March winds are here!, Saltwater Fishing Report

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I am at Flamingo Today with Jeff Armstrong he brought his buddies from Ohio Mike and Jay. It didn't seem so breezy early but when we got to open water in Whitewater Bay "it was blowin". I had heard the Tarpon were biting during the week but it was probably going to be nasty, I decide to stay in the back country and look for Snook. I had these guys working hard, we only managed 2 Snook bites all morning although one was a big fish. Jay had another small one on and his buddies cheered him on with stuff "like don't loose it"! Jay took allot of abuse but had a good time. We ended up with Trout some big Mangrove Snappers, Jacks and tons of Ladyfish. The conditions were tough with winds up into the 35 mph range, the last time Jeff was down on 122610 we had winds in the upper 40 mph with gust over 50. To his credit he enjoys the days and has never complained, Thanks Jeff.



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I am fishing Flamingo today with Dana and Roger, they are here from Alaska. We left the dock in hopes of Tarpon so we made the long run, they enjoyed seeing the park. We got up to a point that can hold some smaller Tarpon but not today, Trout. Jacks and Ladyfish were tearing up the schools of minnows in there. They caught a bunch of fish there, so we moved to where I could see the Tarpon busting up. I rigged up a couple Pinfish and it didn't take long to get the first bite, only it was a 30 lb. Black Tip Shark. We landed it and took a few pictures and got another bait out, same thing another Shark. This time I rigged a Ladyfish and it got blasted, the Tarpon hit it so hard it knocked it strait up in the air. The Tarpon scaled the bait but missed it, we put another Ladyfish out and got cut off by a Shark.

The winds kept inceasing and the Tarpon shut down. We moved around and ended up in little Shark River where I put out a plug and trolled, hoping for Groupers. We had been Trolling for about 10 minutes when the rod doubled over and line was peeiling off, I am think big Grouper! All of a sudden this massive Tarpon is in the air as it hit the water it throws the plug.Roger had the rod in his hands and could believe the power of the fish, this means something Roger is an alaskan fishing guide and has caught some big fish.



The conditions were getting tough no where to hide but we tried, we got up in the creeks where we got into a pretty good bite of Trout and a Snook. As we sat there I saw a few free jumping Tarpon so I rigged up some baits and made a drift thru them. The Sharks got us again so we moved on and hit some spots on the ride back. We got into a really good Mangrove bite maybe 25 or so and also caught a Gag Grouper. It was late and we headed home. Great trip and great guys!



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I am with Manny his son Mike which 8yrs old and Romy and his son Romy 13, Manny said Mike wanted to catch Sharks. We went out and caught some Ladyfish and Jacksfor bait and Trout for dinner. We ran out to the clean flats where we could chum with Ladyfish and sight fish the Sharks. It didn't happen that way we never saw one, I told them lets go find some dirty water. It didn't take long once we got the baits out, we had a nice Shark rip off about 100 yards. Mike was holding on wanting to catch this big Shark but after 15 minutes The Shark cut thru the line above the wire. A little disapointment but we rigged and put out more baits. We had another chance as a fish ran off line but just let go. The bite just seemed to stop so we called it a day.



There are plenty of Tarpon around but the winds are making it tough hopefully the winds come down this week!

About the Author:

Captain's Bio: Light tackle sport fishing has been the thing that has driven me for the last 30 years. I have built a reputation for Tarpon from small to giant but I also fish for everthing thats swims. Miami Beach offers year round Tarpon and Snook fishing and I spend over 100 days a year fishing Flamingo which is in Everglades National Park . Flamingo is the saltwater side of the Everglades where we catch Tarpon, Snook Redfish, Trout, Sharks and more! I run a Pathfinder 22 ft Bayboat powered by Yamaha 250 S.H.O. I can handle up to 4 people. See my website for more info!