Bait = Tarpon
Capt. Jim Hobales
April 28, 2014
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
The winds have played a big part of our fishing days for the last few months but they have finally laid down. This Mullet schools and some Pilchards have made a showing and this has made for some great catching. On some days the bait is easy and we get off do a quick start, I've been lucky and only had a couple that we couldn't find bait. This was a good couple weeks of spring break, I fished with allot of father and son's. I glad to say I put smiles and sore backs on most of them. I have fished from Haulover Inlet to Flamingo and the conditions have been very productive.
The big Jacks have kept us busy all thru N. Biscayne Bay they are eating Pilchards and chasing the mullet school. The Tarpon also made an appearance busting the Mullet schools in and around the Inlet.
042214
I am with Flip and Adam this afternoon, they won a Tarpon trip I donated to the JDRF/Ray Allen foundation. It started out slow but I told them we have a shot at Tarpon up between those 2 canals and like clock work we were on. A 50 lb. jumper was going crazy behind the boat, after a bunch of jumps we got him next to boat an released it. This was just the start to what was a crazy night of hook ups! We had a big Mullet out and a 25 lb. Jack hit this thing so many times the guts were hanging out of it. The Jack followed it all the way to the boat and really wanted it. The Tarpon turned on and hit every bait we put out, we went thru 25 mullet. It was incredible with some interesting twist.
042414
I am fishing out of Haulover this morning with Neil, Joe and Shigaro. We started out on the beach looking and finding Tarpon in clear water but they don't eat in clear water! I ran back inside the bay on our first stop we caught a 24 inch Snook on a Pilchard, this was a short trip and I wanted to keep the rods bent. We went to the grass flats and fished for Trout, popping corks and Gulp Shrimp did the trick. We caught a dozen small Trout, that's when I broke out the Rapala Subwalk. I knew the fish were there so I had Shigaro throw the plug, he hooked 3 18 inch Trout while the other guys kept catching small ones. I moved around and the next bite was cool, a 15 inch Mangrove Snapper on the Subwalk. I had a 8 inch Mullet out hoping for a Tarpon or Shark, I started to wind the line in to check it and noticed it was coming at me. I put rod back in rod holder because we were using a circle hook and wanted the fish to pull away from us to set the hook. The line got tight, Joe picked it up and started winding fish it right to the boat. The big fish swam right under the boat in clear water at first I said its a big Snook, that's the time I noticed it was the biggest trout I had ever seen. This fish swam right up and spit the big mullet right under the boat, it was so cool because we got to see it. My guess was about 8 or 9 lbs.! The bite continued Neil and Shigaro caught 3 lb. Trout and then Joe did it again, all I saw was a giant swirl. This fish pulled drag and was fighting pretty good and Joe finally got it boat side. This fish was another big Trout weighing 5.8 lbs., we took some photos and got the big girl bag in the water. We caught 30 or so Trout a few Bluefish, Snappers, Barracuda's and a Snook. It was a pretty good 4 hours!
042614
I am with Ross and his dad Bart today, One of my customers gave this trip to Ross for his birthday. We started out on the flats trying for a Tarpon hooked up, they were rolling around us but no hits. I had them casting the Rapala Subwalks, they were hooking Trout, Ladyfish and Jacks on every cast but no Tarpon. Ross had put al least 30 fish in the boat and was happy but I wanted more than that and it was on 830 am. We ran out caught some pinfish and ran the trap lines for Triple tails but never saw one. I ran back on the incoming tide and looked for Tarpon, we found them rolling but again no takes. We eventually found some fish, we pushed up a school of Redfish and Ross caught a nice 25 incher. We had some really big bites today but some how they all came unglued after pulling lots of drag. I wanted to get him a big Shark, because that's what kids will remember! We had a couple big Bulls hooked up and cut us off. We finally got a hook into a 7 foot Lemon Shark which was stripping Ross of all his line. We caught up and got our line back on the reel, Ross fought it all the way to the boat 3 or 4 times where I held it for some photo's. Ross was beat and he caught allot of fish today, so did his dad!
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