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Dec 20History of Tuna Towers
Tuna Towers: A Modern History In the highly competitive world of offshore sport fishing, the tuna tower is just as much a status symbol as it is a necessity for those who strive to be a cut above their fellow anglers. It wasn’t until the mid 20th century that the tuna tower made it way onto the fishing scene. The tuna tower started as a crudely constructed viewing platform, fashioned with both rudimentary construction skills and supplies. They resembled more of a sailboat crow’s nest often, made with two by four lumber and just big enough to support one person. The evolution of the modern tuna tower occurred as a result of tuna fishing off Cat Cay in the Bahamas. Each year, the migratory bluefin tuna pass through the shallow reefs off Cat Cay, attracting big game anglers looking to sight fish these giants. The first bluefin tournament in Cat was held in 1939. The strip of sand adjacent Cat ...
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Dec 20Patience while Saltwater Fishing
Is Patience a Virtue? Patience and Attitude Patience and temperament are two different qualities. I think all captains benefit from remaining calm and controlling their tempers. Yelling, stomping, complaining, and making excuses do not equate to more fish in the boat. All it does is add stress without a result-oriented approach. Some of the best captains I know are well tempered but many of them are relatively impatient. Off of South Florida we have a wide variety of species we target. If your goal is to put your customers on fish, you can’t rely on one technique year round. Remaining positive and putting forth effort is important but it will only get you so far. Manage Expectations The first and most important aspect of entertaining guests while fishing is understanding and managing expectations. When I get a phone call for a trip, I like to be honest and clear about what’s biting, what is in season, how the fishing has been, etc. If someone calls me and ...
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Dec 20Fishing Line Maintenance
Fishing Line Maintenance We run nearly 300 fishing charters per year. This puts an insane demand on our tackle, our boat, and obviously our fishing line. We have tricks to maintain and maximize the life of all of our equipment and our fishing line is no different. Here are a few tips to make sure you get long life out of your fishing line and avoid losing quality fish due to negligence. 1. Check your guides! Always monitor the condition of the guides on your rods. This is important for both spinning rods and conventional rods. Even the smallest groove or chip in a fishing guide can instantly chafe or break your mainline. Check your guides before and after every trip and be sure to avoid bad habits such as putting rods on the deck, reeling hooks into the rod tip, or placing hooks or lures onto the part of the guides where the line touches. 2. Check your clips! Kite clips and outrigger clips can be major culprits when it comes ...
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Dec 20Boat Maneuvering While Sight Fishing
Pick a Spread or Have no Spread At all Boat maneuvering is a crucial component of successful sight fishing. The first step in sight fishing is determining what type of spread (if any) you should have behind the boat. When dolphin fishing for example, we usually troll 4 baits out of the riggers while looking for schools of fish. If we are seeing a lot of fish or there is an excessive amount of seaweed for example, I might make the decision to have no baits behind the boat whatsoever (this is ill advised unless your boat has a tuna tower). The benefits of committing to sight fishing exclusively is that you are always ready when you see fish rather than adjusting a trolling spread that may be less effective. I usually reserve sight fishing exclusively for good conditions. Lighting, fish behavior, sea-state, and more all contribute to that decision. If you are looking for cobia on stingrays in the sand, it is usually best to have your rods ready and ...
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Dec 20Sight Fishing for Sailfish, Mahi, and More
Preparation and Presentation for Sight Fishing Sight fishing is a common technique used for many species worldwide. This is a technique we incorporate into almost any Deep Sea Fishing Trip The best way for me to breakdown sight fishing is into different categories. The first step is having the correct rig and bait, which falls under the category of preparation. The second step is boat maneuvering. The third step is presentation, which is basically casting and bait selection. The fourth step and sometimes the most important one is fish behavior/ mood. This can make or break your day. Always Be Prepared The first step when sight fishing is preparation. This is an area that you have the most control over even if you lack experience. Always have multiple rods rigged and ready. If you are fishing from a flats boat, this may only be 1 or 2 rods. One may have 20lb fluorocarbon leader, 10lb braid, and a live shrimp on the end. Bonefish might be the main target but never ...
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Dec 18Understanding the Gulf Stream
Understanding the Gulf Stream and How it Affects Fishing in South Florida The Gulf Stream is the main driving force behind our fishery in South Florida. If you drive east out of Miami, eventually you will hit the Gulf Stream and move to the north. An often over looked aspect of the Gulf Stream is that subtle changes can make or break your day of fishing. Bearing of the Gulf Stream About 18 miles offshore of Miami are a series of seamounts and valleys in 1,000-2,000 feet of water that are often referred to as the sword grounds. The Gulf Stream is almost always moving to the north offshore but the angle of the current does vary. On some days, the current is pushing hard inshore. I have seen the current move at about 350 degrees, a touch to the west of north. On other days, I have seen it move at about 20 degrees. When fishing a mile long drift, this 30-degree variation can have major consequences when trying to line up ...
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Dec 5Sailfishing in Ballyhoo Showers
Sunny With A Chance Of Showers Fall and early winter in Miami gives way to a unique fishery. With sailfish beginning to make their way south toward Miami, we are presented with a variety of opportunities to target these fish. The first and more traditional method is kite fishing. No need to go into detail here; there are enough articles on kite fishing to keep you reading for days. Another fishery that not many as many anglers get to experience are known as "ballyhoo showers." Ballyhoo usually begin to infest our waters during fall and the predators are close behind. Ballyhoo are excellent bait fish and serve as a huge part of the diets for everything from Mahi-Mahi to sailfish. When ballyhoo really get thick off Miami and Ocean Reef, game fish will sometimes follows them into the shallows during their gluttonous pursuit. I have seen sailfish and even dolphin fish as shallow as 15 feet chasing schools of bait. Ballyhoo showers make a compelling case for the old ...
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Sep 18Wreck Fishing Charters Miami
Shipwrecks off Miami With a big population and easy access to the water, there can be quite the crowd of fisherman offshore of Miami on any given day. Highly migratory species such as dolphin, tuna, and sailfish aren’t usually victims to local overfishing. Stocks of pelagic species can be adversely affected by commercial fishing, but the local recreational fishing pressure does little to suppress these fisheries as a whole. Bottom fish are a different story. Benthic species (bottom fish) are less migratory and don’t grow as quickly as large pelagic fish. As a result, they can be seriously affected by over fishing. Miami has a multitude of different reefs and wrecks (both natural and artificial). These wrecks create great ecosystems for baitfish and their predators to search for both food and protection. Ranging from as shallow as 25 feet to as deep as 450 feet, and running from North Miami to Key Largo, the shipwrecks off Miami are as diverse as they are abundant. The plus ...
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Sep 10Planer Fishing For Wahoo
Wahoo, A Crowd Favorite Read the Article and Buy what you need below Before reading into wahoo fishing with planers, I recommend checking out the article written about Planer Fishing Fundamentals. The rigs and techniques have some definite similarities so it helps to cover the basics. In addition, feel free to check out our species write-up on Wahoo.Unlike kingfish, wahoo have very distinct color patterns. These fish have neon blue backs and white stripes. I truly believe they have better camouflage than almost any fish. When you are bringing them to the boat they blend seamlessly into dark blue water. Until they end up on their sides and you see stripes, wahoo are tough to make out in the water. The color pattern on wahoo is important to consider because like all fish, they have a distinct niche for which they are adapted. Wahoo blend in best with dark blue water. As a result we often look for blue water and current when we are targeting wahoo. The Gulf ...
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Sep 4Live Baiting Mahi
If you’re out fishing this weekend and looking to find a school of mahi-mahi, don’t make one of these top 5 mistakes. Here are a few tips which can help you catch your limit! Avoid these 5 mistakes: 1. No live bait: Although it’s not a requirement to catch dorado, sometimes the largest fish can be shy, weary of both the boat and artificial lures. A couple scoops of live bait will often mean the difference in going home a hero or a zero. Other boats have flagged us down or called us in on a school of mahi because they had no bait and the fish wouldn’t eat lures. In my experience one of the best mahi baits you can get is a small blue runner. They can be caught on sabiki rigs under large sargassum patches, and these hardy fish are irresistible to mahi. Pilchards, ballyhoo, cigar minnows and others can also make great baits. If you prefer to use artificial lures, bucktail ...
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Aug 28Planer Fishing for Kingfish
Kingfish at a Glance Kingfish are always a welcomed gamefish while fishing in tropical waters. They fight hard and are great to eat. Kings are present in South Florida year round with bigger fish around during the cooler months. We catch kings every month of the year using a variety of techniques. You can find more information on kingfish here: Kingfish Species Information When you look at the anatomy of a kingfish you will notice distinct characteristics that are evident for all fish in the mackerel family. With long slender bodies, these fish are designed for bursts of speed. King mackerel lack the stamina of tuna and billfish but they are excellent hunters. They have razor sharp teeth and "slash" baits while they are hunting. This approach usually cuts their prey in half, killing it instantly. If baits are near the surface kings will sometimes "air out" on the bite. I have seen kings jump as high as 15 feet out of the water on kite baits. ...
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Aug 16Planer Fishing Basics
Traditional Trolling Spreads Trolling is a very old, effective technique for targeting a variety of gamefish. Employed in every corner of the world, this technique has proven effective for everything from small mouth bass to grander marlin. The theme is simple, move forward at any speed and put some lures or baits behind the boat. Lures and baits vary; everything from 1” jigs to 20lb skipping tuna may end up in the spread depending on the species of fish you are targeting. Regardless of what ends up behind the boat, the concept remains the same; cover ground with baits on the surface hoping for a bite. Trolling is one of the many techniques we incorporate during our miami fishing charters. Unfortunately, conventional trolling spreads may have multiple lines behind the boat but surface baits still only cover a small percentage of the water column. Some people argue that the boat is a great teaser. Fish “raise” from the depths to investigate commotion on the surface. I think the ...
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Aug 1Hatteras Renovation- New Boat!
About a year ago I began the search for a new boat. With careful consideration I decided the right boat would be a 43 Hatteras but I needed one that was already repowered. Finding a Hatteras from the 1970s that is still in good shape isn't an easy task. After looking all over Florida and even flying to Texas and New Jersey, I finally found the right boat. Located in WIldwood, New Jersey was my diamond in the rough. The boat was already repowered with Cummins 450c engines which is a modern 6 cylinder engine. In addition, most of the boat was rewired and the interior was in good shape. She seemed like a great boat to refurbish so I pulled the trigger. I bought a boat over 1,000 miles away that needed some work. I knew it would be a long year.
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Mar 25Spring Fishing off Miami
Fishing Action Heats up in Spring. Hands down, my favorite months to fish Miami's offshore waters are March-May. This season we have seen string numbers of sailfish pushing down the line, good numbers of quality kingfish, the ever present bottom bite, and are just starting to see the springtime Mahi bite that got very good around this time last season. Due to the gulfstreams presence along our continental shelf, the majority of our action happens between 100' -- 220' of water. Although flat lines can and will get bit, the activity behind a 6 line spread of kite baits really draws the most predators to the transom. Aboard the Blue Yonder we do our best to always hang as many kite baits as possible, while accenting the spread with flat lines and bottom lines to make sure as much water as possible is covered. So far this season the number of sailfish migrating down our coast has been impressive. This last month we have been averaging around 3 sailfish per trip, withmany more ...
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Aug 14The Captain's Dilemma
Backing into the slip with a rigger full of release flags and a box full of fish is the best feeling in the world. We bust our asses every trip to put our clients on fish so we can relive this feeling. We are very competitive and it bothers us to know that someone else came back to the dock with more fish. As professional fishermen, we should be one of the top boats on each given day. Reminiscing about an epic trip is usually short lived. When we wake up each morning, yesterday's catch is only relevant in the context of how it will influence today's fishing. Regardless of what we've been catching, each new group steps onto the boat with high expectations. To keep them happy we have to fill the box every day, regardless of the conditions. Mother nature constantly conspires against us. We don't step foot into a stable work environment each morning. Our office is influenced by a number of factors. ...
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Nov 3Mullet Run Fishing Techniques
The Mullet Run The north winds and dry air that follow the first few cold fronts each fall put an end to summer year after year. During October and November, Mother Nature tends to have schizophrenic tendencies. One day it might be in the mid 80s but the next might dip into the 50s. Yes, 50-degree weather might not sound cold to most of the country but to us Miamians, it is reason for concern. Fall means it is time to dig up the hoodies and jeans because winter is right around the corner. What does this mean for the fish? Most of the fish that inhabit our waters are to some extent migratory. Traditional pelagic species such as swordfish, sailfish, and mahi-mahi aren’t the only fish that move around. Squid engage in vertical migrations each as they rise and fall through the water column without ever seeing the light of day. Snapper and other bottom dwellers might sneak into shallower waters with dropping temperatures. Pinfish might abandon ...
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Jul 12Miami Fishing Camp
Double Threat Fishing Camp Living in Miami has a number of benefits but too many people miss out on what makes Miami such a special place to grow up in. For five days captains Nick and Brent helped show 5 kids how wonderfully rewarding the ocean can be through our Miami Fishing Camp. Our Miami fishing camp is a hands on approach for teaching kids about the different angling opportunities Miami has to offer, while supplementing the experience with knowledge on the ecosystems that make our marine systems so important. It was an incredible week filled with fish and fun, and we can confidently say the kids have a true passion for fishing. With five full days of fishing at our disposal, we were able to give the kids a well rounded fishing experience by sampling all of what Miami has to offer. Every day held something different in store for the group, and there was never a dull moment. Late spring is still a period of time marked by ...
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Jul 5Stalking the Flats
Sight Fishing in Miami The acres of shallow flats that border south Biscayne Bay serve as my hunting grounds, right in Miami's backyard. These beautiful expanses of water stretch across the entire length of the bay, serving as a barrier that protects the inland coast from the open ocean. Every day, twice a day, an entire bay full of water flows across these shallows making its way offshore. Then, at the turn of the tide, fresh water flows right back in completing the cycle. During both tidal periods life is swept across the flats where fish of all sizes take part in feeding on the unsuspecting critters that flow by with the current. The bonefish and permit that frequent these areas are constantly foraging for food in water less than two feet deep, making them excellent sight fishing targets. In its finest form, sight fishing unearths our most primitive and hard wired instinct-- the need to hunt. From my vantage on top of the poling platform, I still have issues ...
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Feb 26Winter Sailfishing off Miami- Epic Bite
The Winter Sailfishing Has Been Phenomenal The past week we had a stellar bite off Miami. Sailfish, tarpon, snook, swordfish, and more were caught. The fishing picked up following the first genuinely significant cold front of the year. With a few more cold fronts heading our way, expect it to get even better. Weather- There are several cold fronts moving into our area. Temperatures will be dropping into the low 50s at night and the low 70s during the day starting on Thursday night (Feb. 28th) and lasting until at least mid next week. These cold fronts will be accompanied by light to moderate north winds. What does this imply for fishing in Miami for the next few weeks? Perfect weather and lots of fish. Winter sailfishing at its finest. Offshore Fishing- The fishing during the past week was phenomenal. The average boat caught 5-10 sailfish per day with dolphin and kingfish mixed in (we caught 6 sailfish, 2 kingfish, and 10 dolphin on Wednesday). We even heard a few reports of up ...
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