Flamingo ENP with a fly rod... 17 Novembe
Capt. Bob LeMay
November 17, 2020
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
After all the recent storms (and the floods that came with them) it was nice to finally get back on the water at the end of last week. Making the move to using a fly rod for a beginning fly angler was the agenda that day and I had local angler Raj Bahra aboard with a pair of brand new fly rods (we only used his 8wt that day...). An experienced angler with conventional gear, this was his first trip using a fly rod so we planned on making it a teaching day as well as an introduction to the interior of the Everglades working with only a fly rod and some hopes...
One of the great advantages the interior is that you can almost always find fishable waters - when everywhere else is either a muddy mess or so loaded with rainwater run-off that you'll struggle to get a single bite all day long... and that was the case last Thursday. On the way to Whitewater Bay we found a shoreline loaded with birds and made a point of pausing to check it out. It was loaded with small fry - and lots of fish eating them. I had Raj make a few casts, provided a few tips on how to go about stripping a small fly and his first fish on a fly... a baby tarpon...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/5BKlIjp.jpg[/img]
forgot to mention that it was raining a bit - but small tarpon on the feed don't even notice it...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/lx0maFX.jpg[/img]
Don't know how I ended up holding the fish instead of my angler - but that's how it worked out that day... all Raj did was hook fish after fish - all of them small tarpon...
Our first few bites were with a small maribou fly (a Crystal Schminnow, size #4) - and Raj was learning to strip strike, something everyone starting out with a fly rod in the salt will struggle with.... After missing a half dozen strikes he got down to business and hooked a few more, with many of them jumping off the hook at the first opportunity. Once we had it down we switched to small popping bugs so that he could see the surface strikes using a SpeedBug in size #1. After an hour's worth of action we left them biting and spent the rest of the day with small snook that were eager to bite clousers (or at least my version of Bob Clouser's famous minnow pattern). Lost count of the number small snook that day - unlike the baby tarpon - little snook just attack a fly and usually hook themselves in the process...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/wn85i9R.jpg[/img]
We found them in a variety of places but only where the water was relatively clear (Even Whitewater Bay only held good waters in the extreme eastern areas (along with Lane and other bays as well...). It was a great day - and I can't wait until the waters clear up enough to do some serious sight-fishing with their big brothers as we move into the fall... Unlike up north... down here we still are in late summer conditions with water temps still in the high seventies and low eighties - very unusual weather for this time of year in the 'glades...
Be a hero... take a kid fishing
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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