# Flamingo report, 28 March, 2022



## frugalrhombus (12 mo ago)

oooo that looks like a blast!


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## skinny_fishing (Aug 30, 2021)

Can you keep the "baby" Goliath groupers? I imagine they would be pretty good eating.


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## tcov (Apr 7, 2018)

skinny_fishing said:


> Can you keep the "baby" Goliath groupers? I imagine they would be pretty good eating.


Yeah for $$$ under new FWC rules 😂 https://myfwc.com/news/all-news/goliath-comm-322/


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

To put it mildly this is one of a very few times that the FWC completely screwed up in their fisheries policy…in my opinion. I’ve long advocated that they open up Goliath grouper to recreational harvest only -with a one fish per boat limit having their biologists set size limits.

Instead they’ve done a very limited opening and added a very expensive tag to boot… I don’t know anyone who’ll participate in this farce. All this while we’re literally over-run with them in all the areas we fish each day… These fish actually displace other species. Any snook spot that gets a few of the goliaths soon loses all of its snook…
Although they’ve been protected since the early nineties I can remember fish fries that my fishing club hosted that included small goliaths (fish under 30lb) and they were good eating.. before the closure.

I hope that one day things will return to a time when all the various fish species in the ‘glades were in balance and not just one specie dominant the way it is now due to our misguided policies…


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## Steve_Mevers (Feb 8, 2013)

lemaymiami said:


> To put it mildly this is one of a very few times that the FWC completely screwed up in their fisheries policy…in my opinion. I’ve long advocated that they open up Goliath grouper to recreational harvest only -with a one fish per boat limit having their biologists set size limits.
> 
> Instead they’ve done a very limited opening and added a very expensive tag to boot… I don’t know anyone who’ll participate in this farce. All this while we’re literally over-run with them in all the areas we fish each day… These fish actually displace other species. Any snook spot that gets a few of the goliaths soon loses all of its snook…
> Although they’ve been protected since the early nineties I can remember fish fries that my fishing club hosted that included small goliaths (fish under 30lb) and they were good eating.. before the closure.
> ...


Agree


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

($150 for residents, $500 for non-residents). 

welcome to California


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Wonder if they even want to hear our opinions.....Overall I'm very pleased by most of what the FWC has done over the years but I have a hard time understanding how they can be so clueless about this issue.


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

lemaymiami said:


> I hope that one day things will return to a time when all the various fish species in the ‘glades were in balance and not just one specie dominant the way it is now due to our misguided policies…


As long as people are keeping fish there will be an imbalance.


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## Micro Thinfisher (Jan 27, 2018)

lemaymiami said:


> To put it mildly this is one of a very few times that the FWC completely screwed up in their fisheries policy…in my opinion. I’ve long advocated that they open up Goliath grouper to recreational harvest only -with a one fish per boat limit having their biologists set size limits.
> 
> Instead they’ve done a very limited opening and added a very expensive tag to boot… I don’t know anyone who’ll participate in this farce. All this while we’re literally over-run with them in all the areas we fish each day… These fish actually displace other species. Any snook spot that gets a few of the goliaths soon loses all of its snook…
> Although they’ve been protected since the early nineties I can remember fish fries that my fishing club hosted that included small goliaths (fish under 30lb) and they were good eating.. before the closure.
> ...


FWC - Fisheries Willfully Capsized


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## jeopardy954 (Jun 7, 2017)

That's great. Just a kind of a newbie question, but what times of day are you most productive out there?


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

For tarpon early is always best (in summer we’re on the water a full hour before sunup…). For everything else the only clock I pay attention to is times of the tide - not the time of day…


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## SISW (Apr 21, 2011)

lemaymiami said:


> To put it mildly this is one of a very few times that the FWC completely screwed up in their fisheries policy…in my opinion. I’ve long advocated that they open up Goliath grouper to recreational harvest only -with a one fish per boat limit having their biologists set size limits.
> 
> Instead they’ve done a very limited opening and added a very expensive tag to boot… I don’t know anyone who’ll participate in this farce. All this while we’re literally over-run with them in all the areas we fish each day… These fish actually displace other species. Any snook spot that gets a few of the goliaths soon loses all of its snook…
> Although they’ve been protected since the early nineties I can remember fish fries that my fishing club hosted that included small goliaths (fish under 30lb) and they were good eating.. before the closure.
> ...


You're right, Bob. Saw a 10lber in Chocko last week with a huge blue crab stuck in it's mouth. THEY EAT EVERYTHING! Love that classic 18 Mav you're running.


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## BigJoe (Mar 4, 2021)

We kayaked the waterway last week and that's where we saw them. Sunday 3/20 we went from Oyster Bay to Graveyard and pretty much once we got to the outside they were thick.
After that we got into the juvies in broad creek then didn't see another all the way to EC.


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## Wuggs (Dec 24, 2021)

Very nice! I was down there in early March and did well some days and not so well others. I was in a kayak so I was a little limited in how far I could go. I did a couple nights at the Watson River chickee and the fishing was poor near there although the gafftops were active.


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## jeopardy954 (Jun 7, 2017)

lemaymiami said:


> For tarpon early is always best (in summer we’re on the water a full hour before sunup…). For everything else the only clock I pay attention to is times of the tide - not the time of day…



You're looking for outgoing tide and fishing outside of a river mouth? Do you have any strategies for an incoming tide? Thanks!


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Everyone fishes differently -and some of that is because there's no one place that tarpon hold, feed, or move... and depending on the size of the fish they behave differently - until you hook one... There's just no substitute for time on the water to figure out what to expect each day. And if you should just happen to find a spot or a situation that's close to perfection... for heaven's sake - don't tell anyone since the moment boats show up and anglers start working them - the tarpon will find someplace else to rest up, etc. They learn early on that boats mean trouble (and since no one deliberately kills a tarpon it might have been hooked more than a few times in it's lifespan... a really big fish might actually be seventy years old...)


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## BilgeFumes (Sep 24, 2019)

Was just out there at the beginning of the month! Was in the North River a majority of the time and caught nothing but slot specks that were schooling in the eddies. I need to start targeting tarpon for some extra fun every once in a while, just don't have experience dong it.


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