Tamiami Trail

[caloosa bug 0]

 I’m going to Key Largo tomorrow for my annual managers meeting and offshore fishing trip. Last year, I zig-zagged my way from the south west shore of Lake Okeechobee to Key Largo and fly fished for the urban peacocks and other exotics along the way. I had several spots I had marked using google maps, street view, in areas mentioned in articles and reports. I caught a few fish and had fun exploring.

This year I’m heading down hwy. 29 to Tamiami trail. Then fish the trail from the faka/union canal to krome ave.. Starting in the salt and going to the fresh. I am taking a couple conventional rods and a couple fly rods to see what I can stir up before meeting my crew in key largo at 5:00pm. Then I’ll be offshore Tuesday. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight🙇‍♂️🐟🐊🐠🎣🎏🐊

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Look forward to hearing a report....  This time of year with almost zero customers I'm trying to explore one day (or night)  a week in my skiff - and augment it a bit by just hitting the road without my skiff.  But with a rod or two to add to my freshwater chops...  I'll be in that same area - but coming from near Ft. Lauderdale, running west on Alligator Alley - then south on S.R. 29 down to the Tamiami - then west a bit again over towards Goodland.  My last scouting for peacocks near Homestead showed little success since the waters were quite high still - and I figured the fish weren't in the canals but out on nearby flats where you'd need an airboat to play with them.. 

[caloosa bug 0]

It was a pretty uneventful across the trail. I started at the Picayune Forest water structure. Fished with conventional for 20 minutes and the headed east stopping at several bridges along the way. I did see two small snook that saw me at the same time and took off. I saw several Oscar and gar at many places, and I didn’t see any peacocks until I got to the S12A water control structure where Tippy’s used to be. A few casts with a small rapala sent them retreating to deeper water. I tossed a fly around a bit at and had no takers or followers. I didn’t see another peacock until I missed two on fly at the Value Jet 592 memorial. The last stop I made was just on the east side of the Krome intersection at the casino. Last year I caught a handful there. This year the water looked like coffee with heavy cream. It was really brown and nasty looking. I tossed everything throughout the day, from jigs and swim baits, to rapalas and rattle traps. Then streamers from black to chartreuse with little avail. I also stopped at a couple spots outside of homestead on the way home and nothing. It was a neat experience nonetheless.
 

Key Largo was a different story offshore. I ended up getting to go out two days in a row. It was pretty rough out 20-30 miles out in the Atlantic Tuesday and even rougher Wednesday. We were able to find several scattered schools of mahi and I brought home quite a few bags of fillets. 

[caloosa bug 0]

Since I didn’t get any fish pics on the trail, I might as well include some from Key Largo. 

[niveker 0]

12 hours ago, caloosa bug said:

Since I didn’t get any fish pics on the trail, I might as well include some from Key Largo. 

 

👍

[Swamp Fly 0]

Nice Mahi!

Small #6-#2 tan deer hair sliders/divers are my go to down there.  Gurglers in the same color and sizes are also a favorite. The trail can be really tough this time of year.  That said, under the bridges usually brings some action, unfortunately trying to throw flies 10-20 ft under those bridges while standing on them is beyond my ability.  I haven figured it out especially since the water surface is only 5-6 feet below your feet.   I won't wade around those bridges just to get into a better position either.  I almost always get a few grabs by flicking a clear/brown Storm grasshopper popper or the smallest floating silver/black rapala with an UL spinning rod under the bridges.  As far under as you can.  It's tough on the rod tip.  Grabs on the rapala are obvious,  just listen for the explosion with the popper.

If you want to hit the trail together once rainy season has stopped and the water has droped at least a little, let me know.  Probably not before November at a guess.  Might be fun.

 

Swamp

[Steeldrifter 0]

Looks like a fun time. That had to be a blast catching that many mahi.

[caloosa bug 0]

On 8/30/2024 at 4:29 PM, Swamp Fly said:

The trail can be really tough this time of year.

If you want to hit the trail together once rainy season has stopped and the water has droped at least a little, let me know.  Probably not before November at a guess.  Might be fun.

 

Swamp

I guess so, I was expecting to at least get a shot at a baby tarpon somewhere. I didn’t even see any rolling at all.

Sounds good! We’ll have to try that. Thanks for all the tips.

in most cases the water was inches from the bottom of the bridge. I free lined a little rapala a few times with the current taking it under the bridge then slowly reeled and twitched and paused it back to me…same with a streamer a few times. Sounds like I should’ve done that a little more than I did. Truth is I’d hit a spot make a few casts with a couple lures, look around a bit on both sides of the bridges, then move along to the next one. 

[caloosa bug 0]

On 8/30/2024 at 10:25 AM, niveker said:

👍

 

15 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Looks like a fun time. That had to be a blast catching that many mahi.

It was. The first day had we 4 guys, including myself. A few times all 4 of us would be hooked up at the same time dancing back and forth around the boat to keep lines from getting tangled. We came across a floating pallet at one point the was holding a handful of dolphin under it. On the first hookup, the fish leaped, and landed flat on top of the pallet, flopping for a bit then it flipped back into the water still hooked.
The second day was supposed to be 4 ladies. Two of them backed out leaving only my boss and one other girl. That’s what led to me getting invited out a second day. We knew it was going to be rough, and I wasn’t sure how long they would last in the waves and the heat. My boss turned green before the first fish, and the other woman was wore out after reeling in 1 and a half fish before asking me to take over. They were all bigger fish than the day before.I landed all the rest until around 10:45 when they said that they were ready to head in. 

I definitely enjoyed it. I’d much rather pitch to neon colored fish just under the surface, over deep dropping with electric reels like we did last year.

[Swamp Fly 0]

Sounds like you did everything right.  It's just tough right now.  With water up that high the fish are going to be where the food is and that's up amongst the trees and on the flats.  When the water starts to drop and all those little fish that are up on the flats have to come back out, then it can be absolute mayhem.  I'm sure you are more than familiar with the concept from fishing the the canals where you are.