For many years in the past, Biscayne Bay suffered under the threat of pollution and over fishing. It suffered so much that lots of people simply quit fishing the bay. New regulations and some great resource management brought the bay back to a fishing haunt that only the old locals recognize.
As a young person growing up on the bay in the late fifties, I saw very few redfish. Actually the mainstay of our fishing efforts in the bay was the winter Spanish mackerel run. We would troll white nylon jigs and wire leaders in the area of marker 23 southwest of Key Biscayne. Sometimes the mackerel would be there and sometimes we would find them right smack in the middle of the bay. When I was much younger, we would anchor so we could catch sand perch from the bottom. Small as saltwater fish go, these little guys fried up quite well, and as kids, we loved to catch them.
That was a long time ago. I thought about several of those cold winter trips as we slowed the boat. We were just off the shoreline in about six feet of water. Directly in front of us was Mercy Hospital. The water was clear and the bottom was covered with turtle grass.
Normally, the wind and waves can cause the turtle grass to part with a number of its long leaves, and they float with the current on top of the water. Fishing artificials in this grass is frustrating at best when the grass is floating. But this particular morning, the water was calm and free of any floating grass.
As the boat began to drift across the grass flat, I tied a small jig head on my twenty-pound test monofilament leader and working a root beer colored grub tail onto the hook. My partner was throwing a shrimp colored feather jig, one of the many special jigs made in South Florida by a variety of folks.
Read more on page 2............
