Great time fishing for Bass in The Everglades.

Florida Fishing Weekend

 

 

 

This is our second year in a row that the Burchick and Betz parents have spent an extended weekend of fishing in Florida.  Last year was St.

Augustine and this year was Naples.  We stayed at Patti's aunt house in Fort Myers.  Thank you Joe and Judy!

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday we fished in Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park.  The shorelines of the creeks and canals included bald cypress with air-plant and Spanish moss, live oak, cabbage palm, saw palmetto, slash pine and the alien invasive Brazilian pepper.

 

 

 

This area of the south Florida swamplands includes expansive remote areas and the Florida Panther Wildlife Refuge, all signs that we noted along Alligator Alley (I-75), the fenced toll road from Naples to Miami, to help keep basking alligators at bay!

 

 

 

 Needless to say that we saw many alligators up close and personal while fishing.

 

Our professional guide for Friday and Saturday was Captain Roan ZumFelde, a life-long resident of Naples, who specializes in salt-water fly fishing, but will also guide for the orchids of the Everglades, during the peak of their bloom times, associated with air-plants.

 

 

 

Roan got us on fish and Dan and I caught over thirty largemouth bass each for the morning of fishing.  Does two applications of sunscreen 30 constitute SPF 60?

 

We used a combination of top water, cranks and plastics.  Our guide suggested that the pre-spawn will convert to bedding bass by the next new moon, if weather stays warm.  The day time highs all weekend were in the upper 80's and the night time lows were between 68 and 70-degrees. Sweet!

 

 

 

 

 

It was a birding bonanza.  We saw kingfisher, brown pelican, cormorant, green heron, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, wood stork, white ibis, anhinga, red-shouldered hawk, bald eagle, black vulture, osprey and many a bird I could not identify.  Dan saw three roseate spoonbills and waves of tree swallows would occasionally pass by.

 

We flushed this endangered wood stork from the banks.  The largest known

 

I had a great time with these guys it was fun watching these big guys set the hooks on some nice Florida Bass.  The birding wasn’t bad either

 

 

January and February Report for Naples and Marco Island Great fishing will continue

Fishing for January has been pretty strong all things considered.  We have been fortunate not to have had the cold the  rest of the country have been experiencing.  lets all hope that we are not in for it in February.  I hope we will have an early spring and all the fish will survive this year and 2011 will be an awesome fishing year.  

 

January fishing has been pretty typical so far, lots of little snook on fly in the back country along with a few larger fish.  The last week with the warmer conditions the small Tarpon started to make an appearance.  Redfish are eating flies sometime but seem to prefer a live shrimp or tipped jig.  The flies that have been working the best for reds and Sheepshead have been small crab patterns and bonefish flies like Fiddler in the Grass and Brown gotchas tied on number 4's.  Lots of Lady fish have been the norm both on fly and on Jigs.  Along with the ladies are trout some keepers but many are undersized, Sheepshead and Whiting.  All of which are taking flies if you can get to them.  Sink tip lines and clouser type patterns are your best shot if not using tipped Jigs.  Bass fishing in the glades and in the Golden Gate system has been good not great.  Small worms and small baitfish fly patterns with weedguards have been working on them.

 

February looks like it is going to be a good one so far.  Long range forecast shows it to be a cool one but light on freezes.  Lets all hope this is true.  Say a prayer.  It would be nice going into spring without any fish kills especially for the peacock bass.  If the weather stays the same we should have continued success for Trout and Whitting in the drop offs adjacent to the flats.  Good Sheepshead fishing should actually get better and the Redfish will be happy and getting bigger maybe big enough to keep.  Snook fishing will stay spotty but the night fishing around the new and full moon should be outstanding.  Tarpon will start to show if the water warms into the 70's.  Maybe toward the end of the month the big ones will come out to play in the Bays near the Gulf.  They will feed on fly and if you do not throw a fly a lucky 13 or something like it will work on them.  Bass fishing should make a break for it in the glades and really turn on.  I would expect to start seeing hundred fish days on the Alley waters.  The Peacocks might even turn on if the weather warms, they will be ravenous but the water needs to be in the upper 70's.  I will be giving a talk about cold weather fly fishing at the BFF meeting this month at the Norris Center, believe second Monday of the Month.  I will be talking fly selection and techniques to fish for coldwater fish in the channels and along the flats.  Hope to see you there and give support to the BFF.

Really Cold weather for December but Still Good Fishing for Naples and Marco

I hope all like fishing in the Cold.  Wow what a December so far, I do not believe I have ever had my long Johns out this early ever.  I sure hope we do not get anymore global warming or we will all freeze to death.  The good news in all the cold is when we can get out and we find someone that wants to fish we are catching plenty of species even some warm weather species.  This past week water temps have been cold but the list of species is long an distinguished.  Snook, Redfish, Trout, Pompano, Permit, Sheepshead, Snapper, Flounder, Ladyfish, Jack Crevalle,  Grouper, and a few others I cannot remember.  Not bad for cold weather fishing. 

 

Fly Fishing has been great on the clear flats for Redfish and Sheepshead and on the edges fro Trout, and Ladyfish.  The trick on the flats small flies and long casts are getting plenty of takers.  In the channels a sink tip line with bright Clousers are doing the trick.  I have also come up with a new Spoon Fly that will be available soon.  It works in deeper waters and catches everything that swims.  I fished a couple of nights under the lights and they have been ok, still plenty of Snook but the bite is a little tough we need to warm up a little. 

 

Bait fishing with White bait not happening.  Live Shrimp the only way to go and it has been very good.  Whole shrimp in the small Creeks are catching just about everything that you might want to catch.  And Tipped Jigs in the channels adjacent to the flats are bringing up plenty of Pompano, Permit and Trout(Trout opens Jan.1).  It looks like we are going to have one more arctic blast this week and then go into a little warming trend, we need it.  Maybe this will be the last reel bad cold for a while and people will want to get out and fish.  If we do not start warming soon we are going to see another fish kill and that would be awful for our resources. 

 

Bass fishing in the Everglades has been pretty tough with all this wind and cold.  We are catching them but they aren’t on fire like the should be this month.  That will change around with a little warm weather though.  Water levels are right we just need a little warmth.

 

Well this is the Christmas Fishing report so I hope all have a great holiday weather you are here in Southwest Florida or in one of the Tundra areas up to our North.  It looks like it will be a splendid New Year and we will wait for a new years fishing report when we see what the weather does.  Please everyone have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.  Good Fishing Capt. Roan z. 

 

October and November fishing report For naples and Marco island WHAT A MONTH!

Well, October showed off again.  The question I was asking my anglers was,( what would you like to catch and how would you like to catch them)?  Here is the laundry list of fish we caught in October:  Snook, Tarpon, Redfish, Snapper, Trout, Flounder, Grouper, Trippletail, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish, False Albacore, Cobia, Sharks, Ok is that enough?  Well throw in about 10 more species and you see what I am getting at about the great fishing we have in October.  It is surprising that more people really do not take advantage of it.  The other nice thing about October fishing is that it is much cooler and not so unbearably hot.  Well anyhow here is how we caught them.  Lets start with the False Albacore and the offshore fish.  Cast master Spoons and long Shank Flies that look like silversides were the key for most of the offshore fish.  Grouper and Snapper on yellow Jigs tipped with cut Squid.  The last week of October the tripletail started showing up on the trap lines 2 miles out of Marco.  Inshore species could be found everywhere from the Passes all the way to the farthest Back country creeks.  We caught them on poppers, top water plugs, Jerk baits and Muddler Flies.  It was awesome fishing.  That doesn’t even include the awesome night fishing.  I had more night slams this year in October than any other.  Trout, Redfish, Snook and Tarpon were on the lights this month.  Mostly fished on flies and the fly of choice was a Polafibre Minnow with a Tan back color.  They ate them up.  Even the Bass in the Everglades are starting to pick up the pace, fished Interceptor caught 30 on poppers and small shrimp flies.  Small Peacocks are starting in the GGC also.  I can not say anymore, I wish more people would take advantage of our October fishing.  A smattering of Pics from October.  Jack Allen Popper Fishing for Snook, Ken deep in the glades fishing the new TFO BVK Fly Rod, I cannot believe how light and powerful they are.  If you are looking for the new rods from TFO Contact me at info@indianpassoutfitters.com  Last but not least one of my favorite species on fly the False Albacore and Rich.

 

November is now on out doorstep and we should see cooler temps and cooler fishing.  I would expect the summer species to start to slow down a little and our winter species to pick up the pace.  The ladyfish, and mackerel will start moving inside along with Pompano and Trout.  Snook and Tarpon will slow just a bit but still will be plentiful usually into December.  Start looking a little more to the back country creeks this month, and the lights will get better.  Still will have plenty in the passes until the water temps dip into the low 70’s.  Redfish will start to school on all the flats from the Everglades to Pine Island Sound.  We were catching extreme amounts of small ones which if they hang around should make for a good Redfish season.  I have been catching most of my reds on an Rz Sparkle Shrimp or Kwan type fly.  The other species that will start coming on strong is Sheepshead, they are quite the target on a fly, I like small crab type patterns like a Bonefish Bitters.  Look for schools on the flats along with Redfish.  Tarpon will slow a bit but I had pretty goof fishing for them all the way into December last year.  If freshwater is what you want, this is the month for the GGC and the Canals across I75.  Go get them they should be hitting on top early and on the bottom after about ten in the morning.  Well good luck and I hope all have a great Thanksgiving this year.  Roan z.

 

September and October fishing report

September, slow month for fisherman strong month for the fish.  Wow fishing was sure good, to bad so sad, few people showed up for it.  Well anyhow the fisherman that went had some great Snook, Tarpon, and Redfish fishing.  October is shaping up to be the same.  Good news for October the anglers that are booking should get in on some of the finest fishing we have in this neck of the woods.   September saw lots of redfish move in for the spawning session in the passes and some moved into the bays and oyster bars and flats throughout the area.  Lots and lots of little one’s with some nice one’s thrown in.  Snook are rampant in the passes and areas close to the passes.  The only problem is the bait is so thick it was hard to get them to bite just one bait on a hook or one fly.  Persistence paid off and we landed some nice fish.  It was tough to stay calm watching 100 Snook at the time flip flop through the bait and wait for the strike.  Tarpon were their also in and out of the passes and long the beaches near the passes.  This is typical for this time of the year though.  We also had some great Tarpon fishing for small one’s in the creeks from Naples to The Everglades seemed as if every creek had them somewhere you just had to be patient to catch them.  They did not roll as much as they usually do so you had to wait sometimes 20 minutes for the right shot.  Fished a fun tournament in September.  Mixed bag tourney called Summer Doldrums.  My anglers Oliver and Alex took home 1^st in the Junior and Mens division.  They did a great job catching 10 out of the 12 species of fish(picture).  Great going for the two young boys 13 and 15.  I am lucky to have them as anglers they are great fisherman.  Like I said fishing was great and we caught fish inshore and offshore.  Bass fished a couple times in September not worth mentioning.  I would expect things to pick up next month. 

 

Fishing in October should be as good if not better then September.  Tarpon are showing up in big numbers and will be feeding on flies and mullet in the passes and along the beaches.  Bait will still be everywhere although it should be a little less so the fish might be more apt to take a hooked bait.  Passes, beaches and bays near the passes will be holding everything in October.  Night fishing will be awesome and expect to start catching slams under the lights including Snook, Redfish, Tarpon, and Trout.  Accomplished this the other night in Capri, fished for 3 out of 4 hours caught so many my angler wanted to go in early and rest his arm.  Wore them out in Marco River.  I love this time of the year.  Red Snook Tourney coming up this weekend.  Conservancy puts this on with Roland Martin every year, should be lots of fun, believe there is still openings for it so try and fish for a good cause.  Should be a fun tourney with some great fishing.  Bass fishing in October should get better.  Water temps will be decreasing along with rain which should get the bass going.  Top waters early then go deep as the morning progresses.  Well I hope everyone gets out and fishes.  Nice to see the law enforcement out checking people.  Hint though get in the boats and check them boxes.  You cannot find illegal fish if you do not check for them.  Good luck and good fishing. Roan z.

 

Night Fishing this week will be the rule with a moon full.

Pic of former Miss Wyoming catching her first Snook on Fly.  Lucky Girl.

Fishing in the deep Glades Creeks

Took Ritchie into the deep Everglades creeks with my specialty Tunnel Scandy White and found some nice Tarpon and Snook on the fly.