The offshore scene has been a mixed bag of sailfish, bonito, small blackfin tuna, a few kingfish, and some mahi-mahi.Drop the bottom rod down and you could come up with a kingfish, mutton snapper, or grouper.Just remember that if it’s a grouper, the season is closed, so release it carefully.
Inshore, tarpon is still the king and will be for several more months.Several good shrimp runs have the fish readily eating on their time schedule.The fish have ranged in size from 30 – 110 pounds.
Drew Townes, Kevin Crossman, Luke Bell, and Tim Ivy spent a few hours tarpon fishing during the Miami International Boat Show.Kevin, Luke, and Tim all caught and released their first tarpon.Two of the three fish had a DNA sample taken.Final total for the evening was 3 for 4 caught on the south side of the south jetty.
Scott Salyers along with Charlie and Nick also got into some tarpon action the next evening.The final tally on their evening of tarpon fishing was also 3 for 4.
John Lyon, Sheldon Noel, Dave Hoffa, and Geoff Hoffa spent a half day offshore pulling on bonito, blackfin tuna, and kingfish.
Mario Adams, Adam Millier, Samuel Marks, and John Nicholas got wore out pulling on bonito and dolphin.The current was smoking to the north and it seemed like the entire coast was invaded by a massive number of summertime large bonito.Throw in a scoop of live pilchards and within minutes, all the rods would hook up.It got to the point that two of the anglers didn’t want to fight fish anymore.As they said “they pull to hard and I’m tired.”Final count was 17 bonito and 4 dolphin.
Shahrokh Reza and his father-in-law, Leo Biliouris experienced their first saltwater fishing trip.The bonito were still here everywhere.The action was fast and furious starting with a dolphin then a bonito.Next it was more bonito and a kingfish.Final tally for their shortened half day was 10 bonito, 1 dolphin, and 1 kingfish.
Ken Booth and Mike Vanloon caught 1 sailfish off the kite, 1 kingfish, and 8 bonito.
Bill and Heather McCaffrey had their first experience with Miami tarpon fishing.We caught the weaker part of the tide in the bay, however, we had one strike and caught 1 tarpon.We moved out to the cut and when the tide changed, we caught and released two more tarpon before the trip was over.Final tally was 3 for 3.
Cenk Durukal from Vienna, Austria fished an afternoon/evening combo trip.We started with a tripleheader bonito, then a kingfish, and our last fish during the offshore portion was a sailfish.The sail ate the bait on the downrigger.This is the third sailfish we’ve caught on the downrigger over the past two weeks.Moving inshore, it took us a little while to find the tarpon.The hunt and search was well worth the effort.Cenk caught and released a 110 pound tarpon.The next fish we hooked gave us back our hook on its first jump.That gave us a final tally for the evening of 1 for 2.
Gugga Jonasdottir, Jonas Jonasson, and Gisli Gilsason also saw their first Miami tarpon fishing experience.We started with action in the bay going 1 for 2.Then it was out to the north side of the jetties at Government Cut.Jonas hooked a very strong and stubborn 90 pound tarpon.Jonas was also as strong and stubborn.For a while it was a standoff.The fish finally started to tire and Jonas took advantage of it.In the end, the fish was photographed and released.
Matt and Jeff Hart caught a blackfin tuna and a couple of bonito during their half day trip.
All the offshore action took place in 100 – 140 feet.The tarpon action was at Government Cut and in the bay.
