On Monday when I awoke at 7 AM I checked the weather forecast for South Florida and saw that we might have quite a bit of rain and wind during the day. I awoke my wife and son and had them get ready for the ride to Flamingo anyway. We made sure that we had our Columbia Sportswear foul weather suites and off we went. We took our time getting to Flamingo knowing that the tide we wanted to fish would not be right till about noon. Sure enough we ran through scattered rain squalls and a steady wind at 15 to 20 miles per hour. We stopped at the Crackle Barrel in Florida City and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast before traveling the rest of the way to Flamingo. Once at the boat ramp we saw that there was only a few other fishermen in the Park probably because of the weather forecast. Since we were early as far as the tide was concerned we went searching for tripletail that I have been finding free floating on the surface but this day we saw none. A big squall threatened so we headed for the closest island and Power Poled down to wait out the squall. While waiting I was able to cast net a few dozen large pinfish a bait that I knew would be needed to entice the redfish that we were looking for. Once the rain slowed a bit we headed to our first spot. The tide was running out slowly exposing the shallow mud and grass flats around us. It didn't take long before the pinfish that we had hooked to the ¼ ounce red Hookup lures started attracting fish. I got the first strike and it was a ten pound snook that quickly spit the bait. By the end of the day we had three redfish in the 6 to 7 pound range stored in the cooler and had releases one 19 inch fish and 10 others over the 27 inch maximum size limit. We released a lemon shark that was close to 150 pounds plus lost many others and missed a nice tarpon. We got to see numerous sharks cruising the flats with their fins totally exposed; a huge tarpon that swam by us with dorsal and tail fin showing that ignored our pinfish, a group of manatees and dozens of different birds. Had we canceled our trip none of this would have happened. And the best thing, our Columbia Sportswear foul weather gear kept us completely dry.
With hurricanes, tropical storms, depressions and soon weak stalling cold fronts arriving almost weekly now, we in South Florida can expect similar conditions as I just described for the next few months. The point I was trying to make is don't let some foul weather change your plans as to when and where you go fishing. Within Reason! Here in South Florida there is almost always somewhere to wet a line that not only gives you a great chance at a trophy fish but in safe waters.
Offshore fishing has been excellent when weather conditions have allowed me to get offshore. Recently I had Tino and his friend Mark out for four hours and in that time we caught as much bait as we needed and then traded the bait into three large bonitos to 15 pounds, a 20 pound barracuda and a 50 pound sailfish and all caught on light inshore tackle. We missed at least a dozen kingfish and had either another sailfish or barracuda eat a bait and then jump as it broke our line.
Biscayne Bay has been very good for sea trout, snappers, barracudas, jacks and bluerunners and at night there have been snook and tarpon available.
Flamingo is the inshore hot spot. If you like big fish and want your arms to burn then Flamingo is where you want to be because the big lemon sharks are plentiful and in shallow water they are a blast. In between the sharks there have been plenty of big and small redfish as Pat found out last week when he caught over 20 redfish to 7 pounds, a 10 pound snook, sea trout, tripletail to 6.5 pounds, loads of jacks, ladyfish and snappers. Pat hooked a fish on a Rapala Twitchin Rap that almost stripped him before breaking his line. The tripletail were caught on Cajun Thunders and live shrimp and the redfish were caught on Hookup lures tipped with three inch Gulp shrimp and live pinfish.
I have included a picture of my son Zach and a largemouth bass that he caught in a canal in Broward County that ate a live shiner and was over ten pounds.
Well that catches us up for now!
Don't let a bad weather forecast stop you from having a fishing adventure of a lifetime!
Give me a call at 786-436-2064 or e-mail me at shermana@bellsouth.net
Let's go catch some Fish!
Check out my new web site and to read about the weekly catches and to see your pictures.
www.getemsportfishing.com
shermana@bellsouth.net
Check out my report in the Miami Herald's Sports section under Fishing Updates each Thursday, the Florida Sportsman Magazines South Florida Internet Fishing Report
(www.floridaspotsman.com), my monthly Action Spotter Fishing Report for the South Region in the Florida Sportsman Magazine each month.
I have recently been wearing a lot of Columbia Sports Wear on my fishing charters and the new Blood & Guts shirts are amazing. I have had mackerel, cobia and snook just splatter me with blood and one good washing and the shirts are as good as new. Check out their web site at www.columbia.com
Sponsors: Yamaha, Bob Hewes Boats, Maverick, Minn Kota, Lowrance Electronics, Daiwa, General Motors & Chevrolet, Rapala, Mustad, Ande Lines, Pure Fishing, Gulp, Berkley, Precision Tackle, Cajun Thunders, Capt. Hank Brown's Hook Up Lures, Hydro Glow Lights, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Saltwater Assassins, Key Largo Rods, Lee Fisher Cast Nets, Smartshield, Master Repair in Stuart Florida, Power Pole, Stow Master Nets, superfishlight.com, Columbia Wear, Tempress Seating
Capt. Alan Sherman
"Get Em" Sportfishing Charters
786-436-2064
w ww.getemsportfishing.com
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Field Editor of the Florida Sportsman Magazines Action Spotter Report South Region
Field Editor of the Florida Sportsman Magazines Internet Fishing Forecast South Region
Editor of the Miami Heralds South Florida Fishing Report Thursdays Edition
I expect the fishing to be pretty consistent for the next three or four months with lots of SEA TROUT, JACK CREVALLES, LADYFISH, SPANISH MACKEREL, BLUEFISH, GROUPER, BARRACUDAS, SNOOK, TARPON and some POMPANO in NORTH BISCAYNE BAY and OFFSHORE of MIAMI KINGFISH, MACKEREL, SAILFISH and DOLPHINS available on the calmer days and in SOUTH BISCAYNE BAY lots of action from a wide variety of fish like the SNAPPERS, GROUPERS, JACKS, BLUEFISH, MACKERELS, POMPANO, LADYFISH, PORGIES, GRUNTS, SNOOK and BLUERUNNERS keeping anglers busy catching and releasing fish most of the day. FLAMINGO in EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK will have a huge amount of wildlife like the WHITE PELICANS, ROSEATTE SPOONBILLS, SKIMMER BIRDS,GULLS, OSPREYS, EAGLES, TERNS, EGRETS, HERONS, ALLIGATORS, CROCODILES, BOTTLE NOSED DOLPHINS, MANATTEES, SHARKS and TURTLES and of course the wide variety of fish that migrate into FLORIDA BAY and the GULF waters during the cooler months of the year. SNOOK, TARPON, REDFISH, SEA TROUT, SHEEPSHEAD, TRIIPLETAIL, BLACK DRUM, SNAPPER, GOLIATH AND GAG GROUPER, POMOPANO, COBIA, MACKEREL, BLUEFISH and I'm sure I am leaving a few other fish species out will be available to all anglers at one time or another throughout the rest of our FALL FISHING SEASON.
