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South Florida Report - Flamingo, Biscayne Bay & Miami
Capt. Jim Hobales
August 8, 2007
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
August 2007
The fishing remains good in the areas I cover, Miami Beach, Biscayne Bay, (north and south) and Flamingo have all been productive for numerous species. I usually concentrate on the main species of Tarpon, Snook, Bonefish or Permit but some people just want the rod to bend constantly; so I try to entertain them.
The Snook fishing in Fl. Bay and backcountry has been really consistent; there aren’t a lot of complaints by anglers when it comes to Snook lately. I have been on Tarpon; they just love the Twitch n Rap! One of the great things that happens while casting the Twitch n Rap is that all the other fish destroy it, so multi specie catches are the norm and gland Slams on that one lure happen a lot.
The rest of the month will be interesting the heat has been up in the mid to upper 90’s so the key still is early and late.
080607
Today I am fishing with Mark and his son Griffin on his Andros tower boat in south Biscayne Bay for Tarpon, Bonefish and Permit; this was a really different experience! I was running the rear trolling motors from the tower and was able to spot fish from really far away, “no poling”. The boat did some things really good and floats shallow but you need to be able to turn quickly and chase fish, which takes time in that boat. We were running along Elliot Key when I spotted some baits getting busted up, we stopped and there were some Tarpon mixed in with Cuda’s. I hooked one of the Tarpon and tried to pass it off to Marks son but it came off, Mark caught some decent size Cuda’s. I spotted 5 Permit on a shallow white bar but they must of seen us first and moved on.
I power poled down on a point that has a lot of current and the fish seem to pour thru, but we had some serious storms moving our way. First we had a ray with a couple Bonefish cruising with it, then a single small Permit and then 2 pods of medium size Tarpon and then a monster rainsquall, which made us move. We ran over to a creek and hid while it passed over us; once it did we popped out onto cutter bank where we found some tailing Bonefish. Mark made a couple cast with no luck. The key I told him is to be able to cast really far! There were more storms moving are way so we ran to the west bank, we got into some Bone fish overt here but they were moving quick and again poisoning was tough without a push pole. This day was to help mark out with some spots but more importantly to teach him some new techniques.
080407 this weekend is a bit of a get away for me. I’m in St. Lucie visiting my mom and sister but brought my boat along just in case. I called my long time friend Jorge who lives up there and asked if he wanted to fish when I came up this weekend, this is a guy I grew up fishing with so it was great. I ran right to the jetty because that’s all I heard about for 2 days while I was there. I rigged a couple of Twitch n Raps up and let the fish catchin begin. We had a couple strikes right off the bat, followed by some boils. Jorge caught a big Ladyfish and I caught a good size Jack, where are the Snook I asked? We kept talking and casting, it been about 6 years since we have seen each other. I found a certain rock that I kept getting boiled on so I cast again and again. Finally a big St.Lucie Inlet Snook was on and pulling drag, we went back and forth with the big Snook finally straightening out my hooks. This is the first time I have had a fish do this, the hooks that come are strong but they finally met there match. My customers have hooked plenty of big Tarpon on them so this was a first. What I like to do is use the sure set trebles on the back and leave the front one. We decide to run to the North Fork and try some sots I use to fish up there; luckily we got into some Tarpon and caught some more Snook. This was a great reunion.
080607
This morning Francisco wants his son Ricky to catch fish, nothing special “just catch”! We started out in front of the old “zoo” There can be Snook, Tarpon and Bonefish in there, the other thing is bathers. At 7 am there were people swimming right in the area I wanted to fish. We ran south and fished the jetty off of the lighthouse and wore out the 3-5 lb. Jack Crevalles, throw in a couple nice size cuda’s and it was a good start. On the horizon a monster storm was breathing down our neck so we kept an eye out. The tide was falling and I ran to “Stiltsville” area but the freight train was coming we had to go. I was really glad I brought the Pathfinder 22 today. I ran back towards Key Biscayne and it was in our face. We made it back to the marina and 15 minutes later it was gone. We went back out and got into some Tarpon, which appeared to be feeding. I rigged a Gulp 7-inch jerk bait on a jig and the tarpon slammed it. The sad part is it didn’t last long and then the sun came out and they were gone. They caught several more Jacks and they had to leave.
Capt. Jimbo
305-333-8149
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