There is only 21 days and counting until Christmas Day hopefully you will get a well-deserve break and get a few days off. The weather usually cooperates around the Christmas - New Year break. The fishing has been pretty good on the warm days the Tarpon, Snook and Redfish spread out on the flats, but on the cooler days look in deeper holes, deeper mangrove shorelines and channels. During the cold snap on Thanksgiving Day, the Redfish were really stacked up in the morning. The Tarpon and Snook also look for comfortable conditions most of the time it will be a little deeper. The deeper backcountry comes alive with the hard N.E. winds; these winds stack up the Snook.
Bonefishing will be good 2 or 3 days after the front when the water warms, the Biscayne Bay flats will be alive with big Barracudas as well plenty of Sharks of assorted sizes.
This is the time of year when our beach run Tarpon show up off of Miami Beach, the conditions are right for a Shrimp run this week. (120406) I know I'm repeating what I wrote last month but this can be awesome if you catch it right, the full moons of December, January, February and March can all produce a great bite. These afternoon/ early evening trips are enjoyable; where else can you fight a large Tarpon while overlooking the South Beach nightlife. There is also plenty of other fish mixed in with the Tarpon, big Jacks, Snook, Snappers and Permit fill in as by catch during the day.
112806 The winds are strong this week but I had a brave soul Bruce who wanted to go no matter what. The early morning bite for baby Tarpon was incredible; baby Tarpon from 15 inches to 15 lbs were busting our Rapala twitch and rap lures. Bruce also caught a handful of Snook, which were busting minnows in the current. There are some types of fishing that benefit from the wind; especially the back -country Snook fishing when is coincides with a hard falling tide. The winds have been blowing around 20 mph all week and we used it to our advantage fishing the windy points that had and an eddy behind it. The other thing that’s helps in this type of back country fishing is the cooler water temperature, which congregates the Snook, Redfish and some really nice Mangrove Snappers in these types of spots. The more spots you have the more fish it's possible to catch. This type of action occurs when most guys don't even think about going out. Bruce who is an outstanding angler had 40 Snook to 26 inches, 15 Redfish to 28 inches 10 or so Snappers plus the usual Ladyfish, Jacks and Trout.
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Day 1
This weekend I'm in Islamorada to fish the Redbone Tournament, for Cystic Fibrosis. The Redbone is a Angler and Celebrity tournament, they combine their efforts to go out and catch a Redbone which consist of a Bonefish and a Redfish. The weather was not very good, it was very windy but we had sunny skies on Saturday. I had Jerry Alvarez and Lance Monsinger they work for the Redbone. We had some really good shots at Bonefish but there were some unfortunate circumstances, nervous knees on Jerry’s first. this happens in Bonefishing a lot. We had tailing Bonefish, cruising Bonefish but no Bonefish that would eat our bait, that’s the way it go’ s some day. The anxious anglers caught some really big Cuda’s and some Sharks.
Day 2
The most noticeable thing this morning is the flag is stiff; the 25 mph winds will make it interesting. Today we are Redfishing with the hope to get on the board, it didn’t take long and we were hooked up with a nice Snook. The guys didn't care the more fish the better!
It was hard not to notice the Tarpon that were rolling in my Redfish spot the guys were definitely distracted and every once in a while snuck in a cast. We were protected and watching a 100 lb Tarpon knock a bait 6 feet in the air get’s you pumped up, but back to the Redfish. Jerry had a solid hook up but the fish came off, not long after that lance hooks a nice Red but it is a hair short. The Gulp Shrimp was working great today. Did I mention its really windy today! I poled into the wind most of the morning; on any other day the results would be great, Tarpon, Snook, Redfish, Trout, Ladyfish and Jacks but today the Redfish we are catching are all 17 ½ inches. I poled into an area that had no water and no traffic; at first there were no fish and then “big Tarpon” in 10 inches of water. This is one impressive site, our attention turned strictly to the Tarpon, I rigged a Rapala twitch and Rap up for both guys. Lance who had already caught one Tarpon had one of the most explosive hits ever, right next to the boat spray wetting everyone. The Tarpon hit so hard the plug was knocked back into the boat. AWESOME; Lance was screaming did you see that! Lance finished up the day with a back country "Grand Slam" and Jerry caught plenty of fish, it was a good ending in tough conditions.
I have some availability the next couple weeks before Christmas, there is a lot going on as you can see. I know a lot of dad’s would like a fishing trip for Christmas if you would like to book a trip or reserve one for a family member, gift certificates available. If you would like to give your self a gift give me a call at 305 333 8149 I will give you the trip of lifetime.
Again thanks to all, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. |
