10-02-2002, 03:09 AM
Howdy from Flamingo.
August was a great month for getting a Flamingo Grand Slam. The Flamingo slam consist of a snook, redfish and a trout. The toughest to catch is usually the snook so that's where I begin.
All of my trips begin with a four mile run to the Conchie channel to catch pinfish. One block of chum always does the job. Find the edge of the channel, start chumming and before long you'll see the pinfish running in and out of the chum line. It only takes a few cast of a seven foot cast net and the live well is loaded with bait. Watch out for sharks, they will eat your chum bag and leave you standing on the deck of your
boat with nothing to cast at.
August 8th was a full day trip with Kathy Korte, her dad Alvin and their friend Jim. We took advantage of a falling tide to load up on trout. We used a Cajun Thunder rig with a pinfish nose hooked on a 4/0 hook. The edge of a flat that dumps into deeper water is always a good place to find trout. Cast your bait so that the current takes it across the light and dark areas on the end of the flat. Next, we decided to take advantage of some tripletail that were working an area along the main channel between the Middle Grounds and the Conchie. We saw one nice school that allowed two cast with jigs and both jigs took hits. From out of nowhere, another jig went out and crossed both lines that had fish. Needless to say the fish got away but we did get a nice big knot of fishing line back to the boat. The gang boated a couple but kept only one. As the tide turned and the water got higher we headed to a favorite
snook and redfish flat.
We stayed with the Cajun rigs and pinfish as bait. Kathy was the first to hook up with a big snook that was well over
the limit size had this been a keeper month. Baits in the water again and this time two floats went under only one second apart. Kathy and Alvin had redfish on their lines and did a great job of keeping the two fish apart. Alvin's fish went into the cooler and Kathy's oversized red went back into the water. Floats out again and Kathy's rod bent over again with another redfish. Again, too big to keep and back into the water. Another keeper red was boated along with a released big snook just before we called it a day. A Flamingo Grand Slam for Kathy.
August 14th was a half day trip with Randy Schwartz and his friend Don. We scheduled the trip for the afternoon to use the sun to help us spot tripletail. As luck would have it the winds picked up to a good twenty knots making it impossible to spot fish. We headed for the East Cape canal to toss some lures instead. This was one of those trips that one person caught all of the fish. Don was the man today! We trolled after wearing out the trees and a good thing we did. Don's first hook up was a keeper redfish. We ran over the same area again and another had hit but it got off. Another run over the same area produced a big snook. Somewhere along the way Don managed a nice trout which got him his Flamingo Grand Slam.
August 18th was a full day with Stan Kosyla and his two teenaged son's, Charles and Alex. Our first fishing stop was the East Cape canal. Rods were rigged with 1/2 ounce sinkers and 4/0 hooks with pinfish as bait. I made the first cast for Stan to show the guys where to fish. As I started baiting the second hook, Stan's rod bent over, almost in half. The first snook of the day after only seconds in the water. After a few pics the fish was revived and put back into the water. With all baitsout it wasn't long before Charles was hanging on to a big one. More pics and goodbye's. Lines out again and this time it was Stan with another big snook. Three snook in one spot was pretty good so we moved on looking for redfish. My favorite snook and red flat yielded only one snook for Charles. Next it was off to troutsville for some lighter action while I pondered the red problem. The guys kept me so busy with the trout that there wasn't time to worry about redfish. After abouttwenty-five or so keeper sized trout the guys wanted some rod bending action. I told them of a secret hole that could have snook and reds but would surely have shark and rays. They said, "Lets go.". Sure enough, Stan and Charles got hooked up right away with some big rays while young Alex brought in a six foot nurse shark. While Stan and Charles was at a stalemate with the rays. Alex had a hit that had his rod singing. After a few minutes Alex brought in the biggest snook that I had seen
for some time. Alex's next fish must not have known that it was hooked because it just cruised towards the gulf like we weren't there. Well, we almost got some slams!
September should be just as good as was August. But now it's, "Snook Time". Only one per person but that's ok. Make sure you catch your limit before the first cold front blows through because that's when things will change.
Capt. John Griffiths
http://www.floridalighttacklecharters.com
1-866-4-TARPON (482-7766)
[signature]
August was a great month for getting a Flamingo Grand Slam. The Flamingo slam consist of a snook, redfish and a trout. The toughest to catch is usually the snook so that's where I begin.
All of my trips begin with a four mile run to the Conchie channel to catch pinfish. One block of chum always does the job. Find the edge of the channel, start chumming and before long you'll see the pinfish running in and out of the chum line. It only takes a few cast of a seven foot cast net and the live well is loaded with bait. Watch out for sharks, they will eat your chum bag and leave you standing on the deck of your
boat with nothing to cast at.
August 8th was a full day trip with Kathy Korte, her dad Alvin and their friend Jim. We took advantage of a falling tide to load up on trout. We used a Cajun Thunder rig with a pinfish nose hooked on a 4/0 hook. The edge of a flat that dumps into deeper water is always a good place to find trout. Cast your bait so that the current takes it across the light and dark areas on the end of the flat. Next, we decided to take advantage of some tripletail that were working an area along the main channel between the Middle Grounds and the Conchie. We saw one nice school that allowed two cast with jigs and both jigs took hits. From out of nowhere, another jig went out and crossed both lines that had fish. Needless to say the fish got away but we did get a nice big knot of fishing line back to the boat. The gang boated a couple but kept only one. As the tide turned and the water got higher we headed to a favorite
snook and redfish flat.
We stayed with the Cajun rigs and pinfish as bait. Kathy was the first to hook up with a big snook that was well over
the limit size had this been a keeper month. Baits in the water again and this time two floats went under only one second apart. Kathy and Alvin had redfish on their lines and did a great job of keeping the two fish apart. Alvin's fish went into the cooler and Kathy's oversized red went back into the water. Floats out again and Kathy's rod bent over again with another redfish. Again, too big to keep and back into the water. Another keeper red was boated along with a released big snook just before we called it a day. A Flamingo Grand Slam for Kathy.
August 14th was a half day trip with Randy Schwartz and his friend Don. We scheduled the trip for the afternoon to use the sun to help us spot tripletail. As luck would have it the winds picked up to a good twenty knots making it impossible to spot fish. We headed for the East Cape canal to toss some lures instead. This was one of those trips that one person caught all of the fish. Don was the man today! We trolled after wearing out the trees and a good thing we did. Don's first hook up was a keeper redfish. We ran over the same area again and another had hit but it got off. Another run over the same area produced a big snook. Somewhere along the way Don managed a nice trout which got him his Flamingo Grand Slam.
August 18th was a full day with Stan Kosyla and his two teenaged son's, Charles and Alex. Our first fishing stop was the East Cape canal. Rods were rigged with 1/2 ounce sinkers and 4/0 hooks with pinfish as bait. I made the first cast for Stan to show the guys where to fish. As I started baiting the second hook, Stan's rod bent over, almost in half. The first snook of the day after only seconds in the water. After a few pics the fish was revived and put back into the water. With all baitsout it wasn't long before Charles was hanging on to a big one. More pics and goodbye's. Lines out again and this time it was Stan with another big snook. Three snook in one spot was pretty good so we moved on looking for redfish. My favorite snook and red flat yielded only one snook for Charles. Next it was off to troutsville for some lighter action while I pondered the red problem. The guys kept me so busy with the trout that there wasn't time to worry about redfish. After abouttwenty-five or so keeper sized trout the guys wanted some rod bending action. I told them of a secret hole that could have snook and reds but would surely have shark and rays. They said, "Lets go.". Sure enough, Stan and Charles got hooked up right away with some big rays while young Alex brought in a six foot nurse shark. While Stan and Charles was at a stalemate with the rays. Alex had a hit that had his rod singing. After a few minutes Alex brought in the biggest snook that I had seen
for some time. Alex's next fish must not have known that it was hooked because it just cruised towards the gulf like we weren't there. Well, we almost got some slams!
September should be just as good as was August. But now it's, "Snook Time". Only one per person but that's ok. Make sure you catch your limit before the first cold front blows through because that's when things will change.
Capt. John Griffiths
http://www.floridalighttacklecharters.com
1-866-4-TARPON (482-7766)
[signature]