3/7/10 Flamingo. Today we fished the backcountry for the first time since October. In the morning we had water temps around 58 degrees, a North wind and a very low tide. Old reliable trout flats were barren first thing, so we moved into a creek and found a couple nice ones. It was a degree warmer back there, seemed to make a difference. As the sun came up we poled onto a river mouth flat, where normally some snook, reds and goliaths hold up. The water was super clear, and right away 2 redfish showed. We caught one of them, which measured only 15 inches. A couple minutes later 2 more cruised through and Ev hooked up. A 'quick release' boat side, the fish looked to be in the 24 inch range. Shots at 2 other reds went snubbed, and we spooked two nice snook guessed at around 15 pounds. Decided to move and look for a couple goliaths in the creeks. We didn't find them, but we found a hungry school of mangrove snaps that we pounded for an hour, caught at least 30 (kept 7). They shut off as the tide started to creep in. Water temps in the creek was around 61 degrees. With the super low water level in that area, we didn't try to fish our normal spots. But with the clear water, I bet the reds were in there. On another note we saw around 4 dead manatees, well their skeletons, washed up along the points. The buzzards had picked them clean. The gators looked pretty fat and happy sunning themselves on the low tide banks too. Looking forward to the warming trend... 2/21/10 We got up to Stuart this weekend and had a great time. Once the tide got right there was fish everywhere. Steve and Mike were in the pompano, and got a nice red as well. Ev and I spent a couple hours on an edge catching bluefish and sheepshead. We had a bite on every cast while we were in this spot. We wanted to get over to where the pomps were biting, but we were having too much fun. We did see a couple big reds once we poled out of there on to the flat. We had great weather for once this year, hope we see more days like this... 1/26 Here are some pictures of some dead fish I saw after the big fish kill from the cold the first week of January. The pictures do not do it justice; I saw thousands of ladyfish, catfish, pinfish, needlefish and mojarras. I also saw about 100 dead snook, around 50 dead tarpon and 3 goliaths including a 3 incher in the photograph. The fishing was good however and we caught a few reds and tons of nice size seatrout and snappers and the fish were feeding hard. Here is the strange part,both reds we kept had baby goliath in their bellies! Capt Steve Broad 1/26/10 Doug and Jack fished mosquito lagoon today and Jack got his first sea trout! What a monster, it's as long as his leg!!! 1/21/10 Last week Doug sent me this picture of Jack and his first shiner. I look forward to when Capt. Jack is pushing us around the flats!!! 1/14/10 The April Keys trip is booked. This year there are 6 of us going. Should make for some good wagers, some good cooking and a great night time shark fishing party! Hopefully the weather will settle down a bit and warm up for us around then. The record low temperatures has caused a major fish kill in Florida. Everything from snook, tarpon, sharks, lady fish and jacks have been affected. We were going to head to the 10,000 islands this weekend, but strong winds and another front has changed our plans. Have read a few reports from south of Goodland of entire coves covered in dead snook and tarpon.. |
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