# Everglades backcountry, Flamingo - 29 May 2016



## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

Nice report...looks like the new camera is doing it's job!


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

I like your versatility Bob.


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## jonny (May 1, 2007)

Bob do you make the run from EC to Whitewater? Or did you put in @ Flamingo?


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Hate those Bull sharks. Not much you can do with a tired fish

Thanks Bob for your reports


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Jonny, I work out of Flamingo mostly -but also run out of Chokoloskee/Everglades City from time to time. The areas I fish northward from the Shark River up to Lostman's are a bit closer from Flamingo (but not much...). When I'm working to the north almost every skiff I see is from Choko... The great part is that area gets little fishing pressure since most aren't willing to make the long run from the south or the north unless they're going to be camping and staying a few days....

Re-read the original question and realized you were asking about Whitewater from EC... it's much, much closer from Flamingo than there... I occasionally will make the 35 mile run from Choko to the Shark river but no farther than that (and I only make that run when I know the tarpon are there in great numbers -there's just no other reason as far as I'm concerned....).


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## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

Bob,

Great post as usual. 

Are you able to judge if any water might be getting down that way from the North? Ten days ago I noticed some good movement South along 27, but the Lake O levels are starting to creep back up again.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Water levels are never particularly apparent down along the edges of Florida Bay - and you only see the results of not enough freshwater flow over time (years, actually...). Remember that there's no direct route from "up north" down to the northern portions of Florida Bay. The closest you come to it is Taylor Slough (that first big open area you drive through just as you enter the Park...). Almost twenty years ago now a second bridge was built into the roadway in the center of Taylor Slough to allow all that "additional water" that was going to be allowed to flow down into the Park. I've yet to see a single bit of water under that bridge - that area has always been dry (and I've been looking at it since 1974..... when I first traveled down to Flamingo and knew little, if anything about the Park, it's history and circumstances....).

I believe that Adam Gelber (pucker factor) knows quite a bit about the hydrology involved and can certainly explain it better than I can. Essentially, the freshwater tap for water coming from the north is probably no more than 10% of what was coming into the Park areas 100 years ago.... And of course it's supposed to flow heavily only six months a year (the wet season) and go into a drought state during the dry season.... That's the natural cycle which has been shot to hell over the years by man's decisions about the area we now call the Park.... It might also be helpful to remember that the Everglades used to go all the way east to where downtown Miami is today (and all the way north almost to Orlando....). The Park is less than one quarter of the 'Glades I'm afraid and any problems we have are pretty much self-inflicted...

The book that I read that laid most of it out is THE SWAMP by Michael Grunwald -it's a history of man's dealings with the 'Glades over the last 500 years or so and makes fascinating reading...


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## Blue Zone (Oct 22, 2011)

Thanks, Bob. Sorry for the derail. 

MS member *krash *has a good handle on all the canals and he says most of that water along 27 is going over to Sawgrass. I remember your point about all people at risk if the **** lets go and right now the Lake is only 1' below the max. What a mess man has created...


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

That's a fantastic report! It definitely makes me want to get down there more often to fish. I really envy the species diversity!


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

lemaymiami said:


> The book that I read that laid most of it out is THE SWAMP by Michael Grunwald -it's a history of man's dealings with the 'Glades over the last 500 years or so and makes fascinating reading...


Grunwald was the guest speaker at a local museum last year and his feelings about the future of the Glades were very depressing. As much as he wanted to be an optimist and bearer of good news to those in the audience, the best he could muster was to tell all of us to "Not give up hope...miracles do happen".
He said that even _if_ the restoration plan is fully executed, the Glades will never be more than a shadow of what it once was. He had very little optimism that CERP or any version of it will ever be implemented.

I left the event feeling pretty depressed.....we sure have f'd up Our Mother Earth.

ps: Big Sugar had 3 of it's PR executives at the talk taking notes on the audience's reaction.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

As much fun as it is to bash "big sugar" I long ago quit doing that.... What's needed to repair and restore the 'Glades (even to a shadow of its former self) is pretty well known. What we don't have is the collective will to actually spend the monies needed and get on with it.... Folks on our side of the equation just aren't a majority I'm afraid - and the vast majority of voters here in Florida are pretty much not willing to have their taxes raised to pay for the work needed. Wish it weren't so - but as usual most of our problems are self-inflicted.


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## bobber (Sep 29, 2015)

lemaymiami said:


> As much fun as it is to bash "big sugar" I long ago quit doing that.... What's needed to repair and restore the 'Glades (even to a shadow of its former self) is pretty well known. What we don't have is the collective will to actually spend the monies needed and get on with it.... Folks on our side of the equation just aren't a majority I'm afraid - and the vast majority of voters here in Florida are pretty much not willing to have their taxes raised to pay for the work needed. Wish it weren't so - but as usual most of our problems are self-inflicted.


Maybe we should change the name from Everglades to Flint???


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