lemaymiami

It's been a long while, darned nearly six weeks, since my last report but the fish have been biting... By the first week of October we were still in summer mode, very hot days with some rain every afternoon and it was that way the first three weeks of this month. All of that came to an end last weekend when we finally got our first cold front along with the winds and just plain bad weather. By Wednesday the water temps at dawn had dropped ten degrees, showing just under 70 at the ramp. The water temps ranged from as low as 67 all the way up to 71 degrees during the day so we're finally into a solid fall transition in my areas.

Bait along the Gulf coast of the 'Glades has been really thick now for some weeks - mostly small threadfins, medium pilchards (scaled sardines, actually), and finger mullet. The bait gets worked over top to bottom from first light now and are marked by birds and the topwater action provided by everything from spanish mackeral on down. With the bait generally holding within a short distance to mangrove shorelines a guide's job can be as simple as netting the bait, then moving to the nearest downed trees along any outside shoreline where slot and over-slot reds, small to medium snook, little tarpon and everything else attacks your offering on sight. The recent cold snap chased away all the big tarpon but my guess is that they'll show up again (might be there now...) since we're not forecasted for another cold front in the next week or so. Whenever the action along the coast slows down it's a simple matter of working up into the many rivers that drain into the Gulf to find strong action from grouper and snapper.. This is still my favorite time of the year.
Although the bait makes live baiting an easy choice the fish are still responding well to lures and flies. A new fly that I've been impressed with is the Olson's Slider by Dave Olson, who happens to be the guy that runs the Fly Shop of Miami. I was lucky enough to have him on my skiff one day... It works exactly the way a finger mullet moves.... and it's weedless. As far as lures it's been Gulp tails on my own 1/8 or 1/4oz jigheads, soft plastics, and spoons. A little live chumming helps get everything started. The fish up in Whitewater Bay are starting to be more active as well. In a few weeks that's where most of the action will be as fish begin their slow migration back inside pushed by falling water temps.

Since there's very few visitors down here now and that situation will only change as we get into the tourist season in December, most days I hardly see another boat on the water. Backcountry heaven!

Here's a few photos of what we've been doing...
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Dave Olson with a nice trout along the coast...

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All three species caught at the same river spot, that mangrove was almost 24"... the small goliath was about 40lbs, the gag grouper just a hair under legal 24" minimum.
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Local anglers Bill Heitman and Dan Kapp with typical fall redfish, Bill's son got one a little bigger...

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Bill Heitman again, this time with a 60lb tarpon hooked up on 12lb line. It was one of two 60's hooked at the same time up inside a river. I was too busy to take more than one photo since they were both at the boat at the same time....

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Jerry Stephenson with a nice snook on light line ready to be released to fight again.

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Young Nico's first redfish, ready to go home for dinner...

Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666

__________________
Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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radi_33125

Hello Captain; I've been waiting for your informative reports, but I knew that you were probbaly very busy. I went out on Saturday and saw plently of bait, but I am still learning how to fish the rivers and their mouth; therefore, I did not have much action. I was giving some numbers of a rock pile off Little Shark, but the weather did not allow me to get out there.

Thank you for posts; as they help me learn and get me motivated.

lemaymiami

Glad to hear the report is useful. Most of us that do run offshore of the 'Glades do so in summer when the wind is almost non-existent - and go as early as possible since the weather usually begins to turn bad as the afternoon approaches... It's roughly a 30 mile run from ramp out to the nearest decent wrecks, rock piles, etc. That's a long run in a small craft (it's just about a 20 mile run from the ramp just to the mouth of the Little Shark River...)

Remember that all of the boundary markers (the 'Glades markers are roughly four miles from shore up and down the Gulf coast) hold fish. There's usually a resident jewfish (goliath grouper for the PC crowd...) at each piling and cobia and other gamefish are constantly coming and going as they migrate by... You can usually see the nearest marker from the shoreline out on the horizon and you're close enough to scoot back in if the weather turns... They're also shown on the charts for that area. They do get hit pretty hard but the first guy there each day has the best shot.

I'd want to learn something every day in the backcountry and know it's going to take a few trips to put together some useful spots or situations. No two days are ever the same in that area. I'm still learning it and I started in 1974....

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Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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radi_33125

I've learned a lot from reading your post and I am very grateful that you share your wisdom. I have a long way to go, but just being out there is great. I tried fishing Little Sable and it was very difficult due to the tide; therefore, I now know to stay away from the creeks when the tide is falling. That water ran out of there pretty quickly. I am glad I did not venture into some of those creeks because I would have been stranded. Maybe when Allister gets back in a couple of months; he and I could charter you for the day?

Again, thanks for sharing with us your knowledge!!!!

lemaymiami

Those creeks are all pretty deep at six to as much as nine feet deep... The problem you run into on the falling tide is that the entrances do have shifting sandbars and submerged logs (and whole trees...) so exiting on the falling tide can turn into an adventure. At worst you end up stuck inside the creek from the last hour of the fall until the first hour of the rise... That whole proposition will get easier as water temps drop as we go into winter. The water will clear up dramatically and you'll actually be able to see the hazards as you idle out with your engine trimmed up as far as possible (but with enough lower unit in the water for your water pump to still be able to draw water).

Tell Allistair I said hello

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Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
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