 |
Fishing Report for Northern Miami-Dade County
Capt. Dave Kostyo
July 21, 2004
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Dolphin fishing has seen its ups and downs for the past several days. There have been plenty of peanuts, however, they are all under size. The new rules require a minimum of 20 inches from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail. Remember to release the small ones, with the way they feed, it won't be long before they grow up to a more respectable size. As has been the case for most of the spring and summer thus far, once you get beyond about 12 miles offshore, the ocean gets very clean. Most all the action with a few exceptions has been in the 6 - 12 mile range. If the dolphin action is not happening on the day you are out, leave yourself enough time to try the reef for a drift or two. Bonito and summer kings just might save your day.
Friday (7/16) morning we ran straight out from Haulover and found only scattered weed. Trolling amongst this weed produced nothing. All the birds we saw were singles and they were looking just like we were. At 19 miles, we started heading south and working our way back in and then out. We worked several scattered weed line areas and only saw lots of small bait fish under the clumps of grass. By the time we were off Government Cut, it was time to try something else, as the dolphin were not happening. We had time enough in our half day trip to make one long drift from the sea buoy to the north. The bottom rod produced and were caught a nice 8# kingfish to save the day.
Monday's (7/19) full day trip turned out to be a challenge all day long. First, it started with catching bait. The herring at Haulover were very skittish. Then they stopped popping to the surface. Working our way down the beach, we ended up at the crooked range marker where Fred and Eileen Clark from N. Ft. Myers, FL worked very hard to finish catching bait. At about 5 miles out from the sea buoy, the birds put us on a school of peanut size dolphin. The only problem was that they were not interested in anything except hanging around the boat. Working offshore, we stopped at 19 miles and trolled on numerous scattered weed lines while waiting for the storms inshore of us to rain themselves out. Nothing happening out there either. Starting back in, we found flocks of birds working over skipjack tunas at 8 miles. It took reducing the size of our lures to finally break the ice with a nice skipjack that was caught and then released by 11 year old Matthew Berish from Petersburg, NY. Chasing the birds again put us on the very best weed line, YES, weed line that I've found so far this dolphin season. We trolled the entire length of the line and then slow trolled live baits back down it. The end result, NO fish. It was time to give the reef a try. Starting at the Cuban Hole, Matthew's dad, Stephen got his turn with a large bonito. Then it was Matthew's turn again and he got another bonito. While this action was going on, Aunt Eileen and Uncle Fred were busy with the camcorder and digital camera. It was now time to try for the last species of fish that Matthew wanted to catch. Trying for the bluerunner bait at two different usually reliable locations turned up a bust. With the weather building up inshore, I decided to go with the herring that we had. Slow trolling a herring finally produced the barracuda that Matthew wanted. It was caught on a 12# spinning outfit on the south side of Government Cut. As you can see, it was a very challenging day. It also was a day of firsts. Matthew's first skipjack tuna, first bonito, and first barracuda. So even though it didn't seem like much of a fishing day, it turned out to be a great day for an 11 year old boy.
Captain Dave Kostyo
More Fishing Reports:
|
|
|
|
