Cold,windy and lots of fish!
Capt. Jim Hobales
January 13, 2011
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
011011
I am fishing Flamingo today with Gary and his son Chris from Michigan. We are in Whitewater Bay and we started out fishing the windy points with some Trout, Ladyfish and eventually some Snook. We had pretty strong west winds and low water so I used it to my advantage, The Snook were lying out off the banks in a foot of water and hit Rapala Twitch n Raps and Subwalks. Both Gary and Chris caught Redfish and Trout then finished it up with a bunch of Snook and 4 Tarpon to 30lbs. This story ends with the one that got away,Chris hooked a monster and the fished was not happy about it. The big Snook could barely get its body out of the water as it shook it's head violently, she ran a bit then jumped again; this time fraying the leader. Chris was excited and heart broken at the same time, but appreciated it. Both anglers caught a Back country Grand Slam!
011111
I am fishing with Gary and Chris again this afternoon in Government Cut, we are looking for big Tarpon. We got out around 3 PM loaded with Shrimp, Pilchards and also rigged with 4 inch Gulp Shrimps. On Chris's 1st drop he hooked a nice 5 lb. Red Grouper after a few pic's Gary hooked something and it was pulling drag. Gary boated his fish a 24 inch Gag Grouper, the bite stayed like this for 2 hours. We caught at least a dozen Groupers up 34 inches and a 5 lb. Hog Snapper. We moved out onto the beach and looked for Tarpon, we made a long first drift with no action. I moved to the south side still no action. I watch the other boats and no one was hooking either. I ran in side the bay and watch one guy jump a fish, the tide went slack. I ran back to the Cut and after a couple drifts they had enough. They caught a lot of fish in 2 days of fishing and can't wait to get back in March!
011211
I am with Nick and his wife Tracy from Long Island today, their flight was delayed a day so they decided to go fishing. Nick said he didn't want to spend all day chasing something we couldn't catch, he said they just want to do some rod bending. This is my favorite kind of trip because Government Cut has many species to catch and they bite all day.
Today's weather is awful 59 degrees and dropping as the day went on the winds are brutal at 20 25 mph out of the North, but we fished the protected water of Government cut with very little boat traffic all day. On a day when most people would stay home here is how it went!
I got out early and caught some Pilchards and met them at 8 AM. We made the short run to Government Cut and by 8 30 AM we already had a 28 inch Snook and 24 in Red Grouper. The day was filled with catching 5 Mangrove Snappers, 2 Yellowtails, 25 Mackerels,10 Red Groupers ,1 Gag Grouper, 8 lb. Sheephead, 2 Barracuda's and a bunch of Grunts. This all happened while dropping our bait down in the Tarpon schools which would not bite. The feeding frenzy taking place in the cut today was awesome thousands of birds diving with big school of Mac' s and others mixed in. We fished a full day and I was tired, we had a lot of action and we were beat down by the wind.
Shallow water fishing has been made much easier with the invention of the power pole and when it dont work I remeber how we used to do it, stabbing our pushpole in to the mud. This system is so more efficient but the last couple days I've been with out it. A special thanks to Bobby and Mark at Shallow Water Customs They always seem to drop what their doing for me and get me going, Check them out www.shallowwatercustoms.com.
Fishing is really good in Everglades National Park-( Flamingo) and off of Miami Beach if your looking for some rod bending fun give me a call at 305 333 8149
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