Fishing report, Flamingo - Whitewater Bay

[lemaymiami]

This past week the weather has been unusually warm here and so has the fishing. Last Wednesday was a day for exploring and some photography in the interior. I couldn't resist bringing a few rods and before noon had a backcountry slam using flies and lures. Needing only a tarpon for the grand slam I couldn't resist a trip to a small river that usually holds fish. It was crazy. Once you're hooked up on a 70lb+ tarpon in a small river and trying to run the boat, keep out of the bushes, and stay connected without anyone else on board things get hectic... I was glad when the fish pulled free after 7 or 8 good jumps. That grand slam will have to wait for another day.

During the weekend there were lots of folks fishing tarpon in Whitewater Bay and we could have joined them. We chose instead to fish a quiet small bay away from all of the boat traffic. One indicator that you've chosen the right area are schools of mullet doing their best to keep from being eaten. Steve Camm, a frequent visitor from England, hooked and fought to the boat a tarpon estimated at 80 to 90lbs on 15# spinning gear. That fish came six feet out of the water on the strike! The tarpon fishing in the interior should continue steady for the next two months. We caught and released a variety of other fish during the day. Among them was a nice spanish mackeral in Whitewater, something that would have been pretty unusual a few years ago.

The only downside to the fishing this past week was the wind conditions which have kept the Gulf coast pretty muddy. A few days of easterly or just light winds should help that area quite a bit.

[MagicSFK]

Sounds like fun, Bob! I hear the tarpon are thick up in Whitewater although I've never had the pleasure of fishing up there. Saw a few laid up behind Islamorada last weekend when the wind was calm.

[lemaymiami]

Here's the deal on the tarpon action in Whitewater and adjacent waters in the winter. When everyone else is hoping for tarpon we've got them because the interior areas of the 'Glades are warmer than any other area in Florida during the winter.

Up until this year the fish have shown up right after Christmas and stay inside until late March. This year it was very cold and the first fish didn't show up until the middle of January and that was only for about three days. Then, it got cold again and they disappeared back out into the Gulf. When it finally warmed up a bit they came flooding back and we've had them for about four weeks. In another few weeks they will leave Whitewater and move into the next bay to the west, Oyster Bay, and the rivers that drain into the Gulf on the west side of the Everglades. That's a big area. Whitewater Bay alone is about 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. My normal area of operations is roughly 20 miles wide by 40 miles north to south and that's just to the coast. You can hardly work more than a tiny fraction of it in any one day.

The best part is that the water's are coffee colored inside and still stained enough in nearby areas that the fish can't see you under most conditions. Every year we have fish that eat a lure, fly, or bait so close to the boat that the angler gets a bath... As long as you're quiet (tarpon do not like motors at all) the fish never know you're around. It makes for some great action. The fish will finally leave our area to spawn around the second week of May. The good news is that they return after spawning to all of the rivers and nearby Gulf-side bays at the end of July. Last year we had them every day from the last week of July until the first hard cold front towards the end of October.

The big difference between the Keys tarpon and the inside fish is how we work them. Instead of clear water spooky tarpon we're fishing them in slightly deeper areas using slow sinking lines (the SA intermediate is my first choice), large flies, and doing a combination of dredging and sight fishing deep in front of moving fish. I particularly like to fish them in smaller rivers where it's true close quarters combat. I have one spot where we lost three fly lines in one year...