# March Flamingo Trip



## Dustin1 (Feb 11, 2007)

Dad and I made our maiden trip to Flamingo recently.  It was a great experience to say the least.  We've fished the western side of the Glades for the past 15 years out of EC and Choko, but have never made it down to Flamingo.  We spent our time exclusively in the "back" in Whitewater Bay and it's many bays, creeks, rivers, and flats.  The territory is very different than that of the 10k Islands (fewer oyster bars and generally deeper water).  We had planned to spend most of our time sight-fishing, however, the persistent howling wind and muddy water hampered our ability to see much.  We switched gears to fishing downed trees for reds and snook with a combination of spoons and topwater plugs.  That strategy proved quite productive.  Many fish were caught in addition to the normal by-catch (piles of nice snapper, jacks, ladies, jewfish, etc.).  Generally, the eastern side of Whitewater Bay was the most productive area.  A few fish were caught way, way back into the swamp, but the fish back there were very concentrated and difficult to find. We spent one morning grouper fishing in one of the tributaries of the Shark River with almost instant success.  Several fish were boated and a couple more were never seen.  The highlight was a gag of almost 9lbs that hit an 1/8oz jerkbait.  Needless to say, that was quite a fight on a 6' medium action rig.  We undoubtedly could have caught many grouper had we tried.  Tarpon were scattered.  A few fish were jumped, but none landed.  We didn't mess with the trout because we have such phenomenal trout fishing at home on the Big Bend.   Anyway, a bunch of pictures were taken (Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20 or 70-300 VR, Panasonic Lumix TS2).

The Gheenoe LT15 performed well down there, although Whitewater bay is aptly named.  We ran almost 250 miles during our stay.

Road to Flamingo









Headed down Buttonwood first morning









First red of the trip (obvious where this one was caught if you're familiar with the area...)









28" snook




















































































































































































Spent a good amount of time in places like this retrieving Skitterwalks...































































No explanation needed...









We will be back soon.  Whitewater is an amazing place!


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

looks like a awsome trip with your pops, doesnt get any better in my book


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## dacuban1 (Sep 9, 2008)

u guys kicked ass! nice pix too!


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2012)

Looks like an awesome trip, thanks for the story and pic's.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Great report... that night heron is a personal friend at the ramp every morning and evening. The only item that I'd note is that there just aren't any oyster bars in that area until you get north to the Harney (and yes it's a very different place from EC/Choko... but I love both sides of the Park.


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## Shadowcast (Feb 26, 2008)

Great report and great pics!


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

Great report!!!


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## Taterides (Nov 10, 2008)

Looks like you had an awesome time with your Dad!! Nice to see.


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## jeffscoggin (Jan 31, 2012)

I saw you guys at the ramp several times we were there during the same time! Nice job and I love the gheenoe!


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