Everglades fishing report, Flamingo and Gulf coast

[lemaymiami]

Today was typical of the fishing during the summer out of Flamingo from Whitewater Bay to the Gulf coast from the Shark River northward. Finally I had a chance to fish with my favorite angler, my son James, who at seventeen has lots of things to do other than fishing... Since we don't get on the water together very much it's nice when the fish are biting.

Right now the fishing for snook and small tarpon along the coast is as good as it gets. We jumped six small tarpon in one spot on lures, releasing two at boatside and that was just to start the day. James then landed his first snook of the day on a small jig. It went almost nine pounds on the Boga-grip before a careful release. A nice catch on light spinning gear. Working our way to the north we found snook almost everywhere we fished for them. James was on his toes and scored the majority of the 10 we caught and released. His biggest weighed in at 14lbs, a bit over the slot limit... From large to small all were carefully released -- we'll be looking for them in September. Along the way we also encountered some large jack crevalle, our largest was around 12lbs. They're a handful on 10# line. We also caught and released a few assorted sharks on both bait and lures up to around 100lbs. We finished out the day working a small spot for speckled trout and each of us caught and released some nice ones in Whitewater Bay to complete the double slam. If the redfish had co-operated it would have been a grand slam! Maybe next time...

Right now there's little bait in the areas I'm working. Fortunately small bucktails in all white or red and white seem to be all that's needed. We're supplementing them with soft plastic baits and doing quite well. If you're careful to cut back your leader a few inches after every catch (when the fish has frayed it) you can go all day with only one or two lures right now. The only trick is placement. You've got to work near structure for snook, snapper, redfish, etc. The small tarpon are reacting well to lures fished slowly near the bottom in areas where you can see them rolling. In some cases we watch as one fish repeatedly attacked the jig until he caught it. Each strike was marked by a silver flash getting closer and closer to the boat.... Flies with a little weight would probably have done almost as well.

A word here about flies is probably in order. I can't emphasize how important the size of the fly is right now. Most of the forage at present is small pilchards or threadfin herring along with bay anchovies (glass minnows). My anglers have great success with flies tied on #4 up to about #1 hooks. Color should be mostly white with a bit of chartreuse or olive along the top. Patterns range from EP minnows to crystal schminnows with small poppers and deer hair sliders when surface action is happening. Because the offering is small heavy leaders or shock tippets are not on the menu. We're using nothing heavier than 30# for a shock tippet and occasionally we just do without a shocker. A three foot section of straight 20 or even 15 will draw a lot more strikes. Of course you'll lose some fish...
As summer progresses the forage will get larger. By the end of summer we'll be using standard baitfish patterns on biggers hooks, but right now...


From now until the end of summer most days will have this kind of action. We'll vary things a bit with an occasional night trip around the bridges in Biscayne Bay when the tides are right. Most days, though, will be along the coast where you'll rarely see another boat all day

[kirbyt]

[QUOTE=lemaymiami]

About leaders. I tried to attach a braided wire leader using a Palomar loop to loop connection. When stressed tested the wire kept on cutting the nylon loop.

Any tips on attaching the two? Or do you have receipe for making the shock tippet with the 30# back to lighter line. Your 80# for tarpons is a major work of tying skills.

A customer from Houston

Because the offering is small heavy leaders or shock tippets are not on the menu. We're using nothing heavier than 30# for a shock tippet and occasionally we just do without a shocker. A three foot section of straight 20 or even 15 will draw a lot more strikes. Of course you'll lose some fish...
As summer progresses the forage will get larger. By the end of summer we'll be using standard baitfish patterns on biggers hooks, but right now...

[lemaymiami]

The best and easiest understood book on knots that I've ever found is the one by Mark Sosin. The illustrations are clear and easy to follow. Mark has a new CD on the subject that he advertises on his TV show. It might be your best bet (but I haven't seen it).

That said I'll try to talk you through how I'm doing my connections. First off I avoid using wire if at all possible. I much prefer to use heavier fluorocarbon, say 50 or 60 for mackeral or bluefish. The only fish that you must use wire for are 'cudas and sharks.

I first tie a standard saltwater tippet that ends in a short bimini twist (I use the class tippet that will meet a particular world record category or to meet tournament or club rules, some fishing clubs specify that fly tippets not exceed 15lbs..). To connect the bimini to a wire shock tippet you have two choices when the wire is standard single strand trolling wire. The first choice is to bend a loop into the end of the wire then tie the bimini to it with an Allbright Special knot. An allbright is made by passing the doubled line through the loop then wrapping the doubled line back on top of itself at least 7x then running the doubled line back through the loop twice. Tighten it slowly then trim tag ends. If done properly it should be pretty strong. The alternative (which I'm using more and more these days) is to buy some of the small welded stainless steel rings that are now available in catalogues or shops that cater to serious offshore anglers that are hunting large tuna. I believe that RiteAngler is the brand that Capt. Harry's in Miami stocks. I get the ones that are rated for 75lb test. I use #5 wire for cudas and at least #6 for sharks. The fly is attached with a haywire twist then the other end is attached to the welded ring with another haywire. The bimini twist doubled line is then tied to the welded ring giving a really solid connection that is at least as strong as the breaking strength of the tippet itself. Remember that if you're seeking a record fish that the shock tippet and any knots connecting it to the breaking strength must not exceed 12" overall. That includes the bimini...

Although I don't favor braided wire here's two ways that you can connect it to a leader. The first is to use an allbright. Even if you're fairly careful in tying it I wouldn't rate it as 100%. An alternative is to splice it to an existing shock tippet. First tie a loose figure eight knot in the braided wire, then thread the mono through it following the same course the wire follows. The next step is to tighten the figure eight knot which will form a barrel around the mono. To finish it simply half hitch the mono around the wire 5 or 6 times while pulling it tight, then trim the tag ends. That connection is surprisingly strong. Hope that this helps, you'll probably still need a good series of illustrations to learn the allbright if you don't already know it.