Fishing report, Everglades backcountry, 19 November

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

As usual please disregard everything but the fly fishing.... if you can.

 

Been a long time since my last report (more than a month) but between bad weather and other interventions have finally managed to put together a few days on the water out of both Flamingo (mostly) and Everglades City.

 

We've had our first cold fronts now, followed by very mild temperatures with lots of wind. The fish have been moving into the interior but there are still areas with lots and lots of bait along the coastline. At least half of my charters have resulted in backcountry slams (a trout, redfish, and snook for each angler in a day's fishing). Had two days where both anglers scored slams - on both conventional and fly gear. The fish we're finding aren't the monsters of September but they've been biting whenever we find them. Lots of fish movement now. One day they're holding in one area the next day they've moved. The recent surprise has been the number of small sawfish we're seeing each day in very shallow waters. These are babies in the three to five foot range and up so shallow that you can see them prowling in less than a foot of water. They may have disappeared everywhere else but there's lots of them in the 'Glades at both ends of the Park.

 

All we've used these past two weeks were mostly small jigs with Gulp tails with spinning gear or just one pattern for fly anglers.... Here's a pic of the Whitewater Clouser (every night I'm re-tying a half dozen for the next day.....)

 

Now I'll let the angler's pics tell the story....

 

This is Brad Barker's best snook, taken on a small jig and very light line. The baby sawfish above was only pulled up for just an instant for the picture. Their rostrum (that thing with the teeth on it) is actually soft and can be carefully held with only thumb and forefinger for the release (and yes, you let go if he starts swinging it....). Brad is a member of Sportsman of Broward, a prominent local fishing club.

 

 

This is Pat McAndless another club member with a bit smaller snook taken in the same interior bay (where there wasn't a hint of saltwater). Each snook was carefully released to fight another day... The redfish and trout were also biting that day...

 

The next day I had more local anglers, Charlie Jones and Dr. Charles Shenker aboard. The Doc got a slam and Charlie released a nice red, while both kept trout for the table. Here's a closeup of that redfish showing one of the small jigs that fish have found attractive recently...

 

A day later and I was back on the water with skilled fly angler Tom Peterson out of Washington state. It was his first visit to Flamingo and we covered lots of ground each day. At the end of three days he had a slam on two days, his first reds, and we even had a few shots at some medium sized tarpon (30 to 70lbs).... Here's a pic or two.

His biggest snook was the size of the first photo in this report (but we were using his camera instead of mine). Both snook and reds were gorging on pilchards at a creek mouth the last day we had. If the weather stays mild that may be something to look forward to...

 

Here's our best fish from yesterday, a nice healthy trout taken on one of those Clousers...

It was Steve Arthur's first time on board and I hope to see him again.

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

(954) 435-5666

[TheYiman 0]

Nice report! Great looking fish. Those baby sawfish are too cool!!! What do you get them on? That part of FL has been on my list a long time. I fish the Keys (relatively) often, but haven't fished there. I need to.

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

The 'Glades are completely different than the Keys (thank heavens). Many days we hardly ever see another boat... the water is dark colored unless you're out on the coast (and the coast is a long way from anywhere...).

 

Baby saws will strike anything that moves in front of them if you get their attention (but most hookups with flies are in the bill or rostrum since that's their attack mode (after a strike with the rostrum the fish moves on top of the target to pick it up). Big saws are a different proposition entirely. I just don't think we'll ever take one on fly unless it was snagged by accident (I've seen sawfish that were clearly in the 20 foot and larger size...). The biggest we've ever gotten on conventional gear appeared to be about 14 feet long at boatside -but with a big saw I'm a bit too busy to be able to do any measuring while trying to release one with no damage to my skiff (don't be fooled by the overall dimensions - a 14 footer includes the three foot long rostrum.... so you're actually dealing with the equivalent of an eight or nine foot long shark).

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

(954) 435-5666

[ditz 0]

Thanks for another great report Cpt Bob. It is indeed a lucky fella that gets to spend a day in the boat with you.

[C LeBo 0]

Beautiful fish! I have yet to catch a saltwater fish on the fly, but your pictures got me itching to get out there!