# Flamingo area fishing report???



## robt

Has anyone been fishing the park recently, have heard its a little slow? Heading that way soon and want to know what to expect.

Thanks!


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## jp08

I usually fish out of Flamingo, but yes, to me, it has been really slow. There is a large seagrass die off which has affected the redfish habitat. Some of the flats where i found redfish last summer have been desolate this summer. I have actually stopped fishing the Florida bay until fishing reports become a little better and I have transitioned to the gulf. I hope things get better soon because I love Flamingo.


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## EasternGlow

I agree it has been slow. The grass die off didn't help, but hopefully that new plan will provide some immediate relief. There's definitely some rock solid fishing though a good run from the ramp, north of shark river.


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## DBStoots

We've lost over 50,000 acres of grass flats in the Park and Florida Bay. Even so, fishing was really good this spring and summer. It has slowed significantly over the past month. Hopefully that is not the result of poor water quality, but just a transition period from summer to fall. I'm optimistic the fishing will improve as the weather cools.


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## jp08

DBStoots said:


> We've lost over 50,000 acres of grass flats in the Park and Florida Bay. Even so, fishing was really good this spring and summer. It has slowed significantly over the past month. Hopefully that is not the result of poor water quality, but just a transition period from summer to fall. I'm optimistic the fishing will improve as the weather cools.


I am optimistic that the fishing will improve as the temperature cools now in fall as well. So the fishing stayed really good for you out in Florida Bay, that's great to hear. Did you find yourself concentrating in areas closer to the gulf? The fishing I felt was really slow was sight fishing for reds on flats, but to tell you the truth, I only tried some of the grass flats closer to Flamingo marina, I did not try any closer to the gulf.

I


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## DBStoots

jp08 said:


> I am optimistic that the fishing will improve as the temperature cools now in fall as well. So the fishing stayed really good for you out in Florida Bay, that's great to hear. Did you find yourself concentrating in areas closer to the gulf? The fishing I felt was really slow was sight fishing for reds on flats, but to tell you the truth, I only tried some of the grass flats closer to Flamingo marina, I did not try any closer to the gulf.
> 
> I


The bights were good this spring through mid-summer. On Saturday, I ran to the east. Fishing has been good on the snags and around the drains and creeks up near Big Sable and Shark river and to the north of Ponce.


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## Miamiflats

Went down last week. Burned ten gallons of gas running all over the place. Some dead grass southwest of the boat ramp. Did manage a couple of snook off of the beaches along the cape. Ran all the way around up into shark and little shark without much luck. Did catch an inordinate amount of mangroves. After 10 hours on the water we ran back inside and jumped about 15 tarpon to 30 lbs at the mouth of buttonwood canal and saved our day. Inside water temps seem to be just a little too hot right now.


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## Backwater

If you guys are looking for reds, all the freshwater from the recent storm and regular summer pattern rains have driven the reds to the outside or near outside. Snook and juvi tarpon will be ok with the onset of freshwater. Freshwater is what normally causes the grasses to release on the flats. Happens yearly or every several years and not a freak show if you've fished it for years.


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## jp08

When you say outside are you referring to around the cape?


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## Backwater

Whe


jp08 said:


> When you say outside are you referring to around the cape?


When I say outside, I mean.... redfish and trout don't normally like getting hit with a sudden onslot of freshwater. So they will push out toward the mouths of the passes, on the outside edges, hang out around outside stumps and dead wood, around barrier islands and outside shorelines and grass flats. That means in Flamingo, they head to Florida Bay, any cuts thru the Cape and northward thru WWB to the Shark system. Same goes with whitebait. The idea is to get a constant feed from incoming saltwater from offshore to keep them than their bait happy.

Snook is a different story. I've probably taken more snook in pure fresh water than you want to know. No joke. Also some of the biggest tarpon you could believe and pure gold in color with black backs. They can stay and feed on mullet, killifish, tialapia, chilids, oscars, bream, sand pearch, etc, all of which will move in and out of pure freshwater and brackish water.

Ted


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## DBStoots

Backwater said:


> If you guys are looking for reds, all the freshwater from the recent storm and regular summer pattern rains have driven the reds to the outside or near outside. Snook and juvi tarpon will be ok with the onset of freshwater. Freshwater is what normally causes the grasses to release on the flats. Happens yearly or every several years and not a freak show if you've fished it for years.


Ted, you're saying the grass dies off yearly? We saw salinity levels last year that exceed those in the ocean. I don't think what we've seen over the past year or so is a regular occurrence. Estimates are we've lost 50,000 acres or more of grass flats in the Park and Florida Bay.


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## Backwater

DBStoots said:


> Ted, you're saying the grass dies off yearly? We saw salinity levels last year that exceed those in the ocean. I don't think what we've seen over the past year or so is a regular occurrence. Estimates are we've lost 50,000 acres or more of grass flats in the Park and Florida Bay.


I don't want to take a detour from the OP on this subject. But there are grasses that grow up inland in the Glades. Low freshwater causes saltwater intrusion into those areas and it can kill off and release those grasses, which eventually can work it's way downstream into the saltwater areas. On the flip side, high levels of freshwater, like what we recently had and are still having, causes saltwater grasses like turtle grass to release in those saltwater and inner bay grass flats. This cycle happens on a regular basis, relative to it being a unusually wet or a dry year (El Nino / La Nina). I actually started paying attention to it about 30 yrs ago and have watched the cycles of it. 

Even from going to a normal year where the dry season and low rain fall in the cooler months keeps the turtle grass tightly held on the outside grass flats. Come a hot summer with constant rain fall will see a steady stream of floating turtle grass being release from the inner bays to the outter grass flats.

When you do a lot of artificial and fly fishing, you tend to notice the patterns over the years so you can work around it.

Ted


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## Snookyrookie

Like others, I was out last Sunday testing the new boat, very quiet, jumped a big Tarpon , 1 trout and some junk fish. Water was very dirty, and mosquitos were absolutely horrible!


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## EasternGlow

I know it's a ways away, but just got back from fishing chokoloskee south. Very slow with good amount of floating grass. Didn't seem totally abnormal though. Fishing was very slow, just managed a couple snook.


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## DBStoots

Backwater said:


> I don't want to take a detour from the OP on this subject. But there are grasses that grow up inland in the Glades. Low freshwater causes saltwater intrusion into those areas and it can kill off and release those grasses, which eventually can work it's way downstream into the saltwater areas. On the flip side, high levels of freshwater, like what we recently had and are still having, causes saltwater grasses like turtle grass to release in those saltwater and inner bay grass flats. This cycle happens on a regular basis, relative to it being a unusually wet or a dry year (El Nino / La Nina). I actually started paying attention to it about 30 yrs ago and have watched the cycles of it.
> 
> Even from going to a normal year where the dry season and low rain fall in the cooler months keeps the turtle grass tightly held on the outside grass flats. Come a hot summer with constant rain fall will see a steady stream of floating turtle grass being release from the inner bays to the outter grass flats.
> 
> When you do a lot of artificial and fly fishing, you tend to notice the patterns over the years so you can work around it.
> 
> Ted


Thanks for the clarification, Ted.


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## Backwater

Snookyrookie said:


> Like others, I was out last Sunday testing the new boat, *very quiet*, jumped a big Tarpon , 1 trout and some junk fish. Water was very dirty, and mosquitos were absolutely horrible!





EasternGlow said:


> I know it's a ways away, but just got back from fishing chokoloskee south.* Very slow* with good amount of floating grass. Didn't seem totally abnormal though. Fishing was very slow, just managed a couple snook.


Guys, you need to check the solunar tables / bite tables for those days you went out fishing on. Those days were probably the worst days to fish out of the entire month. Now look at them this weekend from Fri to Sunday. Probably the *best days* of the month. Pick your days and target the peak bite periods of those days and you will have more success there.

As for mosquitoes? We ARE in the "dog days of summer" ya know The buggier it is, the better the snook bite is. But leave momma home cause she'll hate you for bringing her! Lol That's when I prefer to go. Otherwise, wait till winter when the bugs are gone like everyone else does and the redfish come out to play. And that's when I stay home since I get lethargic during those months! 

Ted Haas


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## EasternGlow

I'm definitely not complaining about the bugs, I fished from 10 pm on Friday to 1 pm Saturday. To say they're vicious at night is an understatement, but it's summer so it's expected. The bite was unusually slow for me though under that full moon light. Did very well fishing the August full moon at night. 

As for the solunar tables, I personally don't think it's as simple as fishing whenever that website puts a bunch of little fish on a particular day. Yes I understand fish will follow certain patterns, but I also know the fishing can be excellent when a website says it will be terrible. If it were as easy as going when a website tells you the fishing is good, everyone would be slamming fish every trip.


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## Snookyrookie

I'm learning, but I think a bigger issue last weekend was the water, it was horrible. If my gps was working correctly I could have explored a little more to find some cleaner water but it wasn'tworth the risk for me I don't know the park well enough yet. I've never done well in flamingo with really bad water, but for some reason that doesn't bother me in chokoloskee lol


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## lemaymiami

I think a break in temperature is needed... On Saturday afternoon we found lots of 90 and near 90 degree water temps inside.... This kind of water makes night fishing in Biscayne Bay very attractive.


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## Backwater

and to add to Capt LeMay's reply, likewise, the fish will follow suit and look for those cooler water spots (i.e. shaded, deeper, near bottle necks where currents flow faster, early mornings, late evenings, night time, etc.)


Eastern Glow, yea that's ok, you go right ahead and stick to your experience and ideas on that subject.  The idea of major and minor feeding periods are a scam! Guess I've been screwed up all these years! 


Tight lines! 

Ted Haas


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## EasternGlow

Definitely not saying it's a scam, I know it's spot on at times. All I'm saying is while there definitely are feeding patterns, each individual day is unique in its own way and it can be difficult to predict exactly when fish will feed.


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## Backwater

EasternGlow said:


> Definitely not saying it's a scam, I know it's spot on at times. All I'm saying is while there definitely are feeding patterns, each individual day is unique in its own way and it can be difficult to predict exactly when fish will feed.


I was just being sarcastic with ya!  

Spent years studying solunar tables back 25yrs ago and starting following it and found that it does help when everything else is adding up, i.e. tides, winds weather, water conditions, temps, etc. Then about 20yrs ago, Capt Mel Berman put a sensational graph chart on his website that allowed you to visually see when the bite started and ended and what days the cycle would be good, excellent or poor. I saved so much wasted time fishing for fish using that app and just targeted those peak bite periods during those good days. That was one of my favorite tools I use to cause me to be so productive on the water. It allowed me to pick and choose my fishing days and times when I fished. But years ago after the good captain died, the site went down briefly and they removed that app. So I've since found others to follow.

When conditions are favored, you can see it in action like someone turning on a light switch, see them feed and get the eats, then like the switch being turned off, the bite dies off. Sure you may get a few bites during the rest of the day, but not like the majors or the minor bite periods. On days where conditions are off, it can help get a few eats as well, tho not as many due to the conditions.

Today, I don't rely on just one chart/graph when it comes to Solunar tables. I use about 4 of them and do an average. I also have in the same folder other websites that I can look at other aspects, like moon phase, weather, wind speed and direction, weather forecast, water conditions, tides, among other things. About 20 different points of interest in all. A good productive fisherman needs to be a weather forecaster, as well as a fish bite forecaster, to be good. Being accidently at the right place and the right time, is not enough to be consistent.

Ted Haas


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## Steve_Mevers

When the water temps drop a little bit the bite will turn on like a light switch.


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## bababouy

I was up in lake Ingrahm last Friday and the larger Tarpon were feeding from the North entrance to the Dam on the South side. They were just about jumping into the boat. The water was 84-85 degrees with the tide running North. Tons of bait also. Still learning how things work in Flamingo.


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