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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
August 31, 2005
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
This week all of my charters that didn't get cancelled (seems a bit much to complain about our hurricane while looking at New Orleans and Biloxi...) were for night fishing in Biscayne Bay.... Great fishing for baby tarpon at night now!
The last two nights I've hooked up with my anglers at a Miami Beach boat ramp just before dark. As soon as it's dark enough for a shadow line to form up under the bridges the bite was on. We've been hitting the baby tarpon hard. The fish range from 10 to as much as 30 lbs and we've been hooking them on both bait and lures. The lure of choice has been the 1/4oz. DOA shrimp in a neutral color. It's been light tackle spinning gear both nights with line classes ranging from 12# down to 8#. A 30lb tarpon on 8# line is a handful... At the leader end we've been using 40lb fluorocarbon, just a short trace of about 18". If I had some fly anglers we'd be using rods as light as a 7wt ranging up to a 9wt. All of the fish were right at the surface so you could watch your target turn and stalk the bait or lure, then roll up and strike. I quit counting each night when we'd jumped more than 10 fish at close quarters. Baby tarpon heaven! These are short, five hour trips that end just after midnight. In a day or two the tide will require that we start late at night but the fish should still be biting in the cool evenings.
On another note, Everglades National Park is still closed while they're cleaning up Flamingo and getting back in operation. On a down note, no one with the Park has been able to tell me when they'll re-open and snook season opens tomorrow... Hope it's not long. In the interim I'll be fishing out of Everglades City or Port of the Islands until Flamingo re-opens.
Tight Lines
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