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Capt Bob LeMay

Fishing report, Everglades backcountry, 28 March

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Sorry no fly anglers this past week.. "fly anglers wanted".... and if you come bring your " A game "... 
 
You can tell that things are finally opening up this spring in the backcountry of Everglades National Park out of Flamingo and my anglers are enjoying it... Only out two days this past week and the big silver speckled trout are finally making a showing in the backcountry.  Every day now we're getting fish up to 20 inches on lures of every kind.  Double hook-ups on very light gear are common.... Here's a sample, and they're suckers for flies as well as lures...

 

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I expect them to present almost every day now for the next month or so... 
 
Along with the trout, we've been getting some nice snook on the days when we've targeted them - on leadheads with plastic tails...

 

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this one near a river mouth along the Gulf coast...
 
The real stars this past week have been the tarpon, of every size, holding in the tributaries of our main river - the Little Shark... Our first day we jumped three, getting one to the boat... Last Thursday we struck another three, one a big one..., and all three came to the skiff for a photo or two - then a careful release... This one was nearly 100lbs and took my first time tarpon angler to school for about thirty minutes before coming in for the release..

 

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The tarpon have been biting lures and live baits equally well.  I have some fly anglers in the next few days so we'll be after them with the long rod as well.  Just nothing like the 'glades...
 
Not to be forgotten, we're still catching and releasing grouper in these same waters that the tarpon are holding in - all of them "baby" goliath grouper up to about 30lbs on all kinds of gear.. .. Here's one of last Thursday's fish... 

 

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tarpon in the morning, goliaths in the afternoon... some days it's tough to decide which way to go (and what to target...).
 
It's prime time now in the backcountry and will just continue to get better as we move from spring into summer and I do still have a few openings in both April and May for anyone heading my way... 
 
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
 
"Be a hero.... take a kid fishing"

 

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I would love to be with you on one of those trips but not to that kind of travel anymore. If those are baby Goliaths aren't you supposed to keep them in the water and not lift them out at all? I see a lot of people saying the regs on them actually have them overcrowded in some areas and taking a hit on other fish in those areas.

 

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Lots of back and forth about goliath grouper over the years - and yes they've been protected since the nineties - both by our state - and the feds... The prohibition about lifting them out of the water was never a rule - it was simply a response by an FWC enforcement type to having seen idiots dragging huge goliaths aboard their boats while making videos... (and they were right that should be prohibiited).  We release every one we catch and handle them as carefully as any other specie.  Here's what I wrote recently about the tremendous population surge of these fish in the areas we fish (in short we're up to our fannies in them and they displace other species....).  The tag I mention in this piece is actually $150 for a resident and $500 for a non-resident to take one slot sized fish (not a big one at all....).

https://www.microskiff.com/threads/flamingo-report-28-march-2022.100242/#post-954906

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