Cold, Windy but Catching!
Capt. Jim Hobales
March 21, 2013
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
I have fished from N. Miami Beach to Flamingo in the last 2 weeks, in some not so good weather! We have made the best of it by being patient and working hard. The water temperatures have ranged from 63 - 69 degrees while the air has been anywhere from 45 to 65 in the mornings. The fish are still eating live shrimp but we are catching lots on 'Twitch n Raps'.
031013
I'm with John Larochelle and his daughter Hanna this afternoon in N. Biscayne Bay we were hoping to get out for Tarpon but its blowing 25 mph. I went to a couple of my bay spots for Tarpon but couldn't find them. We worked the grass flats for Trout, Jacks, Ladyfish and Cuda's. John was casting a "Twitch n Rap" and Hanna had a live Shrimp on a popping cork behind the boat. Hanna' drag started screaming and I saw something big jump out of the water. Hanna was an excellent angler with plenty of experience, she fought the fish close to the boat where we noticed it was a giant Trout. I landed the fish for her and was amazed at the size. We took a few photo's and I had to get a weight on this giant so I pulled out the Berkeley digital. It weighed an outstanding 6.4 lbs the biggest by any of my customers. Great job Hanna!
031113
This morning we have 2 families on 2 boats( Capt. Alan Sherman on 2nd), I have John and Hanna again along with Debra and Eden. The weather is brutal the winds are over 30 mph. We started out in the middle section of Biscayne Bay and between the 2 boats they caught a bunch of Trout. We netted some pilchards and ran down to South Biscayne Bay, we put out some bait and it didn't take long. We were into Bluefish and getting cut off by Mackerel's, throw in some more Trout and we were busy. I had John and Hanna casting X-Raps in Mackerel color and bringing up the schools then toss a pilchard in and get the hook up for Debra and Eden. The day was not picture perfect but we managed about 25 or 30 decent fish up to 5 lbs.
It was cold and windy so we called it a morning.
031413
I am with a Everglades Freshwater biologist Jeff Kline today and our plans were to run back where the freshwater meets the salt but the weather had different plans for us. Jeff had his brother Dan and friend Brian with us. We started out in Fl. Bay and it was cold, windy and rough, I ran west to the East Cape area. I was hoping to find some fish laying in the deeper waters on the lower tide, but it was slow and cold. As the tide started to rise the fish turned on a little and all of a sudden we getting some good bites. Jeff caught 2 nice Snook,Redfish, big Black Drum, Dan caught a sheephead and Brian had another Black Drum. The bite was like this for a couple hours and we moved on to another spot. Dan caught a nice Redfish and we went looking for Trout to get Jeff his Slam. We got into a few Trout on the way in to complete the slam.
031513
I am with Greg, John and Joe today and we are going to fish Whitewater Bay. Today's weather is what I needed for Jeff Kline yesterday. It's cold so I took my time getting up north we stopped at a couple spots and wore out the Trout, Jacks and Ladyfish. I asked if they wanted to try something else and they were hesitant to "leave fish to find fish". I said you have to trust me! We ran to a spot and I rigged a couple "Twitch n Raps" up , it didn't take long and John was hooked up. The fish fought hard and jumped several times, this was a big Snook and it was mad making some great runs. John landed it and got a few photos, these guys were now believers. We worked the area and Joe was next with a nice Redfish. They were into it now and were covering allot of water. The next spot was full of Snappers Jacks and Ladyfish. Joe hooked a monster Snook it came up shook its head and thru the lure, but they were excited. Greg caught a smaller Snook right after that. We moved on and fished a hole in the shoreline I like, it had some small Snook but was loaded with Mangrove Snappers. Joe was up again with another big Snook and then we found a tree that was loaded with 18 inch Snook. We need another couple Redfish to comlete all 3 guys slams. We worked a shoreline that's usually good for Reds and got 1 more and a bunch of Trout and called it a day.
032013
I am with Wade and Shaun today fishing Government Cut, we started out in front of South Beach and the Tarpon were everywhere. They would not eat, we stuck it out longer than all the other boats but not bites. I said let's go try the Cut, the Tarpon were putting on a show and we started to drop down live shrimp in the schools. The caught Snappers, Groupers,Yellowtails,Grunts, Triggerfish as the tide was slowing down. I told them we might get a bite for a few minutes at the change of tide and we did, first Shaun was hooked up to a fish pulling us all over the Cut. The fish stayed down making me think it was a Permit which eventually ran up over the ledge and cut him off. It was fun while it lasted. Wade was next, we are right in the middle of the Tarpon school. Wade Dropped a Gulp Ghost Shrimp down and got the hook up of his life, the fish peeled off line and he was excited. The 80 lb. Tarpon came up jumped 5 feet out of he water and thru the hook, usually people get bummed over that wade was pumped. He said he has done 14 trips and that was his first hooked Tarpon, it was cool. That was it the fish were rolling and free jumping but not eating so we headed in.
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