Great Tarpon action
Capt. Jim Hobales
July 23, 2009
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
071709
I am fishing Flamingo today with Diane, her son Kelly his wife Rosa and daughter Taylor. The day started out slow and breezy but the action picked up. We found some decent Snook on the beaches along with Trout, Jacks and Sharks. Taylor caught the 2 big fish of the day a 15 lb Jack Crevalle and a 60 lb Shark.
071809
I am at Flamingo fishing the FFT, there are about 35 boats fishing the tournament. We started out this morning fishing one of the coolest feeding frenzy's I have ever seen. The minnows moved in in what is called a "hatch" and the Tarpon where feasting on them. The Tarpon ranged in size from 5 lb to 100 lb. We had 3 bites and landed one 26 inch Tarpon really quick and we on our way, I suggested we forget the tournament and just fish or Tarpon. We didn't and went on for the next specie which was Snook, the bite had been off for a couple days and it showed today. We caught a bunch of Snook up to 24 inches but couldn't find the 36 inch Snook that had been around a few days prior. We caught every fish that we didn't need, the Goliath Groupers, Snappers, Ladyfish, Sharks, and Jacks were keeping us busy. We got on some good Redfish action in the after noon and hooked 3 and caught one. My partner Paul caught one and I missed a few I just couldn't get a fish in the boat today.
We only caught 2 of 4 species and allot of other teams had the same situation, no Snook! we had fun at the weigh ins and that's what its all about.
072009
I am part of a 2 boat trip today which has Eddy the owner of Biscayne Rods taking out his buddies from Japan, they were all here for ICAST which was in Orlando. I had had Jason which is the translator and pro Snook angler in Japan, Green River and Goldie. These are their nick names and it was much easier for me. I went back to area hoping the Tarpon feeding frenzy was still going off. We arrived and I didn't see the birds working but I still saw explosions on the surface. I worked my way in on the trolling motor while Green and Gold took their time just taking in the sights. Jason couldn't wait and started casting a "Twitchin Rap" he jumped several Tarpon. We continued working the shoreline moving into a small pocket where the Tarpon had the minnows trapped in a very shallow area. This is where we really hooked the most fish because we picked up the speed so the lure wouldn't snag grass. Green River finally hooked up on a 30 lb fish which tried to get him into the trees he managed to get him out only to jump off. He was really excited and couldn't wait to hook up again which came in the form of a triple hook up. The was pandemonium at it's best, we continued this until they shut down. We went and caught a bunch of Trout and hooked some Sharks, a Goliath Grouper, Ladyfish and big Jacks in shallow water.The heat has played a big part the last couple days there is no reason to be out much past 1 PM so we heded in.
More Fishing Reports:
