# Everglades Inside Report



## Charlie (Apr 5, 2010)

I'm not quite sure if this is the place to put this, and if it isn't I'm sure one of the moderators will make sure it ends up in the proper place.

The reason I say this is this is more of an informative report than a fishing report, since I didn't do any fishing. It's, in a way, more of a scouting report I guess  :-?

Anyways, the basis for this report is that I just finished the 99 mile Wilderness Waterway trail in Everglades National Park, and as such spent a solid six days in the glades. Through out the trip I took note of anywhere I saw fish, so I figured I could share it here as well.

The first fish of any worth were sited on day two of the trip, passing through Alligator Creek in the Norther Part of the Park. Passing through the creek I came to a bend which had a build up of mud so that it had a small four foot shelf. Sitting on the down current side of this shelf were two 20+ inch snook. They saw me, and bolted. This was the only mud-bank I checked, but I am sure there were more snook, since there were many more mud-banks.

The next notible fish sighting was on day four of the trip. Actually by fish sighting I mean the entire day. We started the day by paddling a short 3/4 miles section or so of the Gulf of Mexico in order to avoid the nightmare at low tide. From the Broad River to the Broad Creek the entire Gulf coast was in a feeding frenzy. I say two pods of dolphin, a bait pod being crush by some unknown fish, and a spinner shark which jump out of the water and preformed some spins for me (maybe where it got it's name from  ;D ). As I said this was at low tide at about 9:00 AM. I'm not sure as to what fish, but there were most certainly fish.

The next spot were fish where found that day was in the Broad Creek. The Creek starts out very wide, but begins to taper quickly. Once it begins to tapper I started finding snook and tarpon, more of the snook than tarpon. I heard some LOUD snook pops, and saw one or two. Also saw a few tarpon roll. As a side note for anyone who ventures to the creek, don't expect to get all the way to the end of the creek unless you're boat is less than 3 foot tall (this includes platforms and people) I'm being very serious.

The next (and final) place I saw fish that day was at the Wilderness Waterway marker 12. On an out-going tide in low light conditions the bite is there. There were definitly jacks, ladyfish, and snook. There also might have been reds, but it was hard to tell since the water was so murky.

The next day (day five) I found fish at the Oyster Bay Chickee. Low light, irrelivent of the tide. Also, if you have a cast net, GO TO THE CHICKEE!!! Hundreds of 6" bait fish are just sitting under the chickee. All you need to do is drop the net on them while standing on the chickee. We didn't scare any of these fish while loading and launching two kayaks (which involved a ton of splashing).

Day six, the last day, I found fish in one place I didn't expect: Buttonwood Canal. Tons of baby tarpon (8") were at the mouth of the canal, right at coot bay. There were HUNDREDS of these guys. The kayaks didn't spook them at all. Also, the rest of the canal we say some nice snook as well as some LARGE TARPON. We saw one with an 8" wide back (probably eating the 8" long tarpon).

Anyways, that's all the places I noticed fish. If anyone catches a fish based of this report please post a pic, because (due to my lack of space) I didn't have a rod and am curious to see if these are good spots to try or not. Won't have the boat for another two weeks, so hope this helps someone!  ;D


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

If you think Alligator Creek holds fish you should check out Alligator Bay....

The area from the Rogers River (right next to Broad) all the way back to Flamingo is where I am most days... Most of what you saw is typical for this time of year. My favorite places on that side of the Park. If I had a booking this weekend your report wouldn't have been read until Monday or Tuesday.....


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