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Everglades backcountry report - Flamingo, 9 January
Capt. Bob LeMay
January 9, 2021
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
We fished two days last week, on Tuesday, then again on Thursday, with mixed results. Tuesday was tough with high winds and waters that never warmed up much (and I had fly anglers aboard). We found lots of speckled trout in the interior but most were a bit under the slot as well as the usual ladyfish and small snappers. Hard to beat them for sheer numbers and willingness to attack any fly, lure, or bait that comes near. We actually had several doubles on fly for a husband and wife from Nevada... and we left them biting... We did find some good slot sized snook poling up shallow in the interior as well as a few small redfish but all of them were spooky and not interested in anything we were doing. Still the sky was bright blue, no bugs anywhere, and cool temperatures made it a treat to be on the water...
By Thursday things had changed dramatically with small and medium sized snook biting, as well as trout and redfish... Still, though, most of the fish in the interior were a bit on the small side. Things changed as we moved west towards the gulf coast and it's associated rivers - as well as nearby Oyster Bay. We found good ocean run speckled trout biting on a falling tide with many right at the upper slot limit of 19" (for those that remember the old rules - things changed last summer - check out myfwc.com for the correct size and number limits now..). We saved three of the big trout for the table while also releasing a very nice mid-slot redfish in very shallow shoreline waters. Along the way, local angler (and neighbor) Mike Cole tangled with a big snook up in very shallow waters - less than two feet deep... and it just took him to school before finally breaking off. Here's another one for Mike that came to the skiff for a photo and release (but for comparison the big one was nearly twice the size of the one in the photo...)
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Revj0XU.jpg[/img]
For anyone wondering, almost all of the fish we caught and released that day were taken on very similar small leadheads or bucktail jigs like the one shown in the photo... We ended our day out along the coast where I we took a great strong redfish that was 24" and invited it home for dinner as well..... It was a great day with both Mike and me (every now and then I just have to get out on the water and do some fishing myself... ) since we each caught and released a backcountry slam (snook, redfish, and trout by the same angler in a day on the water) as well as kept a few fish for the table.
For now my forecast is the usual winter song... good fishing between fronts and tough fishing the day after a front passes through ( and this time of year too much wind with every front as well as dramatically dropping temperatures with every front...).
We did see evidence of the big tarpon in the interior both days but we still need a few days of mild weather before any of them will get active and get that "early season" big tarpon event that Flamingo is so well known for is up and running. If things go the way I expect we're still a few weeks from that time... When it kicks off we'll see skiffs in the backcountry everywhere since Flamingo is the first place anywhere that the big girls make a showing in shallow sheltered waters each year... I do know of one guide who's already released two big 80lb fish on fly for his anglers this new year- but a day later another front ended the bite like someone turned off the switch...
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
Tight lines,
Bob LeMay
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