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                                                                    Expect Great Bone fishing in March

                             Fishing Report for Miami’s Biscayne Bay and FloridaBay “Flamingo”

                                                                        February 22 2010

       Driving to Flamingo this week I had time to think about all the cold weather we are having thanks to “Global warming!” and what new strategies to use.  Some days the bite has been real slow when the water temps are so cold I can picture Redfish standing around a campfire under the mangroves to keep warm! Well that was the mental image I had driving anyway.

This week we started off a day with a slow bite and I thought this is a good time as any to get away from some of the old ways and try new things….not new places but new tricks. I am a flats fisher man and enjoy hunting the flats looking for predators instead of soaking shrimp on jigs around trees and creeks, but since this is where the fish are so we might as well make the best of it.

I tried using certain jerk baits on a knocker rig believe it or not! The trick was finding the right amount of weight to make the bait stay on the bottom and move real slowly; after 26 Redfish later in 1 spot where I was only catching Catfish on shrimp seemed to work, the reds were only up to 24 inches. I had never tried jerk bait on a knocker rig at Flamingo, It worked for the Reds and in the next spot we caught over 60 Trout with the largest Trout at 24 inches, I think I will stay with this method for a while, (after trying some, one jerk bait worked better than others!).

       In Biscayne Bay on Saturday the 20th on a day where the water was low at midday we saw an estimated 300 bones. Some were mudding and feeding and the others were cruising in fairly large groups. Alonso Sotillo caught his first bone on fly in a group of mudding fish.

 Sunday the 21st however was a totally different story with not as many bones found around the bay; I had four different boats sending me reports through out the day and all guys saw a minimal amount of Bones that day.

There are big Tarpon in some areas of Biscayne Bay you just have to know where they are, they are eating large hand picked shrimp soaked on the bottom using a #5 circle hook.

 So HOPEFULLY with this month coming to a close and again HOPEFULLY warmer weather on its way most of the fish we target on a daily basis will go back to the flats to feed and play. I expect Bone fishing in Biscayne Bay to only get better as we go. Some days the bone will only be around several hours before retreating to deeper water depending on weather and tides. I like falling water until 1pm lately… that has been the best for me.

  So the Bones do live!!!    Good luck Capt. Jim Hale

          www.floridasportfishingcharters.com

                   786-255-1788