2007

12/22/2007 06:36 AM

DECEMBER

December is the month all the offshore fishermen are waiting for. “It is sailfish season!” Winter has arrived with strong cold fronts. Temperatures can drop in to the low fifties and the winds can be more than 25 knots for a couple days or more. Conversely, this is not the season the flats fishermen are looking forward to. If I decide to make a run for it, I will have a full ski mask and gloves on over my heavy foul weather gear. We have no protection from the wind in our skiffs and often we are running right into it at 30 to 40 knots. That is more than 55 knots of wind. I do not know what the wind chill factor is, but it is damn cold especially after running 45 minutes into the back country. Then you take a shot of spray a couple times - burr! Do not forget to dress appropriately is my point, because the fish are still biting.

About the foul weather conditions on the water, I’m going to paraphrase a little what I wrote last month:

Offshore these winds are N.N.W. to E.N.E which are essentially an offshore wind and the chop will be 1 to 3 feet on the deep side of the reef (70’ to 200’) where we are sailfish fishing. When the wind pulls around to the E. to S.E. that is when it becomes an onshore wind and the seas build to 4’ to 6’ with a 20 knot wind. It is sporty, but still very fishable depending on your experience. These are the winds that drive the bait down the E. coast and up against the reef. Right behind the bait are the sailfish, “late-late season” dolphin, black fin tuna, kingfish, and wahoo. When it lays down to 10 knots out of the S.E., it is nice fishing the edge of the reef. Big grouper and mutton snapper fishing is very good on the wrecks and along the reef. Calmer conditions are needed to get the baits down on the wrecks. The fishing on the patch reefs starts to really turn on too.

In between the cold fronts we can have beautiful “spring like” days. If we get one of these cold fronts with strong winds do not let it detour you. Getting to the fish in the back country is no real problem with the waves. We just run the lee side of the flats and islands to get to areas that are sheltered by the trees on the islands or mainland shoreline. I’ve been out there catching fish with 30 knot winds blowing over the tops of the trees and virtually no wind affecting us, while fishing!

OFFSHORE FISHING:

This is it, sailfish season is here! This is when the sailfish are ambushing the ballyhoo on the reef into 20 feet of water. You can see over 500 ballyhoo fleeing across the water as sailfish are chasing them down, numerous times a day. They call it “showers” of ballyhoo, and it is a sight to see. We will run up to 300 yards with live ballyhoo, cigar minnows, or pilchards ready to throw at the slashing sailfish. Hopefully there are more than 6 sailfish in the melee where we have a good chance to get multiple hook-ups and rack up the releases.

This is a very exciting way to fish for sailfish, and everyone has to be on their toes to get it done. An accurate cast with a very fresh bait is often the rule. Sailfish will refuse a perfect cast with a tired bait, or a perfect bait cast off target. Then by the time you’re ready for the second cast, the sailfish might have sensed the boat. They’ll settle down a little, stop chasing the bait, and definitely refuse your bait. This is why you have to monopolize your chances while the sailfish are in the heat of the moment.

Believe me this is the “Heat of the Moment” in the boat too. There can be “overly excited directions” being vocalized by the “captain in the tower” to the mates and anglers in the cockpit, that can be heard over a hundred yards away. This can make for some great bar stool stories for years to come, and I’ve got some classics. One of my favorites is the “Reel Circles, not Squares!” story which happened while I was a mate for one of Islamorada’s great captains.

The Islamorada charter boats are experts in fishing the “ballyhoo showers” and can catch up to 20 sailfish in a day, and a few have even caught more than 20 sailfish. Now do not be intimidated by my extreme portrayal of “the heat of the moment” coaching by the captain to the team in the cockpit. Typically everyone is very professional, it’s just at times we got to yell over the wind and roar of the engines so all can hear exactly where the fish are to cast at. If it seems “a little over the top” let me give you a tip, refrain from making comparisons to Nick Saban down here in S. Florida.  ;-)

If the sailfish are not pushing the ballyhoo schools, we will be slow trolling live baits or flying a fishing kite and drifting. While we are fishing for sailfish we can catch black fin tuna, kingfish, dolphin, cobia, wahoo, cero mackerel, and even big barracudas while we are slow trolling or kite fishing with live baits. What I like about kite fishing is we are fishing for sailfish and the other fish on the surface with the kite and flat lines, and fishing for snapper and grouper on the bottom with a bottom rod or a deep jig or both.

If the sailfish are showering the ballyhoo we will be slow trolling live baits so we can quickly charge over to the melee of sailfish without having to bring the kite in. The cero mackerel also shower the ballyhoo and are quite fun to catch while waiting for the next group of sailfish. They slash and boil on the live bait we are trolling on the surface. If we get in a good school of them we can cast lures on #10 spinners or fly rods and have some sporty fun. They can be over 10 lbs. and are great eating.

More detail on the techniques and description of sailfish fishing is in my web site www.fish-killgore.com under the link: SAILFISH

Wahoo show up strong in December. Wahoo are found by mostly fast trolling with lures, plugs, or rigged ballyhoo behind big cigar leads just outside the reef line from 180 to 300 feet deep. If you know spots where they concentrate, you can fish for them with big speedos or blue runners by slow trolling. Wahoo up to 50 plus pounds are caught every year, but most of the wahoo are 25 to 35 lbs.

Trolling for grouper is also a good way to catch them in the winter if the water is clear. Big lipped magnum plugs, bonita lures, heavy skirted lures, and rigged de-boned ballyhoos are favorite riggs. They are trolled with wire lines or heavy braided lines with either heavy cigar leads or big planners to get the bait down to where the grouper will dare to leave their lair to eat a bait trolled by.

The patch reefs come alive this time of year too. You could make a living fishing these spots during the winter season. What a variety of fish you can catch there. The targets are decent size mutton snapper from 5 to 15 lbs. and keeper size groupers: blacks, gags, and red groupers. We also catch hog fish, mackerel (cero and Spanish), snappers (yellowtail, mangroves, and lane snappers), jacks, barracudas, and sharks for a fun rod bending experience. You can also get a nice cooler of fish fillets to take home or to a local restaurant for a smorgasbord of a meal. Usually they will prepared the fish three different ways.

INSHORE FISHING

We can still have some spring like days in between the cold fronts. These days are good for flats fishing for bonefish, permit, barracudas, and sharks on the ocean side flats. And back in the back country the redfish, snook, sea trout, jacks, and sharks will be on the flats too. But after a cold front we have to change our strategy, and fish deeper water where these fish will be seeking warmer water. The water temperature changes quickly on the shallow flats where the strong, cold wind cools the water fast, like a radiator. So all the flats fish will be in the channels, creeks, deeper basins, or deep water edges of these flats.

In these conditions bonefish will be mudding and cruising in areas three to five feet deep. We can pole the edges of the flats looking into the deeper areas for schools of bonefish mudding or schools cruising by, then pole out to intercept them with a cast. Some guides like to soak shrimp on three to five rods in areas where they are known to cruise by. This can be very effective in catching winter bonefish and a multitude of other flats fish for a rod bending fun day. Other guides like to throw handfuls of chop shrimp in the area then bind cast a shrimp tipped jig through the area. This is also a great way to catch cold water bonefish along with the other rod benders.

A great fish to sight cast to on the flats in the winter when the bonefish and permit are looking for warmer water are the barracuda. They often will be laid up on the white spots or hanging down current of sea fans, gorgonians, or Sargasso weed strings attached to the bottom. Cast a tube lure or a lure close by and crank it back fast. Hold on for a spectacular bite if you can fool them. Get ready for a couple short burning runs and a few nice jumps.  

The redfish, snook, baby tarpon, sea trout, ladyfish, jacks, and sharks will congregate in the deep channels and creeks when the water gets chilled by a cold front. There can be some bang up fishing when the fish pack it in there. Sometimes it can be as fast as you can put a bait in the water. Pilchards, pinfish, and shrimp tipped jigs are used. Keep in mind that snook season is closed Dec. – Feb.

Sea trout, ladyfish, and jacks will school up in the mullet muds in numerous basins around Flamingo. This is always a fun rod bending time. Kids love to do this. Remember, trout season is closed until the first of the year.

The Spanish mackerel will be hot and heavy just west of the inter-coastal waterway within 5 miles out. Take a few blocks of chum, live shrimp, pompano jigs, pilchards, spoons, lures, and flies – they will eat it all once you got them chummed up behind the boat. Often you will get mangrove snapper chummed up to, along with the sharks, blue fish, and be ready for a cobia to show up too.

Capt. Rick Killgore,

www.fish-killgore.com

305 - 852 – 1131 or  800 – 698 - 5773.

NOVEMBER

November is a great time to get out fishing here in Islamorada, both inshore and offshore. In between the early season cold fronts we have beautiful “spring like” days. If we get one of those early season cold fronts with strong winds and overcast “drizzly” rainy days, do not let it detour you. These conditions can turn certain species on. Getting to the fish in the back country is no problem. We just run the lee side of the flats and islands to get to areas that are sheltered by the trees on the islands or mainland shoreline. I’ve been out there catching fish with 30 knot winds blowing over the tops of the trees and virtually no wind affecting us.

Offshore these winds are N.N.W. to E.N.E which are essentially an offshore wind and the chop will be 1 to 3 feet on the deep side of the reef (70’ to 200’) where we are sailfish fishing. When the wind pulls around to the E. to S.E. that is when it becomes an onshore wind and the seas build to 4’ to 6’ with a 20 knot wind. It is sporty, but still very fishable depending on your experience. These are the winds that drive the bait down the E. coast and up against the reef. Right behind the bait are the “early season” sailfish, “late season” dolphin, blackfin tuna, kingfish, and wahoo. When it lays down to 10 knots out of the S.E., it is nice fishing the edge of the reef. Big grouper and mutton snapper fishing is very good on the wrecks and along the reef. Calmer conditions are needed to get the baits down on the wrecks.

INSHORE FISHING

SNOOK:

The "fall" is my favorite time to fish for snook, and my favorite place is the back country of the Everglades National Park in the "dense mangrove creeks", island motes, shorelines, and points. I have had days were we have caught more than 20 snook of all sizes. A good day is catching 8 to 10 snook, along with a few tarpon and mixed bag of other sporty fish like redfish, jacks, sea trout, jewfish, snapper, ladyfish, and maybe even a big shark which can account to catching more than 25 to 50 fish for the day.

Typically we use live bait to bang away at them and have a good "rod bending blast". My favorite live baits are pilchards, finger mullet, shrimp, and pinfish. We look for terns or pelicans diving on pilchards and mullet then catch them with a cast net. We can also cast lures and flies at these snook, tarpon, and other fish if that is what you like to do. They will eat top water lures and flies which is always a blast. On those overcast days they can hit top water lures like it’s dawn, sometimes all day. However, I do not recommend this for the novice, the action often is not as good as using live bait and we will miss more fish on top water too. For top water I like Zara Spooks (large and Jr. size), Bagley’s finger mullet, and Storm’s Chug Bug. Good colors are red and white; white, silver or copper and black back; and chartreuse. Any plug that “walks the dog,” and is in the size range of the others will work. For flies I like a deer hair sliders or small poppers in the same colors as the plugs, but I do have yellow and brown back sliders too. A little red is always good to have in the fly at the throat or nose. They will eat all types of hard crank baits, soft baits, and jigs typically more readily than top water lures.

We can also fish for snook on the flats as we are fishing for redfish in the back country. Often they will be hanging in the white pot holes, and will attack top water flies or lures - sometimes two at a time! There can be nice snook up to 12 lbs. They can also be cruising the flats and are also quite spooky, but if you get your lure in front of them before they spook, they will eat it. And what a nice run they make in shallow water, sometimes up to 75 yards. Then they come up shaking their head and you pray: “don’t shake that hook, please just don’t shake that hook.”

TARPON:

The big tarpon have moved on, but the juveniles stay to grow. We catch lots of tarpon in the 5 – 30 lbs. range with the occasional 50 – 80 lbs. tarpon. Again, the Everglades National Park is one of my favorite places to fish for baby tarpon back in the mangrove creeks, island motes, shorelines, and points. Quite often you can see these tarpon rolling and busting on bait a hundred yards away. Typically we catch a few mixed in with the snook we a fishing for. If you just want to target tarpon, we could do that all day and really bang away at them.

We also fish around the bridges for baby tarpon, especially if we are going to do a little bonefish and permit fishing that day. This can be hot fishing. We can catch up to 6 or more tarpon in a half day. We'll do about half a day each so the angler can experience both 1) the hunt for very challenging fish of the bonefish and permit, and 2) bend a rod at a bridge on tarpon, snook, jacks, barracudas, snapper, grouper, and cero mackerel with live bait. Typically we'll fish the bridges after catching bait first thing in the morning. Almost every time we're having so much fun fishing the bridges, the anglers do not want to leave. Then we'll take an hour or two to fish the flats for bonefish and permit. I cannot do the reverse because it's very hard to pole with my bait wells filled with 30 gallons of water and bait.

BONEFISH:

Some of the biggest bonefish are caught this time of year too, because there is a minor fall spawn. Our average bonefish is 8 – 10 lbs. with fish getting into the 13 lbs. range. Record size bones of 14 plus lbs. can be caught.

In November we can still find lots of “tailing and mudding bonefish” as long as the water temperature does not have a significant drop by a cold front. Do not get frustrated by overcast days, this is when we can chase tailing bonefish all day. The low light is like early morning which they like for tailing in very shallow water. We also focus on tailing bonefish in this low light because it is very hard to see them in the deeper water. If it is windy, this is an advantage if you are a good caster. It allows us to get closer to the bonefish with the bait or the fly. I have had excellent days with 20 knots out of the E. One memorable day a friend and I caught 6 bonefish on fly on the ocean side flats in 20 knot winds. If you really want to do something very exciting – that will put you on the edge of anticipation – try hunting these tailing bonefish with a fishing rod. (A couple of years ago, a client confessed that he had fished 5 days in the Bahamas and never saw a tailing bonefish, only cruising and mudding fish. What a shame.) 

We have some high tides this time of year so we fish our shallowest flats to get into tailing fish. If it is overcast and we have to fish cruising and mudding bonefish, I look for areas that will have dark clouds in the background. This cuts the glare of diffused light from an overcast day allowing us to see the cruising fish. Also I look for areas that have lighter bottom or small white spots where you can see the bonefish crossing these light areas.

PERMIT: There is very good fishing for permit into November, as long as we have good weather with high sun and good visibility. We find them right on the edges of the flats in schools of 10 to 20 permit. We can see 50 permit in a day while we are bonefish fishing. If we strictly permit fish all day, we could see a 100 permit or more on a good day. These fish average 15 – 30 lbs., and the largest we have caught was 39 ½ lbs.  Every year I see some very big permit in that +40 lbs. size. Any permit over 25 pounds is a big permit. I have caught quite a few permit on fly too, 5 here in Islamorada (9 total). If you want to catch a permit on fly, I can help you with the “nuances” of hooking a permit on fly.

Redfish: It is a good time of the year for “sight casting” to redfish. As the waters start to cool off, big schools of redfish are found up on the middle of the flats in north Florida Bay. Schools of 6 to 50 plus fish can be found and they average between 5 – 8 lbs, and we have caught them up to 12 lbs.  

As we “sight cast” to these redfish on the flats, I like to use artificial lures like jigs, soft baits, or plugs. Bait can be used, like shrimp or a shrimp tipped jig, but I do not find it necessary. Redfish are very aggressive once they see your lure, and will quite often hit your lure more than once if you do not get the hooks in him the first time. Keep your eye on the fish and lure, and strike him when he eats it, not when you feel him. A redfish can eat your lure with out you feeling it, by lunging forward and creating a moment of slack line then spitting it out.

Barracudas:  The big barracudas start to show up on the flats in November. As the run of fall mullet arrive on our ocean side flats, the big barracudas are right behind them, literally. When that big barracuda attacks your lure 20 feet from the boat as you’re cranking it in, it’s a real jaw dropper! In shallow water, they fight hard and jump well. These barracudas are 15 to 30 pounds. I always keep a barracuda rod rigged up while we are fishing the flats for bonefish and permit. When we see a barracuda, we are ready to cast at it if we want. If we come across a school of them we can rig another rod so both anglers can cast to them, sometimes getting a double header on.

Catching barracudas on live bait is a lot of fun too. It's a surface bite - an attack! We do this mostly to catch bait for shark fishing, but often we spend a little more time because the clients are really enjoying the barracuda fishing.

sharks: Big lemon sharks, black tips, and bull sharks are plentiful this time of year. We usually fish for them by chumming with big barracudas, which are fun to catch on the way out on light tackle. Once we anchor and start chumming we can get up to six or more sharks (up to 300 lbs.) cruising around right behind the boat in the chum line looking for our baits. It does not take long for them to find it, and they will take you for a good fight. Their size, power, aggression, and snapping jaws at the boat when releasing them, is impressive.

I also like using a fishing kite and live baits, if we have enough wind. Watching a shark chase down a live bait on the surface is awesome - they often explode on it. We caught a 230 lbs. bull shark this year off the kite. That was exciting, and it attacked the boat three times. At first I thought it felt trapped up on the flat and we just happened to be in the way of it trying to get off the flat. But the third time, we were in a channel about 7' deep. It was pulling on us at a perpendicular direction, like circling. Then it turned straight at us and charged, hitting us with its head or back and lifting the boat out of water a little! I got it on video! That's how I can see the boat jump up, and everyone is yelling and laughing, "he hit the boat!... he hit the boat!" That will be one of the videos I put up this year in my web site.

While we are fishing the flats for bonefish, permit, or redfish, we can cast plugs or bait to a passing shark. They are fun to cast to and they fight very hard. Fooling them on a big plug can be exciting. We can catch big ones on 30 lbs. spin (from 50 to 200 lbs.), or small ones on 10lbs. spin.

SPANISH MACKEREL: Look for the first waves of Spanish mackerel to come down the gulf coast with the first cold fronts of the year. These fish are good family fun. The kids really have fun catching them.

OFFSHORE FISHING:

SAILFISH: With the first cold fronts of November the sailfish start to push down the coast, and catching a few sails or more is possible. Sailfish fishing on the edge of the reef just 3 ½ miles offshore with live baits is a very pleasant way to fish. If we are drifting and fishing with a kite, we can fish for sailfish on the surface with the kite and flat lines, and fish for snapper and grouper on the bottom with a bottom rod or a deep jig or both. Also we can catch black fin tuna, kingfish, dolphin, cobia, wahoo, cero mackerel, and even big barracudas while we are drifting or even slow trolling. If the sailfish are showering the ballyhoo we will be slow trolling live baits so we can quickly charge over to the melee of sailfish without having to bring the kite in. More detail on the techniques and description of sailfish fishing is in my web site www.fish-killgore.com under the link: SAILFISH

SNAPPERS and GROUPERS: Snapper and grouper fishing on the Atlantic wrecks and reefs starts to get very good in the fall. Big mutton snapper, and nice gag and black groupers move back into these areas now. As we get to the end of fall they will start to move into shallower spots along the reef and even into the patch reefs.

While we are sailfish fishing we can fish for big mutton snappers and grouper by dropping a live bait down to the bottom or deep jigging. If you want to just catch big muttons and grouper, we’ll drop baits down on specific wrecks can catch some nice fish.

KINGFISH, WAHOO, and CERO MACKEREL: This is the time of year that that fishing gets good for them too. We catch them while we are sailfish fishing along the edge of the reef. Kingfish can be constant action and fish up to 30 pounds. They are mostly 10 to 20 lbs., but great fighters. When you find the cero mackerel (a great eating fish), the action can be so good you can cast out lures and get surface strikes right around the boat. Most of the time we locate them by trolling live ballyhoo on top of the reef in quite shallow, and we still catch sailfish in there too. Wahoo are found by mostly fast trolling just outside the reef line with lure, plugs, or rigged ballyhoo. If you know spots where they concentrate, you can fish for them with big speedos or blue runners by slow trolling.

BLACK FIN TUNA: There can be good numbers of them out on the humps, with the typical good tuna being 10 to maybe 20 pounds. As winter approaches, they will start to run just outside the reef line along with the big bonitas. We will occasionally catch them on the deep wrecks too. These are great fighting fish and excellent table fare for taking to the local restaurants or even sushi bars for a discount on the meal.

DOLPHIN "the fish" (Mahi Mahi): There can be some dolphin in November with fish in the 10 to 20 pound range, coming down the reef line following the bait down the coast. It is more of an incidental catch this late in the fall while we are fishing for sailfish, but always a welcomed sport fish

Capt. Rick Killgore,

www.fish-killgore.com

305 - 852 – 1131 or 800 – 698 - 5773.

10/2/07 (posted)

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER - NOVEMBER

FLATS FISHING:

This is the best time of year to fish the flats. The summer waters are starting to cool with the approach of fall, and these fish really respond by coming up on the flats and feeding all day long. Combined with the fact that there is 1/10th the amount of anglers out there chasing them, they take on a whole new attitude - they are not as spooky or nervous. This is very advantageous when pursuing our trophy size flats fish and can make for some great fishing. A couple of years ago I had an angler catch 5 bonefish in a day, casting at each one (Not just soaking shrimp on the bottom and waiting for a bite. This is what many guides do, which is not "sight fishing.").

SNOOK:

The "Fall" is my favorite time to fish for snook, and my favorite place is the back country of the Everglades National Park in the "dense mangrove creeks", island motes, shorelines, and points.

I have had days were we have caught more than 20 snook of all sizes. A good day is catching 8 to 10 snook, along with a few tarpon and mixed bag of other sporty fish like redfish, jacks, sea trout, jewfish, snapper, ladyfish, and maybe even a big shark that can come to catching more than 25 to 50 fish for the day

Typically we use live bait to bang away at them and have a good "rod bending blast". We can also cast lures and flies at these snook, tarpon, and other fish if that is what you like to do. They will eat top water lures and flies which is always a blast. However, for the novice at this, the action often is not like that of using live bait and you will miss more fish too.

We can also fish for snook on the flats as we are fishing for redfish in the back country. Often they will be hanging in the white pot holes, and will attack top water flies or lures - sometimes two at a time! There can be nice snook up to 12 lbs. They can also be cruising the flats and are also quite spooky, but if you get your lure in front of them before they spook, they will eat it. And what a nice run they make in shallow water, sometimes up to 75 yards. Then they come up shaking their head and you pray: “don’t shake that hook, please just don’t shake that hook.”

The local bridges will have some nice snook too, which we catch if we are fishing for small tarpon there instead of running back to the Everglades National Park. I'll fish the bridges if we want to mix it up with bonefish and permit for the day. We'll do half a day each so the angler can have the experience of the hunt for very challenging fish of the bonefish and permit, and bend a rod at a bridge on tarpon, snook, jacks, barracudas, snapper, grouper, and cero mackerel. Typically we'll fish the bridges first after catching bait. Almost every time we're having so much fun fishing the bridges, the anglers do not want to leave. Then we'll take an hour or two to fish the flats for bonefish and permit. I cannot do the reverse because it's very hard to pole with my bait wells filled with 30 gallons of water and bait.

TARPON: The big spawners have moved on, but the juveniles stay to grow. We catch lots of tarpon in the 5 – 30 lbs. range with the occasional 50 – 80 lbs.

Again, the Everglades National Park is one of my favorite places to fish for baby tarpon back in the mangrove creeks, island motes, shorelines, and points. Quite often you can see these tarpon rolling and busting on bait a hundred yards away. Typically we catch a few mixed in with the snook we a fishing for. If you just want to target tarpon, we could do that all day and really bang away at them.

We also fish around the bridges for them, especially if we are going to do a little bonefish and permit fishing that day. This can be hot fishing. We can catch up to 6 or more tarpon in a half day. We have also caught some nice snook while tarpon fishing the bridges. Big jacks can be a blast on plugs while tarpon fishing. Mackerels, snappers, and groupers can move in too.

We can also find some schools of baby tarpon around the flats to cast at. This can be quite fun and we can do it while we bonefish. They hang out at very specific spots, so it is not like at every flat you are bonefish fishing that you can encounter these tarpon.

BONEFISH: Some of the biggest bonefish are caught this time of year too, because there is a minor fall spawn too. Again our average bonefish is 8 – 10 lbs. with fish getting into the 13 lbs. range. Record size bones of 14 plus lbs. can be caught.

Let me tell you, an 8 – 10 lbs. bonefish is a completely different fish than a 2 – 4 pounder from the Bahamas or Central America. I am talking about our bonefish running 150 to 200 yards in 30 seconds, compared to a +40 yard run by the smaller bones, or a 20-minute fight compared to a 5-minute fight. I’ve caught those fish over there, and they are no comparison, almost boring after catching a few of those small fish.

We find lots of fish to cast at. If we find less than 100 bonefish to cast at, we have had a below than average day. Some days we have seen up to 300 bonefish.

This time of year we find lots of “tailing bonefish,” and we can find them all day long. If you really want to do something very exciting – that will put you on the edge – try hunting these guys with a fishing rod. (A couple of years ago, a client confessed that he had fished 5 days in the Bahamas and never saw a tailing bonefish, only cruising and mudding fish. What a shame.) 

PERMIT: They are back on the flats in big numbers because they have finished their spawn on the reefs by mid- July. There is excellent fishing for permit into November. We find them right on the edges of the flats in schools of 10 to 20 permit. We can see 50 permit in a day while we are bonefish fishing. If we strictly permit fish all day, we could cast at 100 permit or more.

These fish average 30 to 15 lbs., and the largest we have caught was 39 ½ lbs.  Every year I see some very big permit in that +40 lbs. size. Any permit over 25 lbs. is a big permit.

I have caught quite a few permit on fly too, 5 here in Islamorada (9 total). If you want to catch a permit on fly, I can help you with the “nuances” of hooking a permit on fly.

Redfish: It is one of the best times of the year for “sight casting” to redfish. As the waters start to cool off, big schools of redfish are found up on the middle of the flats in north Florida Bay. Schools of 6 to 50 plus fish can be found and they average between 6 and 12 lbs.  

As we “sight cast” to these redfish on the flats, I like to use artificial lures like jigs, soft baits, or plugs. Bait can be used, like shrimp or a shrimp tipped jig, but I do not find it necessary. Redfish are very aggressive once they see your lure, and will quite often hit your lure more than once if you do not get the hooks in him the first time. Keep your eye on the fish and lure, and strike him when he eats it, not when you feel him. A redfish can eat your lure with out you feeling it, by lunging forward and creating a moment of slack line then spitting it out.

Barracudas: There are not as many big barracudas on the flats as in the winter and spring, but at any time a big barracuda can be on the flats. When the mullet show up mid to late fall, big barracudas are right behind them, literally.

When that big barracuda attacks your lure 20 feet from the boat as you’re cranking it in, it’s a real jaw dropper! In shallow water, they fight hard and jump well. These barracudas are 15 to 30 pounds. I always keep a barracuda rod rigged up while we are fishing the flats for bonefish and permit, so when we see one we are ready to cast at it if we want. If we come across a school of them we can rig another rod so both anglers can cast to them, sometimes getting a double header on.

Catching barracudas on live bait is a lot of fun too. It's a surface bite - an attack! We do this mostly to catch bait for shark fishing, but often we spend a little more time because the clients are really enjoying the barracuda fishing.

sharks: Big lemon sharks, black tips, and bull sharks are plentiful this time of year. We usually fish for them by chumming with big barracudas, which are fun to catch on the way out on light tackle. Once we anchor and start chumming we can get up to six or more sharks (up to 300 lbs.) cruising around right behind the boat in the chum line looking for our baits. In does not take long for them to find it, and will they take you for a good fight.

I also like using a fishing kite and live baits, if we have enough wind. Watching a shark chase down a live bait on the surface is awesome - they often explode on it. We caught a 230 lbs. bull shark this year off the kite. That was exciting, and it attacked the boat three times. At first i thought it felt trapped up on the flat and we just happened to be in the way of it trying to get off the flat. But the third time, we were in a channel about 7' deep. It was pulling on us at a perpendicular direction, like circling. Then it turned straight at us and charged, hitting us with its head or back and lifting the boat out of water a little! I got it on video! That's how I can see the boat jump up, and everyone is yelling and laughing, "he hit the boat!... he hit the boat!" That will be one of the videos I put up this year.

While we are fishing the flats for bonefish, permit, or redfish, we can cast plugs or bait to a passing shark. They are fun to cast to and they fight very hard. Fooling them on a big plug can be exciting. We can catch big ones on 30 lbs. spin (from 50 to 200 lbs.), or small ones on 10lbs. spin.

OFFSHORE FISHING:

SAILFISH: With the first cold fronts of October the sailfish start to push down the coast, and catching a couple sails or more is possible. We can either troll live baits, or if there is enough wind we could fly a fishing kite to present live baits for the sailfish. My techniques and description of sailfish fishing is detailed in this link: SAILFISH

SNAPPERS and GROUPERS: Snapper and grouper fishing on the Atlantic wrecks and reefs starts to get very good in the Fall. Big mutton snapper, and nice gag and black groupers move back into these areas now. As we get to the end of Fall they will start to move into shallower spots along the reef and even into the patch reefs.

While we are sailfish fishing we can fish for grouper by dropping a live bait down or deep jigging. If you want to just catch grouper, dropping a big bait down on specific wrecks can catch some nice fish or trolling ballyhoo and plugs down the reef can be very effective for catching them also.

KINGFISH, WAHOO, and CERO MACKEREL: This is the time of year that that fishing gets good for them too. We catch them while we are sailfish fishing along the edge of the reef. Kingfish can be constant action and fish up to 30 pounds. They are mostly 10 to 20 lbs., but great fighters. When you find the cero mackerel (a great eating fish), the action can be so good you can cast out lures and get surface strikes right around the boat. Most of the time we locate them by trolling live ballyhoo on top of the reef in quite shallow, and we still catch sailfish in there too. We can even troll a live bait for a grouper too. Wahoo are found by mostly fast trolling just outside the reef line with lure, plugs, or rigged ballyhoo. If you know spots where they concentrate, you can fish for them with big speedos or blue runners by slow trolling.

BLACK FIN TUNA: There can be good numbers of them out on the humps, with the typical good tuna being 10 to maybe 20 pounds. As winter approaches, they will start to run just outside the reef line along with the big bonitas. We will occasionally catch them on the deep wrecks too. These are great fighting fish and excellent table fare for taking to the local restaurants or even sushi bars for a discount on the meal.

DOLPHIN "the fish" (Mahi Mahi): There can be some good dolphin fishing in the fall with fish in the 10 to 20 pound range and maybe a 30 pounder. Catching 10 to 20 fish like that can happen with the right conditions, or coming across floating debris can mostly have dolphin too.

COBIA: In October the cobia migrate down the west coast and start to show up on the wrecks, sometimes in big schools. These fish are ready feeders, and big fighters. They are between 15 to 30 lbs. with the occasional 50 plus pounder.

Fish Report: 3/1/07

Sailfish fishing has been good for me. We caught 4 out of 5 on last week on Tuesday, which included a double header for my party of two anglers. They also caught 3 nice kingfish, 20 to 25 lbs. We had a 6th sailfish up but it did not eat the bait. We were top boat in the fleet, from Bud-n-Mary's, Whale Harbor, to Holiday Isle. I had to check it out when I went to buy chum, because I knew it was slow in general. Most boats had one flag up, and one was skunked (he was fishing sailfish near me most of the day). One boat had 2 sailfish and another had 3 sailfish.

This is not a jab at my offshore friends (which I have many), but it shows we can hang with the "Big Dogs" (and every dog has his day). Most boats probably did not sailfish fish half of the day, but rather went bottom fishing which accounts for the few flags. But we were not strictly sailfish fishing either. I'll fish two baits up top for sailfish, and two down for kingfish when trolling with ballyhoo. The boat that caught 3 was probably only sailfish fishing, that's what they like to do. So, I felt very good on the drive home.

We have also managed a sailfish every day we've gone out full day fishing, and caught other fish too while sailfish fishing. On a half day trip, Dr. Michael Hughes caught a 12lbs. black grouper on #15 test in 100' of water. It ate a deep kingfish rod. He had to fight it for 30 min. in rough conditions (4 - 6 foot chop) before it finally succumbed. They lost a nice kingfish and barracuda by pulling the hooks at the side of the boat before we had to return.

It's been a great way to return from 5 weeks of surfing in Costa Rica.

Tarpon should be pushing in now after this last few days of hot weather. So get ready for a good tarpon season. I am!!!!

2005

Lets Go Fishing, Rick

2004