Dr. Larry Knight with a backcountry redfish.
The conditions are nice but there are ominous stretches where marine life of all types is noticably absent. There are a few reds though, you have to stay dedicated but you might get a shot, here’s one John Crockett caught today (below,) we also hooked a snook, a nice one, John just played it lightly while we admired it through a couple of runs before giving it just enough slack to release itself. We’re also using intermediate lines and tips for casting into deeper places looking for other species, mackerel, trout, jacks, anything that wants to come out and play.
Cindy McClure with a redfish she caught with an ultralight spinner and an eighth ounce “secret weapon.”
There are enough horror stories on the net already so I’ll gratefully forgo the gory descriptions; suffice it to say it’s pretty bad. It probably will have a significant impact on the snook and snook fishing. The redfish are fine, spotted trout are OK too as are some other, more cold tolerant species like sheephead. Some resident tarpon succumbed but, given the severity of the crisis, I guess we can be thankful the reports of tarpon kills are something less than that of snook. There’s potentially significant mortality of juvenile class fish, particularly snook and maybe tarpon in the backcountry as well as a major hit to breeding class snook in general. The State has mandated a closed season, (catch and release only,) on snook until September subject to possible renewal at that time.
Here’s a link with more of the story. http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/print.php?art_id=5534&pid=news
There are plenty of mysteries in the Everglades and plenty of mysterious places. Call it our own “Location X,” a place where the usual rules don’t apply, where a burst of fair weather at any time of year can provide, for the intrepid tarpon hunter, days like this. Captain Bill Blanton and I left the dock this morning two hours before daylight in order to be there at sunrise and when we got home near sunset we had logged well over a hundred miles on the GPS. We were plagued with camera difficulties but I managed to salvage a few, here’s one of Bill with a fish in the 100 pound class, and a few more: http://www.sightfish.com/everglades-fishing/photos/index.php?album=cape-sable. (Rio Esperanza)
It’s windy. On the outside it’s been too rough for fly fishing so weve been running around the backcountry to the south. There’s a few fish but in the wake of the weather it’s a little tough, still, if you can hang in there you’ll probably get some shots. Here’s one we got today from the Left Hand of Bitch Lake, that’s Captain Bill Blanton on the foredeck.
The summer pattern of calm winds and afternoon shore breezes has finally yeilded to the first real weather of the season. Winds are galloping out of the east, night temperatures have dipped into the sixties and the water temperature is cooling; Bill and I found water today as cool as sixty eight degrees. October always brings an increase in redfish activity and this season is no exception, we’ve had some memorable days chasing reds on the flats down south but snook have been scarce, until today anyway. With the arrival of the cool weather Bill Blanton and I went on recon this morning looking for snook. We covered a lot of miles, checked a lot of places and we did find a few nice fish, I was lucky to have the foredeck when this one came by.
Here’s just one of many Tim Rutledge and Don Klingler tangeled with over the last couple of days.
See more of their photo’s here; http://www.sightfish.com/everglades-fishing/photos/index.php?album=don-and-tim-tarpon-fishing
Don Klingler caught this red while casting to rolling tarpon!
