JayDubP
05-20-2009, 01:15 PM
On work trip to Florida last week so took 2 days to go to Everlades City (population 667) on west side of FL to see the Everglades and to flyfish for redfish, snook and tarpon. Weather every day was sunny until 2-3pm then rain & thunderstorms. (no pics cuz they would only show gators, mangroves and water)
I called Bill Blanton (from posts on this board), but he is out until Sept or Oct with back surgery. Bill recommended Capt John Stark-- John had a cancellation so my last minute plans worked out.
Monday I fished hard with Capt John Stark from 630a to 3p, then barely made land before 2 inches of rain dropped in 3hrs. Talking to 8 other fisherman, it was one of those days where no one caught anything ion bait, lures or flies-- but several fisherman said "you should have been here yesterday!" Tarpon fishing is hot in summer (Florida’s offseason so lodging is reasonable in Everglades City area-- try the Ivey House Inn)
My skunk was not for lack of effort by the guide, John worked as hard and covered as much ground as any guide I have ever used.
John’s Masters’ thesis (biology) was on work in the 10,000 islands area and he has guided there for a number of years-- after playing professional soccer in Europe and Mexico. He supplies Sage fly rods and Bauer reels. John fishes from Ft Myers/Naples south into the Everglades. His website is http://www.naplesguidedfishing.com/ or call him at 239- 248- 5142.
Fished the 10,000 Islands/Everglades Park area (actually there are 14- 15,000 islands). Most fishing was casting long distance with 8, 9 or 11 wt to resting or cruising fish. The mangrove trees overhang the water by 3- 10-ft and are 2-4ft above the water. The technique is to sidearm the cast in under the overhanging branches to within a foot or closer to the mangrove roots.
Since a lot of the fishing is sight casting it means going from having your fly on the boat deck to dropping it 40- 60ft++ under the mangroves with 2 backcasts.
ADVICE: before you go, practice sidearming from a dead stop . Its a different style of casting and you need to find your pace. I really had to concentrate so not to get caught up in the moment and start my cast before finishing my backcast.
Saw a few redfish and snook but no takers or they were just too far back in the mangroves for me to cast to them. My accuracy seemed to disappear just at those times.
RAIN: car windshield wipers could not keep the rain off enough for me to see at 45mph so I stopped for 30mins until the rain let up. I also had to stop to let a 8ft gator cross the road. Next day it dropped another 2 inches of rain.
I called Bill Blanton (from posts on this board), but he is out until Sept or Oct with back surgery. Bill recommended Capt John Stark-- John had a cancellation so my last minute plans worked out.
Monday I fished hard with Capt John Stark from 630a to 3p, then barely made land before 2 inches of rain dropped in 3hrs. Talking to 8 other fisherman, it was one of those days where no one caught anything ion bait, lures or flies-- but several fisherman said "you should have been here yesterday!" Tarpon fishing is hot in summer (Florida’s offseason so lodging is reasonable in Everglades City area-- try the Ivey House Inn)
My skunk was not for lack of effort by the guide, John worked as hard and covered as much ground as any guide I have ever used.
John’s Masters’ thesis (biology) was on work in the 10,000 islands area and he has guided there for a number of years-- after playing professional soccer in Europe and Mexico. He supplies Sage fly rods and Bauer reels. John fishes from Ft Myers/Naples south into the Everglades. His website is http://www.naplesguidedfishing.com/ or call him at 239- 248- 5142.
Fished the 10,000 Islands/Everglades Park area (actually there are 14- 15,000 islands). Most fishing was casting long distance with 8, 9 or 11 wt to resting or cruising fish. The mangrove trees overhang the water by 3- 10-ft and are 2-4ft above the water. The technique is to sidearm the cast in under the overhanging branches to within a foot or closer to the mangrove roots.
Since a lot of the fishing is sight casting it means going from having your fly on the boat deck to dropping it 40- 60ft++ under the mangroves with 2 backcasts.
ADVICE: before you go, practice sidearming from a dead stop . Its a different style of casting and you need to find your pace. I really had to concentrate so not to get caught up in the moment and start my cast before finishing my backcast.
Saw a few redfish and snook but no takers or they were just too far back in the mangroves for me to cast to them. My accuracy seemed to disappear just at those times.
RAIN: car windshield wipers could not keep the rain off enough for me to see at 45mph so I stopped for 30mins until the rain let up. I also had to stop to let a 8ft gator cross the road. Next day it dropped another 2 inches of rain.