2013 Resolution: Catch More Fish
Capt. Freddie David
January 9, 2013
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Once again we are off to a new year and I hope everyone have made there resolutions. My resolutions are to fish hard, make lots of money, and catch lots of fish. We ended 2012 with some good catches and I look forward to starting 2013 with some great catches.
South Florida fishing has been rather slow the past few weeks. We have been working extremely hard to put fish in the boat. I think a big factor we have had is the warm weather. January is our coldest month of the year and the average temperature is 82 degrees. A large majority of the fish we catch in Miami are migrating pelagic species. These fish travel south when the weather gets cold but unfortunately we haven't had many cold fronts this year to move these fish. I have a good feeling the fish are going to be late this year and I am looking forward to a great spring.
Inshore- Tarpon fishing has been very consistent the last three weeks. Drifting the beaches with live shrimp has been producing 1-3 fish per night up to 100lbs. While tarpon fishing, we have been catching bluefish, jack crevalle, lady fish, and some small mackerel. The larger Spanish mackerel have been biting in 20-30 ft. of water. We chum the waters with live bait and then throw artificials to catch them. We had one day where we caught 60 mackerel in an hour. Spanish mackerel travel in big schools and are a blast to catch on light tackle.
Offshore- Sailfishing has been on the slow side this December but we have still been producing between 2-6 shots when the conditions are right. The weather has been on the warm side and I anticipate when the cold fronts start moving in the fishing should pick up. Theoretically, January is the best month of the year for sailfish in South Florida.
Aside from the slow sailfish bite, the wahoo fishing has been the best I've seen in years. High speed trolling has been the preferred method but, slow trolling, live baiting ,and kite fishing have also been effective. Most of the wahoo we have been landing are between 30-50lbs.
The kingfish are just starting to show up with some fish in the 40 pound class. Kingfishing should start getting good from now until April. We target the kingfish by using live bait with steel leaders or slow trolling with strips of bait and metal spoons.
Swordfishing has continued to be good but I haven't had many trips for them lately. One of my good friends landed a 500lber. three days ago fishing on the bottom in broad daylight off Fort Lauderdale. There have also been some nice swordfish catches at night, fishing live bait and squid 200-400 ft. down.
Bahamas- I have done a few Bahama trips over the past few weeks. We have been catching some nice snapper, groupers, and amberjacks from 100-200 ft. of water. The deep dropping has been steady with some nice sized yellow eye snappers, queen snappers, and mystic groupers. We generally fish between 600-1000 ft. when deep dropping. The trolling has also been good. Our best catch was a 200 lb. blue marlin along with some big dolphin, tuna, and all the barracudas you want.
We are coming up on the best months of the year for fishing South Florida (Jan-May). If you like action and want to bend the rod now is an excellent time to go.
Tight Lines!
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