By Pat Ford
Flamingo used to be the gateway to the best redfish and snook flats in the world, but it’s changing fast. I used to fish Flamingo on a regular basis for redfish, snook and tarpon. My favorite area was Snake Bight’s pole and troll zone. The water was usually crystal clear over lush grass beds. Recently the water east of Flamingo has been declining for any number of reasons decreased fresh water flow, algae blooms, dying grass beds, just to name a few of the more popular causes. Whatever the cause that area id pretty much a bowl of mud now water the color of chocolate milk, dead grass and no fish.
Capt Richard Black summed it up when he told me that my days of taking underwater photos of redfish were over. The area of dead water seems to be expanding and even the areas that still hold fish are still more turbid than they ever were before. If this pattern continues this once rich fishery will be destroyed forever and the photos I’ve taken over the years will be in a museum somewhere in a gallery titled “The Way it Used to Be”.
