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South Florida Report - Flamingo, Biscayne Bay & Miami
Capt. Jim Hobales
January 6, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Yea! If you are reading my fishing report then it seems like your in the right mind set and have your priorities straight, "fishing". The new year started out with a major arctic blast of cold weather and a bit of a fish kill down at Flamingo. The water temperatures dipped down to around 49 degrees on Thursday 1-3-08 and some Snook and Goliath Grouper couldn't tolerate it. I found a lot of dead Goliath Groupers on a channel edge, we pulled up one to see how big and it was and it was well over 100 lbs. I guess the cold effects all sizes, the Snook were just floating in a stunned daze until they warm up or die!
There is a positive side to the cold it will put the fish into their "winter" pattern which usually means it is moving them and stacking them up all we have to do is find the area and we will normally catch plenty out of one spot or shoreline.
The cold snap will definitely help our Tarpon fishing off of Miami Beach, the
water temps up north are intolerable and it will push them south for warmer temps. The Shrimp will start to run pretty good in January and that will in turn cause the Tarpon to feed. The full moons are usually peek for the Shrimp runs but the new moon can stir them up if we get a cold snap and some N.E. wind, these Tarpon will be here until June. this is a simple trip for people vacationing on the beach. There are some other fish that like to get in the mix on those Shrimp runs as well, Permit, Snook and Some big Mangrove Snappers all bite real good.
010408
This will go down as one of the toughest days I fish all year, frigid temperatures the night before and then cloud cover and rain during the course of the day. I had canceled the day before because it was just unsafe and although today wasn't as bad it wasn't much fun. Bill and his son Gage just wanted to catch some fish, we worked hard trying but the fishing was just shut down. Areas that are typically day savers did not produce a bite. gage ended up with one lizard fish which I guess is better than nothing. I am so glad I don't have many of these days.
010508
I am very nervous this morning it is still very cold and after talking to a couple of my fellow guides that had fished there the day before I had a right to be. There was talk of floating fish, dead fish and no fish in general, this is not what you want to here! I had my cold weather game plan and it has worked for me over the years. I met Brad, Claudio and Brad at the dock and we were off, the boat ride was cold so we didn't go far or fast. The first spot is my honey hole for cold water Redfish, normally all you have to do is toss a Shrimp in there and it gets eaten. That wasn't the case today! Brad #2 finally had a bite and caught a nice 22" Redfish, it was a start but it was the solo fish there.
I went to a big open grass flat with shallow pot holes thinking the fish might be trying to get shallow and sun themselves, they weren't. The next spot is a channel where I have actually caught fish when it's real cold, but all we found were dead Goliath Groupers on the bottom. I kept moving from spot to spot and hoping the sun would come out and warm up a bit. The winds were 20 MPH and the cloud cover kept it cold. This next creek can be a life saver sometimes, today it produced another 18" Redfish. I ran to a creek that had some protection and as we motored in we saw some floating Snook, I thought to myself this cant be good! It didn't take long, Brad # 1 had a nice hit but missed it. He cast back in the same spot and was rewarded with a Snook and then another, before to long both Brad #2 and Claudio started to cast to his spot and every one one was hooked up for the next 2 hours. We went thru 8 dozen Shrimp on that spot catching Snook after Snook Brad #1 had the largest Snook at 28 inches. The trio were extremely happy and we called it a day. I was not nervous any more!
The back country Tarpon were in really good and will be back once it warms up again. If you dream of a giant Tarpon on light Tackle or fly the next couple months is a great time in the Everglades back-country. I will keep my report updated for this outstanding fishery.
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