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South Florida Report - Flamingo, Biscayne Bay & Miami
Capt. Jim Hobales
February 7, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Tarpon are in
February 2008
The Conditions have been warmer and that means the Tarpon are going to be a great target either in the back country at Flamingo or off of Miami Beach. The last 2 full moons have produced fantastic Shrimp runs which equals a great Tarpon bite. The Tarpon will be here on the beaches until July and the afternoon bite can be just incredible. .
The Flamingo area has recovered from the big freeze and fishing is back to normal, on 01-30-08 I fished the flats and a couple wrecks in the Gulf of Mexico which produced several Redfish, Snook, and Cobia to 35 lbs. The Tarpon will be in the back country as long as the water stays above 70 degrees for a few days, the Snook, Trout and Reds will be cooperating as well.
020108
I am fishing with Kevin today off of South Beach and our target is Tarpon. The conditions are nice but a little breezy the Tarpon don't roll on the surface as much, making it more difficult to locate them. We made several drifts thru the area but we were getting beat up by the Blue Runners, so we moved into the inlet. Kevin had to be on a plane in a couple hours so the "pressure is on". We were working the tip of the jetties bouncing a jig and Shrimp off the bottom, Kevin set the hook and the fish was off to the races. We waited for the fish to jump initially but it stayed down deep. I told him it's either a big Jack Crevalle or a Permit as the fish continued to pull drag. Kevin did a great job on the fish and landed himself a 15 lb Permit. The best part is this was on his list of fish to catch in his lifetime, I am glad it worked out. He landed some good sized Mangroves, Yellowtails, Jacks and a few other species before having to leave.
020208
Tony called me a while back and asked to fish Stiltsville, not for the usual Bonefish and Permit but Mutton Snappers. The finger channels get loaded with them when it gets cold.
I met Tony at his house and went out on his new boat along with his friend Jeff. I rigged a couple of rods with live shrimp and then another with a Gulp Shrimp. The first spot we stopped at gave up a several Muttons and Jack Crevalles, we moved on because it was more about Tony and Jeff learning the area and how it was fished than the actual catching. The catching was very good, we caught 30 Mutton Snappers, some Mangroves, Groupers, small Yellowtail and a couple of not so great species. This is a great way to teach kids how to fish, because it can be non stop catching. I like the Gulps because the small snappers are bait stealers and the Gulp allows you drop back after a bite and catch the fish without re-baiting. The Gulps worked pretty good we used the whole container of 20 Shrimp.
020708
I met Neil and his son Stephen at the world famous Caribbean club in Key Largo, we started out looking for some small Tarpon. We fished an area that always holds them but not today. I wanted to run out to the Bonefish flats but the winds were up a bit and opted for Flamingo and a guarantee of catching some fish. We got up on Snake Bite and Stephen caught his first Redfish 27 inches and then second Redfish. He then caught 2 Snook while his dad just smiled at his sons accomplishment. I asked what they were up for and we decide to go bend their rods as many tmes as we could. I ran to a grass flat with plenty of Jacks, Ladyfish and Trout and bent there rods until it was time to leave.
This is the time of year a lot of things can happen in a day, if you dream of catching fish give me a call and let me get you hooked up!
Let's go catch'em,
Captain Jimbo
305 333 8149
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