May Fishing Is Hot
Capt. Bouncer Smith
May 12, 2008
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
The spring fishing has been pretty good, and we have several weeks left of this action.
Patricia Hamilton and her guest had some good tarpon action on the 11th of April catching 2 tarpon and a bunch of other assorted species of smaller game fish.
After a very slow weekend we had great action on April 14th. Chris Rowbottom had to fish alone when his brother cancelled. That was tough on Chris because he had to catch and release 3 sailfish, a tuna over 30 pounds, 3 kings to over 20 pounds, 15 bonitos and a barracuda all by himself. He did keep a nice tuna for dinner.
Our next trip Larry Magruder and his guest caught 9 dolphin to 23 pounds, a sailfish, 2 kings, a cero mackerel and a bonito.
April 18th and 19th we were honored to fish with Benji Hiller and his son Gab with there very light tackle. We did get burned this year. The Hillers rarely break their super light line on big fish. We have caught loads of sailfish with 6, 8 and even some 4 pound line with these guys. This was not our best year as we broke the 6 pound line on a blue marlin and a sailfish. We did score pretty good on the rest of the fish. Gab caught a 40 pound king on 6 lb line to start the trip. Day one finished with that king plus a 16 lb dolphin, 12 lb dolphin, 23 lb cobia and 65lb tarpon all released on 6 pound line. We also boated a 20 pound cobia on 4 lb line for dinner.
On the 19th we released 8 kings, several other dolphin and a bonito on 6 lb. line. Gab caught and released a 36 pound permit on 20 and Benji added a 15 pound permit release on 12 lb line and a 65 pound tarpon on 6. These guys really know their light tackle.
On the 20th we fished with a boatload of McNallys. These brothers caught 2.5 kings on live goggle eyes on the down riggers. Then switching to crabs in the afternoon they caught 3 permit to 32 pounds and a 32 pound jack crevalle.
On the 21st we started 3 days of fishing with an another long time client. Joe Capellano and his gang caught 8 sailfish to over 110 pounds, 3 permit, several kings, a 30 pound tuna, a few dolphin and a 30 pound amberjack during their stay.
On the evening of the 24th we fished with Marc Vanholst and Jon. They caught 2 of 3 big tarpon.
On the 25th we fished with the Miami Beach Rod and Reel Club gang. We had a ball with 4 sailfish, 8 dolphin, a tuna and a big porgy.
That night Ben Eskanazi and friends caught 3 of 6 tarpon strikes.
Over the weekend of the 26th we fished with Marc and Jon from Belgium. They caught and released dolphin of 20, 30 and 35 pounds, a 35 pound king, 30 20 to 30 pound tuna, 2 bonito, 2 sailfish and 2 barracudas. They boated 2 kings, a tuna, a wahoo and 2 school size dolphin for dinners.
We were back to light tackle on Monday the 28th as Barry Yampol caught and released a shark, a dolphin and a sail on 8 pound test. He fought a tarpon for over 90 minutes before the fish found a snag and cut the line.
April 29th we fished with Bill Buckens and Gilles Tembley. We caught a small shark, a king and 5 sailfish. 2 of the sails were tagged in the past. 1 was tagged in the Windward Islands on January 3rd far from the safety offered by the United States strict fisheries laws. The other tagged sailfish still had the hook in it's mouth along with the 2 foot mono leader, 2 foot double line and a little of the leader. The line and tag had growth on them. The knot at the hook had a gooseneck growing on it, but the hook was just like new. So much for hooks rusting out fast.
The 30th we fished with Bill Horning and Steve Myrvold as they caught 3 sails, 2 dolphin, 2 kings, 5 barracudas, an 8 pound mutton snapper, 2 bonito and a huge rainbow runner.
The evening trip produced a couple sailfish and a cuda.
May 1st came on like May action is supposed to be. David Barkus and Jorge DeCardenas caught 5 sailfish, I had a 40 pound dolphin straighten out the gaff and escape from my control and we caught a nice tuna.
May 2nd we fished with Chip and Debbie Howard from Texas. We must have been living wrong as we went 2 for 10 on the sailfish and added a tuna, a cuda and 4 nice dolphin. Those sails drove us crazy with broken lines, pulled hooks, hooks turned in baits, you name it.
Ben, Ron and Dom caught a 15 pound jack and a tarpon on the evening trip.
Monday, May 5th, John Guttell stayed very busy with 5 sailfish, 2 kings and a wahoo.
Tuesday was flat calm and the kings and bonito were raging. We caught a bunch of each and added a sailfish as well.
Tuesday evening we fished with 13 year old Jake McCarthy from West Palm Beach and his dad and friends. The tarpon were hot as Jake released 2 tarpon and the old guys caught and released 2 more. The fish were hot on shrimp and crabs as a couple more escaped before coming boatside.
Thursday evening was hot as well. Brad Orvieto brought Matt and 11 year old Mike Adler out to catch tarpon. They caught 4 tarpon of 100+, 120+, 120+ and over 150 pounds on live crabs at Government Cut.
Friday and Saturday were spent with a great bunch from the west coast of Florida. We were with Lynn Weber, Becky Weber, Brian Spann and Cynthia Hart. They were celebrating Becky's birthday and she cashed in big. Becky caught a tuna well over 30 pounds, a sailfish and an 11 pound red snapper. The rest of the gang added 7 more sailfish, another tuna, 2 more red snapper, a nice yellow eye snapper, a kitty mitchell grouper, 6 bonito, 3 kings including one over 40 pounds caught by Cynthia and a dolphin.
As you can see, May fishing is about as good as we expect for May. We have a couple openings, so let's go catch some. [email protected]
Miami Fishing Forecast:
The rest of May will produce loads of dolphin, sailfish and tuna offshore. Tarpon and snook will be hot in the inlets. Look for rapid improvements in the bottom fishing as June arrives.
Target Species:
sails, tuna, dolphin, tarpon
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