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Miami - Haulover to Fowey Light
Capt. Dean Panos
August 15, 2002
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
08/14/02
Well, if it’s action your looking for, the edge has plenty. Lucky for the bonitas that they are not good table fare. I guess that factor has really made them thick on the reef. Bonitas, in their own right, are great fighting fish. A large bonita can put up a decent fight on 20 lb tackle, but scale down to 8 or 6 pound, and you’ll have your hands full. Every once in a while a kingfish will sneak in, and grab a live bait before the bonitas do. The kingfish we have been catching haven’t been huge, but aren’t tiny either. Some of the hottest action this past week has been the wahoo fishing. Slow trolling baits deep or drifting live bait deep, has produced quite a few wahoo this week. Dolphin fishing, as has been the case almost the entire summer, has been very spotty. Although we have not dolphin fished this week, the boats that did had limited success. Some boats would go out one day and catch their limit, head out the next day, and barely catch any. That seems to have been the story this whole dolphin season.
And for the first time this summer, we actually went swordfishing last night and did not get even one bite. Every trip this summer has resulted in at least one bite, and in all reality, almost every trip this summer has resulted in at least one swordfish, if not more. Since last weekend, the swordfish bite has cooled off a bit. Although we didn’t get a bite last night, (nor did anyone else on the VHF), we did get to see a swordfish up close and personal. As I reeled in the second to last rod, and tossed the live goggle eye out, a swordfish suddenly appeared and swam out from underneath the boat. I quickly reeled in the last rod, tore off the jug and the weight and free lined the live bait towards the swimming swordfish. There seemed to be no interest in the bait as the swordfish kept swimming along. Usually when this happens, you get to see the swordfish bat the bait with his bill and hopefully get hooked up. Although this didn’t happen last night, it was still quite the sight to see this apex predator swimming within feet of our boat. The swordfish bite should turn back on with the upcoming moon next week. Even with the bite being off, a boat off of Ft. Lauderdale hooked and landed a 458-pound swordfish last weekend. That’s probably the biggest swordfish in the Miami area this season. The fight lasted over four hours.
The summers almost over, and although the swordfish bite year round, the comfort level (calm seas and pleasant evenings) is almost gone as the summer is fading away. Book your swordfish trip now, while the summer is still here!
Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Capt. Dean Panos
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