Summertime Offshore In South Florida By Captain Zac Grossman More people travel to south Florida in the summertime than one would believe. The reasons include the fact that most companies give their employees “summer vacations”, the kids are out of school for the whole summer, travel and lodging in Florida is cheaper in the summer, and of course Disney World, Sea World, MGM, Universal and all the other great attractions are emptiest in the summer. So, how about the travelling angler? What’s available to fish for? Well it turns out that the offshore action is hot and heavy. The first step is catching bait or live chum as this makes all the difference. You’ll start out by hanging Sabiki rigs over the side as the chum bag helps draw pilchards, threadfin herring, and a host of other baitfish to the boat. When the livewell is full (which can take some time, but is worth it), you're ready to head offshore. Fortunately, in south Florida that term means something quite different than it does almost everywhere else. We’re talking about a run of a few miles at the most to find a color or temperature change. The other great thing is that you just don’t know what will be waiting for you out there. Usually your guide will hold off on chumming with live bait for a while as this will surely bring a whole school of bonito to the boat. While these are great gamefish and you will appreciate them later, it is best to try for all the other species first. Sailfish are generally known to be a winter target because that is when they are really on the move and found all over south Florida's east coast, but there are lots of resident sails that do not migrate. Every day some of these are fought, all summer long, and what a fight! If you're lucky enough, you will experience all that jumping, running, “greyhounding”, and thrashing that one sees on TV. Sails put on quite a show and you can get them on light tackle. Most guides provide 20-pound class spinning outfits which make this quite exciting. The fish usually loses the battle too. The other summertime quarry is the dolphin. This fish is the most colorful thing out there, but don’t be fooled by its beauty because they are as tough a fish as you could want. Besides the well known jumping, most people are surprised by how well they can dive, how far they can run, and how hard they can resist even moving them an inch. They are the perfect gamefish and you can catch them on all sorts of lures and flies too. Their well known curiosity usually means that a whole school will follow a hooked compatriot. This makes for some very exciting multiple hookups followed by “controlled” chaos in the cockpit. Then of course there is their edibility. Many restaurants will accept the fillets and cook up a fantastic dinner at a discounted price. Finally there is the little tunny, known up north as false albacore, and down here as simply bonito. Toss a bunch of pilchards in the water and stand back so you don’t get splashed. That’s what usually happens when you live chum in the summer; hordes of competing bonito come crashing through the surface. Throw anything out there, jigs, lures, flies, and of course bait and you have an instant hookup with one of the strongest and fastest fish around. Up north this highly sought after gamefish is not so easy to catch. One has to chase after working schools that are quickly moving from spot to spot. It is hard to keep up with them and can often be frustrating. The live bait chumming thing is not done up there for several reasons plus their season is short. Not so here where getting the school to come to you is easy and when it does, everyone is grunting and groaning. That is a rundown on what’s available to you in the summer. Personally I think that a ride on a fast center console boat followed by exciting battles, all within site of the beach, is way more fun than any ride at the “parks”. If you agree, let me hook you up with a guide who is expert at making your summer trip really hot. (Click Here to book a charter)