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Miami, Florida - Offshore
Capt. Mark Houghtaling
June 19, 2000
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
While everyone has been hunting Dolphin, a few anglers have been enjoying
a small run of Sailfish off the Miami shoreline. The GulfStream has had a
hard north current for the past week, and it produced a very nice color change
along the edge of the reef. We found school Dolphin, Bonita, Kingfish, and
Sailfish along that same edge. It was in 125 feet of water. While many
anglers found it hard to find fish offshore, other anglers stayed in close and
did surprisingly well. Most Dolphin have been schoolies in the 2 to 4 pound
class, while the bigger bulls and cows have been hard to come by.
Kingfishing continues to be good in the morning and late afternoon. The area
off the Monument Buoy off Key Biscayne has been good, as well as the
“boil” off Government Cut. The weekends have been crowded to say the
least. Catching bait on a Saturday or Sunday morning can be tricky. It was
reported that Bug Light looked like a parking lot this past Saturday. Don’t
overlook using live pinfish for bait. They can be easy to catch and Dolphin
and bottom fish love them. Another alternative to catching bait in the
morning is to find a piece of floatsom in the Gulf Stream that has a school of
baitfish under it and use your cast net to catch them. On a smaller object like
a float or small board, I will throw the net over the entire piece of debris. You
can usually catch the entire school on one throw. Don’t get to close to the
board or debris because the school of baitfish will leave the board and hide
underneath your boat making it impossible to catch them.
Mutton Snapper have been very active off Key Largo. Early morning and late
afternoon has been the prime feeding periods. Live bait and jig and ballyho
rigs were working well. Anglers have been hooking fish from 100 feet on out
to 240 feet of water. I would consider the depths from 120 feet to 180 feet of
water best. A downrigger becomes very useful when trying to locate fish. I
prefer slow trolling a live bait down a ledge or rocky bottom. A Mutton will
inhale a slow trolled live bait when it passes right by his nose. Action for
Muttons should continue good through the month of June.
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