Dumfoundling Bay is a wide spot on the Intracoastal Waterway in northern Miami-Dade County.
September 30, 2024
By Capt. Alan Sherman
Hidden Gems : Roads less traveled & waters less fished in Florida. Florida Sportsman magazine’s 'Hidden Gems’ project in the August-September 2024 issue featured 14 hotspots for Florida’s hunters and anglers, from the Keys to the Panhandle. This installment highlights Dumfounding Bay, which kinda lives up to its name in south Florida.Nearly Endless Fishing Possibilities Mysterious lakes and creeks worthy of exploration. A little Everglades, a little ocean, and a lot of mystery.
More Hidden Gems Florida Sportsman's 'Hidden Gems.' Having grown up in South Florida with a dad who loved to fish and explore the Biscayne Bay, Flamingo, and the Everglades, I got to see places in South Florida that were all gems but not hidden. As I got older, I started to branch out on my own. Before long I found myself rubbing shoulders with likes of legends Bouncer Smith, Wayne Conn, the late Bruce Jacubek, and Randy White, and my best friend Frank Randolph, all looking to catch that monster snook, jack crevalle, or tarpon on surface plugs like the Zara Spook. We were chasing The Metropolitan Miami Fishing Tournament leaders in the plug casting division. For a catch to qualify in the plug division, your reel couldn’t have line heavier than 12-pound monofilament and the rod could not be longer than 7 feet. Win in your division and you would get a nice certificate with your name, catch and weight of your catch. No money or trophies.
Fast forward to the present and so many of these gems are now developed shorelines, canals, and islands. Giant highrises have taken over the mangrove shorelines, blocking out the sun light and forever changing what once was a pristine bay. Finding waters that still produce fish that are not overcrowded with fishermen, jet skis, and pleasure boaters is a challenge today.
Mangrove creeks in the area are vital habitat for tarpon (pictured), snook and other gamefish. South Florida has few hidden gems left to explore, but if you have never fished this area, then yes it could be a hidden gem to you. I’m talking about an area of water stretching from the Oleta River north to West Lake. Most of this water is in the busy Intracoastal Waterway or better known as the ICW. At first glance it looks like a polluted brown water canal that has a few brackish water (half saltwater and half fresh) lakes surrounded by a few mangrove shorelines, lots of seawalls and a ton of expensive houses, condos, and townhouses. Once you take a moment to understand this intricate waterway and analyze it as a fishermen, you will realize that the fishing possibilities can be endless.
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Residential snook reaching sizes that would make your legs shake, giant tarpon, sheepshead, mangrove snappers, ladyfish, jack crevalle, barracuda, bull sharks, blacktip sharks, and during the fall and winter, pompano, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, and kingfish have been caught in these areas and continue to be caught in these waters.
In the early fall, starting late September, schools of mullet, sardines, herrings, glass minnows, and pilchards migrate from the ocean into the Intracoastal Waterway as they head south for the winter. Kingfish, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel follow these baitfish schools into the bay, making otherwise “ocean fish” targetable from a shoreline, seawall, dock, pier, boat, or kayak. Tarpon, barracuda, jacks, sheepshead, black drum, sometimes redfish, ladyfish, sharks, and snook are in these areas year-round.
Troll a live mullet along the shorelines, seawalls, into the side canals and small saltwater lakes and chances are good that a big snook, tarpon, jack crevalle, barracuda, or a shark is going to eat it. Fish a half of a blue crab on the bottom and if you have the patience to wait for that subtle strike you might get a big black drum. Sheepshead can be targeted along the bridge pilings, dock pilings and sea walls that have lots of barnacles and oysters attached to them. Fish live or dead shrimp or a fiddler crab if you can find some and Mr. Convict fish might be your dinner that night.
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When the weather cools down a live pilchard, threadfin herring, or Spanish sardine hooked to a 1/0 long shank hook and freelined near one of the many baitfish schools in the area is likely to get eaten by a Spanish mackerel, bluefish, tarpon, jack crevalle, barracuda, or possibly a kingfish.
Oleta River State Park, Sunny Isles. Kayaks and canoes may be launched at the park. The nearest boat ramp is Haulover Park. Located in Dumfoundling Bay are a few artificial reefs that hold sheepshead and mangrove snappers. A live shrimp dropped to the bottom over one of these wrecks that are marked on many GPS charts shouldn’t last long. Grab a few fresh mullet at your favorite bait shop and cut one in half. Hook that half to a 6/0 circle or J hook on a 20-pound spinning or stand-up outfit and cast it away from where you are standing. Have a seat and before you know it that fishing rod may start bending from the big snook, tarpon, jack crevalle, ray, or shark that just ate it.
One of the best things about fishing the ICW is that you can get away from the wind and choppy seas on a blustery day and have fun catching a wide variety of inshore and offshore fish using light tackle and natural baits or artificial lures.
