December 2006

Merry Christmas December 2006 fishing report I would like to thank everyone for a great year especially my sponsors Eddy at Country Cousin (best sausage out there). Eddy at Biscayne Rods he builds the rods that catch the fish. Tim at Yamaha, Maverick and Bob Hewes Boats, (Jim, Brian, Pedro and Mike Martin) Kenny at Pure Fishing and Gina at Okuma Reels. I couldn’t have a charter business or fish the Redfish Tours with out your help this year. Thank You and Merry Christmas. Guide trip gift certificates are tops on anglers’ wish lists. Many guides specialize in guiding women and children, too - so when you think of a guided fishing trip as a gift, remember it’s appropriate for the entire family. Christmas purchased trips can be booked any time of the year for any species of fish. It’s a great way to introduce youth to the sport by booking with an experienced guide who can put the party on good fish and assure a good time for everyone. For the guys who wait all year long for a special fishing trip, a guide trip the first day can put them on the best waters and best lures ensuring more fishing success the remainder of the week. There is only 21 days and counting until Christmas Day hopefully you will get a well-deserve break and get a few days off. The weather usually cooperates around the Christmas - New Year break. The fishing has been pretty good on the warm days the Tarpon, Snook and Redfish spread out on the flats, but on the cooler days look in deeper holes, deeper mangrove shorelines and channels. During the cold snap on Thanksgiving Day, the Redfish were really stacked up in the morning. The Tarpon and Snook also look for comfortable conditions most of the time it will be a little deeper. The deeper backcountry comes alive with the hard N.E. winds; these winds stack up the Snook. Bonefishing will be good 2 or 3 days after the front when the water warms, the Biscayne Bay flats will be alive with big Barracudas as well plenty of Sharks of assorted sizes. This is the time of year when our beach run Tarpon show up off of Miami Beach, the conditions are right for a Shrimp run this week. (120406) I know I’m repeating what I wrote last month but this can be awesome if you catch it right, the full moons of December, January, February and March can all produce a great bite. These afternoon/ early evening trips are enjoyable; where else can you fight a large Tarpon while overlooking the South Beach nightlife. There is also plenty of other fish mixed in with the Tarpon, big Jacks, Snook, Snappers and Permit fill in as by catch. 112806The winds are strong this week but I had a brave soul Bruce who wanted to go no matter what. The early morning bite for baby Tarpon was incredible; baby Tarpon from 15 inches to 15 lbs were busting our Rapala twitch and rap lures. Bruce also caught a handful of Snook, which were busting minnows in the current. There are some types of fishing that benefit from the wind; especially the back -country Snook fishing when is coincides with a hard falling tide. The winds have been blowing around 20 mph all week and we used it to our advantage fishing the windy points that had and an eddy behind it. The other thing that’s helps in this type of backcountry fishing is the cooler water temperature, which congregates the Snook, Redfish and some really nice Mangrove Snappers in these types of spots. The more spots you have the more fish it's possible to catch. This type of action occurs when most guys don't even think about going out. Bruce who is an outstanding angler had 40 Snook to 26 inches, 15 Redfish to 28 inches 10 or so Snappers plus the usual Ladyfish, Jacks and Trout. 120206 Day 1 This weekend I’m in Islamorada fish the Redbone Tournament, for Cystic Fibrosis. The Redbone is a Angler and Celebrity tournament, they combine their efforts to go out and catch a Redbone which consist of a Bonefish and a Redfish. The weather was not very good, it was very windy but we had sunny skies on Saturday. I had Jerry Alvarez and Lance Monsinger they work for the Redbone. We had some really good shots at Bonefish but there were some unfortunate circumstances, nervous knees on Jerry’s first. this happens in Bonefishing a lot. We had tailing Bonefish, cruising Bonefish but no Bonefish that would eat our bait, that’s the way it go’ s some day. The anxious anglers caught some really big Cuda’s and some Sharks. Day 2 The most noticeable thing this morning is the flag is stiff; the 25 mph winds will make it interesting. Today we are Redfishing with the hope to get on the board, it didn’t take long and we were hooked up with a nice Snook. The guys didn’t care the more fish the better! It was hard not to notice the Tarpon that were rolling in my Redfish spot the guys were definitely distracted and every once in a while snuck in a cast. We were protected and watching a 100 lb Tarpon knock a bait 6 feet in the air get’ s you pumped up, but back to the Redfish. Jerry had a solid hook up but the fish came off, not long after that lance hooks a nice Red but it is a hair short. The Gulp Shrimp was working great today. Did I mention its really windy today! I poled into the wind most of the morning; on any other day the results would be great, Tarpon, Snook Redfish, Trout, Ladyfish and Jacks but today the Redfish we are catching are all 17 ½ inches. I poled into an area that had no water and no traffic; at first there were no fish and then “big Tarpon” in 10 inches of water. This is one impressive site, our attention turned strictly to the Tarpon, I rigged a Rapala twitch and Rap up for both guys. Lance who had already caught one Tarpon had one of the most explosive hits ever, right next to the boat spray wetting everyone. The Tarpon hit so hard the plug was knocked back into the boat. AWESOME; Lance was screaming did you see that! Lance finished up the day with a backcountry Grand Slam and Jerry caught plenty of fish, it was a good ending in tough conditions. The winds are finally starting to come down now we have some desparetly needed rain, but as of this writing on Sunday the 17th its starting to look pretty good again. 121306 Steve and John have been friends for 35 years and they haven't seen each other for a while so they decided to book a trip. We arrive to the Flamingo marina at 1230 on Wednesday and conditions looked good , being I only had a few hours to produce I stayed close. I had them using my top fish catching lures the Gulp shrimp and the Rapala Twitchin Rap, the Gulp is for bouncing off the bottom and the Twitchin Rap is for a lot covering shallow water. The Gulps attract a lot of species we started out with Ladyfish and Jacks right off the bat; then Steve had a really nice keeper Snook smash his Twitchin Rap. They caught some more Trout and Ladyfish then moved on to the next spot. The wind had picked up to 20 mph, we were working a bank loaded with mullet when I spotted a very large Redfish! I told John look down; he saw the fish but could not get his lure out in front in time and the fish just swam away. It wasn't long Steve caught a Redfish out of a pothole in the same spot. At this point Steve is only a Tarpon away from a "Grand Slam" so we went lookin for a Tarpon. We had a few roll around us and there was some Snook busting on the Shore line but they weren't interested and it was getting late. 121406 Im with Steve and John in the back country again this morning, we started out with some baby Tarpon, they jumped a handful. John had a couple Tarpon hit his lure six times as he worked it back in he really enjoyed it. The water temperature was cold in the back coutry and only having 5 hours, I didnt want to spend to much time running around. I fished all the spots which have been producing for the last 2 months with little luck sometimes the back country does that to us. I kept moving around until we caught fish finally we hit a spot with the baits getting busted for the next hour every cast was a Trout, Jack, Ladyfish, or a Snapper. The day ended with a lot of fish caught but not the trophy species sometimes I just need more time to find the bite! Flamingo is a very large place and fish move around some during this time of year. 121506 Im fishing with Robert and Mike today, Robert is getting married at 4:30pm this afternoon and all he asked is I that get him back by 3:30. This is really the first calm day in 3 weeks the winds have finally laid down enough to try to find the beach Tarpon. We worked right down the South Beach shoreline The day was kind of dreary and over cast but the Tarpon were there. We made several passes down the beach only seeing an indivual fish roll here and there; all of a sudden a large school of fish rolled in front of the boat with in casting range Mike thru his Rapala x rap in the middle of the worked it and had one follow it and then hit it. Mike missed it on the hook set. We moved around a bit trying for different species as well as Tarpon, Robert caught a really nice Cero Mackeral 5lbs. which blasted a surface lure. The by catch of Tarpon fishing Blue Runners, Snappers,Triggerfish and around 20 Jack Crevalles, it kept them busy. The weather started to turn for the worse so we ran into Biscayne Bay and went Trout fishing it didn't take long, Robert was throwing the Twitchin Rap and his rod was doubled over. We did thid for the hour and a half by now the cold front line was sitting right over us and the bite was on and the rain was a mile away. Robert and Mike wore out the Trout until we had to make a run for the ramp. Hopefully he made it to the wedding with no problems. 121606 Today im fishing with 3 buddys from Tennessee, Chris, Bart and Chip. Its Chips 40th birthday! They wanted to bend rods all day and thats what we did, passing up the glamour species for just catching and competing aginst each other, making sure to never loose count of who is winning. They had constant double and triple hook ups and were laughing at how hard the had me working running back and forth unhooking their fish. Thats the kind of laughing and guide don't mind! I decided it was time for me to laugh so we caught bait and I took the looking for big fish! We anchored up the boat and put out our baits it wasn't really fast and furuios but they all got the chance at some big Bull Sharks. We were using 1 to 2lb Ladyfish for bait, The y all got their Sharks close enough for my liking and then we would break them off. Trying to figure out who caught the big one is tough I called it a tie! The weather turned really bad and we made a run for the marina and called it a good day. They were exausted. 122706 The winds have been keeping me from the tarpon on the beach; but tonight I finally got out, I was with the Presient of South Dade Anglers Gil and grandson Eric. The winds had come down enough to get out and it didn't take long to get a Tarpon hooked up. The Tarpon was 30lb or so made a couple great jumps and threw the hook the wind and current died and so did the Tarpon fishing. I moved around looking for current around the inlet it was not long after Eric had a big Snook hooked up, he was battling the Snook but eventually the Snook got into the bridge fenders. It was really cold and we called it a night around 930 pm. 122806-(morning trip) Today I'm with Steve his son Andrew and his buddy Jerry down at Flamingo. our target is Sharks. Drew as all young anglers know what Sharks are more than the popular fish adults target. My suggestion was to look for Redfish first and then go look for Sharks. It didn't take long and Drew caught the first Redfish of the morning, not long after the hookups came pretty consistan. I think Drew ended up with 7 Redfish as Steve and Jerry enjoyed watching him fight fish. We went out and caught some Ladyfish for bait and proceeded to hunt for big Sharks. We started a chum slick and it didn't take to long as we had a big wake moving in on us! Jerry yelled he had one at the back and there was another at the front we ended up catching both letting Drew fight them consecutively. This is what the kids like seeing and fighting big fish that have big teeth. His biggest shark was around 45 lbs and we brought a smaller one into the boat for a picture, he was into the Sharks teeth so we let him get a close up look. 122806 (afternoon trip) I dropped Steve and Jerry off and Wally and Charlie were waiting. These guys had some small expectations relax and some fun, thats easy! The Flamingo area was busy on this day; but I managed to find an area no one had been running around in, as we were working our way in we were spooking snook out of the pot holes. I explained (actually I might of screamed it out) so they could see all the Snook that were swimming away. The Snook were in a area that I don't normally see them so we adjusted. Charlie was casting a Twitchin Rap into a pothole when a nice Snook started ripping line off his reel, he got the 27 inch Snook up to the boat and I lipped him into the boat. The tide was dropping hard, a 30 mph east wind was really pushing the water off the flats, I made a couple suggestions and they chose one. We went looking for Trout and Ladyfish after that we went for the big bite. Like I said boat traffic was heavy this day so I went to an area I knew would be protected and no traffic, again on the way in big Snook in the potholes. Charlie got to see the Big Snook swim away as we approached; that got him stoked. Charlie and wally cast and cast into the holes in the area catching everything but the Snook, I decided it was time to make the Snook an offer they couldn't refuse! I took a Ladyfish and cut the head off and pitched in the pothole, it sat for a bit and the heavy 20lb outfit from Biscayne Rods and a circle hook were getting pulled off the heavily set drag on my Okuma reels. Charlie picks up the rod and the is a giant explosion from a massive headshake of a monster Snook, this Snook was upset and made a short run and came up again shaking his head, as violent as I've ever seen a Snook get. I know it sounds like a fish story but i guess the Snook at around 25 lbs. We had five bites 3 Snook and 2 big Sharks, the Snook were hitting the baits so hard they were fauling the baits so I bridled them and used wire. The guys finally called it a day and we headed, a pretty good day for 2 different groups. 122906 Steve and Mike are college buddies, both are avid anglers so we started out throwing Gulps on jig heads the results were 5 Redfish and a small Goliath Grouper. I couldn't wait to get back to the spot we had so much success in the day before but that tide was still 6 hours away so we went to catch some Ladyfish on the way to another Snook spot. The winds were playing havoc on the conditions again visibility was good on some spots but not others. While looking for Snook in the potholes we caught a bunch of big Trout. The Snook finally appeared but wanted no part of us. Steve and Mike made hundreds of cast into the holes and not a bite, yet we could see them swim off! the tide was dropping and we almost didn't get off the flat because of our intentions. The tide was almost about the same as the day before so we ran the area from the day before. The pair of anglers got to see first hand on the way in a monster Snook swam off out of a pothole so way power poled down, they made some cast as I got the baits out! We had a big bite really quick and it sole our bait, the leader had no marks and I was pretty sure it was a big Snook. There was a lot of excitement and we put another bait out, it took a whilebut the rod was doubled over and this was not Snook it was peeling real fast. This fish made a 150 yard run as we cleared the rods and started to chase all of a sudden it was in the air, but we all missed it. We continued after it and it came up again, we could see it was a really big Bull or Lemon Shark. The battle went on for a while but during the fight the Shark must of hit the long leader and broke it. The wind was blowing so hard it really made fishing tough but we managed several more real big bites and called it a day. Like I wrote the Tarpon are in on the Beaches if your coming to the Miami area this is a great way to spend the day or a early evening. Miami is going to be busier than usual the next couple of months; the Fed Ex Orange Bowl has 2 new teams this year, Wake Forest and the Louisville Cardinals. This is the biggest game in both schools history so I expext plenty of people in town. No matter what your plans are fishing, golf, or hotels make arrangements early. If I can be of any help give me a call at 305-333-8149. Captain Jimbo can now assist your golfing needs in the newly renovated Gran Palms golf and hotel, if interested give me a call at 305-333-8149. Gran Palms has three 9 hole courses which are located just off of I-75 and in Pembroke Pines. I have some availability the next couple weeks before Christmas, there is a lot going on as you can see. I know a lot of dad’s would like a fishing trip for Christmas, if you would like to book a trip or reserve one for a family member,or how about give them gift certificate. If you would like to give your self a gift give me a call at 305 333 8149 I will give you the trip of lifetime. Let’s go Catch’em Captaim Jim Hobales www.caughtlookincharters (Click to enlarge) Select another page || Go to Home Page

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