Last report 2017, Everglades backcountry - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
December 31, 2017
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
Last week of this year - and we were on the water for three days all told - this report will cover only last Thursday since it was a banner day in the backcountry out of Flamingo. I had a father and son charter aboard and we managed to catch a fish or two as we ran through the interior headed for the Gulf coast north of the Shark River. I never expected what we found when we got there just before the high tide... The weather conditions (water temps still a bit high, nearing 74 degrees, along with a slight breeze from the NE had left the coastal area laid down - ideal conditions for late December... The weather and water temps weren't the surprise - it was the birds sitting on a huge concentration of white bait.. Can't remember the last time I saw nearly 200 pelicans sitting in the same area (and every other kind of bird actively diving the area -about 200yds by 400yds in total).... Pastures of Plenty!!
A few other boats were working the bait school so we headed for a point nearby and set up to fish both bait and lures (I had loaded some white bait into my livewell on the way there). At first the white baits got ignored while both father and son got strike after strike on small jigheads with Gulp tails.... Here's a pic of one of them...
[img][img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/j3dDGyM.jpg[/img]
Lots of solid, pre-spawn trout, with many nearing 20"... It was fish after fish and we tossed the smaller ones back. Each angler had his limit in short order... and we were quite a ways ftom the big concentration of birds and baitfish... After about 30 minutes of non-stop trout action one of the live bait rods doubled over and Dale Ludwig was on a good snook in the middle of a bunch of downed trees and broken logs (typical big snook spot...). After once or twice around the rear of my skiff, and an attempt to wrap around the motor, the fish came to hand - a nice 30" fish... Here's the pic...
[img][img][img]https://i.imgur.com/0d5OMIE.jpg[/img]
It was carefully released to fight another day...
Shortly after that, as the tide hit high slack the huge school of bait - and all the birds simply dispersed and we never saw them again... The trout kept biting for another while (and we lost another one or two big fish back in the trees) then things went silent so we left the area.
Later that morning Dale's son (also named - Dale...) got a small redfish to complete his backcountry slam - then we went doing a bit of exploring... A few spots later, in the mouth of another of the drains off the Shark we hit the jackpot again - but with a different outcome... With what we'd seen earlier I made a point of working a short stretch of downed timber again and the big fish (reel screamers...) were in residence and hungry.. Both father and son were just taken to school by big hungry fish - that took full advantage of all the structure they were holding in. In short - it was fish four and us - zero - but there was a lot of excitement in between that outcome... I'll be back there the next time conditions point that way...
That afternoon things slowed down a bit -but it was still a great day on the water... but we did find another surprise - huge schools of finger mullet up inside the shallow upper areas of Whitewater Bay - a very good sign for this winter....
Be a hero - take a kid fishing!
Tight Lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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