Most anglers long to be on the water, but few have the luxury to fish whenever and wherever they want. Most of us have to balance work, family, vacations amongst a host of other issues before a day of fishing is remotely possible. As such we need to make the most of every trip and get the greatest pleasure and rewards from that day on the water. We need to approach every trip with a Chokoloskee State of Mind.
What is the Chokoloskee State of Mind? Perhaps it is easiest to describe what it isn't. It is not waiting in a fast food drive through line for a burger that you have gobble up with one hand before you get back into traffic; but it is a nice turkey sandwich in the lee of one of the 10,000 Islands enjoyed with your everglades fly fishing partner. It is not obscene hand gestures and the aggravation of others riding your bumper in traffic; but it is slowing down enough to allow the dolphins to play in your wake. It is not the sounds of highway traffic, ambulance sirens and the roar of crowds of people; but it is the sound of silence broken by the shrill cry of an osprey as she fusses at you for fishing too close to her nest. Perhaps, most importantly, it is not about catching fish. It is about being here, getting away, being outdoors, seeing the wildlife and spending precious time with good friends or family. The Chokoloskee State of Mind is not about catching fish; it is the appreciation of the whole experience. If you approach every fishing trip with this attitude ... this state of mind, you can not have a bad day on the water. Catching fish is just a bonus. I once asked my father one morning where he was going as he idled out of the marina. He said he was going fishing. I said, "But, you don't have any rods on the boat!". He simply replied, "I'll fish my way, you fish your way". It is not about catching fish. This last weekend, I had the pleasure of fishing three generations of the Kline family from Miami ... Art, Kevin, Larry, Robert and Nat. They exemplified this "State of Mind". This trip was not about catching fish, it was about being together on a fishing trip. Nothing was going to interfere or spoil their trip. The weather was forecast to be blowing 20 to 25 knots. As they were relatively close by, I had called earlier in the week to see if they would like to reschedule to another time. Nope, it was made clear that they were coming. Originally, they were to fish together on the "Blue Bird Daze", the 24' Morgan. I had a mechanical issue that could not be fixed before their trip. Not a problem, "we'll just fish on two boats". The wind did blow and blow hard. The water was extremely murky and the fish did not bite well even though we fished hard. (Left ...even a little "rat" red extracted from a hidden creek produces a smile from Robert). However, because of their attitude, their Chokoloskee State of Mind, they had a great day together and I, and the other guide, Capt. Bruce Hitchcock, had a great day on the water. Their attitude towards the trip turned what could have been a miserable day, at least for me, into a great experience. Art, Kevin, Larry, Robert and Nat, you guys are welcomed back anytime!!! The wind had been blowing hard for two days before Dan Beltramo and Andy Cohen (San Francisco) and George Labelle (Pompano Beach) arrived for the day. The water was still very turbid and the bite was way off. We did raise a few trout, ladyfish and jack crevalle, however, we could manage only two snook bites all day. Andy was decisively run into the trees both times, unfortunately. The following day, Larry DeBauge (Naples) fished with me for a second time in this month. This time he brought along his son, Jeff, and his eight-year old grandson, Nick (Kansas City, Ka). I had hope to get a lot of action fishing shrimp "in the trees", but the first few places we went, the fish had lock-jaw. Nick, being the dominate factor on the boat, defined our next move by using the "B-word". The word that horrifies every fishing guide in the world. Nick said, "I am getting bored"! Off to the flats we went. The water was still turbid, but the guys still managed to catch a mess of speckled sea trout, ladyfish and jacks. Larry and Nick were using live shrimp under a popping cork. Jeff was doing well with a red-headed jig dragging a 3" gold metal-flake shad tail. Nick caught his first trout on the popping cork making grandpa proud. Things had turned around. Nick was in the "lead" with the "most" and "largest" fish. Whewww! The wind continued to lay down, so we eased off to small piece of near-shore structure. On the way, Jeff landed a triple-tail to start off the species smorgasbord. All in all, the guys caught a good winter mix on this trip. Sheep head, speckled sea trout, gag grouper, mangrove snapper, grunts, lady fish, red grouper, blue runners, jacks, triple-tail and a 24 pound goliath grouper ... 11 species and Jeff's personal "big fish". I expect to Larry back come permit time!! Catching fish is great, but remember, the experience of being out the water with friends and family is what this fishing thing is all about. Live and fish with the Chokoloskee State of Mind! The water is beginning to warm and the fishing should continue to improve. I expect the Everglades fly fishing to get better and better; it is some of the best to be found. Rather than be in Naples fly fishing urban areas, try the Everglades National Park. The latter part of March and April begin the tarpon migration, the permit season and are the last months of snook season. However, May and June provide the best fishing of the season. Those that have fished during these months fully understand. If you would like to book a charter with Chokoloskee Charters, contact The Captain @www.ChokoloskeeCharters.com; ([email protected]) or call him @ 239-682-9920. Tight Lines!
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It feels like South Florida again!! With temperatures approaching 80 degrees and the water warming fast the Everglades National Park is once again alive. The baits have returned, the birds are fattening up and the predatory fish are feeding.
Throughout the cold in January and February, the fishing was generally good on the inshore areas with consistent trout and sheep head action. The offshore bottom fishing never really fell off. However, there were many times, when sight fishing, we would just look at the snook and they would simply look back. We just could not get them to feed in the unseasonably cold water. However, as soon as the water warmed AND the baits returned, from wherever they were, the place "went off "... immediately. Last Friday, I had both a morning charter and an afternoon charter. We managed a bag of trout in the morning, but things were so slow that I rescheduled the afternoon launch for another date. Instead of fishing, I took the afternoon to fly the Cessna over the Park and do some scouting. The water was pretty churned up from the winds so I could not see much more than a few schools of snook in their typical residences. However, just offshore was a vision of pure love. BAIT FISH!! More importantly, bait fish moving into shore! The next morning, with Ed Able and his engineer associate, Frank, both from Ocean City, NJ, we scooted out to where I expected the baits to splash the shore. Fishing one of the river mouths, we saw a mess of snook ... snook with lockjaw. Frank did pull a couple snook out of the thickets, however, and Ed landed a nice sheep head. The jacks and ladyfish were back strong ... there is finally forage around. When the tide became too high to sight fish, we headed to a grass flat. What a refreshing site, birds diving, mackerel jumping, ladyfish slicing into baits, trout slurping on the surface, pompano skipping and schools of jacks showering bait fish. Needless to say, that was a long deserved and refreshing change. The Park is back!. Whew, it has seemed like a endless winter. Though we did not set the fishing world on fire that day, things were like they are "supposed to be". The guys caught trout, redfish, snook, sheep head, ladyfish, jacks, and mackerel. What a difference a day makes. Sunday, with Lisa Dargavage of Campbell & Rosemurgy Realty (Deerfield Beach) on board, we set out for a few hours of trout fishing. We were having a fish fry that evening!! Quick success. Big nice trout were amongst the bait. We did have to fish thru a thousand jacks and ladyfish, of course. We had to measure every trout caught to make sure that they were not oversized. All the trout that we kept, were barely under the 20" limit. These guys had just followed the bait in from offshore. It was a nice, relaxing three hour trip. We harvested a nice dinner and Lisa even managed to get in a nap!! We brought home five nice trout for dinner, but we could not resist adding a few fresh Spanish Mackerel to the pot. Nothing is better than fried fresh mackerel. At the dock, Dale tossed in a redfish and dinner was served for twelve!! Yesterday, I had the pleasure to fishing with Dave Kadison and his 10 year old daughter Sara. Dave is an excellent fly rodder, only surpassed by Sara's casting prowess. The turbid water from the southerly winds combined with the overcast sky, made sight fishing all but impossible. Blind casting the snook and redfish holes proved to be a fruitless. Sara, after getting some good close up photos of Wally Gator, caught us some small ladyfish to use later ... so into the live well they went. We had hoped to tease up a cobia to Dave's fly later in the trip. We stopped in the bait schools for a little exercise. Sara, after about 15-20 fish in a row, tired, so we headed off to the near-shore structure for the cobia. Mackerel were rocketing on the surface and blue runners were streaking below. We dropped a live volunteer down on some light tackle to do a little looking around. It was just a few minutes before the little ladyfish was gobbled. Goliath grouper!! Dave did an excellent job digging this fish off the bottom on such light tackle. Although it was only 20lbs, he landed on a trout rod!! While Dave was wrestling with the Goliath, Sara had real nice run on her eight pound spinner. Unfortunately, we never saw the fish, but from the way it was fighting, it was either a big snook or a cobia. We never did not get a positive I.D., nor did we get to toss a fly at the "gummers". Maybe next time Dave. Things are red hot now and should continue to improve. I expect the fly fishing to get better and better. Everglades fly fishing is some of the best. Rather that be in Naples fly fishing urban areas, try the Park. Like Mikey, you will "like it". The latter part March and April begin the tarpon migration, the permit season and are the last months of snook season. This represents some of the last time our winter guest get to fish before they head back to the north lands. There some bookings left for those interested in these early season fish, but please book early or you will miss out. In my opinion, May and June provide the best fishing of the season. Those that have fished with Chokoloskee Charters during those months turn into regular "Choko-holics". If you would like to book a charter with Chokoloskee Charters, contact The Captain @www.ChokoloskeeCharters.com; ([email protected]) or call him @ 239-682-9920. Tight Lines! This has been one of the coldest Januarys that I can remember. While the temperature only dipped below 40 degrees a few nights, this entire month was significantly colder than our average January. A local news station reported that both the lows and the highs were a full eight degrees cooler than normal. Eight degrees does not sound like much, but Baby, at 35 mph it surely is!! On some of those cold mornings, I felt like I was being punished for something I must have done in the past. I never did figure that part out, since I believe that I have been living right. A few hardy (very hardy) anglers who came in sandals and light jackets also felt the pain!!
Many sub-tropical species of fish, particularly snook, are very sensitive to cold water. Rapid changes in water temperature can send them spinning on the surface stunned if it does not kill them out right. Hundreds of snook have been seen doing simultaneous doughnuts on the surface after a winter blast. The old timers call them "Bay Grouper" and would net up the spinners and sell them to local markets as groupers. Hence, the closed winter season. Hopefully, that is a thing of the past. Many in the professional guide community thought that we would loose a pile of fish, particularly snook, on several occasions this month when the thermometer was expected to plummet. However, it appears that the sustained water temperature drop over the last six weeks acclimated the fish enough so that they were not "shocked" by the "colder" snaps. That was good thing. The cooler water definitely changed the pattern of fishing in this area. That was a bad thing. However, getting a handle on the new pattern was a very good thing! The cold water has driven the bait to places unknown. The fantastic mackerel fishing we had until late December went away with the bait. The cobia went away with Mackerel. However, the speckled trout fishing gathered steam as the fish fell into the holes and deeper passes. It is not uncommon to catch 50-60 fish in a single tide. Sheep head, large sheep head, are all over the place and easy to catch. Small black drum and the redfish are plentiful and predictable. "Keeper" sized grouper are in the passes. The snapper bite has been really good. with the inshore fish, plentiful but small. Offshore, however, it is has been pretty dog-gone easy to jig up a limit 17-18" snapper. The trick is too catch the weather right to get out there. There are still piles of snook around but the cool water temperatures has seem to curtail their appetite and made them very finicky. They feed, but not until "Sky Boss" sounds the feed horn and then they tend to feed all at once. On most trips, however, we are able to coax a few fish to bite. The outside has been producing some excellent sight fishing on these schools of snook, especially for the "double-haulers" who have been fly fishing. The cooler temperatures have dramatically reduced the algae and plankton significantly improving the water clarity. You can definitely see the fish laid up in the shallows, but they can see you to ... "Stealth Mode" only!! Fishing the inside has been excellent. On Chokoloskee Charters annual New Year's Fishing/Camping trip the creeks really went off. What was planned to be a simple camping/fishing trip this year turned into quite a "to-do" at Watson's Place in the Chatham River. New Year's Eve, Bruce Hitchcock, the "Wizard" and I slipped off to Wizard Creek. Named for the no-so-famous, Harry, "The Wizard", Ramsey from Tampa. Throwing 12-Fathom, gold metal flake swimming shad tail, dragged over by a Cotee red-headed Jig, we managed to catch approximately two dozen snook, some approaching 20 lbs in about an hours time. The Wizard was bowed up on a nice fishing about 12 pounds when we heard them. They were moving down the creek, feeding hard. Boom, boom, boom ... black drum, lots of them, big ones for the back country ... coming right at us. I sent the jig to the bottom and swam it along the creek bed slowly. You could here the fish pounding around us ... it was exciting. On the second cast, I was wrestling a 25+ pound drum on eight pound spinning gear. After too many close calls with the mangroves, we released the fish and within minutes Bruce had his turn. We released three nice fish, but the last drum was but 13 pounds and fit into the live well. The poor thing had to endure handling and photos with about ten youngsters before were able to release it at our campsite. Remember, always, I mean always bring a camera ... it is much easier on the fish! As a note, the first permit of the new year was caught by John Charleton of WPB. (Guess who forgot the camera?) The permit fishing was excellent last year with over 280 releases. It looks as though it is starting again! Chokoloskee Charters is starting its permit release club this year. John is the starting member!! If the Weather Guessers are right, the next 10 days should be in the mid 70's significantly warming the water. This should really turn on the fish both inshore and offshore. There is lots of action out there, but I would still bring your jackets (and a camera)!! |
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October 2005
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