South Florida Offshore Report

[SoFlaBassAddict]

THE FISH ARE BITING!!!

Headed out offshore today with my father in the hopes of getting into some fish earlier in the day. The forecasted 2' to 4' seas was just...wrong. Conditions were far worse at around 4' to 6' seas with a fairly steady 15 knot wind in the mornings. After gassing up the boat and making the drive down south to Homestead to pick up the boat we weren't going home because of a rougher ride. Once we blasted through Caesar's Creek around Adam's Key, things were looking rough outside of the channel. We were only able to do about 9 knots to the fishing grounds. Any more and it was just unbearable because of the surface chop. Finally we got out past Pacific Light and hit the fishing grounds. While we were making our way out to the Gulf Stream I tossed out a couple of high speed trolling lures hopefully to pick up something along the reefs. Nailed two quick Wahoo on a double header. Both of them were in the 20lb range. Decent fight, even on the larger trolling rods. After that, we picked up the lines and made the 10 mile run out to the stream to look for signs of life. Sat there and bounced around for a while looking through the bino's to find some birds or other surface activity. Finally we spotted any offshore anglers dream. A massive flock of Frigates that were just hammering the surface. I decided to try out something new today instead of the traditional skirted ballyhoo for dolphin. I put out a good spread of 6" paddletail Bass swimbaits, color pattern was very similar to that of a flying fish. As we made our way around the birds the action started. Instantly hooked up into several large Dolphin, all in the 30lb class. Chunked bait was heaved into the water as we started cranking them in and as they got near the boat, we realized how big of a school of fish this really was. Small Tuna, Dolphin, Bonita, it was heaven. After we pulled our limit of Dolphin, we played catch and release for a while with the other critters in the area. Shimano butterfly jigs once again proved how much they're worth the price. We spent the next two hours boating fish after fish before we realized we hadn't shot a single picture. My father grabs the camera, slips, and we watch my nice waterproof camera sail out into the Gulfsteam and into the depths. DOH!!!

After getting worn out on the pelagics, we decided to head in and stop at a good wreck we've always had success on. We had a very strong outgoing tide, so the chum was spilling over the wreck and down the drop off next to it. Yellowtail were fast, and very easy to come by. Lots of shorts though, a few that will make for some very good table food. After getting tired of the tiny fish we rigged up a few big 6 oz jigs and dropped straight to the bottom. As much fun as the offshore fishing was, we realized how great the wreck was today. Picked up a pair of smaller kingfish, roughly 15 pounds each as the baits were falling. After the lures hit the bottom and were bounced a few times you were almost guaranteed to get hit. Several large Mutton Snapper and Grouper were quickly put into the coolers.

If you're planning on making a trip down to South Florida on the Atlantic side, make sure you try to get out and do some fishing. Fantastic bites are everywhere right now. The Gulfstream is very close right now and easy to get to. If you're going out in rougher weather, please make sure you have a captain that knows what he's doing. My father and I were the only boat on the ocean today. If we ran into problems, it could have been a while until help arrived.

Heres to hoping you locals in the area get a chance to get out and grab some of this fantastic early summer fishing we've got right now.

[Shane Procell]

Sounds like a that was the trip of the year! It has been too long since I have been ofshore. Used to run offshore charters on a 26 GB Cat. Had lots of fun  in the stream. Do you ever target the swords?

[SoFlaBassAddict]

   I personally haven't....yet.  I don't really have the gear I'd need.  A very close friend of the family keeps begging my father and I to go out with him to do it.  He's known me since the day I was born, etc etc.  He's catching them during the day on the bottom in 800-1200 FOW.  He's also catching these ultra deep water fish called they call Rosies on rigs similar to a Sabiki rig.  Taste just incredible.  They use electric reels and all, which I'm kind of hesitant to use.  Mind you, I'm not really sure I want to crank 1200 foot of line off the bottom.  I believe he heads out of Lauderdale somewhere.

   Yeah, it was a pretty good trip.  The weather was just killer.  I'm more worn out from dealing with the seas than actually catching fish.  I was really hoping to tease some Sails and Marlin up.  No go on that one though.  Was perfect weather for Sails too.  Choppy ugly weather, mild water, and full of bait.

   Next trip out, I'm planning on sitting on the reefs with a ton of chum and a livewell full of goggle eyes if I can catch them.  I'm not paying the 30 to 60 bucks a dozen for them.  Pilchards would work just as well.  The kingfish are getting pretty thick from what I've heard lately.

[SirSnookalot]

I've been offshore quite a bit lately out of Riveria Beach, going again tom morning.  Good fishing.