Still Dredging

Report Date: March 1, 2014

Fishing has been a little bit on the slow side this past month. The Great Lakes Company is still dredging Government Cut which is making fishing a challenge do to the large amount of silt being stirred around on the bottom of the ocean. The water has been a lime green color which fills the bay and five or six miles of ocean water on outgoing tide. They are trying to make the cut 50ft. deep instead of 45 ft. in order to cater to the mega ship’s for the new Panama Canal. This will be good for the economy and the shipping industry once completed but unfortunately our ecosystem will have to suffer in the mean time.

On Feb. 8 me and a couple good friends of mine competed in the Sailfish Challenge. This tournament was based out of three inlets. Palm Beach, Hillsborough, and Miami. We fished Miami because there had been blue water and north current the few days before. The fishing started slow but we picked away at a couple sailfish early. Shortly after, we came to a screeching halt not catching a fish until the end of the day. The winner captured twelve sailfish off Palm Beach. Second was a friend of ours on the Native Son who caught 11 sails,ending up in second place. It was a long , frustrating day for all of us but we managed to have fun and made the best of it.

  Following the tournament I made several trips to the Bahamas. We caught several wahoos, yelloweye snappers , black snappers, button snappers, queen snappers, barracudas, sharks, and some deep water groupers on each of our trips.

  I only had a chance to fish for swordfish once this past month. We had several bites that day but were unable to land any. I have heard of some big fish being caught in the daytime and also at night. From now thru October is our best time for swordfish in Florida. The weather has gotten very nice which makes for a good day or night experience when targeting these magnificent creatures.

Inshore fishing has been very bad this year because of the dredging project. Most of the inshore bay and tarpon trips, I have been cancelling because the fishing has been so poor. I don’t like taking people’s money when I know the fishing will be unproductive.

  We are starting to approach the best time of year for fishing South Florida. As soon as we start getting a few strong northeasterly winds I can assure you that the fishing will pick up. March has been a great month for me in the past so we will be patient and wait for it to get better.

 

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