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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
November 30, 2004
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
I was able to be on the water four days this past week, including Thanksgiving day with customers. This week we finally got our first cold night and the fishing changed dramatically. Although there's still plenty of bait along the coast and river mouths, redfish and snook have all but disappeared outside and they're well on their way back inside. Schools of spanish mackeral have begun to make an appearance in numbers along the coast from Cape Sable northward. They're easy to spot since birds mark the areas they're working. Along with good numbers of spanish mackeral we found lots of hungry trout at creek mouths for catch and release (trout season is closed until 1 Jan). Any creek mouth holding bait on a falling tide should have them in quantity now. Before the cold front on Thursday night there were also good numbers of large tarpon along the coast that had moved in from the Gulf. With water temperatures in the 73 to 74 range they behaved as though it was early October, but quickly disappeared when the temperature dropped to 67 or 68 degrees overnight.
Working Whitewater and Oyster Bays has become more productive each day. My anglers scored backcountry slams (snook, reds, and trout) two of the four days. We had two outstanding catches this week. Doug Menne of Atlanta caught and released a 10lb snook on ultra-light gear, 6# line and a small soft plastic bait. Daniel Vera caught his first nice snook on fly. It was 33" and weighed 11 lbs on the Boga-Grip. He was fishing with his dad, Louis Vera, and a "keeper snook" was their only request...
Weather forecasted for the remainder of this week should keep action steady everywhere in the interior with temperatures in the sixties at night and in the low eighties each day. I'm looking forward to it!
Several upcoming events should be of interest to local South Florida anglers...
Tomorrow , 1 Dec, is the meeting date for the state fisheries commission in Key Largo. One item of local interest involves the wing-net shrimpers in Biscayne Bay. Please attend if you can and express your opinion (anyone familiar with the topic knows that I'm opposed to any additional open days for our buddies, the shrimpers who are doing their best to clean out the Bay each night). The meeting is at the Sheraton, mm 97, and the commercial shrimping issue is set for 11:00Am. I'll be there, I hope you can attend.
The Coastal Conservation Association, Broward chapter, will hold its annual fundraiser on 9 December at the IGFA. It's set for 7Pm with good food, lots of stuff at auction, and it's for a good cause. The CCA is the only outfit, statewide, that has had any success speaking up for sportfishers and the fisheries we love. They'll be in attendance at Key Largo this week doing what they do best, advocating on behalf of angling, fish stocks, and their habitat. They're the same folks that fight against "no-fishing zones", and attempts by the netting industry to resume killing fish along the coast of Florida. I'm one of more than a few local guides that have donated trips to be auctioned off at the dinner. I hope you can attend.
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