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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
June 17, 2003
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Our usual good summertime fishing is still going strong along the coast, north and south of the Shark River area. There's more than a few places where a limit of speckled trout is just a matter of fishing for them for about an hour or so. Large jack crevalle, big ladyfish, and trout are also starting to work in from the Gulf a mile or two up the rivers. Birds and surface action will mark them every morning. For a break from fishing river mouths a quick trip offshore to the Park boundary markers is in order. The only one we visited this week had a resident jewfish (goliath grouper) that promptly took us to school. The fish was just unstoppable on its short run back to and around the marker....
The real news this week is that the first of the giant tarpon have returned from spawing and are settling in to feeding stations around river and creek mouths along the coast. Chris Rivera, a Miami resident, made an outstanding catch and release on one of the big fish on Father's Day. After jumping off three in a row in the afternoon we were right at the end of the charter when he hooked a very large fish that burned off almost 200yds of line without jumping once. When it finally came up it was so far away it looked small. The closer we got the bigger the fish looked. After a hard fight we boated the fish for a quick photo before releasing it. The fish was right at 7' and was estimated at 150lbs (our biggest this season so far). After a photo or two we carefully revived the fish until it shook free and swam away. Chris will have to fish a long time to get one bigger... I think the drag washers on the reel he used will need replacing... Now we need to get one that size on fly!
The big tarpon will be available now every day along the coast until the first cold day in October. Tarpon heaven!
Tight Lines
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