Peacock days, Tarpon nights - 30 July
Capt. Bob LeMay
July 18, 2020
Biscayne Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Like almost everyone I know, bookings and days or nights on the water have been few and far between right now... Won't comment on our country's current situation except to say that the virus has been getting in the way of just about everything .. Hope everyone comes through it with family intact and can get back to jobs, school, fishing, - all the important stuff...
Was able to spend a morning on the water not far from home this week with a friend or two, checking out the local peacock situation. Here's one of them - in fighting trim...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/tNkawyP.jpg[/img]
Peacock bass do fight hard wherever you find them - this one grabbed a small lure and put a pretty good bend in a light rod. I've been considering adding a freshwater side to my guiding efforts - but still need a bit more "research" first... Hoping they'll be available in the fall for some fly rod action as well....
My only booking this week was a night trip in Biscayne Bay looking for small tarpon on fly. I won't go into what's required to actually be allowed to launch a boat there right now but I did need to do a bit of scouting - then asking exactly when the ramp I wanted to use would still be open - then found myself at the ramp more than two hours before sundown... I was assured that whenever I came back (no matter how late in the evening), I'd still be able to retrieve my skiff and get back down the road.... and at 2Am I had the entire ramp and a very large parking area -all to myself...
I had Nino and Amber Lenoro aboard from Oklahoma down here on brief fishing vacation where up to that point their fishing efforts hadn't produced much. We then went about changing that situation as the sun set on one of the big bridges that connect Miami and Miami Beach. Nino had his own fly rods so I rigged one with a Night fly and we set up under the bridge waiting for the sun to finally disappear and create that all important shadow line... Here's a pic of my favorite night-time tarpon fly (everything else at night seems to eat it as well...)
[img]https://i.imgur.com/8f7tZSl.jpg[/img]
I do them up in 1/0 and 2/0 sizes and usually want a dozen with me for a night tide...
Nino was making a cast or two, working blind, as we watched the sun fade - and hooked up on his third cast with a nice 30lb fish that just tore it up after the strike... until... the hook broke and that was that... Doesn't happen often but tarpon of any size are really hard on whatever you can get them to eat...
We went on to hook five more that night on both fly and spinning gear... Here's a photo or two of the one Nino got to the boat for a release...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/XTc0Zn5.jpg[/img]
We're hooking them up under the bridge then doing our best to work them downcurrent... and away from all those concrete pilings...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/j0NdOt3.jpg[/img]
at the skiff and still full of fight...
We ended the evening with Amber hooked up on a spinning rod to a fish that was between 30 and 40lbs until it jumped off... Not only bridge shadows but also docklights hold fish every night down here... it's a very, very good fishery - but we mostly only work it on a falling tide... The next five day period when the tides will be just right will start on 30 July...
As the summer progresses we'll still be alternating between day and night trips. Days down in the Everglades and nights in the Bay... Here's hoping things get back to normal as soon as possible...
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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