Fish Catching Travel

It won’t be long now – the Mighty Snook on the KVD topwater!

Sorry it has been a few days but the neighbors let me use their wireless so I can finally post.  I have 3 days worth so lets start with day one and go from there.

Day 1

It was 4 when we got here and met the real estate agent.  We got things settled, set the boat up, dropped it in the water, and we were fishing in the Everglades.  For me this is the kind of adventure I like.  Totally different, big as all outdoors, and the chance to jump a big one.  What more could you want?

When we dropped the boat in the water it was 5 pm and the tide was full up.  The real reason we wanted to get out with just a couple of hours was to lay a GPS track, and find the big pass, Indian Key Pass.  The goal was to simply find our way out so we would not get stuck, and go all the way to the Gulf, which we did, and then work from there.

 When you cross Chokoloskee Bay (see above) it is about half as wide as running to Pringle from Froggies, then the islands.  This is just a small section of the map.

For all you Texas boys, the one thing you have to get used to here is real tides.  Not that 0.2 down and 1.3 up.  The guide we talked to when we got here said we are on the backside of the big tides, which here is 5+ feet.  So it was up about 3 feet, which down here makes a big difference.  The mangrove islands and channels have a ton of water way back in them when the tide is up, and getting a snook to come out while he is in there eating everything in sight is no easy task.  And the tide being full up is why the last couple of boats were coming in when we went out. We are so lucky, because the bite here is so tide dependent and we are going to have high in the morning, falling during the middle of the day, and then back full in the evening.  We could not ask for better timing.

This is full tide, 3 feet of water going way back in the mangroves.  And trust me, make a bad cast and you are going to the bank, this stuff eats baits.

After we made it out to the Gulff we fished a couple of pockets before we came back in.  I tossed a popping cork with a Rage Shrimp, had a couple of bites, and caught one hard head, of course.  Shoedog started with topwater, but with the fish in the mangroves gave it up.  Then he boated the flounder below on plastic.

 A nice flounder, but we sure did not come all this far for that.

Funny thing, we spoke with 2 guys here where we are staying, both residents and fishermen, and they were impressed.  Apparently there are not that many caught and this one was a good one.  After just fishing a couple of spots a big thunderhead moved in so we called it a short trip.  We accomplished exactly what we wanted to.  Our track out will let us access most of what we have seen on the map that we are wanting to fish.

Both the big fisherman across the street and the guide said the snook were from mid-Everglades to what they call the “outside” here.  Which is open gulf.  Totally different than our stomping grounds.  The last 2 trips here we caught some really nice trout, like 20” limits when we were able to fish the weedbeds in the open Gulf.  

So here is the plan.  Work on the points and big bays near the outside for snook, find some trout, and watch for tarpon and try to put a bait in front of them.  Not a bad plan with good options.  I am really excited about the possiblity of a big snook.  And the other goal is get Shoedog a tarpon.  He has never put hands on one so with 2 weeks it should be good.

Last, Naples is coming this way.  It has been over 10 years since I was here, and civilization is coming closer by the day.  There are even watch out for panther signs on the south end of Naples.  What was once nothing more than the river of grass is now town.  Over the last 20 years of traveling and fishing down here it has changed so much. There is nothing else as cool and vitally important to the health of South Florida as the Everglades.  I am glad I made the trip this is one crazy fishing hole.  So lets see what happens next. I have 3 more reports to post and will get 1 more done today, and will get 2 up tomorrow so we will be caught up.   So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines.