The fly fishing for reds wasn’ t on fire but we did manage a couple fish. They were not plentiful but the ones we got were quality fish of about 31 inches. As the sun started to go sideways and we couldn’t see any more we ran back to the ramp I took off to wards Miami. Jason had called and told me they were on their way down. I caught up to them at Bass Pro shot in Ft. Lauderdale and we had some dinner at the Outback Steakhouse next door. The food was ok and everyone was excited to try get on some sail fish. Towing a 31′ Contender wasn’t and easy task but I call Cody has done this plenty of time. He was making U-turns and all kinds of crazy maneuvers.
We didn’t arrive in Miami until midnight and parking was definitely an issue. We tried to squeeze it in a place we shouldn’t have and took off the rub rails. We finally found a hotel that would let us leave the boat in the parking lot. After pulling the gear out we did the circus clown car trick and piled into my truck to drive back to the condo we were staying at. By this time it was 1:30am and we had to be up by 5:30am to try to get some bait.
530am we were up and ready. By the time ate, breakfast, pick up the boat, did a car switch, and found the boat ramp it was 8:30am before we hit the water. We ran the beaches for bait and got really lucky near south beach.(yes the famous one) We caught lots of bait but the coolest part was there were tons of tarpon every where. Rolling milling and happy. It was tough getting close to them in a 31′ Contender but we did manage to jump 2 before left for sail fishing.
The winds were blowing the wrong direction for sailfish today but we heard the bite had been good. We dropped a kite back and started to drift some baits. The southerly winds didn’t help things but we did see one boat hooked to sail fish so it kept us going. We got 3 Mahi on the drift lines. A few minutes later we doubled up on Bonito. Three more Bonito later we were starting to get frustrated. We were seeing lots of bait and flying fish scattering but no sailfish. We eventually had one sail came up to the spread and a couple free jumps but that was it for the day. The sun was going down and the opportunity was lost.
After we found a place to store the bait and got cleaned up it was 8:30pm. We tried to get with my friend Honson(a SS contributor) but he was too far out and were beyond hungry. Gave Cheese Cake Factory (excellent chain of restaurant btw: lots of food,consistantly good, a variety menu) a try but the hour wait on this Friday night was way too long for us. We found a Tony Romas on north miami beach to dine at. Two past dishes, a slab of beef ribs, a slab of baby back ribs later we were full. I wasn’t very impressed with Tony Roma’s food(or speed of the food came out)but the food was ok/average andwe were starving.
By now it’s 10pm and I had to make my way back Tampa as I my friend Jose’s wedding to attend. With very little sleep in the past 24 hours I was feeling a bit tired. Not mention the 4 hour drive and being on the water for 12 hours that day. By the time I hit alligator alley was doing the bobble head doll impression. Knowing this is quite dangerous for mine and everyone elses sake I decided to pull over for a quick knap. The quick knap turned into 3 hours as I awake at almost in the middle of an alligator ally parking lot. I tell you one thing though, I was pretty well rested. I drove back to Tamp in the rain as the front was hitting. Driving up to my drivway it was in the mid 40’s and raining. I tried to lay down to get some sleep but 45minutes was all I could do before the sun came up and I just couldn’t sleep.
As I’m typing this I just left the wedding early(I gotta gotta get some rest in) and got home to write up this report. I had a couple beers and saw lots of friends I haven’t seen in a while. I will be putting some video clips up hopefully tomorrow but here are some photos I thought turned out pretty cool.
Oh and don’t forget to check out the “Sex Drive” energy drink. I found that down in Miami beach and thought.. what will they come out to market next?
Had to put his in here. A new Sex Drive energy drink!
