South Florida 7/16-7/19
Good Day All! I am working on getting all of the pictures uploaded, but here is a link to the ones I have on my
photobucket site. http://s380.photobucket.com/albums/o...ishing%202010/
It was my annual saltwater fishing adventure, and I returned to south Florida with my brother. We stayed at a fine place just off the ocean in Boca Raton. Ocean Lodge: $59 in the summer, clean, great area, block from the beach.
Friday night we hit a quick local spot along the Intercoastal waterway. We caught a handful of small mangrove and lane snappers and grunts. I did catch one late that would have been a keeper, but we threw him back.
Saturday we went up to Jupiter and took out Black Dog Sportfishing Charters. Open party boat, $75 a person for a 4 hour trip. Weather was a bit tricky, higher east winds than normal, but we stayed active with bottom fish. We averaged about 2 miles out fishing anywhere from 60-200 feet of water. The boat holds 8 people, and between my brother and I, we estimated catching about 30. Bites were a bit tricky, but thanks to a couple of regulars I was able to learn the difference between a yellowtail snapper bite and a mutton snapper bite. We each got a couple of nice keeper muttons, I landed a double yellowtail catch, and my brother got a beautiful lane snapper that was kept. I landed two triggerfish, of which the mate said they are better eating than snapper to which I am greatly looking forward to finding out if that is the case! You'll also see a picture of a tiny lizardfish, easily the ugliest thing we caught on the venture. My brother also hooked landed a couple of remoras and a short red grouper, add in a few grunts and porgies and it was a fine morning.
The afternoon trip was the tale of 3 trips. First spot I got a keeper yellowtail and my brother puts a keeper mutton in the boat, bam! Then it was VERY slow for the next 90 minutes. The captain took us way out, probably over 4 miles and we got into the pelagics. A couple guys boated short amberjacks which looked like fighting a train. Then my brother got his first introduction to a bonito. Over the next 60 minutes the boat went nuts with 3-5 of these guys being on at any given time. Size averaged about 12 pounds, with some on each side of that ledger. Tremendous fun! They run like hell, then you think you've won the battle and they get to the boat and head straight underneath. I was able to land a nice keeper king, and my brother lost one right before the gaff was out. My last fish was a foul hooked 10 pound bonito that took me out 200 yards. I think our total for that last 90 minutes was 7 bonitos boated and 1 king, plus a few real nice blue runners in the 3-5 pound range.. We kept one bonito for bait and had minimal luck fishing the current in the inlet, we tossed a wide array of baits and nothing much materialized. When big fish aren't biting, look to the small ones! Put a few tiny strips of bonito on sabiki rigs and welcome to the world of Sergeant Majors, the coolest fish we caught all trip. We'd catch them in bunches, and would throw an occasional pinfish out deep with no success.
Sunday night we took a guided tarpon and snook trip out in the urban Fort Lauderdale area. Guide was very nice and efficient, and we figured we had a challenging weather condition situation with the wind. We hit the intercoastal waterway cruising for tarpon for 45 minutes with no luck except for a small lane. Our next spot was a jetty that we worked several times drifting pilchards. We would land a couple keeper mangrove snappers early, and then my brother would hook up with his first barracuda. He got it real close to the boat before it cut his line. Fish was probably 18-20 inches long. On the next drift I got into a bruiser and hopes were high that it was a good snook. The guide raised my hopes even higher when he looked down and said he thought it was a cubera snapper. Much to our surprise, it was a rotund black drum. A rare catch, but FAR from a favorite. Good fight though.
Action was a bit tough, but then I landed a nice little cuda. I always enjoy catching them and its my first atlantic coast cuda. The next drift provided the highlight of the night, my brother got a nice snook, probably over 2 feet long and brought it in from WAY out. Good fight, light tackle. The sun went down and we took one of the neatest boatrides I've ever been on, going from the cusp of the ocean through downtown fort lauderdale at night. We settled in and worked our tail off for tarpon, seeing fish around, nothing huge, but probably in the 15-30 pound range. Nothing doing. It was then late in the night and we had about an hour left. We would fish the side canals with submerged lights. The first couple lights we saw fish, put bait right in front of them, and nothing doing. As we pulled away from one spot my line took off, adrenaline shot through the roof, but quickly we realized it was not a tarpon. That said, I landed my first snook, something to be quite happy with. As the night wound down the writing was on the wall that we would not tackle a tarpon, and we left the water at 11 p.m. Thus, the tarpon has become my moby dick. 2 guided trips taken in 5 years, and not a strike. I really thought we'd have at least a shot on this night, but the weather and waves made for difficult conditions, and 2 snook and 2 barracudas was a fun time.
Monday morning we took to the surf at sunrise for a little shark and topwater fishing. My brother took a 12 foot surf rod, 40 pound test, a 4 inch hook and 8 inch strip of bonito. I threw an 8 inch topwater rapala. He had something eat half his bait, and I had nary a strike, but fishing big rods and big tackle with the waves crashing at your feet and a sunrise is an extraordinary thing to do.
We took one final shot at a lake 8 miles east of the Fort Lauderdale airport for peacock bass, although we had heard they took a beating that winter. All that was caught was a small bluegill and a mayan cichlid.
Of course, we're disappointed we didn't tangle with a tarpon, but for the wide array of types of fishing we did in such a short amount of time, what a magnificent trip it was! I've got a great place to stay for an amazing price, an open party boat that doesn't disappoint, and a cooler full of fine tasting saltwater fish to fry with family and friends! I can't wait to go back!
If you are interested, I am more than happy to provide details, and could even be willing to see if a bunch of people wanted to go down sometime together.
Oh, and here is the species list.
Lane Snapper - a few dinks and keepers
Yellowtail snappers- several keepers
Mutton Snappers - a few keepers
Mangrove Snappers - a few keepers, several small ones
1 Red Grouper -
2 lizardfish - ugly!
a few porgies
Triggerfish - 2 keepers
a few grunts
a few blue runners - 2-5 pounds
pinfish
1 king mackerel - keeper
7 bonito
2 remoras
sergeant majors = several
1 bermuda chub
1 bluegill
1 mayan cichlid
2 snook
2 barracuda
1 black drum
a couple kelpfish
1 jack crevalle
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Originally Posted by kcisar
