Keys Tarpon Make Strong Showing

The Silver King has Returned!!
April 22, 2008
Their back! The boys of spring and summer have made a strong showing already this year with numerous fish being jumped and or boated for a picture each day. Ocean side fish are on the move in 3 to 8 feet water and are eating some flies: green, purple and burnt orange toads or double bunnies are good in clear water.

< style="font-weight: bold;">Gulf of Mexico side I think the Tarpon are eating a lot better. We are finding fish from Oxfoot bank to Big Sable and some fish are starting to show up in the basins, the best bite has been in the mornings finding rolling and gulping fish on the last part of the outgoing tide and the first part of an incoming. They are eating my Everglades Grizzly flies as well as cockroach patterns. I am using a Loomis 12 wt GLX with a Tibor Gulfstream topped of with S.A. Tarpon intermediate or floating fly line.


On the plug side the X-rap is a sure bet, best colors are white, orange and the silver # 8 with 40lb fluorocarbon leader and a 60lb fluorocarbon bite leader tied onto 30# braided line on a medium light rod and a Quantum Cabo 50 or 60. And if you have a chance to get out at night around Card Sound Bridge there are a lot of smaller fish between 20 and 80 lbs these fish are eating pinfish, shrimp and ladyfish drifted back. Even if you just jump a few a day it is a blast, and to see a 100lb plus big momma coming out of the water shaking her head it can only make you smile! And remember DON’T freeze when that fish strikes.

Biscayne bones are charging hard at flies too, some schools are fighting each other for a shrimp pattern fly as we saw this week. I think the bone fishing will only get better as time goes. I am finding schools of bones on the western side of Biscayne Bay along with some tailing permit. On calm mornings which are a treat now-a-days (cause there hasn’t been a lot of them) bones and permit can be seen tailing a good distance away using binoculars this is a good way of not
pushing fish that may be not so active off the flats.

Snook have been plentiful on the flats of Florida Bay until this last little push of cold air. I was finding mucho amounts of line-siders for fly and sight fisherman on the flats and these guys where eating real well. The water temp dropped 10 degrees on the last front and moved the fish to muddier waters where these fish will return in the next few days.

So get out and enjoy some warmth and listen to the sound of the silver king gulping air first thing in the morning on a calm day man it doesn’t get any better!
Until next time keep the sun at your back.

Capt. Jim Hale
786-255-1788
www.hurricanesportfishingcharters.com/
captainjimhale@hotmail.com