# Okechobee/ Freshwater Glades Trip



## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Just at an hour from Clewiston to Everglades Holiday Park along 27. Good access into the glades canals for your targeted species. Another option just a little further would be several ramps along I-75 West/Alligator Alley. 

Believe @DBStoots has started fishing around there and I know Capt. LeMay is doing some trips. Do a search on here for some more local intel.


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## Boneheaded (Oct 4, 2017)

Fishing fresh water glades is influenced by water levels, depending on how much rain/how much water they are pumping thru fishing can be great or terrible. Most years by march or April water is getting to its lowest point if the year and all the SC Al and GA registered boats are down here noodle sticking for cichlids and bream against the canal banks..Long story short, if water is low fishing is STUPID in the canals,you’ll have trouble not hooking something (cocks,bass,cichlids,bream,mud fish,gar) every cast…if water is high your drifting over the marsh like your sea trout fishing beating the sawgrass with a weightless worm (look up airboat flag regs, needed to enter marsh) , or sometimes if it gets cold with high water the bass will stack up in water moving south around bridges. Water is very high now and all that water up north will make its way down here sober than later. I expect water to stay high this winter, not to mention its been a wet November down here, but by February it’ll be in the way down. I’m big on the zoom super flukes jr, fish here like flies too 6wt all you need


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## Boneheaded (Oct 4, 2017)

Glades fishing around us27


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## Miragein (Aug 21, 2015)

In Palm Beach County, which is a little closer/ further north of Broward is Lake Ida. Peacocks, Knifefish, Sunshine and Largemouth in those lakes. Can be a pain on weekends with jet skiers. Capt Kevin Cannon specializes guiding around there…tight lines!


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Here's a very up to date view of my local canals (west Broward county) and a bit of info on gear for fly anglers... All of you folks with spin or plug casting gear - the fish in the canals will eat nearly anything - but peacocks aren't like bass - don't bother using plastic worms and all the usual slow moving, bottom bumping gear if it's peacocks your'e targeting.. 


A heads up for anyone heading down to the Ft. Lauderdale / Miami area... if you bring a fly rod (even something as small as a 5wt... ) all of our canals are in high water stage - and full of peacock bass... Nothing else is there but the peacocks are going strong - way out near sawgrass far to the west - or right behind a shopping center or apartment building... Great fun! They'll hit anything from a small popper all the way down to small clousers on 1/0 or smaller hooks... The only thing that will slow down the bite is some cold weather (and for us, cold is down in the low sixties at night.. I know, we're spoiled... ). Yes, you'll need a freshwater license - and no, you don't need a guide - but if you want one - call me... When it gets cold at night and stays that way for a while (next month.. and all winter long) the fish won't get active until after 10Am or a bit later as it warms up... 
We only get two seasons down here - a wet and a dry.. The dry season begins around Halloween (but this year with two wet hurricanes dumping huge amounts of freshwater on us our "dry season" will be a bit later on - understatement... The absolute best canal fishing will be towards the end of the dry season, March through May when all the sawgrass areas dry out and the fish on the flats are forced to retreat back into the canal system... That's when, along with the peacocks there will be lots of other exotics (oscars, cichlids of every kind) as well as a big push of largemouth bass - and all of them hungry... 

Here's a pic or two of the flies we use... as small as a #4 all the way up to 1/0 and a bit larger... 








peacock clouser size #4, natural wing








same pattern, synthetic wing








Speed Bugs in every color, size #1 - soft foam heads from Perfect Popper








Crystal Schminnow (my version) , size #4 all the way up to a 1/0, color of choice -note the wire weedguard...








Feather mullet (Seaducer variation) in smaller sizes, any color will do from #2 on up to 1/0, again note the wire weedguard.. 
Since I'm a saltwater tyer straying into freshwater areas, the hooks on all of the patterns shown are just Mustad 34007 stainless - freshwater bass hooks might be more appropriate - but we stick just about every bite on what I've shown - no problem.. No fancy leader system - just a relatively heavy butt section looped to a four or five foot piece of 20lb fluorocarbon leader - and every fly attached with an improved Homer Rhode loop knot....


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