Tarpon are here!
Capt. Jim Hobales
April 24, 2008
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
041908
Richard was my first regular customer when I started guiding in 2000 we probably fished 8 times that year. I haven't heard from until this past week, Richard always brought his grandsons and this time it was no different, he brought his grandson Jonathon along with his buddy Eric which just returned from Iraq and Donna. We went out and just caught Trout, Jacks and Ladyfish for a couple hours. I asked if it was time for a shot at a Tarpon and they jumped at the chance. I ran into the Gulf of Mexico and put out some baits only to have the Sharks eat them, they didn't care we caught them. Jonathon had a big one on for a while until it broke off. Richard got the rod next when a big Blacktip ate the bait. This shark was tough richard fought it with everything he had and it took over an hour to land it and snap some photos. They were beat so we headed home.
042008
David, Hung, and Willy made a mistake and ended up in Chokoloskee this morning, when he called and told me I gave them the option of just going home or i would wait for them to get to Flamingo. They wanted to fish and they made it there 945 am, by 1030 we had released 3 Reds and a Snook. These guys just wanted to bend the rod they said they had never done any fishing like this before and liked it. I bounced around from spot to spot catching a litlle of everything but the bite was definitly slow today. We had a shot at Tripletails and most were spooky, but we did hook one on a Twitch n Rap which is a great lure for Tripletails. We did some Shark fishing and Hung caught a giant Sting ray.
042108
Tony and Louie are life long friends wanted to catch some fish today, the tide was ver high and falling but the fish werent on my first spot. The second area we fished was more productive, their lures were getting smashed but still we had no fish in the boat. Louie had a big very big Trout hit next to the boat only to get off. It was Tony's turn and he had a big Trout as well and it came free. I was just a bit frustrated and picked up a rod and cast the same chartreuse jerkbait they were throwing only to have the fish let go the same was. These were all 5 lb Trout and I guess they were better at the game than we were! I netted some bait and satrted running around we ran to the Gulf in search of Tripletails, I spotted a big one and rigged a pinfish on a float and handed it to Tony which in turn hooked the big fish. Tony fought it all the way to the boat where it fell of the hook as I was about to grab it. This happened 3 times! Normally this is where I start looking for banana's in the boat. I said I got a wreck thats holding some fish lets go and it was holding fish, as we pulled up the Tarpon were everywhere. Thousands of them bu they were moving pretty good. I rigged a pinfish and Tony pitched it out in front of the school, now Tony is hooked up with a 50 lb Tarpon. The problems just wont end today, a screw fell out of the bail spring! I took one out of another reel and Tony landed the Tarpon. There has to be a Banana somewhere on this boat, just to many issues. The Sharks over ran the area so Louie caught a few and then hooked a Permit on a Gulp Shrimp only to loose it. We stopped on the way in and did a little Trout fishing before calling it quits.
042208
Dan Fred and Matt are from Toronto , eh. It is breezy to day but we caught bait and made the long run looking or the Tarpon I saw yesterday. It rough but do-able Dan said this is not rough for them. We made our way to the wreck and it didn't take long, these guys were tripled up on 5 lb Jack Crevalles for the first half hour. I saw a school of Permit and pitched a crab to them and handed the rod to Matt, after 10 minutes it broke off. The Sharks were thick and we were teasing them up because the Cobias were coming behind them. Dan hooked a Cobia and he was holding on with everything he had, Dan got it up next to the boat and we released the short Cobia. It wasn't long and he was at it again with the same result. Matt was casting a chugger at the Sharks on his plug rod and that's what kept the Cobias coming, until the 10 foot Bull Shark go my 10 year old "lucky chugger'. This Shark took about 45 seconds to strip 200 yards of 12 lb line off his reel. There was plenty of action and Matt had a Tarpon eat a pinfish only to throw the hook. These guys were so tired they canceled there to go trip bass fishing the next day!
042308
I am with George and his dad George and we are fishing in Whitewater Bay, George told me his dad only fishes artificial's so I went back country. George Jr started off with a Redfish and then his dad caught some Jacks on a X Rap fished on a deep point but he fishing was slow. I ran to a area that produces multi species just for them to get warmed up, George Sr. hooked a ladyfish and then we got into a great Trout bite George Sr. was casting a popper and Jr was using an X Rap and it was every cast for an hour. I asked do you guys want to try for Tarpon and they said ok. the next couple hours were dismal at best. The winds picked up and were out of the west which makes it somewhat tough to find them in the Gulf. I ran back and worked my way back into Whitewater and we Finally got into some nice size Snappers and Sr. had a decent Goliath on but it came off. We caught plenty of Trout, Jacks, ladyfish and Snappers and finally called it a day.
Flamingo Fishing Forecast:
When the wind dies the fishing is great!
Target Species:
Tarpon -Snook -Permit -Bonefish
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