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Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
Capt. Bouncer Smith
March 13, 2005
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Young Fishing Action
Let me tell you about two young men from Connecticut. Jeff and Rachel bring their boys down for spring break every year. I have been lucky enough to fish with them the last few years. Cody is a strapping 14 year old, tall and lean. Taylor is a brute at 10. He puts the older boys to shame in the weight room. Both boys are very involved in football and lacrosse.
The boys and their dad have fished with me 2 days this week. The first day each boy caught half of a sailfish double header in 30 knot winds. It was wild with Taylor’s fish running line to the bottom of the spool and Cody’s doing laps around the anchor line.
Having waited hours for these big game fish, the boys now wanted action. We anchored over a shallow wreck. The boys were rigged with 1 ounce bucktails or Tsunami rubber minnows. Both boys and their father were hooked up constantly on 12 pound spinning outfits for about 3 hours. They lost some great fish, but they caught a lot more. They were catching and releasing amberjacks, yellow jacks, bar jacks, blue runners, almaco jacks, mackerel and king mackerel as fast as we could keep them rigged. I suggested they had caught and released 40 fish. The boys, their dad and my mate, Michael all laughed. They figured well over 60. I know it was a bunch.
Two days latter, the boys challenged me to show them a better day. We left the dock at noon, so we could fish into the evening. Threadfin herring came fast on the sabiki rigs, so bait was made fast. We motored out to a blue water edge and fired out the baits. I short order it was sailfish double header time. In a couple hours Cody had released 4 sailfish and two dolphin, while Taylor had released a sailfish and 4 dolphin. It was great to witness the maturity of Taylor as several sailfish escaped his line. There were no outburst of temper or despair.
With both bys needing a tarpon release for a “Gold Coast Grand Slam”, we headed back near shore. The shrimp were fired out and the action was pretty good south of the inlet. Taylor caught a tarpon pretty quick. Cody was showing his patience as it was his turn for “the fish that got away” as a couple tarpon threw his hook.
Taylor made big angling news when he caught a permit. This fish combined with his sailfish, dolphin and tarpon gave him a “Gold Coast Super Grand Slam” . I know of only one other super ‘Gold Coast Grand Slam” ever being caught.
Cody finished out the day by scoring with a nice tarpon off South Beach. This put him in the book with a “Gold Coast Grand Slam“.
Well the boys were back yesterday. They have gotten so good, that they left dad on the dock with mom. Today they wanted a shark or two for bragging rights back home.
After catching herring for bait, we ran to the color change and fired out herring on flat lines and the kite. The first action was school sized dolphin. It wasn’t long before Cody was hooked up with a good fish. A nice fight produced the first wahoo ever caught in the Lapnow family. Cody was thrilled. As we drifted along the color change, I spotted a large creature coming our way. It turned out to be a trunk back turtle about 4 feet wide and 6 feet long. It was huge, and had a big cobia swimming on it’s back. I cast a bait to the cobia, and it raced in to eat it. But, the cobia couldn’t catch the fresh live herring. The turtle and the cobia sounded out of sight. We were bummed out to think that cobia slipped away. But Taylor has a strike on a flat line rod. He has hooked a good fish. It is the cobia. A twenty minute fight brings a 40 pound cobia to the gaff. What a nice catch.
5 minutes latter, here comes another sea monster. This one is a 20 foot whale shark. It swims up to the engines, around the port side of the boat. Then under the bow and down the starboard side. We all watch in awe as this great creature pays us a super visit before sinking into the depths. No cobia were swimming with this guest.
As the day progresses we catch a 40 pound shark, loss a big shark and then loss a sailfish. We run over to the shallow wrecks and catch about a dozen amberjack on the 12 pound spinners rigged with bucktails.
When this action dies, we go back out to try for sails and sharks. We call the parents and set up a plan to pick up mom and dad for a little sundown tarpon action. As soon as we disconnect the phone, one of the shark reels screams. Cody dons the harness and tackles the rod. A grueling 40 minute fight brings a 140 to 150 pound hammerhead shark along side the boat. What a beautiful golden fish this is. A couple photos and a good release leaves Cody worn out for the moment.
We pick up Jeff and Rachel and head back to the inlet for tarpon. The tarpon are rolling everywhere, but not biting all that well. Taylor scores first. Then we jump a couple off. The action slows south of the inlet so we move to the north side. Here we jump off another tarpon. Then Cody hooks a monster. Another 30 or 40 minute for Cody produces a beautiful 150 pound tarpon to admire and release.
Hey we have to go home sometime.
We are sold out for March, but April and May offer very good fishing too. Get your reservations in soon. We will be at a Dusky Seminar on March 24th at 6 PM. The topic is what you can catch after work as daylight savings time arrives in early April. Learn to catch those tuna, big kings, snook, tarpon and swordfish after work. For seminar details call 954-922-8890. For fishing info call 305-945-5114 or e-mail [email protected] .
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