NWS
10C
06-13-03
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2003
•
Fishing
trends
LAKE
OKEECHOBEE
Saturday’s full moon makes
this an excellent weekend to
catch a mess of bluegills. Look
for the panfish around the
mouth of Uncle Joe’s Cut, the
spoil islands around the
Clewiston Channel and in
Pelican Bay. Bass have been
schooling offshore in the
morning. Later, they were
being caught in holes in the
grass and around reeds
pitching plastic baits in Bay
Bottom, Dead River, J&S and
Harney Pond.
FRESHWATER/
EVERGLADES
High water continued to
make for tough bass fishing in
the Everglades because the fish
are scattered. Capt. Bob Yoder
said there were four feet of
water on the flats at Sawgrass
Recreation Park. He caught
fish working a Gambler Flapp
N’ Shad on the surface
between thick clumps of
bulrush. John and Jimmy
Trudel won a Weekend
Bassers club tournament on
the flats at Sawgrass with five
fish weighing 20.4 pounds,
including a 6.7-pounder, using
a Gambler Stud.
FLORIDA
BAY/10,000
ISLANDS
Capt. Brian Sanders has
been catching permit offshore
and along with a variety of
sharks, including bulls,
hammerheads and lemons.
The islands have been
inundated with fresh water, but
Sanders has been able to catch
snook and redfish wherever he
finds brackish water. Capt.
Alan Sherman reported
catching redfish, snook, tarpon
and sharks on the outside flats
in front of Flamingo.
GOLD COAST
OFFSHORE
Some sailfish, kingfish,
bonito, barracuda and blackfin
tuna were caught this week in
100-200 feet off Broward and
Miami-Dade counties. There
were some good catches of
dolphin 3-25 pounds in
600-1,200 feet off Miami near
birds and floating debris. The
best kingfishing has been from
Lake Worth Inlet to Jupiter
Inlet. That area also has loads
of bonito and a fair number of
tuna.
PIERS/INLETS
Tarpon were biting at night
at Government Cut. Bait has
been plentiful at the piers. Juno
Beach Pier had pompano and
bonito all week. Lake Worth
Pier had jacks, bonito,
barracuda and blue runners.
Deerfield Pier had a couple of
kingfish and barracuda.
Pompano Beach Pier had cero
mackerel Thursday, yellowtail
snapper and blue runners.
Anglin’s Pier in Lauderdale-bythe-Sea had tarpon and a
couple of Spanish mackerel
Thursday. Dania Beach Pier
had mangrove and mutton
snapper and some small
barracuda.
THE KEYS
Dolphin were biting the past
three days off Marathon. Most
of the fish were small- to
medium-sized schoolies, with a
few fish 15-25 pounds. The Sea
King party boat reported the
best bottom-fishing was at
night for yellowtail and
mangrove snapper. A few
mutton snapper and black
grouper were caught during
day trips. Fly-rodders were
catching tarpon on the flats.
Live-baiters were catching
tarpon in the evenings by the
bridges.
— STEVE WATERS
CALENDAR
Saturday: Miami
Beach Police and Firefighter Fishing Festival,
Miami Beach Marina. Call
305-243-7147.
Saturday: Boyton Inlet Fishing Club annual
offshore tournament.
Saturday-Sunday:
17th annual Fathers Day
Dolphin Derby, Key Colony Beach. Call Shannon
Butler at 305-743-3434.
Sunday: Super Boat Grand Prix powerboat
race, Marathon. Visit www.superboat.com.
June 21: South Florida Jr. Classic fishing tournament, ages 8-16, 8:30-11 a.m., Quiet Waters
Park, Deerfield Beach. Call 954-929-7710.
June 21: DJ Laz Power 96 Fishing Tournament, to benefit the Hollywood Police Athletic
League, out of Harbor Grille, Dania Beach. Call
Robert Liguori at 954-444-3311.
June 21: ABC Fishing Tournament, out of Boca Raton, Hillsboro and Port Everglades Inlets.
Call Norma Whittier at 954-984-0075.
June 21-22: Coastline Marine Stratos Boats
Open Team Tournament, Lake Okeechobee out
of Okee-Tantie Recreation. Entry fee $110 per
team. Call 954-782-7279.
June 21-22: Key West Gator Club Dolphin
Derby, out of Oceanside Marina. Call John
Stuempfig at 305-296-7511.
June 22-27: Treasure Cay International Billfish Tournament, Abaco, Bahamas. Call
800-327-1584 or visit www.treasurecay.com.
10C
WATERFRONTS
NWS
sun-sentinel.com • SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
Get a permit — or four
Unlike other areas, permit fishing off the lower Gulf Coast can be
fast and frantic. So grab a rod and reel them in, if you can keep up.
·
CHOKOLOSKEE ISLAND Fishing for
permit on the shallow flats of Biscayne
Bay or the Florida Keys can be a
maddening exercise in futility. The fish
are spooky, intolerant of poor casts and
suspicious of even perfect presentations.
Put those same permit in the Gulf of
Mexico and the fish and the fishing take
on a whole new attitude.
The permit cruise on the surface in big
schools and fight each other for the
chance to eat your live crab. When you
hook up, the school doesn’t spook.
Instead, the fish linger, offering your
companions the opportunity to hook a
permit of their own.
I know that sounds hard to believe for
STEVE WATERS
ON OUTDOORS
anyone who has attempted to catch a
permit in three feet of water. But eight
miles off the outermost of the Ten
Thousand Islands, in 13 feet of water,
Capt. Brian Sanders, Arnie Sedel,
Carroll Lee and I all fought permit at the
same time.
Unlike his shallow-water guiding
counterparts, who have had a great day
if their anglers catch one permit,
Sanders loves the thrill of getting his
customers simultaneous permit
hookups.
Sedel, of Lighthouse Point, and Lee,
of Deerfield Beach, had already caught
both ends of a permit doubleheader
when Sanders spotted a nice-sized
school waking on the surface from our
right to left. As the fish came within
range, Sanders told us to cast.
I put my crab about 10 feet in front of
the lead permit — way too far if I was
fishing on the flats — and seconds later,
my line came tight. As the permit
streaked away, Sedel hooked up, and
then Lee hooked up.
Meanwhile, Sanders gleefully
scrambled to the bait well at the back of
his 22-foot bay boat, snatched out a crab,
impaled it on a hook and flung it into the
school. A moment later, we had our
quadrupleheader.
Here’s another benefit of fishing for
permit in the Gulf: You don’t have to
worry about breaking the line on sea
fans, sponges, lobster traps and other
obstacles that clutter the flats. Sedel
landed his permit, then he took the rod
from Sanders and landed that permit.
Lee and I landed our permit to make us a
giddy four-for-four. The fish all were 10
to 18 pounds.
That’s when I knew exactly what
Sanders was talking about when I asked
him if he had any spots to catch sea
trout.
“Why trout fish when you can catch
snook and permit?” said Sanders, who
lives in Sunrise yet thinks nothing about
making the daily 200-mile round trip to
this Southwest Florida outpost.
Intimately familiar with the many
creek mouths, beaches, oyster bars and
wrecks that hold fish in the Ten
Thousand Islands, Sanders began the
day a few miles offshore by having Sedel
and Lee catch herring and pilchards on
Sabiki rigs. While they caught bait, I
messed around with the jacks and blue
runners that periodically strafed the bait
schools, catching a couple on a Flapp N’
Shad left on my baitcasting rod from a
bass trip until something toothy,
probably a Spanish mackerel, departed
with my lure.
By then we had more than enough
bait to try for snook. Sanders ran south
to Highland Beach, a long sandy stretch
that faces the Gulf.
“It’s a good place to start and see
what’s happening,” Sanders said after he
anchored his boat in a trough off the
beach and rigged up some spinning
rods.
We cast our baits behind the boat and
proceeded to catch a couple of nice jacks
GULF OF PLENTY: Capt. Brian Sanders makes the daily 200-mile commute from Sunrise to Chokoloskee to fish the Gulf
where permit like this are plentiful and aggressively take a bait. Staff photos/Steve Waters
TACKLE TIPS
Permit and snook are hard fighters and
require stout tackle when fishing for them in
the Ten Thousand Islands. Capt. Brian Sanders
uses 71⁄2-foot medium-heavy Redbone
spinning rods, which allow his customers to
cast a live bait a long way.
Sanders spools his spinning reels with
12-pound Momoi high-vis monofilament line,
which helps him keep track of his anglers’ fish
when they get double- and tripleheaders.
Leaders consist of 40-pound Hi-Catch
fluorocarbon.
For snook, Sanders likes live pilchards and
herring for bait. He puts a quarter- or halfounce egg sinker on the leader and puts the
bait on a 3/0 live-bait hook. For permit, Sanders
uses a live crab with its claws removed and
hooks it just inside one of the points of the shell
on a 2/0 or 3/0 live-bait hook.
— STEVE WATERS
BIG BEND: Carroll Lee, of Deerfield Beach, wrestles a permit to the boat. Multiple
hook-ups are common when permit are schooling in the Gulf.
and several small snook up to 24 inches.
Then it was off to the next spot, where
Lee released a small snook. The next
stop was the mouth of the Broad River,
where Sedel caught a catfish, and a
dense swarm of mosquitoes soon had us
heading to a new spot.
“I’m glad the fish weren’t biting
there,” Lee said as he brushed
mosquitoes off his forearm.
Sanders headed inside the islands to
an oyster bar where the tide was just
right for catching snook. As we
approached, we saw a boat anchored at
the side of the bar.
“They’re on the wrong side,” Sanders
said as he pulled in front of the bar and
dropped the anchor while the two
fishermen in the other boat watched.
“You want to cast to the up-current
side of the bar, right about there,”
Sanders said, indicating the spot with his
hand.
My first cast resulted in a big hit and a
fish that I could not stop on the 12-pound
line. Lee caught a small snook, then I
caught one about 32 inches. I could see
the other fishermen making a mental
note of the location of our boat as they
pulled their anchor and idled away.
As the tide and the snook bite slowed,
Sanders headed offshore for permit.
Given the light winds and calm seas,
conditions were ideal for seeing the fish
on the surface.
“You might see a tail or a wake,” said
Sanders, whose long experience fishing
the area has him able to see permit
schools in seas of 2-3 feet.
When Sanders sees a school, he gets
in front of it so the fish swim to him, and
he has his anglers ready and waiting
with spinning rods and live crabs.
“You can either throw the crab in the
middle of the school, which sometimes
works, or 10-15 feet in front of the
school, because an individual fish will
not break away from the school to eat
the crab. It’s a safety thing,” Sanders
said. “A fish might follow a crab 10 feet
or so, but as soon as it feels it’s too far,
it’ll turn and swim back to the school.”
Permit can be caught as close as three
miles offshore. Sanders typically finds
the biggest schools about eight miles out.
While anyone can run offshore and
come across a school of permit, Sanders
concentrates his efforts around wrecks,
which are numerous and mostly
uncharted, and what he called “good,
live bottom, where there’s a lot of life.”
Now through August is a prime time
to catch permit.
“We catch them from May through
November,” Sanders said, “but June,
July and August can be fantastic. There’s
thousands of fish here, and they migrate
up and down the coast.”
For information on fishing with Capt.
Brian Sanders, call 954-802-0868.
Steve Waters can be reached at
[email protected] or at
954-356-4648.
NOTEBOOK
FishStock
event: FishStock, a
saltwater fishing festival, is at AmericanAirlines Arena at Miami today through
Sunday. The event
features fishing clinics, boat and tackle
displays, youth activities, seafood and live
music. Hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. today and
Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Call
407-628-4802 or visit www.fishstock.com.
Boat show: The 10th annual South
Florida Boat Show is today through Monday at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Featured are powerboats up to 40
feet, personal watercraft, engines, electronics, fishing tackle and dive gear. Free
seminars on fishing, boating and diving
will be held today through Sunday.
Show hours are 4-10 p.m. today and
Monday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 11
a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8 for
adults and $4 for kids. Call 954-946-6164
or visit www.soflaboatshow.com.
Family tournament: The Father
Knows Best Fishing Tournament & Picnic
is Saturday at Graham Dairy Lake in Miami
Lakes, which is loaded with bass and receives little fishing pressure. The free
event for adults and children starts at 8
a.m. Anglers who catch tagged fish win
prizes. Call 305-843-3486.
Ladies Fish-Off: The 18th annual
Ladies Fish-Off is Saturday out of
Tails/Jimmy’s Jerk Shack in Pompano
Beach. Eligible species are kingfish, wahoo, dolphin, cobia and blackfin tuna.
Kickoff and registration party are 6-10
p.m. today at Jimmy’s. Fishing hours are 7
a.m.-4 p.m. Weigh-in is at Jimmy’s from
3-5:30 p.m. Visit www.ladiesfishoff.com.
Kiwanis tournament: The Wilton
Manors Kiwanis Club Grand Slam Fishing
Tournament is Saturday. Kickoff party is
6-9 p.m. today at the clubhouse in Wilton
Manors. Contact Jim Hayden at
954-565-1284 or [email protected].
Gator permits: Permits remain for the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission’s fall alligator hunt. Applications are available at FWC regional offices
and at www.wildflorida.org/gators.
Pros? results: Bill Mulligan caught
15.27 pounds of fish to win the South
Florida Bass Pros? June club tournament
on Lake Okeechobee out of Belle Glade.
Greg Swinea was second at 13.13. Harvey Walker was third at 13.08. Walker
had the biggest bass at 7.9, and Mulligan
had the second-biggest at 7.85.
Renegades results: Joe Timme and
his son Steven caught five fish weighing
16 pounds, 14 ounces to win the Renegades Bass Club monthly club tournament on Lake Okeechobee out of Clewiston. Don Brown and Ervin Henson
were second at 16-2. Bill Boliek and
Norm Pentolino were third at 15-5.
Steve Albaum had the big bass at 7-10.
Dennis Snyder and Jack Rice had
five fish weighing 18-8 to win the Renegades Team Trail tournament Sunday out
of Clewiston. Tony Masiello and Brett
Isackson were second at 16-7. Steve
Lake and Fran Murphy were third at
12-2. Rice had the big bass of 7-14.
Bass-Holes results: Morgan Taylor caught 14 pounds, 11 ounces of fish
to win the Bass-Holes monthly club tournament Saturday along Alligator Alley.
Harry and Chris Schirling were second
at 14-4, and Harry had the big bass of
4-12. The tournament was dedicated to
the memory of Linda Burr, the wife of a
club member who died of cancer last
month, and raised $300 for the American
Cancer Society.
Fools results: Chuck Ervin caught
9.81 pounds of fish to win the Bass-NFools club tournament Sunday at Saw-
grass Recreation Park. John Cravey was
second at 6.92 and had the big bass of
4.71. Jim Anderson was third at 6.42.
Weekend results: Rick Krebs had
five fish weighing 13 pounds to win the
Weekend Bass Anglers June club tournament on Lake Okeechobee out of Belle
Glade. Art Lux was second at 10-14 and
had the big bass of 3-6. Larry Lane was
third at 10-9.
Duck gathering: The Everglades
chapter of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation will hold its inaugural fund-raiser
from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. June 21 at Markham
Park in Sunrise. The event, which is
geared toward everyone from birders to
waterfowlers, features a barbecue, a retriever display, activities for kids, raffles
and auctions. Cost is $17 for adults and $6
for ages 12 and under. Tickets purchased
before Saturday receive five free raffle
tickets. Call Ryan Tanner at
954-605-9774.