When some anglers think about Biscayne Bay, it is the vaunted flats filled with bonefish, permit and tarpon to the south that command their attention. The urban north bay, from the Julia Tuttle Causeway north to the Broad Causeway, often is overlooked.
But from now through mid-May, on cloudy, windy days when a boat ride to the south can be wet and sloppy, north Biscayne Bay provides low-key sport and delicious table fare with its abundance of spotted sea trout.
Some say there’s not much challenge to catching trout. They don’t jump like tarpon and they don’t run off 100 yards of line in a nanosecond like bonefish. But try to sight-fish for them on the flats, and they can be one of the most difficult species to fool. And if you succeed, you get to eat them. Most anglers just give in and blind-cast. Admit it: it’s fun.
“When you have windy days, you can catch trout all day long,” said veteran angler/author Jan Maizler of Aventura.
On a recent outing to the grass flats just south of Broad Causeway, Maizler and a companion caught and released 15 trout to about a pound in a four-hour trip. The best bite occurred in early morning with clouds concealing the rising sun on the early incoming tide. Waters were clear, temperature in the low 70s, and winds mostly calm with an occasional puff from the west.
As the sun rose and the wind quit altogether, the bite slowed.
“The calm, ultra-clarity and sunlight increase their ability to inspect the bait,” Maizler said.
He was correct. A bright chartreuse soft plastic jig that drew a strike on nearly every cast in the early morning gave way to a subdued tan model that had to be tipped with shrimp to generate a reaction later in the day.
“You want to have movement to your bait,” Maizler said. “If there’s no wind, lightly jig it. If there’s wind, you can drift. You have to create motion.”
Many anglers believe in targeting sea trout in white sandy holes adjacent to sea grass beds because the light bottom provides thermal comfort. That’s not the whole reason, according to Maizler.
“They use the sand patches as ambush points,” he said.
And while many believe that shrimp is the best bait for sea trout, Maizler says the larger fish are fish eaters, as revealed by their prominent front fangs.
“Large trout are solitary individuals that prefer scaled protein,” he said.
When he wants to target trout of more than cookie-cutter size, Maizler baits a spinning outfit with cut mullet, a pilchard, or a small pinfish and casts it away from the boat to sit on the bottom. Larger or live baits discourage smaller trout and nuisance fish such as lizardfish or puffers.
Although braided line is in vogue for many shallow-water game fisheries, Maizler said it’s a poor choice for catching trout. Monofilament is better, he says, because it stretches.
“Trout have such a soft mouth,” he said. “Braided line causes too many tear-outs.”
There are many areas in north Biscayne Bay where trout can be found. But Maizler says the best flats in prime time are two to six feet deep, grassy, and adjacent to deeper water where trout seek refuge. One of the best known trout spots is the large flat next to Mount Sinai Hospital. But fish also can be found on flats north of the 79th Street Causeway and those adjacent to Monument Island.
During cold weather, Maizler said, trout seek refuge in the deeper channels and residential canals where water temperatures are more moderate.
“They can tolerate cold, but they’re not happy about it,” he said.
But come summer, trout become hard to find.
Said Maizler: “They don’t like hot weather.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment