Author: Capt. Charlie Ellis

Wow.  What can I say?  The last few days of fishing in miami have been absolutely exceptional.  We usually do well for ourselves this time of year, but I guess we’ve had a run of better than usual luck! On May 30, 2012 – Todd and I were joined by Carlos Spencer and Carlos Defilipi for a day of epic dolphin fishing.

We stopped by the bug light briefly in the morning and loaded up on an pilchards before we made the run offshore.  Bait at bug light has been consistent but not too thick – you really have to work the sabikis or make a lucky net toss to get on them good. Expect about a dozen charter/rec boats all vying for position to stay on top of finicky baits.

The initial plan was to run offshore and make a few drops for swords.  We’ve been researching bottom contour with Google earth and i’m willing to bet i’ve found a few ledges and hills that will hold fish.  Time will tell as we switch gears from dolphin and kite fishing to deep dropping during the doldrums of summer. As we made the run offshore, Carlos Spencer spotted the first grass patch which held fish.  There were a few big fish but they were being finicky.  We did manage to put a few schoolies in the boat:

After leaving the smaller patches in about 800′ to head farther offshore, we encountered a floater. Couldn’t ask for much more than that.  Carlos Defilipi spotted the styrofoam box off the port side of the boat and upon arrival – everyone initially thought “square grouper”. The foam box was wrapped in a net and appeared to be dragging something.  As we idled closer, it became very apparent this was a makeshift mahi shelter that had been dropped a few weeks earlier.  A palm frond was tethered to the foam box which turned out to be packed with plastic bottles. It was covered up with small dolphin which ate readily but the triple tail tenants wanted nothing to do with our baits – even after switching leaders out to flourocarbon.

We departed the floater and headed east once again – this time encountering a grass patch the size of a large round swimming pool.  There were dolphin everywhere!  Carlos, Todd, and Carlos took turns bailing fish while I kept the Marauder in position to pick the school.  Carlos Defilipi was quick with a bait and managed to hook a nice Bull, which actually came in the boat faster than his smaller buddies.

By the end of the slaughter, we had boated 30 fish and could’ve kept going….but decided  we had enough to restock our freezers. We made the call to head back to Miami Beach marina for extra ice and gas before heading back out in the afternoon.  Much to our bewildered surprise, we encountered a space shuttle being towed on a barge!  Astoudned, we raced towards the barge for some close up shots!

We also couldn’t resist the perfect once in a lifetime photo opportunity holding up two dolphins caught off the grass patches!

After icing down the fish and loading up on fuel – we made another run offshore.  This time in search of swordfish. Upon arrival to the sword grounds, we dropped in 1900′ and waited for the rod tip to bounce. Unfortunately we didn’t get any bites, but a free jumping white marlin certainly added to the excitement. The fish went ballistic for about 20 seconds – tail walking and flying horizontally over the water. We didn’t even have a prayer of hooking the fish, but it was a thrilling sight to experience.

All in all – i’d say it was a pretty spectacular day fishing off Miami.  I’m really looking forward to more summertime dolphin fishing off key biscayne and fowey rocks.

Tight Lines,

C.

Always a handy skill when kite fishing in miami. Found this excellent tutorial on youtube the other day and thought it might be an excellent resource for those looking to brush up on their basic kite fishing skills.

Came across this clip perusing the internets the other day and just had to share it.  One of my absolute favorite gopro fishing videos of all time. Why is super slow motion with gopro footage so amazing???

Fishing conditions were a bit rough this past saturday but the bait was solid.  We loaded up on cigar minnows and pilchards and charged south towards Fowey Rocks.  Winds were stiff at 15 – 20 knots blowing steady out of the NE – ideal for sailfish conditions.  We deployed the spread and hooked up on a frisky little sail on the first drift!

As the wind and waves picked up the fishing actually improved!  The choppy seas made it difficult to stand up after a while but we pressed on.  Around 12:15 a nice cobia grabbed the short bait, but we lost him at the boat.  I suppose he didn’t want to wind up as table fare…so I suppose it counts as a cobia release! Todd’s sifting through the gopro footage and hopefully we’ll have some quick shots of him soon.

Running a fishing charter in Miami can be risky business in the summer time when afternoon/evening thunderstorms come rumbling across the ocean.  We had friends Jay and Nick on board the Marauder on 5.8.2012 for a quick afternoon trip which turned into a scrap for survival against mother nature.  Shortly after static electricity in the air began crackling in the out riggers and snapped our kite line – we decided it was best to head for sure.  The weather got really nasty as we made the approach to key bicayne and Todd captured most of the madness on his GoPro Hero 2.  Here’s a screen shot until the video is ready!

Im always extremely careful about avoiding foul weather at sea – but every once and a while the storms sneak up on us.  We took shelter in No Name harbor and enjoyed some delicious whole fried fish while the storms blew through! Almost white out conditions in the harbor!

With blackfin tuna bounding about in the early evening hours off Key Biscayne, we’ve been doing our best to get out there as time/bait permits between work and our charter schedule. With little to no wind, it can be tricky to fly a kite without helium – and we often resort to towing the kite up and bumping the boat in and out of gear to maintain altitude.

We were fortunate to slide out of work just early enough to get a solid two hours on the water (earlier this week) but the bait just wouldn’t cooperate.  With about a dozen cigar minnows, we headed out to the edge and tried our luck with a failing wind out of the east. To our surprise, this nice bull mahi crashed the short bait before we even got the spread out – but the line fouled in the clip and wrapped around the line…and Mr. Mahi went bounding into the distance and pulled our entire spread down!

We took what we could get and headed in as the sun began to set since we didn’t have enough bait to really chum up the tuna.  It’s rare I get the chance to wail on a nice dolphin since i’m usually driving or watching Todd help anglers land their fish.  I’m even luckier I got the kite back after it took a plunge!

Tiger Shark Fishing Islamorada, FL is out of control!

I practically lose my mind each time i get the opportunity to fish with Capt. Nick Stanczyk of Bud N’ Marys Marina in the Florida Keys. I bust my ass day in and day out to help others – and in my rare (but becoming more frequent) moments of self indulgence, I steal away offshore in search of pelagic game. Fishing with Nick is always a remarkable experience – and when I got the call to join him for a tiger shark fishing excursion the other week…i absolutely couldn’t pass it up.

Nick’s 34′ crusader runs like a champ – conquering seas with classic stride and shoving its way through swells. The boat is reminiscent of a classic era in sportfishing which doesn’t get nearly as much credit as it deserves. After an ill fated attempt to rally up some blue runners to the north of Alligator light, we charged offshore towards the islamorada hump.  We stopped over the smaller hump to the north to vertical jig some “live bait”.

Fighting a 40lb amerbjack hooked in 200′ of water by a vertical jig is like playing tug of war with a wild pig.  These fish go absolutely ape shit when they inhale (and often bend) a butterfly jig rigged with extra sharp Aki hooks. The initial run is simply unstoppable and for a fleeting moment, it reminds me of chunking for bluefins way offshore from Ocean City, MD. The blitz of the fish sounding is humbling and I can’t imagine i’ll be able to do this forever.  Amberjacks are relentless back breakers and never cease to amaze me.

The gentlemen who joined us for the trip came from England – Jon and Tim.  Jon had joined Nick last year for a Tiger shark fishing venture and was quite successful – releasing two hefty specimens. This year would prove no different – largely in part to Jons inhuman capability to land reef donkey, after reef donkey, after reef donkey.  I think he totaled out at six all 40+ during the course of the day.  He was so apt at pulling them over the gunnel we actually had two – alive on the deck with saltwater hoses crammed down to their gills – ready to be deployed as pitch bait. Between the live lined amberjack and slab of fresh jack suspended from a buoy – ya just can’t miss.

Nick and Matt saw the first fish cruising in the waves behind the boat – I couldn’t make it out until it pounded the bait with freight train ferocity. Tim was the first to take a turn on the tiagra and buckeled in for the ride. The second fish swam the buoy bait back to the boat, dropped it, then picked it up again and sounded. Jon was able to get tight on the fish and gave him hell from the rod holder.

Double header tiger sharks is a surreal feeling – hard to imagine and impossible to comprehend at first sight.  It is an unimaginable feat anywhere except the islamorada hump – where massive schools of these fearsome predators ominously cruise around tightly schooled amberjacks during spawning season.

After near two hours of battle – the fish ultimately and begrudgingly surrendered (the smaller of the two first) and the reel test of skill, patience, and bravery began.  Once you hit the wind-on, its a tug of war scenario where you cautiously pull the leader up towards the rod.  The sheer size and girth of these fish give them an advantage superior to any human capacity for endurance. Your legs go first as you hoist one up, carefully palming the leader so as not to take wraps.  A mildly dull rusty fillet knife rests in a bucket by your feet in case “shit gets real”.  Not that you’d be able to slice through a 400LB braided monofilament leader double crimped to a 20/0 offset commercial shark hook.

At boatside, their strength is immeasurable.  Even in an exhausted state, these titans are still menacing and furious. Your arms simply can’t hold them for long and with each swell they wallow in the wake of the crusader.  Nick keeps the boat bumping ahead slowly and evenly into the waves as he snaps away shots from the tower. Your legs and lower back ultimately ache with strain as each push of the fish’s tail laboriously propels it downward. To be next to their head, wider than your shoulders, is perilously alluring.

They are captivating creatures of unmatchable dominance and to be side by side with one puts you in a trance.  These are the fish of nightmares – a pinnacle  of predatory perfection.

…and if it wasn’t enough to battle double header tiger sharks in mildly sporty seas, i clumsily hooked a hammer head shark at the end of the day that would go 400+.  The hammer pulled his face off and sounded towards the hump after engulfing yet another slab of amberjack.  While the fish certainly didn’t have the stamina of the enormous tiger sharks – it certainly put on a spectacle as we fought to bring him boatside.

Its a safe bet to me to paint Nick and Matt as superior shark fishermen in the Florida Keys. They’ve refined their skill set to the point where catching tigers is more entertainment than challenge.  It’s a bold venture and not for the faint of heart.  The sport itself is actually picking up momentum as more people start talking about it. Nick posted an impressive write up on BDoutdoors.com and also put together a hell of a video from an earlier trip (hopefully he’ll have a new one out shortly).

If you’re thinking about taking a shot at battling a tiger shark – call Nick directly and get after it.  These fish are only here to feast upon the migratory amberjacks – and once they’re gone the fish will become significantly fewer and far between.

I guess we’ll all just have to go back to swordfishing.

Here’s my first post, and there’s not better way to start a blog, than with a beautiful mermaid