Upper 10000 islands
Capt. Jim Hobales
September 18, 2009
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sept 10-13 2009
I spent the last 3 days fishing the 10000 islands up to Naples looking for slot fish for the Romp In the Swamp tournament. The bait is plentiful Minnows, Pilchards and finger Mullet are getting slammed by the Snook, Tarpon, Redfish, Jacks and Trout. While pre fishing we caught a little of everything including some Gags, Goliaths and Red Grouper every one fooled me into thinking it was a big Snook! We fished top water plugs in very shallow water across bars where it was deeper off the back edge. This was the pattern that we eventually stuck to on tournament day right after we hit one dock that was still lit up. They checked us out right at 645 am but because of a big rain storm sitting just off of us it was very low light until 11 am. We hit this dock where I had 2 keepers the day before by the time we left that dock at 930.am., we had 25 Snook! They were all just under 28 inches, I lost one keeper which just came unglued. We hit spot #2 and it was happening! The Redfish were boiling up and the Snook were chasing bait all we had to do was put our lure in the boil they left. It was a blast because the hook ups were constant but the fish would not stay hooked up either cut off on oysters or just throwing a very sharp hooked plug.
We caught a lot of fish today loosing a bunch of keepers for one reason or another and lost a good Redfish. The back country was alive today, the Snook were popping deep in the mangroves all day and eating our lures and baits. We drove home scratching our heads about how we didn't land a keeper to weigh in but on the other hand we released 45 Snook and learned a few things for next time. On the last cast of the day we had a big pop on top of the flat , I turned and cast my paddle tail. I was hooked up to some thing peeling off a lot of line. The fish ran a a total of about 20 yards turned and ran another 20 yards into the shore line, which just happened to be around the point from us. By the time we caught up the fish was in a tree and cut me off. I said I had enough lets go, I just don't loose fish like this.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
big tides this week get back as far as you can!
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