Everglades Fishing – Captain Ned Small

Massive Cold Front. Bummer. We’ve an eye on the nor’east quadrant, looking for red’s in the wake of the front. Sorry, no pictures, my camera broke.

It’s been a battle with the weather, (wind,) but the water temperature has been rising in the Gulf, (a new cold front is coming, however,) and the few fish we encounter tend to be Big and Tough to Catch. Tim Leto and Corky Ellis have had the foredeck for the last day and a half, landing red’s in the 26 and 27 inch class and fencing with big snook in the way backcountry. We’ve taken an hour or two, when the conditions are right to hunt tarpon. The migrating fish are beginning to show.

Brian Pink landed three snook today. All on fly. 18 – 26, inches. Everyone is griping about how poor the fishing has been. We got a few chances at red’s too, but they won’t bite. Gulf Temperature 64 degrees.

Bob Milgram has had the foredeck for the past couple of days. We were blessed with good weather and lots of tailing reds. The photos are of Bob with some of the many we tangled with.

OK, I know y’all are wanting a report. I’ve been enjoying the last few days of freedom shooting in the Miami Cup, washing laundry and doing boat maintenance. There’s good news and bad news, Gulf temps have dipped to 61 degrees with this last front, that’s the bad news. The good news is, there’s nowhere to go from here but up. I’ve always said, the temps have to be in a rising trend for the Big Girls to show. I still expect to see them in the next couple of weeks. A warming trend is predicted. The fly fishing for red’s has been Hot!

Gulf temperature steady at 66 degrees. But it’s likely to dip tonight in the wake of this front. But how low can it go? All we need is a slight warming trend and the Big Girls will show. I guarantee, last February they showed at 68 degrees, when these green fish show, I’ll be there to greet them, ‘we are becoming one,’ don’t you want to be on the foredeck? When they are fresh in from the Gulf, in the early season, they don’t have the caution that fish later in the season will have. They are hungry and eager, vulnerable to a well placed fly, (unless you get screwed by the weather!) I remember a day last year, in the last week of February, when Dr. Dan Newman jumped three out of eleven shots. The smallest one was a hundred pounds. The largest was in that hard to determine class of over 150 pounds.

We’ve been getting some snook on fly, in the hidey holes in the backcountry. Chip Chescheir caught a half dozen yesterday, 17 to 21 inches, got cut off by a big’un’, and had some chances at some ‘Great Big Ones.’ And a couple of red’s. Gulf temperature 66 degrees. I’m packing at least one tarpon rig every day now. Stay tuned.