AJ's, King's, and Sails
Capt. Jorge Fernandez
January 24, 2011
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Last week was a busy one for me I was lucky enough to be on the water four days. I had Devin his son John and John's best friend Ryan come down to escape the bitter cold of Missouri.
Day 1, I picked up the guys at the public boat ramp in Watson Island 7:00am. Stopped at the pilot house and got 6 or 7 dozen herring of different sizes, then met up with Pedro from Ashely Live Bait and he blackend my live well with pilchards. Headed out of Government Cut into summer like conditions on the way to the County Wrecks. We spend a couple of hours working the area with only a few Bonitos to show for our efforts. I decided to make a move up North to the Double Diamonds where we caught and released a few short Kingfish and a couple AJ's that went 16 and 20 pounds.
Day 2, Pick up the guys at the same time and did the same as the day before for bait. The plan was to fish the Cuban Hole and then move to the County Wrecks. Anchored up in 100' of water put out a chum bag and started live bait chuming as well, with in minutes the started action on the flat lines. We release a bunch of short Kingfish and put three nice ones on ice. Made the move to the County Wrecks there we did a few drifts without much action. We move a little further South where we found a nice edge in 140' I decided to slow troll it and picked up a double on Sails, after doing the Sailfish two step for about 15 minutes we managed to land and release both fish.
Day 3, The day started the same as the other 2 days, after securing bait I headed out of Government Cut into what seemed like a lake. Fished the County Wrecks for a while with very little action. I decided to make a move South to Star Reef where we had some of the same. With not much happening on the edge we started fishing the deep wrecks. We missed several bites on the first wreck before hooking up to a 12 pound Almaco Jack. Fished a few more wrecks with cut off's, pulled hooks and missed bites to show for our efforts.
My next trip was Saturday with George, his son Nick and his friend. Nick and his friend wanted to get a little fishing in before they went back to Athica University in up state New York. Started the day catching bait at the pilot house and getting the live well topped off with Pilchards by Pedro from Ashely Live Bait. Went out of Government Cut and headed North and found a nice edge in 130' off the Double Diamonds, fished the area for about 2 hours with very little action. Made to move to the Cuban Hole to catch some Kingfish, anchored in 105' of water and started chumming with live bait. We had to change from wire and long shank hooks to 60 pound flourocarbon and circle hooks inorder to get the bite going. We got 3 nice kingfish in the box, released 7 or 8 shorts and about the same number bointo's, got cut off around 10 time and lost a few nice kingfish right at the boat.
I have some days still available in February an March give me a call or email if you are interested in fishing South Florida.
Target Species:
Sails, Kingfish, Dolphin, Snapper
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