First two weeks of March
Capt. Bob LeMay
March 19, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Time for a long overdue fishing report. I'll keep the report part simple, the fishing both day and night has been alternating between red hot to difficult depending on the day (or night) and what the weather has allowed us to do. This time of year the tarpon are the stars - both at night locally in Biscayne Bay and during the daytime in the backcountry of Everglades National Park. We've made some outstanding catches and released 99% of all we brought to the boat. The month of March can be tough fishing since the weather is either perfect or high winds, there doesn't seem to be any in-between weather days...
The night fishing has just been extreme. We've jumped tarpon up to 80lbs on flies, lures, and bait on good nights that alternated with nights when we could hardly get a bite. Angler Ken Hawkins from New York is an accomplished fly angler who taught me a few things. He fished his own flies which are a lot bigger than what I tie and really jumped some big fish the only night the weather allowed us. The low point of that night was a 60lb fish that jumped into my skiff on his second jump and proceeded to tear it up (and me in flip flops playing soccer with him...). I managed to get the poor battered fish back into the water, but not without "owies" on both hands and feet... (and I will finally begin re-securing my center console today....) I was just reaching for my camera when that fish ended up in the skiff so there won't be any photos of that night....
The daytime fishing in the 'Glades has been just great when the weather co-operated... We recorded quite a few slams, and went to town on the big tarpon when the water temps were high enough. Jaime Rivero and friends from Mexico had a great day with a late start. We couldn't get a bite the first two hours, then went on to jump nine big tarpon in four hours that ranged from 50lbs to over 100. The funny thing is that we didn't see a tarpon that day until one was hooked (we were bait fishing that day). A few days later Chip Harding and his son Brett were fishing after a cold front when we couldn't buy a tarpon strike. They still went on to catch backcountry slams along with nice gag grouper, goliaths, and other large critters. A few days later local angler James Banta sight-fished a very nice 80lb tarpon on a 10wt rod and a new fly pattern. I'll have some photos of that fly when I tie up some more.... (for interested tiers, I'm having success with pink and white...)
Two days later (yesterday) I had Derek Rapp and his 10year old son William aboard for my last day at Flamingo. We'd been scheduled to fish at night but the winds were just too high. Flamingo is one of the few places I know where there are actually fishable areas in 20 to 30 mile an hour winds... Derek caught and released a backcountry slam of snook, redfish, and speckled trout. He almost made it a grand slam with a 30lb tarpon on 10lb spin using a small jig. That fish wore through the leader after a fifteen minute fight in a small river. As good as Derek's day was his son did even better, catching and releasing a bit of everything, including a nice flounder (don't see many of them...), a nice shark or two, and connecting with a very large tarpon in a small river. That tarpon was way over 100lbs in a river that wasn't 100 feet wide. He managed two jumps and a long run before coming loose. What a way to introduce a young angler to the 'Glades...
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
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