 |
Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
Capt. Bouncer Smith
September 6, 2003
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hot Morning Action
We went to Bimini , Bahamas this week and it was morning madness. The weather was too good. It was flat calm, clear and HOT. Our goal was bent rods and smiling faces. We started with wreck fishing north of the island at a spot known for it’s barracudas, sharks and jacks. Of course all the wrecks usually hold snapper and grouper of assorted kinds. Well fishing was not at all normal. In two days we caught 1 grouper, 1 mutton snapper, 1 lane snapper and 2 yellowtails off 7 spots we fished. The good news was we were not targeting a bunch of food fish. We wanted hard fighting fish and the more the merrier. We got that. The first stop produced a 45 pound amberjack on 20 pound spin tackle as well as a 15 pound barracuda. We then caught blacktip sharks, or lost them on the jumps for several hours straight. I lost track of how many of these powerful fish we caught. They run hard, jump high and just when you know they are done, they start over. The down side was that after a bunch of action, I suggested we try another spot to give everyone, my self included, a chance to cool down as we ran, as well as the possibility of other varieties. Two spots after the sharks, we had good cero mackerel action. We also caught a couple nice sized barracudas. We then spent several hours to catch a couple smaller barracuda and 3 grouper out of 200 feet of water. The highlight of that period was getting two grouper on one double hooked bait. A great cracked conch dinner, a tour of the Complete Angler’s old photos and a good nights sleep prepared us for our second day action.
We tried fishing to the south on the second day. Our first stop found loads of barracuda. The bad news was that for the second day in a row, they refused to eat artificial lures. The good news was, we had plenty of live bait. Barra- cuda from 5 to 30 pounds were very happy to eat the live bait. We spotted some jacks and a couple cobia at this site. It took a while, but we finally got strikes from the two cobia. We kept one for dinner and released the other after a double photo. It was now time to try another wreck.
The next wreck was loaded with barracuda as well. This was fast action. Soon numerous cobia joined the action. Then the sharks showed up. We were releasing fish and rigging rods as fast as we could, but our three anglers had to wait for a rod from time to time. It was wild fishing. Of course it was sooo hot that waiting in the shade was a blessing. I know we caught a lot of sharks, barracuda and cobia at that spot, but not how many. As the action slowed, we made lunch and headed for one more spot. Once again the action slowed in the afternoon. We got a couple more cuda and a grouper. We saw mackerel and big grouper. We caught a couple big nurse sharks, but the hot action was over. We glided over a flat calm Gulf Stream back to Miami Beach as we reflected on the fact that a hurricane roared to our east and a tropical depression churned to our west. This was a fast action, beautiful Bimini Fling.
Yesterday was our first day trip off Miami in a long time. There were great dolphin reports, but our anglers wanted sailfish and tarpon if at all possible. Our first drift with the live herring produced a bunch of bonitos and 3 king mackerel up to 25 pounds. We then ran further south and had a double hook up in minutes. One fish was a sailfish dancing on the surface. It came off ten minutes into the fight. The other angler in our double hookup caught a 30 pound amberjack. A couple more bonito filled out the drift. The next drift we lost another sailfish and caught more bonitos. Then as has been our way this week, the afternoon brought no action. We ran in to try for tarpon for the rest of the day. We caught and released a 80 pound tarpon as soon as we put the baits out. Over the next hour or so, we jumped another tarpon and caught a nice jack crevalle before going home.
We are looking forward to the coming week of swordfish and cubera snapper trips surrounding the full moon. We will let you know how it goes.
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
