Sailfish, Sharks and Swordfish
Capt. Bouncer Smith
March 6, 2008
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Boy was February a busy month. The whole month was a confusion of high winds and flat calm weather. Every day was different.
On the 6th it was double rough, but the Allen Assarian party caught 5 sailfish, 2 dolphin and a shark. A few sails and sharks came every day through the 9th.
On the 10th Buck Brennan and his gang used their fishing experiences from catching 4 sails on the 9th to produce a day with 9sails, 3 dolphin, 4 bonito and 2 sharks. That was a lot of fun.
After 3 days of 30 to 45 knot winds, we got out with a bunch of old friends on the 14th. Rocko, Rich, Kenny and Marc caught 5 sails, 6 dolphin and 2 sharks for a fun day.
The 14th was extra special for your captain, Bouncer. I was honored to be inducted into the Miami International Boat Show Big Game Room Hall of Fame. My thanks to all who were involved in the selection process, the friend and family who have always supported me and the greater people I have tried to copy as I have fished my way through life.
On May 15th Bouncer's Dusky 33, my awesome deck technician Sherman Huffman and I were honored by the Billfish Foundation for releasing more Atlantic sailfish than any other boat from November '06 through October '07.
The boat show was a lot of fun and we even got out to catch an early morning tarpon on Sunday the 17th.
With the show behind us we caught a bunch of jacks and mackerel on the beach before catching a sailfish and a 80 pound hammerhead shark with Ron and Bob from England. This was a warm up for their two other days of fishing over the next week.
Tuesday the Della Monica anglers caught 3 sails, 3 bonitos and another hammerhead shark.
The English duo tore up the ocean on Wednesday. They caught 6 sailfish, tagged and released 3 dolphin over 30 pounds each, kept an 8 pound dolphin for dinner, and also released a skipjack tuna, a bonito and 2 80 pound tarpon. Yes both Rob and Bob Parker caught and released "Gold Coast Grand Slams".
The next day the Lapnow gang started their attack on the fish. Cody and Taylor each released 3 sailfish.
Friday Adam, Josh, Gio and Dennis each released their first sailfish as well as taking home two big amberjacks, 3 almaco jacks and a nice 12 pound grey grouper.
6 years ago Rob Parker last fished with us before this week. He fought a swordfish for two hours before the hook pulled from the unseen fish. This year he wanted revenge. We started out sword fishing on the bottom in 2000 feet of water in the early afternoon. After waiting 45 minutes for a bite, Rob was hooked up with a good fish. 3 hours latter Rob was posing with his 200 pound swordfish in the cockpit of Bouncer's Dusky 33 and ready to return home to England.
The Lapnow family loves fishing with vertical jigs. On Sunday we fished several wrecks. When the trip ended the boys had caught and released 25 amberjacks and almaco jacks up to 40 pounds. Not to rest easy, they caught 35 amberjacks and almaco jacks on the jigs on Monday. The pink and white Captain Harry's Hopper Jig was voted most productive. The black grouper did hold out for a live pinfish, as did 5 or 6 jacks.
Hank Dinardo and company caught 10 sailfish, 2 bonitos and a king on Tuesday.
Tuesday evening, Wednesday and Thursday belonged to Don, Mark and Ray. As the score rises remember that Ray has 20 pounds of bolts and clamp holding together his left wrist that he broke three weeks ago. When the trip was over the guys had caught 17 sailfish, a tarpon, a hammerhead shark, 5 bonito, 2 kings, 5 dolphin and a wahoo. Ray did catch his share of sails, dolphin and the wahoo. he never missed a turn. His doctor is furious.
On the leap year last day of February, Larry Sandler caught his first 3 sailfish ever in honor of his birthday.
We had a tough Sailfish tournament last weekend. We caught 2 sails, a wahoo, a couple bonitos and a few dolphin.
Monday morning we caught a sailfish and were back to the dock before 11 AM. That evening Bob caught his first three tarpon. They were 50 to 100 pounds. He was tired, but thrilled.
Our friends Don and Sandy had another super morning on Tuesday. It was ugly rough, so we tried along the beach with live shrimp. 4 hours latter we were out of shrimp. We had also caught 4 tarpon, 12 spanish mackerel, 6 bluefish and a bunch of jack crevalles.
Wednesday we caught 2 sailfish and 2 dolphin on the kite in about 200 feet of water. The rain ran us off before noon. That evening we caught a double header of tarpon from 80 to 100 pounds.
We will be at Bass Pro Dania 7 PM Friday March 7th talking bottom fishing. Then Saturday we will be at Bass Pro Dolphin Mall at 7 PM talking about those bottom fish again. March 18th we will be at the IGFA talking about wreck and reef fishing in great detail.
Our big event for March is at Dusky Sport Center on Wednesday March 19th. We will be talking about when where and how to target BIG dolphin. This will take place at 6:30 PM. Call 954-922-8890 for details.
Miami Fishing Forecast:
March and April means big dolphin, big kings, sailfish, tarpon and the first of the blackfin tuna. Let's go catch 'em.
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