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Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
Capt. Bouncer Smith
July 13, 2007
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
July is Jumping with Fish
June went out with a blast as Don and Sandy did a little afternoon angling. They had ask about wahoo on their last trip, so we started out trolling plugs at 8 knots along a sharp edge. It took 15 minutes for Sandy to hook up with her first wahoo. This frisky 17 pound speedster got the day off to a great start.
After trolling for about 6 miles without another strike, we put out the kite and flatline live herring. Over several hours Sandy caught 4 of 7 sailfish, 3 bonito, a nice king, 3 barracudas and finally a beautiful 37 pound wahoo in the setting sun. Don added a 29 pound blackfin tuna.
Alexandra and her guest fished with us on July 6th. They started out learning how to use spinning tackle and were expert anglers by the end of the trip. They caught a 20 pound king mackerel, a 25 pound tuna, 22 pound dolphin, 5 bonito and a barracuda.
That evening Allan brought out his fishing pals and they had a ball in the inlet. They caught 11 snook, 6 good sized jack crevalle and a barracuda.
Jay, Patricia and Chris joined us for some Bimini action. The bottom fishing was slow with a few yellowtail, lane and gray snapper in the box after several locations.
The trip was saved when a flock of birds appeared on the Raymarine radar off Issac Light. We headed for the birds and found a school of yellowfin tuna with a big appetite. When the splashing stopped we had boated 4 yellowfin tuna from 50 to 60 pounds and a small blackfin tuna. As we ate watermelon to recover, I fell to temptation and baited one more hook with a live pilchard. How could I resist. Sherman was tossing live pilchards off the back of the boat and big yellowfins were jumping in the air to eat them 10 feet from the back of the boat. I cast my bait 20 feet from the boat on a 16 Penn International filled with 30 pound Ande. With the 50 pound flourocarbon leader the tuna never hesitated in engulfing that bait. Yes, I had to catch and release a 50 pound tuna so my arms would hurt like everyone else. We fed the tuna all our pilchards and enjoyed the show before heading back to port.
On the way back to Miami, the next day, the radar paid off again . We would spot birds on the screen, head that way and upon arrival at the birds we would find little 12 inch dolphin, or that one 25 pound cow that blasted a green and yellow soft head marlin lure or the piece of bamboo with a dozen nice schoolies in the 5 to 7 pound range.
With the cow and the schoolies in the box we headed home with plenty of seafood dinners in the fish cooler.
We fished with Kelly Smith, a strong supporter of the CCA, on Wednesday evening. He had caught 1 small snook in his life. His life is changed as he caught 15 snook to about 15 pounds in 3 hours.
Yesterday we fished with Frank and his father-in-law Oswaldo. They wanted bottom fish, so we anchored in 150 feet of water, upstream of a county artificial reef. The current was so strong we had to rig a swordfish rod with 6.5 pounds of lead to keep the bait on the bottom. It paid off as over the course of the day and 5 different reefs as they lost a sailfish, caught a small dolphin, a 15 pound king mackerel, 3 bonito, a baby king, 5 mutton snappers to 8 pounds and a pair of 25 pound gray groupers. All this action was on live herring.
Last night our guest of honor were Jonathan and Katlin Micali. They did bring along mom and dad for support. The family caught 5 snook, a jack, a cuda and a baby mutton snapper using live herring for bait.
It is night fishing season. We need to get out there and catch some swordfish and snook. Let get together at [email protected] and plan a trip.
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