I've been asked how the tarpon fishing is at Haulover. Are they there yet? I've heard good reports, however, every time I've tried to get out there and find out for myself, the wind has been blowing from an easterly direction at 25 knots or better. On Tuesday (12/19) I had a good strong stomach crew consisting of brothers Tim & Mark Burrel and their friend Chuck Fitzgerald. Strong stomach because a wind of NE/ENE @ 20 - 23 knots gave us very sloppy, rough sea conditions along the beach in the Haulover Tarpon Hole. Without a sea anchor, the drifts lasted about 3 minutes. With the sea anchor, it extended the drift time to 7 minutes and slowed our drift down to about 1 MPH. That was all it took and on the second drift, we mark several fish on the recorder and 30 seconds later, the bow flatline bent over severely with our first tarpon of the new season. Tim had the honors and showed the fish very quickly who was boss before we released the fish. We made several more drifts and marked a few more fish with no results before we all decided that it was just getting to rough and we ran in to the Bay for much calmer waters. A run down to Government Cut and fishing on the south side produced no action. When the tide turned, we tried a few Bay spots. We saw one fish at each spot and couldn't convince either fish to bite. We headed back to Spinnaker Marina happy that we got the one tarpon and saw a few more. So, to answer the question about are the tarpon there yet, YES they are. Now all we need is for the fan to shut down some so we can get out and concentrate on catching multiple fish. Now's the time to give me a call and schedule your evening tarpon fishing trip.
Saturday (12/23) Guy and Marie Rock, their son, Jack, and niece, Nicole spent a half day doing a family fishing trip. Bait fishing for herring was a snap and the livewell was filled in short order. The wind was from the SSE/S @ 11 - 18 knots. There was no current and the water was an ugly green until you got out to 250 feet. We started by slow trolling baits on the downrigger and flatlines in 80 - 120 feet. This quickly produced 1 kingfish that Jack handled nicely and it was soon in the fishbox. After no further action, we ran out to 300 feet and both slow trolled and drifted baits. We spotted several birds working the surface and moved as quickly as the conditions would allow to the area. It was a light weedline in 400 feet. As I was putting out a flatline, it got hit and Nicole caught a nice 8 pound dolphin. The water was a light blue, so we continued to work the area and chase a few more birds with no results. After the second rain storm passed over us, the wind died off and we decided to try in shallower once again. The action was non-existent and we moved north to the Anchorage area. This time, the deep bait got all the action in the form of 1 stolen bait, 1 chopped bait, and finally, 1 mutton snapper.
Sunday (12/24) Tim and Mark Burrel fished an afternoon trip in hopes of doing battle with a sailfish. The bait cooperated even better than yesterday and they were both amazed at the quantity of bait and how easy it was. They have fished for tarpon in Puerto Rico where they use herring and they remarked that the amount of bait we caught in a half hour would have taken them all day to catch in Puerto Rico. With the wind from the ESE/SE @ 13 - 18 knots, I started the first drift in 180 feet. Like yesterday, there was ugly green water and no current. Also like yesterday, we got a kingfish in short order that had Mark moving from one end of the boat to the other before it was put in the fishbox. At the end of the first drift, the long kite bait got hit and cut off by a kingfish in 80 feet. The next drift produced no action, not even a nervous bait. Next, we started slow trolling in the 70 - 100 foot range and missed 1 hook up on the downrigger bait. That's all the action we had. A very slow afternoon.
As you can see, the conditions have not been very good. We managed to get some action by trying different depths and different styles of presenting baits. By being persistent, we got some action. When you're presented with these same conditions, remember to keep trying different methods and something is bound to happen in your favor.
Captain Dave
