Did a bit of scouting into the backcountry out of Flamingo on Friday… Water temps 69.3 in Buttonwood Canal first thing, but only 67.3 on the run across Whitewater Bay at dawn. Although the Park has “re-opened”, both the restrooms and the cutting table area were still locked down (and remained so that afternoon..). By 2pm there were shallow shorelines in Whitewater where water temps had risen five degrees up into the 72 range. This time of year and on into winter conditions, water temps will be a big factor in finding fish… Our first spot, in Whitewater held some hungry small snook and we caught and released a half dozen without moving… That day with quarter moon tides and a dismal solunar prediction - it was a start.
Working farther west out towards the Shark River area we found small goliath grouper in spots where normally the fish are quite a bit bigger, catching and releasing each one. Here’s local angler Mike Cole with one of them…
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Our next stop along the coast provided Mike with a surprise small tarpon of about 10 - 12 lbs on a small leadhead… Since it was one of those spots that come equipped with entirely too many sharks I had Mike really get down on that fish, thinking it was a big snook… He did just that bringing the fish to the boat for a few jumps then the fish did the releasing… Not exactly the way any tarpon should be fought but at least it didn’t get bitten… At a nearby spot we added a bunch of speckled trout to our total -most right at 15" with one reaching 17" and an invitation to dinner (my dinner to be precise). Along the way I noted that coastal waters were simply a few degrees warmer than the interior that morning, showing an easy 70 degrees… I figure one or two more cold fronts passing through will change that…
Just a bit later, after the tide began outgoing we moved to a river mouth for a bit more action, finding a nice redfish, 24", that was also invited home. Here’s a photo, showing the kind of lures we were using - most of the day…
Just nothing like the 'glades - it’s my favorite place in this world…
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
" Be a hero… take a kid fishing ! "