Miami Sportfishing Report
Miami Sport Fishing Report for the start of June is great. This past week we caught one of the largest King Fish (king Mackerel), a 60 inch long almost 60 pound monster. We were slow trolling live small bonita “Flips” in the riggers. We were also pulling a live Flip on the down rigger. Following a hard blue edge off the middle of Miami Beach in about 135 feet of water, we were looking for a good strike. Just a few minutes before the king bite, we had a Sailfish on for a few minutes before we pulled the hook.
The Bite
I see the live bonita start to race across the surface. Pinned to an 8/0 hook & connected to 6 feet of #8 piano wire, the live Bonita “flips” out of the water a few times. In a hurried panicked way, the bait try’s to avoid the mystery predator. A giant silver streak through the water, ends in ahuge explosion of water. The line fly’s out of the rigger with a loud snap. Instantly 200 yard of line is off the reel. After a 20 minute fight we can see color for the first time, it’s a big fish. The fish sees the boat and a blazing 50 yard run in a matter of seconds. Another 15 minutes and the Kingfish is on the surface just behind the boat. Violent head shakes, with white water foaming around the great fish. Some quick boat handling and a great gaff shot from Mike the mate and the king is pinned against the side of the boat. It takes two people to pull the writhing kicking 5 foot long fish over the gunwale.
Capt. Jay Cohen
Capt. Jay owns and operates the Miami fishing charter Capt. Jay’s Deep Sea Fishing. Capt. Jay has fished Miami for more than 40 years and holds several I.G.F.A world records and has won multiple tournaments, including the METT tournament and the fun fish boat in the Miami Billfish tournament. Capt. Jay discovered a new species of tilefish and had the honor of naming the fish (Bahama Tiger Tilefish).
