South Florida (Atlantic Side) 2017

[3wt7X]

I made it back to South Florida this year for a family vacation. I have really come to enjoy the False Albacore fishery down there on the fly rod. This was my fourth trip, and my cousin and I used TFK Charters out of Stuart. Captain Hall was a class act as always, and I would recommend him for people at any skill level, as he works very hard to make the day enjoyable regardless of your fishing style, preference or experience. My cousin had the spin tackle in hand for this trip, and I was throwing the fly.

The tarpon were making their migration up the beach and Captain Hall suggested that we take a shot at them first thing in the morning. We headed down the beach, and I was amazed at the clarity of the water, as the bottom and reef were visible at about 40 feet. It took an hour and a half to spot the school of very large tarpon. It was baffling and a little intimidating looking down at 50+ tarpon in the 125-150 lbs range. We put several flies through them, along with live crabs, and they had a serious case of lock jaw. We chased the school around for about and hour and a half, stalking with the trolling motor and slow stripping flies through the bunch in anticipation of the take. After putting a live crab though them several times to no avail, I came to the realization that they were not going to take a fly, and I requested that we move to some more cooperative fish.

After cast netting live chum baits, we headed out a little further, and the bonito (false albacore) were very cooperative. We had a hard time keeping them high in the chum, but a long cast out with a countdown to about 15, and a medium strip in produced on about every other cast. These fish were on the better end size wise, with a lot of 10-15 lbers. The biggest one I landed was around 18, and my cousin took a monster in the low 20s on a live chum bait.

I also took my first blue runner, remora, and kingfish (king mackerel) on the fly, which was a cool treat. The sea turtles were mating, so we witnessed dozens of them in the areas that we were fishing. I had a 500+ lb bull shark take one of my bonitos and carry it around like a dog bone for about a half mile before we broke it off, and we had another huge bull shark take a bite at the trolling motor, about 3 feet under me as I fought a fish on the bow (not a great feeling on an unsteady platform.)

 

[Dave_W]

Excellent - love to see folks tangling with the team salt game fish.

And watching big sharks (or cudas) chomp hooked fish is a common, but always shocking thing to witness.

Too bad the poons were not cooperating (which is also common) but yuh still gotta love Florida.

Next time, yuh need to hook that shark.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Little Tunnies are underated fish,imo. Hard fighters that will take various baits and wear you out with their strength. They are good eating if cleaned properly and treated like Tuna in their preparation. How do you like really Wild Fish? GG

 

[TJones]

Holy smokes, those are beautiful, big False Albacore! Looks like a heck of a trip... congrats!

 

[3wt7X]

Thanks for the comments...It is amazing the difference in over pulling strength and power between freshwater and saltwater game fish. It is a dog eat dog world in both arenas, but the dogs in the ocean are a lot bigger and a lot faster than the dogs in our freshwater fisheries. It is nearly impossible to out catch the food chain out there, and the when the bait is around, it is amazing to see the amount of sea life in the ocean.

I am already itching to get back there, and once we get into our next house, my next investment will be a skiff to fish the flats and bays around the Chesapeake. I need to get into the saltwater game a little more, with the resources around here.