(No fly zone) Non fly caught fish pictures

[Lesg 0]

Took my grandson to a hike in smallmouth lake for the first time (for him). My son came along as a canoe carrier and general laborer. Good afternoon and a really good fish fry.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Here's how I end all of my fishing reports (for years now)... 
" Be a hero... take a kid fishing" 

 

Great report ! 

[Steeldrifter 0]

Awesome pics Lesg, looks like he had a great time👍

[KnottaFly 0]

The smiles tell the story!!!

[Lesg 0]

Thanks everyone! He had a great time and so did Grandpa and Dad. He really freaked out when he had a fish on and 4 other bass were trying to grab the spinner out of the fishes mouth. We kept 6, released about 10 and lost a dozen or so all in an afternoon. Needless to say this is a very good lake.

Les

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

Great report and pictures. One of those very special days for three generations. 

[caloosa bug 0]

A few picks from our last couple outings on the Caloosahatchee river. I've been chasing snook the past couple weeks, and have only managed a couple small ones. The bass have been cooperative though.

[Poopdeck 0]

Those are some seriously large bass. Nice going.

[niveker 0]

Nice bass indeed.  

[caloosa bug 0]

Thanks guys. Another Saturday morning with dad this morning. I hate that my son didn't want to go because the small snook were busting topwater plugs everywhere this morning. He would have had a blast. No keepers, with the biggest being 27 inches, but dad landed 3 snook to my two. We each caught a half dozen bass as well. 
 

 

[caloosa bug 0]

There had been sporadic Lake o releases for a month or so. They were releasing a little one day a week. Last week I noticed a slow and steady release all week. Figured it was time to do some late night bank fishing. 
 Kicked off my first keepers since season opened September 1 with a bang. Landed 5 Friday night with a 34, 32, and 2 26 inchers. Missed and lost several more. Had the whole place to myself. Then spent Saturday night doing the same. Landed a 33, 32, 29, and 27 incher. Man what fun it was. All on Rapala x-raps. Sxr12's. Bait casters with 15lb mono and 30lb leaders.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

We were lucky enough to get a day on the water just before the flood hit south Florida this week with two very skilled anglers aboard, Abe and Russ. Abe is actually a charter boat skipper himself - working out of Haulover inlet...

After a long run from Flamingo through the interior over to Oyster Bay, we set up and got into a few speckled trout on spinning gear using both leadheads and topwater plugs - the very first fish was a solid 20", carefully released (overslot size..). During the day we hit them at several different spots, keeping a few for the table in the 16 to 18" range. Moving into the "rivers" that drain into the Gulf coast of the 'glades we found one spot holding a few tarpon in a river. Abe jumped a small one on a leadhead - about 25lbs - but we only had him on for a few moments - that first jump, the fish tossed that lure in fine fashion.. A short distance later out on the coast north of the Shark river area we found great quantities of white bait along shorelines and small ladyfish feeding on them everywhere we went. At a nearby river mouth we found a few small redfish for release as well as a one or two very hungry sharks that made long runs before cutting through our leaders... With sharks where there should have been snook, we moved back down the coast looking for grouper since both anglers said they'd like to tangle with a few.

Along the way we hit a point in one of the Little Shark's tributaries and Russ hooked up with a strong fish on a fairly light rod using a leadhead... That fish dragged us around for a bit before coming to hand. It was a nice jack crevalle - and good sized...
 

 

We don't find many this size in the 'glades - this one was released in good order for someone else to tangle with...

When we came to our first grouper spot - they were just on fire, holding on a corner of one of the "rivers" (all of them are tributaries of the Shark system - a maze of different channels north and south of the Little Shark river...). Every bait we dropped to the bottom just got hammered. The fish at that first spot would even eat a bait that they'd killed and we dropped it again to the same place. We had at least 13 or 14 bites - and at times double hookups when both anglers were taken to the wall, bringing maybe half of them to the skiff for a release. Here's Abe with one of the larger fish...
 

 

All of these were goliath grouper (they seem to have displaced the gag grouper this spot normally holds, understatement) - and all of them are just babies, from ten to about thirty pounds. I figure they leave the interior when they get to about fifty pounds in size - then head out to the markers and wrecks offshore where they get much, much bigger.. When the action (and my anglers) slowed down, we moved to a second spot in another river and found the same kind of action, to end our day -then the long run back to Flamingo. That entire day we only saw one other boat in a round trip of about 60 miles... Just nothing like the Everglades!

As I write this, we're finally getting a bit cooler weather and that should trigger the big migration from the coast back up into Oyster, Whitewater, and Tarpon Bays as well as other interior areas.. I'm looking forward to it. By the way we're even finding these goliath grouper up in very shallow waters for sight-fishing with both flies and lures.. in less than two feet of water in a few places, we're just over run with them now... Check out my homepage on Instagram for lots more photos and current information.. Once our local waters recede a bit I'll also be checking out the peacock bass and other exotics in our local freshwater canals... I've been getting good reports about them before the flood..

Tight lines,
Bob LeMay

"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"

 

 

[niveker 0]

That's a good day, Captain. Nice fish pics. 

[caloosa bug 0]

Great report Capt! Sounds like an amazing day on the water for your clients. 
 

The month of November has been full of snook fishing/catching here on the fresh side of the Caloosahatchee. Mainly the Ortona area. I had a week of vacation to burn last week and had the boat was in the water nearly every morning, (including both weekends) before daylight. I was able to get a slot keeper everyday but 1. And caught multiple snook every outing. Most fish coming before 9:00 am. Keepers came on whopper-ploppers, rapalas, swimbaits, and most on a 3 1/2" watermelon-gold flake, reactions innovations Little Dipper, on a 1/2 to 5/8 oz jig head.
 Season ends in a couple weeks, then my focus will shift to crappie jigging on okeechobee. 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Very cool... Over here on the east coast I'm hoping for a few night bookings since we're having a very mild run up to winter as far as water temps go... I've been spending time in my shop re-working a rod or two (new guides after completely stripping each rod then turning down the grips before wrapping on new guides) as well as doing a bit of exploring a day or two each week to expand the areas I fish in both the salt and freshwater side of things.. Not many customers for guides this time of year - but all that will change as we move into December and the visitors start showing up.