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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
January 29, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing report, Biscayne nights - Everglades days
This past week was a roller coaster with bookings divided between fishing at night and then in the daytime...
The night fishing scene has finally kicked off with good numbers of baby tarpon available each night, locally in Biscayne Bay. The action coincides with the winter shrimp run and some nights the "baby" tarpon aren't babies at all - more about that in a moment... My three nights on the water were marked with quite a bit of frustration at first. Plenty of fish right at the surface to cast to - and none of them wanting flies... The first night with Barry Johnson and his Dad from the Carolinas we found fish everywhere but all we got were refusals. It may have had something to do with the huge shrimp riding the tide - we had many come right by my skiff that were easily 7" and larger. We only jumped one fish that night on fly, but could have torn them up with shrimp... We also had numerous shots at some snook up to about 15lbs, they at least followed the fly but still no joy...The next night on the water with Matt Hranek from New York it was more of the same - this time with many much larger fish to work over. We saw lots of 60's, 70's, and even a few fish in the 80lb+ category but it was the same story. The fish just weren't having anything to do with our flies. After a few hours of frustration it was time to switch tactics and Matt picked up a light spinning rod with a DOA shrimp..
That was all it took, he made four casts and each time the lure got hammered right at the surface.
He had several more fish hooked up but the tarpon did all the releasing... The last night on the water was with Bertrand Bamezcua and finally the first fish we saw ate the fly... Nothing like a 20lb tarpon on a light fly rod to get things going.
After a promising beginning to the night the weather worsened and we were blown out after just two hours. Looking back on the week, when conditions were perfect at night, little wind and lots of shrimp moving, the fish just weren't interested in our flies. That last night with some wind the fish behaved much differently, but that's tarpon fishing - day or night...
On Saturday it was back to Flamingo with local anglers Charlie Jones and Dr. Charlie Shenker. We fished almost exclusively with lures during the day with one small exception. Charlie Jones caught a backcountry slam of snook, redfish, and speckled trout. Dr. Shenker did just as well but didn't hook any redfish. He did, though, catch and release the biggest snook of the day. It was taken in 63 degree water on a bucktail and released after a quick photo. Later that day we took a few ladyfish that we'd saved and visited a grouper spot up a nameless river. We made three drops and were just hammered by big fish without keeping any on the hook... Out of bait, it was back to using jigs and the fish didn't seem to notice the difference. The best fish to the boat was only 22" along with some very nice sized mangrove snappers. All the bigger fish just took us to school... I'll be back there soon.
By the end of this week water temps will have warmed up considerably and this weekend there will be great action both day or night...
Tight Lines
Bob LeMay
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