Everglades and Sarasota report

March 11, 2007

There?s nothing like the elixir of the Everglades.
Paul Drewry, a Ludington, Mich. Veterinarian, joined us for a two-day trip to The ?Glades. Our plan was to target juvenile tarpon in some remote areas.
Unfortunately, a late cold front sent the baby tarpon scurrying for warmer water. So, we loaded the kayaks on top of the truck and headed for another spot. We launched at a creek and found the snook hungry. Paul used a 6-weight fly rod, sinktip line and a D.T. Special on a No. 4 hook to catch and release seven snook.
The fish were typically small. Our largest fish was about 22 inches. The fish were attacking small minnow along the mangroves. On a scouting trip the day prior, I saw a couple of snook that were 30 inches or more.
In all, we totaled 17 snook. I caught a number of fish on MirrOlure?s new MirrOdine, a scaled sardine imitation that has been pretty hot.
The next day, we switched to freshwater exotics on light fly rods. We launched at a remote spot and immediately got into the action.
We were targetting oscars and Mayan cichlids, but also caught bass, bluegill and stumpknocker.
Oscars in the remote portion of The ?Glades are larger than average. We caught 20 of them, with most being around 2 pounds or slightly more.
If you?ve never caught an oscar, you might want to give them a try. They?re extremely strong and quite willing to rise to a well-place popping bug.
We used No. 10 chartreuse bluegill poppers. Our fly rods were 4 and 5 weight. Floating lines are perfect. Our leaders were 5X.
Key to successful oscar fishing is figuring out the pattern. In this case, the fish were congregated around fallen trees and root systems. We eliminated most stretches of shoreline and concentrated around heavy structure.
When you hit an oscar oasis, it wasn?t tough to figure out. When your popping bug hit the water, you?d see the wakes of the beefy panfish heading toward the bug like a torpedo. You had to resist the urge to set the hook until the proper time.
The battle is unlike most freshwater fish. Oscars are super strong and will head for the structure when hooked. Breakoffs can be frustrating. We often have to beef up our leaders in order to stop the fish.
Believe it or not, but Mayan cichlids might be even stronger than the oscars. However, we caught only two Mayans on the outing.
We did see a number of large snook. Our light fly rods wouldn?t have been of much use.
Everglades fishing should remain hot for at least another six weeks. After that it will be too hot, humid and buggy.
Tarpon should show up any day. On one trip last year, we jumped 10 tarpon and landed five. We also caught and released four snook.
Prior to our ?Glades trip, we fished with Rod Corson of Fort Wayne, Ind. He was on vacation with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law and wanted to do some fly fishing.
The wind was blowing 17 to 20 mph out of the south. Such conditions are not conducive to fly fishing. We gave Corson his options: Cancel the outing, spin fish, or try to get out of the wind and fly fish.
He opted to fly fish.
We launched at Blackburn Point and got a little relief. We paddled north to channel the runs from the Intracoastal Waterway to the west side of the bay.
Using a 6-weight fly rod, sinktip line and chartreuse-and-white Clouser Deep Minnow, Corson landed a number of feisty, high-leaping ladyfish. He hooked another fish that took him into his backing.
I figured it was just a larger ladyfish or foul-hooked lady. I was wrong. Turned out to be a hefty pompano.
Later, Corson picked up a spinning rod and caught spotted seatrout to 22 inches on Cotee Jigs with root beer grubs. I nailed a 24-inch trout.
In all, he totaled 15 ladyfish, four seatrout and a hefty pompano. Not bad considering the wind.


Steve Gibson
Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing
www.kakayfishingsarasota.com
(941) 284-3406