Alligator Alley MM39 north side.

[geo g]

Alligator Alley MM 39 North Side 6/4/17, 6:30-noon, heavy cloud cover, slight wind, temps low 80's, water light stain, water levels up, water temp 83*.

 

Went this morning with Dave to get some fishing before the rains.  It was a beautiful morning for fishing with cloud cover, light winds, and no rain.  We started fishing right away at the ramps and fished toward the bridge.  The bite was constant with the stick-o and u-vibe.  I flipped a football swing jig back in the pads, and caught a few chunks right away.  I flipped back close to the sawgrass wall and felt a heavy weight right away.  I set the hook and the fight was on.  I soon realized it was not a fish, but a 7 foot gator.  A couple of head shakes and the 50lb braid snapped like string.  My little friend was now wearing my football swing jig as jewelry.  We had another bigger gator posture right in font of the boat, with his head up in the air, mouth open wide, back humped and vibrating, and a large bellow.  This guy put on quite a show!

 

Around 10:00 the weather looked bad, but suddenly cleared.  The north canal was lightly stained, and the south side canal was almost chocolate. All our fish were caught in the north canal.  The bite remained throughout the morning and we finished with 50+ bass caught, one mudfish, and no exotics.  The disappearance of the exotics has been true mystery.  Where do a million Oscars go?  

 

As soon as I got back home, backed the boat in the garage, the skies opened, and monsoon rains.  We were very lucky today!

[Turf]

Nice Report Geo G, this just confirms for me that my Kayak and I will unfortunately be staying clear of the Alley until those aggressive big fellas calm down a bit.  Really don't like the repeated aggressive open mouth behavior.  Sounds like you had a nice day on the water however, congrats.  

 

On the flip side I made my way back up to Lox and had another decent short morning as well.  Funny is that in the almost 2.5 hours I was out paddling around in the flats I didn't so much as even see a single gator.  For that was a first.  A welcome first as far as I was concerned.  And I'm anxious to have someone solve your Oscar riddle as well as no more than 3 months ago I couldn't keep the darn things off my line out there.  

[SFL BassHunter]

Thanks for the report Geo G!

 

Turf you know out of all the times I have been out to Lox I have only seen 2 or 3 gators. They don't seem to be as common out there as they are in the glades canals.

 

The Oscars are a mystery to me as well. Like Geo G and Turf those things were a PITA on every single cast, no matter how shallow, or deep you cast. Where in the heck did they all go?

[Turf]

I've only seen one out there thus far in my two trips now but he was tucked way back up in a flat that I had to paddle through some extremely skinny water to get into.  Hoping that trend stays.

[Wurming67]

Great report Geo There's quite a few Gators out at lox I go every weekend out there one of these days I will venture out to the glades lol

[geo g]

At Lox they stay hidden until the sunsets.  If you scan the flat with a powerful light you would see lots of eyes when the sun goes down.  They can disappear quick in that thick grass.

[geo g]

With all this rain the canals are going up feet not inches.  The Alley bonanza on bass may end, just as it started.  This will definitely scatter the bass.

[hawgenvy]

...yet Lake Okeechobee water level listed as only 11.2 feet.  Go figure.

[geo g]

10 hours ago, hawgenvy said:

...yet Lake Okeechobee water level listed as only 11.2 feet.  Go figure.

 

 

It takes weeks for all the water from Orlando south to drain into the lake.  Plus I'm sure the Army Coop will not let the lake get higher then 13' at the start of the hurricane season.

[Turf]

Any of you boys planning on heading out this weekend to see what kind of havoc all of this rain has caused?  I believe that I am planning on heading back to Loxahatchee on Sunday morning and will report back with my findings.  Hope everyone has a good weekend!  Good luck out there!

[Wurming67]

Iam not sure where to go this weekend I was thinking Holiday park,wonder where Geo G is going??

[topwaterrob]

8 hours ago, Turf said:

Any of you boys planning on heading out this weekend to see what kind of havoc all of this rain has caused?  I believe that I am planning on heading back to Loxahatchee on Sunday morning and will report back with my findings.  Hope everyone has a good weekend!  Good luck out there!

thinking of going Monday to holiday to assess the damage.....

[Wurming67]

Lox was brutal today water was high couldn't reach fish,they were pumping so much water it muddied up the water really bad barely had any visibility and it  created some strong current rough day only got a handful  couple of them went over 2lbs  gonna sleep in tomorrow till this water settles down.

[geo g]

I will not be going in the boat for at least a week.  Water levels are brutal, having gone up so high, in such a short period of time.  When it rains this hard, this long, the PH in the water sometime gets all screwed up.  It will take some time for the water PH to balance out, and the fish adjust.  When this happens the fish just seem to shut down, big time!  It will be tough all over for a while.

[Gotfishyfingers?]

I went out to the alley this a.m. Went to the first boat ramp,think it's mm 31.5. Only had one bite on a devils horse.  fished for a few hrs.  dodged a couple storms. The water level is ridiculous. The lily pads that were on the surface are now a few ft down easily.. The mosquitoes were out in full force,even with bug spray.. 

[geo g]

35 minutes ago, Gotfishyfingers? said:

I went out to the alley this a.m. Went to the first boat ramp,think it's mm 31.5. Only had one bite on a devils horse.  fished for a few hrs.  dodged a couple storms. The water level is ridiculous. The lily pads that were on the surface are now a few ft down easily.. The mosquitoes were out in full force,even with bug spray.. 

 

 

Yes, it is crazy right now what mother nature has done to us.  We were finally getting a really good bite in the glades, and then we get monsoon rains, day after day.  This has got the water quality all screwed up, and it will take some time to adjust back.

[Wurming67]

It's a mess.....?

[Turf]

Same report from my side gentlemen.  Went out to Lox this Sunday against my better judgement in the kayaks with my brother in law and we had a rough day.  If it wasn't the wind we were battling we were getting thrown around by the high current.  Water quality was a couple of feet tops and there was little to no bite out there.  Threw just about everything in the arsenal at them as well (ribbit, hb frog, uvibe, senko, swimbait, swim jig, lipless crank, etc.).  Together we had two fish on the day, brother in law lost a 2lber at his kayak.  That was the highlight.  Probably sitting out a couple of weeks at this point till things normalize a bit.  

[Backlash123]

Went out on Sunday on L67.  Fishing was really slow, lots of current, but no fish.  Managed to fool 2 dinks, and I threw everything at them.  Hopefully they start chewing again soon.

[hawgenvy]

I went out from Holiday Park this past Saturday as well. The fish bite was off and the mosquito bite was on. Only three fish all day trying every kind of bait we had. One of the other boats, though, caught a several bass at a spot where clear water was flowing from a shallow flat into one of the canals.

[geo g]

Find water flowing at the cuts and fish will position themselves.