Firecracker Hot!
Capt. Jim Hobales
July 9, 2014
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
070214
I am at Flamingo today with Ross and his wife Mindy. We are looking to catch Ross a Tarpon which has eluded him the last couple years while his friends and wife have hooked and caught them. We are on the tale end of Hurricane Arthur's S.W. wind flow and we got slammed early on by storms. The Tarpon were on our first spot and were busting up the mullet schools, I had netted some mullet and put one out. It didn't take long and the rod bent over and the drag screamed only it was a big Shark. We stayed on the mullet schools for a while but couldn't get a Tarpon, Mindy did get a nice Jack. We move to another area and it got red hot real quick, Mindy started it off a 30 inch Snook. We released the Snook and it didn't take long and we had a double on Redfish, big Reds. The Reds were pulling Ross and Mindy around the boat and I finally was able to land Mindy's. This was a great fish it measured 34 inches and Ross's fish looked to be the same, we got some photo's and back to fishing. All the while it was getting nasty with lightning, dark clouds and rain moving in. We had to go we made a run for it and waited out the storm at the marina. It took over an hour but we made it back out but the bite was over and the winds were up around 25 mph. We worked hard the rest of the day soaking live mullet in all my Tarpon spots but only getting a few Shark bites.
Ross Said he would be in town a few more days is there a shot at getting a Tarpon? I said best shot is fishing the late afternoon into the night around the inlets, he said he had never fish at night and was up for it. We set it up for Monday afternoon.
070714
I met them at Haulover Marine center around 3 p.m., we spent a little time looking for bait. I found some small pilchards which I used for live chumming but mullet were scarce. We started out looking to bend the rod and we did, I saw a blow up on a sea wall and told Ross where to cast. Ross cast to the spot and was rewarded with a monster blow up and then the fish peeled of a lot of line. The fish ran right to a marker so I worked around it, next it ran right thru some rocks and then a dock cutting us off. It was big and that got us going for the next hour we caught big Jacks and Bluefish on every cast. I finally said you are warmed up let's go catch your Tarpon. I ran down to Government Cut and rigged up a single rod with a Crab only because the grass was so bad it was easier to manage. I don't think we drifted 50 yards and the rod double over, I said there he is. Ross started to wind and the fish was gone! We rigged up again with hope it would happed again but it was a slow 2 hours and the grass was impossible. Once it got dark I ran inside and fished the shadow lines. I drifted a Crab while Ross cast a Rapala Sub Walk down the shadow line. The Crab got slammed and Ross picked up the rod, it was a decent fish and eventually ran into the bridge piling's cutting him off. I re-rigged while Ross kept casting the Rapala, he hooked up to Tarpon that was jumping crazily all over the place. The Tarpon jumped off and Ross was bummed out, I told Ross back to casting as I set out a Pinfish. I put the rod in the rod holed an it was instantly hit, Ross grabbed it and as he fought it we gradually pulled the Tarpon to open water. Ross was in heaven and had his dream fish close! He fought the fish for 15 minutes, got it boat side where I was able to grabbed it. We took some photos because this was 4 years in the making!
The summer heat is here but that really turns the fish on in the Flamingo area, rain pushes the fish out to allot of run offs where they stack up. There has been an incredible Trout bite with a bunch of over 20 inches. The mangrove Snappers have been mixed in with them and they are also decent size up to 15 inches, these fish are eating Sub walks and Gulps.
Capt. Jim Hobales
305 3338149
www.caughtlookincharters.com
www.capatinjimhobales.com
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