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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
January 12, 2005
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing this past week resembled the previous week. Water temps have risen a bit, tarpon are active in Whitewater, and the wind is still blowing... I only had two days on the water this week and tried to make the most of them. The first was a busman's holiday fishing on someone else's boat. It was nice to get out and just be an angler for a change. I was able to flyfish a bit with my old Sage 8wt. After a few casts with a Garside Gurgler that got ignored while everyone else was getting bit I changed to a Clouser and caught three different species in the first three casts... When speckled trout that are biting well don't pay any attention to a surface offering, it's time to get down to their level. While most of the Clousers that I tie are on hooks smaller than 1/0 I always keep a few larger ones, tied a bit longer with heavier lead eyes so that I can fish them down current and across. When the bug swings into position it never moves very far without getting thumped. Later that day we moved out to the Gulf coast so that we could work several river mouths at the start of the falling tide. The warmer water temperatures have woken up some large snook. Retired boat builder Bill Aman hooked and lost three in a row on soft plastics. Needless to say the fish were around downed trees and never very far from home when they bit. The one fish that came to the surface was over 10lbs.... For anyone that's interested, Bill is the long time member of the old Tropical Anglers Club who taught me to work with fiberglass and rig a boat from scratch. He was one of the original crew that helped build the old Challenger skiff more than 40 years ago. It's always a pleasure to fish on one of his boats.
On Monday we fished big tarpon in Whitewater Bay in the morning without success. They were all around us but only feeding occasionally. All of our live baits were eaten by sharks before any tarpon had a chance at them. Plan B was to prospect a bit then work along the coast as the tide began to fall. The prospecting paid off with lots of trout, ladyfish, and jacks. We must have caught and released 40 to 60 fish in less than one hour at one spot in Whitewater. We even found one small pompano inside, something that doesn't happen very often. The highlight of the day was a large snook on bait caught and released at a river mouth along the coast north of the Shark River. The fish weighed a bit more than 14lbs on the Boga-grip before being released in good condition. As long as the mild weather holds I suspect that there are lots more where that one came from. I'm looking forward to it.
Here's the side of fishing for a living that doesn't get much attention. Maintenance is always an issue when your're towing a boat a lot, then using it as many days on the water as possible. I popped my first trailer tire of the new year on Monday, replaced it and was going again in less than ten minutes (my high score one year was 5 tires blown before I learned to use better tires...). That's why I carry two spare tires for a single axle trailer... This week I'll replace one of the boat's batteries, repair two rods, finish building a new plug rod, order reel repair parts, tie up another dozen jigs.... Never a dull moment, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Tight lines
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