Fishing report - Everglades, Flamingo, 13 & 14 Jan 2024
Jan 17, 2024 10:47:30 GMT -5
klinger, hughb, and 2 more like this
Post by lemaymiami on Jan 17, 2024 10:47:30 GMT -5
Finally, this past weekend, the interior - mostly Whitewater Bay, is starting to show its winter population of reds, snook and other species... On Saturday I had Mark Howard and his wife Dot aboard for a short trip out of Flamingo (they were staying at the new lodge there...). We found lots of trout at first - mostly in the interior near the Gulf coast - but all were on the small side. We were using the lightest spinning gear and small lures almost exclusively... Mark is a retired fishing guide from Anna Maria Island and I was looking for a bit more action so we moved back inside and found both redfish and snook in the same shallow
shorelines... The reds were all slot sized and working in twos and threes along very shallow shorelines (good sight fishing... ). The snook were laying just about 20 to 30 feet off of those same shallow shorelines (and we never saw them until the strike..). Here's a pic or two from Saturday...
Mark is a really big guy - this red was around 23", carefully released..
A nearly slot sized snook - one of three that day...
Almost all of our fish that day were taken on 1/8oz leadheads - with plastic tails using only 10lb braid on light spinning rods - great fun! Inside waters on Saturday were unusually warm for January - back at the ramp that afternoon we showed 77 degree water....
The next day was a definite change of pace. I committed to meeting my anglers at an interior chickee (they were part of a group in two bigger boats and wanted to fish with me instead... ). I knew that I'd have to get an early start just to meet them but never guessed I'd log 31 miles to get there that morning (the Harney River chickee was our meeting point). Fortunately we didn't have to run back there at the end of the day and met up with their group at the Joe River chickee instead... Still and all - it was a more than 90 mile round trip that day for my old skiff...
Our first few hours that day were a struggle - just to find fish - and we struck out in Tarpon Bay, and a few additional spots near Oyster Bay before I decided we needed a change.. At a nearby river mouth we finally found fish and began to score well on a variety of species laying off the shoreline at the very beginning of the incoming tide - then found the reds and snook we were looking for nearby. We caught and released seven snook (all under 24") at that spot without moving - all on small leadheads (just like the day before) as well as small reds and one very nice 18" trout, all carefully released - then ran back inside when the action slowed. Once back in Whitewater the same pattern as the day before produced well for us. Here's a pic of our best snook that day...
Jeff Sink with a nearly slot sized snook on very light gear...
What started out as a very slow day - just got better and better.... Just nothing like the 'glades...
This time of year we count on cold front after cold front coming through, every 7 to 10 days - our next one is headed to show up this coming weekend (along with the usual high winds and sudden temperature drops). In coming weeks, as soon as the weather moderates and we have low seventy degree water temps in the interior for a week or so - the giant tarpon will flood up into Whitewater Bay and nearby areas.... If the waters stay cold (air temps supposed to drop to 50 degrees this Saturday night...) they'll stay away...
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
shorelines... The reds were all slot sized and working in twos and threes along very shallow shorelines (good sight fishing... ). The snook were laying just about 20 to 30 feet off of those same shallow shorelines (and we never saw them until the strike..). Here's a pic or two from Saturday...
Mark is a really big guy - this red was around 23", carefully released..
A nearly slot sized snook - one of three that day...
Almost all of our fish that day were taken on 1/8oz leadheads - with plastic tails using only 10lb braid on light spinning rods - great fun! Inside waters on Saturday were unusually warm for January - back at the ramp that afternoon we showed 77 degree water....
The next day was a definite change of pace. I committed to meeting my anglers at an interior chickee (they were part of a group in two bigger boats and wanted to fish with me instead... ). I knew that I'd have to get an early start just to meet them but never guessed I'd log 31 miles to get there that morning (the Harney River chickee was our meeting point). Fortunately we didn't have to run back there at the end of the day and met up with their group at the Joe River chickee instead... Still and all - it was a more than 90 mile round trip that day for my old skiff...
Our first few hours that day were a struggle - just to find fish - and we struck out in Tarpon Bay, and a few additional spots near Oyster Bay before I decided we needed a change.. At a nearby river mouth we finally found fish and began to score well on a variety of species laying off the shoreline at the very beginning of the incoming tide - then found the reds and snook we were looking for nearby. We caught and released seven snook (all under 24") at that spot without moving - all on small leadheads (just like the day before) as well as small reds and one very nice 18" trout, all carefully released - then ran back inside when the action slowed. Once back in Whitewater the same pattern as the day before produced well for us. Here's a pic of our best snook that day...
Jeff Sink with a nearly slot sized snook on very light gear...
What started out as a very slow day - just got better and better.... Just nothing like the 'glades...
This time of year we count on cold front after cold front coming through, every 7 to 10 days - our next one is headed to show up this coming weekend (along with the usual high winds and sudden temperature drops). In coming weeks, as soon as the weather moderates and we have low seventy degree water temps in the interior for a week or so - the giant tarpon will flood up into Whitewater Bay and nearby areas.... If the waters stay cold (air temps supposed to drop to 50 degrees this Saturday night...) they'll stay away...
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
