Everglades backcountry report, Flamingo 28 October
Capt. Bob LeMay
October 28, 2013
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
The day after the Park re-opened we were back down at Flamingo fly fishing with Bruce Rueben and his son John for three days... Everything was biting and we saw great quantities of bait along gulfside shorelines just getting shredded wherever we looked. Using 8wt rods mostly, both father and son released snook, mackeral, trout, snapper, and a variety of other species. We started out each morning with popping bugs and had a ball. Here's John's first mackeral on fly -you can still see the popper in it's jaws....
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Ruebenbrucemackonpopper_zpsc381c0a8.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Ruebenbrucemackonpopper_zpsc381c0a8.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
We were in perfect weather each morning as you can see from the glassed-off conditions in the background...
Here's a pic of one of those Speedbugs before it got shredded...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/SpeedBugperfect_zps280b8f86.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/SpeedBugperfect_zps280b8f86.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Along the way we found a few tripletail that liked flies as well.... The first one ate Bruce's clouser - the second one chased down and ate another one of those poppers for John....
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/RuebenbrucetripletailonClouser_zps99258788.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/RuebenbrucetripletailonClouser_zps99258788.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Ruebenjohntripletailonpoppingbug_zps75fb65d0.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Ruebenjohntripletailonpoppingbug_zps75fb65d0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
The only fish we couldn't seem to get a bite from were the large tarpon gorging on bait.... We solved that problem by running back inside where baby tarpon were perfectly willing to eat small Crystal Schminnows...
On our last day John had to return to college so it was just Bruce onboard. After catching a fish here and a fish there we decided to load up on bait and do some chumming to turn the fish on. It was a great idea... at our first spot up inside Oyster Bay we had non-stop action for more than an hour once the fish spotted the live baits and came after them. For almost the entire time it was a fish every cast (and I quit counting when we hit fifty, or was it sixty fish). The fish fell for any fly that looked like a four or five inch pilchard.... jacks, ladyfish, spanish mackeral, snapper, trout... and I've probably left out a few... When the tide quit we headed for home, making one last stop in Whitewater to chum up the corner of a small island... When the party started we found very nice sized mangrove snapper in less than two feet of water along with snook - all competing for that fly.... If was great fun and a great end to the day...
A few days later I had local fishing club members Francis Santos and Dr. Bob Andreae (they're with the Sportsmen of Broward - the dreaded SOBs...) and we had a great time. On this day we again loaded the well with white bait and began chumming in the Shark River area with Francis on light spin and Bob using an ultra-light 5wt fly rod. Again the fish were really turned on and we went for several hours hooking fish after fish. This time we had some competition in the form of very hungry sharks that took a fair number of the fish we hooked. You haven't lived until you see a tiny fly rod just screaming after a brief fight with a small fish that got tagged by something large and grumpy.... Francis kept track and released nine different species at that first spot - including a small bluefish (winter is coming....). When the action slowed down a bit we moved to a nearby log that was holding some upper slot redfish and released about a half dozen on bait, lures, and flies. Here's a few pics from that day....
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Santosfrancisdawntrout_zps6ed3c7fc.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Santosfrancisdawntrout_zps6ed3c7fc.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/SantosfrancisredfishSharkriver_zps29aab1ff.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/SantosfrancisredfishSharkriver_zps29aab1ff.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Santosfrancisredfishcloseup_zps256d7e24.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Santosfrancisredfishcloseup_zps256d7e24.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Now here's one or two from Bob...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Andrebobcloseupredfish_zps5fb755e2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Andrebobcloseupredfish_zps5fb755e2.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/AndrebobampSantosfrancisredfish_zps12ce5f8d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/AndrebobampSantosfrancisredfish_zps12ce5f8d.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Since he has a house on Chokoloskee I expect that Bob could teach anyone a thing or two about backcountry fly fishing....
Now that we've had our first mild cold front, the big tarpon seem to have almost disappeared and the winds that have been blowing have made the pilchards a bit hard to find. I expect the mild temperatures forecast all the way through Halloween will keep the tarpon around a while longer but more and more our focus will be turning towards the interior bays....
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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