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Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
Capt. Bouncer Smith
May 5, 2004
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
May Action is Hot
When will the weather break! We had a spectacular last trip of April. It was an evening tarpon trip with Ben Eskanazi and his relatives. We caught 5 tarpon from 80 to over 130 pounds plus a big ladyfish. We hooked a fish about every 10 minutes the lines were in the water. The largest fish fought for nearly an hour. All were caught on 20 pound tackle baited with live shrimp.
We then lost a four day Bimini trip to the winds that blew 25 or more over the weekend. We heard about all the sails and tuna caught here, but replacing a charter on short notice is hard to do for a Monday or Tuesday.
We finally got to fish again today. It was a day to remember for variety. We started with a 18 pound dolphin on the kite. Then came a schoolie size dolphin. A little while later a big hammerhead shark swam into our kite spread. We hooked him on our 20 pound tackle and settled in for a long fight. After an hour Tom, our angler, was worn out. The shark never surfaced and I think Tom was glad the wire leader failed.
We caught a 10 pound dolphin a little latter and then headed for a spot where we had found permit in the past. We got one strike in an hour. It was a beautiful 30 pound permit to photograph and release.
With no more action there we headed up to some clear water off Government Cut to try for a sailfish. Sure enough after a couple bonito we caught a nice sailfish on the kite with a live herring. The sailfish wore a tag from the Billfish Foundation. We cut the tag off the fish and called their office to report the recapture. This fish was originally tagged on July 20, 2003 off North Carolina.
Hoping for a Gold Coast Slam for Tom, we headed back to the inlet to try for a tarpon. We had caught the sail, and the dolphin, so all we needed was the tarpon. They rolled all around the boat, but would not bite before time ran out.
This evening we were back out there tarpon fishing with Ben and his pal Domenic. Using the same crab as Tom had tried, we hooked our first tarpon of the trip within 5 minutes of putting the lines in the water. We caught and released 3 tarpon from 90 to over 130 pounds, plus fighting one for 40 minutes that never even showed itself. The big one we caught was about a 45 minute fight and it was pretty worn out. Sounds like the “BIG ONE GOT AWAY”
While we were tarpon fishing 2 boats were fishing in 100 to 150 feet of water off the inlet. 1 boat caught 2 sailfish and a blackfin tuna. The other boat caught a 20 pound king mackerel and 7 tuna from 20 to 30 pounds. He also lost 3 sailfish.
May is here, dolphin will be bigger and more abundant, tuna should be hot, sails will still join the party, tarpon will be very hungry and snook will be in the inlets. It is time to GO FISHING!
Mark your calendar. We will be doing a dolphin seminar at Dusky Sport Center on May 27th from 6 to 8:30. I hope we fish together on Bouncer’s Dusky 33 or we see you on the rip, Bouncer
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