# Fishing report, Flamingo 25 September



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Things are heating up out of Flamingo. Great amounts of bait now along the Gulf coast now (including juvenile menhaden !) each day. All that's needed is the wind laying down enough to see them in the dark waters. Along with the bait, the redfish have returned to their fall hangouts (along the Gulf coast from Lostman's south to Cape Sable those hangouts are downed trees near every river and creek mouth... Friends are also reporting that the giant tarpon are feeding along the coast. This past week though, my anglers have been finding them in the interior -up to 100lbs on bait, and up to 60lbs on lures (both small plugs and Gulp tailed jigs...). The first indicator of the coming cool down for us was finding water temps as low as 76 degrees just before dawn... 


**A quick note about water temps... I don't know of any machine with a temperature feature that allows you to adjust, or zero, your temperature function... as a result my inexpensive depth finder may show a different temp than some other machine -when they're side by side on the water... The last time I checked I had six different guide skiffs at a boat ramp and none of the captains showed the same water temp on their machine. The machines involved were several brands and ranged from inexpensive to well more than I can afford..... Every angler would be wise to take their temperature readings with a grain of salt....**


Now for the fun stuff.... I was on the water four days last week, ending on Saturday. Wherever we found redfish they were accompanied by lots of very hungry sharks. At one spot we actually began using our light rods like cane poles -levering fish into the boat to even have a chance at releasing them in one piece.... Here are some pics...

local angler Rudy Font with a nice red - it was one of the few that we took away from sharks....


visiting angler Al Mazur with another nice redfish we lost count of the number we hooked at one spot, losing a fair number to sharks before they could be released in good health...


Herb from New Orleans with a nice small goliath grouper. Moments before this fish he jumped off a big snook in the 15 to 20lb size range at the same river mouth...



This nice spanish mackeral was released by Vaughn Smith at the same spot as the goliath. Later in the day Vaughn hooked up on a fifty pound tarpon with a small jig using the lightest rod on my skiff... it was great fun while it lasted....

Now for all the fish we didn't get pictures of.... lots of sharks at almost every spot we hit (some in the "un-stoppable" category) as well as some great tarpon action. At one spot in the interior Al Mazur hooked up on a 60lb fish on a small mullet plug at pretty close quarters - the fish ate that plug less than 30 feet from the boat. We managed to stay connected for almost ten minutes but I was too busy to reach for my camera before the fish finally tossed the plug... Our last fish that day came from a live ladyfish that was eaten by a big tarpon (I estimated the fish at easily 100lbs) that just wouldn't get hooked (the hook had turned back into the bait....). That fish only jumped once and it was so close that I thought it was coming into the boat with us..... Great end to a great day!

"Be a hero.... take a kid fishing"


----------



## eeekbackupinthere (Jan 14, 2013)

Great report!! I can't wait to get back down there.


----------



## lewis_walker (May 22, 2012)

Great news Bob I'll be back in Homestead in Dec.I'm in Tn. now and Dave Vatter visited with us the other day.LCW


----------



## pursuit25 (Mar 6, 2009)

Always look forward to your reports.


----------



## Semper Fly (Jun 11, 2011)

As always Capt Bob your much anticipated reports are greatly appreciated and come with excellent tips and knowledgable experiance.


----------



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Dave Vatter has probably forgotten more about Flamingo than I'll ever learn (particularly offshore). For anyone that remembers an old white SeaCraft named Osprey... that was Dave.


----------



## Windsplitter (Apr 23, 2007)

Great report! makes me want to head down that way.


----------



## lewis_walker (May 22, 2012)

Bob he still has the Osprey and I have spent many many days on that boat and he fished a lot with me on my old 25 Speedcraft "Witchcraft".Dave was very instrumental in me getting into Tropical Anglers.LCW ps I now have Bob Stearns blue Hewes


----------

