Fishing report, Everglades/ Ten Thousand Islans

[lemaymiami]

Yesterday was a day of exploring the interior to the south of Everglades City. That's what I call it when I've tied one too many flies and need a day on the water whether I have an angler or not... Weather yesterday was cloudy all day with rain beginning about noon and deteriorating as the afternoon progressed. At the end of the day the run back to the ramp was in rain the whole way. Fortunately the fishing was pretty good. Lots of snook in the back now and more to come as the water temperatures begin dropping. These past few days, though, it's been warm enough to produce water temps in the 68 degree range at dawn. That will end as we move into December. Along with snook are small reds, fair sized black drum, and small jewfish that will attack any bucktail tossed their way. The surprise of the day were great schools of ladyfish almost up into freshwater. None of the flies that I tossed their way lasted long... What a situation for a beginning fly angler. The fish were hitting anything that moved, or just jumping on a fly or lure when it lay there motionless. The ladies were feeding so hard that six or more times I actually had fish on that struck the line or leader where it entered the water and got tangled up in it... I actually caught a few that weren't hooked at all... Just to spice up the action a bit, every now and then something large would attack one of the schools of ladies. They're prime forage for larger snook and any small shark that is prowling...

The best lure yesterday was still just a bucktail jig worked just above the bottom. I did have a few pops on surface lures but most were a bit short. A quick toss to the same area with a jig generally sealed the deal... When I'm running the backcountry I usually bring two fly rods, an 8 and a 10wt. Occasionally I'll opt for a 7 and 9wt instead... The two different sized rods have a lot more to do with the size of the flies we're casting than the size of the fish we're targetting. Snook heaven if you can keep them out of the bushes. I got taken to school several times that way yesterday.

Here's a minor commercial plug. I'm finally tying again for a local shop. The Fly Shop of Ft. Lauderdale will be stocking my patterns for anyone interested. Don's Bait and Tackle in Homestead is the shop with my backcountry jigs for sale. Hope I can keep both shops happy.

[E-Glades]

that is fairly similar to my experience in that area over dec 4th and 5th.

we took a tandem kayak up in boring ol' chokoloskee bay we got into small - snook, snappers, ladyfish, sheepshead ,small jacks, tiny goliaths - including one small black grouper. the next day we went out closer to the gulf - and hit the inside of the bigger islands and found
the reds and trout - and the fish were a lot bigger out there.

I was tossing the lowly spinning rod rigged with a bucktail into the deeper channels - looking for some big jacks - but never found them. I don't know if that is a good area for those brusiers or not. I also was never able to locate a pack of marauding ladyfish.

would also love to find some monster black drum to tussle with.

late that night with no moon - something huge - maybe a dolphin was herding huge mullet into the trees - huge blow-ups and splashing - very very scary. Needless to say
- I did not jump into the kayak paddle over and cast into the chaos.

[lemaymiami]

That entire area is fat city for dolphin, usually working in family units... I automatically expect the really large blowups to be Flipper and his buddies tearing up the mullet this time of year. You should see them go after snook and reds....

The big jacks are real roamers. I rarely expect to see them up in interior bays, they're more likely in or around river mouths or up to halfway in toward the inside. You won't miss them if they're around since it looks like bait getting just plain terrorized. The one thing that makes it tough to target them is how far and fast they will chase bait. I've seen them stay after a school of bait for a mile... You'll see some explosions and the fish will be long gone by the time you get there.

There is one place that I know of in winter where really big jacks can be found by kayak or other boat. That's downtown Palm Beach when there's a high tide at dawn during winter. Jacks up to and over 30lbs tear up big mullet along the seawall for about an hour each morning. Years ago we used to trek up there from Miami to fish them on foot. The most important piece of equipment was a good pair of running shoes since you'd have to run the seawall to get to a blow-up and take advantage of it. That might be cool in a 'yak... Of course you could get towed out to sea....

[E-Glades]

I finally decided that fishing directly from the kayak in anything deeper than about 3 feet inside the park is asking for it. I've seen too many Bulls
putting in and going out of Flamingo in past years. This past weekend I had a big dolphin go out of his way to chase a hooked ladyfish.
Now i find a good spot with moving water - pull over, tie the boat up and wade. And wade no deeper than knee to mid-thigh in clear water.

Curious what sort of set-ups you were using to target monster Jacks from a seawall. I have had 15 lb. Jacks nearly spool me before i can get my kayak anchor up ! I've heard they like to pin bait schools against a seawall but down around Miami I have never had the privilege to see it.

I wade fished with a guy up well north of Sebastian Inlet last spring and he said they get huge Jacks in the Indian River in either every March or April. He was fishing with the set up to prove it - a stout baitcaster with 30lb. braided and about a 8" Zara spook.

Also gald to hear you put in a plug for the Ladyfish. Great fish for beginners. Great fish for violent surface strikes and nice runs. and they have saved the day or night for me out there many a time.

J.T's cafe in Chokoloskee makes a mean 1/2 lb burger as well.

[lemaymiami]

First off, you're probably right to avoid big water in your 'yak when fishing the 'Glades. Our best bull shark to the boat for a photo was in the 300lb range at about 10'... Even the shallows that you're wading can be a problem. If you're not careful a big animal will definitely chase a hooked fish right back to you....

I must admit that it's been a few years since I made the early morning trek up north to fish the big winter jacks. Our usual setups were pretty stout, but no one really expected to land one. The seawall in that area is over six feet off of the water and unless you can chase one in a boat it will be lots of fun while it lasts... Our fly setups were strictly tarpon rods, #12's rigged with sailfish sized poppers and at least 300yds of 30lb backing. Our plug rods were the old "deep jigging" club rods. Seven feet long, they were designed to be able to lift a concrete block off of the ground. Not much for casting but really strong fighting and lifting rods. The line was usually 15, occasionally 20lb, leaders around 60lb mono (this was long before fluoro was available). Lures were everything from homemade sections of broomstick handle, to chuggers, spooks (sometimes just a 1oz. "chicken feather" jig), anything that made a commotion. The trick is to toss right into a frenzy and make enough noise or motion to attract a strike. Great fun. By nine each morning it was done and the next item was breakfast...

If you give them a try let me know how you make out. I don't have the time to chase them these days.