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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
June 15, 2005
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
We've been on a hot snook bite now for the past two weeks. This report will cover that time period. With the exception of one 12lb snook in Whitewater Bay all of the snook action has been along the coast, generally near river or creek mouths. The fish have ranged from five to over fifteen pounds in size and we're losing one or two for every one boated for a photo and release... The only thing hotter than the snook bite has been the mosquitoes... those "swamp angels" are really guarding the best snook spots right now...
The fish have been hammering both lures and bait. Here's the typical pattern: my anglers hook up then get their clocks cleaned in short order by super-charged snook that strike and go streaking back into downed trees or around corners. After losing a few fish they begin going to max pressure ( and slightly heavier gear) and begin landing a few... Although plugs will work on these fish, we've been using tipped jigs. The jigs are either tipped with a small piece of shrimp or an Exude worm of some kind, generally a curl tail or D.A.R.T. The larger worms are on 3/8 oz. jigs and are deadly effective worked just fast enough to keep them off of the bottom. The live bait we've used has ranged from small pilchards all the way up to 8" herring and the fish don't seem to discriminate.
Each day we've also been hitting nice sized grouper mixed in with small jewfish (okay, goliath grouper for the politically correct crowd...) while working tipped jigs just inside the same river mouths the snook are holding on. A few days ago we actually watched a large tarpon try to eat a small grouper (the grouper was around 20"..) that my angler had almost worked to the boat.... It's a "jungle rules" kind of place. The big tarpon have started to return to hang out with their smaller relatives. Most of the big fish are found loafing up inside rivers a mile or two in from the Gulf now. The tarpon fishing should improve as the summer progresses. For now the smaller tarpon are almost a sure thing early in the day. They seem to hang out in the same places the snook prefer.... This is also the time of year when the vast majority of speckled trout leave the interior bays and take up residence along the Gulf coast. Find the right holding spot and you can catch (and hopefully release most) them until you get tired or the tide quits.
Now for a few outstanding catches. On the second day of this month Randy Wong, from Maryland, caught and released a very large sawfish. It's bill, alone, was more than two feet long. We estimated the fish at more than 12' long. It was caught on 15lb line making it well over a 10 to 1 line to weight ratio -- a fish of a lifetime... Last week Chris Garcia, age 11, caught and released his first big snook. In fact he brought two to the boat, one weighed 14lbs on the Boga-grip the other was almost as large. His dad, Reuben Garcia, landed his share as well... Yesterday J.J. Jankowski landed his first snook ever. It was part of a backcountry grand slam. He caught and released tarpon, snook, one redfish, and lots of speckled trout while fishing with his dad, John Jankowski. Young J.J. is getting ready to go off to college up at FSU this fall. There aren't any snook up there at all...
I'll be back on the water at Flamingo tomorrow, then start night-fishing for tarpon in Biscayne Bay. So many opportunities, it's that time of year.
Tight lines
ps: this is a prime time for fly anglers as well... Standard gear this time of year includes three rods. An 8wt with floating line, a 10wt with a sinking fly line or Teeny head, and a big rod with an intermediate line.
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