Miami slaughter zone!

[jcc123]

Went fishing in Miami sunday. You can literally see the stream from shore. Amazing place. Went out of Haulover Marina for a half day trip. While waiting for the captian to get there (afternoon trip) the other 7 boats were coming back from their morning trips. People were gathering at the docks due to the fact they knew the captains would be throwing their respective catches on the dock to show everyone. To my surprise/horror, those catains keep anything that is reeled in. There was at least 10 sailfish thrown on the docks. Maximum weight around 60#s. Sharks ranging from a 40# hammerhead to a 20# tigershark. That tiger could not have been 6 months old?

I told my captain that whatever we catch goes back in the water. He responded that i must be from the north. I was actually proud of that.

The catain also told me that there was a sailfish tourney that day and over 230 were boated. Not sure if it was a kill tourney or not but judging what i saw down there it probably was.

Pitiful!

Needed to vent.

BTW, caught two sails (both released [angel]) and several large Jacks. Used kites for the sails. Seen them used but never used first hand. Very interesting.

JC

[Kevin Smith]

JC,

Glad you got some pullage.

I have heard that in some places they keep almost everything they catch. It is just hard to believe people are that ignorant! What a waste of our resources.[sad][sad][sad]

Kevin
Weekend Mistress

[NightFisher]

Miami, FLORIDA??? Is this the same Florida that outlawed gill nets because they were so conservation minded?

[pete330]

ur story is some bullcrap I bet you mistaked a wahoo for a sailfish
and they release all sailfish down there seeing as I had my boat down there from december to march this year

[jcc123]

Pete,

No mistaken what i saw. Could care less if you believe it or not.

JC

[Weekend Warrior]

I make a couple trips a year to the south Florida area, booking a charter almost every time. I have yet to find a boat in the Ft Lauderdale, Miami area that advocates or practices catch and release. If anyone knows of one please let me know, so I can book them for my trip in two weeks. I do know for a fact that for skin mounts, some of the boats have deals set up with the taxidermists where they get a cut of the price paid - therefor encourage the anglers to keep sails to have them mounted. All about the profit.
I love Florida, but question how they promote conservation - hell even stopped at a popular seafood restaurant in Panama City over Christmas that was advertising fresh marlin.

[Bob ECT]

Any pics? The Sharks definitely sound illegal. Unfortunately many boats down there feel they have to bring in those fish to show off at the dock and get some more charters from the tourist.

[Rebel]

[sad]JC, that's discouraging news. I lived just north of Ft Lauderdale for a couple years & saw the same thing happen once...when will they learn?

Weekend Warrior, Try Capt. Bouncer Smith out of Miami. He's been in the game a long time & really knows his stuff on top of being a really nice guy!! He runs a 33' Dusky center console.

His website is www.captbouncer.com

Good luck...Post a report! [wink]

[Weekend Warrior]

Rebel - thanks, have found some really great guys out of Islamorada, need to figure out how to get the pictures from our Sept Mahi trip on here.

[Los Lobo]

Went through the same thing a couple of years ago, I told them I was allergic to fish (yes, allergic, not kidding) and did not want to keep any, they proceeded to gaff anything that got within range, it's really no different up here with some of the bigger charter boat captains, the more fish you throw onto the pier the better the business.