By Tom Greene of Custom Rod & Reel
This is a great time to fish in South Florida, mainly because of the weather. A lot of folks run away from up north, just to get down here. If we’re not having a cold front where the temps drop into the 50’s-60’s fishing is normally good.
In southeast Florida, when we have west winds it’s something you need to be aware of. If the wind is out of the northwest the seas will be very rough and you’ll have mountains in the gulf stream. As the gulf stream travels north along our coast, which is 1-4 miles offshore and traveling at a rate of about 3 knots— the wind is blowing against the current of the stream and it makes for large waves in the gulf stream. But if you’re standing on the beach and looking out it’ll be slick calm all along the shoreline, but if you look offshore a mile you’ll see big mountains. A great thing about this immediate area, from Pompano into Fort Lauderdale it gets very deep very fast from the shoreline — you can get into 150 foot of water ½-1 mile off the beach. Remember, we’ll get winds from the northwest; those are our coldest days then it’ll swing into the northeast for ½ – 1 ½ days, then swings to the east and then the southeast—a big circle.
So, what can we catch at this time? Sailfish, dolphin, kingfish, and wahoo. We’re also seeing more blackfin tuna that we ever have. It’s like turning on a light switch—you can predict when the fish are going to turn on by the weather. When the front comes through, it gets a little cooler, and it rains. It’s another barometric pressure change. So, watch the weather.
Just recently some of my employees went out at night in 60-90 feet of water, anchored up and chummed and caught 30-40 fat yellowtails, a few mangrove and mutton snapper and had a very good night. They drifted some baits behind the boat and caught a couple of 20-30-pound kingfish.
Tight lines, good fishin’ and Happy New Year!
Chartering a fishing boat? You need to make sure you get on the right one. Tom can help–after all, he’s been at this for 57 years. Call him at Custom Rod and Reel at 954-781-5600. Tom will probably answer the phone himself. Or drop by and say hello—1835 NE 25th St., Lighthouse Point.
