Flamingo gulf coast report, 8 November 2018
Capt. Bob LeMay
November 8, 2018
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
We fished two days out of Flamingo on Monday and Tuesday, making the long run across the interior to the gulf coast each day. These past few weeks we've been finding lots of fish out of both Flamingo and Chokoloskee - but most of the snook, redfish, and speckled trout have been on the small side... There are so many small fish in this year class that next year and the year after that should be very good - but for now catch and release with light gear has been our routine... The good news is that because we haven't had a single cold night this fall, the tarpon are still around in good numbers - mostly in small to medium sizes with occasional fish that were at 80lbs and a bit bigger... The tarpon and an abundance of small ladyfish to fill our livewell had us aiming at them each day...
Each day we fished without another boat in sight mostly - something you never see on the weekends. On Monday I had Scotty Coghlan aboard from Australia who owns and operates one of the biggest sportfishing magazines in Oz... He was looking for his first tarpon and we found them in good numbers... Unfortunately there were quite a few sharks around as well (lemons, blacktips, bulls, and quite a few big spinners). Every bait we set out got attacked pretty quickly so we switched to lures but the tarpon weren't co-operating at all... We still caught and released a variety of fish on lures including a small goliath grouper that attacked a leadhead with Gulf tail and a slam of snook, redfish, and trout - all released to grow up a bit before their next encounter... As we headed back to the ramp at the end of the day I was thinking - just wait until tomorrow (about those tarpon...).
The next day I had folks from Utah aboard looking for their first experience in the Everglades - along with John Kern, who's been fishing with me for almost 20 years now, also from Utah... We quickly filled the live well and headed for those stubborn tarpon and found them along with quite a few even bigger sharks than the day before... I did a lot of re-rigging until finally we hooked a big tarpon which promptly jumped off, then it was back to shark after shark until we had a second tarpon bite, which again came un-buttoned pretty quickly... We were finally down to our last bait when we hooked up solid on a good fish. It was Rebecca's turn on the rod and we were off to the races... After a 25 minute fight we finally leadered a solid 70lb tarpon, for the release... Here's a pic of Rebecca after about 20 minutes on the rod....
[img]https://i.imgur.com/CyfjsSt.jpg[/img]
Her husband took video of the fight and I'll add it when I have it...
After the tarpon bite slowed down we ran to a small creek just as the high tide turned and began to fall... It was snook, redfish, speckled trout (at times all three rods were hooked up) until that first rush slowed down - but once again all were on the small side...
Here's a pic of one of John's snook... note the small leadhead in it's jaw - A 1/8oz. leadhead with a Gulp tail - was all we needed from Flamingo to Chokoloskee these past few weeks...
[img]https://i.imgur.com/gCwkVCz.jpg[/img]
With no cold front in sight I'd expect some good tarpon to stay around for another week or so...
Be a hero! Take a kid fishing
Tight Lines,
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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