Everglades backcountry report, 29 November
Capt. Bob LeMay
November 29, 2013
Flamingo - Saltwater Fishing Report
A few days back I posted a couple of pics to show some pretty unusual stuff in the backcountry. I didn't have time to do a proper report so this will be it (nothing like Thanksgiving to give you a breather)...
In recent weeks finding a backcountry slam has been a daily event for my anglers and that was the deal for both of my days on the water.... The first day was with John Cochran from Colorado, a former trout guide and long time outfitter along the western slope in his state. At first, that morning, we hunted and pecked our way out along the coast finding a variety of fish on lures with light spinning gear, mostly small.... With an onshore wind the gulf coast waters weren't very attractive so we worked our way back inside to Whitewater Bay... at that point things got interesting, I poled us up into very shallow waters along a sheltered shoreline and told John to keep an eye out for baby sawfish since the area we were in is a prime nursery for them (along with very nice redfish and snook). Just a minute or two later I looked ahead and saw a very big sawfish (much bigger than the usual interior saws that rarely get up to seven feet long)... It looked to be almost fifteen feet long and was in just two feet of water cruising slowly by. It was so big that we didn't even attempt a cast we just watched it swim by... That big animal then turned and came back by - this time John could see that it had a follower riding alongside - a nice cobia.... He cast across the big saw and as the small jig passed over the monster, that cobia just nailed it and we were off to the races. The cobe immediately kept following the saw while John worked as hard as he could to turn the fish with only 10lb line and a light leader... Fifteen minutes later we had the fish at the boat and in the net... Here's a pic...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Cochranjohncobia_zps43e2ecb5.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Cochranjohncobia_zps43e2ecb5.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
the fish weighed right at 24lbs on the Boga before being carefully released to fight another day...
I've found cobia up inside in past years -but never this big and that monster sawfish was another first for me. I've encountered them up to more than twenty feet long out on the coast - but never up inside in the forty years I've been fishing that area... Wish I'd taken a photo when we first saw it... After the cobia we moved to a nearby cove and found both reds and nice snook to end the day. Here's a sample - all caught on small jigheads with Gulp tails....
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Cochranjohnredfish_zps712c90e8.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Cochranjohnredfish_zps712c90e8.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Cochranjohnsnook_zpsb409368f.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Cochranjohnsnook_zpsb409368f.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
After the snook we made the long run back to Flamingo... What a day!
The next day I had local anglers Joel Rodrigues and Rafael Mendes aboard and headed back out to the coast, where each angler caught and released a backcountry slam of snook, speckled trout, and redfish... In the middle of all that we hooked up on.... another sawfish, this one between eight and nine feet long and in very shallow waters (the water was muddy so we never guessed what was there...). After a long run or two Rafael worked the big fish near the boat and for the first time it showed that signature bill (the correct name is its rostrum). Here's a pic at the boat where I had quite a time untangling it from the leader before releasing it...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Sawfish1_zps173de06e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Sawfish1_zps173de06e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
For anyone that encounters one on a hook -they're a real handful at the boat. You want to keep your gunnels clear (no standing on the gunnel with a sawfish swinging that weapon at your feet...) and you'll have to work to un-tangle your leader since the fish will wrap its bill around it. It's not too tough to successfully release one in good condition (they're fully protected under both state and federal laws) but you have to be careful or you're going to need a few bandaids in the process... By the way I'm seeing more and more sawfish in every size in recent years. I think that the net ban is the main reason for the increase in their numbers. When nets worked in inshore areas were banned here in Florida almost twenty years ago that ended the main threat the saws faced... Now if every coastal state did the same I think they'd come off the endangered listing in just a few years....
After the sawfish, things just got better and better with some very nice snook from that same small spot...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Mendesrafaelsnook1_zps962b081a.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Mendesrafaelsnook1_zps962b081a.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Rodriguesjoelsnook_zpsf023e86e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Rodriguesjoelsnook_zpsf023e86e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Rafael with his first of several nice snook, followed by Joel with his best snook.
Here's another nice pair of fish for Rafael...
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Mendesrafaeltrout_zpsf53c37f5.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Mendesrafaeltrout_zpsf53c37f5.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[img][img][URL=http://s235.photobucket.com/user/lemaymiami/media/fishpics/Mendesrafaelredfish_zps64826184.jpg.html][IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee111/lemaymiami/fishpics/Mendesrafaelredfish_zps64826184.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
We got one more surprise that day... in the same spot where the saw, the snook, and reds were holding, Rafael made a cast with a very light rod and the same small lure and jumped a big tarpon... It only lasted a moment but in those same muddy waters a 100lb tarpon was laying only thirty feet away from my skiff. It ate and blew up towards us in an instant, spooking everyone aboard. I'd hate to think of the damage that big animal would have caused if it landed in my skiff....
Still nothing like the 'Glades. I'll be back there this weekend...
Tight lines
Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666
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