The backcountry fishing especially around flamingo has been stellar the last few weeks. It has been ‘the place to be.’ We’ve been catching tarpon just about every day. The key is getting good fresh live mullet which we’ve been finding in the mornings. It’s necessary to leave early and spend time catching these guys… once the sun is up high they get much tougher. You only need a handful and the tarpon are eagerly awaiting them. Many of these fish have been what we call smaller ‘residents’ – in the 20 – 60 lb range. But still a heck of a lot of fun, and we’ve been still getting shots at some 60-90 lbers once in a while too. In the mix is plenty of blacktip sharks along with a few lemons and bulls. Of course a vicious hammerhead made his way into the mix as well. The past few days we’ve caught multiple tarpon every day with many more ‘jumped off’ and a plethora of sharks. The snook fishing has been good the last 3 days we’ve hooked double digit snook and boated almost as many. Again lots of smaller fish though a handful of nice 5-10 lb fish in the mix. Live shrimp have been fairly large so they work well, plus pinfish are a favorite bait of mine either suspended or put on the bottom with a weight. Mangrove snappers have been around too as well as a few juvenile goliath groupers. The snappers make good dinner. Thats mostly what I’ve been up to lately there may be some other good fisheries but I’ve been having a lot of fun with two of my favorite species – the snook and tarpon!
Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com
