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Everglades City, Chokoloskee and Everglades National Park
Capt. Charles Wright
December 21, 2003
Everglades City - Saltwater Fishing Report
Everglades National Park -- The Fishing Year in Summary
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Happy Fishing Holidays
Well
another year comes to an end in our version of Paradise. For Vickie and me,
it has been a great year, but a year of change. We sold our home, completed
the construction of another and finally moved in while managing to remain
married. Some long time, very good friends, from the East Coast, moved here
to live full time. Some other good friends have moved too far away. Many of
our long time, regular anglers have become great friends, while others have
succumbed to Father Time.
This past year’s fishing was all around as good
as it gets. January and February of 2003 were very cold, averaging a full 8
degrees colder than normal. This certainly changed the fishing, but generally
not for the worse. These months produced some of the best speckled trout and
wintertime redfish that I have seen in years. Very few trips ended without a
limit for everyone on board with many 100 trout days notched.
March was the best March that I could remember.
It warmed up early in the month; the bait schools showed up strong and so did
the fish. Perhaps, because it was so cold earlier, the snook, redfish and
tarpon, that moved in were very hungry and aggressive. Anglers had more
“slams” (snook, redfish and a tarpon in one day) last March than any other
month last year.
April is usually a very good month. However, on
April Fool’s Day the temperature plummeted once
again and so did the fishing. It took almost three weeks for things to
recover. But when it did, it recovered strong. The tarpon, however, were
driven well off shore and seemed to pass right by preferring to stay in the
warmer water. The permit were right on time,
however.
May and June were fabulous. Many days,
especially, in May, we were boating
seven to eight cobia per day; the snook were big
and aggressive. You could count on several very large fish practically every
day and we jumped big tarpon on the flats just about every trip.
Permit were caught just about anytime during the
month.
July and August, were great months for the
classic split day trips. Early out at sunrise, early in for lunch, air
conditioning and a nap; back out after the thunderstorms for some snook
fishing and dinosaur flying! These summer evening tarpon trips were
spectacular. There is nothing better than launching a big silver dinosaur
into the air at sunset!!
September and October produced some superb snook
fishing with double digit days most every trip. The cobia showed up on
schedule and the tarpon fishing was absolutely
great. Redfish were something you
could just about count on. The permit for some reason
were hit-and-miss. This is my favorite time of year. The kids have
returned to school, so most anglers who travel here are doing so on the
weekends. The middle of the week, it seems that you have the entire Park to
yourself. Essentially you do, you only see another boat if you choose to.
But, most of all the fishing is at its best!
November and December continued to produce
double digit snook days both in weight and numbers right up until the second
cold front. The kingfish offshore, combined with the Spanish mackerel, cobia
and some very nice snappers ended the year with a bang.
Vickie and I, along with many of our friends,
camp every New Year’s in the Park. It is our anniversary on New Year’s Eve,
so we celebrate where we enjoy things most … in the Park amongst our friends.
From both of us, we would like to wish you and
yours a safe and joyous Holiday Season. We are looking forward to a great
2004 and hope you have as much fun next year as we plan to!!!
Tight lines!!!
Capt.
Charles
Wright
ChokoloskeeCharters.com
"Not Just Another Boat Ride"
239-695-9107
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Chokoloskee Charters.com and Everglades Kayak Fishing.com is your complete outfitter for fishing Everglades National Park.
Fish the Everglades backcountry, the beaches, 10,000 islands, river and wrecks with the most experienced guides in the area. With flats boats, bays boats, offshore boats and even kayak transport boats for our fleet of outfitted fishing kayaks, we can offer a complete, multi-day, fishing experience. Capt. Charles Wright - Fishing the Park Since 1972 Catch the Experience
Contact Info:
Chokoloskee Charters
PO Box 670
Everglades City, FL 34139
Phone: 239-695-9107
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