Amberjack have returned to South Florida with a vengeance. We fished all the wrecks from Miami to Key Largo and every wreck was loaded with amberjack, almaco jacks, and barracuda. We caught a few muttons and saw a huge blue marlin that  took a liking to our boat but the big story was amberjack. My clients from New Jersey had a blast reeling in huge amberjack. Their backs were breaking by the end of the day. We have been recently plagued by west winds and dirty water but that didn't bother the amberjack fishing. Look for the jacks to remain in our area through June. The sailfishing should explode next week during the Yamaha Contender Miami Billfish Tournament. As soon as our winds shift back to the north and east, fishing should return to norma,l with plenty of sails, dolphin, and king mackerel. Around the corner look for the big blackfin tuna to arrive.

December  9th,2009

Left Matheson Hammock at 7 am. Crushed the bait at the local markers and headed south. Hit a few wrecks and caught one king mackerel. Went south to the Sir Scott and lost a few big fish on the bottom. Wanted to get to the Cero Mackerel spot and catch ballyho to slow troll. Condtions were all wrong with the tide moving under the boat and no surface action from the Cero's. We didnt put a whole lot of effort into it since the conditions just didn't seem right, but we did manage to catch a nice Cero on artificial. We pushed offshore just north of Pacific light and hit the gold mine. In 180 feet it was a gnarly surface current and we put up the kites. I couldn't even get two kites out because the sailfish were so thick. In about an hour and a half we caught and released seven out of eight sails. We continued the drift up to the "beacon" and caught two keeper grouper, two muttons, one cobia, and caught and released a few bonita. It was dirty water but good current. Not a bad day.

December 10,2009

Friends on the next day caught and released seven out of eight sails and caught a nice mutton just south of Fowey Light,

Saturday, the 11th

 A quick trip to Bugg light  and we again crushed the bait. Headed straight offshore between Fowey and the Monument Buoy and caught two sails and two nice dolphin in about two hours, and was told to head in. Weather was ugly and rainy.

This action should continue right up to the next full moon.  Sails, dolphin, and kings should be feeding right along the edge of the stream. Bait has been in good supply just about everywhere. 

November 20, 2009

This past week I was invited to be an angler in the Sailfish Cup Fishing Tournament, on board the "Reel Tight", a beautiful 80ft Merrit sportfisherman. My good friend and captain, Eddie Herbert, asked me to fish and help out during the tournament. I was joined by his awesome crew of Joe, Eric, and Fly, who were also anglers. The chief of the operation was owner Jimmy Lambert, who is also and excellent angler and a very likable host. On the first day after not seeing a fish all morning, we made a move to the north off Miami Beach and hooked six sailfish and managed to pull four fish our of our asses. We regrouped and afer about a half an hour we hooked a quad and caught all four fish, which put us in the lead with eight fish. We won the "daily" for the day and got ready for the second day of fishing, (after a few cocktails of course!). Fishing was slower for the "Reel Tight" the second day, but we did catch three fish and managed to stay ahead of the pack to win the tournament with eleven fish. The boat took home nearly $ 200,000.00 in prize money as well as beautiful trophys. The tournament was well run and the banquet was great.

If we had not been fishing the tournament, and had just been out for a day of fishing, we would have had an excellent catch. We had large dolphin up to 20 pounds, as well as , king mackerel, cero mackerel, and large hammerhead sharks. One boat even hooked a blue marlin during the tournament. Look for this hot fishing to continue through Thanksgiving week and beyond. This is just the beginning of the season and I expect to see good days ahead.

October 2009

Mullet Run in Full Swing

This week we watched as a school of Mullet an acre wide came around the north jetty of government cut. When they rounded the jetty the tarpon coraled them into a tight ball and begin their assault. We watched as tarpon up to 100 pounds blasted this helpless school. On the offshore scene the kingfish bite has been steady off Virginia Key. A few sailfish are starting to show up to the north of government cut. The dolphin have been hit and miss. They are on the move and show up one day and are gone for the next three days. Baitfishing has been good inside government cut and the pilchards are thick inside the bay.