Fishing Trends

Written By - usoutdoors.com - 05/17/2007

Link to Original Article here


Lots of bass were biting in the canals around Everglades Holiday Park and along Alligator Alley. Most of the bigger bass have been caught flipping plastic crawdads and jigs and working plastic frogs in the vegetation lining the canals. Topwater plugs and stick worms fished on the edge of the vegetation also have been productive. Bass fishing has been good in the Lake Ida chain. Kevin Kollins, Walter Jacobson and Marty Riger of New York caught nine largemouth bass up to 4 pounds Thursday using Gambler Aces in the canals west and south of Ida. Morty Paxton and Danny Stanton of Chicago caught 23 largemouth bass up to 6 pounds Wednesday using Aces in Leisureville Lakes, then they went south and caught nine peacock bass on live shiners.



FLORIDA BAY/10,000 ISLANDS

Capt. Brian Sanders of Davie, who fishes out of Chokoloskee Island, said the west winds this week have made for poor fishing because of dirty water, which disperses the bait and the gamefish.

GOLD COAST OFFSHORE

A few nice blackfin tuna, some 20-pound cobia, kingfish 10-12 pounds and schoolie dolphin 4-8 pounds were biting on the reef Thursday off Boca Raton. Capt. Skip Dana of the Fish City Pride and Helen S drift boats of Pompano Beach said fishing has been slow for his customers: "We had that nasty weather on Monday, and since then we've had just a handful of kingfish and dolphin. We caught the yellowtail snapper pretty good the first couple of days after the storm, but after that, not much." Dana said his anglers Thursday morning had half a dozen bonito and 15-20 snappers. Capt. Steve Souther of Fort Lauderdale charter boat Marlin My Darlin' said fishing has been better in the afternoons than in the mornings. "There have been some kingfish around, but they're biting better late in the day," Souther said. Dolphin were 10 miles offshore. A few sailfish were biting anywhere from 80-200 feet. Harry Vernon III said more and more nice-sized blackfin tuna were biting south of Government Cut, along with lots dolphin.

PIERS

Fishing had been slow at Juno Beach Pier, but seas calmed Thursday and anglers caught some pompano and moonfish. Deerfield Beach Pier had some jacks, spots and keeper cobia Thursday. Pompano Beach Pier had some Spanish mackerel. Anglin's Pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea had some pompano, quite a few bluefish, a couple of nice yellowtail snapper and some mackerel. Fishing was slow at Dania Beach Pier aside from a few snapper and snook, although bait started to show up Thursday afternoon.

THE KEYS

Bud N' Mary's Marina in Islamorada reported good catches of dolphin Thursday 12-25 miles offshore. Sizes ranged from small schoolies to fish up to 30 or more pounds. Inshore guides were catching tarpon late in the afternoon using live mullet around bridges and in bridge channels.