November 2008

Seasons are changing The first cold front really dipped our air temps and brought the water temps into the high 60's in Florida Bay. This does make certain fish easier to catch because they stack up in holes or cuts along the channel, all you have to do is fnd them. The fish also get shallow for warmth and will lie up in potholes so using one or both of these techniques will produce fish. 103108 I am fishing with Mike and his wife Aleece at Flamingo today, it is cool and it will get breezy during the course of the day. I started out in an area that was protected from the wind and caught some nice Trout in the15-20 inch range. Aleece was having fun never experiencing a bite like we were having and catching Trout, Ladyfish and Jacks on almost every cast. We had a window of about an hour where we got hit on every cast and finally caught a couple Snook. Aleece caught her first Snook and Mike followed with an almost keeper size one. The tide fell out and with the help of the wind it got extremely low and we had to move. The rest of the day was battling the wind trying to get a big Snook for them but it was brutal. We called it around 1pm. 110108 Nadir and Michael are with me today at Flamingo, I went back to the same area as the previous day which was out of the wind. The fish were really active busting the mullet schools on a couple different points. I had Nadir casting a Gulp Shrimp and Mike with a live Shrimp on a jig head, The Gulp worked first as Nadir caught a Tarpon and a Snook on back to back cast. We were sitting on the flat as the mullet were moving with the tide past us making a perfect set up. I Power poled down and set up on a pothole on the back edge of a flat. I switched Mike to a popping cork and Shrimp so he could cast it to the back of the hole this way we didn't spook them on our approach. The next 2 hours the tide fell and they caught fish after fish Snook, Redfish, Trout, Snappers, Catfish, Jack and Ladyfish, at one point they were 20 for 20 on hits and catches! The tide got to low and I had to move, we went and fished a flat that had some cruising mudding Stingrays. These rays usually have fish with them looking for a free meal! I placed the boat between 2 mullet mud's and the Rays were cruising the clean water between the mud's. It didn't take long and the Rays showed up, Mike is an excitable guy and made a great cast over the Ray and his line was being peeled off his reel. It was hard to here the drag because he was screaming so lowd, that's what its all about! He fought the Snook to the boat where I landed it for him (more yelling), we took some photos and released it for another day. The fish were eating a motor oil and chartreuse colored paddle tail in the clear water. Mike wasn't done, next was a 22 inch Trout and then a 26 inch Redfish. I had a mullet in the live well and decide we were going to catch something big, I rigged it up and put it out on a channel edge the mullet was eally fighting into the current and got hit. I reeled it to check it out and it was completely scaled, as I always say only 2 species do this Snook or Tarpon. The fish must of been on the small side and not able to eat the 10 inch mullet only scaling the front. I had the mullet rigged in the rear so it would swim away. Mike caught another big Trout but we were done, I pitched the mullet overboard. It floated on the surface, as we started to leave a Bald Eagle picked up the dead mullet and flew a way. That was really cool to watch and we were impressed. These guys were happy and worn out as we headed back to the dock. 110208 I am fishing with good friend Eddy Carman who owns Biscayne Rod and Sam who is here from Japan. The day was beautiful and the wind wasn't so bad early on. We are on my favorite flat and I explain what to look for, there are baits getting busted but we only managed a couple Jacks. We moved on as the wind picked up, there had been a good Redfish bite in Snakebite channel for the last couple days so we headed there. We got in there and caught some fish but it wasn't on fire, at least they were biting. We caught a nice 26 inch Redfish, hooked a big Snook which jumped off plenty of Trout and Ladyfish. I decided it was time to try something else looking for big a Snook we watched as they busted mullet cast in to the potholes they were in but the only had mullet on there mind. Sam must of caught 50 Trout while Eddy and myself cast at the potholes trying to get the free jumping Snook. Although it was not a great Redfish and Snook day we caught a lot of fish and were off the water by 1 PM to catch the Dolphins game. 110308 Tonight I am fishing N. Biscayne Bay with Scott, Shawn and Ron. We started out catching some perfect 6 inch mullet and were off looking for SnooK and Tarpon. It didn't take to long and we found a huge area of mullet being trashed by Tarpon only 1 problem they would not hit our mullet. Ron had a follow up on his Twitch n Rap but the Tarpon turned off at the boat. We fished a couple docks but the Snook were looking at us like we were crazy for trying. We ended up on a couple bridges and the baits we getting killed but again not ours I changed up a couple thing and we finally got hit, twice! the key here was the fish were eating smaller baits than we had. We sat there for 2 hours and kept hoping for a solid hookup but it never came. We watched them bust right next to our baits this was frustrating! 110808 Today I am with Jorge, he is the president of the Miami Sport Fishing Club and Mitch from Biscayne rods. My trip for today got canceled so I called these guys late the night before. It'sgetting to be the time of year I like to fish Whitewater Bay and it helps me figure out what's going on when I get a couple good anglers on the boat. The bite wasn't great, but Mitch had a great day. It started early for him jumping a Tarpon and then getting a Snook not long after that. We cast for Snook most of the morning while watching 100 lb.Tarpon free jump all around us. We caught about every thing that swims this day but a Redfish. The tide was weak so we headed out to the open Gulf of Mexico, the tide is always stronger there. As we got into the Gulf we noticed some diving birds, Mitch threw an X-Rap and hooked a big Mackerel. For the 20 minutes we caught Jacks and Mac's until I finally said let's go get a Cobia! We ran to a marker and I hooked up immediately with a nice Pompano, Mitch was not going to be outdone today. He hooked up and his fish was pulling some drag and it finally showed itself, it was a big Cobia! It took a while breaking my custom gaff luckily half of it stayed in the fish, we landed a solid 40 lb Cobia. We were off to the next marker and Jorge was dying at this point, every time we stopped Mitch was hooked up and it as getting old. We pulled up to the next marker, I told Jorge go ahead it all yours as we sat back and watched. Jorge got no bites so we decided to make a few cast just in case, well Mitch did it to him again. Mitch fought this fish for 10 minutes or so and it had a little less fight than the first one and then the fish came to the surface. It was a nice Goliath Grouper about 25 lbs. The weather changed as Mitch fought this fish so we headed back inshore. It was about 430 and we were still 25 miles from the dock. When we got closer to Flamingo the sun was already setting and we spotted a bunch of Tarpon cruising a flat in less than a foot of water, I said if we stop well never get out of here! Well of course we stopped! It was cool but the fish were working off the flat and we were in their path, this made them nervous. We made some good cast but only to made them move a little quicker, it was still really cool! We made our was back to the dock and just like when we got here it was dark. I don't do a lot of these 12 hour days any more but man is it a full day of catching! 111408 I am fishing Flamingo today with Bill Wade. The wind is blowing about 15 mph when we arrive at the ramp and it didn't take long to get over 20 mph. The bite was extremely slow possible because of the full moon and clear skies last night. We hooked one Snook on our fist stop, but the wind and current were really strong and both going in the same direction. This make it really tough to feel the jig and Gulp Shrimp on the bottom, we attempted to cast an X Rap but the weeds were thick. We worked around and cast at Tarpon which were rolling around us but they weren't eating. Bill cast and cast until the bottom of low tide that's when I decided to run to the Gulf of Mexico. We worked the markers and Crab traps buoys only catching a bunch of Jacks a really big Lane Snapper (which makes great bait). I was hoping for a Cobia but no luck! We continued to run north in the Gulf and got into a bunch of diving birds off of Middle Cape, Mackerel, Bluefish and Jacks were chasing Pilchard Schools. Bill was finally catching which made both of us happy. We did that for an hour and went on to look for quality fish that would pull drag. I ran east and until we found low water in the back of Snake Bite and put the Power Pole down. We cast to the run offs and put out the live Lane Snapper and it got slammed by a really big Shark. Bill fought the Shark for 10 minutes and it cut us off. I re-rigged and put on a 4 inch Jack which was eaten by a small shark. I re-rigged with another small jack and after 10 minutes Bill landed a 40 lb Lemon Shark. The glamour species really didn't play today but the rest of the fish did, which is the way it goes once in a while. I spoke to friend at the ramp and they all had similar days, I guess the full moon did have an effect! 112408 This past week was very tough for me with the passing of my mother. I needed to get away and just have go fish. I called my good friends Paul and Capt. Raul and asked if they we up to it, the 3 of us have a good time together and usually put some fish in the boat. The wind was supposed to blow N.E. at 15-20 so I said I wanted to go back in to Tarpon Bay, Cane patch, Rookery area. They agreed it wasn't a bad idea. We made our way up there, it is 30 miles from the dock and a great scenic ride. We hit a couple spots and finally got in to a good Snook bite, they aren't always big up there. It is somewhat of a nursery ground for juvenile Snook but the numbers can be incredible. One submerged tree back there can be loaded with Snook, Reds and Bass and the entire place looks ideal. One of my favorite spots produced for us and we pulled 15 Snook up to 27 inches off it instead of wearing the spot out we moved on to the Rookery. There was nothing going on back there, no bait moving, no pops on the surface and then we saw a couple of jumping mullet as we were running out. I pulled of the throttle and we caught a bunch of a point. It really wasn't happening so we headed back in to Tarpon Bay, where Paul caught 4 keeper Mangroves on his Twitch n Rap and I had big hit on a Gulp Shrimp. We get moving around from shallow bank to shallow bank and that's when I saw the mother load of the biggest Snook I have ever seen. I whispered look we got some big Tarpon on the edge only to see they were a school of 30 plus pound Snook. I wasn't in the position to cast but Raul flipped his jerk bait in front of the monsters and got hit. The big Snook rolled over and flared her gills right under the boat (man were we screaming) it was short live the Snook ran under the boat and came off. We worked away from the edge and then came back around when Paul saw another group of them. I had explained earlier this exact scenario but never with fish this large I have seen 15-20 pound Snook plenty of times but these were truly big! They spooked and we didn't see them again so we ran we decide to go look for Cobias in the Gulf of Mexico. We made our way out of little Shark river and the birds were diving everywhere on bait. We caught some Bluefish, Mackerels and Jacks but we wanted Cobia so we headed toward the markers. It was cloudy, breezy and the temperatures dropped as we got out there. The first couple markers didn't have much going on but Raul finally caught a Small cobia and then missed another but it was very slow. It was 4 o'clock and we decide we had enough and headed home. 112708 Thanksgiving day, I am fishing with buddies Eric and Jorge from the Miami Sport fishing Club. We have had this tradition for about the last 15 years and for me its really the only time I ever get to fish with them. I suggested we target Cobias they have been around in good numbers and we could turn them into a fish fry at the club. We caught bait and started running when my plugs fouled so we stayed close.We caught Snook, Trout, Jacks, Bluefish and let Jorge experience Sharks on top water plugs, we fished in Florida Bay until about 1 o'clock then called it a day. 112808 Today I am fishing Flamingo with Josh and his 2 sons Elliot and Eric. We started out out right in front of the marina on some diving birds, after catching a handful of Jacks we moved on. I rigged each rod differently to se what would work. one had Jig and shrimp the other a popping corking and a live shrimp and the 3rd was a jig with a Gulp shrimp and it didn't take long before the rods started bending. The area was holding fish but no Snook, the Tarpon were rolling everywhere around us but showing no interest. Josh caught 2 really big Sheepheads and then a couple 22 inch Trout while Eric and Elliot caught everything else. Josh put a Redfish in the boat and Elliot was hooked up to a giant Sting Ray. I decided to try something else and we moved on, the tide was extremely low. I put us in position to fish a bank that had plenty of points and holes that hold fish. It didn't take very long and Elliot was hooked up with a big Trout and Josh hooked a good Snook. The action continued and in between every good fish there were plenty Jacks and Bluefish. We had shots at Tarpon all day but they refused pinfish, shrimp and every lure we cast. Josh got a slam which is always a great accomplishment and the boys were worn out from the catching. It's nice when you start with 8 dozen shrimp and end with zero! If I can be of any help in your fishing need give me a call 305 333 8149. Let's go catchem, Capt Jim hobales Select another page || Go to Home Page

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