golden tilefish off miami

[miamiangler1]

caught my first tilefish doing a manual drop ..

[miamiangler1]

finally got out this morning , with a N/W wind made deep dropping a little hard .. I tried 3of the #`s from the 5 drops I did yesterday..not sure of the depth since my Matrix 12 depth finder bugs out at 450ft .. using the grid which is in 1nm/per square on the units GPS I was ableto narrow my search to about 1/4 mile area. #25 had best results with golden tiles caught on each drop al together 7 fish caught...using a 3 hook rig ..SSW circle hooks 5/0 from Owner .. love them with a green strobe light , and 2 lb weight.. on a 4/0 stand up rod and 50lb Power pro line.. used old squid did better then fresh squid!

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Willy,
Congrats on the tiles. 3 hook dropper loop rig, or the infamous coathanger? Funny how that stinky bait produces sometimes. Nice weekend for hand cranking. Was only about a knot of current sunday. Did a few passes at my redeye hole in 260. Took home a limit of redeyes all nice fatties 3-4 lbs, and a 31" African pomp. Beautiful day on the water!

Later,
Butch

[miamiangler1]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

Willy,
Congrats on the tiles. 3 hook dropper loop rig, or the infamous coathanger? Funny how that stinky bait produces sometimes. Nice weekend for hand cranking. Was only about a knot of current sunday. Did a few passes at my redeye hole in 260. Took home a limit of redeyes all nice fatties 3-4 lbs, and a 31" African pomp. Beautiful day on the water!

Later,
Butch

Hi Butch,

Thanks ,, been having tile fish everyday so far ... real good eats .. just think I have been running over these buggers going after dolphin all these years :lol: I made some new rigs that are closer to the bottom ... what I was using was a rig for snapper which I got in Outdoor world ,but looks like you did pretty good ... It sure was a great day Sunday ... Monday was a little harder to fish the area ... well tight line`s ..Willi

[Boboe]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

Willy,
Congrats on the tiles. 3 hook dropper loop rig, or the infamous coathanger? Funny how that stinky bait produces sometimes. Nice weekend for hand cranking. Was only about a knot of current sunday. Did a few passes at my redeye hole in 260. Took home a limit of redeyes all nice fatties 3-4 lbs, and a 31" African pomp. Beautiful day on the water!

Later,
Butch

"Redeyes"...you talkin about Mingo/Vermillion/B-liner's??

[miamiangler1]

[quote="Boboe"]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

Willy,
Congrats on the tiles. 3 hook dropper loop rig, or the infamous coathanger? Funny how that stinky bait produces sometimes. Nice weekend for hand cranking. Was only about a knot of current sunday. Did a few passes at my redeye hole in 260. Took home a limit of redeyes all nice fatties 3-4 lbs, and a 31" African pomp. Beautiful day on the water!

Later,
Butch

"Redeyes"...you talkin about Mingo/Vermillion/B-liner's??[/quot


O.K , I call them beeliners , I have caught them off the lotus when they are thick over the wreck... great bait for grouper... they seem to only be there when the AJ`s are not around ... Thank`s Boboe

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Thats them Bo. Vermillion redeyed beeliner snapper. = DINNER
Your correct as well Willy, they are great bait. One of my favorite long leader Mutton baits. :twisted:

Later,
DF2

[Gaitor]

Gotta be careful with the vermillion nowadays .... they increased the size limit to 11 in.

[miamiangler1]

Originally Posted by Gaitor

Gotta be careful with the vermillion nowadays .... they increased the size limit to 11 in.

I know they raised the limit .. but I just keep the biggest ones ... in my area they really dont check , only in the beginning of lobster season ... plus I know all of the marine patrol officiers in my area .. some great guy`s ... but it`s how it goes once your having fun fishing for these guy`s they change the limits on what you can catch :!:

[Boboe]

Wah wah. A 10" mingo (the size limit for the past 9+ years) is really pretty damn small. If I have to measure them, they go overboard or into the livewell. I've been freight-trained brutally on a 2# mingo before. It was a humbling experience.

Imagine this.....
Angler pulls up a ~6-7# red snapper from 200' below. The back 2/3 of the fish is scaled. This is the work of a big grouper trying to eat it.

I pulled out some heavier artillery (6/0 wide, meat stick rod, 125# main, 125# leader, 16/0 Mustad circle, drag beaten down as hard as possible), baited up a 2# mingo, and sent him down. I handed the rod to one of my anglers and explained to him what he was going to have to do if he got the bite.

He got the bite. Unfortunately he didn't listen quite well enough and pulled the bait out of the fish's mouth. I stopped him, took the rod, and sent the bait back down. No more than 2 minutes later he came back and I fed the bait to him. My captain had his eye on the whole thing. As soon as I began to get the bite he said, "You tell me when. I'm going to drive off!"

When I decided he'd gotten the bait well enough into his mouth I cranked with eyes-rolled-back-into-your-head fervor. It didn't take long to come tight, start to move him, then have him say "Screw you!" I probably had moved him 10' off the bottom when he headed south and I yelled to my captain "GO GO GO GO GO!"

At that point I was drug down the entire starboard side of the cockpit, never taking a single step. I was like a cartoon character with their toes up in the air and all their weight on their heels trying to stop, yet still skidding forward. Yeah. Then I hit the transom and buckled down. I got broken off about 2 seconds later.

I've caught big grouper and been broken off by big grouper, but this one was by far THE MAN!

[Gaitor]

The reason I mentioned the size limit at all is because of the overzealous enforcement officers in my area. I know most of them too, but they would cite their own mothers!
But you're right .... great baits

[Boboe]

Just don't keep anything undersized or over your bag limit and you don't have to worry about them. That isn't so hard, is it?

[DIRTYFOOT2]

True enough Bo. Except for the true reds, the other snapper minimums are bait size fish anyhow. We've set up our own minimum standards on our boat that seem to be more practical. Basically if you can't get a decent size filet from the fish throw it back. Chances are six months to a year down the road you'll get that fish again and he'll actually be worth filleting. I don't know about you guys but I'd much rather clean 4-5 nice size fish than twenty dinks. Well thats my .02 for today. Wind is killing us again. Had to take our charter fishing in the river today. Had fun though. Father and sons from Flint Michigan. They caught jacks, ladyfish, blues, spanish mackeral, short snook and two beefy little jewfish. Smiles and cold beers. Not a bad day considering the way it started. Everyone puking in 3-4' seas just getting bait at the marker. Weatherman saya it will be slacking off around the first of the week. We'll see.
DF2 OUT

[miamiangler1]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

True enough Bo. Except for the true reds, the other snapper minimums are bait size fish anyhow. We've set up our own minimum standards on our boat that seem to be more practical. Basically if you can't get a decent size filet from the fish throw it back. Chances are six months to a year down the road you'll get that fish again and he'll actually be worth filleting. I don't know about you guys but I'd much rather clean 4-5 nice size fish than twenty dinks. Well thats my .02 for today. Wind is killing us again. Had to take our charter fishing in the river today. Had fun though. Father and sons from Flint Michigan. They caught jacks, ladyfish, blues, spanish mackeral, sho-dropping-fishingrt snook and two beefy little jewfish. Smiles and cold beers. Not a bad day considering the way it started. Everyone puking in 3-4' seas just getting bait at the marker. Weatherman saya it will be slacking off around the first of the week. We'll see.
DF2 OUT

Hi Df2, Sound like you had a good day ... I did n`t know you can get jewfish up your way ... I got mine last week in flamingo.. trolling a rapala... in Tarpon Creek... anyway it was a little windy today ... did manage to get some golden tiles .. My first one was a monster compared to the other ones ... at the boat dock I weighted it ...14.5lbs
...

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Willy,
The Indian river is where we fished. It holds quite the population of Jewfish. There are a couple inshore guides out of Stuart that will guarantee you a goliath on a full day charter. I don't fish it enough to say I could catch one everytime, but over the last five years I've released 27, to 60lbs. ( thats a guess because the big one bottomed out the boga's ).
The rest of them have been mostly between 2-15lbs, and I'm almost sure I've caught the same one a few times. They are fairly easy to target. Rockpiles, docks and bridges with good current adjacent to a place to get out of the flow seem to hold them. I think ( I'll probably get blasted for it )
that they should open up the fishery with a real tight slot say 32-42" fish. They are so thick on a couple of the shallow wrecks, you can't even catch snapper anymore. On a charter last summer we went 3/10 fishing giant livebaits with the fish ranging between 150-350 lbs. Many unstoppable frieght trains. Its fun if you've never seen a bigun, they are like modern dinosaurs with a garbage disposal appetite. A Knocker rigged livebait seems to work the best. Be careful willy, your last post sounds like you took one back to the dock. I'm sure you released it, but you can get in trouble for possesing one nonetheless. Gotta go. We're gonna try and get offshore this am before the seas really kick up .

Take care,
DIRTYFOOT2

[Boboe]

There is even the occasional Jewfish up in the panhandle. I had a customer catch one last October in about 60' of water that went about 45-50 lbs. They almost shit themselves when I told them that we had to let it go. Once I explained how it was still immature (Jewfish don't spawn until they're ~100# the Fed's say), and how big they get, they were a little less disappointed. That's the only one I've caught in the Panhandle in 8 years. Every summer the dive boats tell me that there are a few hanging out around the near-shore wrecks.

[miamiangler1]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

Willy,
The Indian river is where we fished. It holds quite the population of Jewfish. There are a couple inshore guides out of Stuart that will guarantee you a goliath on a full day charter. I don't fish it enough to say I could catch one everytime, but over the last five years I've released 27, to 60lbs. ( thats a guess because the big one bottomed out the boga's ).
The rest of them have been mostly between 2-15lbs, and I'm almost sure I've caught the same one a few times. They are fairly easy to target. Rockpiles, docks and bridges with good current adjacent to a place to get out of the flow seem to hold them. I think ( I'll probably get blasted for it )
that they should open up the fishery with a real tight slot say 32-42" fish. They are so thick on a couple of the shallow wrecks, you can't even catch snapper anymore. On a charter last summer we went 3/10 fishing giant livebaits with the fish ranging between 150-350 lbs. Many unstoppable frieght trains. Its fun if you've never seen a bigun, they are like modern dinosaurs with a garbage disposal appetite. A Knocker rigged livebait seems to work the best. Be careful willy, your last post sounds like you took one back to the dock. I'm sure you released it, but you can get in trouble for possesing one nonetheless. Gotta go. We're gonna try and get offshore this am before the seas really kick up .

Take care,
DIRTYFOOT2

HI DF2,

I sure did release the jewfish ...just took pic`s and put it back in it`s spot ...I`m sureI`LL catch him again..one day ...I was talking about the Tilefish I caught ...first one weighted 14.5 lbs... it bent the rod over so much I could not figure out what it was till it was boat side ... I am used to doing it manually now .. it`s a peice of cake reeling them in ...I hope you got out there ...it was too bad for me wind is blowing .. so I fished in the river and caught baracuda ... for bait next time I go out ...tight lines ..Willi

[miamiangler1]

got to play hooky today... did some drops got 4 tiles .. current was not to bad ... SE wind .... went to a wreck in 234 ft ... got a few blackfins and bee liners ,they sure love baracuda !.. sent a 9 in ,er down .. missed a grouper .. hook was buried in the bait :cry: ... will get him next time :twisted:

[Relentless33]

Any size to the Blackfins?

What wreck was this on? Or what area?


Thanks a lot