cold and windy but still catching fish
Capt. Jim Hobales
January 21, 2009
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
011009
Today I am fishing with the Warren Family Joe, Nancy, Rich and Greg from Oklahoma, Their team lost in the Orange Bowl game but I was going to make them feel better today. We fished Whitewater Bay and caught Snook Trout Jacks Ladyfish Snappers and Sharks. This was one of the busiest days I have ever seen at Flamingo
011609
I am fishing Key Biscayne today with the Orr's, Dan and Greg from Chicago. I explained to them it was going to be cloudy, windy and cold and if they wanted to post pone it for the next day we could. Their response was when they left Chicago and it was -38 degrees, I said no problem we can do it. we fished Stiltsville and targeted the finger channels for Snappers Groupers and got into a big school of 5 lb.Jack Crevalles busting bait on the surface, they always save the day. They caught a bunch of Snappers and those Jacks and were totally happy with it we made the best of miserable conditions.
011609
I dropped off the Orr's and picked my after noon trip George and Rich who were here for a business seminar, we were doing a 4 boat trip. We went back don to Stiltsville and caught the tide right and used the cape to block the wind. On their first 4 cast they caught 4 Groupers and a big Jack Crevalle which was stripping line off of Georges reel. Rich hooked Grouper after Grouper and this was his first fishing trip so he was excited. They caught Snappers, Bluefish, Mackerel and several less desirable species and actually got a little sunshine right before we headed in.
011709
Today we are doing the rest of the group from the seminar, I am with Dave and Eva and the wind is blowing in the 20 -25 mph. I figured the fish were hiding off the cape yesterday let's try it again today and it didn't take long. Eva had a the hot hand catching Groupers,Snappers,Yellowtails Triggerfish, Jacks, Bluerunners, Dave caught a few fish but Eva had the feel for it and did not want to leave.
011909
I am looking for Tarpon this morning with Hans, Theo, and Bill around South Beach and Government Cut. There were no visible signs of Tarpon but plenty of birds diving and bait was everywhere. I decided to move into the cut and and bounce jumbo shrimp off the bottom, it didn't take to long and Hans and Bill started catching Groupers. They caught 6 or 8 Red and Nassau Groupers and then the tide switched we moved around, I marked a big ball of Snappers mixed in with the Tarpon. The caught 14 inch Mangrove Snappers on every cast for a half hour with a couple more Groupers, Grunts, Porgy's mixed in. The tide was just starting to come in and a couple Tarpon started to roll. I sat on top of them and I heard Hans get a hit, the line started to peel off the reel and it was definitely a Tarpon bite but we missed it. We worked around and continued to catch a little bit of everything and with one off the last shrimp in the live well Bill had a monster strike, while fighting it he gave a little slack and the fish was gone. Slack line will loose fish, once the line get tight never let it go slack or it is possible you can lose the fish of a lifetime.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
It needs to warm up but the Tarpon are here and the shrimp are running really strong. this is the formula for a great eveing bite.
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