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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
August 13, 2003
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
This past week my time was equally divided between Flamingo during the daytime and Biscayne Bay at night. The night fishing has been fair. Our outing last night resulted in jumping 4 baby tarpon in the 20 to 30 lb range. The fish wouldn't eat our flies but jumped on a properly presented live shrimp. They seemed to be concentrating on baitfish.
At Flamingo, the Gulf side continues to be the place to be. We're getting the usual mixed bag of trout, redfish, and snook. We're getting some good shots at tarpon early every morning and at slack tides in river mouths and canal openings. Along with the variety have come lots of sharks, with big lemons being the most aggressive.
Our best fish of the week was a goliath grouper (jewfish) that we estimated at 65lbs on 12# spinning gear. When the fish are in an eating mood anything worked near one of the offshore markers gets attacked on sight. If your bait or jig gets eaten by a small fish the goliath will attack the fish on the hook.... It makes for exciting fishing when a fish that's only three or four pounds suddenly gains fifty to a hundred pounds halfway back to the boat. Of course they all have to be released since they're still protected. As many of the goliath grouper are available one day soon I hope their status will be reviewed and perhaps some of the protections lifted. Their comeback in the last few years has been very noticeable. This year alone my anglers have caught and released goliaths from 6" to 6' in length and hooked them quite a bit larger. The ones over 100lbs are almost unstoppable around any kind of structure, but it's exciting while it lasts...
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