Miami - Haulover to Fowey Light
Capt. Dean Panos
February 3, 2001
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
2/3/01
The fishing in the last couple of days has been all right for us. Yesterday we fished in the afternoon and finally found nice blue water. The edge was in about 300 ft in front of Gov't Cut. With the blue water, was a smoking North Current. We did one drift from the Doral and ended up past Hallandale. We had goggle eyes on the kites, pilchards on the flatlines and tinker mackerel down deep. We got both our sailfish on the tinker mackerel down deep.
Today I fished the same guys and we were rewarded with a pretty decent day. There were three guys on this charter (Jeff, Tony and Dave). They were from Port Richey, and all of them hardcore fisherman. We had our goggle eyes already and went south to catch pilchards. After loading up the well with bait we ran straight to the Monument Buoy. Just outside of it was a sailfish, right up on the surface. We got right on him and tossed out a pilchard, but he faded out and never turned on the bait. As a matter of fact, he didn't look all that healthy. I wonder if he was just caught and was recuperating. As fisherman, we owe it to the sailfish, to help them get back on track after we catch them and after they have put up such a great show. Remove the hook if possible, or cut the leader short. Help the fish recover by gently grabbing his bill and tow him alongside the boat. This will put oxygen over his gills. Even a really tired sailfish will quickly revive by giving him this type of fish CPR. It's cool to watch his color come back, and its great to watch him swim away under his own power.
We set up inside of where we saw that fish and almost immediately had a sail in the kite baits. He took line, but quickly threw the hook. Not much later, we got another sailfish on a goggle eye on the kite, but this time the hook stayed. After a 20 minute fight, Tony got to release his first sailfish. Our second drift got Dave his first sailfish, which ate a pilchard on a flatline. This sailfish was hot. It took the bait and exploded. Dave put the pressure on him and got his fish in 15 minutes. Another drift and Jeff (who got his first sailfish yesterday) had his second sailfish on. This sailfish really took some line out. He ate the rear kite bait and must have taken at least 200 yards of line out. 20 minutes later, Jeff got his second fish.
All and all, the fishing was pretty good for us and we ended the day catching and releasing 3 out of the 6 sailfish we hooked. The charter got a lot of footage on video, and they have promised me a copy. Looking at it through the video camera looked awesome, so I can't wait for my copy.
Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Capt. Dean Panos
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