It's transition time in the backcountry of Everglades National Park as fish leave coastal areas and move back inside for winter. One slight wrinkle, though, is that so far the season has been very mild with only two fronts that dropped water temperatures much. A few days ago water temps at the boat ramp were at 71 degrees just before sunrise... We're finding fish, inside and along the Gulf coast - and everywhere in between. Deciding which way to run each day has been a challenge but we've managed to find them most days. It's either snook and redfish along shorelines, speckled trout and spanish macks in feeding lanes, or snapper and grouper on the bottom at river corners. The first tarpon have shown once or twice back along the coast, but haven't lingered. I'm expecting them back inside any day now....
The first big fish have moved into Whitewater Bay.... Thursday we jumped three on lures from 40 to about 80lbs. It would have been a perfect fly set up since the fish were spread out over an area of roughly 200yds long and about 100yds wide in four to six feet of water and not going anywhere, just rolling and loafing... We were able to spot them from almost a quarter mile away and take our time to pole into them. Although I had a 10wt aboard, this was a filming proposition with Florida Sportsman editor Mike Connor and cameraman Matt Weinhaus. We were hoping to get some footage of fish reacting to twitch baits and the fish certainly did their part. Our biggest struck a twitch bait so close to the boat that I thought he got the tip of the rod along with the lure... If everything goes right I'm hoping this will be part of the Shallow Water Angler tv show in an episode to air at the end of next January. This was my first time filming so I hope it turns out well. It was a different day than my usual. We ended the day with a nice upper slot snook on another one of those suspending lures in a tangle of downed trees out on the coast. It was released since the season for snook is closed now. For those wondering just what we were using it was all stuff by Rapala, the Twitchin Rap, the Subwalk, and the Clackin Rap. I'll be adding a few of them to my arsenal in future. Matt did all the filming so I'm looking forward to seeing what he shot and don't have any photos of that day.
The good news, though, is that the big fish are back and should be in Whitewater every day now as long as the weather stays mild. Tarpon heaven!
Now for a little Christmas stuff.... As usual I'm offering gift certificates so anyone can give a charter for Christmas. Give me a call any time if you want the perfect fisherman's present - a day on the water or a night charter for tarpon and snook within sight of Miami and Miami Beach... Call me at (954) 435-5666
