I don’t have much of anything new to report. The bluefish, jacks, spanish mackerel have, for the most part, continued chewing up a storm. Ladyfish have also shown up in the same area, nice fish in the two to four pound range. And the sharks have continued to put a spectacular show most days. The recent weather changes has made everything a little moody, but hasn’t shut the whole show down by any means. One special treat of late has been some of the best pompano fishing in years. These mini-permit have been right in the middle of all the action, so getting past the other, more voracious critters has been the main trick. The pompano like flies dragged right across the bottom, and won’t tolerate a heavy leader. So on the way down and on the way back up, many flies have been neatly clipped off by the blues and spanish mackerel. But the pompano hit a fly like a knock out punch, one of the hardest strikes of anything their size. And of course they are some of the best table fare going. That’s about all for now.

Time is just flying by here in south Florida, a byproduct of very entertaining fishing. The bluefish and jacks are still chewing up a storm, teaser plugs tossed into the schools and ripped back to the boat at warp speed brings a foaming, frothing wave of fish charging. And a fly dropped into the melee is just a forgone conclusion, perfect six and eight weight action. Occasionally, one of the spinner sharks will zero in on the action and relieve us of one of the jacks or blues. Since we’re running wire traces for the blues, (and the jacks don’t care) several times we’ve ended up with a spinner on a rod never meant to endure such an encounter. The trick has been to pop him off before all the line on those tiny reels disappears. Schools of bigger jacks in the ten to twenty pound range have also started appearing and the teaser plugs bring the same result, only in a faster, more explosive version for the larger nine and ten weights. The afternoons have been spent battling the sharks deliberately, with their cooperation level being fairly consistent with a few days they just were not in the mood to play. I haven’t been keeping close track of numbers, but close to a hundred released and two hundred hooked is about right. And we still have six weeks or so before they leave for the year. Dolphin and king mackerel have also been OK on the days the offshore scene is comfortable. Nothing of any size, the kings have been seven to fifteen lbs, (although some serious kings over thirty pounds have been reported) and the dolphin all under ten. But matching the appropriate gear and you can still have your hands full. Other incidental catches include a nice ten pound grouper Kyle Shannon caught out of the middle of a school of jacks, still not sure what he was doing there. Dave Ulmer also had a treat this week with some out of season albies showing up. Caught about half a dozen up to ten lbs. Been having large groups of monster permit giving me fits. They show up right at the boat while the motor is running as if to say ” Hi, how ya doin? We know you don’t have any crab flies for us to eat, so we’ll see ya later “. I don’t think there is a crab fly out there big enough to get these guys attention, some of which are well in excess of forty pounds. And that is life in south Florida.