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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
February 21, 2005
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
This report will cover the last two weeks since I fished every day from 8 February to the 20th without a break. During that time period we hopefully saw the last gasp of winter cold fronts... I actually saw some frost on the roadside coming into the Park on one cold morning but all that seems to be behind us (I hope,,,). During cold spells we fished Whitewater Bay mostly and still found lots of fish. Here's a tip, adjust your sights a bit when weather seems certain to ruin your plans. The snook may all be in survival mode, just trying to stay warm, but the speckled trout, lady fish, jack crevalle, and grouper will be still biting. I try to adjust my plans to what will be successful during marginal conditions and it really pays off.
During the past two weeks we spent five days fly-fishing exclusively and caught lots of fish each day on small dark (think black or purple) flies. Fish in feeding lanes just north or south of islands with strong currents were our main targets. In some places it was a fish every cast. At about 10Am each day we began to pole areas holding a bit warmer water where we found large snook sunning or just laying in soft mud bottoms. Although we didn't score with the large snook that we found, it was fun sighting and stalking them. Joe Huggard of Luxembourg caught one of about 6lbs sightfishing in very clear shallow water where you could see the fish react, turn to attack, then surge away after gulping down the fly. We had shots at redfish on the same flat, but they were also being very careful about what they ate. As water temperatures have risen every day now for about a week inside areas should be turned on. I'd expect giant tarpon to also make an appearance in Whitewater, they've probably been there for a few days now, in fact.
Last Monday was a real shift from fly-fishing to shark fishing for five days along the Gulf coast with Beau Yeiser and Jack Morris of Mote Marine Labs out of Sarasota. They are studying black tip sharks and were hoping to tag some while looking for small (less than a year old) black tips that might indicate a nursery area off of the Everglades. It was a fun and educational week for me... as well as a lot of effort -- but it was worth every minute.
The first day on the water was terrible for shark fishing with water temps at 58 degrees at the first boundary marker that we went to. We ran back to the coast and again set up, catching only one small bull shark, clearly sharking was going to need warmer water to be successful. That first morning we did, however, catch and release a very nice snook that weighed 17lbs on the scale. It was Jack Morris' first big snook and I hope to have the photos shortly. That first day left me worrying about finding our target, the black tips. The second day we worked several different areas and again caught lots of fish, including several sharks, but still no black tips although the water was beginning to warm a bit. The third day we found them, lots of them from little pups to fish approaching 100lbs. Since a 60lb black tip will almost spool a 20lb outfit on its first run it was an exciting day. They were holding in an area that had numbers of speckled trout, small pompano, and jack crevalle. We caught and released fish all day, using a few of them for bait. The small sharks were netted, measured, tagged and released. The big ones got the same treatment except they were first leadered, tail roped, and held alongside the boat for the measuring and tagging. The next two days were the same with large numbers of the aggressive blacktips hooked and brought to boat. At the end of the week we'd tagged nineteen blacktips, which was less than half of what we actually hooked and brought to the boat. During the week our "incidental catch" included pompano, permit, grouper, jewfish, snook, trout, and other species. Quite a week! I hope to do it again some time and I'm now equipped to start tagging small sharks that my anglers bring to the boat.
At the end of last week I shifted again back to tarpon fishing, this time for two nights in Biscayne Bay during the boat show. We jumped fish on both nights with Philip Creel of Dothan, Alabama landing his first tarpon for a photo and release. We estimated it at 50lbs, a bit large for a "baby tarpon". That night we never hooked anything smaller... some were estimated at 60lbs... The night fishing, locally, is turning on now.
Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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