West coast vacation
Capt. Jim Hobales
August 10, 2009
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
August 2-8-09-2008
I had a working vacation on the west coast for the last week. I took my family over to Marco Island and let them help me pre fish for the Backwater Series tournament out of Goodland. Over the years I have spent a lot of time there in August, there are several different options when it comes to back country fishing. The Snook are out on the beaches in the massive schools Mullet, Minnows and Pilchards. We tried them on artificial with no luck and resorted to bait which produced plenty of Snook, Trout, Ladyfish, Jacks and of course Catfish.
Dock fishing is my favorite and Marco is loaded with dock with fish that like to hurt you, watching my son make a skip cast and hooking some big snook was exciting. The one place the bait wasn't as thick was around the docks in the river, but they always hold some fish. The big schools of Jacks always provide some excitement. The big Marco bridge did have some big Snook popping on Sat. morning as we were idling thru headed to Goodland, unfortunately we didn't have time.
The inside bays were active as well with bait and there were plenty of schools of Jacks along with Snook in the pockets and points. I got into Tarpon in a couple different areas of the the Marco River and they did like the finger Mullet. While fishing some deeper bays we heard some giant explosions which were made by some big Snook. It always seemed like they were a bay away from us. I'll be back over there in a couple weeks and I will definitely fish some mullet back there on the points where the current was swift and pushing around the islands
The Back country tournament I was there for was for 2 Redfish and a Trout, we did that fishing as shallow and clear when possible. The 2 days prior to we found Reds in the mullet schools but most we oversized. I had 4 days on the water so I told my partners Bruce and Mitch just fun fish and well find them and we did. They caught Snook after Snook which is never a problem on artificial, its nice to get your timing down no matter what hits your lure.
We spent about 20 minutes catching Ladyfish which I cut up and put on ice for bait this is a great bait for spooky Reds. The bite had been on the first of the incoming tide everyday which was about 10 o'clock today. we got back on a clear clean bank and here they came but I couldnt stop because my powerpole had broke the day before and I couldn't get it fixed. I lowered my jack plate down into the mud and buried it which stopped us. The Reds continued thru and we pitched out several baits, it didn'y take long and I was hooked up to a fat Red. It was 26 inches and 6lbs, a good start. Bruce hooked up and the fish gut him off on a oyster bed then it was Mitch's turn he hooked up and the fish came off. This was frustrating and not much fun but we continued to fish. The water got high and dirty so we moved looking for cleaner water. We found a school of 3-4 inch finger mullet which I netted on my first cast I caught a 4 lb Redfish. We decided to go try for a Trout which would of gave all us 3 fish for the tournament. We only had and hour and 3 spots, 2 of which had a lot of traffic. Later I thought we would of been better off trying to upgrade our Redfish instead. We weighed in our 2 Reds for 10.0lbs and finished 1 ounce out of 5 place.
The fishing is good anywhere on the west coast from Marco down around Cape Sable right now, with Tarpon Snook and Redfish, you can get there from Flamingo or drive across the trail to Chocoloskee.
The flats out in front of Flamingo are pretty good as well right now loaded with Reds, Snook and Tarpon.
The Snook should be schooled up and biting in Government Cut on this August full moon.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
Tarpon, Snook and Reds at Flamingo on the flats, edges and potholes and mangroves with current.
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