# Flamingo flats advice



## gillz

Tides for Flamingo, Florida Bay starting with April 21, 2013.

Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon /Low Time Feet Sunset Visible Su 21 High 12:11 AM 2.1 6:56 AM Set 3:50 AM 72 21 Low 8:16 AM 0.3 7:49 PM Rise 3:57 PM 21 High 1:00 PM 1.9 21 Low 8:35 PM 0.3 

No pro here, just $0.02. The tide is supposed to be down early. If you get out to snake bight at the bottom of the tide and fish the draining chanels you will get some action almost guaranteed. After the tide slacks off you could try the deeper water outside the bight and the channel for trout and the like. After that I waould fish the flooding tide in Rankin bight. Good luck


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## paint it black

also, the tides for Flamingo are not accurate for the whole area. the further east you go, the later the tide is. So if it's low tide at 7 at Flamingo, it'll be at 8 over on snakebight, and even later on other areas of snake bight....


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## [email protected]

> Tides for Flamingo, Florida Bay starting with April 21, 2013.
> 
> Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon /Low Time Feet Sunset Visible Su 21 High 12:11 AM 2.1 6:56 AM Set 3:50 AM 72 21 Low 8:16 AM 0.3 7:49 PM Rise 3:57 PM 21 High 1:00 PM 1.9 21 Low 8:35 PM 0.3
> 
> No pro here, just $0.02. The tide is supposed to be down early. If you get out to snake bight at the bottom of the tide and fish the draining chanels you will get some action almost guaranteed. After the tide slacks off you could try the deeper water outside the bight and the channel for trout and the like. After that I waould fish the flooding tide in Rankin bight. Good luck


What are you referring to when you say deeper water outside the bight?


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## gillz

This area is deeper and there are grass beds just outside. The arrows are good places to start as fish tend to wait for goodies to come off the flat with the falling tide.I like to fish these draining finger channels further in though. Keep in mind this is a high traffic area, especially on weekends. Also, keep an eye out for stakes to keep you in the channels. Go slow despite what you see others doing. There are often manatee and sometime porpoise in this area. You might want to take someone along with a little more experience out there. I'm sure alota guys on here wouldn't mind getting out there for the day. I'm outta town this weekend, but if you want to drop me a line we could set something up Some other time.


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## JRP

If the tide is low at flamingo at 7am i would start in font of Murry key excellent action on first of incoming in 2 to3ft of water especially if weeds arent to thick .As it gets litter get shallower work those flats polling in the area in front of Frank and palm key. This would give the tide a chance to have risen in the snake bite area to get shallow and do some sight casting you could also try some of the flats which surround basens.If weather report is wrong which it usually is and winds are strong from southern quadrent,I would launch on back side and fish whitewater bay look for shores with current and dead fail and points with current there are bays there for site casting reds but there much harder to find and the fish are spokier. Good Luck


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## [email protected]

Thanks everyone for the advice-it's nice to see that. There are still some people willIng to help a newbie like me! Much appreciated!

Joe


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## Jestevez

Let us know how you do. Good luck!


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## [email protected]

Follow up to all my microskiff buddies that gave me advice.  I hit snake bight at 7:00 am and it was very low tide - I couldn't believe how much dry land I saw.  Lots of action all around but no matter what I threw I couldn't get a hit.  It was very cool to be in there and see all the tarpon rolling around and some were tearing up mullet.  Came up on few nice sized reds but they saw me before I saw them (usually the case with me).  As luck would have it both my trolling motor and my GPS would not work so I had to alter my game plan around those two issues.  I staked up I the channels that drained the flats in snake bite into the main channel - hit the two big ones to the south and no hits.  Since I wasn't getting any action and the weather was starting to set up hard I decided to work the flat in front of Murry key.  I fished the edge by the drop off and caught a ton of trout - nothing to big but still fun.  Lots of lady fish and small snapper mixed in - nothing to brag about but I was happy to bend the rod.  Weather cleared up and wind died down so I made the run to porpoise pt.  water was still very skinny but nice and clear - worked it for about two hours with no activityl - on my way out of that area I ran into a school of large jack ( I thought they were reds at first). And my buddy and I picked a few of those - good fight.  Not the day I hoped for but I guess you have to take it as it comes when you are learning - thanks again guys for All the help - cant wait to get out there and try again.


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## gillz

[smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif] Glad to see you got some rods bent. It was a difficult tide, because it was still dark at the best time of the falling tide. I'm sure other brave souls would try it, but I wouldnt try running out there in the dark. Just curious, are you fishing on fly, artificial, or bait?


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## paint it black

Moon lighting in Flamingo is fun!


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## [email protected]

I mostly fish arti's but I also bring some shrimp just in case.


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## Jestevez

Nice to see you bent some rods!

I'm not sure if its just me but it seem the Reds out front of Flamingo seem to have lock Jaw the majority of the time. At least the last few trips I've made.


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## gillz

PIB, you're brave brother 
Ynot, I've been skunked often too, but if found I do better on the outside when I can make it on a weekday and if I can make it to fish the falling tide vs the flooding.


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## paint it black

I don't prefer any specific tide per say, but I know certain areas the fish feed better at different points of the tide. Sometimes it's tough leaving fish that are not feeding to try and find other fish that are, but once you figure things out, you'll know where to look for the right hungry fish. A lot has to do with the wind direction, too. 

With that said, my favorite tide for the spring would be an early morning high tide, or an early morning low tide, for that helps me narrow down where the waves of schools of big fish will be. I know with a morning high, I can run to a certain area and guarantee to run into the schools of fish. Then I can fish them as they work their way out with the water. Same goes for morning low, run to the low tide spot, and just work the schools as they work their way in with the tide. 

Once they're fully in that swing, that's when you get those days of 30+ reds upper through over slot a day on fly. It's not in full swing yet. They're schooling up, but they're not moving with the tide just yet. I give it another few weeks before it's a free for all. They'll eat anything when they're in that spring mode. It'll start to trickle off mid June, and they'll break up into smaller schools of 20-30 fish, but it'll still make for great fishing through august.


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## Jestevez

Gillz - thanks for the reply and info.

PIB - thanks for sharing some of your insights of the area.


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## CoastlineJohn1600

Im gonna head out there tomm morning and fish the outside..ive found that if you are having trouble catching fish start fishing the inside and you will love fishing flamingo


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## swampfox

Snake Bight is majic at dusk and night. I was there for the first time a couple weeks ago.








Sight fished at near dark 31" fatty. That background is 260#s and 6'4" ;D



Did I mention it was windy? It blew a true 20mph and rained everyone of the 8 days we were in the Glades. But we still put a lot of fish in the boat. This pic was about 7:30pm as we just got onto Snake Bight. My clothes were litterally flapping so hard it stung a bit. ;D But just like I was told. It would still be glassy. A complete mind fornication as one put it ;D We got reds, big trout and nice black tip in the dark. All tailing or pushing wakes. Pure majic. But I did loose track of my pole in the dark landing a fish. It got up under my boat. And wind was so strong it broke my carbon pole.  I too would like to thank all those that helped us out the first time. PIB, Creek Freak. epescially Matt he texted us the entire time. Helping us fish around the weather. Have few cold ones on me[smiley=1-beer.gif]


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