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Miami, Florida - Offshore
Capt. Mark Houghtaling
July 17, 2000
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
I recently received an e-mail from a very good friend of mine and an
excellent captain in the Miami area. He expressed to me some of his
frustrations as a charter captain here in Miami. His views are echoed by
many charter captains in this area as well as myself. In fact, I will not take a
charter on the weekend just to avoid the unpleasant experiences, myself and
my clients may experience during a busy weekend. Captain Quinton Dieterle
will be the first one to help someone, be it on the water or on land. Before a
civil war starts, we all need to use a little patience and sportsmanship out on
the water.
Date: 7/17/00 3:32:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: QDieterle
To: Magic Fin
As a Florida native I have seen a lot in my 41 years. But some of the most disturbing
things to me are what I see while out running my charter boat the Cutting Edge each day.
The lack of respect given to the commercial fisherman is a disgrace. For where would
most of the fisherman be today without the lessons and techniques taught by us. The
spots and the areas, the mechanics of the sport. The methods that took us some 20 years
learn are given away free at seminars to all that ask. Then as a returned favor slapped in
our face out on the water. At age 15 I got my first opportunity to mate on a part time
Charter Boat, the Molester with Capt. John Dudas. We ran the boat out of Kings Bay and
just ran on weekends. As a kid I was crazy, all I wanted to do was fish. I would sit in
school each day and dream of fishing. I was excited, wanted to be the best. Captain John
Dudas, I believed at the time was the best fisherman around and I still do, always taught
along with my father, that if you wanted to do something just make sure it was done
right. So through out my career as a Charter Captain and owner of the Cutting Edge I
worked hard and did what I believed to be right. I never took a short cut. I have donated
to many charities and programs to help kids. I have never turned down opportunities to
talk with clubs and organizations about fishing and to teach others the sport that I love.
Then came this past weekend. As I turned the corner at the tip of Key Biscayne and
pointed the Cutting Edge toward what's now called the Bait Patch I could not believe my
eyes. There on the horizon, it looked like a small city. But it was not; it was the spot I
was going to try to get bait. The patch, a small reef area maybe a total of 30 ft. in
diameter. A spot a few friends of mine found 15 years ago. Captain Jimbo Thomas,
Capt. Glen Cliat, and a few others were out on a dive and fishing trip, out for some fun,
when they ran over a spot all of us had gone over on our way in and out for years. But on
this very day they decided to CHECK it out. To their Surprise there it was The Patch.
With so many Goggle eyes around it that they say you could hardly see the bottom. The
cigar minnows were so abundant that you could throw a cup of chum in the water and
catch as many as you wanted. It took some time to get my friends to tell me this new
spot they were talking about. But as history has shown me time after time, know body
can keep a secret for long. Finally one of the crew spilled the beans and told me. The
next couple of months, was a fantasy come true. All the Bait I could ever imagine, all for
me. Nobody else knew that fished this area. Jimbo runs out of Bayside and it was too far
to run for him, besides there was enough bait to the North. I was careful not to go there
whenever anybody was near, but after a while I was caught. So being friends with the
other Charter boat captains I went ahead and started to fish it every day, and so did the
rest of the commercial fisherman. It was really no big deal; there were no GPS devices
or other ways of finding it other than using ranges on buildings and markers. So it lasted
for almost 15 years. Even loran was not accurate enough to put you on the spot every
time. Then came GPS, now everybody knows the Patch. And they all call it there's,
without even a thought as to how it all began. So anyway, as I approach the patch, I have
to muscle the boat as close as possible just to have some hope of getting a shot at bait at a
spot that I fished for so many years without a problem at all. I finally get in and start to
fish, within 5 minutes I have lost 3 bait rigs to anchor lines that are stretched along the
bottom like spaghetti. The next thing I know I hear a loud racket in the front of the boat,
a fisherman in a 15-ft. Boston Whaler throws his 15-ft. net into the side of my boat. Still
I try to maintain my temper. The boat behind me has his anchor buried in the few
remaining fans of the patch. So in a nice tone of voice my mate mentioned to this guy
that he should try to drop the anchor in the sand next time so the reef won't get destroyed
more than it already is. His reply was that we should leave, that would be the best
solution to the lack of bait. I had to leave at that point, there was no reason to stay
anyway, the bait has all been caught.
So I leave the spot I fished for years to the guys that found the spot from us, the
commercial fisherman, I head out with 20% of the bait that I used to take, caught in a
spot others hopefully won't find for a while. As we look out into the stream I wonder
how am I going to find anything with all these boats running around. But after 60
minutes of searching the skies for birds Jorge my mate for over 5 years yells up that he
has spotted some birds in front of us. I push up the throttles on the Cutting Edge to as
fast as it will go and try to reach the birds first. Sure enough its dolphin, and lots of
them. We start catching them and before I can catch all of the paying customers on the
boat a fish, there are 3 boats trying to join in on our school of fish that we search for 60
minutes to find. Now I know that everybody is in the same boat, we all want to catch
fish, but to me it's like accepting a trophy that you cheated to get. Half the fun is locating
the fish. The skill involved is finding the birds, and searching in the weed lines for fish
feeding. So after complete frustration, I yell down to the boat that nearly was fishing in
our boat, "you need to get a better pair of eyes, go find your own fish" his reply was we
don't need to look for anything, we just follow you. That was all I could stand, using
every bit of self control I possess I stayed quiet and work the school catching about half
of what we would have, if not interrupted. Their take from the school was 3 fish. But in
the mean time managed to split the school in half, leaving us to start another search that
cost us 50 gallons of fuel.
Over the years I have heard the argument that the charter boats take the smaller boats
schools of fish, by pushing there way in on a school and using live bait to lure the fish to
them, it probably does happen. The charter boats are a lot slower than a Contender with
twin 200 Yamaha's is. Lots of times I see birds but by the time I get there the small boats
have reached them first. In those cases I will proceed to catch the fish in a manner that
will allow the first boat to arrive a chance at the fish. But does it really matter; these are
commercial fishermen trying to make a living. These boats have a hard time making a
profit in the summer time anyway. There have been times when I help the smaller boats
spot and catch fish, it happens all the time. We just have to make sure our customers are
happy first. I personally believe that every fisherman out there can contribute some
success that they have had fishing to something they learned from a charter boat or
commercial fisherman. It's becoming hard for me to accept an offer to speak anymore
when I know that what I teach will come back to haunt me. The once a week fisherman
does have a place on the water, everybody can enjoy catching fish. I love seeing others
having fun and catching fish. They can exist together. All the commercial guys are
saying is give us a chance to make a living at something we love to do. Just keep this in
mind, next time you see a charter boat running all over the ocean trying to make a living.
This editorial was intended to educate the once a week boater, not to infuriate them.
We as commercial fishermen believe some fisherman believe that is how to dolphin fish.
Forget the birds and grass, just look for the big white charter boat. Lets all get along and
have fun.
Tight lines
Capt. Quinton Dieterle
Cutting Edge
Capt. Quinton is always willing to help anglers learn, email him your questions and he
will gladly answer you back
PS Dolphin fishing remains good. However, the big happening this
upcoming week is the opening of the two day lobster mini-season. The
mini-season is the last Wednesday and Thursday in July, which is July 26th
and 27th.
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