Hammerhead vs Tarpon
Capt. Jim Hale
May 2, 2011
Miami - Saltwater Fishing Report
Florida Fishing Charters
South Florida fishing report for April 26 May 2
Captain Jim Hale
www.floridasportfishingcharters.com
786-255-1788
This week Tarpon Shark and Bonefish
Fishing here in South Florida is excellent, especially for large Tarpon around the Miami area.
I have been putting a lot of time in the last week fishing for Tarpon especially around Miami at night. When the tide is right we are averaging 5 to 15 bites on live crabs.
This week we had a night never to forget unfortunately. Sal Carigliano of Boca fished at night with me in Goverment Cut hooked and landed one Tarpon around 90 pounds. The second Tarpon he hooked screamed drag and pulled us out of the cut and into open water I figured the Tarpon around 160 pounds.
About 50 minutes into the fight he brought the Tarpon by the boat and I leadered the fish to take a photo, Seconds later the fish made another amazing run....I figured something bad was happening. We had plenty of light on the boat to see an estimated 17 foot Oceanic Hammerhead Shark making a full charge at the Tarpon. I grabbed a knife and cut the line to free the fish and give it an opportunity to escape. This all happened about 8 feet from the boat ! The sharks body came three quarters of the way out of the water and thrashing violently on 3 occasions trying to get the Tarpon. Now we were trying to escape, before I knew it the shark came under the boat to get the Tarpon again and tried to jump this time lifting the port side of the boat up a bit ! With the dorsal fin resting against my port side rub rail and looking down on me it seemed I floored the boat in an all out "get the hell out of here move !" I Don't think the Tarpon made it.... But we did !
In the Keys Tarpon are on the move on the ocean. Many are cruising from bridge to bridge. On the outgoing tide I am finding them swimming strong, we are getting plenty of shots on fly. In the backcountry they are moving good on the banks but the laid up fish are starting to thin out for now from what I see.
In Florida Bay "Flamingo" the Tarpon kinda disappeared with the windy conditions we had. However they will show up soon in masses of the West coast any day . They will eat lures and live bait like mullet in a heart beat.
Also Leonard Charlton and David Green from London England fished Flamingo and the two excellent anglers caught large Sheepshead Snapper ,Trout and 2 Large Bull Sharks out front.
Within two weeks we should have our first good Palolo worm hatch in the middle and lower Keys. The worm hatch is something all Tarpon fisherman should see and fish one time in their life. The hatch usually happens on the first full moon in May but can happen on the new moon as well. The hatch normally happens on theses moon phases in May and June for several nights. The hatch times will vary depending on the tide and the moon. Some areas will have a hatch on some nights and others wont.
When we get in the middle of a hatch this is an excellent time to catch a Tarpon on fly using a "worm fly". When the worms hatch and swim toward the ocean the Tarpon will only eat the Palolo worms. It is a sight to see, nothing but Tarpon everywhere sipping and gulping the Palolo worms as they swim through the bridges. The Tarpon act as if they are drunk, rolling on their sides, tail slapping the water and doing crazy things Just feet from the boat and not having a care that there are skiffs everywhere with anglers loaded with fly rods.
This is not only for fly anglers but we have used spinning rods with the worm fly as bait and have had good success.
In Biscayne Bay we fished for Bonefish on Friday and I am happy to say that I saw more Bonefish than I have seen in nearly two years, the unfortunate thing is that we didn't get a hook in one! We traditionally fished stalking the flats with a spinning rod and had many good shots with some bad luck mixed in!
On many occasions we would get some cloud cover and not being able to clearly see the swarm of Bones approaching, then as the sun would appear, there would be forty to fifty Bones in a nice sized school high tailing it away from us. It was that kinda day!
Look for a report soon. Good luck
Capt. Jim Hale
Miami Fishing Forecast:
Miami will have excellent fishing from now throughout the summer for Tarpon around Miami at night and in the day. Bonefish on fly or spin and Permit on the flats of Miami
Target Species:
Tarpon Bonefish Shark and Permit
More Fishing Reports:
