The summer doldrums have passed and the weather is showing signs that our most beloved Florida winter is arriving. This week we had back to back cool fronts making the ambient air temperatures very comfortable, which is why most of us live in South Florida. Along with these cool fronts come cooler sea surface temperatures, blustery winds, and big seas. Now that doesn't always happen as forecasted. Those of us that "stick our nose out there" and head offshore can tell you that the weather forecasts are wrong as much as they are right. The sea temperature has finally fallen below the 80 degree mark which is a good indicator that we are coming into our prime fishing season. So let's talk fishing, shall we?
The offshore fishing world has been phenomenal for lack of a more emphatic word. The following episode is of a trip that Amy, Devon, and I made for fun last Thursday. We were going to get in a good practice run for upcoming charters. Every now and then we need to justify spending all those dollars on fuel, just for fun!
The day started out at 7AM just like every other trip but we were in casual mode, a no pressure scenario. That sure does feel good every once in a while not to mention that we all get to actually catch the fish for a change. As we headed across beautiful Biscayne Bay we realized that the moderate chop forecasted was nothing more than a very light chop. We started off the day by catching about a dozen Blue Runners and then headed off for a bait patch that tends to hold larger Ballyhoo. The Ballyhoo have been averaging just above "Dink" size so we opted to try this patch first. As we exited Casears Creek we once again made note that the winds were blowing from the NNW but the seas were not the 4-6 feet that they had predicted but rather a mild 2-3 feet. Immediately upon putting the chum bag out the ‘hoo started showing up. We caught about 2 dozen of them real quick and suddenly not only did the bite shut down but the fish completely disappeared. No Ballyhoo in sight, nor any tiny Yellowtails or other chum eaters. We quickly picked up and headed for another reliable bait patch rather than wasting time. We setup and the Bally's came in hungry and stupid. We caught several more and then I threw the cast net and topped of our live bait situation. We had plenty of bait for the day with a dozen Blue Runners and 5 or more dozen Ballyhoo. Or did we?
We departed our bait patch and made the short jaunt offshore to our first destination. Deploying 2 rigger lines, 2 flat lines, and downrigger, we were in business. It didn't take long and we had a Kingfish in the boat. Devon was working his speed jigs deep off the bottom and scored on a Mutton Snapper in a few short minutes. Next fish in was another Kingfish while Devon kept working his jigs. He had his jig almost to the boat when a Bonito hit his jig and pulled the rod to the gunnel on the strike. The action was hot and heavy under the surface when several nice Dolphin came in and tore up our top baits. After about and hour of this heavy action it died off so I put up a kite to refresh everybody's memory on that style of fishing. I only flew one bait off it while pulling the same full compliment of rigs off the stern like we had started with. The bite had turned off as quickly as it began. We stuck it out for another hour.
I decided since there was no current to speak of, that we should run to a good wreck and try dropping some live bait. Maybe some nice bottom fish would play a little game of tug-of-war with us. We arrived and set up on our first drift. Amy dropped a small Runner and I dropped a small Ballyhoo. Something grabbed Amy's Runner and mashed it then let go. Seconds later my Ballyhoo got hit and I cranked it up as quickly as I could. A nice legal Mutton came aboard. I reminded everyone to wind them in as fast as possible to keep them out of the wreck and away from the "guard dogs" (sharks). We made several drifts and most produced something including an African Pompano and half of a large Amberjack. Yep, half of an AJ, the guard dogs got the other half. Just as happened at the other spot has now happened here and the bite turned off.
It was approaching the afternoon bite time and we ran in to the reef edge to once again set up. I love when the clocks are turned back to EST and we can fish the early morning and the late afternoon in a single day. We hooked up a couple more Kingfish and Devon got a nice King which hit his speed jig just below the boat. We removed the downrigger line and went strictly for Sailfish and Dolphin on the surface. I put the kite up once again and put 2 baits out on it to compliment the 2 rigger lines and 2 flat lines. As we sidled past another boat we saw them hook up on a Sailfish. NICE! A half mile north of that boat we had a fish take the short flat line and when it skied out of the water to reveal a nice 25 pound cow Dolphin, Devon jumped on the rod. Within seconds of that, our short kite bait gets hit and I have a smaller bull on. The smaller bull made it to the fish box but the cow was foul hooked and giving Devon a workout. The first gaff shot was a miss as she turned quickly as I was reaching at my limits to strike her. On the second pass we tried to muscle the fish in for a gaff shot and the hook pulled. Oh well, we had plenty of fish in the box.
About 15 minutes after that Dolphin barrage, I turned around from the helm quickly to see a Sailfish come up and eat our left rigger bait. We were on! I tried to get Amy to take the fish but she said it was my turn again since I never get to catch fish. I took the rod and fought this fish for about 10 minutes and told Devon that she felt like she was tail wrapped. Sure enough! We hurriedly pulled it in the rest of the way and got the hook out, then spent another 3 minutes reviving it for release. Her fins lit up blue and she pulled herself away from my grip and swam off into the depths. I now have boated my 14th caught Sailfish. That's what I said! I've had hundreds on hundreds caught from my boat but I've only caught 14 of them, personally. We set up for a short time more and got covered up in smaller school Dolphin and released them.
We decided to call it a day at 4:45 PM with only 4 baits left. Total for the day was 1 Sailfish, 13 Dolphin, 6 Kingfish, 2 Mutton Snapper, 1 African Pompano, 1 Bonito, and half of an Amberjack. On the way back to the barn it dawned on us that we had caught about 10 different species of South Florida fish in one day. That day, fuel prices were acceptable, because the smiles on our faces were priceless.
Capt. Jim
The BEAST
www.beastcharters.com
beastcharters@aol.com