Fishing report, Everglades backcountry - Flamingo

It's been over a month since my last report. In the interim we've had lots of bad weather, this winter's a bit on the tough side with cold front after cold front. I've done more than a few trips, both day and night, with nothing great to report. That changed this week... On Tuesday I fished Nallie Kim from Canada who was down to visit the Boat Show and wanted to do some fly-fishing. Running out of Flamingo we headed into the backcountry planning to do some sight-fishing in Whitewater Bay and nearby spots. The morning was a bust. We saw one or two fish with no takers then moved on to Plan B... After a quick run out to the Gulf coast we found water temps that were slightly higher and fish that were gathered in or near small river mouths. Working a 2/0 Clouser, we caught and released jacks, some nice speckled trout, and began concentrating on shallow warm spots as the tide hit the end of the outgoing. We soon found some large snook laying in less than two feet of water, but spooked them before we could get on them properly. Poling down the shore a short distance, Nallie hooked a nice snook on a wool head mullet pattern (chartreuse and white, size 1/0) that put up a great fight. After a few minutes, the fish was landed for a quick photo or two, then a careful release. It measured almost 28".. After working the area a bit more the tide quit and it was time to hunt somewhere else... We ran up a nearby river and found what I've been waiting for all winter... the big tarpon had come in from the Gulf the way they do every year. Long before they show up in the Keys and other places the big fish show up first in my area - you just need for the water to warm up a bit. The bad news that day is that the fish just weren't having our flies since the water wasn't quite warm enough. We were in fish for two hours, then ran out of time, so started the long run back to Flamingo... On a hunch I made that run up another river toward home and again found lots of big fish holding in another spot... Although we didn't score on them that day I told Nallie that I'd be after them again the next day... Tarpon Heaven - fish from 30 to well over 130 by the hundreds.... The next day my angler was Matt Santamauro from New York, who's a regular customer when he can come south. Using spinning gear we caught and released two small grouper, lots of jack crevalle (they seemed to be everywhere yesterday), nice sized snapper, and lots of nice speckled trout - all on jigheads tipped with Gulp shrimp or mullet tails. By mid-day it was apparent that the snook weren't going to be on out on the coast since the wind had picked up and moved to the south, beginning to muddy up the shallow areas we wanted. It was time to hunt big tarpon, with a quick stop to catch ladyfish for bait. This time the big fish weren't going snub us. With only three baits we ran to the first river and found that water temps were even lower than the day before... not good news, but the big fish were there and we had the river to ourselves. After an hour I was beginning to think the water temps were too low even for bait, but all that changed in an instant as one bait was just hammered. At first we thought it was a really big shark since the fish did a long, powerful run up-river, but not at blazing speed, and without any jumps... When the fish did finally jump we were both astonished at its size. I thought from the first that the fish was nearly 150lbs.. a very big tarpon on 20lb gear, in a river that was not quite 200' wide. Once she was at the boat, we began to revive her by motoring very slowly until she regained her strength. Just before we released her I got out the tape measure - she was 74" long with a girth of 39". Using the standard formula (girth squared x length, divided by 800) she weighed in at 140lbs. This is an outstanding catch anywhere, particularly in a small river - and it was Matt's first big tarpon. I'm looking forward to the next one. Tight Lines Capt Bob LeMay