# Tarpon on fire - gulf coast out of Flamingo



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

This will be more of a fishing alert than a report, no photos this time (we were busy...). Bookings come slowly now in the weeks leading up to the holidays. The fishing's very good, but the anglers are few and far between. Yesterday out of Flamingo was one of those days when the fish were just on fire....

Unless I'm very mistaken it's all about the weather conditions - the mild weather has resulted in all the big tarpon returning to the coast. We found the big fish just tearing up mullet schools along the coast between Cape Sable and Lostman's River.... The fish were so turned on they were feeding within fifty feet of the skiff within only a minute or two of shutting down the motor.... Normally the big tarpon would be way out in the Gulf hunkering down to wait for the colder water temps we'd have this time of year. The first hint was at dawn when we found water temps in the 67 to 68 degree range on the run across Whitewater Bay. Since we were doing other things (catching and releasing as many as forty fat trout in a couple of spots, inside and outside) we didn't come upon the great schools of mullet until just before noon. You could see fish working them a half mile away. It was a mix of tarpon, sharks, and anything else big enough to eat the 10 to 14" bait. Nearby smaller bait (whitebait, mature glass minnows or anchovies) was tight to shorelines and also being worked by hungry fish.... Since we were only using spinning gear, live baits (small ladyfish) were what we set out. None of them lasted long, most were eaten by sharks. We only jumped one tarpon, with them feeding all around us. We left the fish to run to a few redfish spots and again - found more tarpon.... There were feeding tarpon for about six miles of coast (and they may be up and down the coast for thirty miles, we only worked a small area in the time we had...).

Now for the best part. A quick check of weather forecasts for that area shows the mild weather will be stable for the next six days.... As long as the weather holds I'm expecting it to be pretty much Tarpon Heaven...


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## Bob_Rogers (Oct 14, 2009)

Snook heaven too on the outside this week, lures are getting hit as if they were live bait.


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## dacuban1 (Sep 9, 2008)

Thx for the info Capt. Sounds like its time for pooning!


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

Sounds great!
Will be down in Flamingo on Saturday.
Not sure weather to head out through buttonwood canal and make the run across WWB or to try my luck out front on the flats. 
The flat's haven't been producing big schools like they were all summer through September. 
I've only came across the schools of redfish once since October 1st.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

With the predicted weather on Saturday (basically light to no wind conditions....) you can guess which way I'd run. From the ramp to the coast is roughly 21 miles so it is a long run.


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