Good week for night timeTarpon !
Capt. Jim Hobales
May 18, 2011
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
05-11-11
I am with Randy and Jen from Dallas fishing @ Government Cut for Tarpon this afternoon. I netted some mullet and went to work, I like mullet when we get out early. The Tarpon responded and put on an aerial show. When using Mullet they aren't all great hook ups, there's allot of knock downs and misses. The Tarpon would knock the baits out of the water and then the Barracudas would cut them in half. It is interesting the first few times but when they eat all your bait it gets old. We managed 2 big Barracudas up to 25 lbs. and couldn't get a Tarpon to the boat.
05-12-11
The boys from Findland-Rapala are here and fishing Flamingo today, we have 3 boats and are taking them out to play with Rapala products and catch some fish. We started out on casting at rolling Tarpon with Subwalks but they were not interested, after an hour we moved on. We caught Redfish, Trout, Jacks Ladyfish, Tripletails and Sharks. Today was the first time I really used the Trigger X lures and was pleasantly surprised on how well they worked. The guys all caught fish and had a great day!
05-13-11
I am with with Ashley today he is here from Australia and wants a big Tarpon! I met him down at Homestead Bayfront park and we fished south Biscayne bay. We got out early and had low light clouds and high water which makes seeing tough. We saw some bait getting busted up and made some cast, we had several Barracuda's up to 7 lbs and then a Snook blew up on the Subwalk. It knocked it out of the water but never hit it again. We moved on but still had a little time before we could see, we got into some cruising Rays that were holding some big Bar Jacks. The tide was getting a little lower and clearer so I ran to "My Spot". I was on the trolling motor working in when a I spotted a school of Tarpon about 300 yards out. I power poled down and waited for them, I told Ashley to lead the first fish by 20 feet and bring it back. He did it perfectly as they passed us, he bumped it off the bottom and we are hooked up to a monster! The Tarpon didn't jump he just ran, I chased him down with the trolling motor but it wasn't enough. I got on the big Yamaha because it will catch up to the Tarpon. To make a long fight a shorter story The Tarpon finally jumped and we saw how big it was, Ashley fought it perfectly for 1 hour and 40 minutes.We got it up next to the boat were we finally released it. On the way inside the bay I spotted some Bonefish and a Permit we got a couple good shot only to spook them. Ashley caught a couple small sharks as well.
05-14-11
I am fishing Flamingo with Duke from California and his dad Sonny today, they wanted Redfish and Trout. Sonny grew up in Louisiana so he likes his Trout but Duke wanted a Tarpon. I tried to accommodate both of them on the first spot but only managed some really big Trout to 24 inches. We moved on to another Tarpon spot and they weren't really thick but we did catch Jacks,Ladyfish and Snappers. We moved on and caught a handful of Redfish and then ended the day in a creek fishing for Goliaths. It was slow and then Duke said "I got a hit", then all hell broke loose! He fought this fish in and out of the trees and thought we finally had it turn out, thats when the line nicked a branch. I had told them it's a difficult creek to land fish in and that I had never got one out, they now believe! Let try again! I rigged another bait and about 20 minutes later I noticed the line swimming at us, Sonny pickup the rod and immediately got "treed up". They were believers now and had a story to tell.
05-17-11
I am with Ilene and Demitri tonight and we are looking for Tarpon off of south Beach! Ilene is a learning and truly seems to be hooked on fishing. I had netted 1 Mullet and I wanted to make the best of it. I bridled the mullet onto a circle hook and put it out where there some rolling Tarpon on the beach, after a while it got blasted. The mullet was trying to escape from a 100 plus Tarpon by jumping 4 feet out of the water. The amazing thing is, it did and the Tarpon just gave up on it. The mullet wasn't so lucky later on when a big Barracuda blasted it out of the water and cut in half. Sometime as guides we have to prove to people we know what we are doing and I now have Demitri's attention. I explained that they will turn on when the moon rises and that they did. We could here them popping Shrimp and then one of our rods doubled over. Ilene picked it up and the Tarpon jumped off, but the bite is on!
For the next 2 hours we were either getting hit or hooked up, landing 2 for 8. Demitri got the first one on a Shrimp, the Tarpon was about a 50-60 lbs on a 12 lb Biscayne rod. Illene was feeleing left out so we had to get her hooked up it didn't take long. She hooked an 80 lb fish as she was free lining her Shrimp. After 25 minutes we got her fish to the boat, Ilene is very enthusiastic and has the fishing bug,this night will give her a great memory.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
full moon!
Target Species:
Tarpon
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