FALL IS ON FIRE

Report Date: October 4, 2011

  We are finally getting over the scorching heat of summer and entering fall. The humidity has eased up and the fishing has picked up.
One of the telltale signs that autumn has arrived is the fall mullet run. The mullet are pouring down the beaches and intracoastal waterways for their annual push. Sharks, tarpon, snook, jack crevelle, and bluefish are just a few species that are chasing them along the coastlines. Fishing the mullet schools can be very exciting this time of year.

I started out this month fishing with a good client of mine Bob Bulac and his friend Ban. We decided to go swordfishing for a half day. The reasoning we went swordfishing on a half day was because the weather was good and there wasn’t much going on inshore. It was about a 45 minute boat ride offshore and within minutes we were fishing. After the first bait hit the bottom it wasn’t even five minutes until we had our first strike. Something very large hit the bait and we were in for a long battle. About an hour later we had a 300lb. thresher shark to the boat. The tail alone was seven feet long. After the big thresher shark, my crew and I decided to run back south to the same area and tried one last drop. We hit bottom and the rod tip started bouncing. Fifteen minutes later a 70lb swordfish was on board. On the way in from the swordfish grounds I noticed some weed lines and birds picking on the water. We trolled the weed line and about 15 minutes later there were dolphin jumping all around the boat. They were on every pole. We ended up landing 30 fish which was a nice way to end the day.

  The dolphin were hitting very good for about the next week and later slowed down. The swordfish on the other hand were very consistent. I had two consecutive days this month with four swordfish in the boat. That is remarkable fishing. I have also done several night trips catching some smaller swords with a lot of sharks missed in. One night trip I fished with Jacob and his dad Izzy, where we landed six sharks up to 250lbs all in about an hour’s time.

  Apart from the offshore the reef is starting to hold its own. There have been a lot of kingfish moving in. These have been caught on the troll with a few caught on live bait. The sailfishing is definitely picking up. I heard one boat caught ten sailfish in a day on the 1st of October. There are also some nice wahoos being caught here and in the Bahamas.

  It seems like everything is early this year which means the fishing should be good this winter. The weather has been in the upper seventies with low humidity. Now is a good time to reserve a trip to target the specie of your choice.

 

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