South Florida Fishing after Tropical Storm Fay
Capt. Alan Sherman
August 19, 2008
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
I was out of town most of last week visiting the Panhandle of Florida with my family. We had a wonderful time eating locally caught seafood and sightseeing from Destin Beach south to Apalachicola. We did manage a few hours of fishing in between the sightseeing and very strong storms that passed through the area. We fished the bay for a few hours and caught ladyfish and a flounder and then fished the surf and caught small whiting, redfish and catfish.
Anyway we got back just in time to get a trip to Flamingo out of the way before preparing for Tropical Storm Fay and caught six or seven snook, lots of jacks, sea trout and catfish. Water conditions were dirty and the storms sent us home early but it was nice just getting out on the water after a week on the road.
Tropical Storm Fay is moving away now and water conditions are pretty muddy. It will take at least a couple of days to settle down and then fishing should heat up quickly.
I look for things in North Biscayne Bay to be on fire with hungry trout, snappers, jacks, snook, tarpon and some Spanish mackerel once the baitfish schools re group and that should happen by Thursday or Friday. Offshore snapper fishing could be incredible on the reefs and outside the reefs kingfish, bonitos and dolphins should be chomping as soon as the water turns green and blue again. South Biscayne Bay may be the first area to turn up some fish and I have had some good outings for bonefish by fishing protected areas in South Bay only hours after a storm passes. The key is finding clean calm water. Flamingo will take the longest to get back to normal because of the muddy bottoms in the Gulf. Those waters were dirty before the storm and I can only expect that the water is as brown as it can be now. Florida Bay waters will be first to clear up so that is where I will target first on my next trip to Flamingo. Otherwise once the waters do clear up along the shorelines from Cape Sable north I expect to see more downed tress and debris scattered along the waters so when you head on down to fish be extra careful that you don't hit anything that may be in areas that once were clear of debris.
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on WMCU 1080 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 WMCU 1080 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.
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Tight Lines and Great Fishing!
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
Miami Fishing Forecast:
Give things a few days to settle down and then get out to your favorite spots and the fishing could be be as good as it gets.
Target Species:
Snook, Tarpon, Sea Trout, Snapper, Redfish, Sharks
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