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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
January 2, 2006
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
I was lucky enough to be booked the last three days of 2005, fishing out of Flamingo each day. All the facilities there remain closed and only the inside ramp is open. Since that's my normal area, it was all we needed. Temperatures warmed very nicely during the three days before the New Year. We started on Thursday with barely 61 degree water temps at dawn... by Saturday it was 64 to 65 at dawn and everything was eating! Every morning we started off the day catching and releasing ladyfish and speckled trout. Some of the ladies were ocean sized, the trout were mostly small or barely legal. The best fishing each day was for shallow water snook warming up each day along very shallow mud corners just out of the wind. The snook ranged from little ones all the way up to fish that were at or above the upper slot limit. Although we caught and released them from Whitewater all the way out to the Shark River, the best hunting areas for them were in the interior of Whitewater Bay. We also caught and released redfish each day in Oyster and Whitewater Bays but there were a lot more snook around than reds on the days we fished. By Friday Robert Halvorsen and his nephew Billy from Pennsyvania had each managed a backcountry slam of snook, reds, and trout for each angler on lures. Although our biggest snook landed and released was only about 8lbs, both anglers had hooked and lost snook up to about 12lbs under the best weather conditions imaginable. At the end of Friday we began to see a few giant tarpon moving in Whitewater Bay... Knowing that the following day would have even warmer water temperatures, I had visions of an end of the year big tarpon for the next day's anglers.
Saturday, although we saw a few tarpon, the fish remained out of reach. My anglers Brian King and Wayne Hamilton were just happy to be fishing for reds, snook, and trout. Early that morning Wayne, a local angler from Dade county made an outstanding catch. He caught, photoed, and released a snook that weighed over 18lbs on the Boga-grip. The fish was taken on fairly light gear, 12lb line with spinning gear. It was his biggest ever and a great catch in Whitewater Bay within just a few feet of a mangrove island. It would be tough to find one bigger in Whitewater in a year's fishing, but we'll be trying... They also went on to catch and release a backcountry slam of reds, trout, and more snook. Flamingo is just the place to be in the winter when the weather eases up a bit. At the end of three days we had caught and released around 20 reds and at least as many trout each day and had good sight action with spooky snook every day. For guys that want to fish the area out of their own boats here's a tip... forget the trolling motor and just use a pushpole to hunt fish. You'll see a lot more fish if you're quiet...
As I write this another local angler called to report that the night-time small tarpon fishing in Biscayne Bay is still on fire... so Flamingo isn't the only hotspot right now. The best night fishing will be on a falling tide with a few shrimp moving to start the feed. It will continue all the way through April if the fish behave like they usually do.
A quick note about Flamingo for anyone reading this report. The place got badly damaged during this fall's hurricanes and the Park will have quite a bit of work to repair things and re-open its facilities. One serious problem appears to be that there's some question about whether the Flamingo Lodge will be re-built at all... Curtis Morgan with the Miami Herald has written an excellent article about it last week. The final decision will be made in the near future. I hope the Park hears from lots of folks about that decision. It worries me that the Lodge may just disappear since it brings so many visitors to stay in the Park. Your comments to the political types may influence that decision. Step up, the Park could use some friends right now.
Tight Lines
Bob LeMay
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