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Miami - Haulover to Fowey Light
Capt. Dean Panos
March 5, 2001
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
3/4/01
The Sailfish are pouring through the area. This past week we saw different wind and sea patterns, but that didn't seem to hamper the sailfish bite. From Monday to Friday mid day, we flew helium on the kites due to lack of wind. Every day we got three to four sailfish bites and managed to catch almost all of them. Starting with Friday afternoon, the wind picked up from the S and SW and the sailfish continued to bite. Since then we have had at least six shots each day, and were about 50% in keeping them on for a successful release. A release is when the leader touches the rod tip. Almost all of the sailfish have been eating goggle eyes, but other boats have been reporting good luck with pilchards and herring also.
Saturday was a bit of a frustrating day. We ran South to Triumph Reef, were most of the action has been. By 11:00am we were released two out of 4 sailfish. In the afternoon, we had two more sailfish hooked up for quite a while, but were not able to keep them on. We also had a 7th fish in the kite baits, but he wouldn't eat. Towards the end of the day, the bite really turned on. We started live chumming with pilchards, and had a big fish eat one of the kite baits. The fish had a large black back and destroyed the kite bait. It almost spooled a TLD 20 reel, which holds700 yds of 20 lb test. After we pulled in most of the lines and started chasing him down, the leader parted. By the looks of his back breaking the water when he ate the kite bait, as well as him going deep and continuing to burn off drag, I would have to say we had a yellowfin tuna on. It is not uncommon to catch yellowfin during this time of year. Last year we hooked and landed two yellowfin in February, and one in March. As the sailfish bite really was turning on (the VHF radio was rampant with hook ups being called in) we hooked a large hammerhead shark. With no wire leader, we thought the fight would be over quickly. Instead 40 minutes later we successfully got the leader to the rod tip and got a good look at the fish. It was every bit of 300 pounds.
We didn't fish offshore today. Due to weather reports (they never seem to have it right), the charter chose to pick another day during the week. The boats that did fish today reported excellent sailfishing. There were quite a few boats with over ten sailfish, and the highest I heard was 15. We did go tarpon fishing at night, and manage to get 1 out of 2. The front came through, and so did the rain and lightning so we chose to cut the trip a bit short.
Besides sailfish, there has been a good bite of kingfish all week, with most fish bigger than 15 pounds. We caught one king at 37 pounds and the next day caught another at 27 pounds. Dolphin have also been around, although they have not been biting very well. Bonitas have also shown up, and when you live chum, you can get them within few yards from the back of your boat. Blackfin tuna should start showing up soon, which definitely add variety of the species you can catch while live baiting for SAILFISH!
Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Capt. Dean Panos
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