As of late, it seems that flats fishermen want to get skinnier, and it's not about fitness. In trendy flats-fishing vernacular, skinnier means shallower. Skiffs that float in parking lot puddles certainly make sense over Florida Bay's shallowest mud flats where redfish tail up and a host of others wallow around where they can barely swim upright.
Thus the influx of lighter, "bare bones" boats, smaller outboards, lighter accessories and less stowed gear. Just you try to sneak that second bottle of Gatorade into the cooler of a local light-skiff fanatic. I double-dare ya. But that's just one specialized, albeit wildly popular, facet of Florida Bay fishing. There's much, much more to this fishery than what meets the eye in inches of water. Fishing in deeper water, "off the edge" for lack of a better term, is an action-packed alternative for light-tackle anglers fishing from deeper-draft skiffs and bay boats.
From December through April, sight fishing on the poling flats from Flamingo to the Gulf-side Keys is generally not as good as it is in summer. But during this period, mixed-bag fishing can really shine for anglers casually soaking baits or bumping jigs or dredging streamers with sinking lines in channels, or drift-fishing over 3- to 5-foot-deep grassy basins between the flats. It's a definite wintertime Plan A for many anglers launching from Flamingo or making the run from the Keys to the Everglades backcountry. If you have young anglers aboard, such mixed-bag fishing will hook them for life, and chances are they will like sight fishing, too, if you give them small doses at first. And avid sight fishers should consider this style of fishing as their backup plan during winter's extreme low tides, or when the water temp struggles to reach 65 and cold front winds howl and blow out sight fishing plans.
I think of a leaf when I look at a chart or aerial view of Florida Bay. The raised high surfaces are the grassflats, big veins are the main channels, and the smaller capillaries are the smallest channels and narrow "wheelditches"' that cut through or terminate on the flats. These flow-ways funnel water in and out and serve as highways and feeding troughs for fish.
Fishing is best in these deeper refuges during the bottom half of either a falling or rising tide, particularly along the edges of the channels and at smaller runouts that drain the flats during falling tide. Your channel catch could include one or more of the big four--snook, seatrout, redfish and baby tarpon--that normally roam up onto the shallows during higher water. Keep in mind that after cold fronts pass, snook and tarpon may shut down for a spell, while reds and trout continue to feed. Of course, if South Florida gets an arctic blast, you may not catch much at all until things become more seasonable. Those frigid, bluebird days are better spent watching college football while nursing a toddy. Add to that the typical channel crowd--mangrove snapper, black drum, sheepshead, jack crevalle, ladyfish and the occasional pompano. That's eye-opening variety that makes this great family fishing, but alas, it's not all good--pesky hardhead catfish and gafftopsail catfish congregate at these feeding troughs, too.
Expect most fish to be near or smack on the bottom just off the dropoff of the flat, where a jig is hard to beat. Tipping the lure with a bit of shrimp will help if the bite is slow. Cast to the edge of a channel and uptide at a 45-degree or greater angle, let your jig sink, and hop it back keeping contact with the bottom. The colder it is, the slower you should jig. Many anglers fish a jig too fast, or cast cross- or down-current, making the lure rise in the water column where small jack crevalle and ladyfish will pester you to no end. However, if you're up for a major pull, watch for packs of bigger surface-busting jack crevalle to arrive in the area sometime in December or January. They stick to the channels mostly, where they sometimes bang a topwater chugger (though a jig is still best) and sometimes roam across adjacent flats at high tide where they piggyback mudding stingrays at times. An 8- to 15-pounder on light tackle will keep you busy for quite awhile, and you may have to bribe your kids to return to the trout fishing.
Though snook season is closed from December 15 through Jan 31, you can enjoy catch-and-release action in the channels, and in the deeper potholes at the edges of flats by fishing during warm snaps. In a channel, a 1/2-ounce red-and-white hair or plastic tail jig is the old snook standby, and a whole live shrimp pinned to a Troll Rite jighead or Hank Brown Hookup lure is even better, and will also nab you a decent mangrove snapper occasionally. A live pinfish or mullet with a free-sliding slip sinker is snook and tarpon candy, but this rig can result in deeper hookups, perhaps something to avoid during closed snook season. Fly fishers who own a fast-sinking fly line can get in this game, too. I choose an 8- or 9-weight rod for this work so that I can fish good-size weighted streamers. A 1/0 chartreuse-and-white or red-and-white Clouser Minnow or Rattle Bendback will do the job if you cast it uptide and strip slowly to keep it deep. With the full sinking line, loop on a short leader; a 3- to 4-footer is sufficient, and you'll want to add a trace of 20- to 40-pound mono or fluorocarbon bite tippet if rough-mouthed snook, ladyfish or jacks are around.
Depending on your preference, you can either anchor up or stake out with a pushpole to hold the boat while channel fishing. However, it's bad practice to drop anchor in the "center lane" of a channel. The channels are narrow as is--don't impede passing boat traffic. Besides, channel fishing is usually best at the edges anyway. A light anchor and short line will hold over either mud or rocky bottom, and a pushpole planted at an angle uptide of the boat is the favored way for skiff anglers to stake out a spot at the channel edge.
Good winter fishing for snook, tarpon, trout, black drum, reds, sheepshead and snapper can also be had in the "moats" (ranging from three to six feet deep or more depending on tide) that ring many of the keys throughout the Bay. In general, the bite will be best when there is current, and you can use the same tactics that work in the main channels. A quick glance at a chart of Florida Bay reveals that the triangle from Flamingo to Key Largo to Sandy Key is rife with such moats, some of which can be fished from bay boats that draw more water than a poling skiff. It should be noted, however, that some of the shallower moats are definitely shallow-draft skiff country where you must do some poling to gain access. The last thing you want to do is churn across surrounding shallows to get there. It's not good for the seagrass or fair to anglers fishing nearby. Some of the smaller moats can only be fished by one boat or two, so use common sense instead of crowding someone. There are lots of similar waters throughout the Park.
Seatrout season is closed in Florida's South Region in November and December, but opens January 1. Though you will normally catch numbers of smaller trout in the channels, during warm snaps, you can catch slightly larger individuals in the mullet muds commonly found in most basins from the Dump Keys east of Flamingo, all the way to Sandy Key west of Flamingo. Basins in middle Florida Bay, and even farther those south within minutes of the Keys, also hold fair numbers of trout. The mullet stir up the bottom and dislodge the shrimp and baitfish which draw trout, ladyfish, jacks (and the occasional snook in shallower water) like moths to a flame. The top of the rising tide is best for fishing the muds, and trout will take everything from topwater plugs to jigs to streamer flies. In this off-white cloudy water, dark lures and flies are especially good. Bait fishermen do well with a shrimp under a popping cork, though big pinfish can rob your bait. In that case, catch a few pinnies, strip them out, and either drift-fish and allow the baits to snake through the grass, or hang them under a cork. The biggest trout of the year are caught this way.
In these same basins, watch for stingrays muds where the water shallows up closer to the flats edges. Oftentimes, reds, snook and trout will feed over their backs in 2 to 3 feet. You can pole from ray mud to ray mud, or use an electric motor, if you keep your distance before casting. Whether you plan on fishing the channels and basins from a bigger boat or from a skiff out front of Flamingo, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with the lay of the land. You'll get a handle on where the flats are, and where you can't run your boat, when the tide is low. Plan a couple of these reconnaissance trips around low-water periods.
There are some navigational markers in main channels such as Snake Bight, the east-west drag between the Snake Bight channel entrance and Buoy Key (known locally as Tin Can Channel), Conchie Channel, the north-south route between Murray and Man o' War keys, and Rocky Channel which dissects the shallows of First National Bank at Sandy Key. Otherwise, there are only a few PVC stakes hammered into the mud at the edges of some flats. Wading birds are obvious signs of shallow water that you should avoid while running, as are poling anglers, who will squawk much louder than the birds (and rightly so) if you come plowing across the flat they are fishing. While running at speed in a channel, should you come upon a skiff being poled along an edge, give the anglers as wide a berth as possible.
Due to the shallow nature of the Bay, a strong and prolonged northeast to east wind--particularly when it coincides with the extreme low tide levels during spring tide periods of December through February--can blow the water out of the backcountry. That leaves the flats in eastern and middle Florida Bay area high and dry, and the channels will look like canals. That 4-foot deep basin where you drifted and caught a bunch of seatrout on a windless day last week could end up too shallow for your 20-footer to even run in a week later after a cold front north wind screams in.
Late spring ushers in Florida Bay's world-class flats fishing and it only gets better by summer. In the meantime, Florida Bay's southern latitude makes it a wintertime small-boat family fisherman's paradise. You don't have to be an expert angler, or even get up on the flats to sample great fishing. ItÂ’s all within easy reach, just off the edge.
Go West for a Mackerel Fest
Anglers wishing to venture a bit farther west can sample the red-hot Spanish mackerel that run has returned to Florida Bay. Schools will be numerous anywhere west of the Everglades National Park boundary line running from East Cape Sable southeast to Arsenic Bank and beyond, just north of the Keys. Depending on how far west you range from that line, the water is roughly 7 to 12 feet deep, and qualifies as small-boat territory except when windy cold fronts make it "bigger boat" territory. Use common sense, pick a day when winds are from out of the southeast to northeast quadrant (and 15 knots or less) and have at it.
Run out and look for the fleet of recreational boats that have become a winter fixture just outside the Park boundary in recent years. Otherwise, look for off-clear green water, avoid vast muddy areas (though smaller mullet muds will attract mackerel) and either troll small spoons and jigs to find the fish, or anchor up and chum with blood chum and glass minnows. Be sure to chum where there is current and give a spot a half-hour max before relocating. Cast white, flashy 1/4- to 1/2-ounce jigs or silver spoons with 6- to 12-pound spin or plug tackle or pick up your 6-, 7- or 8-weight fly rod and have a ball. A floating fly line will do, but a slow sinking line will get your streamer down to macks that stay well below the surface, and under any floating grass on top. Bright, flashy No. 1 Clouser Minnows and just about any glass minnow pattern will work, but try a 3- to 4-inch white Deceiver-style pattern when the water is cloudy, or when especially big mackerel chase but don't eat the smaller flies. Live shrimp or a small strip of fresh baitfish is deadly, but normally not necessary for the ravenous macks. With lures or flies, be sure to tie on a 12- to 18-inch piece of 40- to 50-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon bite leader.
If You Plan to Go
The Flamingo Lodge, Marina and Outpost is located at the end of Flamingo Lodge Highway in Everglades National Park, about an hour's drive from metropolitan Dade County. Overlooking Florida Bay, the lodge has 102 rooms, 24 cottages, houseboat rentals, and a swimming pool. There is a campground on the property that is an especially popular option in the winter when mosquitoes are at their best behavior. A full-service marina store has basic groceries and fishing tackle, live bait, charts and tide tables, and rental canoes, kayaks and skiffs.
A number of fishing guides work out of the marina, and most are equipped for families and novice anglers. The lodge switchboard can provide further details on rates and booking a trip. Also, a search on the Internet will help you find a number of guides who trailer their boats to Flamingo from the Broward and Dade County area. Enter the words "fishing guides and Flamingo Florida" for listings and web links.
There are also boat- and land-based naturalist-guided tours available to those wishing to explore Everglades National Park. To make reservations at the Lodge, call (800) 600-3813. For more information call (239) 695-3101 or visit www.flamingolodge.com
