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Fort Lauderdale / North Miami Beach Report
Inshore / Offshore
January 2007Fort Lauderdale/ Miami Fishing Report
Inshore/ Offshore
Inshore
I hope everyone had a great holiday season and look forward to a happy and healthy new year. The big story lately has been the wind. We’ve had day’s on end of 20-25
NE winds. This had made the ocean off limits for most small boaters. Like I said last month, December is not the easiest month to fish North
Biscayne bay. Fortunately, after several years guiding the bay. I have enough spots to put together a nice catch for a half day of fishing. With the bay being so protected, I like to cut the bay in half. I lose about fifty percent of the fishing area, but the other 50 is fishable in almost any conditions. The shorelines in the lee of the wind have had snook, trout, jacks, and barracuda. The night tarpon/ snook fishing has been excellent lately. Just the other night we had one of those, “you don’t know if you don’t
go” kinda nights. The winds were steady out of the north east at 25 knots. I had a couple of Californians, just back from a cruise and wanted to sample some south
Florida action. We started catching several jacks before it got dark, then cast netted a well full of pilchards. We ended up with close to double digits in snook releases and several nice snapper. The tarpon were absent that night, but very thick my last couple of night trips.
Offshore
When you can get out there the fishing has been very good. The sailfish still hadn’t showed in huge numbers. Dolphin have been all over the place. Mostly smaller class fish, but some nice gaffers have been in the mix. King fishing has been okay, but most the fish have been on the smaller side.
February 2007Fort Lauderdale/ Miami Fishing Report
Inshore/ Offshore
Inshore
February is a good month to fish tarpon both day and night. The morning bite usually doesn’t last long. I like to fish for them for the first hour of day light, if they’re biting keep fishing till they stop. I’ve had days in February when we caught them till 12 noon, but it’s typically a low light bite. The night bite is excellent in February. Look for fish to start getting active about an hour before sunset, and on the good shrimp runs the fish will bite all night long. If you’re new to this type of fishing, I would suggest you bring a million candle power spotlight out with you. Use the light sparingly to see where your fish is going while you fight it. Try to avoid hitting other boaters with this light. People use these for navigation in the bay, but if you shine it at another boater you will completely blind them. I would definitely make sure you’re familiar with the area during daylight hours, before venturing out there at night.
Offshore
Look for the weather start to cool off and the sails to fire up. There’s a reason why some of the biggest sailfish tournaments of the year are held in February. Most people think a goggle eye is the only bait of choice. However, out of the
Miami area a large thread fin herring is hard to beat. I think this has to do with supply and demand, and there is a much larger supply of threadfins in February than any other baitfish.
April 2007 Fort Lauderdale/ Miami Fishing Report
Inshore/ Offshore
Inshore
Things seem to be heating up on the inshore scene. Mackerel fishing has been on fire in the bay lately. Free lined live pilchards have been the way to go. Sometimes a little split shot a couple inches above the hook will get more strikes. Finally, the bigger
sea trout have been starting to bite on the incoming tides. A jig and shrimp combo works great, but a live pilchard has been working best on those over 20 inch fish. This time of year catching bait is a bit more difficult. I’d suggest not wasting time looking for bait and give Lester’s live bait a call. He sells live pilchards right in front of the charter boats at Haulover marina. Just pull your boat right up and he’ll give you the best deal on live bait anywhere in South Florida. Call in advance his number is 954-557-8501. Tarpon fishing was very slow the first 2 months of the year, but the last week or so the fishing really good. I think this is only a sign of things to come.
Offshore
The sailfish are finally here in good numbers. My buddy Dan Leahy and Joe Turner caught 24 in 2 days of fishing this past weekend to pick up a fourth place finish in the billfish masters tournament. Those are the type of numbers we’ve been waiting to see. Lot’s of big dolphin have been making an early showing this year. Remember that you can’t catch any of these fish from your couch!
May 2007 Fort Lauderdale/ North Miami Beach Report
Inshore/ Offshore
Don’t let the summer time blues catch you!
Inshore
With summer rapidly approaching. The mid day heat will start to take it’s toll on the bay fishing. The best way to counter punch the heat is by, fishing early and fishing late. Fishing the low light conditions will really increase your chances with most of north
Biscayne bays inshore species. Slick calm mornings can be a great time to work top water plugs like the yo-zuri banana boat over grass flats in the 3-5 foot depths. Another great artificial to use is a gambler twitch’in shad, rigged on a gamakatsu 4/0 wide gap hook. The most likely suspects will be
sea trout in the 12 to 20in. range. But, don’t be surprised if a snook or
Jack Crevalle jumps on it. The same thing go’s for the evening bite. After those thunderstorms blow through in the afternoon. It can cool the water temps a little and get those fish chewing before the sun goes down.
Offshore
On the offshore scene. Look for lots of dolphin being found under birds and floating debris. I like to fish over the reef for kingfish, sailfish and bonita first thing in the morning. After the sun gets up a little bit, it makes it a little easier to locate the birds, or find any floating debris. Fishing offshore can get tough in the middle of the day as well. A good way to draw a strike during that middle of the day lull. Try trolling a bait on a down rigger. Getting that bait down deep can make the difference in the summertime conditions.
June 2007 Fort Lauderdale/ Miami Fishing Report
Inshore/ Offshore
Before I get to my report, I want to give you fellow boaters some good info on trailers. If you have a trailer with brakes, you must stay on top of your maintenance. It’s very common to run low on the brake fluid on your actuator, I’ve been told to check after every 4th use. For me, that’s twice a week. Also, most trailers brake pads don’t have indicators that squeak when your pads are low. If you have a trailer with brakes these are things you need to stay on top of. Now, if you read my reports regularly, you would know anytime I come across a product or have found something that makes my life easier. I do my best to share this information with you. Here’s the tale of two trailer companies. Back in the beginning of tarpon season I took my trailer over for some preventive maintenance at a local trailer service center. Most people in broward county who have a trailer have been to the place west of 95 on Stirling road . They’re definitely not the cheapest place, but they have a good reputation. Well, I dropped my trailer off and found out my brakes and rotors were shot. $1,100 dollars seemed a little steep, so I had them fix some other things and get me back on the road. About a week later, as I was pulling my trailer out of the water and one of my wheels almost fell off. I walked around, checked the others, and found all four wheels were ready to fall off! Every lug nut was hand tight! Fortunately, nothing had happened other than a couple studs had gotten trashed. Surprisingly, this didn’t bother me to much. No harm no foul. I called and they said they would take care of it. Then, all the lights they fixed started crapping out after a couple of weeks. The problems started when they could not except the fact that they forgot to tighten the lug nuts. The lights they fixed were not working either. Because I didn’t make a big stink about the wheels originally, they didn’t believe that it actually happened. They fixed the problem they created and charged me for the labor and threw in a free wheel, which was damaged from the lug not being tightened. 3 weeks after taking my trailer there to be dialed in for the busy season, I got 1 out of 6 lights working that they fixed. I’m sure they would have fixed the problems, but I had lost any respect for their operation at that point. I know people make mistakes, but when you can’t own up to your mistakes is when there’s bigger problems.
Here’s a company that stands behind their product and the work they do.
I got home and got on the phone with Angie from Ameritrail the manufacturer of my trailer. She in turn put me in contact with Kodiak trailer components. It turns out they make a brake system more suited for commercial use. Most boat trailers aren’t going to be used over 225 days a year.
The guy’s from Kodiak sent me a stainless steel set of brakes. I took my trailer up to St. Cloud on an open day. In the matter of a few hours the crew at Ameritrail had my brakes installed, fixed all the light problems the right way, and had that trailer looking like the day I bought it. I can’t say enough about the job both these companies did. It’s refreshing seeing companies that still take pride in products and services they provide. If you neglected your brakes the way I did and want to replace them with quality components. Kodiak trailer components is located at 7600 Sand Street Fort Worth, Texas 76118. 1-800 7kodiak or
www.kodiaktrailer.com I got my parts sent to me in 2 days. If you need to get your trailer completely overhauled, Sean Walsh at Ameritrail will get you fixed up the right way. I also know where I’ll be purchasing my next trailer. It’s a 2 and a half hour drive and worth every bit of it from Fort Lauderdale. Ameritrail 4840 east Irlo Bronson Highway St. Cloud, Florida 34771, 1-407-892-1100, or
www.ameritrail.com
Inshore
Fishing has been awesome! That’s my only excuse for missing my report the last couple issues. I’ve been fishing just about everyday, and the fish have been biting. The tarpon fishing is at it’s peak right now. I’ve been averaging about 5 hook ups a night and the fish have been really, really big. It’s been tough trying to find a tarpon under a 100 pounds lately. Snook fishing has been picking up and the trout are everywhere on the rising tide. Big
Jack Crevalles have been in the north part of the bay crashing schools of mullet. June is one of the last good months for fishing the bay before it gets to hot. Get out there while it’s good.
Offshore
Dolphin are all over the place. I’ve been doing best fishing shallow between 200 and 300 feet. Load’s of keeper dolphin had been pouring through. Look for these fish to be quite a bit deeper as summer comes on. Lot’s of late season sailfish have been in those same depths. Afternoon blackfin tuna fishing was red hot last month and just might continue into June.
August 2007 fishing report for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Haulover park
Inshore
Catch and release snook fishing has been excellent in all the area inlets, and along the beaches. If you decide to target these fish, there’s a few things to know. These fish are here to spawn! These are our future generations of snook, and you want to handle them as
careful as possible. I always use circle hooks with live bait, or if you use jigs. You can just pinch the barb down. Try to leave them in the water while you pop the hook out. If you catch a fattie and decide to take a picture. Make it quick, support the fishes belly, and get her back in the water
ASAP. There’s still been quite a few tarpon around. These fish are quite smaller, but they are a blast on the right tackle.
Sea trout have been plentiful in the early morning, but seem to disappear once it gets past about 9 a.m. I like throwing topwater plugs early, and doa’s later.
Offshore
Dolphin fishing has slowed quite a bit. There are still plenty of nice fish to be caught in August, you just have to work a little harder. Most my fish this summer have come off working birds. Find the birds, find the fish. Early in the season we caught loads of dolphin inside of 300 feet. Look for the fish to be much deeper this month. Most all the catches lately have come deeper than 800 feet. The reef has been hit or miss with some decent kings around in the morning. The bonita should start thrashing your live bait spread this month. Lobster season opens up this month, and from what I’ve seen so far it should be a good season. Fish early, or fish late it’s hot out there.
September 2007 fishing report for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Haulover park
Inshore
Fishing has been excellent all summer long. We’ve been catching tons of catch and release snook the last few months. Come September 1st , they usually get a little tougher. Snook will begin to move off the beach and back into the bays through out the fall. Finger mullet usually show up some time in September, and later followed up by the bigger mullet. Keeps your ears open for any reports of a mullet run. The fall run can be an absolute blast! Working the bait schools can produce all types of action. Snook, tarpon, jacks, and sharks are just some of the predators following these bait schools. After a few good days of northeast winds, look for lots of pilchards, herring, and Spanish sardines to return to the bay. I recently picked up a new net for these smaller baits. Check out
www.evergladesoutfitter.com
and order a 10 foot 3/8 mesh true spread net. The price is right, and it’s a great net for all the fall baitfish.
Offshore
It’s been so calm this summer I’ve been able to run lots of offshore trips. The reef from 90 to 150 foot deep has been on fire. There have been tons of big bonito for loads of action and plenty of kingfish, sailfish, and the occasional wahoo to keep things interesting. Just to give you an idea of how good it’s been. Last week on a half day of fishing a client of mine from England had an awesome day. He started out with a couple jacks, red grouper, yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, and then things got interesting when he landed a nice tarpon. After that, we went out deeper and caught a bunch of 15 pound bonitos,
dolphin, a sailfish, and finished the day with a sight casted snook. That was all in a 4 hour trip from 7-11 am.
Congratulations to Martin on a banner day, and his friend John for taking some awesome photos. My new favorite female angler
Melissa, caught a 88 in. sailfish on a 8lb. chaos rod. She then followed that up with a beautiful
wahoo.
October 2007 fishing report for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Haulover park
Inshore
Light tackle fishing continues to be on fire! Lot’s of smaller class tarpon have been covering up the north Biscayne bay area. We’ve been able to catch them on all tides and just about anytime day or night. When I say small, the average fish has been about 30 pounds. However, we’ve caught several closer to 75 pound range. Over the slot snook are still pretty plentiful, but it can be a little difficult to find one in the new slot regulation. The mullet run is just beginning as I’m writing this, and by the time it’s in the racks should be in full swing. Work the edges and below the schools for best results. 15 pound Chaos spinning rod, 50 pound mono leader about 3 feet, and a 4/0 octopus
gamakatsu.
Offshore
The winds have continued to stay fairly light, and the fishing continues to be red hot. It seems the bonito have begun to thin out, which has made king fishing a little easier. The sailfish are also still biting on days when you have good current. Look for dolphin to start to push back through with a vengeance. Last week several large fish were brought in by guys fishing shallow inside 300 feet. I have not bothered fishing for them the last 2 months, but now is the time to start looking again. Be careful not to run right past them, they might be shallower than you think.
Capt. Gavet Tuttle is a full-time licensed and insured US coast guard captain. Specializing in light tackle fishing in the North Miami Beach area. Offering inshore, offshore, and freshwater fishing charters aboard 24 foot Shearwater bay boat and 26 ft. Goldline c.c. He also proudly represents Chaos rods, Shimano reels, Gambler worms, Spro, and yo-zuri hybrid line. To reach him, you can call him at 954-448-1211 or 954- 964-9131 or visit him at his at his website
www.backformore.com .
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