Everglades Fishing – Captain Ned Small

Brad Davis and Gus Morris have been fishing with me the past few days. Gus is a venerable veteran of the fly fishing fraternity but this trip was about getting a bent rod for Brad. It’s his first trip to Everglades. We used light and ultralight spinning tackle, did some sight fishing for red’s and a lot of jigging for anything we could catch. Brad caught six red’s by sight, never having seen one before, and, when the stars aligned, putting his casts right where they needed to be. As a finale we fished Seminole Point, 15 miles south of Everglades City. We caught spotted sea trout, mackerel, ladyfish and pompano until we didn’t “Want No More.” A fish on every cast. Brad is from Platte City Missouri, but I have a feeling that, right now, his heart is in Everglades. Here’s a picture of the Dynamic Duo.

Sorry, again, for the absence of reports. It’s just been so hectic around here, the snipe migration is in full swing, we were shooting them flying by on Monday as well as jumping them off the ground. The duck season is open, we have gotten’ blue winged teal, green winged, pintail, hooded merganzer, ringneck,  lesser scaup and brown duck; the florida mallard. We’ve been fishing  with fly only, searching the flats in the Lostman’s backcountry for those big winter snook and the coastal flats for reds, trying for that big fish in shallow water. The fishing has been spotty, it’s winter. If the weather cooperates you can have a splendid day, more than one ‘perfect moment,’ and if not, well that’s fishing. It’s quiet in the Islands, both snook and trout seasons are closed and there are surprisingly few boats out there. We fished a new Secret Spot at Lostman’s on Sunday, leaving before dawn to take the Wilderness Waterway through the backcountry, navigating non-stop until we reached it. We fished there until midday, spent the afternoon following the tide further back into some of our more familiar places like Bitch Bay and Orchid Creek, then the long ride home along the trail. We saw only one other boat during the entire day.