Going there this Friday and been looking up captains for tarpon. Just wondering if Anyone knows of any decent captains down there to get on fish? Any info greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have. I can only say be careful in your selection. You may want to talk to people coming off the boats on the shifts before you to see how they did.

PM finaddict

Thanks
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There are plenty of options for you:

If you want to fly fish/light tackle in the Miami area from a skiff - start with Mark Krowka - he is absolutely the best ... he had a house in Dania as well as in Islamorada, he may have moved to Islamorada full time, but look him up, he is tops. Mark is often booked, so he may refer you to another captain that is really good.

Another flats guide Joe Gonzalez is a great captain as well. He is definitely worth looking up if Mark is booked.

There are a ton of other flats guides, if neither of these two work for you, and don't have good references, let me know.

Other Tarpon options in the Miami area not flats focused:
If you want to fish tarpon but from the cuts, etc. ... check Captain Bouncer Smith - he is one of the best, Bouncer fishes out of a 27 or 29 foot Dusky, fishes the cuts, etc. ... but not sure if he fly fishes.

Another captain similar to Bouncer is Dennis Forgione ... he fishes similar to the way that Bouncer does ... he is another top tier captain like Dennis.

I only met Joe Gonzalez like once, but know the other three very well ... they are all really good.

I can come up with other suggestions if you like ... but it all depends upon your availability and where you are open to traveling.

The tarpon fishing out of Fort Lauderdale is mostly live bait fishing out of the inlets, as well as fishing in the canals during low light periods (when boat traffic is down) or possibly intercepting schools moving north up the beach during tarpon season. Miami has a few more options than Fort Lauderdale as you can go down to Biscayne Bay and fish the flats ... but the fishing outside of Govt Cut, etc., can find a lot of fish around too ... fish will be moving up the coast after the run along the cuts and channels of Biscayne Bay north.

There are a lot more options for captains/guides and for styles of fishing, mostly depends upon where and how you want to fish.

Also, a little more north is a captain out of Jupiter who is active on this board, George Labonte ... if you want to try fishing with him.

I can provide more insight if you want. Let me know.

In the canals and out front in the Ft Lauderdale area you can also fish a variety of lures too depending upon how the fish are acting, etc. Same with out front, although those schools will be on their way north and most likely won't hang around too long if they pass you ... unless they come across a school of bait to occupy their time.

Finaddict ,
Thanks for the info regarding captains. Been striking out as far as availability goes on weekend. I'll be in south beach this weekend and was looking at Sunday night. In the event i dont find a captain; What plugs should I have with me? Thanks again
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This isn't the info you're looking for but....I once went shrimping off Miami (Biscane bay?) from midnight to 4am. Behind a 19 foot boat we pulled a 5 foot wide net floats on top, sinkers on bottom. We ended of with 40 lbs of tails. Best shrimp I ever had.

Finaddict ,
Thanks for the info regarding captains. Been striking out as far as availability goes on weekend. I'll be in south beach this weekend and was looking at Sunday night. In the event i dont find a captain; What plugs should I have with me? Thanks again
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Whatever you do, always ask any booked captains for another reference, there are so many, it's hard to believe that you can't find one ... check with Captain Harry's - one of the leading tackle shops in South Florida ... they always know.

As for plugs, depends upon when you fish ... a lot of guys like white jigs with red feathers ... or you could switch out pork rhind, to fish the inlets from the adjacent walls and inlets ...

... but also it's worth being prepared with a bottle or darter ... fish them at night near the cuts ... at the very south end of Miami Beach, there is a long pier which is adjacent to Govt. Cut ... I have never fished there and usually a lot of traffic ... but late at night, it may be slower boat traffic and you could find fish (although watch it at night - even though once I went to fish there and there was a WAR concert going on, so that was a worthwhile venture) ... on the north end I think it's Halover Inlet ... can be more productive ... guys also occasionally get snook from the beach on the north end ... but you could also never go wrong with a spook ...

... if you are fishing at night, think about trying to hit some dock lights ... up on the northern end of Miami Beach, the road runs along what I think is the intercoastal ... there is a series of finger piers with charter boats, etc. up that way, it may be worth snooping around those docks for spots to fish ... if there are lights and it's quiet ... of course look for no trespassing signs ... but if you can find some, there will be a good chance for snook and baby tarpon under them, as well as some ladyfish ... for those fish, we always used small flies ... for lures, we used DOA Shrimp (small softbait shrimp), small jigs and other small plugs will work well ... the key is to cast beyond the end of the light zone ... under the docks or past the outside edge of the light and work the lure along the outside edge of the dark slowly or from under the dock through the light ... even though it's dark, the fish can still get easily spooked ...

A buddy of mine has two lights on his docks in his back yard, we always had to let the fish sit after catching a few ... the boats often go from dock to dock throughout the night to find good spots. Of course, those spots with lights and a slight current tend to hold more fish than stagnant spots with no current, but always worth checking them all.

If you are in South Beach, and have access to a car, and have a fly rod, there are some pretty good spots to wade for bonefish - off Key Biscayne as well as down in the Cutler Ridge area ... we used to hit those spots quite regularly if we were not going out on our skiffs, not sure why we didn't but it was fun wading around tailing bonefish and rolling baby tarpon.

The last idea is to contact a guy in Fort Lauderdale named Steve Kantner - he is really, really smart and a great guide and fisherman ... he has figured out how to get fish from almost anywhere in South Florida on foot ... fresh and salt, the guy is wicked smaht and a really good captain ... look up Kantner - he has a website About Land Captain (http://www.landcaptain.com/About.htm) ... not sure if he is still guiding, but can be a great source and trip if he is available .. I once accidentally hooked a Winnebago while flyfishing with his prized Hardy reel and it disintegrated all the gears, the reel got so hot I could barely hold on to it as that "70 foot aluminum wahoo" as Steve called it, went careening down the Tamiami Trail. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone, but it was quite funny but a little pricey to replace.

Hope this droning on helps out. Look for a variety of options, they exist. But if you get on the beach early early in the morning, keep an eye out for pods of tarpon moving up the beach north ... if there is bait there, they will come in to eat it ... then spooks, bottles, darters ... also softbaits like sluggos should work, DOA BaitBusters, storm shads should all work well for what lurks off the beaches there ... if there is any kind of cover/structure, say around the inlets ... you may also want to bring a popper for barracuda ... they will be around ... I have fished along the south florida beaches a lot and got nothing, but also had moments of hysteria and got into pods of great fish.

Finaddict,
I gotta really say thanks for this info and effort to help another fisherman out. I am hoping on plane now. I'll let u know if I run into any fish. Have a great weekend
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Finaddict, I also want to thank you. Team Sanchez is my nephew and this is only his 2nd real year saltwater fishing. He's a great guy and eager to learn. I never fished Miami so I couldn't help him. I appreciate your advise to him.

Thanks Paul and Team Sanchez - hope I have helped some - let us know how you make out
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So Chris calls me this morning and he's fishing somewhere on South Beach and guess what he stumbles upon? 3 naked women skinny dipping. Gotta love it!

Yeah - gotta love it - while not as exciting, I was fly fishing for snook one day break on Jupiter Island and came across a model shoot - the director or whatever asked if I could teach one of the models to fly fish - what a waste of time but I believe my old Sage RPLX 10 weight made it into a calendar somewhere .,,
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Hysterical!!!!!

he sent me an iPhone pic but I can't post it on the Board. It's been almost 2 years since The Bossman yelled at me so I have to stay straight. :fury: