Fished The Miami Grove Slam

[Fishboy OV8]

Thought I would share a report and a few pics from last weekends trip that I was invited to fish in the Grove Slam. The Grove SLAM! - Florida's Funnest Fishing Tournament

My buddy Al and I were invited down to fish with his brother Scott and Captain John Jolly. Friday we spent much of the day catching live bait in the inshore waters...... it's a treat to be able to throw out a chum bag and have all the Ballyhoo you want by simply throwing a cast net. One thing I did notice, it seems that the fresh live hoo's will wash out nearly as quickly as Baitmasters........ the live bait looks great, but the frozen stuff is truely nearly as good as the real thing.

After catching all the bait we needed, we ecided to make a short run from the inlet and put out a spread and see what bites, mostly thinking maybe a king or a lucky Wahoo...... but we ended up getting a couple Sails to sniff and put one in the boat for a quick photo op.

Pictured on the left is Scott and on the right is John. John landed the fish which was his first aboard his new Regulator.


Pretty cool to be able to catch a sail next to the big city. This is the view from the boat after releasing the sail, very close.

Saturday was tourney day and ended up being a uneventful day as ar as the fishing goes. There were 164 boats entered and many were skunked and were didn't do much better. We ran up and down the coast looking for Frigate Birds, grass beds or weed lines, rips and floating debris, but not much found. we did manage to catch 4 small slingers, but nothing to weigh. Reports at the dock were that some fish were caught using kites, mostly a by-product of targeting sails, but the best fishing was clear across the Gulf Stream where the reports of giant grass beds. We saw some rigs that were might capable of making the run, wish I would have taken some pics. Many 39'ers w/ Quad Mercs were lined up and down the marina. I don't know if those boats placed or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. Catch More Fish



Overall we all had a great time fishing and getting to see some new sights around the Miami coast line. If you're interested in catching Sailfish, it's the place to be. I was told it's winding down now, but it's been a great season since March. They have some incredible bottom fishing down there, hopefully I'll get the chance to try that one day. This is a Hog Snapper..... my kind of bottom fish . (sample pic, not mine)


I'm pretty happy w/ a new camera I bought prior to leaving for the trip, a canon PowerShot A10000 IS. Not bad for a point and shoot for under $150. Many thanks to Scott and Capt John...... see ya'll soon.

[surfperch1]

Great report and how about that tan!

[Kevin Smith]

Brian,

Looks like a good time was had by all! Thanks for the report and pics!! Safe trip back.

Kevin
Weekend Mistress

[South Paw]

Nice report and pictures. Thanks. I've never caught one of those hog snappers before. Pretty fish. I caught plenty of "regular" hog fish down there. Barracuda usually hang out under my boat and eat all the colorful fish I hook, so I never get to see them.

Good Fishin

[Dandy Hooker]

Very cool Brian! Thanks for the post. I'm sure Al will have his pictures up soon.

[greenco3]

AWESOME PICTURES&FISH

[alawson]

I had a blast. Awsome water down there. Would not take much to get me back down. Ready for the next trip sign me up. Wish we would have put some fish in the boat for the tourny. Brian that black we were talking about was 30.25# guess the guy I was talking to had a few to many as he thought it was a 50#.

[mhgofish]

Cool Pics