8/30/12 SLI Offshore Fishing Report

Fi$h2nguyen

Took a vacation day today... I've been in the area for 14 months now and never fished after a storm passed. I was thinking there would be debris everywhere and hungry fish under them... this was not the case for us today. Some of you more tenured residents, what's your take on fishing after storms?

First thing I notice, nasty foamy crap at the boat ramp. Fill my livewell on the way out with nice creamy coffee colored water.













For the first time, we were the first boat at bullshark, right around 6:20. All the 6"-12" runners you could ever want, we kept 2 dozen and got a 4(!) smaller gogs in between. Lots of bonita busting fish on top, but never got a threadfin, cigar minnow or sardine. Tried NE spot and sandpile also and no luck.



Original plan was to run n gun for debris/weeds. The current was very weird at bullshark, our boat was getting pushed South... Only had 4 pitchable live baits, so squash that plan and decided to bottom fish. Scouted for anything floating/fishable out to the AJ spot, nothing all the way out, so that's the spot we worked for the day.







AJ spot has been taken over by seabass!! Got a nice almaco, missed a 30+lb AJ that ate an 8" runner right as it hit bottom. My buddy fought it for 20 min and lost it 25ft under the boat. Heartbreaking...

Conditions:
Less than 1mph current at bullshark, 1.2mph in 50ft, 1.5-2mph at 150ft. Temp was low-mid 80s. Current went about completely slack for a period of time out in 150ft. Dirty, nasty brown water up to about 70ft, then turned green. Spoke to Eric (Plane Fish n) who said the water was a little better in 220-240ft. There was no wind, and it was HOT!! Saw no flyers, a couple of turtles, no weedlines out to 150ft, but did see a solid foam line.

Tally:
~/~ seabass (kept the 3 keepers... btw, they have to be 13" in federal waters and close 9/4/12 now)
~/~ big runners
4/4 porgy (btw, the red ones have to be 14")
1/1 almaco jack
3/3 sharks
1/1 remora




Beats the office any day! Managed to save some gas money with just bottom fishing too! Planning on heading down to Jupiter on Sunday or Monday with my dad(depending on weather).

BobKat

Nice report, I plan on running for dophin tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes

sailfish-007

no worries. You caught something. I was strucked out two weekends on a row after ocean on fire report. Guess the man upstaire decided that I have met my qouta. LOL

Machine Head

Thanks for the info I might also wait till the water clears a little by sunday.
Them blue runners are great bait if you know how to use them.

Fi$h2nguyen

BobKat wrote: »

Nice report, I plan on running for dophin tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes

Good luck!! I hear there are weeds as close as pbh and some out in the 500ft range. There was better livebait bait caught on the south spots then there were on the north spots today.

sailfish-007 wrote: »

no worries. You caught something. I was strucked out two weekends on a row after ocean on fire report. Guess the man upstaire decided that I have met my qouta. LOL

Agreed, enough to feed the fam and I got to have fun at the same time! Funny re:quota. Third times a charm...

Machine Head wrote: »

Thanks for the info I might also wait till the water clears a little by sunday.
Them blue runners are great bait if you know how to use them.

I have no issues sending them straight down for AJ... As I was retrieving them from down deep, I got sliced twice by a toothy critter. I did try free lining with a hook to the nose and stinger towards the tail, but the runner keeps swimming right back under the boat, so i threw a gog out on the flatline, but nothing wanted/could see him. Any suggestions on flatlining runner appreciated.

rowerybo

BobKat wrote: »

Nice report, I plan on running for dophin tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes

Will be out as well, on ch 19

Pairadox

Nice job

BacDoc

Sometimes after a storm is epic and sometimes it's lesbian fishing. Plus it was a full moon, and I always use that as an excuse.

At least you got some action. Thanks for the report!

LET'S GO

Long you got out and cough something that is what it is about. I think we all are looking forward to a good and big FALL RUN any one have any thoughts on that? The big ones are waiting for you.

LastMango

Nice day off long..... A lot of tasty fish there... IMO, the fishing isn't as good after a hurricane for probably a week... Of course they're still there, but with the water clarity being so poor, IMO, it hinders their visibility and thus, you have to be right on the fish or it's a no bite... And then, you add that they (gov't) dumps all the tannic waters into the canals and rivers/ICW and it's really horrible...

Winter storms are a totally different story...

Shoeless

Thanks for the details Long. Lana and I will be out tomorrow early.

greg4mtgs

What works for me is the same set up you had, but put the fish in the water and make a few runs away from it so the line is out about 50 yards or so at least. I like to pull on them every once in a while, the fish tend to swim away from the pull.

BobKat

greg4mtgs wrote: »

What works for me is the same set up you had, but put the fish in the water and make a few runs away from it so the line is out about 50 yards or so at least. I like to pull on them every once in a while, the fish tend to swim away from the pull.

agreed, pull up just past your spots and put a bait in the water.... then use the motor to get away from it. just keep the line a little tight so you know what its doing.

Machine Head

Instead of hooking them in the nose pin them toward the tail and they will swim away.
If you want them to swim farther away just give them a tug and open bail.
I like to slow troll them(1-3mph) with wire and stinger on down rigger and staggerd on top.

Fi$h2nguyen

BacDoc wrote: »

Sometimes after a storm is epic and sometimes it's lesbian fishing. Plus it was a full moon, and I always use that as an excuse.

At least you got some action. Thanks for the report!

Lesbian fishing. Hahaha that's the first time I've heard that saying!

LastMango wrote: »

Nice day off long..... A lot of tasty fish there... IMO, the fishing isn't as good after a hurricane for probably a week... Of course they're still there, but with the water clarity being so poor, IMO, it hinders their visibility and thus, you have to be right on the fish or it's a no bite... And then, you add that they (gov't) dumps all the tannic waters into the canals and rivers/ICW and it's really horrible...

Winter storms are a totally different story...

Completely agree with the visibility issue. I spoke to one of my customers today who lived in Wellington/achorage area and told her the ocean wants her to take her water back.

Shoeless wrote: »

Thanks for the details Long. Lana and I will be out tomorrow early.

Let us know how you do buddy. Disregard my text...

greg4mtgs wrote: »

What works for me is the same set up you had, but put the fish in the water and make a few runs away from it so the line is out about 50 yards or so at least. I like to pull on them every once in a while, the fish tend to swim away from the pull.

BobKat wrote: »

agreed, pull up just past your spots and put a bait in the water.... then use the motor to get away from it. just keep the line a little tight so you know what its doing.

Machine Head wrote: »

Instead of hooking them in the nose pin them toward the tail and they will swim away.
If you want them to swim farther away just give them a tug and open bail.
I like to slow troll them(1-3mph) with wire and stinger on down rigger and staggerd on top.

Thanks for the tip guys. I'll try setting the bait in and motoring away next time. The drift is usually so fast when bottom fishing, and I'd be off of the spot in one or two drops. By setting time aside to place the flatline, then going to the drift location will give me more time to actually drift and not worry about deploying the flatline first. Good advice!

PaulBoat

"Beats the office any day." x2

Sent from my Droid on "THIS side"

johnalki

thanks for thw report,as i was hoping for cleaner water out deep but it was just wishfull thinking.we fished off summerland key a few days after hurricane andrew ;
and had an epic day of catching hungry fins

robalorog

Nice report. about time to get back on the water.

Alwaysforward

Congrats on catching dinner Long. :applause. My take on the storms is it is normally hard to find good baits and the bite is just as hard. Until the cleaner water moves in it will stay the same. But for me it is all about just being out there. You can't catch a fish with the rods in the garage :grin. Thanks for the detailed report Long. We are gonna head out on Monday so give us a shout out on 73...