As I write this report, we are experiencing the coldest air temperatures so far this winter. For a person who has lived in Miami since 1960, this weather is way to cold for me. My clients from up north laugh when I say how cold it is. They tell me that this is a warm day for them. I hope that they take this cold weather back north with them.
Sailfishing and tarpon fishing have had their ups and downs over the past week. When we've been able to find some north current it has been good. When there is no current and green water, we've had our struggles. Tarpon fishing at Haulover has gone into it's February mode. The fish have been hiding once it gets dark and it has taken lots of searching to find a few. We found them on Sunday (2/12) during the daytime at both Haulover and Government.
Here's a brief breakdown on what's been happening since February 6th.
On Monday (2/6), Robert Parillo and Mark Graham got in a 3/4 day trip before heading back north and home. Fishing off the Monument Buoy, we found a light north current in the 110 - 140 foot range. The first fish to break the ice was a large bonito. Next, Robert fought his first sailfish. We saw several tailing fish speed past us and got one interested in the freebies we tossed its way, however, it never found the bait on our line.
On Tuesday (2/7) we did a TV Show about catching bait and general drift fishing in the Miami area. We started with kingfishing and every hit that we had was on the downrigger. We moved south to the hotels where we found some good north current. Once again the downrigger produced a large barracuda. We had no wind at all, so flying a kite was out of the question. Moving offshore, we found several good weedlines and worked them. We had a nice dolphin on that threw the hook before the camera started rolling. Back to the reef for the late afternoon bite and once again it was the downrigger that produced a shark. We were filming a question and answer segment when the flatlines both got hit by dolphin. The circle hook found its mark with one of the two fish and that's how we ended the day. The sailfish avoided us on this day. I'll post a report when I find out the date and time the show will be on.
Wednesday (2/8), Pete Kozich and his friends Ed and Jim were taking a fishing trip together before Pete moves to the mid West with his job. Fishing north of the sea buoy, we found a light north current and caught a nice dolphin of 10 pounds before the sea conditions took its toll on one of the group. He hung in for as long as he could before we came in early. Good luck Pete on your new assignment.
Wednesday (2/8) evening was a tarpon trip with Jim Lefevre. During the daylight and incoming tide, we caught 1 tarpon down the beach at Haulover. After it got dark and the tide changed, we finally found a fish at the Inlet and unfortunately pulled the hook just a few feet from being a catch. That was all the action we had that evening.
Thursday (2/9) evening, Tim and Mark Burrel and their shipmates Nick and Chris were out for their last tarpon trip before they were due to sail. The tarpon played scarce again this evening at Haulover. After it got dark and before the tide started going out, we moved up to the Inlet and found a large school of big jack crevalle. Mark got the first shot and everything was going fine until the 20# braid on his reel bound down in the spool and parted. On the next drift, Chris did battle with a nice 10# jack and won. On the last drift of the evening we found a nice feisty tarpon in the same area we had worked several times during the course of the evening.
Friday (2/10) was an afternoon/evening trip with Josh Wimmer, Bruce, Barry, and Travis. Bait fishing was a snap and when we got out to 130', we found green water with no current and no wind. A flatline got cutoff by an unknown toothy critter. Slow trolling baits out to 250' got no action. We ran offshore and found a great weedline in 600' that was still in green water. We jumped a very small dolphin off. When we found current in 900', we also found lots of birds working down another excellent weedline. We found lots of 10 - 12 inch dolphin that showed no interest in feeding. We trolled small jigs past several schools of fish before finally catching a releasing a 12" fish. We moved back to the reef and chummed heavily with no results. Moving inshore to tarpon fish at Government, we were greeted with little to no wind. Our first drift on the south side had us hooked up to something momentarily before the hook pulled. Over on the north side, we had no action at all. We ran up to Haulover and hooked up on a fish that turned out to be a large jack crevalle.
Saturday (2/11) we started our tarpon trip an hour earlier than usual. This turned out to be the key to success. Josh, Bruce, Barry, and Travis were back for day 2 of 3. I put out a sea anchor to slow our drift some and within a few minutes, we hooked up to a 100 pound tarpon. It was caught and released and then the wind switched to the SW and we didn't need the sea anchor anymore that evening. The next drift, we got an 80 pound fish. When it got dark and the tide changed to outgoing, the fish once again disappeared. We did find a large jack crevalle at the Inlet.
Sunday (2/12) we started off with some tarpon fishing at Haulover Inlet. A drift across the mouth of the inlet produced nothing. Moving south down the beach a little, we hooked up with a 100 pound fish just minutes after putting out the bait. The fish made 7 jumps during the course of a 15 minute battle before the hook pulled when it dove under the boat. On the next drift, a tarpon threw the hook on its second jump. Two more drifts with no hits and we moved down to Government Cut. Just like Haulover, we hooked up minutes after putting out the baits. And just like Haulover, the fish threw the hook 10 minutes into the fight. We tried the south side and the main channel with no results. Back to the north side and we hooked up again and got the catch this time. We had two more fish on and caught both fish. This made us 3 for 6 for the day with tarpon in the 60 - 100 class.
As you can see, the tarpon have been feeding better during the daytime then at night. The daytime feeding will continue and I expect them to turn back on at night very soon. With the passing of this latest cold front, the water temperature on Sunday during the day was getting very close to 70 degrees. With another night of cold temperatures again this evening, I'm sure it is below 70 degrees by now. This normally makes it very difficult to find feeding fish. Once the air temperature moderates, the water surface temperature will jump back up above 70 and the fish should turn on the feed bag.
As a reminder, on February 18th, I'll be with Shakespeare/Pflueger at the annual Spring Classic event held at the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Dania Beach. I'm scheduled to do a tarpon seminar and will be at the Shakespeare/Pflueger booth all day.
On February 19 and 20, I'll be at the Miami Boat Show with Whitewater Boats. Come on by, say hello, and lets talk some fishing. You can meet and talk with Norman, Shane, and Cindi and find out all the details about the great fishing machine that I call my office.
See you out there on the edge or after dark at the Inlets.
Captain Dave