Fish are biting
Capt. Jim Hobales
June 23, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
061408
I am at Flamingo today with Mike and his buddies James, Derrel and Dave, this was a fathers day gift from his wife. The conditions weren't the best but we made he best of it, they enjoyed the Trout fishing with chuggers. They caught of Trout, Jacks, Ladyfish and Sharks. The pop of the chugger calls the big Trout, it is fun no matter how experienced you are.
061708
Bruce and his sons Paul and Phil are in the keys for a week and we headed to Flamingo. The full moon and S.W. winds made fishing a little tough today. Bruce started the day off by catching a couple Snook, then Phil had a big Lemon Shark eat a Mullet and Paul hooked a Sting Ray in the Tail while casting his Twitch n Rap. There were also some Trout, Jacks and Ladyfish thrown in, we cast at Tarpon which had no interest in our lures.
061808
I am fishing with John and his son Brandon in Government Cut today and we are looking for Tarpon. Our first few drifts were south of the cut but I didn't see any fish and it was choppy. We saw some rolling Tarpon schooled up in the middle of the cut and we a dropped jigs rigged with Gulp Shrimp. The Tarpon didn't respond so I moved to the north side in front of South Beach. The fish were rolling pretty good on the beach and another boat was hooked up so we were optimistic. There was a storm approaching us and time was not on our side. John and Brandon kept casting while the lightning flashed and the sky's blackened. All of a sudden I heard Brandon's drag start to scream and he had a 70 pound Tarpon jumping and going away from him, Brandon did his best but the Tarpon came free. I told John we need to go find somewhere a little safer and wait out this storm. We ran in and it only got worse, we called it a day.
062008
I am with Bruce, Paul and Phil again today in south Biscayne Bay Bruce said they wanted to sight fish in clear water. We started out on Caesars bank and there were plenty of Tarpon around, they made some good cast and the Tarpon refused to eat. We had a school of what appeared to be Bar Jacks busting baits but every time we got close they moved. The sun rose high and we had good sunlight so we moved on, we ran down and fished some white strips that the Bonefish like to travel on. It didn't take long and we had 3 come across the bow, but just a little to close. We had a lot of shots and even had a couple go after the small crabs were we offering but they all turned of. Paul caught a couple Bonnet Head Sharks and then some Barracudas. We stumbled into Tarpon on every spot we went to at one point we had one knock a top water plug out of the water. These guys made some great cast but were just plain refused!
I positioned the boat where they could cast at some Cuda's as I watched a rock bar for Permit. I saw a giant Permit tail sticking up and it had to be 35-40 lbs., I told the guys where to look and get ready. Phil had the crab and was ready but the Permit disappeared on us, as we waited 2 more popped up down the bar from us. Phil cast and we are off to the races. The Permit is screaming line off the reel but for short distances, this fish was not running like the monster that Phil was casting at. Don't you know there was a smaller one up there and Phil caught the smaller one, but this is exciting as it gets. There were some other Permit tailing and then the Tarpon came up behind us again. The tide went slack and the fish disappeared so we called it a day. This was all done in my Pathfinder on the trolling motor, just shows the boats versatility.
062108
I organized a 3 boat trip today for Johnny's company, I had Johnny His son J.T. and Jonathon. We started off casting for Snook in some serious Mullet mud's but we couldn't get a bite. We moved around until we found some fish, but the fishing seemed to be better to the west than right out front of Flamingo. when it was all said and done we caught Trout, Jacks, Ladyfish, Snappers and 2 species of big Sharks. Jonathon caught a really nice 75 lb. Lemon Shark, J.T. was not going to be left out he caught a 300 lb to foot long Nurse Shark. This was only a 4 hour trip so by the time he got that big Shark in it was time to go.
062208
Rick called and wanted to take his son Andrew fishing, he wanted to teach him how to fish from scratch. I gave him a quick lesson on how to cast and how to work the lures, it don't take kids long. The first spot we stopped at had some serious floating grass which has made casting lures tough the last couple days. I decided to leave and try another spot, it had more grass but there were a lot of Tarpon rolling, I power poled down and Andrew hooked up almost immediately with a nice Jack. The grass was thick and you had to pick your spot but Andrew did and hooked up again. This time it was about a 6 lb. Redfish, as he was trying to lift it into the boat a 150 Lemon Shark ate it. I was really glad not to be reaching for that one. I had Andrew using a light out fit and he fought this big Shark for 40 minutes, we had it next to the boat several times and finally broke it off. The next couple hours we cast at Tarpon and caught Snook after Snook, Andrew went from beginner to a very seasoned angler quickly, he caught a lot of Snook, Jacks, Trout, Ladyfish, Snapper, Catfish and a big Bluefish. We ended the day with a full on bite, for 40 minutes, every cast! I was happy and they were tired, that's how it supposed to be.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
Snook are biting good, Bonefish,Permit and Tarpon have been plentiful.
Target Species:
Tarpon, Snook, Permit, Bonefish
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