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Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
Capt. Bouncer Smith
August 25, 2002
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Variety is the spice of life and we must be spicy this week. Friday we fished live
frigate bonitos on the down rigger and flat lines and got 5 nice king mackerel, 4
barracuda a 80 pound hammerhead shark and a false albacore. On the same trip we
also got 3 dolphin fish around a huge chunk of wood, one on a bucktail and two on
cut pieces of herring. In the afternoon we rigged up the super braid rods, levelwind
Penn reels with 50 pound braid and bottom rigs consisting of two 7/0 circle hooks
above a one pound weight. We fished these on some rock piles in 300 to 325 feet of
water and got a couple grouper, four snapper, two almaco jacks and a gray tilefish.
Friday night we went on the annual cubera snapper hunt. Have you ever been on a
snipe hunt? This is very similar. You fish all night with live lobsters on heavy tackle
strapped to you. Your bottom fishing and if you snag bottom in the racing current
you will be sure your going out of the boat. It takes 3 men to break the line when
your hung on the reef or wreck. Frequently by nights end you have lost 10 rigs at 10
dollars a piece, used 24 great tasting lobsters for bait and lost several monster fish.
You go home thoroughly defeated and hooked on the need to catch a cubera
snapper. Barry Shevlin has booked trips 6 years in a row to catch a cubera. Three
years were like the description above, two years were blown out and this year was
the winner. Tom Sessa, a long time friend of Barry’s, had never been for cubera
before. First Tom broke a rod while hung in bottom. Then he had a cubera strike
and it got away and then the ultimate happened. He actually got hooked up to a
cubera snapper. It was touch and go as the snapper tried to pull him out of the boat.
He called for help and I held him in the boat. He started to win the battle. He gained
line in inches, then feet, then yards. The cubera was almost up. It stopped jerk and
thrashing on the line. Here it comes. It’s huge. It is one of the biggest I have ever
seen. The one let down is the fact that this monster of the deep has met a bigger
monster. This 100 pound cubera snapper caught by Tom Sessa has lost it’s life and
20 pounds of flesh and spine to a huge shark only 30 or 40 feet below the boat.
These beautiful snappers and not good for eating and survive catch and release with
no problem, but not the damage done by this tax man known as jaws.
Barry is thrilled for Tom, while green with envy. 6 years of trying and Barry hasn’t
got one. 2 hours and Tom has a cubera. Over the next couple hours Barry had a
solid strike and a minor bite. Talk of giving up has started. It is after midnight and
time to start thinking of drifting home while swordfishing. Barry says a couple
more drift and we will have to start planning year 7. It is the end of a drift. Barry
starts to wind up his bait for the umpteenth time. A slamming strike stops his reel,
jerking his rod toward the surface of the water. Barry has got him on. In the next
few minutes Barry lands, photographs, vents, revives and releases his snipe, or is
there really such a thing as a 50 pound cubera snapper all copper and gold with
monster German shepard teeth. We had one bait beat to death by a very small
swordfish on the drift home. We were three happy fishermen.
Saturday night I took 3 fine anglers swordfish for a month, or the luggage made it
look that long. It was a beautiful night with very little breeze, almost a full moon, a
100 pound swordfish boated after a 30 minute fight at 11 p.m. and a few short
minutes and 4 jumps of excitement from a giant mako shark.
Variety is one of the great things available fishing in Miami, Florida. You should
try it on Bouncer’s Dusky 33.
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