I took Capt. Pete Greenan of Sarasota to The Everglades on Monday. It was my first trip of the season. We fish The 'Glades from December through April. That’s when the water level is down, temperature bearable and no bugs. Low water concentrates the fish, too!
As we arrived, we saw the water level was perfect. And we could see fish busting minnows along the shorelines. We anticipated a good day.
Poor days are rare during this time of year. In fact, I can’t remember a poor day.
We launched the kayaks at 7 a.m. and began catching fish immediately. Pete and I combined for 200 oscar, 12 Mayan cichlid, five peacock bass, eight largemouth bass, a dozen bluegill, 30 stumpknocker, 20 warmouth perch and nine speckled perch (black crappie to you Northerners!).
The action was intense and I’m sure my count is on the low side. It’s really difficult to keep track when you’re hook fish on virtually every cast.
When the wind came up, I found a cut that was holding lots of fish. In fact, I landed 30-40 oscar from under one vegetation jam. I also caught a number of speckled perch, largemouth bass, stumpknocker, bluegill and peacock bass there.
We used 3- and 4-weight fly rods, floating lines and 7 1/2 leaders with 8-pound tippet. You really can’t go much light than 8-pound tippet because oscar are so strong and head straight for the structure when hooked. We started out early with popping bugs, but the best action came on Myakka Minnows.
The action should continue into spring. The only things that slow it down are severe cold fronts. But, with planning, we can fish around those.
For those of you who have never caught an oscar, it’s great fun. These fish average a pound and go up to 3 pounds. Biggest we caught on Monday was about 1 1/2 pounds. They fight unlike anything you’ve ever had on the end of your fly rod. They’re very strong and aggessive. Pete kept a few to eat.
Pete gets a fish on his first cast:
Gregarious oscar on Myakka Minnow:
Mayan cichlid on popper:
Fish busting along the vegetation (it wasn’t difficult to find the fish!):
Peacock bass on FLY Nymph:
Speckled perch on Myakka Minnow:
