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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
CaptainIDS (Captainids)
New member
Username: Captainids
Post Number: 48
Registered: 9-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 - 10:17 am: | |
Are you a Licensed Coast Guard Captain?
This is for you
http://www.captainids.com/ |
Capt. Jim Barlett (Beast_charters)
New member
Username: Beast_charters
Post Number: 23
Registered: 8-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 12:23 pm: | |
Is the fishing good here in South Florida? You be the judge! Mother Nature lowers the boom on us here and almost turns us from Capt. Heroes to Capt. Zeroes.
Yesterday I took out a father and son for an attempt at their first Sailfish catch. The day started off on the wrong side of the bed when I was awakened by my wife's shriek "Oh my God, I overslept!" The truth of it was that she had overslept by 1 hour but I was only 15 minutes behind. I hustled and regained those minutes and everything was on an even keel again as I headed for the dock. As I was loading the boat I realized I left my thermos of coffee sitting on the Harley in the garage. CRAP! Being a major coffee drinker I wondered, do I have time to make it home and back? Not wanting to risk it I waited for Mark and Ben. Well they arrived 30 minutes late, so I would've had plenty of time to make the coffee run but didn't want to chance it. I cast off the lines and pumped them full of adrenalin with the coming day. Conditions were so-so. Winds were huffing at around 15-20 knots out of the SE and they were calling for 4-6' seas laying back in the afternoon to 2-4'. It has been blowing hard for about 5 days out of the East.
The run down the Bay was uneventful and smooth. We rounded the headpin at Caesars Creek and headed South towards Key Largo on the ocean side. "Doesn't look too bad" I said as we're cruising the short 5 miles to my favorite bait patch. As we pulled out of Hawks Channel and into the shallower patches, the water stood higher and higher. We were looking at 4-6' water and the patch is only in 15' of water. I put out a block of chum and began cutting the bait. We waited, and waited, the water looked like creamed pea soup and the bait is not showing up for the party. I called Jerry on the "Palowan" who was down at the other end of the patch and he said he had been there an hour and no signs of bait. "Palowan" pulled anchor and headed for the "bent stake" patch. I couldn't believe the Ballyhoo were not showing on my end where I have been crushing them time and time again. I heard Jerry telling someone in Ocean Reef that he was seeing a few baits at bent stake but not coming close enough to even try to catch. I decided to try it to the north, because I noticed running down that the water got rougher the farther South I ran. I ran up towards Pacific to another patch I use in these cases. We waited and waited and then as I added the next 7# block of chum we saw one or two Ballyhoo. What in the world is going on? I took a chance and pulled up to run right to Pacific light where I had seen 'hoo by the thousands running home from a night of Swordfishing not too long ago. There was some cleaner water in that area and I saw them darting from the boat as we were slowly running. I found a spot and this time I anchored right there. The occasional glimpse of bally's and 1 in the livewell. Not Good. Now I am telling them I have 1 more block of chum and here it goes. The morning was almost gone. "If we don't get bait, you get a free boat ride" I told them. This has NEVER happened to me before. Tough yes, but none, no!! I pulled anchor and hunted the 'hoo down again in about 18' of water and dropped the anchor for my final attempt. About 15 minutes later the seas started to lay back, the water cleared some more, and we started seeing some Chubs, then some juvenile Yellowtail, and then more and more 'Hoo started to show. They still won't eat. What did I do to deserve this? BAM, like someone threw a switch, they turned on to feed mode and we were catching them on every cast. I even got them in close enough for a throw of the net and got 18 in the net so we had close to 4 dozen and it was 12:30. I wiped my brow and was thankful for the deodorant because I was sweating bullets.
Let's get out there, quick. We busted out the short 1/2 mile to the deeper water in 135' and started to setup. I was attempting to bait the 4th line when the right rigger went off. Ben (the kid) took the rod and I saw it starting to bend and then go slack. "Take this one!" I said as the flat line tripped off. Once again, no hookup. Well at least we were fishing and not looking for bait. I hung there for about another 1/2 hour when I heard "Palowan" (Jerry) telling someone he didn't start fishing until about 12:30 and already had 2 releases. We decided to make the 15 minute run south to the "53" and try and cash in on some action ourselves. Four boats were there working a beautiful rip in 130'. All the bites were in 135-140'. I wonder why, not! All we could do is watch as they caught a few more, so I decided to pull out the downrigger. I kept waiting my turn in the group, politely, jockeying for position in the rip. There it is and I made my move. Bam zoom! The downrigger misses a strike and then quickly after resetting it produces a "snake" King of about 8 lbs. I put on a HORSE ballyhoo, dropping the bait 50' below the surface. About 30 seconds go by and KAPOW, the reel is smokin'. Ben on this one again and it is beating him up. Look! A Sailfish is chasing a free bait 50' from the boat. I pitched a bait to him as he was disappearing but it was too late. Maybe not. I yelled to Mark to grab the flat line on the other side because it tripped and line was paying out. He flipped the bail and we are hooked up on each side of the boat. Ben worked his fish to the boat and I gaffed his tired King Mackerel that weighed in at 34.9 lb. Now I have Mark on a fish and it is dogging him deep. Quick Ben, grab the rigger and get him. Now I have Mark and Ben hooked up and with that thought both fish take to the sky. Double header Sailfish is what I'm talkin' 'bout. We landed both fish and the guys each have their first Sailfish under their belts. Missing 2 more Sails when Ben got another attempt which he calls a 1/2 catch because the leader parted 50' from the tip. Done Deal!
We fished late because I wanted to make up for the late start and crappy bait conditions and mostly because the bite was on! The sun was setting as we pulled lines and headed for home. We raised 7 Sails with 2 releases, 2 Kingfish and a few peanut Dolphin. Mark was extremely happy. He loved The BEAST (compliments to WorldCat) and said it was a pleasure to fish with me. He made that point clear when he gave me a very generous tip for my determination and 100% effort. Another satisfied customer of Beast Fishing Charters.
Capt. Jim
305-233-9996
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com |
Merijo Attong (Lady_snook)
New member
Username: Lady_snook
Post Number: 3
Registered: 5-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 07, 2005 - 8:16 am: | |
Capt. Jim Hale’s Florida and Biscayne Bay fishing report from 9/1/05 to 10/6/05
Fishing days have been numbered throughout September by tropical systems and too much fresh water in Biscayne Bay and in parts of Florida Bay. Florida Bay is coming back with a lot less fresh water than three weeks ago. My usual flats for the bonefish in Biscayne Bay are just now starting to hold fish again. Since the South Florida water management was letting out a lot of the fresh water into the Bay the ratio of fresh to salt was extremely high.
This is my first fishing report since Hurricane Katrina and the following has been my observations while fishing. The landscape has changed in Florida Bay in some areas such as Cape Sable, Lake Ingram, Shark River and some of the run offs into Florida Bay common from Hurricane Katrina. Some of my targeted spots for fishing under and by mangroves and points are now under water or have washed away, making for numerous snags, but hasn’t deterred the fish from eating, as a matter of fact it has made for more protection for the fish looking for their next meal!
Black Drum started showing up early this year, they have not been the 20 to 30 lbers, but we have caught them up to 10lbs in the deeper cuts with good water flow using shrimp tipped jigs. Along with the drum some good-sized reds have also been taken. Fishing the mangroves around Florida Bay has been producing good to a very good snook bite. Some days are producing up to 20 fish a day and the average size has been in the keeper range, most all of these fish have been released to catch another day. Tarpon of all sizes are still here in some of the deeper water around the flats. The bite, however, was not that great because the fish must have been full from all the baitfish around. I have jumped a couple of big poons on the gulf side, seems to be a lot of them over there.
The flats around Flamingo have been red hot on some days and other days the only bite is from that horse fly doing circles around the boat that just wont leave you alone! I had the pleasure of taking Bob Maucher, from Outdoor Florida Magazine, out last week. We fished the flats for reds and snook and had a pretty decent day catching 5 good-sized reds and missing a whole lot more. Just one of those days where the fish didn’t like the hook, we saw an estimated 100 fish tailing the flats, no schools but singles everywhere. We were field-testing some of the baits I had mentioned in my last report, mostly Gambler plastics. They have come out with a new line and the 5” super stud bleeding shrimp was knocking the redfish out. Gambler also has a bullet weight that is no slide and can be brought up and down on the leader that I feel in love with. Spike-It holographic baits made by grand bay lures have been a great snook lure fishing them in potholes on the flats or around mangroves. I want to thank Val Osinski for supplying us with Gambler lures and hope that the future anglers out there can see the value of what I believe to be a great lure.
More reports from Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay will be coming soon. Let’s pray for some good weather and some better fishing conditions. If you are eager to bend a rod on some of these reds and snook call Island Fishing Adventures and book today.
Tight lines and gin clear water
Capt. Jim Hale
Cane Polin’ Charters
800-950-FINS, ext. 1 |
Johnny Mastando (Soundspirit)
New member
Username: Soundspirit
Post Number: 1
Registered: 5-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 17, 2005 - 11:00 pm: | |
Hi there I"m looking for some fishing friends in Tampa as well as Miami - I"m a native Ny'r Living in Los Angeles - thinking of moving to FLA but need to find out more about the fishing the CA fishing is pretty amazing - Looking forward to chatting. Johnny |
Anonymous
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 06, 2005 - 10:39 am: | |
Cane Polin’ Charters fishing report from April 1st to the 25th
Since my last report at the end of March I was not able to be on the water for the first two weeks of April as my father, who taught me how to fish and love the sea, passed away. Out of the 12 days available in April I fished 10 so far.
Being back on the water from the 15th of April until today, the sunny skies and brisk winds have brought at times some great flats fishing. With the water starting to warm up large numbers of bonefish, some of them being monsters, have been showing up in Biscayne Bay. Large snook and redfish have also made their presence known. Now that we are in the late part of April tarpon are now showing up in smaller schools. There have been some permit sightings but at this time they are still hit and miss. Some days I’ve seen 12 to 15 permit and some days seeing 0 to 1. As May approaches hopefully the winds will settle down a little bit and the cold fronts will diminish making a large push for permit. The weather this year seems to be a month behind the norm for South Florida.
As I had some cancellations this month I choose to go out and do some fun fishing of my own. I finally got to bend a rod myself. As the typical charters catching snook, bone and redfish I do have some great highlights to share with you.
April 15th on a snook fishing trip in Biscayne Bay we came across 10 to 15 snook over 12 lbs. But the finicky critters wouldn’t eat live mullet or shrimp, so we resorted to pinfish. After seeing many large snook we spotted one estimated over 30 lbs. After tracking this fish for 30 minutes we decided to blind cast the mangroves. In doing so we hooked into a large mangrove snapper and out of the corner of my eye I watched the 30 lb snook come out of the mangroves and chomp the snapper. The fight lasted about 8 seconds, GO FIGURE!
April 20th poling the flats on another windy day we went looking for snook. Numerous snook seen darting in and out of the mangroves produced two feisty snook for the angler, one of 8 lb and the other 6.
April 23rd with old time friend James Dillard we decided to hunt for permit and bonefish in Biscayne Bay. As you recall last month with Jim, the winds and timing just wasn’t there for him. A beautiful cast on an estimated 12 lb permit produced once again an empty hook. The permit was glad to take his crab and leave him the hook. Being in his rut he decided to chase down some redfish. Then again the black cloud just followed him. He put beautiful casts on plenty of large redfish but none would chomp.
On April 24th in route for a charter at Ocean Reef, I received a call that the clients needed to cancel at the last minute. Since being on the water already, I decided to try and bend a rod for myself. Making two casts one landing a large shark and the other landing a 15 lb bonefish. Knowing no one would believe me I netted him and took the picture as evidence.
Bones, reds and snook are here now in full force and permit are right around the corner. Like I said before the tarpon are starting to show up and should be in full force REEL soon. Open dates are filling fast.
Talking to you soon!
Capt. Jim Hale
786-255-1788 / 305-926-7423
jim@canepolincharters.com
www.canepolincharters.com |
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