and his teams well these past six years.

As his father says, John L. never got his share of the accolades during the 15 years he worked as my mate on the L&H, but to set the record straight, he was a big part of our success. Eight of those years he ran the boat on his own, adding to the successs. I can’t say enough about the level of professionalism he brings to the table. He has such a dedication to perfecting every single detail that goes into catching sailfish “ from going out all night if that’s what it takes, to catching the bait, and penning and feeding them, dialing the boat in. He is a master at honing the fine points of the sport yet he also possesses the intangible that every great fisherman has: the uncanny ability to see fish and to anticipate what they will do. That’s where the greatness comes from.

Indeed, Dudas was a sure victor as such impressive feats as possibly becoming the first captain in Florida sportfishing history to win an Xtreme Release League’s Miami leg not just with 16 sailfish, but two swordfish taken during the daytime on sight-cast baits “ which is one of his tournament winning techniques.

For his part, Dudas credits his father John B. Dudas for teaching him the subtleties of live bait sailfishing. The elder Dudas developed the technique for fishing baits from multiple kites “ which is accomplished by weighting them.