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North Biscayne Bay Fishing Report
Capt. Alan Sherman
October 21, 2007
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
It has been a few weeks since my last fishing update and that was due to me wanting to wait till the Fall Migration got under way. Each trip into North Biscayne Bay recently seemed to indicate that the migration had already started to take place but despite the large schools of finger mullet, black and silver mullet and the schools of threadfin herring and pilchards that had settled into the bay the schools of Spanish sardines and glass minnows had not arrived and the predators had not arrived either. Then I realized the ingredient that was missing was a cold front. I was rushing things a bit but when you keep records of fishing patterns from years past no matter whether it be on paper or in your head you can’t help but see that in many years but not all a decent cold front should have already made it close enough to South Florida to get the mackerels, kingfish, bluefish, large jacks, sharks, ladyfish, snook and tarpon frenzying in North Bay.
Finally I am confident to say the fishing in North Bay has taken a turn for the better and that has just happened in the past few days. On recent trips I have fought with myself to stay within a plan. Check the forecast then the tidal conditions and then talk to a few local Captains to see how their fishing has been recently compared to my fishing and then go with the best plan for that day. After launching the boat at the local boat ramp and seeing the vast schools of mullet and then netting a couple dozen prime finger mullet and placing them in the live well for future use we head on into the bay to find a huge school of pilchards that with one cast can easily fill two live wells full of bait. On a cast yesterday I had over 100 pounds of pilchards in the net. Way too many to put into the boat so instead of taking a chance of tearing the fine ¼ inch mesh of my new Lee Fisher 10’ Net(You can get a net just like the ones I own by contacting Lee Fisher Nets at 1-800-356-5464 or www.justcastnets.com and mention my name Capt. Alan Sherman) I chose to release all of the bait and throw again but this time on the edge of the school instead of in the middle. This time I got just enough to fill one well and then on the next cast I was able to fill the other well. Four throws more bait then I could use in a couple of days fishing. Now the dilemma of where to go first! Sea trout are OK but we can catch them any time we want so is it shorelines, bridges, banks Eastern Shores or the Oleta River or maybe offshore? As we cruise in front of the inlet at Haulover we can see the ocean looks quite calm and the temptation to get my 22’ Pathfinder offshore to try for Spanish mackerel, kingfish and the dolphin that we have caught in October in past years. Offshore we go. Each of my last three trips we duplicated the same scenario and each trip was the same. No action. Lots of boats on the water and lots of chatter on the radio of slow fishing but there is always someone who is catching fish and that was the case each day. The party boats fishing dead sardines on jigs were catching kingfish but the fish wouldn’t hit the live pilchards or finger mullet so we headed offshore to look for dolphins that had been reported to be cruising along an edge in 500 feet of water. We found the edge and slow trolled live finger mullet behind the boat. This tactic has worked real good for me in the past but each of these days the fish either ignored our trolled baits and live pilchard chum or just were not in our area. On one day we had 5 hits and caught and released 2 dusky sharks in the 30 to 40 pound class but definitely not what we were looking for so we headed back inshore to fish the bay. Later that day I spoke to offshore captains that had towers on their boats and they told me that they had decent catches of dolphin but only because they could see the fish from the tower and then ran up in front of them and put baits right on their noses. Some of the guys had as many as 50 fish. Once in the bay we concentrated in areas that had baitfish nearby and caught jack crevalles to 14 pounds, snook, black grouper, snapper, barracuda and small kingfish. Yesterday in a 6 hour trip we caught close to 40 jacks from 1 to 6 pounds and lost some much bigger.
Fishing in Flamingo continues to be steady. I am not seeing the double digit days of snook and redfish now due to the snook spawning season ending and the fish scattering but we are now seeing more variety in Flamingo like bluefish, mackerel, tripletail along with the jacks, sharks, ladyfish, snook, redfish, tarpon, snapper and grouper.
Recent Catches:
Mike Bonner fishing in Flamingo had one of those days that just leave you scratching your head trying to figure out how so many fish can get away. During the first hour of the charter we had a few large fish short strike our Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp pogys and jerk baits, lost a very large fish when the 8 pound line broke at the water, then caught a 22” redfish that we released. Later we tracked what we thought was a large shark only to find out I was a huge tarpon that was cruising a flat that had only a foot of water on it. The fish felt our presence and moved out of casting distance and disappeared. A few minutes later we were casting finger mullet against a shoreline on Hook Up lures when Mike got a soft strike. He made another cast and got an explosive strike that made the 8 pound line explode at the rod tip. Oh Well! We ran awhile into a new location and caught a few barracudas and jacks that were crashing mullet. Mike cast a Hook Up lure and Gulp pogy into a sandy pot hole and hooked up on an estimated 80 pound tarpon that he fought on 8 pound line for 30 minutes. Twice he had the fish turn on his side belly up just to burst off on a short run. We were sure we had the fish the next time he came up on his side but before that could happen the rod shattered at the second guide from the butt. What happened? Hard to say but during a year of hard work and charters graphite fishing rods sustain a lot of abuse and this rod had caught a lot of quality fish so something had happened to the blank recently to cause a weak spot. We then fought the fish with what was left of the rod for another 15 minutes before the line parted. The remainder of the day was slow to say the least but we did see a bald eagle and another large tarpon that was in such shallow water that his back and tail were out of the water as the fished cruised by us.
Fishing with my wife Dana and looking for dolphin we managed only 2 dusky sharks. We missed a few kingfish but never saw any dolphins.
Jerry Miller and Jerry Chaves fishing offshore and in North Biscayne Bay caught nothing offshore but did manage a few sea trout, barracudas and a 13 pound jack crevalle and a 14 pound jack crevalle that a shark had eaten at a pound or more of the jack.
Mark Feldman and his fishing buddy Bob caught more jack crevalles then they could shake a stick at. Their biggest fish was an 8 pounder.
Scott Young fishing offshore and North Biscayne Bay caught nothing offshore but in North Bay Scott caught and released 7 snook on live baits and Skitter Walks plus a black grouper, mangrove snapper, barracudas and over 40 jack crevalles to 6 pounds. Scott had at least three jacks break his line that were much bigger.
For the next few weeks we will be giving away a free fishing rod provided by Rapala. The fishing rod is a $100 value. To win a fishing rod all you have to do is call the Florida Sportsman Live Radio Show at 305-503-1360 and share with the audience a short fishing story. The story rated as the best by the hosts of the show will win a fishing rod each week. Florida Sportsman Live can be heard every Saturday from 7 to 8 AM on WKAT 1080 or 1360 AM dial a 50,000 watt radio station.
Check out my report in the Miami Herald’s Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report, my monthly South Florida Fishing Report in the Florida Sportsman Magazine or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on WKAT 1080 or 1360 on the AM dial every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 AM. Check out my new web site and see the monthly catches! Check out my weekly South Florida Fishing Report at www.floridasportsman.com and my monthly South Florida Fishing Report in The Florida Sportsman Magazine each month. We continue to broadcast the Florida Sportsman Magazine Live on WKAT 1360 AM every Sat. morning from 7 to 8 AM where we get up to the minute fishing forecasts from some of the top Capt.’s in South Florida like Capt. Jimbo Thomas on the Thomas Flyer, Capt. Bouncer Smith on Bouncers Dusky, Capt Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chips Too out of Whale Harbor Marina, Capt. Mark Schmidt on the Sundancer out of Murray’s marina in Key West and Capt. Wayne Conn on The Reward Fleet, Captain jay Cohen on the Spellbound out of Haulover Marina and more.
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Precision Tackle, Capt. Hank Brown’s Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Fishbites, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida.
“Tight Lines & Great Fishing” Get Em on The "GET EM" Capt. Alan Sherman “Get Em” Sportfising Charters Inc. Cell 786-436-2064 Home 305-757-5503 www.getemsportfishing.com
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