Miami Fishing Charters
Capt. Jim Hale
www.floridasportfishingcharters.com
786-255-1788
May 15 2011
I was supposed to be fishing today but with a bad weather system moving in I thought I would write a little about my last week fishing here in Paradise.
The weather has been beautiful up until this morning, most days have been calm and rain free but with the rainy season fast approaching it looks like we will get back to the normal pattern of afternoon showers and storms like a usual late May and June fishing season.
Tarpon fishing has been excellent in all of South Florida. From Flamingo to all of the Keys and Miamis' Biscayne Bay. At Flamingo there have been Tarpon out front resting just a foot or two under the surface waiting to ambush a unlikely mullet and also there has been a good push of Tarpon swimming on the outside banks of the gulf, they are eating flies real good right now for all you fly fishermen. In the Keys there are a ton of Tarpon around the Bridges, they are eating live bait like crazy, and in Miami, Government Cut and the local bridges have been red hot with action.
Lets start with the Keys. There are several bridges that are holding an enormous amount of LARGE Tarpon. On Friday Sandy Ange of North Carolina caught one of 130 pounds using a live bait. We hooked 13 Tarpon more and I would guess each one was over 130 pounds but only boated the two. The last Tarpon was to big to get close to, and after an hour fight Elton Ange lost him to a shark. We were using live bait ....can't say what, but it was live bait! But we are using a 5/0 circle hook on 6 feet of 80 pound fluorocarbon leader. Also early mornings and evenings there has been a good Tarpon bite in the middle Keys, we are floating live crabs well away from the bridges on outgoing tides.
At Flamingo where the Tarpon are hanging out waiting for a meal, there are several spots where they are resting just under the surface and will eat just about any fly or bait you throw. We had one day last week I got to fish with friends and we hooked and boated 3 on fly in less than a hour and most of the Tarpon were an estimated around 80 pounds. The flies they were eating are small black and purple toads on 1/0 SC-15 Gamagatsu hooks. For the leaders we are using "The Homestead good ole boy leader system"!.....We will get into that one at a later date.
Around the Miami area, bridges are holding some of the smaller Tarpon and they are eating live Shrimp. Last night Elton Ange of North Carolina hooked up 7 Tarpon and landed one for a photo. The Tarpon are hanging around the street light shadow under the bridges, they are waiting for shrimp to naturally flow through the bridges and gulp them up. So we are "matching the hatch" and are free lining live shrimp back to the Tarpon but are losing some the the bridge pilings.
We are using 25 pound braided line with a 40 pound fluorocarbon leader and a # 92673 1\0 Mustad hook
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In Government Cut we jumped 3 Tarpon over 100 pounds but lost all to spit hooks, We were using "tarpon Crabs" which are crabs that are similar in size to the palm of your hand, we are putting these on 5\0 circle hooks and 6 feet of 60 pound fluorocarbon leaders with a barrel swivel.
This week will be excellent for Tarpon fishing at night in Miami with favorable outgoing tides through the night.
Also in Miami , Biscayne Bay has been on fire with huge amounts of Bonefish on certain flats. There are schools of 10 to a 100 or more fish. We have done well using small live crabs. Mike Okeef of London England caught a nice 10 pound Biscayne Bay Bonefish on a live crab. I have seen more Bonefish this year than I have seen in many of years so lets hope they stick around and we will have a great year Bonefishing!
I have some openings at night for 4-5 hour trips if you are staying close to Miami and would like to fight a Tarpon.
Good luck
Capt. Jim Hale
