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Fishing report- Everglades days, Biscayne nights
Capt. Bob LeMay
June 15, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Now that the tourist season has almost ended, and the season for snook has closed for the summer, the actual fishing has been getting better and better each week. This is the time of year when a fly angler can expect a lot of variety during the daytime and good small tarpon action almost every night... Small baitfish are making their first heavy showing along Gulf coast shorelines concentrating around points when the tide's incoming. The weather is hotter now, the first rains have become a daily event (along with the mosquitoes and occasional thunderstorm), and everywhere in the 'Glades sharks will go after anything on a hook....
Topwater lures (popping bugs for a fly rodder) are what we're starting off with each morning working out of Flamingo. Within the first hour or two we're switching to subsurface offerings. For fly fishers, larger Clouser variations with wire weedguards have been the first choice once the topwater action slows. This is the time of year when large mangrove snappers attack anything near their holding areas and small gag groupers compete with speckled trout and ladyfish in current flows. Areas where snook are holding are productive now, but there are many small to medium sharks that will attack anything that you've hooked along these wild mangrove shorelines. More than one angler has found that out the hard way. Carefully playing a small snook now means a good chance that it will never make it to the boat for a release. It's amazing how quickly some of my anglers have snatched one into the boat while a lemon or bull shark trying for a meal...
Earlier this week I watched as four or five sharks competed to grab a lowly catfish that was hooked on a jig at a river mouth... They must be starving now if a catfish is on the menu... I've even taken the precaution of tossing a small snook a good 15 or 20 feet from the boat in some places to give it a chance of survival after being released.
When we're using spin or plug casting gear, the lures of choice are generally bucktails, Berkley Gulp tails on jigheads, and a few other specialty lures if we're not using a live ladyfish or other live bait.... Multiple hookups on lures is what I'm looking for if we're on snappers, trout, or any other fish that congregate in one location. Snook and redfish, we're poling shorelines either sightfishing or working downed structure. Live baiting now means using fairly heavy gear and periodically tangling with something large, grumpy, and almost un-stoppable. This is also the time of year when the biggest sawfish come inshore around selected river mouths (I'm guessing that it's their mating season - but that's only a guess). I've seen specimens that were clearly bigger than my 17' skiff, some that looked to be in the 20' range...
I was able to fish my first summertime night charter in Biscayne Bay two nights ago, the baby tarpon were there and hungry. Dr. James Banta and his friend Mike each caught and relesed tarpon in the 20lb range on light 8wt. outfits. Mike, a trout fisherman from Montana, got introduced to saltwater fly fishing in fine fashion, with lots of tarpon to sight fish at close quarters. As usual the fish were right at the surface in the shadows under one of the many bridges that connect Miami and Miami Beach. A small white tarpon fly on a 1/0 hook is my usual choice for these fish, of course it's called the Night Fly... Towards the end of the tide we moved to fish docklights that had nice populations of small to medium snook milling around right at the surface. Unfortunately we were just a bit late on the tide and only got follows instead of bites.... I'll be a little earlier at those spots the next time.
No photos with this report, my camera has been down for repair, but it's back now and the next report will have some visuals....
Tight Lines
Bob LeMay
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