By Capt.Shawn Fairbanks
With the temperatures in March in South Florida spiking and hopefully continuing to rise, the tarpon fishing has picked up exceptionally well in Government Cut, Biscayne Bay and in the Fort Lauderdale area. The fishing in the Miami area is mostly been due to the shrimp run. Although it has not been the greatest year for shrimping, there is still enough around to attract mass amounts of tarpon to the area. Nice strong outgoing tides anywhere near the new or full moon does seem to be in the trick book. Depending on the strength of the water movement due to tide and wind together, this combination will determine the method of fishing. I strongly recommend a few dozen hand-picked shrimp from your local tackle shop. Get in good with one of your shops, and this will help with getting better size shrimp and service, as well as true and up to date reports.
As for the Lauderdale area we are still picking up a mixed bag of snook and tarpon making their trips back to the inlets from their wintertime haunts. Finding and apprehending mullet is the trick here, but don’t overlook calm nights in the Port with shrimp and Trollrites…
Flamingo and Everglades report: Fishing is still in a wintertime pattern. Shrimp and a jig have been tops in deep holes inside and out, with good numbers of snook being caught in the backcountry on artificial lures and shrimp and a jig. Tarpon fishing has been off and on and starting to get better. A few good days of weather in a row should help a bunch, so look for laid up fish in whitewater and coastal cruising fish on the Capes..dark lures and flies are tops for the feather heads are and dead bait for the bait fisherman.
Capt.Shawn Fairbanks
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