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Everglades National Park - Flamingo
Capt. Bob LeMay
May 24, 2007
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
This report will cover the past two weeks of fishing almost everyday out of Everglades City and Flamingo... The first week was out of Everglades City in poor weather conditions... at least that's what I'd call a continuous west wind for five days.... The weather forced us to work interior bays for snook and redfish. The fishing was particularly difficult since I was guiding members of a fly fishing club from the Carolinas, with different anglers each day. We struggled at first to find, then tempt fish that were pretty much shut down by the bad weather. Finally we began to find snook in some of the lower bays that were hungry and even got some solid slot fish to attack topwater minnow patterns. Toward the end of the week we even found snook, redfish and small goliath grouper in true sight-fishing conditions. Watching a five to ten pound grouper come roaring out from under a shallow log to attack a soft plastic jerk bait is pure adrenaline! We also saw our share of the big girls, snook in the 10 to 15lb range that were very spooky and hard to approach. I'll be looking for them the next time we come that way...
The following week it was back to Flamingo for the last of the big tarpon that were beginning to leave for the spawning migration. We jumped fish up to 150lbs each day, but rarely connected solidly... One nice fish stayed connected for almost thirty minutes before finding a submerged tree and freedom. The next day that same fish was still towing the cork at the end of the leader and staying just out of range...The big surprise that week were large snook, up to 13lbs and larger, that quickly attacked live baits meant for tarpon. When a 15 to 17" ladyfish gets eaten less than ten feet from the boat, things get interesting.... We caught and released several snook that were way over the slot limit, then watched as one of them was cornered up against a shoreline by a hungry dolphin.... the snook lost the fight. It's the natural order of things that any easy targets get attacked by hungry predators, either in the jungle or in the water, but it was tough watching that snook after we'd carefully released it in good condition. -and so it goes.
This week the weather again was the dominant factor with high winds from the east to northeast dictating how and where we fished. This is one of the times when Flamingo can be outstanding when everywhere else is darned nearly un-fishable since the entire Gulf coast is in the lee of the wind. We enjoyed good sight fishing for redfish, found hungry speckled trout, and even hungrier snook. All on flies or lures, with the Gulp shrimp leading the way. Our high score this week so far has been 20 snook released in one day with the largest each day in the 8 to 9lb range. A backcountry slam has been a daily occurrence now, with the added bonus of nice sized goliath grouper and small tarpon. The catch of the week was made by prominent local angler Jay Wright, who caught and released a grand slam on fly and lure of snook, tarpon, trout, and redfish. His fishing partner, Tom Wilkisson jumped off the two tarpon he needed to complete the grand slam. All were on lures. It's that time of year....
Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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