Fishing Report for Miami, Florida

What a 1 week fishing plan! It started Saturday night we went swordfishing. We were fishing 3 live baits between 100 and 300 feet down plus a rigged squid at 100 feet. Our first strike was on the 300 foot live bait and after a 45 minute battle, we pulled the hook. The next 3 strikes came on the rigged squid at 100 feet and resulted in the catch and release of swordfish of about 40, 50 and 70 pounds. We made 4 sets and got 3 out of 4 swordfish. The anglers were tired and we called it a night. Tuesday it was off to Bimini for a couple days. We fished some wrecks the first day and found loads of hungry amberjacks up to 60 pounds. These guys would come right to the surface behind the boat to engulf any offering. We saw some african pompano, but got no strikes from them. The yellowtails and lane snappers were quite a challenge to get past the amberjacks. Grouper jigging only produced 3 big sharks in the late afternoon. The next day it was disappointing to try for yellowtails due to their 11 to 14 inch size. Deep dropping produced a beautiful catch of yelloweye snappers for future dinners. With flat calm seas the crossings were spectacular. Thursday night I fished with 12 year old Kris and his dad Bill for snook and tarpon. With some fatherly generosity, Kris out fished his dad by catching a 27 inch snook for dinner and a 40 pound tarpon. Bill did get a matching 27 inch snook. Friday’s daytime fishing would make a guide want to become a caddie. One very small dolphin and a remora are not why people charter us for fishing trips. Golf anyone? Friday night we made up for our daytime failure. We left the marina at 7 PM hoping to catch a swordfish and make history. Marty Arostegui, his son Martini (10) and I hoped to catch a swordfish on fly at night off the Miami coast. About 3 years ago an angler in Africa caught 4 or 5 on fly at night, but since then none have been reported anywhere in the world to our knowledge. We ran to 1300 feet of water off Key Biscayne and put a rigged squid down 100 feet and floated it 200 feet off the side of the boat. Next we deployed a live blue runner down 200 feet and 100 feet off the side of the boat. As I set up our fish attracting Hydroglow light, Marty rigged his 14 weight fly rod with a very fast sinking line and a fly he had tied with 2 hooks producing a 10 inch artificial bait with a Lunker Light cyalume in the middle of the feathers. As we were drifting along telling fishy ghost stories to Martini, Marty was diligently casting out his fly, letting it sink through the glowing halo of the Hydroglow light and then twitch and strip and work his fly rod. Within a half an hour a fish slammed his fly. His rod surged down and then was repeatedly jerked down as the unseen adversary obviously shook his head. The fish lunged away, stopped, shook his head and was gone as the line went slack. An hour latter Martini was sound asleep and Marty and I talked of fishing past and future. Suddenly the fly rod was jerked toward the water. Marty was hooked up on the fly rod. As I cleared the closest line, Marty’s fish ran in circles and then straight away for about 100 yards. With the battlefield clear, Marty started to gain line. I honestly don’t know if it was 10 minutes or 30 as I watched for a sign of the fish as it rose toward the boat. I wanted it to be a sword as much as Marty did, but I knew it was a tuna, or jack or shark. Suddenly I could see the leader in the glow of the Hydroglow, then I could see the Lunker Light in the fly. There was the bill. (a chill runs up my spine as I relive this moment typing at the computer) IT’S A SWORD I holler as the fish comes to the surface. Marty Arostegui is the first person to our knowledge to catch a swordfish off the coast of Miami, Florida, or the east coast of the United States of America or maybe outside of Africa on a cast and retrieved fly. This was definitely one of my most memorable fishing moments.