Everglades City, Chokoloskee and Everglades National Park

Capt. Charles Wright
June 12, 2005
Everglades City - Saltwater Fishing Report

Summer Snook Bliss

I am often

asked, ‘What is the best time of year to be here?”.  That is always a difficult

question to answer.  We have a year round fishing season here in the sub-tropics

and some species or technique is almost always “hot”.

Winter

trout fishing can be wonderful with non-stop, high volume action.  Snook in the

back-country when it is cold are wonderful to sight fish.  Many times we can put

up 60 fish days, but the fish are smaller than in the summer months.

Spring

cobia runs are wonderful and, yes, they return in the fall.  The permit that

show up in springtime are a wonderful line-ripping treat until November.  The

big tarpon begin to show in spring and can be fished until mid-December   The

spring is a time of transition from winter.  There are tons of fish both large

and small.

 

However, the late summer and early

fall is the time for me.   It is a time when you can really enjoy

the Everglades.  Very few people venture out on the waters during the week, it

feels as though this vast Fishing Paradise is all yours.

 

The weather

and fishing patterns are extremely predictable.  It is hot in the mornings, even

hotter in the afternoons and it will rain almost exactly at 2:00 pm to cool

things down … perfect.  The fish and their feeding habits are just as

predicable.  The snook are big, aggressive and easy to find.

 

This is the

time of year that snook fishing dominates the minds of anglers.  This is the

time of year for big snook. In July, the fish tend to migrate to the deeper

passes doing what they do this time of year (spawn).  Baits worked deep in these

passes will produce well. Very early morning is best, so we will many times

leave before sunrise to catch the early bite.  Wade fishing the edges, casting

into the drop is arguably one of the most effective ways to get at these fish.  

The noise of a boat, hull slap trolling motor, etc, has a definite impact on the

bite.

 

In most

places, however, you can only fish only one side of a pass and you are

restricted to the areas that you can wade.  These areas, many times are all that

you need to be productive, but many times you simply can not get to where the

fish are.  Toss the use of the fishing kayak into the equation and you have the

tools to cover any the area where the fish may be.

 

As always,

tides play an extremely important role as to when and where we fish.   During

the summer months, the major tide is in the evening versus the mornings during

the winter time.  This means that in many areas, there is plenty of water for

the big snook to be up on the “flats” throughout a low tide period.  While most

do move into passes during these periods, the water remains deep enough to

target these residual fish with the proper technique … fish that are almost

impossible to catch without the kayak.

 

In these

circumstances, we will launch the kayaks, up-tide, at first light. With the tide

already fall strong, I will send in the anglers typically armed with big

top-water plugs.  The top-waters can really call in these top-end shallow water

predators in the calm of morning.  

 

Our most

recent trip, with four kayak fishing newbies, produced snook to 33”, tarpon,

over 100 lbs in air, redfish to 29” and trout to 22” in one drift/pass.  There

is something really special about being very close to the fish in a kayak,

seeing them, positioning yourself and the watching them explode onto an early

morning top-water bait. 

 

Two of the

four Texans on this trip used to live in South Florida and had fished this area

for years.  Both commented that “this (kayak fishing) is THE way that they will

fish Chokoloskee from here on out”.

 

July is not

all kayak fishing.   Sight-fishing, snook, tarpon, redfish and, most of all,

permit rank right near the top of my list of July picks.  Fishing the inshore

early and moving to the near-shore permit schools makes for a trip that most

will never forget.

 

This is the

second full year of running the “Yak Attack” mothership kayak trips.  Things are

going well and most who have taken the trips have really enjoyed them.  We did

some wonderful camping/fishing trips into some very unique areas this past year

and plan to do even more this fall and winter.

 

Recently,

we took the Yak Attack to the lower keys for some bonefish stalking from the

kayaks … that’s right from the kayaks.  The weather gods were not friendly to us

while we were there and made conditions tough, but the anglers were even tougher

and we managed fish to 8 ½ pounds off some remote, pristine flats. 

 

We are

planning to do the Lower Keys kayak fishing trip again in early October and fish

South Biscayne Bay for bonefish, permit and tarpon October 17 – 20.  We will

also be planning camping/fishing trips to the No Motor Zones this fall watch the

website for details.

 

The next

quarterly drawing for a free trip will be October 1st.  Please

remember that you must register each time to be eligible.  The registration info

is on the website.

 

Until then,

Tight Lines ….

       

If you would like to book a charter with

Chokoloskee Charters, contact Capt. Charles Wright @

www.ChokoloskeeCharters.com ([email protected])

or call him @ 239-695-9107.  Tight Lines!

   HOME     

FISHING PACKAGES       

FLY FISHING       

KAYAK FISHING    

FISHING REPORTS

More Fishing Reports:

• All Reports by Capt. Charles Wright
• Everglades City Fishing Reports
• Southwest Florida (Cape Sable to Boca Grande) Reports
• Florida Fishing Reports
• Browse All Fishing Reports