I just want to get this out of the way first, since the title of the blog is a little.....different. I've been a regular summer visitor to Everglades National Park for about five years now. It truly is one of those last, great, wild places. Once you leave the marina at Flamingo, you're winding through channels and around islands, and it's not long before you realize how far you are from other humans. And it's at these times, standing in the bow of the boat, and looking out over the water, my wife, and regular fly fishing partner, will always say, "Man, this would be a great place to hide a body." I know right?! Seems like a pretty inappropriate thing to say. If you ask to her to elaborate, she'll say, "just look, there's no one here, the place is crawling with sharks, and American crocodiles, and alligators, and a million crabs....the body would be gone in no time." I always wonder exactly whose body she is thinking of....
Late this past July, I headed to park, but this time without my wife (not because I was scared though..), and with my friends Chris, and Bruce. Because it's two fisherman to a boat, on this particular day, we had two boats chartered. Bruce and Chris in one, and I fished with my regular guide, Eric Herstadt in the other. I'm going to get the plug out of the way, Eric is terrific, knows the water intimately,is lots of fun to fish with, and up to try just about anything. The unique thing about fishing the Everglades out of Flamingo, is that there are many, many species of fish that eat flies, so the smart thing is not to get hooked on a particular program, and just let the your guide choose what he thinks will be the hot bite/species. The day in question is a perfect example of that.
We started the morning looking for baby tarpon. If you haven't fished for baby tarpon before, they are wonderful. They are usually willing eaters, and once they eat, they put on a great show. In the Everglades, the babies are an early
morning thing, once the sun gets above the treeline, they slow way down. After a short boat ride, we ended up in what basically is a lake, surface like glass, until it's not...because just up ahead, baby tarpon are busting on baitfish, rolling, waking, and making quite a ruckus. First cast with a small streamer, two strips, a flash, and a slight pluck on the fly, a couple more strips, and a yank, followed by a strip set, and then as much chaos as a five pound fish can muster. In the water, in the air, back in the water, a twenty foot run to the left, in the air again, and then a minute later, at the boat. In about two hours, I hooked ten of these and landed five. No giants, from three to six pounds, and no complaints. There are sometimes fifteen to twenty pound fish mixed in these groups, but not today.
A quick ride back to the ramp, a relaunch at the oceanside ramp (just a few hundred yards away), and we headed out to look for sharks. I'll just admit, I'm a shark on fly addict. I don't care that the skill level is low and casting requirements are at the easy level. There is something about watching a giant fish react to the fly, track it, and eat it at the boatside that I never get tired of. My biggest shark on fly was an offshore 300 pounder, that took a 15 weight to winch up. The nice thing about the sharks in Flamingo is they are generally a more manageable size, and you're fighting them in 3 feet of water, not a hundred feet of water. And part of the shark fishing drill is also quite a ball with the fly rod, and that is the gathering of chum. The Everglades is murky, and you're not hunting down sharks, you are bringing them to you. You catch some fish, butterfly out the sides, hang them on a rope, and drift, pushing a scent trail behind you. Usually it doesn't take long to get attention.
So, first came the chum gathering. We drifted a grass flat, and while the guide threw a jig, I threw a Clouser minnow. No truth stretching when I say that for a while, it was a fish a cast. What we were hoping for were ladyfish, but what I caught for quite awhile were sea trout, and nice ones! In about 45 minutes, I caught at least 20 sea trout, a few jacks, a couple of sail catfish, a couple of mangrove snappers, and enough lady fish for our purposes. It's no secret that my wife thinks this is the most fun fishing of the trip, and one of these days I'm going to spend the day doing it.
Then it was on. We started drifting, I stood in the bow with a twelve weight and big, orange fly rigged with wire. I just want to mention, shark fishing isn't necessarily a gimmee. There
are days the sharks just won't show up. There are days when they are moody, and will examine the fly and spook off. I once had a day when about fifty sharks in a row exhibited this behavior, no matter what fly we tied in. We waited about 15 minutes, and I could see a large, brown shape rushing the boat, weaving back and forth like a bird dog looking to cut scent. Suddenly, the fish figured it out, made a beeline for the boat, I dropped the fly beside it's head, and it engulfed the fly, I strip set, felt nothing and saw the fly pop to the surface. What?! The shark would not be denied however, it was turning in circles looking for the fly, I slapped it down on the water five feet from the boat, and it was taken in an impressive boil. A long run into the backing, a little chasing with the boat, and soon we had a nice 100 pound lemon shark boatside. And that's the way it went for the next several hours. I cast to seven sharks, every single one ate the fly, and I landed six of them, the one hundred pounder was the biggest, most were 60-80 pounds, and I rounded it out with a little guy of 30 pounds or so. I realize the shark thing isn't for everybody, but it's all about fun, and sharks leave me grinning from ear to ear. All too soon it was time to go in. We made some brief stops on the way back looking for adult size tarpon, and I got a couple of casts off to uncooperative snook that were laid up on a grass flat. Tomorrow, I would fish to two fish, that although I've saltwater fished a long time, were strangers to me...redfish, and tripletail.
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