Deerfield Beach to Key Largo & Flamingo to Cape Sable
Includes Pompano Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Homestead.

March 12-14

Looks like an approaching front will bring showers to South Florida on Friday and Friday night along with winds from the southwest to west most of the weekend. Winds are predicted to be in the 15 to 20 mile an hour range.

Pompano Beach, Port Everglades, Haulover, Government Cut to Ocean Reef

Tarpon have been feeding on live shrimp along the beach just south of Haulover Inlet, and in and around Government Cut. Best action has taken place on the outgoing tides and during the change of tides. Large live shrimp hooked to a 6/0 circle hook, attached to a 6- to 10-foot fluorocarbon leader, and slowly drifted about 100 feet behind the boat is the traditional method of targeting these tarpon.

Offshore of Haulover Inlet a large school of kingfish in the five to 15 pound range has been providing legal limit catches for partyboat anglers fishing dead Spanish sardines or ballyhoo on a three hook rig with egg sinker. Some anglers prefer a 50-pound mono leader for more strikes but others like a short piece of No. 3 wire as a leader to protect their mainline from the razor sharp teeth of the kingfish. Charter vessels have been trolling spoons deep to get the kingfish and livebait fishermen are getting their fair share by fishing bait with long leaders and leads to get the baits deep. Best action has taken place in depths from 120 feet to 200 feet of water.

A few dolphin have been caught near the bluewater edge along with quite a few blackfin tuna and sailfish. Deepwater wreck fishing has been producing an assortment of jacks and a few mutton snapper. Nighttime bottom fishing has produced a mixed bag of groupers for catch and release, along with snappers, grunts, jacks, kingfish and bluefish. High tide at Government Cut Friday night will be at 6:35.

North Biscayne Bay Inshore

With snook season closed and water temperatures holding in the mid 60s, fishing the bay has been mostly for seatrout. The trout have been scattered over many of the grassflats in the bay and require a bit of searching to locate. Many of the fish have been less than 15 inches but a few trout have been in the 18- to 22-inch range.

Best way to locate the fish is to throw Gulp 3- or 4-inch shrimp on jigs and bounce the bait over the grass. This rig covers a lot more water, helping you find the fish faster. Once you locate a fish drop your anchor or Power-Pole and fish live shrimp under a float. When the fish get spooky or leave the area start your drift and throw the jig until you relocate a feeding school. Along with the trout, a few jacks, ladyfish, snappers and an occasional bluefish, mackerel or pompano have been caught. Nighttime tarpon action has been good on the late outgoing tides during shrimp runs. Decent shrimp runs have occurred on both night tides with the strongest runs coming on a strong south to southwest wind.

South Biscayne Bay

Decent numbers of bonefish have been located in South Biscayne Bay from Sands Cut south to Ocean Reef on the oceanside flats and around Totten Key, Arsenickers and on the mainland flats from Biscayne National Park south. Overcast skies have made spotting these fish challenging. Large live shrimp are the preferred baits this time of the year. The Finger Channels south of Key Biscayne have turned cold with the cold water in the bay. Best action has taken place on the oceanside parts of the fingers on the outgoing tides. Patch reefs have been producing more action than the channels and a bit of chumming while fishing live baits has been producing a mixed bag of hogfish, mutton and yellowtail snappers, jacks, porgies, and groupers for catch and release. High tide at Soldier Key on Saturday will be at 7:31 in the morning.

Flamingo in Everglades National Park

Water temperatures continue to hold at 60 degrees in Florida Bay and along the Gulf waters. Redfish and black drum have been caught along the deeper channels and next to deep water adjacent to the shorelines and islands in Florida Bay. Seatrout, ladyfish and jacks can be caught just west and north of the main channel coming out of the Florida Bay boat ramp. Look for the terns diving and then cast shiny spoons, Rapala X Raps and Twitchin Raps, Gulp shrimp and corks with live shrimp. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, jacks, ladyfish and pompano have been biting in the Sprigger Bank and Schooner Bank areas. Anchoring and chumming while you fish live shrimp on jigheads near the bottom has been the most productive technique at getting the action going. Reports of huge snook that have been ignoring everything thrown at them in Oyster Bay and Whitewater Bay are encouraging as far as the snook population goes, but since these fish are refusing to eat, it’s left anglers a bit frustrated. Low tide at Flamingo in Florida Bay on Saturday will be at 9:45 AM and in Whitewater Bay low tide is at 9:35 AM.

shermana@bellsouth.net | www.getemsportfishing.com

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