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Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
Capt. Bouncer Smith
May 29, 2005
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
May Fishing Madness
We have been having a ball in Bimini. We went over on May 15th with a bunch of friends from Wisconsin and caught fish till everyone collapsed on the deck. The 16th started slow with a long search for dolphin going dry. We saved the day with lots big yellowtails on fly and amberjack, sharks and ¾ of a 30 pound grouper on the heavy tackle.
The 17th was phenomenal. We fished 20 miles south of Bimini and when the dust settled we had caught a pending world record cero mackerel for Emmett. It was 10.5 pounds on 20 pound tippet fly. Emmett also caught a 17 pound king on fly, a bunch of yellowtails snapper on fly and several more cero mackerel on fly. Pat had a bunch of yellowtail and cero on the fly, plus a 16 pound dolphin and a 14 pound king on fly.
The BIG action was the 6 or 7 amberjack, in the 40 pound class, that ate their flies right behind the boat, abused them for 3 to 10 minutes each time and escaped. You have to see these brutes eat a popper to appreciate that strike.
The 18th was more of the same, more ceros, plenty of yellowtails and at least 8 or 9 amberjack that gave the boys a sense of hope before getting away.
Kip Kerr and his buddies were down for a few days when we got back to Miami. The fishing was a little slow, but on two days we got sailfish, tarpon and dolphin. We caught blackfin tuna, king mackerel, barracuda and bonito for spice and had a good time.
We caught a few tarpon on night trips and headed back to Bimini on the 24th.
Don and Sandy Blake were fishing with us and it was a ball. Day one was 2 to 4 pound snapper on fly, plug and spin for hours. Of course a bunch of assorted jacks and barracuda added to the game.
Late in the day, I decided to try one more spot. It was a dream come true as potential world record almaco jacks swarmed around the boat. When the day was called by approaching darkness, we had a couple possible records in the boat.
Don had a 10 pound fish on fly 15. Sandy had 14 pound fish on 12 spin. Both could be world records as well as Miami Beach Rod and Reel Club records.
Day two was off to the shallow wrecks. We caught snapper and assorted jacks for hours. Then Don and Sandy must have thought things were too slow. Sandy hooked a big fish on 8 pound spin. Don hooked a huge barracuda on 6 pound general. The two of them danced under, over, around and through each other for 25 minutes. Finally Sandy boated a beautiful 24 pound king mackerel on a little Tsunami rubber sand eel, rigged on 8 pound spin tackle. Don caught and released a whopping 26 pound barracuda on 6 pound general tackle. What a double header.
The day settled down with several more big barracuda on fly and tackle as light as 4 pound test.
Day three started slow. A sunken barge showed plenty of snapper and big runners, but they were slow to bite. A big amberjack showed up and while I tried to get it excited about Don’s fly, I hooked it on 12 pound tackle. It was a great fight, but I wanted Don or Sandy to catch that fish. Don scored with a nice cobia on fly as the tide changed and fishing got slow on this wreck.
We moved to where the almaco jack had been two days before. They were there and hungry. We missed 6 on fly and caught 4 of the 10 we hooked on tackle with 4 to 8 pound test line. We may have added 3 more world records. All this plus several cero mackerel and when they stopped biting, we were off to find more.
I ran 5 miles north to another spot when a feeling came over me to run another 4 mile east to a different reef. Sometimes you have to listen to your inner being.
This reef was full of yellowtail that were slow to eat, and I was starting to chew myself out when the action exploded. Schools of 6 to 12 pound amberjack invaded our waters. Don and Sandy were hooked up on anything as fast as it hit the water. More of the under and over, around and through dances raced around the cockpit. This one on fly, that one on 8 spin. What tackle was that? It was the best.
A couple barracuda and handsome pompanettes and we were headed back toward the falling sun and aspirin bottle. There were some sore arms to treat with big smiles to wash them down.
3 great ones fished with us the last two days. Larry Scheroder, Captain Sam Crutchfield and Captain Terry Shawnessy are well known in the fishing world. We spent 2 days chasing fish and fun around Bimini. We caught a bunch of yellowtail snapper, a slew of gray snapper, a couple of sharks, a cobia, some cudas, jacks and some I forgot.
Oh! Captain Sam caught a nice mutton snapper and a whopping 50 pound black grouper on a little plugging outfit. Larry won a old Pfleuger Supreme tournament with 3 strawberry grouper and a queen trigger fish.
It was some month of May. We will be on the water a lot over most of June, but we are available from the 27th through the 30th of June. Plan your trip for this summer or the distant future. E-mail [email protected] . Tight lines and good fishin’.
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