Rainy Season Has Started!
Capt. Alan Sherman
May 22, 2009
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing in South Florida is a bit different every year and long ago I learned that it is important to keep good records of what the fishing was like on each and every charter I make. I take note of many different things from each charter and log them in my log book for the future. What I always see is that the fishing follows a pattern and the pattern is very similar each year but rarely the same. For instance last year I fished Flamingo in Everglades National Park with clients more in the month of April, May and June then any location and one of the reasons was due to the strong northeast and east winds that we have in April and May. We fished the backcountry of Whitewater and Oyster Bays with the protection of the many islands that kept the wind off of us and had great success with snook, redfish, tarpon, goliath groupers, redfish, snapper, jacks, ladyfish, sharks and sea trout. Almost all of that action took place in less then three feet of water and many of the fish that we caught or hooked were seen before we cast to them. That action continued right into June when the winds came down and the mosquitoes finally chased us out to Florida Bay and gulf shorelines where the snook and redfishing was great. This year is different. The winds were there in April and May but the fish were not. Every charter I took back into the Whitewater Bay and Oyster Bay were similar in the fact that the area was beautiful but almost fishless. What was the difference? Rain! During the cooler months of the year lots of gamefish head for the far reaches of the Everglades backcountry and seek out warm stable water that they feel comfortable in. That time of the year it is not uncommon to see saltwater fish mingling with freshwater fish. They can do this because there is a slow transition of the water salinity level and both salt and freshwater fish have ample time to acclimate their bodies to the water changes. They can both handle these conditions until the weather starts to heat up and the rainy season starts. Once these two factors take hold the saltwater fish start heading to saltier content water and that brings them to the Bays of Whitewater and Oyster where I target them till the bugs chase us to Florida Bay. This is now happening! On my last two charters we fished the Whitewater and Oyster Bay systems and found snook from one pounders to over 20 pound fish, tarpon in the 40 to 100 pound class in less then two feet of water, goliath groupers, redfish, snappers, trout to 22 inches, ladyfish, jacks and sharks. It's happen late but so did the rains.
Fishing in North Biscayne Bay has been consistent for sea trout and small barracudas. We have had trout to 5 pounds and 24 inches recently plus snappers, jacks and ladyfish.
I have not fished the South Biscayne Bay area now that the waters have become too warm for the mackerels, bluefish, pompano and groupers to be in the Finger Channels but jacks, mangrove snappers and barracudas are still in good numbers there and there is always the possibility of a bonefish or permit.
Offshore fishing has been excellent but windy conditions have kept me from being able to get in on the large kingfish, blackfin tunas, large dolphins and the occasional sailfish.
Recent Catches:
I had my son Zach home from college and we took the day and headed down to Flamingo for a little father son bonding. The weather forecast was for light winds a
huge difference from the 20 to 25 mile per hour winds that we had been experiencing. With 18 small crabs in the well we headed to a bait spot and loaded up on pilchards and pinfish and then on to our first spot an area of debris out in the Gulf. Once at the spot we quickly spotted a large school of permit and Zach hooked up with the first permit. He fought the fish well and we had a good look at what appeared to be a nice 25 pound fish but after a 15 minute fight the bull sharks caught up to the fish and ate him. We re-rigged and I got the shot. A nice permit ate my crab but the same thing happened to me. A bull shark that was close to 300 pounds circled the boat and behind him was a school of cobias. I hooked and landed a 33 inch fish and Zach released three smaller fish. We spotted some more cobias and I hooked a 30 to 35 pound fish that the large bull shark and 10 of his friends chased down until one of the sharks hit my line and broke it. While I was re-rigging I glanced down below the boat and saw a huge brown glob of a thing and then realized it was a goliath that also looked to be 300 pounds. I pointed it out to Zach but he was hooked up to his 4th cobia another small one and was able to get that fish past the sharks and into the boat. As Zach lifted the cobia into the boat that Goliath rushed up to get him. He missed and I got the brilliant idea that maybe I could get a great shot of the Goliath at the surface by teasing the fish up with the small cobia. It worked the Goliath made a few attempts to eat the cobia but I just couldn't get a clear shot of him. Zach tried one more time and this time I thought I was ready for the picture. The Goliath made a lazy circle then stopped and then without warning did a 360 at light speed and propelled his head a foot out of the water and engulfed that poor cobia breaking the line in Zach's hand and soaking us both down. Oh and I forgot to mention that the 300 pound bull shark grabbed my Minn Kota trolling motor by the prop and tried to tear it off my boat leaving 3 sets of teeth marks on the motor. Crazy Spot!
Today I am back in Flamingo and the wind is up so we are fishing closer to the marina. I have Kenny, Richard and Gregg on the boat and they are looking for some fish to take home. We fished a lot of Florida Bay and released a snook and a tarpon and landed bluefish, sea trout and some fat mangrove snappers on live baits fished under a Cajun Thunder and Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp baits.
Joel, Steve and Steve's daughter Dana wanted to fish North Biscayne Bay after the Radio Show. The forecast was windy wet weather so staying close to the bridges and the boat ramp was a good idea. We found a large school of Spanish sardines and I was able to get a good throw on them and filled the well. Fishing the sardines under a Cajun Thunder and casting Hook Up lures tipped with Gulp baits we caught and released lots of sea trout to 20 inches, barracudas, jacks and small snappers and never got rained on.
Back in Flamingo with Scott and Jeff longtime regulars and they were interested in catching snook and redfish on plugs. We headed through the backcountry and out to the Gulf where Jeff hooked up first with a nice trout on the Twitchin Rap and Scott landed his first redfish on a soft plastic baitfish lure and then had a large snook roll over and miss his Rapala Skitter Walk plug. Jeff got into the action and released his first snook ever on a Twitchin Rap and things slowed down. We now had a boat backcountry slam but were looking for some individual slams. Before we moved I threw my net on a school of baitfish only to catch baby bluefish that were less then two inches long. I had never seen a bluefish that small! The next spot produced a 27 inch snook for Jeff on the Twitchin Rap and a 24 inch snook for Scott on the soft plastic. After that the guys hooked and released a bunch more snook missed a big bull shark that some how threw the hooks of Jeff's Twitchin Rap missed a few opportunities at large redfish and then started heading back to the ramp. On our way through Whitewater Bay I suggested we try one more spot and that spot was loaded with fish. The guys in 30 minutes released a bunch of small snook, snappers and jacks on X Raps and then Scott hooks up a snook and before we know it a 4 pound redfish takes the X Rap right out of the snooks mouth and becomes Jeff's dinner that night.
Today I am fishing In North Biscayne Bay with Carole Neidig from the Mote Laboratory in St. Pete and her dad Walter from Virginia. They requested gator trout but I informed them that a gator trout in North Biscayne Bay is a fish of 6 or 7 pounds not like the ones that get to be 17 pounds up in the Banana River. They decided to give it a try anyway. In our first spot we landed some undersized trout on the Cajun Thunder and live shrimp. We checked out a spot that had been holding some Spanish sardines and they were there. One good cast and we had all we needed for the 6 hour charter. We landed a few keepers trout at our next spot and then headed for the third spot. Here after releasing a few small snappers, a small mackerel and barracudas Walt had a big strike on a sardine under a Cajun Thunder. The fish made some nice runs but didn't want to come to the surface. Walt worked the fish within sight and I could see it was a large trout. I got my StowMaster net out and extended it a length and then I saw that it was truly a large fish. Once in the net and onboard the fish measured out at 24 inches and 5 pounds. Carole added a 20.5 inch trout and by the end of the charter they had released close to 30 fish and had two 4 fish limits to boot.
Last charter of the week was with Jerry and Tom. We are back in Flamingo. Into Whitewater and Oyster Bay we headed and fished this area for most of the day. This was a frustrating trip because it was so spectacular but at the end of the day all we had caught was 6 trout to 22 inches, 1 snook, 1 redfish, and lots of snappers, 1 ladyfish, a few barracudas and some jacks. What made it so spectacular was the over 20 snook we saw in less then three feet of clear water between 8 and 25 pounds with most of them over 10 pounds, the 12 tarpon in the 40 to 100 pound class that one ate an X Rap and spit it back out before getting hooked, the 4 redfish spotted of which we released one on an X Rap that we all got to see eat the plug, the 8 foot sawfish that swam by the boat, the bull shark that crashed at a Twichin Rap on the surface, the goliath groupers that wouldn't eat our lures and the dolphin that swam right along the side of our boat. So many quality fish but non hungry! At the end of the day I was a bit frustrated but the next day I talked to a fellow guide who fished Flamingo the same day and he had similar results.
Check out my new web site and see your monthly catches and pictures.
Well that catches us up for now.
Give me a call and let's go fishing!
786-436-2064
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman Magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report (www.floridaspotsman.com), my monthly Action Spotter Fishing Report for the South Region in the Florida Sportsman Magazine each month or tune into the Florida Sportsman Magazines Live Radio Show on 1080 WMCU on the AM dial or listen on the internet at www.1080wmcu.com every Saturday morning from 7 to 8 AM and here the up to the minute fishing forecasts from some of the top Capt.'s in South Florida like Capt. Jimbo Thomas on the Thomas Flyer, Capt. Bouncer Smith on Bouncers Dusky, Capt Skip Bradeen on the Blue Chips Too out of Whale Harbor Marina, Capt. Wayne Conn on The Reward Fleet, and more.
I have recently been wearing a lot of Columbia Sports Wear on my fishing charters and the new Blood & Guts shirts are amazing. I have had mackerel, cobia and snook just splatter me with blood and one good washing and the shirts are as good as new. Check out their web site at www.columbia.com
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Gulp, Berkley, Precision Tackle, Cajun Thunders, Capt. Hank Brown's Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida, Power Pole, Stow Master Nets, superfishlight.com, Columbia Wear
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
786 436 2064
[email protected]
www.getemsportfishing.com
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
I expect fishing conditions to get better each day with great fishing mornings in the future, slower late mornings and early afternoons and good late afternoon and into the night fishing due to warmer conditions. I expect snook to be spawning in the Miami area and in Flamingo both in Florida Bay and in the backcountry, redfish, trout, goliath groupers, snapper, tarpon and sharks will also be available in Flamingo and in North Biscayne Bay trout, snappers, small tarpon, jacks, ladyfish, snook and barracudas will be feeding early in the day late in the afternoons and at night. Offshore dolphins, bonitos and residential kingfish will be biting.
Target Species:
Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Sharks, Cobia, Trout
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