Super Bowl Sunday and it's raining out this morning. I guess I better bring everybody up to speed on the fishing scene. I sure am behind schedule in this department.
January was a month of great fishing trips and even a couple slow ones, but I guess that is what makes us appreciate the good ones.
The first part of January we found us catching fair numbers of sailfish, plenty of mackerel and suffering with hot and cold tarpon action.
The first half of the month we found some nice grouper and snappers to spice that sailfish action along with some dolphin and king mackerel.
One of the things we did this month that we rarely do was some trolling for sailfish. Don Blake still needs a sailfish on a trolled flatline dead bait using 8 pound line for the Miami Beach Rod and Reel Club. We tried for that fish twice in January. on the 19th we fished way down south. The action was slow till after 3 PM. Then it got hot. We raised 6 sailfish. They stole Dons dead bait, they stole Sandy's live herring, Sandy caught one on a live herring with 12 pound line. Then the moment we were waiting for. Don was hooked up with a good fish on the right tackle. Of course, just like last month, Sandy had a good fish on as well. The lines crossed, Don's sailfish on the right tackle jumped and Sandy's line cut Don's leader in half. There went the sailfish. Of course Sandy boated her 21 pound king on 12 pound tackle. That fish scored over 750 points in the IWFA. We also caught a dolphin and a fat bonito.
The next day Fred and Lana Sheldon fished with their teenage son Aaron. Lana caught 1 sailfish and Aaron caught 2 sails. One of his had a hook in it, which we removed and replaced with a Billfish Foundation tag. A large number of bonito, a grouper, a mutton snapper and small amberjack filled out the day.
On Sunday January 21st was a rough day for Capt. Allan Sherman. His charter for fishing at Flamingo in Everglades National Park was my two sisters and myself. He sure showed us a great day as we caught about 100 fish of about 6 different flavors.
While we abused Allan, my two brothers-in-law fished with Capt. Pete Silot and caught snook, redfish, trout, goliath grouper and several other species of fish. It was a super fun day for all.
We fished with the Mountain Hermit (Bill) and a friend of his (Jeff) for three days the following week. These guys from Colorado caught 11 sails, and a variety of king, dolphin, bonito and barracuda for some good action on live herring under the kite.
We fished the Mayor's Cup Sailfish Tournament with Steve Nichols and caught 4 sailfish and the top king mackerel of the tournament. Steve took home a little check and a nice trophy picture.
This past week we had a variety of action. Monday we fished from 1 to 9 PM. We caught a dolphin and 1 of 3 sailfish we had on while kite fishing with live herring in 120 feet of water. We moved to fishing along the beach as darkness closed in. On the first drift using live shrimp we caught a 80 pound tarpon. On the second drift we caught a tarpon over 100 pounds. The guys were worn out and we headed for the dock.
Tuesday we had the Blakes out trolling for that sailfish again. We finally got abused by the sailfish. While the boats live baiting had numerous sailfish, we had no action. This was another 1 to 9 trip, and Sandy evened the score with the fish by catching two tarpon on 12 pound tackle in the inlet. One of these fish was about 100 pounds.
Wednesday we caught 3 bonito, a king, 3 dolphin and 3 sailfish on live herring off Key Biscayne.
Thursday we fished below Fowey Rocks Light and caught 5 of 6 sailfish, 4 dolphin, 3 small sharks, a big yellow jack and a cero mackerel.
Friday we skipped the day trip to work on the boat, but Trevor and Amanda caught a bunch of mackerel and a 100 pound tarpon in the evening.
Saturday we fished right in front of Government Cut in 150 feet of water and caught 3 sailfish and kings of 12, 20 and 28 pounds.
I hope we will see you at the boat show in a couple weeks. I will be at the Dusky Booth on Saturday and Sunday except when appearing in the Big Game Room.
Let's go catch some of those sailfish and tarpon. We have a few dates available in March and April. If you want tuna fishing in May, you need to make plans fast. The book is filling for those dates as well. E-mail me at captbouncer@bellsouth.net .
