October 2008

Mullet run October 2008 October is the beginning of change not politically but seasonally! The Noreasters are kicken, mullet schools are moving south, water temps are down in the mid to lower 80's and we are almost out of hurricane season. A combination of all these things make for some great fish catching opportunities. Miami Beach The mullet schools are the primary focus on the beaches right now, the Tarpon, Snook, Cuda's, Sharks, Jacks and a few other species are in them, in between catching its a great show to watch. Tarpon blowing up thru a area of blackness and leaving a giant white hole, that's exciting. South Biscayne Bay Bonefish and Permit are on the flats longer during this month because of cooler water temp. The tides start to get back to normal this month after have 2 months of astronomical high tides. The south bay flats also hold plenty of Sharks, Barracudas, Jacks, and Snappers, even on the toughest conditions we can find so kind of action. Flamingo This is one of my favorite months to fish Flamingo, the mullet and other baits are pouring down the west coast into the Fl. Bay back country which in turn causes the predators to follow and feed. There are opportunities for big catch numbers some days or to catch big fish on others. The Flamingo and Gulf of Mexico will give up some quality catches especially on good weather days with clean to just off colored water combined with tide and bait schools. Whitewater Bay Whitewater Bay can be awesome during October, the last few months have had plenty of rainfall and it moves a lot of the fish to where the fresh and saltwater meet. Snook and Redfish are the two we target, but there are big Mangrove snappers, Goliath Groupers, Gag Groupers, Tarpon, Ladyfish and Trout that we get as by catch. This type of fishing back here is referred to as saltwater Bass fishing. Get on the trolling motor and make cast in to the Mangroves once you get a bite slow down and work the area. 100208 I'm with Andy, John and Mike fishing the mullet run out of Haulover inlet, the mullet schools that were here so thick a day ago have move on. I did not want to waste time so I netted some pilchards and went to a spot holding Tarpon. the Tarpon started to roll everywhere and the guys were excited. I gave them a couple Twitch n Raps and rigged up a live Pilchard and explained what to do. I started to live chum, there were some big Jacks in there which were busting up our chum baits but not eating our live ones. Eventually John hooked up to a 50 lb Tarpon which gave him a couple good jumps. This was his first time he had ever hooked some thing that big and was confused on what to do. The winds picked up and we moved to a spot which might produce some more bites. It didn't take to long all 3 guys hooked up with either Trout and Cuda's with the biggest Trout being 24 inches and close to 5 lbs. This was only a half day and they had a business meeting they had to get to so we called it a morning. After I dropped them off I went looking for the mullet schools down coming down the beach, It didn't take long. I came around the north jetty of Government Cut and they were inside the buoys at 7 St. This did me no good because you aren't allowed in there. I kept running and found a few more pods one I could reach from outside the buoys. It was a 100 yards long and the Tarpon were inside the school busting them up. I cast my X Rap inside the mullet school and caught Jack, Bluefish and Blue runners but the Tarpon we only eating mullet. I moved north up the coast and found pod after pod of mullet but all were tight to the shoreline and impossible to reach. I kept running and finally noticed some movement out side the buoys, it was big schools of Jacks but there were Pompanos mixed in. this was the mother load thick enough that when the Pompano's started skipping they skipped into the boat. I cast and caught Jacks,Bluefish and Blue runners and then something big ate one of my hooked fish and then again looked to be big Cudas. I ran back to the marina and called it a day! 100708 The fishing is out of control down at Flamingo, the economy has things slowed down a bit for a lot of guides giving us time to fish with each other. I fished with buddies Capt. Raul Montoro and Redfish Tour partner Paul today. It was great I did not have to tie or rig all day, all I did was throw a cast net a couple times and get enough Mullet to put out for Tarpon bait. We started out in Fl. Bay and it didn't take long Raul hooked a Snook and Paul had a Tarpon on at the same time on, both on first cast. The smack talk started really quick, both of them letting me know that they were hooked up and I wasn't, I let them know the guy that catches the first fish buys the beer! This action lasted for almost 3 hours on the incoming tide, the numbers of caught snook was ridiculous, with Raul landing the biggest a 34 inch Snook. We hooked 20 Tarpon or so, I even broke out a fly rod for Raul. The Tarpon were chasing finger Mullet on a channel edge and the Snook were laying right there too. We watched the explosions and put the cast on them resulting multiple hook ups. It didn't take long and they ate the fly multiple times. On a normal day most people would go home satisfied with what they had already done but it was only 10 o'clock. We decided we wanted big Tarpon and went to the Gulf of Mexico, by now the wind had picked up over 15 mph and made seeing the fish off in a distance tough. Once we found a clear edge they popped up and were active but would not eat our Mullet or lures. The Sharks and a 10 foot Sawfish were responsive to our Mullet but that's not what we wanted. We ran up the coast to Shark River and had a field day with the Redfish and Snook. The Redfish responded to the Rapala Skitterwalk the best and did not refuse a Mirrordine! I kept pitching live finger Mullet just trying to get the big bite but could only manage average size Reds and Snook. We ran thru the inside and fished some area in Joe river, we ended the day on a point with falling water and Tarpon busting up Mullet. Paul caught another 34 inch Snook and I had a couple big bites on the Mullet. One being a Bull Shark and the other being a Tarpon on the last cast. It was 6 o'clock and had been a long day with over 60 Snook, 30 Redfish and 20 Tarpon hookups plus all the by catch, It was time to head in Raul was buying! 101008 Today I am fishing with Danny, we are both members of the Miami Sport fishing Club and I asked if he would like to go scouting N. Biscayne Bay with me. We had a big flooding rain the day before and I wanted to make sure all the fish I had been on were still in the same area. We got out early in the dark a.m. and checked a couple spots before the sun came up. Danny had a giant blow up on one of his cast under a bridge but the fish missed the lure. The Mullet were pouring thru but we could only manage some Jacks. We moved on to a spot that's holding Tarpon and some 20 lb plus Jacks as we trolling motored into the area I saw a couple big wakes with some of the fish floating on the surface. I made a long cast and hooked and caught a 10 lb Jack, not long after I hooked a Tarpon. The Tarpon thru the Twitch n Rap and we kept casting but it was calm and clear and the fish wouldn't' eat. The tide switched and the Tarpon really got active rolling and popping on the surface. Danny cast at a rolling Tarpon and got hit the fish didn't really run at first it just shook it's head then took a big run. We got the fish next to the boat and realized it was a Permit, we landed the fish and took several pictures. The fish weighed 5 pounds, it was possible it could be a large Pompano or a small Permit. The only way to know for sure is to count the soft dorsal/anal rays. This fish had 17 anal rays which makes it a Permit. We ran around looking for the mullet school and they had all moved south of 79 St, probably because of the fresh water that had flooded the bay the day before. 101108 Today I am at Flamingo with Mike from Virginia, he wants to catch a Tarpon. We started out on a flat that was loaded with Mullet that were pouring off the flat with the outgoing tide. There were Tarpon rolling around, as we made our way to them a group of 4 big Tarpon popped up. I told Mike where to cast and he made a perfect cast, his Twitch n Rap got crushed by the giant Tarpon. Mike attempted to set the hook and pulled the lure of the Tarpon Mouth. This happens when using braid, I use braid for several reasons, the main ones being distance and sensitivity. The only problem is there is no stretch which guys who use mono need to get used to. The tide fell out and we moved on, as we were running out to the Gulf of Mexico the surface erupted.The bait schools were getting busted by Tarpon Jacks, Ladyfish, Sharks and Trout. Mike was excited he was throwing a Skitterwalk and getting hit on every cast. Mike did this for an hour hoping for a Tarpon but there were to many fish getting to the lure before them. We moved on and got into more Tarpon they were in the Mullet schools, about every 30 seconds one would bust a pod of Mullet. I had baits in the middle of the schools and Mike was throwing a plug but the Sharks were out of control, e went thru about 30 mullet and not one was eaten by a Tarpon. We stuck it out until the tide switcted and they turned off. I ran around looking to get him a Tarpon but it just didn't happen. He cast at Tarpon all day and only had 1 Tarpon hook up but caught plenty of other species. It was late and we called it a day. 101208 I am fishing N. Biscayne Bay with Phil and his wife Lisa today, Lisa purchased this fishing trip for Phil's 50th birthday. We got an early start there was some wind and cloud cover which I thought might help the Tarpon bite. As we made our first pass thru the area I told Phil to watch the edge of the flat, they should be there! The Tarpon were right on cue, as they rolled Phil made his cast. The Tarpon rolled and missed it and then Phil was hooked up. The Tarpon made a great first run, several jumps and we were still hooked up. Phil did a great job fighting the 45 lb. Tarpon, it took him about 40 minutes on 10 lb test. He was enjoying it and wanted this fish very badly, he came here from Cincinnati just for a Tarpon and did a good job landing the fish. We brought the fish boat side for a few pictures and released it in good shape. Phil was excited and exhausted but we got back to fishing. The wind picked up and the Tarpon were not rolling like early in the day. Phil and Lisa caught a bunch of Trout to 22 inches a big Jack and a Mangrove Snapper. We went just south of 79 St and got into some more Tarpon, Lisa hooked a nice one on a Twitch n Rap. They disappeared on us so we went to Shucker's for lunch just as a big rain storm covered the bay, after it cleared we went back out. We put out a live Mullet, it didn't take long before a Tarpon was knocking it out of the water and chasing it. This same scenario happened a few times but for some reason the Tarpon where not getting hooked up. They chased, hit and knocked them out of the water but the circle hook never stuck. We made our way back to Haulover marina passing the party on the sandbar. 101808 Today I am fishing N. Biscayne Bay With Mitch from Biscayne rods, we started early before the sun came up hoping for a Tarpon bite. The Tarpon were slow to show up but eventually they made an appearance. We didn't have any live bait so we were using Rapala Twitch N Raps which catch there share of fish. We cast at the Tarpon until 10 o'clock and then went looking for bait in the canals. I had a big pod of mullet, when I threw my net I noticed about 10 big Snook laying on the edge of the canal. Unfortunately they disappeared but it was great to see them in the day time, this just don't happen everyday in Biscayne Bay, but I will remember where they were! Once we found the bait we found big Jack Crevalles chasing the mullet schools. The mullets schools are not as thick as they had been the few weeks prior but find the bait schools and find the Tarpon, thats what we did and caught one out of 4 Tarpon. The fresh water was being pumped out of the Miami Shores and Bell Meade canals, the area around 79 St boat ramp was completely fresh, which explained the lack of a Trout bite on the west side. We ran out of the inlet and down the beaches looking for mullet schools but they were non existent today. We ran back inside and attempted to chum up some fish with a live well full of pilchards, with the extreme high tides and heat of the day it was over so we made our way back to the ramp and headed home. These conditions will last for the next month or so until we get a cold front so take advantage now, if I can help give me a call. There are plenty of opportunities right now so if I can so if help plan a trip and or catch the fish of a lifetime give me a call at 305 333 8149. Let's go catch'em, Capt Jimbo Select another page || Go to Home Page

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