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John
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 02, 2003 - 12:55 pm: | |
Subject: guides
How can I get in contact with Rob Fordyce for a fishing guide? |
Capt. Dave Sutton
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2001 - 8:38 pm: | |
Subject: Cuda on the Flats - Jan 3, 2001
Report .................Dec/Jan
Cuda on the Flats
The barracuda are in for their winter fling on our flats and points here in So. Florida. As the cold fronts get more frequent the
more of these speedy predators arrive from their deeper haunts. Most fish range from 12 to 36 inches but the viscous strikes these guys are capable of
are astounding. You can use the old stand by " tube lure " like Chris Dolne of Hotel Sinks International did during his stop over with his trusted fishing Pal Pat. We fished all of the points and coral shores that have a steeper drop off. Each of these areas held several fish that were very aggressive toward a tube lure or a fast moving surface popper. Storm's" Chug Bug " was a " big hit " with the boys in a chrome body with chartreuse highlights on top. These can be found at Don's Bait & Tackle on US1 across
from World Ford in Homestead.
On the subject of cuda ..... don't use the standard steel leaders for these fish, they are far too line shy for that old ploy. The best combination I have found is a six to eight inch length of coffee colored wire leader is just long enough with a small snap swivel. Thirty pound is strong enough to keep these toothy critters from taking your five dollar poppers, and the explosions that occur, and the speed of that first run is worth the trip. I also find that using thirty pound fluorocarbon and a barrel swivel works when the fish are following the baits up to the boat without a strike, this is showing that they either see the leaders or your are not moving the bait fast enough.
The Bonefish are still here but off the edges of the flats during the cold snaps. Look for them to move onto the flats only during the afternoons, and after the warm up has a day or so the help to temperatures rise ever so slightly. Now is when a full bucket of patience is required to fish bones. With the winds of late and the cloud cover it has been frustrating in the hunt.
Permit are still here as well, and in some good numbers off the outside flats. Fish them during a falling tide and in a cut or drop off along the edges of their favorite summer flats. Best baits will be a nice fat crab, delivered just up current, nice and quiet.
I would like to wish all of you and yours, a very happy Holiday
Season.......
See you next year ..... "On the Flats"
Capt. Dave Sutton
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Mako's back on the Flats
Mako unveiled its new series of inshore skiffs last spring at the Miami Boat Show with mixed reviews. But upon further review on my
part and with the help of fellow guide (Mako pro-staff team) Rob Fordyce, I have been convinced.
No ..... Rob didn't convince me, the new Mako Inshore hull did. At the show they stood a 20 footer up on its transom so you could see the
radical new hull design, which Rob had a hand in designing. This chine design really works ...... it is without any drought the quietest hull I've ever fished ...... BAR NONE. Poling into the wind or on a angle this hull is silent. The track of the boat is remarkable also. A responsive track that feels like a 15 or a 16 foot boat ....... but it's 17.5 feet long.
The longer hull is extremely stable compared to my Silver King "16" at the same weight 850 lbs., and takes a chop much better because of that length and
weight even with the dead rise of 16 degrees and a beam of 87 inches. I know, I said the same thing, but this hull rides great with a Mercury 90 Saltwater on her transom. The GPS showed 46 MPH with the two of us on board. Just think of that .... Me @ 260 lbs. and Rob Fordyce at ... well around 240 lbs...that's a tag team of 500 lbs.
OK! ...... Draft you ask? Well I pushed this hull up on a sand flat outside of Elliot Key until she rubbed hard enough to stop, and we were
in 7 ½ inches of water. I could have pushed her along if I were chasing a bone into shallower water still. Then we added a third person to the weight scenario and the figures barley changed. We went from 7.5 to 8.5 inches of draft and down to 42 MPH. The ride got even better and the poling was totally unchanged. The hole shot drafts were better that my old girl ... at
20 inches, and in a boats length we were up and running when using our trim tabs.
But a boat this good on the outside has to have no dry storage right? Wrong again .... The dry wells are huge and really ..DRY.. The lids
are quiet when dropped, and silent when walking on them, and the rod storage is the best. Rather than making the tops solid over the rod storage they
added hinges for added ease and protection when removing and replacing our very expensive rods. Fuel capacity is 30 gallons and with the new Mercury
Optimax engines that's enough to go to Lostman's river for the day from Islamorada without sweating it.
This new hull from Mako is a home run in a park with a center field that has, up to know, been out of sight. This new inshore skiff has indeed the handling of a very heavy, deeper vee hull, without "HULL SLAP", and the poling and shallow water capabilities of one of those super light hulls, without the loss of stability and storage...... and you've got to love the crustacean well built in and the accessibility to the bait well pumps. The battery is mounted in the forward hatch for better balance, and the console comes in either a deep storage well or a cooler that is as good as an Igloo. This skiff is what I have been searching for to replace my
King..... The max rating is a 115 HP for the 1700 and I can't wait to put one on my new hull .......
And they said you can't get a skiff that does everything Oh, yes I can .....and it's called a Mako Inshore 1700 For further information and the dealer nearest your location you can call
(888) 434-7487
....... or go on-line at
www.mako-boats.com
E-mail info@mako-boats.com
Capt. Dave Sutton
Article 2 .........
MERCURY RECEIVES 2001 ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AWARD
FROM BLUEWATER NETWORK
FOND DU LAC, Wis. ---- Mercury Marine has been presented the first ever 2001 Environmental Leadership Award from the
Bluewater Network, a national environmental organization protecting public waters, lands and ecosystems. The presentation was made to Mercury, the
world leader in marine propulsion and a division of the BrunswickCorporation. We are pleased to present Mercury Marine with the 2001 Environmental Leadership Award for taking the lead in the development of
ultra-low emissions engines and for its commitment to sell only low-emission direct fuel injected (DFI) and four-stroke engines in the United States and Canada beginning in the 2006 model year, said Bluewater Network executive director Russell Long.
The California Air Resource Board (CARB) implemented, for the 2001 model year, some of the most stringent standards ever developed to
regulate marine engine emissions, said Long. These standards award a three star-ultra low emission designation to only the cleanest outboard engines.
Mercury currently produces more engine models that qualify for the three star rating than any other marine engine manufacturer, he added.
Finally, we commend Mercury for voluntarily investing heavily in clean engine technology, voluntarily developing an indoor test facility designed to reduce noise, air and water emissions in an effort to manage boating and fishing habitat as a sustainable resource, said Long. Well
before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency directives, Mercury Marine took the industry lead in the early 80s, to begin developing the low emissions technology for the future. Many of these direct injection two-stroke technology marine products are now in the marketplace exceeding the EPA 2006 emissions standards.
The Mercury 135 Optimax is one primary example: Its the first and only direct fuel injected two-stroke outboard to achieve certification at the CARB Ultra Clean 3-Star exhaust emissions level --- one of the most stringent state EPA administrations in the nation. This same engine is marketed throughout the nation, with no special changes just for California.
We are proud to accept this award and endorsement from the Bluewater Network, said George Buckley, Brunswick Corporation chairman and CEO. Our commitment to innovation will keep Mercury at the forefront of legislative and customer preference trends, said Buckley. Mercury expects to maintain its leadership position in low-emission technology by continuing to invest heavily in new product development, he added. Customers are demanding
the features and benefits that these products deliver.
Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Brunswick Corporation is a global marketer and manufacturer of leading consumer brands including
Mercury and Mariner outboard engines; Mercury MerCruiser sterndrives and inboard engines; Sea Ray, Bayliner and Maxum pleasure boats; Baja high-performance boats; Boston Whaler and Trophy offshore fishing boats; Life Fitness, Hammer Strength and ParaBody fitness equipment; Brunswick bowling centers, equipment and consumer products; and Brunswick billiards tables.
Capt. Dave Sutton
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Capt. Ralph Piñeiro
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 08, 2001 - 8:27 pm: | |
Subject: Fish Report - Jan 7, 2001
1/7/2001
Happy New Century everyone! Hope you've had a chance to break-in that new rod Santa brought you, we sure have. Fishing is pretty good, the only problem is that it has been really cold every morning, and makes it had to roll out of bed. We've had a stretch of about three weeks now where the highs stay in the high 60's, maybe 70 or 71. This certainly been the coldest winter (so far) in
several years. The water in Biscayne Bay is cold. My
thermometer read a chilly 56 degrees yesterday, so you might as well forget about catching bait or just about anything else in the Bay. I hope the snook and such move outside or we might start seeing dead fish (due to cold)floating belly up. Bait continues to be hard to round up sometimes.
We are marking it on the depth finder in the deeper channels but they do not want to hit the sabikis.
The high winds and cold weather triggered the shrimp run. The few shrimp netting aficionados brave enough to go out at night are netting their 5 gallon bucket of the tasty pink delicacies in short time. Sailfish and Kingfish head the list of catches. The temperature at the reef has dropped
to around degrees F. Sails have been best at
around 140 feet, and Kings at 110 to 125 feet. Bonito and a few scattered dolphin usually show up to pick the kite baits.
14 year old Tracy caught her first king aboard my boat yesterday, some nice mangrove snappers and a very large barracuda that decided to crash our reef fishing party. The kings and some grouper can be caught with jig/ballyhoo rigs, live baits, or even a whole squid, a fillet of mullet or other fresh bait.
It's time to Go Catchin', call us we'll take you where they are biting, and don't forget to release one for tomorrow's anglers!
Capt. Ralph Piñeiro
Gon' Catchin' Charters |
Capt. Ralph
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2000 - 6:53 pm: | |
Subject: South Florida Report - 11/11/2000
It has been a great late summer season. We found largerschoolie dolphin all year, more than in years past. Maybe this is due to the fact that we have been going farther out than most people. With gas prices staying very high, most anglers and captains are happy to stay closer to shore.
There are plenty of fish in close though they seem to be on the smaller side. Also most charters have raised their prices to reflect the higher gas prices. Our prices have not changed so keep this in mind when booking your next trip.
Yesterday we had a great day. We caught several nice dolphin in 250 to to 440 feet of water (the edge of the Gulfstream). There were large patches of sargassum (weed) from 200 to 350 and most boats stayed there. After catching some dolphin, I was planning to do some bottom fishing but all the reports on the VHF (radio) were mediocre at best.
I decided to go farther offshore in what proved to be a great call. We saw only one boat out. In about 700 feet we found floating boards (though no weed). Near the other boat we picked up a few more dolphin and 1 wahoo, but decided to leave after spotting some frigates and other birds about a mile away.
A large school of skipjack tuna busting bait on the surface proved to be responsible for the birds' activity. My anglers had a bast catching
quite a few on Billy Baits' Mini Turbo Slammers, and kept two for each angler.
It took about an hour to clean fish at the dock. Our final tally was 23 dolphin, 5 to 12 pounds, 8 skipjacks 10 to 15 #, 1 wahoo, 2 large tripletails,
and 14 almico jacks. Very nice day indeed.
Sailfish and kingfish muttons, and grouper are on the reef when there is some current, but their numbers are still increasing and are not really
thick yet. Another cold front past by last night and the 4 species mentioned above will continue to increase. For the rest of the month, though, if
you want numbers, and its a nice day, dolphin and tuna will be your best bet.
Call us and we'll take you where they are biting. Please don't forget to release some for tomorrow's anglers.
Capt. Ralph...
Gon' Catchin' Charters
www.GonCatchin.com
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Captain Dave Sutton
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2000 - 7:11 pm: | |
Subject: The Winds of the Fall
The Winds of the Fall
This is the beginning of the windy season here in So. Florida. The beginning of October is the start, and the ending is a lifetime away in late April/May. To those of us who opt for the flats boat that is a dream to pole in eight to ten inches of water, this is the bumpy season. The season of the rough runs across Biscayne Bay in the afternoons with the winds whipping up and a two to three foot chop between you and your trailer.
The only good part of the whole scenario is the winds cool off the flats and the bonefish begin to school. As the water temperatures fall out of the eighties the bonefish get more and more comfortable. The ideal temperature range for bones is between 76 & 78 degrees. As the winds turn the water and the fall rains help cool off the flats the chances of a South Florida Grand Slam increases two fold.
The permit of the summer are still around in good numbers and the bonefish start to feed much more aggressively. The Tarpon are "the dirty end of the slam" as most of the guides say during this time of year. Knowing where to find some juvenile tarpon is the key to obtaining a grand slam for your anglers. I keep watch on a few deep cuts next to mangroves all summer .... just to have the chance to clean up on a chance to slam in the fall. The young tarpon hold in areas that provide cover and a good source of food as well as the snook in the summer in Biscayne Bay, and that means under the cover of mangroves. You will find the spots if you look real close, look under the edges of the mangroves that are bordered by flats that get only one to two inches deep during the lower stages of the tides. Here is the sanctuary that will keep them safe from fisherpeople and the other threats from hawks and eagles from above. Also it is here the bait fish will have to retreat from the outgoing tides.
This years is showing the presence of many more permit that we have seen in a number of years. I have sat on the fingers of Cutter Bank and in one day, shown twenty permit to an angler who has only seen twenty in their fishing career here in So. Florida. Ten chances to make a good cast is a great percentage when you are dealing with the permit. Most of the time you have a second and a half to make the perfect cast or the fish sees your motion .... or the push of the boat alerts him ... or just his uncanny senses tell him to evacuate the area. This is where having a hull designed for poling where they swim is a must. A quiet and shallow drafting hull is my most important tool on the flats.
Just remember one thing "if you don't use your boat at least once a month ... it is cheaper to hire a professional guide to fish with ...... and a lot more productive ......." This I agree with totally, especially with the cost of the new hull designs. There are a few inexpensive hulls out there ... but remember ... you get what you pay for.
As for what I have been using to catch the top three ... the best is always live bait. A couple of dozen shrimp and a few crabs will make for a great chance if you can interrupt the paths of our prized bonefish and permit. Throwing a crab at a snook or a tarpon that is hiding in the shadows of some mangrove roots will produce a lighting strike also, but if you don't have the stick to keep him out he will have you tying new knots in a hurry. Always remember to use the fluorocarbon leader materials when fishing clear waters due to their ability to be invisible. I use Seaguar, and have been for many years, and have seen a major increase in hook up rates since. In my opinion, Seaguar seems to be the best fluorocarbon that I have used.
On the fly we have been having good luck with the Borski's style flies. His fur shrimp and the various combinations that you can tie from this pattern has been very productive. There is a new pattern variation called a "Qua" that has been working very well for the permit. It is a crab variation with a spawning sac of orange at the bend of the hook. Always tie them in weedless .. and use fluorocarbon as material for this. You can go to my web site for the tying instructions of a brown crab and in the next month I will add the "Qua" variation.
Well, tight lines and quick releases .....
Capt. Dave Sutton
Captain Dave Sutton is a full time fishing Guide in Miami's Biscayne Bay, the upper Keys and the Everglades, an outdoor writer, a fly tying instructor for Biscayne Bay Fly Shops.
The Captain wants to here your stories, comments or to call and book a trip, please call (305) 248-6126 His E-Mail address is djsutton@bellsouth.net and the website address is:
www.saltwater-flyfisherman.com
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