# Biscayne nights - Everglades days, 4 May



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

This past month was too busy (a nice problem if you're a guide...) in every way possible so this report will cover most of last month and the first few days of this month as well.  Going to do something a bit different and separate the report by gear used - in my world we use every type of gear from fly through spin and plug casting - artificials to live bait (and everything in between) but this report will have a separate fly fishing portion since I know quite a few anglers only interested in the fly....
    Tarpon have still been the stars this month (all the way up to this past weekend -more about that later).  We've found them along the coast, up inside nearby rivers, and in large interior bays.  The fish have ranged from little ones in the 20lb range all the way up to the big girls that were well over 100lbs in weight.  We won a few battles with the big ones -but lost  many more since they were up inside relatively small rivers and mostly just took us to school...  Here's local angler Tony Muina with a nice river fish...

That fish was actually a bit bigger than the photo shows...

Along the way we got our first outside snook - a nice one on a live bait....


    Closer to home in Biscayne Bay the night scene has been going strong with baby tarpon (some nights we laugh since along with the babies, we've been hooking and losing much, much bigger fish....) willing to eat any artificial shrimp that crosses their path while they're at the surface in the shadows under one bridge or other...  Some nights the fish react so explosively to whatever they were hooked on that you'd think we were using hand grenades...  More about the night scene on the fly fishing side of things...



    Now for the flyfishing side... this is a great time of year for fly anglers -we're catching a bit of everything on fly, but the main target has been tarpon of every size.  This first picture shows perfect form for pulling hard on a big tarpon that's taking most of your line....

"Down and dirty" is the only way to go with a big fish on fly....

From great big tarpon on fly all the way down to small goliath grouper on the same fly pattern (and everything in between) -that was the way it went this past month...  This little grouper ate a six inch Tarpon Snake fly that was presented perfectly to an 80lb fish along a river bank.  We watched as the fly sank down to the tarpon -then this little guy beat the tarpon to it....


A few weeks later in a river full of tarpon that just ignored our flies Lee Brennan from Alabama cast to a black drum along a shallow river bank to take this 15lb fish - as usual on a 6-7" black fly meant for a tarpon...


Earlier that day Lee hooked and fought his first big tarpon on fly up another river and came within about 20" of having the leader in the rod tip....  Minutes later that same fish ran up a small, closed creek with so many downed trees in it that we couldn't follow.  The entire fly line as well as a few feet of backing were up there when the fish finally came free.  You can imagine how surprised we were when we got everything back -including the fly...  Here's a pic of Lee holding on with his first tarpon (brand new rod and reel as well....).

    Our last night trip was this past Thursday where a first timer from England got taken to school by fish that ranged from 20 to 50lbs.  John Turner jumped seven fish that night and they did all the releasing.  I think he'll be back...  This month we've broken one rod (a TFO BVK 10wt  on a tarpon at the boat) and lost my fourth fly line (a brand new Rio intermediate 12wt) up a nameless river -with a really big tarpon on the other end... 

    Now for the bad news, water temps at Flamingo dropped ten degrees in five days as we found out on Saturday -and we were fishing in high winds.... It will take a few days before the tarpon come back but we saw only one in two days of looking for them this weekend... Earl Zagrodnik  from Utah made the best of it, though with a 29" snook on fly....



**be a hero.... take a kid fishing**


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## fishicaltherapist (Mar 9, 2013)

Great report from an apparent, GREAT guide! Thanks for sharing. [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif]


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## Semper Fly (Jun 11, 2011)

Another anticipated and great fishing report Capt. Bob. Your clients look like they had a great time and memorable experiance.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Awesome report Capt. Bob! You may want to look into the IGFA record book on Goliath grouper on Fly. I don't think anyone has register one on the fly, last time I looked. You may have something there.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Don't think the FWC has much of a sense of humor about protected species....

That said, years ago (back in the seventies and early eighties) some amazing world records were set for the species (back then it was called jewfish - which was never a slander, just a corruption of the earlier "jawfish").  One of the guys setting those records was in the same fishing club that I'd joined -the Tropical Anglers Club.  His name was Kenny Bittner and he routinely caught monster jewfish in very shallow waters down in  Florida Bay.  I was lucky enough to learn how he went about it but the best part was that he'd tow the fish all the way back to Flamingo to get it weighed on a certified scale there before turning it loose (a jewfish is as tough as an old rubber boot -even after all that handling it would still swim away under its own power after being towed, hoisted, etc.).  We used to joke that it was his pet fish and that it got a ten pound jack as its reward for all the handling each year..... Kenny passed away years ago and that whole era will never come back.


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## Bamajo (Apr 11, 2013)

Thanks for the report! I'll be there for my first time by the end of the week. I hope the tarpon are around!


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I'll be back on Saturday as well.... the tarpon flat disappeared everywhere (the big fish) this past weekend after that huge temperature drop (10 degrees in less than a few days after heavy rains a week ago....). Water temps are well within their tolerance range but the fish just weren't anywhere to be found as of Sunday... Now that we seem to be in the rainy season (heavy rains again last night) the big flow of freshwater should have all the fish moving around a bit....


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## Shadowcast (Feb 26, 2008)

Great report Bob!


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## lewis_walker (May 22, 2012)

Oh Bob,I'm glad to report and I'm sure Kenny is even more glad to report that he is alive and well living in Key Largo.As you know I'm in Tropical Anglers and I fished those same fish in flamingo with a rod I got from Kenny made by John Emory.I fished marker 2 one day for an hour with no luck move on and 15 minutes later Kenny pulls up to marker 2 and a 300 lb fish was feeding almost on the surface about an hour later Kenny had it weighed and released at the dock.when you're good you're good.LCW


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Great to hear that Kenny is alive and well... I left the club more than 30 years ago and only hear about club members second hand.... 

One of the ways to turn on a grumpy old jewfish (goliath grouper for all you young'uns) is to use a bucktail jig to catch a small jack right at the marker then pull the hook from its mouth, re-hook the jack in the back and begin teasing with it (allowing it to alternately thrash at the surface then swim down around the legs of the tripod (while actually standing on the marker - no it's not exactly legal....). When you finally get a response play keep-away with the critter until its so fired up it would eat a beer can - then pull off the jack and feed it the bucktail.... Once you're hooked up you follow the fish around and around the marker until it finally swims away then climb down, get in your boat, and get after the fish. Once it leaves the marker you're in business since the surrounding waters are around eight feet deep.....


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Yea Capt Bob, those tarpon have come up here and are now rolling into my back yard for us to play with up here too!   

I knew that about the jewfish.  Just trying to be politically correct these days!      Don't get me started in on jewfish stories!   :

Bob, There is a way to hit that thin sliver of acceptance between FWC and the IGFA to catch, weigh and record a potential record with protected species.  I spent months researching the loop holes and I found one that was completely acceptable to both agencies/parties.  It only works for inshore species.  Not sure if anything offshore is protected, but it doesn't work for that.  pm me if you want details.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I'm familiar with it (using a sling for the fish and a tripod to mount your scale in a fixed position on shallow bottom to make the measurement okay with the IGFA....). I've always thought it entirely too much to fool with, and I long ago got over that whole "record" business as well -but that's another story.... 

I must admit that with a paying angler aboard who was hot to set a record I might re-consider but that's as far as I'll go.


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