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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
June 29, 2005
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
This report will cover the last 10 days. This is the time of year when the fishing is so good that it's hard to overstate it...
We started off with the first night tarpon trip in Biscayne Bay. Just before dark Jeff Cummings from Jacksonville jumped his first fish along the beach. We estimated it at about 80lbs and it jumped on a DOA Baitbuster lure worked slowly. We then went back inside as the sun set to do some sight-fishing for smaller fish. Jeff and his son went on to jump another six fish from 20 to over 30 lbs on light spinning gear. We managed to bring three to the boat for photos, the rest released themselves. There were fish at every bridge we checked. The night fishing for baby tarpon will stay strong now until mid-August. Since the tide is critical that's how the trips will be scheduled. Occasionally a night trip will start at 1Am if that's when the tide gets going... It makes a great change from fishing during the heat of the day. We'll be after them again tonight, throwing flies at fish holding right at the surface where you can target individual fish.
Down at Flamingo the snook fishing along the Gulf coast is still the best bet going. These are fish that attack bait, lures, and flies like they're starved. Our best day was last Sunday with local angler Tommy Rogers and his friend Chad Warrick. We caught and released snook until we actually lost count of their numbers. One was taken using bait, the remainder were taken on lures, mostly topwater, and all were solid slot-sized fish. Our best was one over 12lbs that measured 35" before being released. The hot lure was a Rapala Skitterwalk. On more than a few instances fish would chase the thing back to the boat with repeated strikes. We missed a few strikes by larger fish that actually knocked the lures out of the water they struck so hard... A memorable day. Of course we're getting rained on almost every day and the mosquitoes are biting as well but this is what summer in the 'Glades is all about.
This is also a great time of year to fly-fish the 'Glades. Yesterday my anglers caught small snook and tarpon on flies and lures right at dawn in a small interior bay. We then went out to the coast where Doug Menne of Atlanta made an outstanding catch on a very light rod. He spotted and cast to a small tarpon with a 4wt. rod (that's right a rod that would be considered very light for freshwater trout...) and drew a strike on a popping bug that he tied up himself. He hooked and fought that fish for around 10 minutes before a photo and release. It weighed 15lbs on the Boga-grip, an outstanding catch on ultra-light gear. I have to say that if I was the one casting that morning a 7wt is as light as I would go... At the end of the day he also jumped a 70lb tarpon on a Zara Spook right at the boat. We're having great success with both flies and topwater lures now. As summer progresses there will be some changes along the coast. There will be more and more bait along the coast and as we get toward the end of summer the bait will get larger and larger. The big tarpon (and I mean as big as they get here in Florida) will gradually increase in numbers every day until early October when the first cold front will get them moving back offshore. Tarpon heaven.
Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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