Loren E
04-20-2007, 05:03 PM
Just got back from fishing and sightseeing the 10,000 islands area in the florida everglades for a week. The family rented a house and we had a skiff and a kayak for the week. Our weather wasn't great most of the time, with scattered squals coming thru many days. Had many equipment issues, as the skiff we rented always was breaking down, so we'd trade it in for another that then would break down, but luckily there were many snook right under the dock near the house. I managed to catch 9 snook under our dock and other docks. Going out in the kayak at night and casting streamers up under the lights was a lot of fun. I paddled to one guys dock, where he had his flats skiff suspened a foot or so over the water. pretty ironic that this 40 thousand dollar boat had atleast a dozen snook sitting under it (i woulda saved some dough and just put a big piece of ply wood out there to give the fish some shelterjavascript:emoticon(':lol:')
laughing).
fishing the docklights was definitely something very new to me, but was a lot of fun. Fishing out in the islands on the other hand was tough. Miles and miles of mangrove shorelines that all look the same and all look fishy. We blindcast streamers up under them for hours without strikes, unlike Belize where usually a snook or small tarpon would come out of its lurking place atleast every hour or so to check out my fly.
My dad and i made it out for a day with Bill Blanton to try and get a feeling of the area. Bill was a very nice guy, and his boat and gear was all meticulously taken care of. He put us on fish, but getting them to eat was another matter. Hooked a big redfish in the morning that i lost at the boat, but the rest of the day consisted of shots at snook, tarpon (the big ones) and a few reds, without a single eat. we guessed the coldfronts were throwing the bite off.
On the very last day, having not landed a fish out in the islands away from the docklights of town, my dad and i made it out for a quick session before we had to pack up and leave in the early afternoon. The tide was high, which is never very good when fishing the mangroves, but we had hope because we were returning to the bay where the day before on low tide we had spotted both snook and redfish. The tide was way up into the mangrove leaves, hiding the fishy pockets, and things looked pretty crappy. We went to check one last bay before leaving, and we heard a pop in the very back. My dad quietly poled us back there and we staked out. After a few casts and about 10 minutes, i realized one of the 2 submerged sticks under the mangrove leaves was rotating in the current......but then rotated right back.......and then cruised forward a few inches. 2 snook 25 feet away! ! had thought they were sticks the entire time because they were so well shadowed under the mangroves and hadnt even budged whem my prior casts had landed 5 feet infront of them. I threw my streamer as best i could right up under the mangrove and it landed with a soft plop inches infront of the first fish. Both bolted as soon as the fly hit the water, as if they had spooked, but one ate the fly on its way out, i went to set, but didnt get a good enough strip set in him to bring the hook home and before i knew it my one good eat we'd been working so hard for was over. I was dejected for about one single second, before i saw one of the fish had swung right back around and was in the same spot. I immediately threw the fly right back, strip, and he ate. This time i made sure to hammer the hook home. I bullied him out of the mangroves and my dad slipped the boga in his mouth, not a monster, but a solid 6 pounder. I've never worked so hard for a single fish in my entire life. Man that felt good, redemption!
In retrospect, our issues were that the area has vast amounts of water, it all looks the same, and the fish were not easy to find, especially as novice flats polers without a platform. (the boat reserved with the platform did not work) Attached is a picture of the snook that was the fish that saved the trip on the last morning! hope you enjoyed the report -Loren
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/evergladessnook.jpg
laughing).
fishing the docklights was definitely something very new to me, but was a lot of fun. Fishing out in the islands on the other hand was tough. Miles and miles of mangrove shorelines that all look the same and all look fishy. We blindcast streamers up under them for hours without strikes, unlike Belize where usually a snook or small tarpon would come out of its lurking place atleast every hour or so to check out my fly.
My dad and i made it out for a day with Bill Blanton to try and get a feeling of the area. Bill was a very nice guy, and his boat and gear was all meticulously taken care of. He put us on fish, but getting them to eat was another matter. Hooked a big redfish in the morning that i lost at the boat, but the rest of the day consisted of shots at snook, tarpon (the big ones) and a few reds, without a single eat. we guessed the coldfronts were throwing the bite off.
On the very last day, having not landed a fish out in the islands away from the docklights of town, my dad and i made it out for a quick session before we had to pack up and leave in the early afternoon. The tide was high, which is never very good when fishing the mangroves, but we had hope because we were returning to the bay where the day before on low tide we had spotted both snook and redfish. The tide was way up into the mangrove leaves, hiding the fishy pockets, and things looked pretty crappy. We went to check one last bay before leaving, and we heard a pop in the very back. My dad quietly poled us back there and we staked out. After a few casts and about 10 minutes, i realized one of the 2 submerged sticks under the mangrove leaves was rotating in the current......but then rotated right back.......and then cruised forward a few inches. 2 snook 25 feet away! ! had thought they were sticks the entire time because they were so well shadowed under the mangroves and hadnt even budged whem my prior casts had landed 5 feet infront of them. I threw my streamer as best i could right up under the mangrove and it landed with a soft plop inches infront of the first fish. Both bolted as soon as the fly hit the water, as if they had spooked, but one ate the fly on its way out, i went to set, but didnt get a good enough strip set in him to bring the hook home and before i knew it my one good eat we'd been working so hard for was over. I was dejected for about one single second, before i saw one of the fish had swung right back around and was in the same spot. I immediately threw the fly right back, strip, and he ate. This time i made sure to hammer the hook home. I bullied him out of the mangroves and my dad slipped the boga in his mouth, not a monster, but a solid 6 pounder. I've never worked so hard for a single fish in my entire life. Man that felt good, redemption!
In retrospect, our issues were that the area has vast amounts of water, it all looks the same, and the fish were not easy to find, especially as novice flats polers without a platform. (the boat reserved with the platform did not work) Attached is a picture of the snook that was the fish that saved the trip on the last morning! hope you enjoyed the report -Loren
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p295/lorenelliott/evergladessnook.jpg