We only hit the water twice this week, on Monday night and Friday during the daytime. Still lots of fish now - it's just that time of year.... Thomas Arndt made the night trip locally and saw lots and lots of small tarpon under the bridges between Miami and Miami Beach. The tarpon that night were a bit fussy, but still willing to bite. Thomas put one nice one in the air on a DOA shrimp but it didn't stay connected long enough. Almost every dock light we visited had good sized pilchards swimming in and out of the lights. Using live pilchards we got bites almost everywhere, mostly from normally shy dock snappers with speckled trout in the mix as well. Our best snapper was right at 18" and promptly invited home for dinner. None of the snook we saw were able to beat the snapper and trout to the baits. They'll have to wait for another night. I noticed that water temps are beginning to fall away toward a bit cooler water. The lowest temps we found were in the 74 to 75 degree range... I think fall is finally getting here.
On Friday it was back to Flamingo on my own doing some exploring (that's my excuse since you just have to get away from tying flies, making lures, and all the other things that still need doing.....). I made it a very early day and was across the interior before daylight. Lots of tarpon still along the coast and back up inside selected rivers, but they weren't on the target list. I tossed a topwater Mirrolure at a few spots and was rewarded with a blow up from a big snook. That spot is going to get a visit from one of my anglers soon...
The best news is that the redfish are still very strong both out on the coast and up inside Whitewater Bay. I kept one small one for the table, here's a pic and it's obviously an outside fish.... just from the color..
At 22" this was the smallest red all day...
Moving back inside I ran into some fall jack crevalle in the rivers and way back into Whitewater.... this time of year they're much bigger than what you normally see inside.. this was the smallest one.
it was released, still full of fire....
Back inside Whitewater I found some very nice redfish for catch and release... this pic is the smallest, the rest were near or over the slot size with the biggest at 29". Once again the coloration shouts "inside fish"..
It was carefully released after posing on a wet towel...
I believe you could make a day out of fishing big reds inside now. The tarpon will remain in force as long as the weather stays mild.... Nothing like Flamingo this time of year.
Tight Lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666