August 27th, 2008

Flamingo Tarpon Fest!

I fished out front in Flamingo with my pal Mike Alfano of Davie, Fl this past Monday. All of the bights east were loaded with lots of baby Tarpon from 5 to 20lb range, every fly rodders dream!

And yes as you know my favorite small tarpon fly of choice is (the Gurguler) these Tarpon reminded me why that it is! Just glad I brought enough of them to go around as they were getting torn apart from all the hits we were getting!

We jumped alot and boated about six until the sun got highr and the action died out. Then moved on to look for some tailing Redfish. The Redfish action was not at solid as we had expected, not many were tailing and the ones we did find were not as aggressive as we'd liked the to be! Two were caught and Mike got his on topwater with a skitter walk, a topwater Redfsih hit is always quite a site to see as they have to just about stick their whole head out of the water to get at it!

I think the Redfish bite may have been affected by all of the fresh water being pumped out in the Bay due to Tropical Storm Fay and I think soon the bite will be back on point. As the storms moved in we decided to call it a day rather than stay out and keep playing hide and seek from the rain! In all it was a good day, especially from all the action the tarpon gave us. You just gotta love those little guys! I was planning on getting out early next week to fish the Key Largo/Islamorada area, but we'll just have to see what Gustav has instore for us, hopefully not much! Well thats all for now, talk to you soon..............Capt. Joe!

August 21th, 2008

Flamingo Mango's!

I fished Flamingo again this past week with Karl Hall and son Karl jr. of Kendall. It was Karl jr.s first trip to Everglades National Park and the Mangrove Snapper were eager to give him his first taste of Everglades fishin!

We got into them pretty thick for a while with the good ole Cajun Thunders and shrimp, almost all of them were keepers. While we were staked up on the edge of the channel I got out my binoculars and scanned the flat, while doing so I zeroed in on one of the biggest schools of Redfish I had seen in a while with all of their tails up in the air, it was a beautiful site! We got a late start that day, and as I wanted to get after them those nasty afternoon thunderstorms started to move in on us and kept me from doing so, white hot lightening on a wide open flat is never any fun, safety 1st. Going towards the marina there were still plenty of baby tarpon rolling in the channels, but being it was mid afernoon that seemed to be all they wanted to do! But in all it was good trip and a nice introduction to Everglades fishing for Karl Jr.! After seeing that big school of Reds got my blood going , and I'm defintely going to get after them this weekend with the good incoming tides. I'll be sure to let you know how that turns out, catch em up

.............Capt. Joe.

August 11th, 2008

Flamingo Slamming!

I fished Flamingo outside with my friend Chris Calvano of the FlyShop of Ft. Lauderdale this past Thursday! Most of the Flats to the east were packed with schools of juvinile tarpon that are just a blast on the fly, and they will take one quite readily!

In the morning the Glades Gurgular is my fly of choice and it will trigger an explosive strike from baby tarpon or snook. Yes, the snook are still out there terrorizing the bait schools and will often strike a topwater fly, the gurgular is the most productive in my opinion because it can immitate a struggling baitfish on the surface.

The Redfish also made a great appearance as we saw nice groups of fish cruising and tailing and they were also more than happy to take a fly! The Redfish slider seemed to be the bug of the day, tied on a #1 34007 with a hint of copper flash, they hit it without hesitation! Seatrout, and nice ones at that were out and about, if you can get a fly anywhere near them they seem to find it and pounce all over it! All members of the slam seem to be out there, and now is a great time to get out there and get one on the fly!

It's been extremely hot out there though, so bring plenty o water because dehydration is no fun. Well guys thats all for now, it's been quite a productive summer and hopefully it will stay that way when Fall kicks in! Take care, and catch em up! Capt. Joe!

July 28th, 2008

Flamingo, gettin Snooky!

Fished Flamingo this past week with Thom Schwabauer of Moses Lake, WA! His request was to catch his first Snook, and they delivered, slamming a saltwater assasin while they were terrorizing a school of mullet, and not bad for a first Snook which was near 15lbs!

We found that most of the flats west of Flamingo marina held lots of Snook, and soft plastic jerk baits were doing the trick!

Lots of Redfish and baby Tarpon were out and about as well, along with some nice sized Seatrout! Working the magrove shorelines early in the morning on the lst of the incoming throug tht the start of the outgoing will also produce some nice snook and baby tarpon action! It's plenty hot out there this time of year so bring plenty of water and yes sunscreen to make it through the day!

So far this summer has been pretty productive and I think it will continue through the rest of the summer months, gotta love it! Well that's my story for this week, short and sweet but you get the point! Talk to ya next time, catch em up.....Capt. Joe!