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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
March 22, 2007
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
It's been a while since my last report, I've been on the water almost daily alternating between Flamingo and Everglades City - with a few side excursions to fish Biscayne Bay at night... As most locals will confirm the weather these past two weeks has been generally poor to downright nasty with high winds, quick temperature changes, and all the other things that go with the various cold fronts we've had. Just to keep things interesting the past five days we've had fairly high winds coming in from the east. The wind chimes at my front door have been ringing continuously now for the entire five days - but that hasn't slowed the fishing down much at all... The only real plus that the bad weather has brought with it has been the tendency of most anglers to sit it out... I'm not seeing many other boats day or night.
In the backcountry of the 'Glades we've had good action each day whether out of Flamingo or Everglades City. Last week the highlight was the big redfish. We found upper slot and over slot fish on lures and bait at both ends of the Park along with nice sized trout and snook that were mostly small with only a few in the lower slot range. This week the snook fishing in very shallow interior areas was quite good with more than a few upper slot fish in nice protected shorelines that had clear water for perfect sight fishing shots. Rich Anderson got several of them on very light spinning gear with lures. His best this week weighed right at 10lbs on the Boga Grip. Every day this week we posted backcountry slams of snook, redfish, and speckled trout on days when most anglers chose to stay home. Even on nasty days Whitewater Bay out of Flamingo or the many interior bays out of Everglades City have been producing quality fish...
The night fishing recently has been a bit more difficult with rough water conditions that make fishing around the bridges of Biscayne Bay a challenge. Last night Bruce Rueben did very nicely in tough conditions, with his first tarpon on fly. Since the tide started late, so did we starting the trip at midnight. We found lots of small (and not so small) fish at several spots. Bruce spotted and cast to one fish that ate the fly like it was starved and we were in luck with a solid 20lb fish on a light fly rod. After many jumps and a few difficult moments near some concrete pilings that first tarpon came to hand for a photo and release. This was in winds that varied from 15 to more than 25 miles an hour..(thank heavens some nearby condos gave us some partial shelter). The night fishing will continue strong for another month or so, then get going again in June. It's a great trip for anyone that only has an evening to spare. When the tides are right we usually start at sundown instead of so late at night - but anytime the tide's falling those fish will be feeding... My main fly pattern for this kind of fishing is the Night Fly. I've attached a few photos for those that tie their own.[url="http://www.myfishingpictures.com/?p=117481&c=500&z=1"][img]http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/117481.JPG[/img][/url]
Tight Lines
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