Yesterday was my birthday so i decided that i need to go fishing, the last few weeks sailfish bite have been crazy here in south florida, specially in the stuart area, last week about 1000 fish were released on a tournament, but for my is just not working, two mondays in a row, live week full og google eyes and nothing got a fish on the kite last monday but hook came loose after few jumps. so said lets head donw to key large and do some yellow tail
The decided to go in the gulfstream party boat, their main target is yellow tail and they are knowledgeable and professional about yellow tail fishing.
SAND BALL fishing and a know fishing method for yts that i found only in the florida keys, i targeted yellow tail in many tropical water arrounf the world like Colombia, Aruba and Dominican republic and nobody does it like the locals in the keys. the idea is to make a ball, baseball size of a mix of chum, sand and out meal, insert a small jig inside with a piece of bait, trow it over board and let is sink until you get down were the yts are.
We left fort lauderdale 6am sharp and got to key largo at 8am, boat leaves at 8.30a:m and returns at 4:30pm. Weather was looking great 75 degrees and 1' of less seas
headed out and confirmed the calm and clear turquoise waters of the florida keys.
About the sand ball. chum is left outside ours before so it melts, then is mixed with beach sand and oatmeal flakes, just like the ones you eat in your breakfast.
we anchored at 120' in our fisrt stop. yts usually is found in 40 to 100' but this time we were looking for flag yellow tails between 2 to 4 pounds and they are found in deeper water and chum and lot of chum is need it to bring them up. the tackle need is very light 12 pound line and 12 or 15 floururo carbon leader, the lighter the line the more bites you get, but the thing is that yts are a very good fighters and smooth drag and light tip rod is also need it and good line capacity since you need to be able to go down and sometimes you line is out a good 100yd in the chum slick.
wile we were setting the anchor i drooped a 250 antereater jig (cheap chinnese jigs but there are a lot of cudas and king in the area) few cranks of the bottom and i was hooked with a king mackerel 10 to 12 size but lost him at the gaff.
i was using a 7' st croix premier spinning rod 10-12 line, penn battle 6k, 12 pound pink ande mono and 15 pound ande floururocarbon leader. for hooks we use a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jigs with a small piece of ballyhoo, silversides, squid or bonita strips
the deal is to make a ball put your bait inside, open the bail, trow the ball over board and let it sink at the same time you wash your hands pick up the rod and start free lining until line rips out of the spool, close the bail, set the hook and fight the fish. a lot of people don't know what kinf of a fight a 20" can give.
once the ball hits the water a lot of fish com for it, it is like chuming your own bait, we had a lot of spanish macks, raimbow and blue runners and triger fish on the surface but yellow tail were hanging about 30' of the bottom
the eventual remora showed up and was the chanse to make fun a little
we ended the day with about 17 yellow tails they are 10 per person a day and one mutton snapper. missed on king on the gaff and released three undersized aj's on jigs.
not bad for a day of fun tastie fishing. the yellow tails were big for the area most of them between 19 to 22"
now the funny part. while cleaning the fish this is what i found
a chicken bone inside a mutton's stomach and oatmeal in the yellow tail's
at the end of the day a nice florida sunset a lot of stories to tell and a good day of fishing. and for me the best way to have my birthday.
i wish i could post pics of bent action but i was busy fishing.
