Everglades Fishing – Captain Ned Small

We’ve been having a lot of fun on the grass beds for the past few days. Actually the hot spot has been a coral swash on the outside with a falling tide at daylight. Zacharey Nass and his Dad David fished it with me on Zach’s birthday, then Bill Weibrecht fished it with a fly rod on his first saltwater fly fishing trip,  and I went back there today with Bob Mucha on his first trip to the Everglades. We’ve caught at least a hundred trout, a hundred and fifty ladyfish, a dozen jacks, a bluefish, several spanish mackeral, some nice sheephead, a few red’s mixed in, some small grouper, and a sawfish. This is Jiggin’ at it’s finest, (and fly fishing too, Bill,) Everglades style. The weather is great and the fish are biting. Happy New Year, everyone.

We fished the Wilderness Waterway today, through the backcountry to Lostman’s River, and then caught the rising tide and off shore wind in the Bights on the way home along the Gulf. It was a long and splendid day. Here’s Dane with a redfish he sighted at Lostman’s.

Clyde Foster with a redfish on fly, Everglades Style.

Well, It’s been a great, extended week of fishing with my friends John and Kris from New York. It’s been action packed, dodging cold fronts and sight fishing the passing low pressure and rising barometer for snook and red’s while hunting snipe as the barometer drops. We’ve sighted a hundred red’s and as many snook, but the snook were reluctant to bite unless they were small. We’ve had a varied menu while the boy’s were here, Kris has quite the Knack as Chef and has effectively taken over the kitchen with such productions as: Waldorf Salad, followed by a grilled redfish with  lobster bisque, the sauce being made from the left overs of the previous nights dinner of barbequed fresh gulf lobster and scalloped potatoes with a Caesar Salad. We had a glazed ham one night with a salad made from sliced apples, walnuts, blue cheese and Caesar dressing with an aperitif of Snipe in a Pine Apple Confrette. Here’s a picture of Kris with his first redfish.

Clear skies, clear water and lots of sunshine. Gentle easterly winds, low tides and lots of visible red’s. Here’s John with one he sighted today on an outside key.

Dan Newman and I discovered a new “year class” of young snooks way back in the jungle today. Dan probably hooked well over forty of them, on fly, putting more than thirty in the boat. They ranged from the very smallest, about ten inches, up to twenty four inches long.

Really, you had to be there. An astonishing day of sightfishing. Todd and I fished all the way to Lostman’s River, finding fish almost everywhere they are suppposed to be. Clear water, plenty of sunshine and gentle tides.  It’s winter, now, and it’s windy.  You just have to cope with it, the best you can and take advantage of the sheltered shorelines. Todd Cox with just one of many fish released today.

Captain Bruce Miller and I went south this morning to fish the secret spot.  It was a beautiful morning, fair winds, a following sky, and visible redfish all over the place. In the photo below, a redfish we tagged along the way. Just one, among many.