Hot Fishing Action in South Florida
Capt. Alan Sherman
March 26, 2008
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Been a busy month with Spring Break and the kids in town then charters everyday and Easter but somehow a fishing guide juggles family and business and still manage to stay in business.
Started the month off by taking the family to Marathon for a short week of fun fishing. Trailered my 22' Pathfinder with us because we are a fishing and boating family. First day did a little scouting due to high winds but were on the water the next day by 11 AM and that is early for us when we are on vacation. Winds were still up so we headed into the Gulf to see what we could find.
Spent what seemed like hours trying to catch bait but only ended up with a dozen pinfish. Headed to a channel in 15 feet of water surrounded by islands nearby that a friend had suggested we try. Found a nice hole, anchored up current and started chumming. At first it was only small bites then a few grunts and finally a few big strikes that ended up being rays and sharks.
Caught a couple of small yellowtails and then a few 12 inchers that we put in the live well. The chum was flowing and then something happened that normally doesn't. In the chum line something clears the water at least 15 feet with a baitfish in its mouth and then lands with a big splash. When I say something happened that normally doesn't I meant we all saw the fish at the same time. My first thought was that it was a 60 pound tarpon but soon realized it was a kingfish and the fish was at least 50 pounds probably more. We scrambled for a bait and chose to put out a live yellowtail and a dead ballyhoo. Nothing happened. We continued to fish the bottom. Another large splash in the chum line caught our attention but still no hits on the baits intended for this kingfish. My son fishing a large bait on the bottom got a good hit and fought the fish hard. He had already caught a few rays and a nurse shark but this was a 40 pound goliath grouper that we released.
My son put a large grunt down and soon had a huge hit. He missed the fish several times before hooking up and getting rocked up immediately. That fish broke his line. I put a 12 inch yellowtail down on a rod that had a short piece of wire and a 4 ounce sinker. On the way to the bottom that yellowtail got eaten and I set the hook.
The fishy was running at warp speed and I handed the rod to my daughter who watched the line leave the reel in no time. The fish was stripping the reel! I was about to release the anchor when the fish stopped running shook his head and the hook at the same time. End of day 1 fishing. Day 2 started at about 10 AM but it was raining. Headed for the boat ramp and decided to head back into the Gulf. The girls decided to do some shopping so my son and I headed for some numbers that might hold some permit and cobias. Nothing there! We headed back in the direction of the channel we had fished the day before. We came across a shallow bank that had about 3 feet of water on it and as we crossed the bank we saw these green holes that looked like a series of bomb holes. We used the trolling motor to ease us along the holes as we cast ¼ ounce Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp shrimp into the holes.
My first cast was rewarded with a strike that almost yanked the rod out of my hand. A nice tug of war proceeded and soon a 2 to 3 pound mangrove snapper was at boatside. One hour later we had 10 mangrove snappers between 1 ½ to 3 pounds in the release well plus we had released twice that many plus a dozen nice jack crevalles. My phone rang. It had stopped raining and my wife wanted to fish so we headed back in and picked up the girls. I though about heading to the same area but decided to fish closer since there was only a few hours of light left. We picked a different channel that had some nice depressions in it, anchored and started chumming. In no time we are hooking red, black and gag groupers plus yellowtail and mangrove snappers, grunts and jacks.
Most of the groupers were under 20 inches but we did manage a nice 22 inch red that we added to the mangrove snappers for dinner later that night. It didn't seem to matter what bait you used cut or artificial. I caught many groupers on the jig head and Gulp bait.
Day three was windy again and after a late start we headed fore the channel we fished the day before. Same action lots of fish but the action only lasted for 15 to 30 minutes before it stopped so we just moved to the next depression and the action would fire up again. After a few hours of this we headed for the bank we had fished the day before and found lots of jacks but only a few snappers so we headed for the kingfish channel. The action there was dead and that's how day three ended. Day four would be our last and we woke to find calm winds so we headed offshore in search of flag yellowtails. Each time I come to the Keys I have dreams of flag yellowtail but never find them and this day would be no different. I had wanted to fish Hawks Channel and once in the channel we saw fish popping baitfish on the surface. Casting Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp baits Zach hooked a nice bonito that we kept for bait but no other fish would eat anything we cast their way. We headed further offshore and spotted a big cobia that was swimming offshore but he wasn't interested in anything we threw his way either. We headed for the drop off and started looking for some fish on the recorder but didn't see much nor did we see anyone catching anything in the area. We anchored in a spot that had a few recordings and started chumming only top find the current going against the wind. No bites. Re anchored no bites.
Headed offshore no fish. Came back in and checked Hawks Channel out. Found some interesting bottom and anchored. Put the chum out and right away we started getting nice hits. For the next few hours we caught red, gag and black groupers, mutton, yellowtail and lane snappers, grunts and nurse sharks. Casting a Rapala X Rap produced cero and Spanish mackerel plus another bonito and my daughter caught a 15 pound king on a knocker rig. Headed home the next day with a few fillets for the kids to take back with them and some great family memories of a Keys trip together.
The next week I fished charters everyday in Miami and Flamingo and except for a Flamingo trip that had winds to 30 miles per hour and slow fishing that produced 4 small snook and 20 sea trout, ladyfish and jacks the fishing in Miami was much better.
During a half day I had a young lady land a 15 ½ pound jack crevalle on 8 pound line and a Hook Up lure and Gulp shrimp.
There were at least 100 fish in that school and we hooked others but lost them. The rest of the week resulted in many jacks to 9 pounds, 5 snook to 30 inches, sea trout to 3 pounds and over 30 Spanish mackerel and bluefish. All of that action was in North Biscayne Bay during windy conditions.
The fish are out there so lets go get some on the "Get Em"!
My new boat is being rigged as we speak and should be in service real soon.
Can't wait!
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
Target Species:
Snook, Tarpon, Sea Trout, Mackerel, Sharks
More Fishing Reports:
