Fishing report and outdoors notebook
SOUTH FLORIDA OFFSHORE
Capt. Skip Dana of the Helen S and Fish City Pride drift boats at Hillsboro Inlet Marina said anglers were catching yellowtail snappers and a few kingfish. Lots of dolphin were seven to nine miles offshore under birds and around floating debris.
THE KEYS
Capt. Norm Bekoff of Finest Kind Sportfishing in Islamorada reported excellent reef fishing for yellowtail and mangrove snappers. Fishing was good for groupers and mutton snappers. Farther offshore, Bekoff said anglers were having to work a little harder to find schools of dolphin, but the fish have been running bigger. “We’re starting to see some slammers and gaffers,” he said. Blackfin and skipjack tunas also were biting, along with tilefish and a few sailfish.
SOUTH FLORIDA INSHORE
Bekoff said it’s been a grab bag of fishing in Florida Bay, with decent catches of sea trout, jacks, redfish, tarpon and sharks.
EVERGLADES/FRESHWATER
“This past week in the urban canals of South Florida we had a good mix of fishing in all the water columns: Peacock bass up to 5.5 pounds along with a snook that totally bottomed out my 15-pound BogaGrip,” said Capt. Alan Zaremba of Hollywood. “A bit of topwater action, especially in the early morning hours, a bit later it would be some sub-surface with Bagley Minnow Bs and then the Amazon Jungle Jigs going deep.”
LAKE OKEECHOBEE
Bass have been biting plastic worms and stick worms, swimbaits and topwater plugs in and around the outer grass beds. Outdoors notebook
BugFest: Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s BugFest, which is the beach-diving town’s celebration of lobster miniseason, kicks off Tuesday with a free lobstering seminar by Jim “Chiefy” Mathie from 5-7 p.m. at the Plunge hotel, followed by a miniseason kickoff party from 7-9 p.m. The Great Florida Bug Hunt offers $20,000 in prizes to divers who weigh in lobsters during miniseason, which is Wednesday and Thursday. Prizes, including cash, dive gear, hotel stays, gift certificates and jewelry, will be awarded at the BugFest Miniseason Celebration Party, which is 6-9 p.m. Thursday and includes a lobster chef contest. BugFest and South Florida Diving Headquarters also have a dive on the Lady Luck artificial reef at 9 a.m. July 28. BugFest concludes with a free Diveheart Benefit Concert starting at 6:30 p.m. July 29. Visit bugfestbythesea.com.
Underwater poker: The Lady Luck Underwater Poker Tournament on the artificial reef off Pompano Beach is Sunday in honor of the one-year anniversary of the ship’s sinking. The final six players in the Texas Hold ’em tournament will compete for the championship on the Lady Luck poker table, which is 80 feet below the surface, using special playing cards and poker chips. Visit southfloridadiving.com or call 954-783-2299.
Pier clean-up: An Anglin’s Pier Underwater Clean-up is July 29 in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Sponsored by local dive shop Gold Coast Scuba, the event is 8-9:30 a.m. with a free barbecue after the dive at the Surf & Yacht Club on El Mar Drive. Beach divers must bring a pair of sea snips and gloves. Non-diving volunteers are needed to haul debris. Call Gold Coast at 954-616-5909.