Fishing Report

Date: July 17, 2003

Title: Dolphin Fishing At it's Best

Anglers have been all smiles these past two weeks. Up and down the Miami
coastline has been non-stop Dolphin fishing. Fisherman is having no trouble
limiting out on dolphin catches, and many of the "schoolies" have been big
enough to make you think twice about just lifting them into the boat. The
action has been anywhere from 4oo feet on out to 1200 feet of water. If you
don't have a depth finder that will go that deep, that's about four to ten
miles offshore depending where you are relative to the coastline. Just look
for the birds. The birds "petrels", have been following the schools of
dolphin and are easy to find with a good pair of binoculars. A pair of
binoculars with an internal compass is a great help. You may find birds
frantically diving and come up empty handed. This could be because the birds
have also been following migrating schools of blue runners. The birds don't
care what they're following, they're just looking for a free meal, and as
the runners and dolphin push bait to the surface, the birds swoop in for the
kill.

I fished the edge this week, and came up empty handed, it was very slow.
Bait has been very difficult to catch. However some anglers have been
catching a few bonito, sails, and a king here and there. No reports in just
yet, but we just past a full moon, and my guess is that a few Cubera snapper
should have been caught off the north Key Largo area. The July and August
moons are notoriously the best moons to try for the big snappers. Night
fishing in general should be excellent this time of the year. Mangrove
snapper should be going wild along the outer drop-off.

Just a note to any anglers traveling to the islands. A very good friend of
mine went to Bimini during the July 4th weekend and had his 27 foot
Contender stolen right out from underneath his hotel room. The marina he was
staying at even had a nighttime security guard. There has been no sign of
the boat. This is the second Contender that I know of being stolen from the
Bahamas in the past couple of years. Also, make sure you are covered by your
insurance policy while traveling into foreign waters. Many companies will
not cover you outside of the US.

Good Luck.

Capt Mark

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Florida Fishing Charters
with Captain Mark Houghtaling
aboard Magic Fingers
(305) 253-1151
magicfin@aol.com

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