Plenty of Snook/Tarpon
Capt. Jim Hobales
March 30, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
032208
Greg, Mike ad their 2 boys met me at the dock at Flamingo for a catch filled day. I kept the boys busy with Ladyfish, Trout and Jacks while keeping an eye on the storms the were developing just south of us. I had netted some pilchard and it as time to use them, I started chumming and the fish were busting them out of the water. Greg hooked a nice Jack and the Snook were very active when I broke the news to them "we have to leave". The frontline of the storm was a half mile away and closing in, with a water spout coming down. We made a run to the marina where the radar showed some bad weather for the next few hours. We called a morning.
032408
I'm with John and Mike today at Flamingo, the morning started out with a couple small Snook but nothing really great. I netted some bait and we were off searching for Tarpon and Snook. I stopped in a little channel that has been holding some 30" Snook and some Tarpon have been in the area this past week. John likes throwing top water and it paid off with some great Snook blasts but only managing to get 1 to the boat. This was a bit frustrating for John because they were destroying the "Skitter Walk". John had one hit there that was a monster but again it came off! I started to live chum them and the boils behind the boat were incredible. Mike caught some Jacks and then a Snook. The tide slowed so we left in search of some moving water. I went to another spot just like we had just left and the tide was moving fast, it didn't take long. On John's first cast a big Snook ate his top water plug, as John was fighting the Snook I tossed some Pilchards out. The "bite is on" every cast for about an hour seemed to get hit. The Snook were coming in one after another and these guys were really excited. John even had a big Redfish chase his top water plug to the boat. Mike had something eat his bait and peel off a hundred yards, normally this means big Shark. Mike fought the fish for 25 minutes and it finally bit thru the leader. We fished thru the tide switch and the bite slowed, it was getting late and we called it a day.
032608
I am fishing with Sam and his grand daughters today in Government Cut, it is not a pretty day. I called Sam last night and asked if he wanted to cancel, he said it looked beautiful. Sam lives on the Cut and don't like to cancel. Natalie and Naomi took it like champs, but I told Sam it's rough! Natalie wasn't looking so good and she finally said something to Sam. we made the move to some calmer waters in the bay and caught 30 or so Trout.
032708
I am with Chad today and we are in Government Cut, the conditions are nice and the Tarpon are everywhere. I had no Shrimp today because the bait guy never showed up to the bait store, so its Gulps only. On our first drift I saw a couple fish roll, I told Chad cast the Gulp Shrimp at the tip of the Jetty, as the jig hit the water the fish was on. The Tarpon made a long run across the inlet to the opposite side and we were on him for the 60 minutes. Chad had the Big Tarpon close to the boat several times, the Tarpon finally made a surge and it felt like the line hit something on the bottom and it was over! I put the boat back into position and on the first cast again we were hooked up, I told Chad it was a Permit. He wanted to know how I knew, because the fight felt the same to him. Chad fought the fish and about 15 minutes later a nice Permit came up. I netted Chads Permit and took a couple nice pictures and released it. The bite slowed but we had 1 more opportunity because we scaled down in tackle size. I gave him a 10 lb rod with a 30 lb leader in the clear water. We are hooked up and this is a big "Tarpon". The next hour or so was in and out of the cut, the Tarpon was about 120 lbs. and Chad was in heaven this is what he came for. This fish was a lot for this tackle set up, if would be different if we were in 3 feet of water. A Tarpon this big can stay down and it's pulling dead weight. The fish finally wore thru the leader after an hour but Chad was happy, we will be back again tomorrow.
022808
I am Back with Chad again today but it's a different story, I have big Shrimp but the tide is later and not as strong and the fish aren't rolling like yesterday. I figured the bite would be good right at the switch to the incoming tide nothing changed over night, same pattern. We only caught a big Mangrove Snapper and a Hog Snapper which had us thinking we had a big Grouper for a few minutes. I tried every thing I know and they didn't bite, not for me or the other 3 boats in there with us.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
Winds should start coming down soon, fish will be more predictable
Target Species:
Tarpon, Snook, Permit
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