FishingFlamingo.com Weekly - 10.18.08
Capt. Benny Blanco
October 21, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Unlike last week where I had a rookie and a couple of fly touting writers, this week I was fortunate to have experienced Everglades' anglers aboard. The result was a two day catching spree second to none.
On Friday, Carlos Gutierrez "The Student" joined me with no expectations and only promises of exploring Whitewater Bay & the rivers North. We would go on to push the limits of my Maverick HPX-T, traveling over 75 miles and burning slightly over 13 gallons of gas. On Saturday, Kenny King joined me with hopes of catching big Snook and promises of exploring the Cape. Our only breaks in the day were taken while retying fish shredded leaders and when running to the next spot. Both days were blessed with very little cloud cover, light to moderate East winds and drastic tide changes.
The Student
After making the moonlit run through Buttonwood Canal and into Whitewater Bay we stopped at the first spot hoping for an early Tarpon bite. As the sun finally shown over the tree tops, the backs of rolling Tarpon lit up the cove. It took only a few presentations before the Tarpon were airborne… in telltale fashion their acrobatics did not disappoint.
We stopped briefly at spots in and around Whitewater Bay before heading to the Northern Coastline, picking up a Redfish here and a Trout there. When we reached the coast we were greeted by diving pelicans & frigate birds… acres of pilchards & threadfins were being corralled by predatory species. We pushed further North and into dangerously shallow water without fear… as I poled North we came face to face with several over slot Snook (one or two that could have easily gone 20+ lbs) and countless large Redfish.
This one was pushing wake down a shoreline and came to the boat after a good cast by Carlos…
After a quick ride back to the marina, we launched into Florida Bay for a well timed attempt at tailing Redfish. When we arrived at the spot we were instantly greeted by many happy Reds… and literally tails within casting range before moving the boat. We caught dozens with a few doubles mixed in…
After he had his fill of Reds on spin, Carlos decided to try his hand with the Fly rod. Although, he made several good casts and had at least a dozen opportunities with tailing fish, it was not meant to be… Something we will tackle forthright on our next trip.
Kenny King
We left the Marina, heading South, with yellow tailed fish on our minds. However, after an hour and hitting the first five spots, the large Snook mystique was gone… we caught at least a dozen fish at each spot, most were slot sized with a few larger fish mixed in. It was non-stop… the only time spent not fighting a fish was spent retying shredded leader. The game plan was foiled by early success, which sent us to the Cape for further exploration in the HPX-T…
After we caught our fill, we eased up to one spot to capture this picture of a few more waiting their turn...
We spent the next few hours on the Cape poling in very low water, sight-casting Snook & Reds in new areas. Every corner we turned and every shallow flat we poled yielded fish. It was unbelievable.
We later made it back out into Florida Bay for some of the previous days' Redfish action. Again, tails greeted us as soon as we arrived… in nearly every direction and for as far as we could see, golden tails reached high. Here's the Red chasing down the bait…
We caught SEVERAL dozen Redfish. We doubled up many times, but the true example of how great the fish were cooperating came at the very end of the day… in what was less than five minutes, we hooked and released eight fish. We had three fish on at the same time twice in that time period… we would have caught more if we only had more rigged rods available.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
As I have predicted over the last several weeks, Fall will bring large numbers of fish to the flats and coast... both are excellent bets for a day in the Park.
Target Species:
Snook, Redfish, Tarpon & Trout
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