Flamingo report, 12 May 2014
Capt. Bob LeMay
May 12, 2014
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
The weather this past week has been more of the same stuff we've seen for at least six weeks... high winds day after day.... With only a few days on the water our first task was finding somewhere sheltered that might also hold a fish or two... One of the advantages that fishing the backcountry offers is that there will always be sheltered areas downwind -no matter how hard it's blowing (most days the forecast was for 15 to 25 mile an hour winds last week and it's still blowing as I write this..). Our sheltered area was almost the entire west coast and all the rivers and river mouths that drain to the west since the wind was in the east/southeast quadrant each day.... The run to get there each day was easy in the morning running with the wind --but a bit rough on the twenty mile run back each afternoon.
I had visiting angler Bob Wilder from New York aboard for two days last week and he managed two medium sized tarpon on fairly light gear - the first about fifty to sixty pounds, the second around seventy.... Here are some pics...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/WilderBobfirsttarp1_zpse31d7490.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/WilderBobfirsttarp1_zpse31d7490.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/WilderBobfirsttarp2_zps764b66fd.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/WilderBobfirsttarp2_zps764b66fd.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
We had to look quite a few places before we found a bunch of these guys up one of the rivers north of the Shark.... It was Bob's first large tarpon (even though just a medium fish by local standards) and it was much appreciated, then carefully released to fight another day. That first day Bob managed a backcountry slam adding redfish and trout (we were just short of the snook needed for the grand slam). Here's a pic of one of two reds that day, up inside a small creek...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/wilderredfish_zpsf6c3dda7.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/wilderredfish_zpsf6c3dda7.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
The next day was more of the same but we did find quite a few spots that held some very nice mangrove snapper (and they'll just get bigger as we move into summer....) . Here's a pic of one Bob caught with very light spinning gear with only 8lb line...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/wildersnap_zps8557fa84.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/wildersnap_zps8557fa84.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
To end our day we jumped one more nice tarpon up another river on just 15lb line....
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/WilderBobsecondtarp1_zps7215c703.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.ph[URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/WilderBobsecondtarp2_zpsfab1ad6b.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/WilderBobsecondtarp2_zpsfab1ad6b.jpg[/IMG][/URL]otobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/WilderBobsecondtarp1_zps7215c703.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
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This particular fish was just on fire and spent a lot more time in the air than in the water, finally releasing itself. Guess it didn't want to wait for me to un-hook it....
Despite a brief heavy rain day more than a week ago we still seem to be in the dry season - in spite of all the wind.. A fishing forecast for the next few weeks isn't hard to do... The weather will finally settle down and we'll start into the wet season (with some rain every day, and the beginning of afternoon thunderstorms....). As we move into the wet season all of the fish will just get hungrier and hungrier... The Everglades in the wet season isn't very angler friendly with the heat, rains, and mosquitoes but the fishing will just get better and better....
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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