Everglades backcountry, Flamingo - 8 January 2019
Capt. Bob LeMay
January 8, 2019
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Only had one booking this past week worth reporting on, fishing visiting angler Adam Cox and his 11 year old son Bennett into the backcountry out of Flamingo and across to the Gulf coast. Last week water temps continued to rise as we found ourselves in a warming trend - (that will end in a day or two). The big tarpon have shown up in Whitewater, taking advantage of the good early season water temps - but all that will end on Thursday night when we drop back down into more typical winter weather with a low side down into the fifties that night....
We fished spinning gear for young Bennett and his Dad - finding fish in Whitewater Bay at the first few spots we tried - mostly speckled trout, ladyfish and jacks. Here's a pic of Bennett with his first trout...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/vHZSlw9.jpg[/img]
Everywhere we went an Equalizer float with a leadhead under it was the ticket in the shallows...while his Dad worked the same small lures without a float... After prospecting a few more spots, looking for redfish and snook we moved out to the coast where we found a variety of snook, redfish - and more speckled trout. I was a bit disappointed since we couldn't seem to find any big fish until young Bennett hooked up with what I thought was a shark (we'd lost a few baits to them already...). In short order the fish came up and gave a quick jump -showing a big snook... Young Bennett did everything right and a few minutes later he had his first snook in the skiff for a quick photo and then a careful release... it weighed in at 13lbs on my Boga Grip - an outstanding catch on relatively light gear - and it was his very first snook ever... Here's a pic
[img]https://i.imgur.com/m4PHPl1.jpg[/img]
as you can see - it was so big his Dad needed to help him for the photo...
We made sure it was in good shape before carefully releasing it for someone else to tangle with (this is the closed season for snook - but in any case she was too big to keep even if the season were open).. Whenever another angler comes across her -she'll have to be released again (big snook are almost always females...) since she's clearly well over the slot size limit already...
Looking forward, the next few weeks will be ruled by whatever the weather is... If it stays cold we'll be poling up really shallow looking for redfish and snook sunning themselves in really shallow places with a soft mud bottom. If it warms up (the way it did last week) then the big tarpon will flood back up into Oyster, Mud, and Whitewater Bays... It's hard to beat Flamingo or Chokoloskee this time of year - even on days when the wind is blowing strong....
Be a hero... take a kid fishing.
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
More Fishing Reports:
