Tough weekend for me!
Capt. Jim Hobales
October 1, 2014
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
092314
I got invited to fish with good friend Kenny Carman over in Marco Island for a couple days, he had another friend Mike Mahoney in as well. I spend a lot of time over there and I enjoy the fishing there it has structures (Oyster bars, docks) that we don't have in other areas I fish. Mike is a Fly casting instructor and he showed his skills pretty quick. I spotted a tailing Redfish and Mike put the fly right in front of it and after a short fight and pic's we released it. I got the chance to catch a few fish and put a few Snook in the boat throwing top water lures. We were chased off the water by some really bad storms around noon.
This evening I had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner with Tibor reels designer Ted Juracsik. He is a legend in the fly fishing reels design and manufacturing but has the angling back round to back it up. I asked questions and he told stories of fishing Flamingo back in the 60's. I kept asking questions all the way to his car, he answered me gladly. Great dinner!
092414
This morning we started out in Caxambass Pass where I missed a pretty good Snook, we made our way on to the beach and cast from shore. The conditions weren't great, no visibility! We caught lots of Ladyfish, Whiting and Lizard fish while casting for Snook. The Snook were not there this morning so we packed it in>
092614
I'm out in Key Largo this morning pre fishing / looking for bait for this weekends take Stock in Children's Tournament with my friend Bert . The baits we found were minnows and they were getting blasted by Tarpon, Snook and Jacks but we could not get close to them because the water was so clear. We had a few big blow ups on our top water lures and saw one area loaded with mullet and they were getting hit up inside a no entry zone. I saw enough today that I knew I had to go to Flamingo!
092714
I am fishing with my son James and my friend Mitch, they gelled pretty good as a team last year so we decided to give it another try. This tournament starts Friday after captain's meeting but both of them had to work, so we didn't get out until 5 a.m. Sat. morning. I hit my first spot a little early in the tide and had to wait on it to fall out , we had no bites and I got impatient! The second area I fished had been really productive in the last few weeks. As we approached we had a Tailing Redfish, Mitch threw his top water and the fish ate it only to get broke off on something in the water. We pitched out a couple baits and Mitch was on again, this time it was a big Snook. This Snook fought in the trees and finally came up shaking his head wearing thru the leader. This was the high light of the day, I had live pilchards and fished until 7 .p.m. and had the worst possible fishing day ever at Flamingo. The only positive is we have tomorrow.
092814
This morning we left the dock at 5 a.m. and ran across towards Flamingo, I had a couple spot we wanted to hit before the sun got up. Mitch had a big hook up on the first stop, the fish ran into bushes after a short fight he got it out and it was a big Jack. It fought like a Snook and we were disappointed! We moved on to our prime spot and it didn't take long, James was hooked up with a monster of a Snook. The big Snook made a couple big runs and he finally got him out into open water where I was getting ready to net it. The Snook comes up to surface and shakes its head fraying thru the leader, it looked like the Snook ate the small Skitter Walk to deep. Ok now we are really depressed, that fish was bigger than 15 lbs. which most probably would of placed in the tournament. Wait its not over, Mitch had another big Snook eat run at the boat and throw the plug. It didn't stop there we had several other Snook hit knock the plug out of the water and just turn off of it. We were out of ideas and spots, frustrated and tired when all of a sudden Mitch got hit again this time it's a big Redfish. This fish had the lure sideways in it's mouth running away from him, sometimes when they eat like that the lure can fall out. Guess what, that's the kind of weekend it was for us. I never ever remember a couple days of loosing fish like this
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