This was a 43 inch Snook, that was starving. This fish has no belly
The end of 2016 was warm and that means the Tarpon were around in big numbers at Flamingo but today 12-30-16 is the end of it. It cooled down over night and got windy which will knock water temps down. The great part is they will be back in a couple days when it warms up. 2016 produce some big Snook for Caught Lookin Charters most out of WhitewaterBay in the Back country and I hope to continue producing them in 2017
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I am fishing with long time client Sam Rose and his son Mike today. On the way to pick them up on Fischer Island I noticed the mullet schools grey hounding on the flats. I pulled in and saw 30 lb. Jacks and 100 lb. Sharks busting up the mullet schools. I picked up Sam and Mike at the dock and headed back but it didn't last much longer. We did get shots at a few Sharks and Jacks but the were don eating. We stayed in the bay because it was blowing @20- 25 today. Mike was having a good time catching Trout, Jacks, Ladyfish, Cuda's and Snapper.
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I am with Andy and his son Alex today, I picked them up in Bal Harbor and immediately got into fish busting baits. I gave them some lures and we doubled up on giant Ladyfish , we did 4 or 5 time and moved on. I had netted some pilchards and we went chumming the canals and sea walls. this produced a bunch of 2 - 3 lb. Jacks which was all Alex could handle with a broken right hand. We got into a bunch of Trout and got a real good father son picture with a giant Snook.
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I am down at Flamingo today part of a 4 boat site seeing and some fishing, I'm with Jenn her son Luke and Carter and Niece Sam. I showed them everything I could Flamingos, Pelicans brown and white, Egrets and Herons. They wanted Crocodiles, so we went and found them. Once we finished we went fishing and whacked he Trout Jacks, Ladyfish and a Redfish. The only person who had fished before was Luke so I made sure everyone caught their share of fish. Jenn had told me Carter was Autistic so I made sure he had a great time catching his first couple fish. It was a short trip so we headed back to Flamingo marina.
I am down at Flamingo today with Shaun O'Neal his son Ethan his friend Harvey and Mitch. We started out chasing some fish that were busting baits but never seem to catch up to the, they were moving quick. This morning it was 52 degrees at the dock its our first cold day of the year. I took advantage of the drop in temps both air and water almost 10 degrees different than 2 day ago. I went to the deeper area of East Cape Canal and fished knocker rigs on the bottom. I gave Ethan a Gulp Shrimp to work slow and deep, it paid off Ethan hooked a really big Snook, his first. The big cold Snook fought very hard and stayed deep keeping us in suspense. The Snook came to the surface and there was allot of screaming. I grabbed the net and made Ethan's day!
We revived the Snook and went back to fishing that's when the Black drum turned on. Every was hooked up and we caught a bunch of nice ones up to 5 lbs. Shaun had this nice one which gave him a great fight. We ran around showing them the whole park coming in from the back country. We found some Trout and caught 4 at a time for over an hour. The rest of the day was tough the winds were in the 25 mph range and made fishing tough in the back country even though we put all kinds of fish in the boat. The guys were beat and we made our way in it was a long day!
The big Tarpon are in the back country and once the water temps come back up they will start eating again.
This is my last report for 2016 and I'm glad to have a couple big Snook in the pictures, because this was a banner year for me and big Snook.
I have a Pathfinder 22 which handle the hard core angler needs , it also handles a Family of 4 kids included. If you need a kid friendly charter I'm it give me a call at 305 333 8149.
You can follow me on Instagram @ Caught Lookin Charters!
Happy New Year,
Captain Jim Hobales
www.CaughtLookinCharters