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Fort Lauderdale / North Miami Beach Report
Inshore / Offshore
August 2004
When the sun goes down
Anyone who lives in South Florida knows how brutal the heat can be in August. The best way for me to beat the heat, is to fish at night. All of the inlets and bridges throughout the intracoastal will hold Tarpon and Snook for red-hot catch and release action. For those of you looking to put something on the table, Mangrove Snapper should be in pretty good supply as well.
What To Look For
My first recommendation if you’re new to night fishing would be to scope out the area you plan to fish during the day. Don’t plan on going very far, just pick a couple of spots and fish’em hard. Most every bridge within a couple miles of an inlet will have active fish at a particular stage of the tide. What you need to do, is get out there and figure it out. I can’t say which stage at which bridge, because there are so many and they are all unique. I will tell you, you do need flow. By flow I mean some type of current in or out. Most Snook fisherman prefer out going tides and I favor an incoming on some spots for the small Tarpon. The reason I look for current is because, when there’s no flow the fish tend to wander or meander around.. When the waters moving they don’t want to expend the energy, so they tend to find structure and stack up. Another key to picking a good bridge would be, the lighting. Generally the more distinct the shadow line, the more consistent that bridge will hold fish.
What To Feed’em
No matter what time of year I like to have a few dozen live Shrimp on board. This time of year the only place I’ve found that has nice Shrimp is Tarpon Tackle in North Miami Beach 305 948-9397. Carl get’s some in the summer, that are as sweet as the best winter Shrimp runs. Tarpon Tackle also has all the Crabs, Pinfish, and Pilchards you need. All of these live baits are excellent for Tarpon, Snook, and Snapper. I usually carry a little bit of everything. Often, you can see fish actively feed on the surface. Try to see what there chasing and match the hatch. There are plenty of great articials as well. For sight-casting I love to throw Gambler Jump’in shads and the old reliable D.O.A shrimp. You can also use lipped plugs as well, like Yo-zuri crystal minnows.
The Set Up
I have two ways I like to approach a bridge. One is setting up, uptide of the shadow line, and free lining a bait back. The other is casting a jig or knocker rig up current and bouncing it back to me. Free lining works better when the fish are feeding higher in the water column. While the other is deadly on fish down low. Both are effective and take a little time to perfect.
Keep it Simple
Figure out a knot system that is easy for you to tie in the dark. I’ve seen people take 20 minutes re-rigging out there and sometimes that was your window of opportunity. I like to double up 24 inches of main line via a spider hitch. Then, tie my leader to that via a double surgeons knot. Tie a loop knot on my hook and rock n roll. Remember this is catch and release fishing this time of year and if you don’t know how to fish circle hooks, you need to learn. Gamkatsu octopus circle hooks fished properly are the only way to go.
Tackle
I use 8 to 20 pound gear for these fish. All Chaos custom rods, Shimano spin and Plug reels, and Ande line.
Catch’em up,
Capt. Gavet Tuttle
September 2004
Increase your chances, fish for what's biting!
What I like to do is take advantage of patterns and migrations of fish to help tip the scales in my favor. In September this means the opening of snook season. I’m expecting a really good season in the areas I fish, due to the fish showing up a little late than usual. Hopefully this means they will stick around a little longer. Most snook fishermen will tell you word travels fast among those linesiders. There should definitely be a few around for those who put the time in. I will also be looking for big schools of tarpon to start showing up in north biscayne bay later in the month.
On the offshore scene fishing has been red-hot! I teamed up this summer with an old friend of mine, Capt. Steve. We’ve been running offshore trips together with tremendous success. Steve has been fishing for a living for over 20 years and is extremely efficient at finding fish. We don’t waste a lot of time with bait, usually a couple throws with the cast net and were off. It’s not uncommon to have at least a couple hundred live bait on our charters. So even when the fishing is tough we can still create something by live chumming. The reef has been producing lots of bonita and kingfish of late, and this would be a great time to catch that bonita on fly. Where we’ve had our most success though, has been dolphin fishing. We’ve had several fish in the 35 to 40 lb. class and tons of fish over the 20 in. min. I’ve dolphin fished here for a long time, and have never caught the quality of fish since teaming up with Capt. Steve. We’re looking forward to some more dolphin action and hoping to mix in some nice wahoo’s in September. So now, whether it’s inshore or offshore in the Miami or Fort Lauderdale area, we’ve got you covered.
Tight lines,
Capt. Gavet
October 2004
Here come the bait fish!
Well the fall migration of bait fish is underway. On several recent
trips I’ve encountered plenty of school’s of finger mullet,
pilchards, and sardines. Most recently the predators were right there
with ‘em. Lot’s of seatrout and jack crevalles tearing them up. This
should continue to improve, as cold fronts start to make there into
Florida. Sending the bait scurrying for the warm south Florida waters.
It won’t be long before the sharks, tarpon, and snook let their
presence known.
First thing you need to have is a live well. Second, you have to get
bait. Now there’s 2 ways to get bait. Buy or catch. If your fishing in
the Haulover area you can buy live pilchards from Carl at Tarpon Tackle
in N. Miami Beach 305 948-9397. If your on the water in the Haulover
area you can call Lester Wenger at 954-557-8501. Both are good guys, and
takes great care of their regular customers. If you decide you want to
catch it, there’s 2 ways for that. Either sabiki rigs or cast net.
Cast netting is my preferred method, because it’s usually much less
time consuming and I can have ample supply. To me, catching bait can be
just as important as catching fish. So, learning to throw a cast net is
crucial. There are plenty of videos available. Go to
evergladesoutfitters.com and they got the videos and the best prices
anywhere on West coast nets and cesars nets. Call the owner Bill
Stuerner up at 239-777-3565 and let him know where you fish and what
kind of bait. There are lot’s of nets to choose from, take his advice
on the right net for you.
Now that you got bait, it’s time to find something to feed’em to.
Inshore or offshore I like to watch the birds. Where the birds are
feeding, the gamefish usually aren’t far behind. If you have fish
actively feeding on the surface cast right in the mix. If you see a
school of bait, but no predators. Fish around the edges or put one on
the bottom.
We’ve had lot’s of success on recent trips, both inshore and
offshore. Stan Greene and Sharon Swan teamed up to catch over 40 Dolphin
up to 42 pounds. Charles Snyder of Light house point caught seatrout,
jacks, and went 1 for 2 on tarpon. The father and son dou of Adam and
Peter Weitzman had an awesome half day of catching! Adam started with 2,
14 pound kings and a 86 in. Sailfish. Then we came back inshore and he
caught a 12 pound crevalle followed by a 50 pound tarpon, 20 pound
barracuda and then dad caught a 65 pound tarpon. What kind of slam would
you call that? Right before Frances came we had some good sailfish
action with Brian and Johnathan from New York going 3 for 3 on sails.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Gavet Tuttle
954-448-1211
www.backformore.com
December 2004
Fort Lauderdale/ North Miami Beach Report
Cool temps, hot fishing!
As I write this today, we are experiencing the coolest day since last winter. As these cold fronts star to come through on the regular basis, water temps will begin to drop rapidly. Don’t be discouraged though, because there are still plenty fish to be caught. You may have to change your strategy a little bit, but here are a couple things I like to do.
One thing I always do with cooler water is slow my retrieves down. As the temperature drops the fishes metabolism begins to slow down. So there not as aggressive, and not as willing to chase after something. Another thing I like to do is fish a little deeper water when I’m fishing the flats in north biscayne bay. Instead of fishing the flats in 2 to 4 feet of water, I’ll work areas of 3 to 6 feet of water or even deeper. Seatrout will be back in season as of January first and snook will be out of season. Tarpon fishing should really begin to heat up as winter progresses. If you want a shot at fish over a hundred pounds, we are entering that time of year. So don’t let that cool weather keep you in that warm bed. Get out there and catch some fish!
Recent Adventures!
Dave Gallup and wife Trish teamed up to catch tons of jack crevalles, trout, and 6 snook up to 27 inches and went 0 for 1 on tarpon in north biscayne bay. Steve Chippendale fishing with his brother and father had a great half day catching a bunch of mackeral up to 6 pounds, and an awesome 13 pound snook. Stan Pierson fishing with brother in-law Jim had a great night snook fishing, going 13 for 18 with a few keepers and a 14 lb. crevalle. John Deerman caught a couple nice dolphin, groupers, snappers, and missed a sailfish, before boating a huge 55 inch kingfish.
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