On the water out of Flamingo three of the last five days, mostly fly fishing... The pics will tell most of the story and, as expected, things are certainly heating up along the Gulf coast of the 'Glades.
You've got to get going long before daylight to see the coast at dawn...
since it's a 21 mile run to the west coast from the ramp at Flamingo...
With very skilled local angler Cass Sumrall aboard we started off the day with popping bugs at small to medium sized tarpon. The darned fish blew up the bug on more than one occasion but never managed to eat the thing, so that was it for popping bugs. A quick change to a Silhouette and Cass was hooked up to a 30lb fish on an 8wt rod...
He beat the fish handily but it didn't pose for a photo and we were on the hunt for bigger fish..
Running south along the coast we encountered a large school of jack crevalle - all from 10 up to 30lb fish and circling slowly like they were in spawning mode. Cass had several bites before hooking up but it was the smaller fish that were quickest to the fly....
with this fish a small one you can imagine how big the larger ones were...
We went on to find much larger tarpon but never managed a bite and all the action slowed to a stop at midday....
The next trip had local angler James Banta aboard and again it was all catching and releasing with fly gear. That day the tarpon pulled a disappearing act most places but we still managed a variety of species on fly, including snook, redfish, trout ( all on the small side), ladyfish, macks, jacks, etc. This time of year the spanish mackeral are hungry enough to eat popping bugs (if they don't cut you off in the process...).
catching macks on the fly is lots of fun if you don't run through all your bugs trying...
Yesterday it was time for a father and son team. Young Charlie Hughes with his Dad, local pastor David Hughes, both looking for a big tarpon. At 11 years old it would be Charlie's first big tarpon, his Dad would be using the fly rod - and we had a great day. After quickly catching bait while watching big fish rolling all around us we got down to business. The young angler (all 76lbs worth) was set up with 20lb spin and a live bait on a 6/0 circle hook. In the first hour we went through almost ten baits with a few tarpon bites but many, many shark hits, losing our share of hooks in the process. Charlie finally hooked up with a big fish and it was off to the races...
with David on the camera.
Young Charlie did it all, and never let up on a fish that was much bigger than him. After about 20 minutes he had the fish to the boat for a leader and photo. I estimated the fish between 90 and 100lbs...
and that's David holding on for the photo... you can see the circle hook right in the center of the upper jaw.
A few minutes later a revived fish was released carefully.
Next up was David using an 11wt rod and a great big black fly..... He jumped one fish that didn't stay attached, then hooked one solidly and we were back in business.
That fish, estimated between 70 and 80lbs really put on a show with lots of long runs and air time. I was a bit busy and missed pics of the fish in the air but did manage one good father and son type photo at boatside...
All in all it was a great day, young Charlie also caught and released several small redfish, a seven foot lemon shark, and we had big bites from grouper that just tore us up but didn't stay attached long enough.....
To end the day we made one last try for a slot redfish and here's the result...
a very nice Whitewater redfish that was just a little too big at almost 30 inches... it was Charlie's first big red and a great way to end the day.
In the next five to six weeks the fishing is going to keep getting better, if that's possible...
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666