The first two weeks of the New Year have been a little tough on the fish... Everyone knows that we had a record cold spell here in Florida and there were substantial fish kills. The interior of the 'Glades seems to have faired better than I expected. All the reports I've seen from Florida Bay, though, aren't very encouraging at all. Here's what we found in the last few days, fishing the interior and Gulf coast Friday and Saturday.
Friday the water temps were quite low, with only a 50 degree water temperature showing at the inside ramp at Flamingo. That's pretty low considering the weather had been in a warming trend for the previous four days.... Running across Whitewater Bay my guage showed temps ranging down to 48 degrees - that's pretty cold water for the 'Glades. We covered a lot of ground that first morning and saw scattered dead fish wherever we went. A close look showed that 90% or more of the kills were ladyfish or catfish. We didn't see any trout, redfish, or tarpon kills but we did see several dead snook and all were breeders, the largest was almost 20lbs near the mouth of the Little Shark River. Our best catch that first morning was a nice 24" redfish, sight-fished in less than two feet of water along the coast. That hungry fish tagged a Gulp lure in only 51 degree water.... Reds seem to be able to handle the cold water quite well. Later that day when the sun had raised water temps almost five degrees we found ladyfish and speckled trout in good numbers back in Whitewater... After catching and releasing them on spinning gear and a few bites on the fly we left them biting to end the day. Local anglers Andre Serafini and Greg Davis said they'd be back...
Saturday the water temps were much better, four degrees higher at dawn, and I had visiting anglers Cris Meyer and his young son J.J. aboard, Dad with fly gear, J.J. with light spinning tackle. We found lots of fish, mainly speckled trout. Cris caught and released one that measured right at 21", a good interior trout in any conditions... We found some really nice sized redfish in very shallow clear water that were quite spooky (anyone that thinks reds are easy should hunt them in bonefish conditions in winter, they have great eyesight and do a lot more following than eating flies...). We had our shots but the fish would follow, not eat. Some were over the slot, all were very nice sized. We did release one small red on fly, but the bigger ones will have to wait for another day...Nearby we also found two very nice snook (one around ten pounds) sunning themselves in less than 18" of water, they were just as spooky... but looked in good condition as they scooted away from us.
Now for some photos...
that's one very happy fishing guide on Friday...
Here's Greg Davis, and Andre Serafini with Andre's red on light spinning gear and a lure... yep, Friday was cold with the wind blowing...
Cris Meyer with a very nice trout taken on a Blacklight Special fly, then released to fight again.
Nothing like a young angler and a nice trout... J.J. caught and released a good number on Saturday.
Now for a couple of quick notes.... The FWC has extended the closed season for snook until next September and also prohibited the taking of tarpon and bonefish as well to further protect them after the fish kills.... That doesn't mean we won't be fishing for them, but we'll carefully release every one to fight again. Hopefully the fish populations will recover in short order...
Next, with the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl both coming to south Florida I'm already getting bookings for those weeks. Call soon if you want to add fishing to your football if you're coming my way.
Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666