# Everglades National Park July 3



## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

Was invited to join a couple of friends on a Pathfinder 23 TE for a trip to fish the ENP out of Flamingo on Saturday. We launched before first light and ran north towards Cape Sable. Game plan was to fish the beaches along the Cape at first light for snook and then run out to the "wreck", which I believe is the H.M. Brickford. A beautiful sunrise was behind us as we made our run.










I believe the post-spawn snook often feed more actively at this time of year under the right conditions than during the spring spawn (when they have something else on their minds!). Anyway, the snook were quite active and readily busted the large (5", 1 oz.) Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil top water bait that I was throwing as well as the Mirro-Lure Catch 2000 and the GULP! Swimming Mullet that my pals decided to use. None were "trophy" size, but they were plentiful--we caught 25-30 before running northwest to the wreck.



























We anchored up current from the wreck and almost immediately spotted a familiar dark brown target. Unfortunately, my buddy was unable to convince the Cobia to eat before it swam off. We figured it was probably under slot size as we saw the black and white stripes and splotches of color that are typical of younger fish. Our suspicions were confirmed when a boat fishing near us quickly caught and released two smalls. The large barracuda were around, but uncharacteristically shy about attacking the colorful tube lures that my friend Mike was throwing. There were some big sharks around, some scattered permit and we saw a few rolling tarpon and a couple of hefty jew fish, but really didn't have much luck. So, it was time to weigh anchor and head back to the coast.

We had some luck fishing the last half of the falling tide, working the downed timber and other structure around the creek mouths, landing several more snook, a small redfish and a couple of nice trout, both just under 20". Slack tide at the end of the day meant it was time for a cold beer and the run back to Flamingo. Overall, a very enjoyable day with my two friends.


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## georgiadrifter (Jan 14, 2009)

Snook on topwater baits are always a blast! Thanks for sharing!👍🏻


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## mwolaver (Feb 6, 2014)

Nice report, DB. Stone = good!


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## Scrob (Aug 26, 2015)

Nice report. Love the Enjoy By series. Demand fresh IPA !!


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## SPM (Dec 25, 2018)

That was a good read, thanks for sharing & cool pics. That mud flat pic is pretty cool & your report has me excited to fish the 10,000 islands this weekend. I’ve heard from my buddies the reds have been hard to find between ECITY and Rogers although they were an outside island a couple weeks ago, they vanished last weekend. Anyone have a suggestion as to outside, inside or middle bays? It’s been about a month since I last fished the area due to family vacations, etc, so I am “out of touch” with the fishing scene. I’ll be fishing Friday thru Sunday an will post anything worth mentioning next week…thanks again for your post!


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

Nice report. How are the bugs at the ramp and beaches this time of year? I’ve only really fished there during the colder less buggy months.


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

rovster said:


> Nice report. How are the bugs at the ramp and beaches this time of year? I’ve only really fished there during the colder less buggy months.


I fished yesterday and today out of OR on Chokoloskee. With all the rain we've been having, the mosquitoes and no see um's are prevalent, especially when you get close to the mangroves early in the morning or later in the day. It's especially bad when the breeze dies down.


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