Fishing Report / Florida Keys

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Fishing Report

Offsho

Few boats ventured off looking for dolphin this week.
The Islamorada Hump is a good bet for a catch of blackfin tuna. The
tuna are small to medium and it is worth the time invested if you want
to brew up some fresh tuna salad or sizzle some on the grill.
Drag black and red "jap" feathers 100 to 150 feet behind the boat.


Reefs:

The sailfish tournaments are one after the other nowadays.
Just as last year, there is a scarcity of king mackerel. A few kings
are being caught, but hopefully we will get a better migration soon.
The yellowtail snapper continue to bite good along the reef line. Capt.
Kerry on the Heidi Baby had a great catch of snapper this week on a
half day.
Charter captains are putting baits down deep and finding an array of
species from wahoo to grouper.

Gulf and Bay:

Gulf action is good and should continue for months to come, except when
those fronts blow and mud up the water.
Spanish mackerel activity does not get any better. As usual the bite is
around the Sprigger Bank area, but the Spanish can be caught behind
Channel Five to anywhere in the Gulf.
Of course when mackerel fishing, look for cobia, bluefish, trout,
sharks, jacks, ladyfish, tripletail and more to provides lots of
action.
When anchored in the Gulf, always drop a live pinfish or pilchard to
the bottom (away from the chum) the bonus may be a big redfish or
cobia.

Flats, Backcountry
and Flamingo:

Flamingo has been very, very good to me ... as most anglers will
report! Very good catches of redfish, trout and a snook or two mixed in
is a report that lots of guides have given this week.
Ditto for the Cape Sable area. The water has been clean and fishy!
Tarpon are seen rolling and feeding lackadaisical, but not really on
their feed in the back. A better chance of catching a tarpon would be
around the Islamorada bridges.
Capt. Skip Paxton reports finding and catching bonefish from Tavernier
Key to Long Key.

Record number in sailfish tourney - Despite calm seas favoring the
sailfish, a record 105 anglers on 43 boats competed in the 41st annual
Islamorada Sailfish Tournament hosted at the newly renovated Whale
Harbor Marina & Restaurant. Warm breezes, one-to-three-foot seas and
surprisingly little current tested the skills of virtually all
competitors during the tournament that ended Dec. 5.
When the action concluded, the overall champions were Steve Cunningham,
Rick Arnold, Rob Ruwitch, Alberto Castro and Jeff Voll, all of
Homestead.
Cunningham captained the 36-foot Contender factory boat No Mercy, with
Castro as mate.
The team brought six sails to the boat during the tournament's three
days of fishing. Arnold caught four and Ruwitch captured two as the
teammates drifted live goggleyes under kites.
In addition to clinching the overall win, the six fish were enough to
win Cunningham and Castro the tournament's high-point captain and
high-point mate awards, respectively.
Second place went to renowned guide Capt. Ralph Delph and anglers Carl
Keldie of Coral Springs, Fla., Chris Keldie of Lutz, Fla., and Richard
Mirande of Jupiter, Fla. Anchored and chumming live pilchards,
Delph's anglers brought in five sails ranging from about 20 pounds to
65 pounds.
The tournament's high-point angler was Robert Richardson of McKinney,
Tex., fishing with Capt. Steve Leopold on the Yabba Dabba Doo.
Richardson caught five sailfish using trolled ballyhoo -- the last one
after he and Leopold sighted the moving fish and Leopold maneuvered the
boat from the north side of Conch Reef to the south side, getting into
the sail's path.
The award for most tagged fish - three fish, tie on time - was won
by anglers Andrew Carpenter of Troy, N.Y., Mike Carman of Ballston Spa,
N.Y., and Joe Flynn of Greenwood, S.C., fishing on the Jack Pot with
Capt. Lee Robinson of Tavernier.
Jose Scuvuzzo of Tavernier, fishing on Weez in the Keys with Capt.
Benny Spaulding of Islamorada, won the most outstanding catch award
with a 23.25-pound bonita.
Honors for the largest dolphin, a 23-pounder, went to Ed Rice of
Springfield, Mo., fishing with Capt. Marty Lewis of Marathon on the
Main Attraction. The award for the largest tuna went to Matthew Neber
of Homestead for the 28.25-pounder he caught fishing with Homestead's
Capt. Billy Cordes on Contender One. Neber also caught the largest
mackerel at 24.25 pounds.
A total of 150 hookups produced 115 releases and 10 tagged fish during
the tournament.
The Islamorada Sailfish Tournament is the first leg of the
three-tournament Florida Keys Gold Cup Sailfish Championship, which
includes the upcoming Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish Tournament
Jan. 20-22, 2005; and the Islamorada Fishing Club Sailfish Tournament
set for Jan. 26-27, 2005.
Currently in first place for the Gold Cup is No Mercy with six fish. In
second place is Jack Pot with five fish and in third place, also with
five fish, is Catch 22. Robert Richardson leads the field for the Gold
Cup's high-point angler award.

Bokor wins grand champion honors again - Jim Bokor garnered grand
champion honors for the third time Dec. 5, at the Mercury Outboards
Cheeca Redbone Celebrity Tournament in the Florida Keys.
Bokor, fishing with Capt. Tim Hoover, released five bonefish and six
redfish on bait during the two-day tournament that attracted 128
anglers.
The 2004 Redbone Blue Jacket, awarded for most points amassed in the
trilogy of Keys Redbone series tournaments, went to Dr. Mike Gallops of
Naples. Guided by Capt. Rich Tudor, Gallops scored best among all
anglers who participated in the 2004 editions of the Southernmost Light
Tackle Anglers Masters in Key West, the Baybone in Key Largo and the
Mercury Cheeca Redbone.
Bokor, of Tavernier, has won the jacket four times and was particularly
satisfied with this year's Redbone victory.
"Because this tournament has so many anglers and so many boats, this
is the toughest of the three," Bokor said.
The Redbone's top celebrity angler was a proven winner, but not in
backcountry and flats fishing. Pro football Hall of Fame quarterback
Jim Kelly, formerly of the Buffalo Bills and University of Miami, not
only competed in his first Redbone tournament, but caught his
first-ever bonefish and redfish.
Kelly, who still resides in Buffalo, N.Y., gave all the credit to guide
Capt. Steve Thomas of Islamorada, and fishing partner Bill Barto, also
of Buffalo.
"I just listened to what they told me to do," said Kelly, motioning
with his throwing arm. "I plopped a couple of casts straight down,
but kept at it. Then it came down to the two-minute warning and the
casts were right there."
Linda Denkert of Tavernier, guided by her husband, Capt. Dave Denkert,
won top honors in the ladies division, while Glenn Flutie of
Islamorada, guided by Capt. Mark Gillman, captured the Pro Grand
Champion Angler award.
Tournament director Gary Ellis said 32 bonefish and 106 redfish were
caught and released.
Proceeds from the Redbone series helps fund cystic fibrosis treatment
and research, the prime genetically inherited killer of children and
young adults in the United States.
The grand champion angler and celebrity winners of the Redbone advance
to the Rolex/IGFA Inshore Championship Tournament set for July 2005 in
Islamorada. The Rolex event is to feature winners of 55 inshore
sal****er fishing contests staged on four continents.

Keystone Stater wins Classic - A big first day of fishing helped John
Dailey of Camp Hill, Pa., become the overall top angler in the Ocean
Reef Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited Backbone Classic.
Dailey's first day included a backcountry slam of snook, redfish and
tarpon all caught on fly. He was guided by Capt. Andy Thompson of
Homestead.
For the fifth straight year, the tournament's celebrity grand
champion team honors went to the legendary Stu Apte of Islamorada, and
Steve Stanley of St. Petersburg guided by Capt. Rick Murphy of
Homestead. Stanley also captured the award for the longest tarpon,
boating a fish that measured 76 inches.
Harvey Karen of Naples won awards for the most fish tagged and the most
bonefish releases. Karen was guided on the tournament's first day by
Capt. Dave Sutton of Islamorada, and on day two by Captain James Koch
of Homestead. Karen caught all five of his scoring fish on the second
day.
The tournament benefits the bonefish and tarpon conservation research
programs of Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited, the conservation efforts of
the Ocean Reef Foundation and the South Florida Council of the Boy
Scouts of America.
The three-day event, which drew 80 anglers from around the world
fishing on 42 boats, is a qualifying tournament for the
Rolex/International Game Fish Association Inshore Championship, to be
held in May 2005 in Islamorada.