Recent Catch Reports
July through December 2006

PHOTO: Bob Vitulli is stoked over his first permit. This one fell for a live shrimp fished on a fluorescent yellow jighead.

Well...so far, so good this year as far as tropical weather is concerned. One pesky tropical storm back in August kept us off the water for a few days, but as of this writing (10/24/06), we've had a kind hurricane season. Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel has called this the "Year of Shear." What he means is that upper level wind shear has literally ripped the tops off of developing storms in the Caribbean this summer, thus giving South Florida some well-deserved relief after the past two years of "meteorological disastrophy".

With water temps down a good 4 or 5 degrees from last summer, flats fishing for bonefish remained pretty good through the summer. Our best action on tailing fish typically came just before sunset...once we lost our light, we'd be off to the bridges to finish the trip up with some evening tarpon fishing (which also remained good through the summer). The permit fishing was especially good through this summer and fall.

 PHOTO: Local clients and friends, Joe and Lois Baltes had a busy day in the backcountry, catching and releasing 21 snook. They would have landed considerably more if it were not for the presence of pesky bull and lemon sharks, which kept us constantly on the move. 

PHOTO: Thuy Pham of Miami, FL displays one of her bonefish buddies. We were actually having a bit of a slow trip that day in late August. In the last hour and a half of fishing, Thuy and her companions managed to land 4 bonefish, 3 lemon sharks (to 40 pounds), and a gaggle of jacks on light tackle. Talk about your 9th inning rallies!

PHOTO: Doug Tarn (Fort Myers, FL) plucked this 21 pound permit off the corner of a flat with a well-placed crab. The catch was made in mid October.

PHOTO: Here's a nice doubleheader (the fish I mean). Bill Stitt (Summitt, NJ) and his brother John (Denver, CO) with a pair of redfish caught in the backcountry. Bill wants everyone to know he's the one with the big 31 inch redfish. Both fish (they might have been brothers too) were released.

PHOTO: Bill Stitt displays a 36 inch snook just prior to releasing it. This linesider fell for a freelined live pinfish on a jighead.

PHOTO: Dr. Dave Higginbotham (Galveston, TX) with a nice 8 pound bonefish caught in early November.

PHOTO: Tom Fisher normally throws plugs at Texas redfish, so you can imagine how much he enjoyed the wild strike and high-speed runs from a Florida Keys barracuda caught on the flats.

PHOTO: Bryan Rooks (Stamford, CT) started off his afternoon half day trip on a good note with this nice permit caught in the shallows.

He and his father also landed several tarpon, a snook, and an 8 lb cubera snapper (that ate a tarpon bait).

You can check out action and photos from this past winter and spring by clicking on the following:  
2006 Fishing Reports

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