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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
December 29, 2004
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing this past week has been good and different... This is the time of year when regular anglers in the backcountry of the Everglades and most of Florida Bay struggle with the weather. The combination of high winds, low temperatures, and the generally nasty weather that cold fronts bring make for tough fishing if you follow your usual patterns.... If you roll with the weather's punch and take advantage of what it brings the fishing can be pretty good.
We fished a combination of several patterns on the two days that paid off. The first pattern involves hunting for "warm-up" spots where fish can find shelter from wind along with a soft bottom that will absorb the sun's heat as the day progresses. A spot that warms up a bit faster than surrounding areas may draw every fish in the neighborhood. We caught and released small redfish and snook with soft plastics and tipped jigs in one of several such spots that we visited. The one big variable in this kind of situation is the wind direction. Spots that are turned on in one wind will be useless if the wind shifts so that they are no longer sheltered....
The next situation that we took advantage of are places where tide or wind currents push around the corner of islands in Whitewater or Oyster Bays. Great feeding stations are set up when the tide is pushing in or out in three to six feet of water and one or more islands are funnelling bait into a relatively small area. Big ladyfish and nice trout are the reward here. You'll know you've found one of these feeding stations when every cast is a fish... We usually save a few ladyfish for bait and release the rest, still biting. For anyone that has young kids aboard your anglers can catch and release fish until they get tired.... When the weather makes fishing river mouths impossible interior bays remain relatively clear with hungry fish able to feed on every tide.
Lastly the rivers that drain into the Gulf provide good action for gag grouper, jewfish (goliath grouper now), snapper and other species no matter what the weather is. Even when the river mouths are muddy and the Gulf coast itself isn't producing all of the rivers still have areas where the water is clear enough and all the residents are very hungry... Our main target is the gag grouper and we hunt them in areas with rocky bottoms using jigs tipped with shrimp, cut bait, and small livebaits when available. On a good spot it's not unusual to catch and release small grouper on jigs until you get tired... At the same time the bigger fish will pick up cut or live bait held on the bottom with a small sinker. The bigger fish don't fool around, any bite will be dramatic and at times unstoppable until the fish has gotten to structure. If you quickly drop your anchor or pushpole and motor right on top of the fish you have a chance, otherwise the fish wins... The game is all about getting the fish up off of the bottom before it can get to safety. At the same time other fish will move by where you're working. Any bite might be a small fish or something just too big to handle, a shark or goliath grouper. Our best goliath this week was one of about 10lbs on a jig with only 10# line, an outstanding catch by a local angler. This is also a good time of year to troll the rivers with big plugs that run deep, right along the bottom. Make sure that you're using stout gear if you try it...
By next week as the water warms up we'll be doing other things but right now we'll continue doing "different things".
Tight Lines
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