Featured Image

Fishing Report for Miami, Florida

0 likes
By Bouncer Smith
It has been a challenging week for offshore fishing. We have had some good days by including some inshore fishing with our offshore trips. Tuesday was ladies day. The trip started with running south till we found blue water and good northbound current in near the reef. The first drift produced one meager bite. The second was payday with a 10 pound grouper, 8 pound bonita, double header of a 8 pound king mackerel and a 4 pound snapper and then a 25 pound bull dolphin. The bad part was that the next 6 drifts fail to produce a fish. We ran offshore to 15 miles and back to the inlet without seeing a fish. Wednesday we stayed at the inlet with 2 very young boys and their father. We had 3 tarpon on for up to 30 minutes, but failed to get the leader on any of them. As the tide was nearing low, we tried for snook and got 3 from 8 to 18 pounds. It made for a great success for all the guys. Thursday night offered the best tarpon with 4 releases over 80 pounds on 4 strikes. When you want to fish tarpon in June around Miami, the bait of choice is usually live crabs. A few local tackle shops sell them for around $1.50 each. Rig with 60 pound monofilament leader and a 7/0 or 8/0 Eagle Claw L2004EL circle hook. Hook the crab through one of it’s points and you are ready to fish. To get the hook through the shell be sure you twist the hook from side to side to drill the hook through the shell or it will break, killing the crab. If the wind is light, use floats to keep the crabs off the bottom. Friday was one of the good days. Mike caught his first sailfish in 115 feet of water on a live herring, his son Joel got a dolphin and we finished the trip with a nice tarpon on a live crab at Government Cut. That trip also produced a couple king mackerel in 180 feet of water on the live bait. Saturday morning produced lots of small dolphin for all the boats till 10 AM, but the rest of the day was spent dodging rainstorms till we caught a tarpon on the way home. Plan that swordfish or Bimini trip soon. Always release some for the future, Bouncer