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US Everglades Adventure
By Justin Willmer
The long haul flights become a little easier when you know there is an opportunity to wet a line at the other end. We were on our way to ICAST Fishing Tackle Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, with an opportunity for some R&D and product planning with Daniel Nussbaum, President of ZMan Fishing Products USA, prior to the show and including a couple of days on the water.
Our destination was Marco Island, a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico off Southwest Florida, from where we would fish the myriad of islands, channels and backwaters that make up Cape Romano and the Ten Thousand Islands Wildlife Preserve. We had missed the tarpon run, however a tarpon was still a possibility, along with snook, redfish and speckled trout. I am always keen to know what other random species are available, apart from the main targets and there was a chance of other species such as jack crevalle (trevally), juvenile goliath grouper, ladyfish (giant herring) and catfish.
Morning one and we met our guides Andrew and Wright in the carpark of a local supermarket and my first impression was how awesome the flats boats were... especially being an avid shallow water angler and kayak fisho. These boats are designed to run in almost no water and float in less. They aren't designed for rough conditions and offshore work, however they make an awesome platform for fishing the flatwater and Everglades, floating in just inches of water.
Declan and I were fishing with Andrew on day one, while Gareth and Daniel jumped on board with Wright, launching in the marina and heading off in our own directions in search of a fish. We began casting to mangrove edges and the first thing we noticed was that we could see the bottom... it wasn't difficult being just a few inches deep! The hull of the boat was just touching occasionally as Andrew poled us across the flats from the rear platform. It was a great experience just being in these boats, fishing this area and taking in all of the sights, sounds and sharing a few yarns.
We kicked things off throwing topwater in the form of Bagley Rattlin' Finger Mullet and it wasn't long before we caught the attention of a few snook and redfish that blew up on the RFM, with a few finding the hooks. The RFM has a nice low rattle and is really easy to work with a 'walk the dog' retrieve, making it popular for barramundi, Murray cod and a stack of other species in Australia. Andrew then made the call to get off the flat before we ran out of water and hit a run of other spots.
From here we switched to plastics, fishing ZMan 3" MinnowZ on 3/0 TT Lures HeadlockZ jigheads and SnakelockZ weedless jigheads. Pearl is a favourite colour in the region and was the main colour thrown for the day, with a few others mixed in that still caught fish. Declan also fished the ZMan 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ and had success on it also. The bulk of our captures were small to medium sized snook, with some chunky little redfish mixed in. We caught loads of fish and it was cool to sight the fish moving on the flats, wait for them to move into casting range, fire a cast, lead them and then watch them eat it.
Redfish are such a cool fish. They look good, fight well, especially in shallow water, can be spotted fairly easily cruising and they are super aggressive. We had a ball on one mangrove flat, sight casting a stack of fish and landing about twenty redfish and even more snook. Cast ahead of the cruising fish, work the plastic in small hops and winds, see them fire up and move onto it, continue the retrieve with hops, pauses and winds until you see them eat it. Great fun.
We also motored in, killed the motor and slid across some super shallow flats into slightly deeper drains... and I mean slightly deeper! Andrew poled the boat up these drains where Declan and I cast ahead of the boat, again landing a stack of snook and a handful of redfish. We also spotted some larger snook but were unable to get them to eat.
As is often the case when fishing this region, at this time of year, you need to pay attention to the storms that roll in and we dodged a couple of fronts before one finally pinned us down. What to do... we found a nice bank and fished, laughed and chatted through torrential rain as we landed a mix of snook, redfish, speckled trout and jack crevalle, while fishing sandy edges along a run of mangroves.
The rain eventually eased and it was time to work our way back toward our launch point, hitting a couple of spots on the return journey. Entering one backwater and casting along the edges, Andrew made the call to cast to an actively feeding tarpon and it wasn't long before my 3" MinnowZ was inhaled, the line went tight and all hell broke loose!
I had dreamt about landing a tarpon and this was about the size I had wanted to land. At around a metre long, it was larger than the Australian version and it was a really fun size to catch on light gear. It went crazy, jumped a bunch of times and it was manageable for me to land myself in a jaw lock. You could not wipe the smile off my face as I fought this fish. A fish that I had read so much about and I finally had it boat side and I slid the thumb and fingers around the jaw and locked on solid. My first thought was that its jaw was like steel as I locked on and then lifted it aboard for a quick photo and release.
A dream had been realised and I thanked Andrew and Declan for the opportunity and the words of support and encouragement. Declan was pumped, having landed much larger tarpon himself, and had told me several times throughout the day that I would get a shot at one. I was pretty pumped earlier in the day when I had caught my first and several more jack crevalle, along with a bunch of snook. They were by no means trophy models of their species, but every fish needs to be celebrated and especially the first of a species. Now I had landed another new species, making it three for the day and including a species that had always fascinated me, the Atlantic tarpon... the silver king. I felt pretty blessed to say the least.
That was a wrap on day one and time to head back to our accommodation, where we reflected on the day, shared a few stories - gator spotting, plenty of fish caught and the other boys jumping off a much larger tarpon. As is generally the case we also tinkered and talked about tackle and worked on a few new designs and ideas that will hopefully evolve into the lures that we will be casting next year.
Day two and the teams switched guides, with Declan and I heading off with Wright in his smaller boat. It is amazing how stable these platforms are and although I wouldn't want to be driving one in the rough stuff, I would love to have one for flats fishing my local waters. It was cool fishing with two different guides, in different craft and targeting different structure, as we learnt so much and saw so much over the two days fishing.
On day two we fished some smaller islands, timber snag piles, flats, narrow channels and in the back country. The smaller islands produced a bunch of jack crevalle on Bagley Rattlin' Finger Mullet, which was good fun, along with snook. We moved to a mangrove edge flat, switched to ZMan plastics again on TT Lures HeadlockZ and SnakelockZ jigheads and sight cast a bunch of nice redfish and a stack of snook. It's pretty hard to beat sight casting to cruising fish and Declan and I had a ball as Wright pointed out schools of cruising fish and positioned us to make long, accurate casts. When a redfish decides it wants to eat a lure, it's pretty cool to watch.
It was then into the back country and narrow channels, dodging storms as they rolled through. Here we were casting to deeper edges and I took a few casts to get some decent accuracy going, while Declan's barra guiding had him on point straight up. A few smaller snook and then I landed a cast deep in a pocket, where it was met with a solid clunk and it was game on! I worked hard, rod tip down and putting the hurt on, extracting my best snook from some nasty structure. This was a proper snook and I was stoked with the cast, fight and fish... I could now see why people become hooked on chasing snook... and they get much bigger than this one.
Next on the species list was a goliath grouper and Declan and I both ticked this one off, landing a few between us. Like our Queensland Grouper in Australia, these fish grow to epic proportions and these were just babies, but a beautiful fish and another first for both of us. This was close quarters combat, with the grouper eating the lure deep in the snags and taking some pressure and rod work to get back out. It was all about weedless rigged plastics fishing this country and the ZMan 3" MinnowZ, skipped in on a 1/4oz 3/0 TT Lures SnakelockZ jighead was perfect.
As we worked our way back out from the back country, via one of the many skinny, snake like and mangrove lined channels, Declan made a pinpoint cast into a pocket where a serious and explosive take signalled a better quality fish. The fight was on and Declan must have felt like he was in a northern Australia barra drain with some quick rod work keeping a solid snook out of the snags. He finally had it beaten boat side and after a few quick photos it was swum and released.
It had been another great day on the water exploring a magical part of the world and an area that I had read a lot about over the years. When travelling overseas, interstate or just up the road it's worth investigating the fishing options in the area and you may be able to cast a lure in some new water or even tangle with a new species.
We did our research prior to heading over and kitted ourselves out with Okuma Cerros 7' 3-6kg spin rods and Epixor XT EPXT-30 spinning reels loaded with 10-15lb braid. We also carried a couple of larger Okuma Azores combos with us, just in case we had a shot at a larger tarpon. Plastics wise we had a dozen packets of ZMan 3" MinnowZ and 4" DieZel MinnowZ, with a mix of colours that included plenty of Pearl. We rigged these on TT Lures HeadlockZ and SnakelockZ jigheads in 1/8oz, 1/6oz and 1/4oz 3/0 and scented up with Pro-Cure Super Gel scent.
When heading to a new location it's worth doing plenty of research on the available fishing options and you will probably find that a lot of gear you currently own will transfer over to your adventure. You can also look into the guided and self-guided fishing options that are available, with a quality guide being an excellent option for getting the most out of the time you have available.
Following this fishing adventure we headed to ICAST to check out all of the new releases from ZMan and Okuma USA, with a stack of these now making their way to Australia for you guys to put to work on your favourite species. Check them all out at www.tackletactics.com.au
See you on the water...
Justin Willmer