october 2005 fishing report

It’s lonely out here! The Hurricanes have been thru here like a buzz saw this year, gas prices are out of control and the fishing is pretty darn good. The best part is there are no crowds. The fish are where they are supposed to be and they are hitting our lures and bait. Anyone that knows me will attest for my love of Tarpon, big or small, they are in both North and South Biscayne Bays. The Mullets school are being beat up by them just look for busting fish. Sometimes it the Barracudas and sometimes its Jacks it don’t matter they all pull drag. The Mullet run is still going one down the beaches getting out early on the calm days is how you will find them. Check both sides of the Inlets first, rolling Tarpon usually makes me stop and cast a lure or put out a bait. The fishing has been good in south Biscayne Bay with Tarpon schools moving south from Elliot Key to Key Largo. The nighttime has held Tarpon in the Creeks, from to Caesars to Angelfish and around Ocean Reef. The Bone fishing has been very good as well from Soldiers Key to Ocean Reef the rising tide first thing in the morning has been producing schools of Bonefish down inside the bay. Permit have been on the west bank of South Biscayne Bay, Crabs are what they eat. They have been in 2-3 feet of water, treat the Permit like a Jack and cast right at him causing him to react. He should eat the crab and now it’s on. Flamingo area Backcountry report- I don’t normally go into the backcountry until December but the lack of crowds and bugs have given me the opportunity to try some areas I don’t normally fish during this time of year. These areas are holding quality fish; big Redfish have been caught along the shorelines in the backcountry busting mullet schools. I was throwing a spinner bait with a paddle tail and Snook and Reds were destroying it. The top water bight has been kind of hit or miss; lots of boils and plenty of misses, but its exciting normally this is a great time of year for top water. Snook are in the fall downs and points with current where you expect them to be and the biggest surprise of all is the Goliath Grouper. On a recent trip we landed 12 up to 25lbs while pitching our Berkley Gulp jigs in the trees. We were expecting Snook and Reds but the numbers of the Goliaths surprised us. This is like Bass fishing, pitch in the tree and hold on. Make sure the drag is as tight as you can get it otherwise you will loose the fish. I have been using Fire line 14lb. test this seems to be doing the trick although 50 lb would make it easier. The Redfish, Tarpon and Snook have been pretty consistent; on my last 4 trips we have had Slams and Grand Slams. The variety has been interesting, since I have been using the Gulp line of products by Berkley; they seem to catch any fish that lives under the mangroves. This makes fishing the deeper shorelines with artificial lures more rewarding. Other species include snappers up to 2.8lbs Sheephead, Black Drum, Ladyfish, Jacks, Barracuda and Sharks. Speaking of Sharks they are everywhere! I think they have eaten at least one of every species I have named in this report. They can be a problem. I have had my customers fishing tight drags and muscling the fish so the don’t get eaten. Tournament fishing- Oct 8-05 Florida Sportsman fun tournament. Most inches overall format. Snook, Redfish, Tarpon and Trout were the species. I fished this with my buddy Pete Brandle. by 9:30 am we had a 31” Snook, a 21”Redfish and a 16 inch Trout. Now all we needed was a Tarpon. It just so happens they were all around us, I hooked one in the 70lb range and he was not happy, he made a great first run unfortunately it was his last as my line got caught in the roller guide and broke. This was just the start of loosing Tarpon 8 in total. We spent the rest of the day trying to catch one. At 2:30 I hooked a little 30 inch Tarpon and got him next to the boat, I told Pete watch out for the Sharks because they had eaten a couple of another teams Tarpon already. We were trying to get the Tarpon in the boat and I think he thought I meant there was a Shark coming because he tried to swing the Tarpon in the boat and the line broke. We ended up with a second place finish, which is cool. I am off to the very first FLW Championship in Orange Beach, Alabama the last week of October. This is a very big tournament; we fished the Redfish Cup tournament there in May, so hopefully the patterns are similar and the fish are big. The patterns I wrote about should stay the same until December and I really am looking forward to the backcountry fishing after my last trip. If casting and catching fish with lures interest you then the backcountry is calling you out. Give me a call at 305-333-8149 And I will put you in that exact situation. Let’s go catch’em Captain Jimbo CaughtLookinCharters.com Select another page || Go to Home Page

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