The Best is Yet to Come
Capt. Bouncer Smith
January 23, 2014
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Well, we are on our way for 2014. The news is not good so far. As many know we had a super warm fall and early winter. This slowed the migration of sailfish and tarpon headed to south Florida.
Here it is the 23rd of January and we should be enjoying great sailfish action and then catching 5 or 6 tarpon every evening on our 5 to 9 PM trips. The facts are we caught 1 sailfish over the last 7 days, and 2 tarpon over our last 3 evening trips.
Well that is all the bad news. Now for the good news. We are having cold fronts every few days now and those missing fish will be racing south to entertain us from now through May or June.
We have had some really big king mackerel catches around the area. These include a 40 pound beast for us last week, a 72 pound monster caught off Key Biscayne 2 weeks ago and catches of numerous 20 to 40 pound kings off the north end of Miami.
Any live bait from pilchards to live Spanish mackerel will get these toothy missiles to bite.
We are having a lot of fun catching amberjacks, African pompano, almaco jacks and groupers on the wrecks. Most of these fish are released due to closed season or low food quality. They still fight great and circle hooks allow healthy releases.
We are not catching a lot of mutton snappers, but they are running large, with most over 8 pounds.
To cash in on the good bottom action, fill your live well with pinfish. Then rig a stout outfit with a 30 foot 80 pound test monofilament leader beyond a 16 ounce lead and keep this rig near the bottom as you drift with kites or flatlines.
We are also catching a fair amount of 10 pound blackfin tuna and bonitos. They both fight hard and those tuna are great eating. Live pilchards on flatlines and under the kite have been the trick to score with these speedsters.
Near shore it has been a good mackerel season.
As we look toward February and beyond, I am very optimistic about the fishing to come. In the past when we have had a slow start, we have enjoyed a great season. February reservations are filling fast. March will offer great fishing, but reservations are slow to fill the page. Contact us soon to get your choice of dates.
Miami Fishing Forecast:
sailfish and tarpon will be here very soon. Kites with live bait will produce the sailfish.
For the tarpon use live shrimp on 7/0 VMC circle hooks along the beaches.
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