Post by lemaymiami on Sept 9, 2024 9:53:47 GMT -5
With snook season in the 'glades not starting this year until the end of September instead of September 1st... bookings for this guy are almost zero - so time to do a bit of scouting to prep up for the fall season in the backcountry... Last Friday it was Flamingo, a few days before - Chokoloskee. With no obligations, shopwork all caught up, time to hit the water, usually about an hour before daylight to see what's happening in a few chosen spots. On Friday it was out to the coast through the interior, noting that surface water temps were at 87 degrees at the ramp - and other than one other skiff I'd be having the waters to myself mostly... One of the nice things about a bit of exploration is the ability to do things differently, hopefully while trying different techniques as well as the time to stop and just enjoy the scenery if appropriate.... Here's the one photo from Friday taken from Whitewater Bay about fifteen minutes before sunrise...
Just nothing like the 'glades - my favorite place in this world...
High water temps throughout the day wherever I went. Used a variety of gear tossing lures, flies, etc (spin, plug, fly) but never found anything outstanding all the way out to the coast in the Shark river area - even out to the boundary markers, about four miles offshore. Not much bait showing in the areas I checked but that might have been the tide which was falling fast with low tide just around 10:30 that morning. Did lose one nice grouper that ate a DOA Baitbuster along a river bank then took me to school on plug rod - and that was that... Off the water just before 2pm, needing to hook up in the Homestead area with a lure customer... Three days before, over at Chokoloskee - things were quite a bit different...
Last Tuesday launching solo out of Chokoloskee, then working to the south, once again well before first light and hardly any other boats to see anywhere. Water conditions a bit murky (that will change as we move into fall and then winter..) with a few fish here and there. That day, my focus was to work bights I don't normally work and check each spot for redfish with bait up under trees while working lures or flies. One thing was quickly apparent - no reds in the areas I checked and within just a few minutes at each spot - hungry sharks... Expecting that, used a mono leader with the bait so each encounter quickly cost me a hook and sinker - then it was off to the next spot. A few small snook here or there as well as a trout or two so I was ready to quit for the morning when a big surprise came along on the bait rod. For a few moments I thought - another shark as it ran off line then came near the surface after a short run and that brief glimpse might have been a big red - which really got my attention... A few minutes of hard work later it came to the surface again - a big triple tail (a really big one...). Boated it with care and the Boga Grip showed it to be right at 12lbs... Haven't had one bigger than that in many years now... Here's a pic...
The reel shown here is a Shimano 400 for comparison - the heaviest rig I had on board that day, just for using bait... .
That fish, up under a downed tree - way at the back of a series of bights... got invited home for dinner.... Never know what you'll come up with day to day in the areas we run. My last work that day with that same plug rod using one small live bait and one piece of cutbait got hammered by grouper (probably goliaths) in the same spot in the pass on the way back in -and just got taken to school. Fifty pound leader sheared off on shell edged rock more than likely - next time it will 80lb leader and a heavier rod...
My scouting this coming week will be night trips - one in Jupiter where the mullet run has started and the other, later this week in the Miami / Miami Beach area to see what the local docklights are holding when the tide is right.
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
Just nothing like the 'glades - my favorite place in this world...
High water temps throughout the day wherever I went. Used a variety of gear tossing lures, flies, etc (spin, plug, fly) but never found anything outstanding all the way out to the coast in the Shark river area - even out to the boundary markers, about four miles offshore. Not much bait showing in the areas I checked but that might have been the tide which was falling fast with low tide just around 10:30 that morning. Did lose one nice grouper that ate a DOA Baitbuster along a river bank then took me to school on plug rod - and that was that... Off the water just before 2pm, needing to hook up in the Homestead area with a lure customer... Three days before, over at Chokoloskee - things were quite a bit different...
Last Tuesday launching solo out of Chokoloskee, then working to the south, once again well before first light and hardly any other boats to see anywhere. Water conditions a bit murky (that will change as we move into fall and then winter..) with a few fish here and there. That day, my focus was to work bights I don't normally work and check each spot for redfish with bait up under trees while working lures or flies. One thing was quickly apparent - no reds in the areas I checked and within just a few minutes at each spot - hungry sharks... Expecting that, used a mono leader with the bait so each encounter quickly cost me a hook and sinker - then it was off to the next spot. A few small snook here or there as well as a trout or two so I was ready to quit for the morning when a big surprise came along on the bait rod. For a few moments I thought - another shark as it ran off line then came near the surface after a short run and that brief glimpse might have been a big red - which really got my attention... A few minutes of hard work later it came to the surface again - a big triple tail (a really big one...). Boated it with care and the Boga Grip showed it to be right at 12lbs... Haven't had one bigger than that in many years now... Here's a pic...
The reel shown here is a Shimano 400 for comparison - the heaviest rig I had on board that day, just for using bait... .
That fish, up under a downed tree - way at the back of a series of bights... got invited home for dinner.... Never know what you'll come up with day to day in the areas we run. My last work that day with that same plug rod using one small live bait and one piece of cutbait got hammered by grouper (probably goliaths) in the same spot in the pass on the way back in -and just got taken to school. Fifty pound leader sheared off on shell edged rock more than likely - next time it will 80lb leader and a heavier rod...
My scouting this coming week will be night trips - one in Jupiter where the mullet run has started and the other, later this week in the Miami / Miami Beach area to see what the local docklights are holding when the tide is right.
"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
