Biscayne Night Tarpon, 8 December
Capt. Bob LeMay
December 10, 2023
Biscayne Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Broke another rod last night (more about that later...). I've been doing a bit of exploring these past two weeks as we move into holiday season (and most folks are doing family stuff when they have time -not booking fishing trips...) and have been alternating between the saltwater Everglades and freshwater trips hunting peacock bass and other exotics looking for new spots.
On Friday night was lucky enough to book a night trip with Ollie, a young 8 year old angler, along with both his Dad and his Grandfather aboard (both named Marco)- all local anglers... We got on the water less than an hour after sundown and headed out looking for tarpon, snook, and other species using spinning gear and artificials. Our first good spot, one of the bridges that span Miami to Miami Beach was a zero --- the bridge lights that are so essential... weren't working on the side of the bridge we needed to fish... The second spot , though - it was on - with lots of tarpon from ten to thirty pounds (along with a few bigger...). The night scene in Biscayne Bay (and other places..) for us, is all about sight fishing and we're looking at most of the fish in docklights or bridge shadows on a five hour trip. Marco, Ollie's Dad, was the first to hook up using a light rod and a DOA shrimp and we were off to the races... Here's that first fish...
https://i.imgur.com/OOike89.jpg
a good start to our evening.....
The next angler up was Ollie with either me or his Dad doing the casting part then handing him the rod to lure a fish into striking. He missed at least four bites before hooking up solid on his very first tarpon.. After fighting the fish to the skiff twice though - his rod broke and he had to work it to the boat one more time - with what was left of his rod... I released that fish at boatside then we went back to jumping fish. Lots of shots that night (and believe it or not - we'd have had better success with fly rods - night tarpon eat flies really well...). We went on to jump over eight or nine fish (I quit counting) that evening. Our last fish that night was bigger than the rest -after about 15 minutes of jumping, running, and just in general carrying on, the fish looked to be over fifty pounds - and right at the limit of the light rods we were using... Here's that video, just before the fish wore through the leader...
[MEDIA=vimeo]893032079[/MEDIA]
All in all it was a great night and all winter long these fish will be around (hopefully...) for hot night-time action. As for the rods... I build nearly every rod my anglers use (except fly rods since I can't make a fly rod quickly enough - and we do break a few rods....). So when I can it will be back to the rodbuilding bench for me - with two broken rods to replace at present. The good news is that I do have all the components needed on hand (rod blanks, hardware, etc.) and it is just as easy to build two rods as just one (almost...).
For more day to day photos, etc. check out my homepage on Instagram "Capt Bob LeMay"
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
"Be a hero.... take a kid fishing"
More Fishing Reports:
