Christmas Break
Capt. Carl Ball
January 5, 2009
Biscayne Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
While the fishing was not the best I've ever seen it, the weather was great and welcomed by my northern living customers. Every day, the week after Christmas, was just perfect, with temperatures from the high 60's to the high 70's and mostly brilliant sun. My customers ranged in fishing preference from shark catching kids to hardcore fly fishing gurus.
My week started by taking Rick Bannerot and his daughter Courtney tarpon fishing. There were only a few tarpon rolling but Courtney got three jumps out of a tarpon that was 80 lbs or better. While the tides was changing we made a move to a spot were we could bend a rod with fast action from ladyfish, blue runners and the occasional bluefish. Courtney out fished her dad 2 to 1 using live shrimp over a jig. With the tide fully moving out we switched to bonefishing. Well, that's when I picked the wrong spot. We saw nothing. This goes to show, that just because you got them there the last time the tides were the same, doesn't mean you will get them there this time.
On Monday, I had Rick Bannerot by himself. The wind started out very light and the sky was clear. This stable weather can make for great sight fishing for tarpon. Well, maybe it was too good. Rick had approximately 10 difficult shots at tarpon that were floating in 4 feet of water. They were just a little deep for us to see them well enough to get that lucky shot given the water clarity and low sun angle. They all turned off our fly. After a frustrating 2 hrs we made a run to one of my favorite bonefishing spots. The conditions were perfect with the tide falling and the wind light. Judging from the reaction of the bonefish we saw, Rick was not having one of his better casting days. However, on a back cast to a single bone he connected and landed a nice 5 lber. The big ones got away.
Tuesday the wind was a little stronger making conditions good for drifting for tarpon. Too bad the tarpon were not there. Dick Wynn and his sons Warren and Will would have liked to see one. However, we did do the ladyfish and blue runner thing and that worked out well. With bait in the well we decided to try the sharks. It is very rare that I have seen them be so uninterested in our baits. It was terrible. The lemon sharks we saw would just swim right through the sent trail of our bait and keep going. We only got a couple follows.
Wednesday, Max and Jake Newcomer joined me. Max is 15 yrs and Jake maybe 12. It turns out that Max was quite the little fly fisherman. Just after little brother Jake jumped a nice tarpon drifting a crab, Max hooks a 147 lb tarpon on the same fly Rick Bannerot was using just 2 days ago. After a 50 min fight he had the fish to the boat for pictures. We made a quick stop for shark bait and ran to the bonefish spot were Bannerot saw several and caught one two days earlier. This day we saw nothing. I don't know, don't even ask. At the shark spot that I fish with the Wynn boys the day before we spent 5 minute soaking a bait when a black tip shark showed up to devour our whole ladyfish. I don't know how that works either.
Friday Tony Carr was 2 for 3 on bonefish. The bones were each 7 lbs and the one that got away… well got away from us, but not the shark must have been the big one.
Saturday, Tom Dewell had several shots at bonefish and pulled one out of 5 feet of water on the fly which weight 7 lbs. I believe the hot fly that day was the Kiki's Joy.
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