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Miami, Florida - Offshore
Capt. Mark Houghtaling
July 25, 2000
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Even though the heat has been almost unbearable, the Dolphin fishing has
been holding up well, and anglers are still finding it relatively easy to bring
home a few for the freezer. Most of the fish have been schoolies. Pompano
Dolphin have made a showing this past week and are two to four pounds.
Start looking for birds from 400 feet which is about four miles from the edge
of the reef, on out to twenty miles. Petrals are still following the Dolphin, but
they also have been following the prolific schools of Bonito. You have to
investigate every flock of diving birds to find out whether they are on Bonito
or Dolphin. Remember, when the birds are diving on Dolphin, they will tend
to stay over an area and not retreat higher into the air. On the other hand,
when they are over Bonito, they will hover over the water and then when the
Bonito move on, they move high in the air until the Bonito surface again,
possibly a couple hundred yards further along. Binoculars are a great help.
Many times you can watch the birds from a distance and tell when they are
on Dolphin and when they are on Bonito.
Captain Marty Locke from the “Naked Furniture” (305-788-5991) reported
bottom fishing difficult. The current along the reef has been very swift,
making it almost impossible to fish a bait down deep, without a tremendous
amount of weight. He normally fishes in waters from 100 to 240 feet. The
current may slow down as we move away from the full moon. If the current
is too fast it can also make it difficult to fish for Yellowtail which has been
very good during the past couple of weeks. Mutton Snapper should be around
the deeper ledges and dropoffs. The summer heat will keep them in deeper
waters. Early morning and late afternoon should be better fishing. Live
Pinfish should do the trick. A few Cubera Snapper were caught during the
last full moon. The action was good. I predict the action should be great
during the full moon in August. The days before the moon will usually have
the best action.
Preliminary observations of the lobster action were not good. I spoke with a
few divers that were investigating their spots for the opening day of the
mini-season and they were not happy. They found many spots were void of
lobster, while other spots only had a few. However, they could move during
the dark of the moon and those spots will fill up in a hurry. I’ll give you a
post-opening opening report next week.
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