Everglades Fishing – Captain Ned Small

We’re entering that winter phase of rapidly moving cold fronts. The Gulf temperature has finally dropped to the mid sixties after hovering in the mid seventies since October. This has both snook and red’s heading for the backcountry into their winter habitat and ‘jungle fishing,’ has become the ‘prime directive.’ Backcountry bays, sloughs and mud bottom flats are the targets for fly rodders, and spin anglers are looking at ‘the creeks,’ as well. Small lures and flies are the rule for the subtle presentations necessary to tease one of these winter fish into biting. At this time of year the fish can be fussy and it’s not so much a numbers game as it is that quest for a perfect moment when stealth and technique come together in a strike from one of these winter beauties. Here’s a photo of one Chris Hamilton seduced yesterday with a six weight rod, a twenty pound flouro’ bite tippet and a #2 mullet imitation that he tied himself. Stay tuned for news from the second annual ‘Snook Tangle,’ a gathering of fly rod wielding masochists descending on Chokoloskee and Everglades City for yet another try at some of the most demanding, and rewarding snook fishing in the Everglades.