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South Florida Report - Flamingo, Biscayne Bay & Miami
Capt. Jim Hobales
May 10, 2007
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
May 2007
Miami Beach
The weather pattern is starting to get very stable the winds are generally staying out of an eastern quadrant, this in turn make the fishing more predictable. This season has been a little bit late but for the most part we have fish in all the areas I fish! The late afternoon Tarpon fishing out of Government Cut has been “red hot” with some Permit thrown in as well. Once the sun goes down the Snook bite in the Cut turns on too!
Biscayne Bay
The Bonefish and Permit down in south Biscayne Bay is very good with plenty of fish on the flats, the water temperatures are cool enough still to stay out all day and find fish. I‘ve already heard of some early season Tarpon moving south on the outside of the ocean side flats.
Flamingo
The Snook fishing has been fantastic, there have been plenty of Snook in the 25 to 28 inch category, I have my clients throwing Twitch n Raps for them. This lure works really good in water from ½ to 2 feet water and everything eats it. I can’t tell you how many “slams” we get using that lure, its my go to lure. The summer time Snook will get out on the coast chasing minnows and pilchards, this is when you get into the big numbers of released Snook. While out there several other things can happen The Tarpon will be free jumping it is very hard not to go try for one “I dare you”. One of the most fun and challenging fish are the Triple Tails on the Crab buoys, they will eat but its up to the angler to make the proper cast. Sometimes you only have a matter of inches between the buoy and the fish and it takes a couple tries. Once your hooked up the fun begins the fish make incredible runs and jump as well, and the best part they eat great! I don’t want to leave out the Redfish up on the shallow flats; the Reds don’t mind the warm water of the afternoons and will lay up in water less than a foot deep. I have always maintained the best months for Flamingo are May thru October; this is the time for small Tarpon and I check on them every trip. I never met anyone who didn’t like to catch a Tarpon.
050507
Today, I am in Government Cut and the Tarpon are everywhere! As most Tarpon anglers know that don’t really mean anything. I have Pete and his son Pete and I’m sorry but forgot the third persons name. The busy sat morning cut traffic makes it tough but we managed some good drifts with no bites. After an hour and the boat traffic getting worse we ran inside and went Trout fishing. The bite was good the trio manage around 30 Trout up to a really big 5 lb Trout with plenty of 2 1/2 to 3lb fish in the mix. They also had a decent size Jacks and Mangrove Snapper. They had to be back at the dock early because they were going to have what I call the “Ultimate Male Day” fish, golf and maybe a few cocktails at the end. That’s what living in South Florida is about.
050707
This big low off off Georgia has stirred things up a bit the last few days and not really in a good way. The winds Monday night were around 25-35 knots and it was not possible to fish in that so i had to cancel my Tarpon trip, the mouth of Government cut was 10 - 12 feet that's not much fun.
050907
Today I am fishing with Chris, Mike and Dan all play for the Miami Dolphins we are fishing at Flamingo. I knew the conditions were going to get worse in the afternoon so we tried to take advantage early while it wasn't to windy. The first spot we pulled up to was very promising; we saw rolling Tarpon and there were some pops on the shoreline. The tide was incoming very hard with a s.w. wind pushing in a little extra water, this enable me top get the Pathfinder 22 into an shallow area I normally can't get into. I had them throwing Twitch n Raps and Gulp jerk baits my favorite lures right now with all that was going on no bites after an hour, time to move on. The next spot wasn't much better! I can only guess the falling barometer and the hard s.w. winds shut them down, but we kept fishing. The guys were relentless they cast and cast with very little to show for it, I finally decide to just go cast Trout, Jacks and Ladyfish for some action. I know it’s a long drive not to get some bites, everyone always filled with anticipation of a big bite. Perseverance is the key to fishing; on a tough day don't quite keep fishing! Chris said to me "it's time to think out of the box". This is what we did I tried a couple places I hadn't been to in a while but were protected from the west wind. I have a lot of confidence in the Twitch n Rap. I always think someone should be casting one it draws a reaction bite, which is what happened to Mike. He was casting to the potholes on the channel edge and all of a sudden his drag is screaming and he has about a 10-12 lb. Snook in the air. The fish eventually threw the hook but perseverance paid off. The Trout and Ladyfish responded well in that spot with a couple nice Jacks thrown in. We did fish some mudding rays, but as the day went they had nothing on their backs. The guys fished hard and were tired but said this was definitely better than a day of training camp.
Hopefully this system moves out and changes the winds around to the east again this week end.
If I can help with your fishing dreams give me call at 305 333-8149, there are some great options this month and plenty of fish to be caught.
Let’s go Catch’em
Capt. Jimbo
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