~ Everglades January 2011 ~

"fishing with Bill"

It has been great to be back out on the water again after all the cold weather we have had this winter. I have been chasing Redfish around Boca Grande and Pine Island Sound and also taking trips into the ENP out of Everglades City. I was pumped to see what we could find after the last few calm and warm days. It was a full moon and I was optimistic about finding some Slob Snuke, but did not think it was quite time for the Tarpon yet. I arrived to the first spot yesterday morning in the park and the tide was so ridiculously low that there was no water to found, nothing but mud on the flats. While this is a real pain in the ass if you are looking to fish these flats it sure is cool to watch the fish and the water move off the flats, because patterns emerge that show anglers where the fish will hold and all of the bottom structure. In years past I have found new areas where the fish will first move on, as the water returns. It is much like a small river or stream that works it way through the deeper cracks on the mud flats. In some cases, these are the same places where the fish will hold and feed throughout the entire tide, especially if the tide flow in these areas continues to be the strongest. As in many cases the fishing on the moon tides is best during the two hours when the water is really cranking in, deep in the backcountry at this time of year and once it gets dirty and deep it is game over and time to move on. Yesterday we set up looking for Snook and Reds. I am poling the boat and seeing nothing. I am looking, looking, looking and then I realize the water temps are already 70.2. Huh, so I slide the boat towards the next area thinking maybe the Tarpon will be here ? Sure enough I shut down and the Tarpon are rolling all happy (now this next part of the story really ****es me off). I was talking to Bill about the first cast and how the fish is going to clobber the fly, I even bring the boat to rest so that I do not need to hold the bottom with the push pole. From experience I know that we are about to hook up and still I do not grab the stupid video camera. Perhaps I am completely brain dead or just can not get the hang of this video thing, but I quietly stand there with nothing to do and do not get the brand new mini hd video camera that I purchased for just such an event. BAD FISHING GUIDE ! Bill lays out a perfect cast and after the first strip of the fly, a Tarpon around 36-40" nails the thing and it completely airborne in a blink. I told Bill that if he could hook up with and land the first bite of the day, that I would pay for the parking at the boat ramp. I also told him that if the fish took the fly and got away, then he had to pay for the parking. This is a fun little game because I know almost everyone misses the first strike, and free parking for me if awesome ! Well woudn't ya know, the 69 year of bugger and his perfect cast we followed by a perfect hook set and that fish was ON. It took 9 leaps on the end of that 8 weight fly rod and on of the jumps was sky high. I almost fell off the poling platform laughing. Bill was standing on the forward casting platform which is raised approx 8' off the water. He was holding the fly rod out towards the horizon as he tried to keep tight to the Tarpon and it jumped straight up in the air (10' in front of the boat) and leaped over his rod, looked at him face to face, and gave a little wag to his tail as he headed back towards the water. It was a moment that really would have been cool to catch on video. Oh well... We landed a couple Tarpon, saw some big Tarpon, and never found the Snook and Reds ?

With the approaching cold front, the Redfish were fired up. We found several different schools of Reds tailing just after low tide in the evening last week. After the first evening this past week on the reds I took the trolling motor, batteries, and everything out of the Action Craft 1710 flats boat we did not need so we could pole the boat in 7" of water or less. One morning I went out for a 1/2 day in the early morning (very cold, heavy NW wind) and found tailing redfish on the edge of the turtle grass flats, on a seriously minus tide when the rest of the flats were bone dry. There were thousands of Egrets migrating through our area last week and we counted over 300 on one Turtle Grass flat around 7:00 am. What a sight to see all these beautiful white birds dancing and juggling around for position on the flats with Tailing Redfish mixed right in with them. If water temps do not drop too much in the coming weeks I expect the fishing for Reds with the fly and light tackle spinning gear to be as good as it gets ! Trout are also around in good numbers right now but remember the season is closed until January 1st on all trout in our area.

Tarpon Season 2k10

Sunrise and Sunset all seem to blur together right now, but I have been able to get my camera working again if I use Manual Focus only. Funny how everything in life comes into focus around the same time... I do not know what is going on 100 miles offshore or if there is any relation, but yesterday we ran into Albies, Jacks, Kings, Blackfin Tuna, Amberjack, Sharks, Bluerunners, Baracuda, spanish, and tons of bait just 6 miles offshore. This is highly unusual. We are looking at the largest group of Tarpon we have seen in Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound in years. If you read the research they are here to gather before they go "offshore" to spawn. This could lead to a terrible end for these Tarpon if the oil winds up in their path as they swim on the surface and gulp air. If I could pen up all these Tarpon and keep them inshore for the next two months I would do it.

Tarpon, Tarpon, Tarpon, .... Snook

Toad Hunters

With all the news on T.V. about the oil in the Gulf of Mexico it has been very discouraging for me as a charter fisherman who loves being on the water, but I am trying to stay positive and get fired up about the great fishing we are having here in Southwest Florida right now. It was a very long winter and windy spring, so the fishing guides have earned a little good weather and great fishing in my opinion. The Tarpon have been flooding into the area through Pine Island Sounds and large hungry schools have been a our target fish for the last couple weeks. In the meantime while the fishing here in Boca has been picking up the fishing to our south has been above average as well. One of the highlights in the Everglades this past month has been the number of Snook. I have been fishing on the weekends for Snook and Tarpon in the Everglades and we have had some crazy action. Last Sunday after a long day, doing battle with the Tarpon on the fly rod we switched over to the Snook fishing. We hooked up with three very large Snook and managed to land a monster. It was 42 inches and 28 lbs. I watched as my angler hooked and brought the mighty Snook along side the flats boat, for release. To see these Snook in such good numbers and now starting off what looks like it will be an awesome Tarpon season I am very happy to see mother nature bounce back. While fishing the waters of Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts during the summer of 2003 I patiently watched the clean up project after the "Bouchard Transportation Company" oil tanker ran aground and a large amount of heavy crude oil spilled into the waters I have fished since I was able to crawl. It was a long slow process and there is still evidence of the spill in a few places today, but we were very lucky it did not destroy the fishing completely. The people of the Gulf states are now bracing for a similar disaster and I can only hope that the pristine waters and fish in our habitat are spared.

Wade fishing for Snook, Reds, and Trout here in Boca

Over the last couple weeks we have been getting out of the boat and wade fishing with the fly rod. It has provided us with some excellent opportunities to get up close and personal with the Snook and Reds. Today we also found some HUGE specs.

Everglades Spring Tarpon !

This past month the Tarpon has been moving back into the waters of the everglades. It has been a long cold winter and the arrival of the Tarpon has been much anticipated. We have started to see large Schools of Adult Tarpon and in some places have started catching the resident baby Tarpon. I was concerned back in January that many of the resident Tarpon would perish from all the cold weather. I have now been catching several of them in the same places I was catching them in December so it looks like they made it.

Wade fishing the Gulf of Mexico for Snook, Trout, and Ladyfish...

Spanish, Kings, and Albies

The near shore offshore fishing has blown wide open in the last week. We have schools of Spanish Macs in the Harbor, King Macs just outside, and Monster Albies about 5 miles off the beach...

Boca Grande & Pine Island Sound

Here we go, a full week of fishing here in Boca Grande and the weather is just now starting to improve. I fished with several different anglers from Il, Mo, Nj, Mt, Co, and RI this past week. We were all over the board with Trout, Spanish Macs, Reds, and Snook (that would not bite). Out early in the mornings with the fly anglers poling the boat into 8-9" of water for Tailing Reds. It was very cool to have shots at these sneaky little devils, but not super productive. In addition the weekend boaters did there best to ruin any chance we had by running aground and driving right through the schools of fish we were chasing. Deep breathing and Buddhist meditation were a must, but that is to be expected on the weekends in March here in Boca. Sight fishing for Large Snook and Reds proved to be equally difficult and only a few fish showed interest in the flies we offered them. While looking for Reds south in Pine Island sound we stumbled onto two large Permit. Stay tuned for more on those buggers because as many of you know I spent all of my days off last spring hunting and catching (3) on the fly and the mere sight of them has got the blood flowing and I plan on putting some time in again this spring. The Permit are not a common thing here in Boca, but many of the life long anglers here do know that they exist and are not surprised that I have seen them again this spring. I do however think they would be surprised if I was to land the larger ones on fly. Those of you who know me know that this is not going to deter me from trying...

Everglades Backcountry (bbbbbrrrrrrr)

Almost a full week in the Everglades Back country and the weather continues to beat me down. The Snook and Reds were very reluctant to bite. The ones that were biting are still moving a little slow due to the colder than normal water temps. Our adventures took us deep into the interior and while hunting the fish we stumbled onto tons of alligators, manatees, and tons of beautiful colorful birds. I poled the boat through a small series of back country creeks with small bays that were out of the wind and we were surrounded by small blue, tri-colored, and green herons.

Snook !

Suddenly we have large schools of adult slot and over slot size Snook on the flats. It was a real surprise to find so many healthy large Snook in the back country !