Bottom Bite and Offshore 7/7-7/14/2012
Capt. Nick Gonzalez
July 17, 2012
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
7/7/2012 Offshore
Well after having a blast last weekend, the owner of the 35' Contender wanted to go look for dolphin again. We left the dock at about 6:30, filled the wells with pilchards (still holding strong off the mark east of Bug) and headed ESE looking for signs of life. A 12 knot Eastern breeze kicked the sea up a bit, but it was still a beautiful day on the water. The plan was to look for flotsam, birds, or signs of fish, and pitch livies to the fish. The owner preferred not to troll so an array of spinners were rigged and ready with 5/0 matzuo j-hooks and 10 ft of 50lb Ande leader.
At about 730 we spotted our first few birds working a sargassum line in 1100'. There had been plenty of weedlines, but no life to speak of up until that point. The birds were holding over a small pod of schoolies so we got the skunk off the boat early with a nice triple header of 6lb fish. We worked the school but the other fish were smaller schoolies so we let them go to grow bigger.
For the next hour we came across a few pieces of floating debris that held bait, but no fish (we dropped jigs deep looking for wahoo but had no takers). At 9am we found a 6ft piece of barnacle encrusted bamboo as thick around as a baseball bat. A fat tripletail was holding on it but refused to eat livebait, dead bait, or jigs after numerous casts. The bamboo was holding plenty of dolphin though. Another four 5lbers came aboard, and a few others were released to fight another day.
At 1045 we came across two working frigates in 1200' that were very very excited. We dropped live baits on a path to intercept the birds (and fish under them) and were obliged with a quick hookup. Another 3 lifters came aboard when two bigger fish passed through. I casted two baits infront of them, but as they turned to eat the smaller fish beat them out. They faded into the depths and never gave us a second chance....
Our fish count at this point is 10 keepers, and another 6-8 smaller fish. With time waning, we headed in a bit only to find another pod of birds working the largest school of dolphin I've seen off South Miami. They were everywhere. We bailed dolphin for two hours when their arms grew tired. We only kept two of the 26"fish, releasing the other cookie cutters to grow larger.
After growing tired of catching the schoolies, we called it a day and were back at the dock at 130.
7/8/2012 Bottom Bite
The Double Threat Crew trailered the Grady down to Blackpoint Marina to Launch South for some bottom fishing action. Armed with a bunch of spinning reels, a case of chum and 20lbs of oats, we headed out of Caesars just after dark and set up in 65' with a solid North Current. We had issues with our windlass so we werent able to set the anchor until 930 or so. We began chumming the area heavily and it wasn't long before the first mangrove came over the gunnel. As the night continued we were able to chum the Snapper all the way up to them chum bag, hookups occuring only seconds after letting baits back. This went on for the next 3 and half hours.
There are a ton of combinations of terminal gear we like to try as we establish the chumslick. Some of us were armed with small jigs tipped with silversides, while others freelined a silverside back on a shortshank hook with a few split shots. Towards the beginning of the night more weight was needed to reach the fish holding deep below the chum slick. As the snapper got more aggressive though we were able to hookup with only the hook and split shot combo.
In a few hours we were able to reach our limit of 35 Mangroves, all of them being solid fish between 2 and 5lbs. We also managed to box 5 yellowtail, and released another 25 snapper altogether. After the current slowed a bit we headed deeper looking for Yellowtail. We anchored in 90ft and began chumming heavily for an hour, only to raise one tail and a large lane snapper. The crew was tired and we had a long journey ahead of us so we headed back to the ramp, reaching Blackpoint at about 230 am.
Final Tally-- Boxed 35 Mangroves, 6 Yellowtail, and 1 Lane snapper, and released another 30 fish.
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7/14/2012 Bottom Bite
Bottom bite has exceptional lately. We got out for a night time snapper fishing excursion Saturday, with some time thrown in with the kites.
We left the dock at 4:30pm with 3 dozen penned up baits in the well. A 15 knot east wind kicked the ocean up nice, so we couldnt help but grab another few dozen pilchards and hang them off the kites. Pilchards are still thick E-ESE off the mark about a 1/4 mile out. We got a few in the nets, but we got full strings of sabikis so theyre still there.
We arrived south past fowey at about 545, and got the first baits in the water not long after that. Great water color and current in 145, and it didnt take long before the first bite. First fish was a solid bonita that we boxed for bait. After resetting that mid, another two lines went off. One was a fat bonehead, and the other a football blackfin.
We headed further south and trolled along the way, pulling two more boneheads into the boat. We reset again, this time closer to triumph. All six lines and a speed jig were out by 700pm, and this would be our last drift before anchoring up. Well something clipped off the mid bait, and then we got a hit on the right short. Another bonehead. We got the lines in and headed to the reefline.
First spot was on some great bottom in 50'. Great bottom, chum was ready (we had 9 blocks and 50lbs of oats ready for duty), but no current. Chum was going straight to the bottom. No go here....
We pulled anchor and headed out a bit. Setup in 90', and had great current and great bottom, and right off the bat one of our bottom rods went off with a nice fish. Couple minutes later brought up a slob mangrove.
6lbs 24"
But after 1 more 4lb mango, there wasnt any action for 45 minutes. So we pulled anchor again and headed to another number.
This time we got it right. 55', good current, great bottom, and lots of fish. With two bottom rods set and 2 flatlines going, we had the group hooked up for the remainder of the night. These were large and aggressive snapper, with the average fish weighing 2-3lbs. We bailed 4lbers on the bottom rods, and had a few flag yellowtail and a lot of beast mangroves making it to the box. After 4 bucketfulls of chum, they finally slowed down and the guys wanted to call it. We made the long run back and had the guys leave with full coolers of fresh snapper.
Final Tally-- 5 bonita, 1 blackfin tuna, 30 Mangroves, 5 yellowtail, 2 ladyfish, 4 blue runners, and 3 horse eye jacks
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Miami Fishing Forecast:
Bottom Bite has been phenomenal lately as long as there is current in the area you plan to fish. Dolphin can still be found offshore if you find the birds, with big fish always an ever present possibilty. The hard winds lately have kicked up the late season sailfish bite, multiple releases a day arent uncommon. Smoker kingfish and large blackfin tuna are also roaming the edge. Kitefishing will continue to produce bites on the edge with the strong winds, and trolling/running and gunning offshore has also produced a solid amount of bites.
On another note, bait has been much thicker than expected for this time of year. Hordes of pilchards are holding thick off bug light, with threadfin and cigar minnows in the area as well.
Target Species:
Sailfish Dolphin Blackfin Tuna Wahoo Cobia Kingfish Mangrove Snapper Yellowtail Snapper Mutton Snapper
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