
Fishing Report for Miami, Florida
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By Bouncer Smith
It’s been another good week of fishing on Bouncer’s Dusky 33. Well catching anyway. We had a lot of rain, but in between we had quite a few tarpon, a couple snook and a day of sailfish. Monday was a day to remember for tarpon with strikes on almost every drift both day and night. We caught 4 during the day off of at least a dozen strikes. We also had several that we got near the boat and then got off. That night we got 2 and fought a couple more. As can happen, the next day there were no tarpon in the morning. My angler expressed an interest in catching a snook, so we tried some casting along the jetties with the new Storm “Wild Eyes”. We fought a big one for several minutes before he got in the rocks and cut the leader. The next one we were luckier. This was a nice 10 to 12 pounder that fought gallantly, but came to the boat for a good photo and release. In the evening the tarpon were back. The 2 young anglers caught beautiful tarpon and lost a couple more. We finished off the evening with a nice 20+ pound permit right at quitting time. Wednesday was a little slower. We got 2 of 4 tarpon including the biggest of the week at about 110 pounds. On of the ones that got away was over 130. An the rains came. The rest of the weekdays were rained out. All the tarpon this week ate live crabs. They are rigged on 80 pound mono leaders with 7/0 Eagle Claw L2222 circle hooks. When the wind is calm we use a balloon 12 feet above the bait. When the fish strikes we do nothing as the reel is already in gear and the fish hooks himself better if you give him a little time before starting the fight. Use 3 pounds of drag for the first few minutes, then increase your drag to 20 or 25% of your line strength. Saturday we had a charter to fish the Associated Builders and Contractors Tournament out of Pompano. The seas were 6 to 8 feet and close together on the way out. Fortunately, once outside in the north bound current it was a little calmer. The action started fast with a sailfish and then a 40 pound wahoo eating our live goggle eyes. This double header got everyone smiling. The morning action was good with 2 out of 3 more sailfish releases and a 17 pound blackfin tuna and a 7 pound king mackerel. The afternoon was slow, but produced another sailfish, a triggerfish and a small shark. The sails were fun, but not eligible for the tournament. The 3 weight fish were good enough for us to claim largest wahoo, 2nd place tuna, top junior angler and 3rd place boat out of 61. A good end to the week.