Higher Winds, Cooler Temperatures and More Fish
Capt. Bouncer Smith
October 22, 2009
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Higher winds, lower temperatures and happy fishermen, that is what we like.
Through the end of September and well into October we had blistering record heat and slow fishing. This report will reflex how much better fishing is now.
We fished the Miami Swordfish Tournament along with 11 other boats. On Friday night we lost missed a swordfish and caught a 120 pound hammerhead shark. That swordfish would have put us in first place, but they don't count if you don't catch them. Nobody caught a swordfish on Friday night.
We did catch the first swordfish of the tournament around 8:30 Saturday night. We lead the tournament till well after midnight. In the last two hours of the tournament a minimum length swordfish bumped us to second place by scoring a point a pound and weighing 115 pounds against our 100 points for a release. Then in the final minutes of the tournament a boat full of very good and even luckier anglers caught and released a double header for 200 points and first place. So we ended up 3rd. At least we caught a swordfish.
We then made 5 swordfish trips without a swordfish bite. Some of our time was spent day dropping and a little time was spent drifting for swords at night. The weather has just been too good.
One of those trips we did catch Jim Fallon and his friends 10 blackfin tuna and 2 skipjack tuna up to about 12 pounds.
Another swordfish trip we had 4 dolphin, 2 almaco jacks and a triple tail.
During that same stretch of time we fished with Jeremy and his fishing friends and caught a king, a big amberjack and a mutton snapper. We fished with Bob Bekoff and his family and caught 8 kings, 3 mutton snappers and a cuda in 4 hours. We fished 4 hours with Brad and caught a king, 2 mutton snappers and a big vermillion snapper.
One day after swordfishing all day we went back out from 4 till 8 PM and Conner caught 1 of 2 sailfish, a king mackerel, a big yellowtail snapper, a 10 pound mutton snapper and a shark.
The next day Conner and his brother Hudson caught a king, a red grouper, 2 mutton snappers, 3 dolphin, a shark, a bonito and a skipjack tuna. You can tell by the action that the wind had decided to blow the evening before and this day. Windy days generally produce more fish.
Our next trip was a half day on the 20th of October. This was after 36 hours of high winds from the north and still under the influence of 20 knot northeast winds. We caught a sailfish, 2 big skipjack tuna, a mutton snapper and a barracuda.
The 22nd we had 20 knot east winds. We saw loads of tarpon rolling in the inlet while catching bait, but that was not what our anglers wanted to catch, so we left them at peace. We went out to 240 feet of water and drifted into 120 feet of water with 2 kites up and the big sea anchor out.
By days end we had 2 out of 4 sailfish, 4 kings around 12 pounds each, a 6 pound spanish mackerel, 10 dolphin to 10 pounds, 5 mutton snappers to 11 pounds, 5 skipjack tuna to 15 pounds and 3 barracudas.
Thank you high winds and cooler temperatures.
We will be at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show October 31 and November 1 at the Dusky booth at Bahia Mar. December 3rd we will be doing a seminar at Dusky Sport Center from 6 till 8:30 PM on how we "fish the edge". Call 954-922-8890 for details.
We have plenty of open dates, so let's enjoy the cooler weather and catch a bunch of fish. E mail [email protected] to set up your fishing dreams.
Miami Fishing Forecast:
Look for hot action on spanish mackerel, sailfish, and swordfish over the coming weeks. Bluefish and tarpon may bend a lot of rods as the mullet move through the area surf and inlets.
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