Biscayne nights - small tarpon on fire! 7 June

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Here's my latest fishing report - as usual we're using both fly and spinning gear... The fly gear that night was a 9 and a 10wt ( I had on board an additional 8, 9, and 10wt ready to go but my angler stuck with his own gear... Flies were on 1/0 and 2/0 hooks - a simple white tarpon pattern called a Night Fly that we've been using for a lot of years now. I'll post a picture of it at the end of this report... Leaders were 20lb with a 40lb fluoro bite tippet (not that it did us any good....)

Worked my first summer night-time charter this past Saturday night and it was pretty good... (would have been better if the darned fish didn't keep tearing up our gear....).

I met up with my anglers, Neil Franklin and his partner Jean Stefan, at a Miami Beach boat ramp an hour after the sun went down and we headed out to hit a few docklights and some bridge shadows. Neil, as usual with fly gear -Jean Stefan with spinning gear set up with DOA shrimp... Our first hour was a bit slow since we worked docklights and it was a bit early for them to turn on. We did get a few shots at small to medium sized snook and did find one docklight that had hundreds of mangrove snapper, going after anything that came near them. Although we could see fish in the 20" + range the smaller fish were first to the plastic shrimp every time.... We left the docklights, planning to return later on that night (but the tarpon got in the way....). Our first bridge (and the first cast) and it was on.... The bridge we hit had fish on every piling and all the spaces in-between. The tarpon ranged from around 30 all the way to over 80lbs and they hit everything we tossed at them.... and just took us to school... Jean Stefan's DOA's, Neil's Night flies it didn't seem to matter as far as the fish were concerned....

Now for the bad news... they just beat us up, breaking off, jumping off - and occasionally just tearing up our gear. I quit counting when we'd jumped more than a dozen fish -the final count was probably closer to 15... and we never got one to the boat... Along the way Jean Stefan got spooled (200yards of 30lb braid -just gone...). Neil lost a fly line and half his backing on a 9wt.. The fish were just on fire (and a strong wind from the SE with the tide flowing strong against it didn't help matters since I found my skiff trapped up against pilings on more than one occasion - while the fish was taking every advantage of our immobility... All of the action occurred in just four hours - and we had the bridge to ourselves. I thought about moving to another bridge but the hot action kept us right where we were that night. Things were so hectic that I never took a single photo...

The summer scene will go on every night but only ten days a month (two five day periods) will the falling tide start in the early evening. Not many anglers want to sign on for trips that need to start at midnight or 2Am... While the nights will be good all summer long the Everglades during the daytime will have its share of hot action. This is the best time of year to tangle with most of the fish there - if you can stand the heat, and other conditions...

Be a hero! Take a kid fishing!

[FlatsRoamer 0]

is the body a palmered hackle?

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

The correct term is collar when you're talking tarpon flies - It's done with three wide, webby saddles tied in at the butt ends then palmered forward...

[FlatsRoamer 0]

good to know! But then wouldn't that just be a Seaducer?

And what size and model hook was that?

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I do them up on Owner Aki hooks in size 1/0 and 2/0.... A seaducer is a completely different pattern - here's a pic of a dozen in green and white..... Most of the orders I get for Seaducers are in the following colors... Green/white, pink/white, red/white, red/yellow, fl. chartreuse. I do them in two sizes -the small ones are on a #2 hook, the larger ones on a #1 hook... My version always comes with a weedguard and they're used mostly in very shallow places where you want a bug to suspend - not sink much.... The Seaducer is done up on a Mustad 34007 hook - a much lighter hook than the Owner Aki (aki is japanese for yellowfin tuna....).

[JAMAL 0]

There are many so call tarpon in my area. but none of the fly work. sometime we hook them on their body while fishing for bait fish.

any recomendation. those tarpon is about 1 feet long only not bigger than that.

[mikechell 0]

Pacific Tarpon ... don't get as large as Atlantic Tarpon. They should go for small streamers, 2 inches (50mm) or so.

[Li'lDave 0]

What mike said Jamal. I dont know where you are but the little ozzie tarpon (indo-pacific) tarpon like small flies generally with a bit of flash.

 

Where i find them in the freshwater I will even go down to heavily dressed size 8 and 10 nymphs. There preference will vary but i like to include pink. Woolly buggers have been a mainstay in my arsenal for a while now.

 

When fishing in the salt i find pinkish crazy charlies or clousers will often work....

[Li'lDave 0]

Awesome ties Capt Bob.

[Li'lDave 0]

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I'm still alternating between day trips and night trips right now.. In the heat of summer I probably get more night trips than day trips so we're chewing up a few Night flies.... The night trips will taper off as we move into August, when the shrimp seem to dry up. By mid-August the fish are keying on glass minnows in docklights and larger forage around bridges. When that happens they get exceedingly difficult to feed with a fly... By then enough of the big tarpon have returned to the 'Glades so the emphasis is on day trips for those wanting to fish with feathers..

[Li'lDave 0]

Man... tough life. Mind you, guys in your line of business work pretty bloody hard in my limited experience.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

To tell the truth this time of year I do a lot of reading (with my feet up, inside with lots of air conditioning) . Our busy season (when I might not have a day off for weeks at a time) is winter and spring when there's no mosquitoes in the 'Glades.... As we move into summer the fishing gets better and better but the conditions keep getting worse and worse with hot steamy weather, clouds of mosquitoes, and violent thunderstorms every afternoon that have you running back to get off the water.... As a result this is my slowest time of the year. I'll do a bit of boat repair, rod and reel repair, and fill a few lure orders - night trips locally are a blessing when I have a few.... It's also hurricane season now and will be all the way through to November so many are going anywhere else but here.... Many guides I know re-locate up north during summers (or do something else entirely) - the plus side is that many days I can run miles and miles through the backcountry out of Flamingo and never see another boat....

[Li'lDave 0]

Oooops

[Li'lDave 0]

Nice. I forget you guys have you hurricanes at this time of year... our (cyclone) season starts in October / November... although you wouldnt know it by last summer... water supply at 20% and droping.