Douglas Park
1. Miami may spend $4.5 million to clean contaminated Douglas Park [Miami Today]
2. Explore downtown Miami at night by drone [Curbed Miami]
3. End of season is still a busy time for Palm Beach real estate [Palm Beach Post]
4. U.S. Homeownership rate falls again, nearing a 48-year low [Wall Street Journal]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
The former Trump International Hotel & Tower in Fort Lauderdale
1. Court reverses on attorney fees in Fort Lauderdale Trump hotel flop [Daily Business Review]
2. Jason Derulo relists Coconut Creek mansion [Curbed Miami]
3. Miami mayor criticizes condo project backed by Venezuelan oil funds [Miami Herald]
4. Bulla Gastrobar opens second location in Doral [Miami New Times]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
The Thompson Miami Beach
Hyatt Hotels just closed its $229.4 million purchase of the Thompson Miami Beach and a mixed-use parking garage across the street.
The sale comes little more than a month after Hyatt, one of the nation's largest hospitality corporations, announced it was in contract with Geolo Capital to buy the three-tower hotel complex at 4041 Collins Avenue.
County records show the deal also included a 76,355-square-foot mixed-use property at 228 West 40th Street, which houses ground-floor retail space and parking.
With three 18-story towers and 380 rooms, the purchase price breaks down to an astounding $603,684 per key. By comparison, San Francisco-based Geolo paid $85 million for the hotel in 2012, or about $224,000 per room.
Hyatt will now rebrand the property under its Unbound Collection, a luxury line of independent hotels that typically have their own identity. The company will also rename the hotel as the Confidante.
The hotel first opened in 1940 with a single tower known as the Lord Tarleton. Roughly 15 years later, a second eight-story tower was added and the complex came to be known as the Crown Hotel. A third tower was added in 2003, and the complex was converted to apartments.
Geolo, the hotel's most recent owner, bought out the property nine years later and began an $82 million renovation along with rebranding the complex under its current name, the Thompson.
Rabideau Law Firm reported 681 mortgages above $1 million in Palm Beach County in the year ended in March.
The number of residential mortgage loans for more than $1 million in Palm Beach County increased 21 percent in the 12 months end in March, according to Rabideau Law, with offices in Palm Beach and Toronto.
The law firm reported that the number of $1 million-plus mortgage closings in Palm Beach County grew to 681 in the 12 months ended in March from 563 in the prior comparable period.
Rabideau said in its monthly report on mortgage lending in the county that the biggest residential mortgage in March was an $8.5 million loan to James M. Engel from JPMorgan Chase Bank NA. The second largest residential mortgage in March from Northern Trust Company to Peter J. Wood and amounted to $8 million.
Other top-five residential mortgages closed in March included a $6.5 million loan to Patrick M. Park from Malvern Federal Savings Bank, $6.4 million to Donald S. Uderitz from Bank of America NA, and $5.9 million to Stephen Corcoran Smith from Sabadell United Bank NA.
Rabideau also reported that the largest commercial mortgage in March was a $56.8 million loan to 515 N Flagler Drive Owner LLC.
Night view of Brickell from the Brickell Key Bridge (Credit: EdoDodo)
1. Downtown authority considers building bridge under Miami River [Miami Today]
2. Hialeah mental hospital in deal to be sold [SFBJ]
3. 'Sophisticated and cozy' Palm Beach house listed at $8.9 million [Palm Beach Daily News]
4. Why crowdfunding will keep gaining traction [GlobeSt]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
Boat owner Taylor Mason seeks the expertise of Marine Customs Unlimited to transform his 23 Seacraft into a reef fishing machine; FS Boating Editor Dave East heads out with Tony Eden, who tricked out a 24 Pathfinder for sight fishing cobia and tripletail; and, we head to Birdsall Marine to fabricate a custom t-top for the 25 Hydra-Sports build.
Fox Sports Sun
4/22 – 4:00 p.m. | 4/26 – 10:30 p.m.
For more information on Florida Sportsman Project Dreamboat, including the full episode guide and access to HD shows, visit www.floridasportsman.com/fspd.
Renderings of the Bristol, an upcoming luxury condo tower in West Palm Beach
2. Bristol luxury condo to break ground in May [Palm Beach Post]
2. Twelve floors have been leased at 32-story Monarc At Met 3 [The Next Miami]
3. Massive fraud claims entangle Miami developer [Daily Business Review]
4. Millennials need a decade to save for a down payment, says study [Curbed Miami]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
During this FS Seminar, Florida Sportsman editor Jeff Weakley gives indispensable tips on searching for fish while sight fishing.
Weakley explains how anglers often overlook the importance of height while fishing the flats and scanning for laid up or roaming fish. Then, at the heart of sight fishing, he explains the importance of recognizing the aspects of shape, motion, and color while scanning for fish.
Also, don't forget to wear a quality pair of polarized sunglasses! Otherwise, you would be better off back at the dock.
Billy Joel (Credit: David Shankbone) and his Manalapan mansion at 1920 South Ocean Boulevard
2. Billy Joel discounts price of Manalapan mansion by $2 million [GossipExtra]
2. Doronin scores utilities agreement for Missoni Baia project in Edgewater [The Next Miami]
3. Major renovations planned for South Miami office building after $10M sale [SFBJ]
4. No ruling Monday on lawsuit trying to stop Minto's Westlake plan [Palm Beach Post]
- Sean Stewart-Muniz
Cypress Financial Center in Fort Lauderdale
As vacancies continue to drop in South Florida's real estate markets, landlords are inking noteworthy deals seemingly every week. Check out a roundup of some of the region's biggest leases after the jump.
Airport North Logistics Park Phase One
Neutralogistics
Neutralogistics, a rapidly growing freight management company, is the first-ever announced tenant for the newly built Airport North Logistics Park at 8501 Northwest 80th Street near the Miami International Airport.
The company inked a five-year deal for 105,920 square feet of warehouse space at the projects' 900,000-square-foot phase one. Some of the project's features include built-to-suit office space, 57 overhead doors, “generous” column spacing and a 60-foot staging bay.
Neutralogistics, which specializes in importing/exporting goods, is expanding from its 50,363-square-foot headquarters in Doral - which it occupied two years ago.
Wayne Ramoski and Gian Rodriguez of Cushman & Wakefield represented landlord L&B Realty Advisors, while Juan Ruiz of Blanca Commercial Real Estate brokered the deal on behalf of Neutralogistics.
1780 Northwest 15th Avenue
Super Restoration Service Company
Prologis, the country's largest industrial real estate owner, just signed on a new tenant at its Pompano Center business park in Pompano Beach.
The company granted a 18,365-square-foot lease in Building 4 to the Super Restoration Service Co., a repair company that fixes everything from mold damage to fallout from a property fire.
Super Restoration was represented by Frank Trelles and George Pino of State Street Realty, while Prologis was repped by Thomas Viscount of Butters Realty.
Building 4, at 1780 Northwest 15th Avenue, measures 60,740 square feet in total and 10-foot dock doors, hurricane impact windows and 40-foot by 40-foot column spacing.
Cypress Financial Center
JLL closes new leases at Cypress Financial Center
Landlord Steelbridge Capital recently inked new leases and renewals at its Cypress Financial Center in Fort Lauderdale.
The 198,528-square-foot office building is now 84 percent occupied, according to an announcement from listing brokerage JLL. Located at 5900 North Andrews Avenue, the 11-story building was first put up in 1988 and was recently refinanced with a $33 million loan.
Among the deals: Parlux Fragrances, a ritzy distributor of perfumes, renewed its 19,072-square-foot lease, while Morgan Real Estate inked a new deal for 1,394 square feet.
JLL's Sandra Anderson represented the landlord, while the brokerage's Rod Loschiavo and Lauren Gallart represented Parlux.
Ford Gibson
Cushman & Wakefield just got a little bit bigger.
The commercial real estate giant acquired Gibson Realty Group, a Miami-based property management firm with more than 4.1 million square feet in its portfolio. The acquisition elevates Cushman & Wakefield to handle more than 30 million square feet in Florida, the firm announced on Monday.
With the purchase comes 33 of Gibson's employees. Gibson founder and principal O. Ford Gibson will stay on with the acquisition.
In Miami, Cushman & Wakefield now manages 36 properties totaling 6.1 million square feet with 40 property managers. Gibson's clients include JP Morgan, Prudential, UBS and Codina. Miami properties include 1111 Brickell Avenue, 8333 Downtown Doral, Centergate at Gratigny and 550 Biltmore, according to a press release.
Earlier this year, Cushman & Wakfield expanded its reach to Broward County with the opening of its Fort Lauderdale office, adding on to locations in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Miami. The brokerage merged with DTZ last year in a deal valued at $2 billion, forming a commercial real estate giant with 250 offices in 60 countries. – Katherine Kallergis
The crew of Sandman are smiles after their victory.
The highly touted 2016 Quest for the Crest Sailfish Series came to a close over the weekend with Final Sail, the grand finale of the 4-leg series that spans the east coast waters from West Palm Beach to Key West, FL. With an $800,000 purse up for grabs and the world champion title on the line, the stakes could not have been higher in Key West for the 36 teams competing in Final Sail.
Leading up to the tournament, the battle for the burgundy jacket and the #1 sailfishing title in the world was highly contested with team Contender One leading the fleet with a cumulative score of 74 points followed by team Liquid in 2nd with 66 points and Utopia in 3rd with 60 points. Despite a large concentration of fish inside the tournament boundary, conditions forced teams to make the most out of every opportunity they had. Team Sandman did just that on Day 1, releasing 12 fish to take the $75,000 daily and a commanding lead heading into Day 2. The Edge got off to a hot start of their own with a total of 10 releases and a $36,000 score for 2nd Place in the daily.
On the dawn of Day 2, light winds and light current made for a slower bite. Despite the tougher conditions, Captain Ray Rosher and his crew on Miss Britt got into an early rhythm and capitalized on seven releases by lines out. They grabbed the $75,000 daily on Day 2 and their lead angler, Stephanie Choate, tallied up a total of 11 releases to take the lead in the female angler division as well as the master angler division. Captain Luis Coll and his Utopia teammates also had a great Day 2 performance with five releases and the 2nd Place $36,000 daily. Those five releases bumped them up to 13 total for the tournament and a 2nd Place position heading into the final day of the tournament. Team Sandman followed up their Day 1 performance with another five releases on Day 2 and a four fish lead on Utopia.
Day 3 belonged to team D&D. They got off to a hot start with 7 releases before noon. Despite a slow afternoon for the team, they managed to hang on to the lead earning the daily and a paycheck for near $78,000. Team 4 Aces had the hot hand on the afternoon of Day 3. They went on a flurry to release seven fish and bump themselves up to 3rd Place overall with 14 total releases and a $102,000 payout. Team Weez in the Keys earned $28,810 in 4th Place with 14 total releases and The Edge rounded out the Top 5 with 13 releases and a check for $44,880.
The Utopia crew shows off their new jackets, after taking the crest this year.
Heading into the final day, the fate of the Quest jacket would come down to the wire. Both Sandman, Contender One, Liquid and Utopia were all within striking distance of claiming the jacket. Sitting in 2nd Place at the start of Day 3, Utopia fought off a 14-point deficit to take the lead, but they would need to continue catching fish to defend it. By midday of Day 3, Utopia had not released a single fish. With other boats in the fleet starting to move up the ladder, it was beginning to look as if Utopia's lead would slip away from them. Like a true champion, they rose to the occasion and went on an afternoon run to release five sailfish and finish the tournament in 2nd Place with 18 releases. That finish was enough to secure the jacket and the #1 sailfishing title in the world for 2016. They also supplemented it with $52,580 in winnings at Final Sail plus a Breitling Emergency II watch for Luis Coll, top captain in the series, compliments of Altier Jewelers of Boca Raton. Team Liquid finished 2nd in the points race with 86 points – just 3 points behind Utopia followed by Sandman in 3rd with 84 points, Contender One in 4th with 83 points and Priceless in 5th with 73 points.
While Utopia stole the show in the Quest for the Crest race, the tournament fleet got a steady dose of Sandman all week during the grand finale. Captain John Dudas and his team took the lead on Day 1 and they never relinquished it. With four releases on Day 3 they finished the tournament with a total of 21 releases and a staggering $260,770 payday!
In the angler category, Stephanie Choate was able to capture the Top Female Angler trophy as well as the Master Angler trophy with a total of 12 releases in the tournament. The Top Junior Angler was Brett Brincefield on D&D with three releases. Team Sailsmen weighed the heaviest king of the tournament at 32.1 pounds. The kingfish also turned out to be the heaviest fish scored in the optional entry Big Fish Bonanza to earn the team a paycheck for $13,650.
The total purse for the 2016 Final Sail was a record setting $803,950! Combined payouts across all 4 legs of the series tallied $2.6 million dollars. For a complete list of results for Final Sail visit: https://www.bluewatermovements.com/final_sail_results/
For a complete list of the standings from the Quest for the Crest, visit: https://www.bluewatermovements.com/quest_for_the_crest_point_standings/
What's it like to run with the sailfish tournament scene in South Florida? See the article “Traveling with the Sailsmen,” first published in the March 2016 newsstand edition of Florida Sportsman magazine.
Trump Towers in Sunny Isles
There's major trouble brewing over dozens of alleged construction defects at the Trump Towers I, II, and III in Sunny Isles Beach.
In three separate lawsuits filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court last week, the master condo association for the three buildings alleges that garages, facades and pool decks need extensive and expensive repairs due to shoddy work by the developers, The Related Group and Dezer Development.
The unit owners are collectively suing TRG Sunny Isles V, TRG Sunny Isles VI, and TRG Sunny Isles VII, three entities formed by Related and Dezer to develop the towers at 18001 Collins Avenue. The lawsuits also name general contractor John Moriarty and Associates of Florida, architecture firm Sieger Suarez Architects and engineering firms Steven Feller P.E. and CHM Structural Engineers LLC as defendants.
A Related spokesperson said the company is declining comment because it has not been served with the lawsuit. Dezer acquired all of Related's interest in the project in 2010. Gil Dezer, principal owner of Dezer Development, also has not seen the complaint, but he downplayed the lawsuit's impact in a written statement to The Real Deal.
Gil Dezer
“We have been working amicably with the association on claims that are typical in the turnover of every condo development,” Dezer said. “And if a lawsuit was filed, it was solely for the association to preserve its rights as evidenced by the fact that we were not served.”
Jeffrey Respler, a Coral Gables attorney representing the master association, did not return two phone calls and an email requesting comment. Representatives from John Moriarty, Sieger, Steven Feller ad CHM also did not respond for comment.
The complaint accuses the developers, the general contractor, the architect and the engineering firms of negligence. It also claims that improper design and improper construction led to 150 defects throughout the towers and the common areas.
Some of the alleged defects include cracks and delaminated stucco along the railing of the pool and sun decks; cracks in the floor slabs and ceilings of the garages; an uneven walking surface in the Tower I garage; excessive corrosion on multiple doors and frames; and water intrusion at multiple locations throughout the development site.
The mission, put PENN's new Clash Spinning reels to the test. The location, Crocodile Bay Lodge, Costa Rica. In three days of fishing Blair Wickstrom, Florida Sportsman Publisher, along with several other outdoor writers from around the world fished along the Costa Rican coast, casting Sebile swimbaits for roosterfish and then offshore trolling live yellowfin tuna in hopes of catching blue marlin.
The video compiled by PENN and shot by many of the visiting journalists sets the mood and tells the story…no narration needed.
Recent offshore fishing reports from the East Central region.
Grocery Run
Florida Sportsman member: DeHaven
After 30 minutes we determined they were strong and healthy and switched from bottom rigs to trolling gear in 180 feet and headed East. We started picking fish off one at a time every thirty minutes or so blind trolling all the way to 400 feet.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Variety
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
We were moving south and into the 28th fathom when we came across a pallet. It had several keeper tripletail, which we caught four of. While trying to catch the tripletail a couple random dolphin swam by two different times and we caught them both.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
My wife and I decided to go out deep for mahi. We left around 8am and put lines in at 200 feet. Our first bite was a 30 pound mahi around 400 feet. We trolled out to 1000 feet and picked up six smaller phins along the way.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
My son and I left Bluepoints at 7:30, seas were big and a little confused so it was slow going out but put lines in at 120 and within 10 minutes had a nice mahi.
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Dolphin Bite
Florida Sportsman member: DolphinTailin
We leave the weed patch and head off to the Southeast and not too far off we find a big blue crate just under the surface, As we pass the crate we look behind the boat and see tons of dolphin greyhounding through our spread, three guys on the boat and all four rods go down.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Bull
Florida Sportsman member: TeamReelShady
We left the inlet at 5:30am and went out to 130 feet, with signs of life we put out lines trolled all the way to 240 feet, when we saw a massive weed line, dragged baits all over with no takers.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: TIGHTLINEZOFFSHORE
So then we decided to head through 8a to the buoy trolling and had several short strikes and 3 cuda knock downs. Then in 100 feet we landed our first phin. On the way back line a red and white islander gets smoked then goes slack, finally catch up to the line and reel in a nice wahoo.
Click here for full forum report.
New Personal Best
Florida Sportsman member: dtm
I slowed the boat and looked back and this fish was jumping about 300yds back. Alex went to work pumping and winding. After a while the fish came alongside we got a good look and seen he was a nice one.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Offshore Fun
Florida Sportsman member: Koifarmer
We then freelined some squid wrapped in chumdrop chum balls and it did not take long before we were hooked up . The fish were shy , 15 pound fluorocarbon and a small circle hook did the trick. We lost many many fish , but did manage to get 4 fish up to 9 pounds.
Click here for full forum report.
Cobia X7
Florida Sportsman member: Paragon1
“After about an hour or so we finally got to my first spot to try for some early morning cobia. We weren't disappointed. On the first drop we had two hits, with me getting the hookup.”
Want to catch cobia like these? Click here for how-to videos, feature stories, and more.
Tripletail Fun
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
Some chunky bamboo we came across north of the Port last friday. After releasing a few shorts we motored up and filmed a variety of species co-mingling underneath. Two Tripletail stuck around for the video.
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Dolphin and Coia
Florida Sportsman member: Paragon1
My boat is too low to the water to sight fish them effectively, so instead I prefer jigging deep structure. So in 100 plus feet of water we started working. First one came aboard on about the third drift, when I spotted them on the finder and decided to drop one last time before resetting. Nice 35 pounder to start the day.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: Hotpursuit
With fish in the box, things slow for a bit as we continue east. We found scattered weeds and what appeared to be an upwelling or something with dirty green water on the edge of the stream. Start working the area when the close pink and white skirted hoo gets slammed for the second time.
Click here for full forum report.
December Dolphin Bite
Florida Sportsman member: cflcycleparts
The water temp was a bleak 70 degrees, our only hope was to make it into the warmer waters of the stream. We make our way out to the cones about 30 miles out and find 74.99 degree water. It'll do. We happen to run by some debris including a floating log with weeds around it, and then pandemonium.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: bighardey
We put the lines back out and slow trolled at 5 knots and about 11:15 on blue & green Islander skirted ballyhoo the hoo hits hard, heads deep. Yanked her back to the boat nice and easy, gaffed and put in the box. It was a super day and good to be back.
Click here for full forum report.
Record Breaker Out of Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
No further bite came after the first couple of hits. I said, “maybe you should drop down a little more and she interrupted and said “no, no, no, she'es still there I know it” so I shut up and watched as we both concentrated on the rod tip then the rod tip just bent straight down, her face turned red and all of her effort when into turning the reel and it was on. Hook up! She was right, she was still there. The 15 minute battle began.
Click here for full forum report.
Red Snapper and More out of Ponce Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
Made some stops early Friday way south and shallower to try and get away, we did get away from the crowd but also the snapper. Moved out to around 95 feet and caught our limit rather quickly up to 15 pounds. Picked up a few triggers, sea bass and a cobia both days.
Click here for full forum report.
Hitting the Nearshore Numbers
Florida Sportsman member: Davidson
Good day nearshore. We were on fish all day in about 50 feet of water. A lot of big jacks, Bonita, sharks, and a few cobia were still around. We were able to get a couple for the freezer. Water has definitely warmed up, showing 76 degrees all day.
Click here for full forum report.
Canaveral Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Canaveral Offshore
Forum member Canaveral Offshore found the Dolphin in the east central section. Multiple trips producing great numbers of quality fish. Fishing in 120 to 240 feet of water.
Click here for full forum report.
First Hoo and A Good One at That
Florida Sportsman member: psless
Made it to about 165 feet and saw some weed lines so we began trolling. Fairly early in the morning we snagged this beast on a mono leader. Hook was barely in his mouth when we gaffed him! Not a bite the rest of the day. Had some sushi this past weekend, awesome! First time catching and eating wahoo.
Click here for full forum report.
Cobia Chaos
Florida Sportsman member: Keystroke
I soon realize that he is trying to save his other rod that has fallen in the water. You see the jig pole he had sat down in the heat of the moment had gotten caught in the prop and was yanked in the water. I watch the cobia disappear yet again as Dave splashes headfirst within 15 feet of her. So I'm standing there with my live sardine dangling, watching this spectacle. I pitch the sardine into the water, stick the rod in a holder, flip the bail open and go to assist my man overboard.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: captryan5878
First bait in was a large split tail mullet that got tagged in the prop wash as I was dropping it back. Got a 30 pound bull almost boat side and flipped a tipped jig to about a 15 pound cow that was trailing. Both came unglued 5 seconds later. Depressing, but it was a good sign. Got our 5 bait spread deployed with a variation of split tail mullet and skirted hoos. Every color produced strikes. Ended up with 5 quality fish in the boat up to 25 pounds.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Phins
Florida Sportsman member: beachsideandy
Checked out some stacked weed lines from 72 to 80 feet, but the water was still cold. Headed out to around 250 feet where we had a temperature change of 73.5 to 75.5 degrees with a good amount of weeds mixed in. Picked up four phins with this one being the largest. They seemed to be hitting small green and green and yellow lures with medium hoos, pretty close to the boat, clipped down off the transom.
Click here for full forum report.
Solo Trip Produces Dinner
Florida Sportsman member: ownleme
Found a great rip in 330 feet with a 3 degree temperature change 73 to 76 degrees, scattered weed line, and ripping current on the east side. First strike before 8am and kept coming. At one point I had just put one in the box, had one still pulling on another line, and tossed my alien head at its shadow to hook up with 20 plus pounder.
Click here for full forum report.
Plan B, for Bottom
Florida Sportsman member: Keystroke
Cobia sight fishing conditions were poor so we decided to work some bottom spots. We got on one spot that was loaded with big triggers. They showed nicely on the Furuno elevated above the reef. It was sweet hooking them on a 2 ounce jig with strip. Popping this on the bottom was fun and more productive than a typical trigger rig. But, when my fancy jigging rod doubled over, I said “that's no trigger boys”. I'd work her up a few pumps then she'd tear the 30 pound braid right back off.
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Dolphin Days
Florida Sportsman member: captryan5878
Pulled skirted hoo's with a variety of colors including green, pink and blue. Also dragged a few large split tail mullet down deep. No certain color worked better than the other. Put 10 good dolphin on ice including 2 very nice cows! Lost a monster 40 pound class bull boat side. It was painful to watch him swim off, but at the same time, we ended up with more meat than we know what to do with. Great day on the water.
Click here for full forum report.
Light Tackle Red Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Keystroke
But this time the light line held and after several sizzling runs Sam worked the fish ever so slowly to the surface. When I saw the sow snapper I couldn't believe its size and that Sam had landed it on such light gear. I became a little sad as I realized that I would never be able to bust his chops again for his use of baby fishing gear while bottom fishing.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Wahoo and King
Florida Sportsman member: dtm
Took out my Buddy John along with my boy Charlie. We got an early start and made some good bait. Seas were sloppy all day. We tried the bottom first which stayed sharked up. We mostly worked deeper at 140 feet, where we found red snapper and sharks. We then went to 180 and got away from most of the sharks. Had a couple AJs on. One came unbuttoned and put one in the boat. Decided to go on the troll for barracudas and bonitos and then we score with a Wahoo. There are some shrimpers out there in about 180 feet. We anchored up we worked our way toward one and got slammed again a smoker king[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Red Snapper
Florida Sportsman member: Blue
Took a beating getting out – our original plan was to hit a couple of the deep spots at 35 miles or so. At 17 the pounding got so bad we called an audible. Right then we lost the DSM sounder – so now we got to fish blind….no fish finder makes it tough to catch bottom fish. Put the radar on and looked for other boats. Pulled out the paper charts and did a quick cross reference with spots loaded into the GPS plotter… off to a public site (11). Pretty much non stop action once we were able to mark where the first fish were hitting. A few break offs – probably shark or cuda. Bunch of small ARS as well got donated to the BIG cuda's hanging out under the boat – but we made it and turned in some decent numbers.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: Cabanaboy
Short n sweet… We headed out of Sebastian Inlet Saturday am around 5:45 am… We heard the bite has been hot around 120 feet, so with the seas a bit fussy we put it at 100 feet around 7 am. We used our typical spread with 2 trolling weights, 2 outriggers, 1 short line, and 1 shotgun. We landed a barracuda immediately. Ten minutes later the shotgun goes off with the horse ballyhoo purple and black islander with 8 ounce chin weight, yes 8 oz. We had our first wahoo of the season on the deck.
We loose our second engine during the fight.. bad prime bulb i believe…we end up tacking between 95 and 125..weeds everywhere but the winds did not allow any formation…ended up landing 2 peanut dolphin around 24-25″ that got sent back to the ocean Gods…
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Red Snapper & Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Sea Hunt
Left the dock about 7:30 – did not see any readily available bait fish , so just went with frozen ballyhoos. Arrived at 8a with maybe a dozen other boats already there. For about an hour we trolled around without a strike, nor did we notice anybody else doing any better. As some other boats left – we headed to the weather buoy. Arriving near the buoy , put out the Ballyhoo with Sea Witches in front. Within 15 minutes we got this Dolphin which apparently was all by himself out there ! For the next hour – all we got was one shark after the other – all in the 2 to 3 feet size range. Decided to get away from the sharks – so set course for the inlet just before noontime. With 15 more miles to the inlet, we spotted a couple flying fish in some widely scattered weeds at about 85 feet deep. We put out the baits again and wound up getting this red snapper on the ballyhoo/sea witch rig ! As we got the snapper coming up near the surface, we saw over a dozen school mates following him up !
Click here for full forum report.
Seabastian Mangrove Snapper & More
Florida Sportsman member: Kapt.Hook
Dirty water! Stated out at bethal trolling with nothing to show for it. then headed up to the 90′ bar drifting the NE current 1.5 knots live ballyhoo on the flat line got nailed but ended up pulling the hook. It seemed like it was a good size king but who knows.. We then anchored up on one of the county sites and got some nice hits at first but the hook couldn't find the sweet spot, then I finally was able to berry my hook into one of the biggest mangos Iv caught so I guess I could say its my personal best. Black sea bass are everywhere and of good size we didnt catch any under 12 inches. I was unsure of the season dates State vs Federal so they were all released. We were using pogy chunks. Water was green/dirty everywhere we went[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Phins Off Ponce Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: higmister
We left the dock at 6 and headed east. The ride out was bumpy but the seas laid down for us in the afternoon. Started seeing flyers and birds in the 200 feet range and lines out. First knock down on the first bait out before we could even put it in the outrigger. Stayed between 200-280 all day. We took 26 phins and a wahoo home. Released some peanuts and a ton of short strikes. Top skirts was blue/green and white/black.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Cobia
Florida Sportsman member: Off Shore Dude
Went out today looking for some tripletails and shaking down my brothers boat. To my delight, what I thought was a tripletail turned out to be a cobia. Not a giant fish but after such a lousy cobia season it made my day. Had fun catching him on light tackle. Was using a 1/4 ounce pink jig head with a large live shrimp w/tail fin removed (hooked backwards).
Also, we were out in the Banana river Sunday afternoon and the trout bite was great. I think we caught about 10 trout (upper slot) and some huge ladyfish. Basically fished the biggest mullet schools we could find. Caught them on live mullet and 1/8 ounce jig heads w/soft baits. Released everything.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin
Florida Sportsman member: Full Throttle
We started out late, with no intentions of fishing all day.Just wanted to check things out before the tournament was called on Saturday. Ran out and found a sweet rip and weedline at 140 and 190 feet, but water didn't look great. I tossed two baits out and trolled for about 20-30 minutes just to see. With no luck, we pulled up and ran out deeper until I finally found some clean water finally at 850 feet and 38 miles out found a sweet rip and weedline. I put the full spread out and within 5 minutes we had our first knockdown. We re-rigged and 20 minutes later a big dolphin comes storming the spread from the line. We watched her get behind 2 lures before finally crushing the dolphin colored islander! The fish goes crazy and it is an awesome sight to see! My wife grabs the rod and 20 minutes later we put the 32 pound cow in the boat. Biggest cow I have seen
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin & Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
The “gettin-her-wet” fishing trip turned into a camping trip with the RV to Jetty Park and a trolling trip for 5 teenagers for my sons 19th bday. I was happy to ablige. Headed out first light even with the weather questionable but were greeted with decent seas. Hit the edge of the stream wet the first line and was hit with the rod in my hand before I could get into the rod holder. No jumping equaled a bonita but quickly picked up the first small dolphin. After a slow troll and a weakening rip decided to head deeper only to find a great rip, color change and weeds where we had more than 15 knock downs, including a tripletail and 10 dolphin in the box. Nothing huge but the boys loved it and we had some restocking material for the freezer.
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Dolphin & Amberjacks
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Clearing conditions Tuesday allowed us to find some nice color changes and weedlines that though not teaming with fish did produce. We picked up some Mahi before fighting AJ's. A lot of Cuda's and Sharks at the wrecks, but we still filled up on AJ's. The AJ's Tuesday were mostly just over the min size, but with hardly a worm in them were great for the icebox. With a couple youngsters onboard not big enough to tackle the AJ's, we finished the day on shallower structure so they could have some fun. We got Cobia this way, not huge but big enough to take home! Wednesday was much less productive. While we did battle a lot of fish, more short AJ's, Cuda and Shark that anything.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Surprise
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
Not a great weekend for fishing but we managed to get out for a few hours Saturday morning and again Sunday afternoon.
Saturday we ran out of Sebastian on the Head Hunter to troll for dolphin and found it to be slow due to the cold water. The temps were less than 72 degrees all the way out to 180' and there we released a few peanuts before landing an nice 18 pounder. We put him on ice and headed in to look for cobia but the 66 degree water inside was not conducive to hold fish so we made and early day of. Back at the ramp the FWC guy checked our fish box and found another peanut on ice with our catch. Seeing no skin on this one he gave us a pass as this fish was regurgitated from the stomach of the bigger dolphin. Just goes to show that everything eats a dolphin, even other dolphin.
Sunday looked like real nice cobia weather until we decided to go at 1 pm. After getting on the water around 2pm the wind shifted and started to increase. We chased some free swimmers around until the clouds moved in. As the afternoon advanced, the winds increased and it began to get sporty and wet for a flats boat. Tough conditions for sight fishing so we made an early afternoon of it and came home for cobia St Patty dinner.
Click here for full forum report.
Ponce Inlet Surprise
Florida Sportsman member: Davidson
Me and my buddy Carlos went out of Ponce inlet Tuesday looking for some of those brown bombers. We headed up and down the beach with nothing to show for it until we came up on a school of what looked like red fish. We motored in front of the school and casted choice live baits at the school and got snubbed over and over. I switched up to a jig with squid and bam! Hooked up I finally wrestled it to the boat and to our surprise it was the biggest black drum I have ever seen, let alone caught.
Click here for full forum report.
First Fish on New Boat
Florida Sportsman member: Final Point
een looking to upgrade my bayboat and after 5 months of searching I finally came accross my new baby….a 2007 Triton 240 LTS! Had to go to Tx to get her but now she's mine. So after getting her here, I decided to go out and see if the Triton could catch fish or not.
We made quick work of a livewell full of threadfins and hit the inlet. On the first drift we had a double hook-up on jumbo redfish. Mine came unglued but my wife whipped hers into submission[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Offshore
Florida Sportsman member: Reel Finatic
Put lines in at 160 feet and trolled out to 300 feet with only one wahoo. Which was lost at the boat. Neighbors father was down from Boston, So I wanted to show him what a red snapper looked like. We caught Numerous red snapper and we were rewarded with a nice gag grouper. All fish were vented and swam back to the bottom. Sure wish we could have brought the grouper home with us While bottom fishing we had a school of dolphin come to the boat, we were able to boat 3 of them. Trolled awhile longer and boated one more schoolie dolphin. Then called it a day In by 2:00.
Click here for full forum report.
More Trips at the Port
Florida Sportsman member: codered13
Had a great day out on the water last week with by brother. We were using live shrimp under some floating grass. Caught our limit fairly quick and left them biting before we got locked up. They were everywhere!
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral Tripletail
Florida Sportsman member: QuiksilverIHB
Went out of the port again and caught some nice tripletail. Some on buoys, some on seaweed, and some free swimming/sitting. Got them from 30 feet all the way to 50 feet It's cool, because I kill the motor as I get close and they hide under my boat. It's like they think it is floating garbage. The biggest one weighed in at 21lbs.
Click here for full forum report.
Sebastian Offshore Marlin
Florida Sportsman member: togators
A very quite day, only 1 hit. Then in 400 feet at 1:00 port rigger pops and line begins to scream out of a Penn 330 with 30 pound mono with a red/white skirted rigged ballyhoo. Did not want to horse it in because of the light tackle, 2 hours 45 minutes later we finally get it in. Line was wrapped on bill pretty well and the double hooks were set deep in the bottom jaw so we pulled in to clear, photo then released.
Click here for full forum report.
Tripletail Out of the Port
Florida Sportsman member: QuiksilverIHB
Went out of Port Canaveral and we got some nice Tripletail on jigheads with live shrimp. Didn't see any cobia, but it was still well worth it. The biggest one went for 18 pounds.
Click here for full forum report.
End of the Year Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: fltekdiver
Had my buddy cancelle this last night due to Christmas Eve family get together.Left Port Canaveral by myself at 8:00am Christmas Eve in my 21 foot Proline WA. Started out at Reef 8A, catching some bonitas, in Hopes of a big king! After the bonitas stripped half a dozen of my ballyhoo, I headed out to the 20 mile weather Buoy. By the time I got out there, wind had picked up ad it was overcast. The seas were about 3 to 4 feet.I switched all the skirts over to Black & Red, Black/Purple/Red etc for Wahoo [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Epic Day Out of the Port
Florida Sportsman member: Cabanaboy
What a beautiful day to fish! Loaded up the 19 footer and headed east. We left the port around 530 am and had the throttle wide open the whole way. We headed east and found some weed at 160′…3 dolphin in the boat,no misses. We kept moving east. We had 4 lines down and 4 dolphin doing arial acrobatics. Landed 2 and lost 2. headed east to 400′ where oh me oh my the debris was everywhere and fields of weed..[...]
Click here for full forum report.
Clean Water, Steady Action
Florida Sportsman member: tonytali
…Water was clear and blue on the east side. There was debri on the edge but it was pretty scattered and did not appear to be holding anything in particular. Action was steady and we caught a few more baracudas, three sharks (triple header), and boated five phins (10-15 lbs). [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Dolphin and Blackfin off of Sebastian Inlet
Florida Sportsman member: inxanth
Started off setting lines and was surprised to hook up with a blackfin. Within an hour and a half went four for six on blackfin, which is a rare treat, especially not that far from Bethel Shoals. Stumbled across a weedline that was about three miles long. Trolled it up and back four times and boated four dolphin out of six [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Three Days off Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
Docked boat at Down The Hatch Thursday night for her three day stay. Out of the inlet at 7 with a net full all three days. Calm seas Friday and Saturday and a little heavy on Sunday. Most fish caught in 100 to 120 and 140. Warmer water in 80 feet then cooled down a bit further out. Lots of bait and activity on the water all weekend. The guests on Friday and Saturday limited on red snapper within about an hour. Several big ones came off so we changed the tackle for Saturday and the overall size increased [...]
Click here for full forum report.
PC Snapper Limit
Florida Sportsman member: donh
Well, I got an itch to get a few snapper Sunday morning after looking at the bouy report so I called my neighbors (Bill and Denise) and they said they were in. Loaded boat and on our way at 10 a.m we stopped got a few gallons of gas, hit sunrise, grabbed a couple dozen pinfish (didn't want to spend any time catching bait, it was already late), hit the ramp and off we went [...]
Snapper Biting out of Ponce
Florida Sportsman member: InLimbo
Started with a really nice fun trip out of Ponce with the snotty seas that took us over an hour and a half just to get to 80 feet for the first stop. Did I say fun? Very much a roller coaster ride. We new we would see the this and then thought we would probably find that the bottom was all stirred up. It was. Dirty water and a strong current kept the sharks happy when we came off. Winds laid down and following seas for the ride in were nice [...]
Click here for full forum report.
East Central Mixed Bag
Florida Sportsman member: capt mike mann
The sight casting for reds and trout in mosquito lagoon has been pretty good in extremely shallow water. They both have been tailing in the grass and are eating fly, live shrimp and gulp shrimp. There is still some water clean enough to find cruising reds the secret is to move very slow. Offshore the mangrove and red snapper have been eating well [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Solid Offshore Bite off PC
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Another week fishing, with greatly varied seas and fishing. The fishing has been much like the water temps, hot and cold. The cold water has moved the fish around, and had them biting one day, and tight lipped the next. The fish are also on the move, with big bottom fish often in close and shallow waters [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Port Canaveral: Hot Bottom Bite
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
Another day of fair weather and fishing. Winds were forecast to pick up, and that usually means the seas will follow. We have a nice breeze all day, and the sea's stayed fairly nice all day. Fishing is still a question mark however, with pockets of cool bottom and dirty water creating issues [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Kingfish at 8A
Florida Sportsman member: Sea Hunt
Had more time to fish today but my early start was a bit delayed by a submarine heading out to sea. We had to go all the way down to the Church steeple to find any Pogeys. They were so close up on the beach – it seemed one wrong wave and we would be near aground ! – Reading a scant 4 foot on the sounder – one lucky toss of the net gave us plenty to fill the baitwell.
Click here for full forum report.
Nice Bull Off Sebastian
Florida Sportsman member: Cabanaboy
Headed out around 5:30 a.m., shot straight out to the west edge where there was a nice rip, but no weeds. Ran out to 500 feet and didn't see much so we headed back to our rip and found some weeds further north. Trolled it and landed a big bull on a 24oz. trolling weight with a blue and white islander [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
With a guest from China and a fishing T=tackle manufactuer on board, we were hoping to find some nice catches this trip. It turned out just fine! We still have fish being found in places that you don't typically find them [...]
Click here for full forum report.
Holy Pompano!
Doug Gabbert sent in this report of an offshore fishing treat, a monster African pompano, nice catch!
Fischer and I fished the mullet schools all day Saturday for trout, reds and snook. Fischer said he wanted to catch a “big” fish offshore on Sunday, so, we loaded the boat with four 20 pound Shimano Baitrunners and headed out the Sebastian Inlet early Sunday morning. We found several nice pods of greenies off Disney Vero, filled up the live well and headed towards Bethel Shoal to see what we could find. We pulled up on the #10 buoy on the shoal – there were four other boats fishing around it. Fischer tossed a greenie off the bow and almost instantly a school of large African pompano blew the greenie out of the water. The greenie made a mad dash for the boat, but the fish in the picture was faster and ate the bait right beside the boat. The fish literally hit the side of the boat while eating the greenie!
The fight was on. We chased the fish around for a half hour, it gave us some really smoking runs but Fischer was finally able to get it to the side of the boat. I did not want to gaff it, we did not want to kill it, so I put on gloves and was able to get it in the boat after a couple tries. The fish was gassed, so it did not put up much fight at the boat. We snapped a quick picture, then Fischer revived the fish and watched it swim away. Not a bad first cast and Fischer got his wish for a big fish!
PC Offshore Report
Florida Sportsman member: ACME Ventures Fishing
So, were used to NOAA's forecast being off quite a bit, but this is one trip I'm glad they were off. The forecast was fro seas at 3-4 feet and winds around 10 knots. We barely had a breeze all day, and sea's never got above 2 feet! It was probably one of the nicer days on the water of the year. Fishing however was somewhat slow, but with great weather we did not mind [...]
Click here for full forum report.
PC Dolphin Catching
Florida Sportsman member: Slacktide
I took a couple that has fished with me a few times in the past and one of my main fishing buddies offshore yesterday. We had 2 dolphin in the box at 1230. I was getting bummed. I had 3 dozen hoo's prepped with not much to show this late in the game. It turned on in the 4th quarter and we were cleaning dolphin until 11 pm. With a slow morning behind us we decided to pull lines n run out a little further [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Ponce Offshore Gold
Florida Sportsman member: Fool's Gold
Ran out to 100 feet and found some scattered weeds and a small rip, put the baits in and was pretty busy for about an hour, went 4 for 7 on fins, 3 bailers and a peanut. Also caught a shark trolling, haven't seen that one. Slowed down so went out deeper and trolled for awhile, no luck so dropped a bait down on the 28 ledge and picked up the AJ. Went back to trolling to have a triple hook up and not land one of them, 2 short strikes and one shook the hook when it jumped, overall nice day on the water.
Click here to see the full forum report.
Team Bloodstream Trip to Venice
Florida Sportsman member: Docked Wages
This is not a local report but the anglers are. The crew of the F/V Bloodstream loaded up and dragged a new 2011 35 ST Contender on a long haul to Venice LA. The crew making the long haul by vehicle consisted of boat owner and Captain Brian Rimer with Scott Lerhman, Chris Hudson, Billy Fazio and myself [...]
Click here to see the full forum report.
Sebastian Inlet Offshore Wahoo
Florida Sportsman member: jetpilot
