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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
October 9, 2003
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
This past week we've been moving into a fall pattern with lots of baitfish along side and just offshore, up and down the coast. Water temperatures dropped three to four degrees overnight from Saturday to Sunday... Fish are biting everywhere!
Tarpon fishing has slowed noticeably. We only put one big fish in the air on fly the entire week. It ate a Tarpon Snake pattern at close range and was heart stopping for the few moments it took to jump free. Redfish, snook, and trout have more than made up for the slow tarpon action. We've found good sized fish both for sight fishing and just inside river mouths all week long. In some locations you can catch all three without moving, and all good keeper size... A bonus this week has been large numbers of 20 to 50lb sized black tip sharks on surface plugs. These guys are feeding on ladyfish and small jacks that are, in turn, feeding in baitfish schools. It's pretty exciting, but it's a good idea to use older plugs since they take a beating. We've also seen more than a few spanish mackeral working the bait but haven't fished for them. Bill Bell got a nice one of about 5lbs on fly about 100 yds up a small creek. I guess it was hungry...
There's still relatively little pressure on the fish right now. Every afternoon we have both crocodiles and alligators waiting at the marina for photos since there little boat traffic at the inside ramp. Prevailing easterly winds have left the coast calm so the sight fishing is getting better every day. The only boats we see are coming from the Chokoloskee or Everglades City area. They must be making some long runs, too.
Good News! Since I wrote this report we fished one more day and it made all the difference as far as big tarpon go. We found good numbers feeding on schooled mullet in selected river mouths yesterday. What a free-for-all. Fish from 80 to well over 100lbs were just gorging on the mullet. It should last another week or so until the first serious cold front.
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