Been a few months since my last report but was able to spend a few days in the backcountry recently. With the current politics, the Park has not been manned - but they’ve kindly left the gates open so we can enjoy the Park when we want to. My first day there was solo and I did a bit of exploring for a half day - in poor weather conditions. I should have done a bit of research but my version of “cabin fever” had me wanting to get back on the water - no matter what the conditions were… More than half the spots I wanted to visit were covered up in rain so I took what was open, tossing a beaten up old topwater plug that was on its second or third set of trebles or a small leadhead with a DOA tail. Lots of short strikes everywhere, more than a few of them obviously very small fish. Finally out on the gulf side of the Park, contact at a spot that’s usually loaded up with sharks, ready to attack any snook you catch.. A solid fish tagged my plug and I absolutely horsed it out of downed trees and to my skiff, as quickly as possible. Here’s a pic
A quick measure and it was exactly 27.5 ", a half inch short for keeping… so back in the water and hopefully back into the cover that allows good fish to hide from hungry sharks…
Caught and released a variety of fish that morning, but was able to score a “dinner trout” that measured 18.5" - almost too big to keep… Along the way, as usual, ran into more than a few young goliath grouper. This one was in the middle of Whitewater Bay in less than two feet of water. I swear we’re over-run with them and hope the FWC will notice and remove the protections they’ve enjoyed for nearly 40 years now…
This tiny one is just a hint of what we’re seeing. We can catch and release them up to 30 or 40lbs almost any day - and they’re displacing other species. Something needs to be done…
This past weekend my first booking was using spinning gear for a variety of fish. We caught and released a dozen or more small snook, along with snapper, speckled trout, jacks, ladyfish, and of course two goliath grouper, etc. Later on that day we found a point that held some bigger fish. This nice redfish was the result… and all on small leadheads with plastic tails…
An hour later we added a nice tripletail along a nearby shoreline that just fit the slot so it got invited home…
Scott and Sophie are normally bluewater anglers. I’m hoping they’ll want to come back to my area again…
Yesterday I fished a fly angler in the same places that the day before held lots of fish - but they simply weren’t eating our flies very well at all. We managed a few snook, as well as snapper and other species - but all of them small. The highlight of the day was a feeding frenzy in a river mouth for at least an hour with big tarpon attacking into schools of mullet, really tearing it up… Try as we might -they ignored our flies…
As long as it stays warm here (water temps in a few places as high as 83 yesterday…) the big tarpon should be possible - but I usually count on our first cold night somewhere near Halloween… Funny thing I usually look forward to the last of the big tarpon - during the week of the World Series as well - they happen to coincide… Along with the tarpon I’m hearing lots of folks doing well on schools of redfish along the coast from the Ten Thousand Islands down towards Flamingo. I guess that’s one more sign that we’re moving into fall weather (and fall fishing). While I haven’t had any night bookings recently you can count on the tides being favorable for a night trip in Biscayne Bay starting around 4 November - for at least five nights…
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
“Be a hero… take a kid fishing”
