Capt Bob LeMay 0 Report post Posted July 20, 2022 Ran a short trip yesterday down at Flamingo in Everglades National Park... on the water before dawn then made the long 21 mile run out to the Gulf coast looking for tarpon... Our first few stops had no joy - only a few fish showing so moved south along the coast from the Shark River. Found fish up to and a bit over 60lbs but weren't able to do much with them.. They were holding in a deep creek with a good current - but not very active at all... We managed a few small fish here or there on our flies - but no tarpon until as a last ditch tactic I ran back up inside to a small bay holding lots of baby tarpon.. That saved our day with small fish (nothing over about five pounds) that chased our flies back to the skiff in around two feet of water along thick mangrove cover... We jumped around ten in less than an hour bringing a about half of them to the boat for a quick release. It was a mix of baby tarpon and tiny snook - eating everything they saw... We only used a single fly pattern for the babies -and nearly wore it out... Here's a pic of the fly - on a #4 hook with a very light wire weedguard.. This is my version of Norm's Crystal Schminnow - and the next time I do a half dozen or so for the babies I will make the tail just a bit shorter (lots of short strikes yesterday...). Thread: Danville's flat waxed nylon, fl. green Hook: Mustad 34007, #4 Eyes: #5 beadchain Tail: very sparse white calftail with generous amount of maribou blood quill over Flash: a few strands of pearl Flashabou Body: large pearl crystal chenille Weedguard: #3 trolling wire (Malin's stainless, coffee colored) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
