Miami River north of the Alley

[geo g]

Went out today from 7:00-1:00.  Caught 50+ bass, a bunch at the cuts.  Water levels are real low.  Danger at the mm 35 ramp area.  The east/west cut past the ramps is so low my tolling motor was hitting rock bottom.  Don’t use the big motor there.  
The bite was good all morning with the cuts producing good numbers at every one.  North wind today blew me right down the canal.  Made for easy fishing.  All caught on an assortment of plastics.  A hundred gators in the canal.  Great time to fish down here.

Edited May 7, 2020 by geo g

[Captain Phil]

Brings back old memories.  I fished the Everglades canals most of my life.  Moved to Central Florida in 1996.  The best bass fishing I have ever seen is in those canals when the water is low. Some days the fish will fight over a Rapala.   If one bass throws the lure another will have it before it hits the water.  A hundred fish days are common.  As the water rises in June, the bulk of the fish will follow the water level back into the flats.  There is a magic few days when the canals are full of giants. I hope to make it back some day.

[geo g]

18 hours ago, Ineedanewscreenname20200511 said:

Brings back old memories.  I fished the Everglades canals most of my life.  Moved to Central Florida in 1996.  The best bass fishing I have ever seen is in those canals when the water is low. Some days the fish will fight over a Rapala.   If one bass throws the lure another will have it before it hits the water.  A hundred fish days are common.  As the water rises in June, the bulk of the fish will follow the water level back into the flats.  There is a magic few days when the canals are full of giants. I hope to make it back some day.

Yes we are in that crazy time.  The canals are full, of bass, exotics, and of course gators.  I was out there a month ago in the morning six miles north of alligator ally, a large cat was on the islands calling to another one miles away on another island.  It was as cool as you can get!  This will continue for at least another month until the real rains come.

[Captain Phil]

I fished Holiday Park, Mack's Camp, Alligator Alley, Chrome Ave and Sawgrass for many years.  My buddy and I were friends with Charlie Infinger before he started Charlie's Worms.  Charlie had a gold stringer mounted out of the 84 Canal.  I fished the old Bombing range before Saw Grass opened up.  We didn't have trolling motors back then.  As a kid, I was the designated rower.  Learning to fish canals helped me in many tournaments.   When other anglers were running the lakes, I was scouting trailer park canals.  I fished the Okeechobee rim ditch and won my share of tournaments.  Even today I would rather fish a canal than a lake.  Most anglers overlook them, I look for them. 

 

I am happy to hear L67 and the Alley still have good fishing. With the Everglades restoration, I would think things have changed.  Is the three Pines area of L67 still good?   When I was a young man, I fished there at night by myself.  I'm wiser now.  :>)

[geo g]

I used to fish three pines a lot.  Don't much now but I'm sure it's still good.  Freshwater spring out there keeps the water cooler in summer and warmer in deep winter.  It's just too far a run for me in the boat, and 120 mile round trip run in the truck.  Still love it out there.

[Captain Phil]

To many bass fisherman, the boat is more important than the fish.  Going fast is the name of the game.  The run to the Three Pines was like the Indy 500.   That canal looks pretty small at speed.  I friend of mine hit a gator making that run once.  The motor cocked sideways and threw him out of the boat.  Luckily, the boat ran into the weed side instead of the levy. If it went the other way, I am sure he would have been killed. 

 

Here's a tip you may or may not know about.  When the water is high in the Everglades, fishing gets very tough. The water will be running.   Go to the intersection of two canals.  The best place I found was where L67 and the Miami canal meet.  Cast upstream and fish a Texas rigged worm with the current on the bottom.  Pounding the banks under those conditions is fruitless.  Good luck!

[geo g]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:07 AM, Captain Phil said:

To many bass fisherman, the boat is more important than the fish.  Going fast is the name of the game.  The run to the Three Pines was like the Indy 500.   That canal looks pretty small at speed.  I friend of mine hit a gator making that run once.  The motor cocked sideways and threw him out of the boat.  Luckily, the boat ran into the weed side instead of the levy. If it went the other way, I am sure he would have been killed. 

 

Here's a tip you may or may not know about.  When the water is high in the Everglades, fishing gets very tough. The water will be running.   Go to the intersection of two canals.  The best place I found was where L67 and the Miami canal meet.  Cast upstream and fish a Texas rigged worm with the current on the bottom.  Pounding the banks under those conditions is fruitless.  Good luck!

Yes been there done that at the exact same spot!  Also loved Charlie Worms, especially Junebug, Tequila, Moccasin, and Red Shad.  Charlie's were the best!

 

I was at three pines before first light, I was fishing, I heard a go fast running west from Holliday, and then heard another go fast coming east from 41.  I tucked up into the sawgrass and these two yahoos almost had a head on crash in a thick fog.  One boat ended up deep into the sawgrass.  Lucky they both made a quick right and shut down.  I knew it could be bad because visibility was less than 50 yards. 

 

I almost hit a big gator running right at the bend north of 41.  The gator made a rapid movement with its tail and I got hit by what felt like a garbage can full of water.  That was a wake up call to slow down in the early morning.

[Captain Phil]

I've had a few "Go Fast" boats in my day.  The fastest was a 20' Gambler with a ProMax Merc.  Bass Boats are fun.  Fast bass boats are more fun.  There is no relationship between the boat someone has and the quality of their fishing skills.  Some country boys can kick your ass fishing off the bank.  It's pretty humbling at times.

 

I've seen some pretty bad boat wrecks.  Our club was fishing out of Okee-Tantie once and the boats took off in before it was light.  A bass boat collided with a jon boat and the small boat driver was killed. Took years to straight that out.  Bad things can happen before you know it.  

 

 

[SC53]

On 5/10/2020 at 4:02 PM, Captain Phil said:

Brings back old memories.  I fished the Everglades canals most of my life.  Moved to Central Florida in 1996.  The best bass fishing I have ever seen is in those canals when the water is low. Some days the fish will fight over a Rapala.   If one bass throws the lure another will have it before it hits the water.  A hundred fish days are common.  As the water rises in June, the bulk of the fish will follow the water level back into the flats.  There is a magic few days when the canals are full of giants. I hope to make it back some day.

Phil same with me. Grew up in Plantation from 60’s to 80’s. Moved up to central Florida in 1984. I used to fish with a man named Jim Wintle. He was a county surveyor who surveyed a lot of west broward back then.  We fished a lot of places he had found while working. Had some unreal days. Sawgrass, Holiday, the Alley, Loxahatchee and even SR 84 canal, great memories.

[geo g]

8 hours ago, SC53 said:

Phil same with me. Grew up in Plantation from 60’s to 80’s. Moved up to central Florida in 1984. I used to fish with a man named Jim Wintle. He was a county surveyor who surveyed a lot of west broward back then.  We fished a lot of places he had found while working. Had some unreal days. Sawgrass, Holiday, the Alley, Loxahatchee and even SR 84 canal, great memories.

 

your talking my fishing grounds.  My personal best was lox 20 years ago.  11.4 at noon on a bright sunny day.  Love the glades, I’ve seen more wildlife this year than ever before.  Otters and bobcats, along the Miami River north of the Alley.  I think because a month of no access.

[Captain Phil]

Long story about Loxahatchee.  I'll make it as short as possible.  Years ago Ellen's Rod Shop had a series of buddy bass tournaments.  All the best bass anglers in South Florida fished them   Their classic was at Loxahatchee.  I had never fished there before.  A friend's brother knew it well and agreed to be my partner for the classic.  Back then, I had a high performance bass boat with a short shaft 150 on it. It rode like a light switch, either all on or all off.  When the tournament started, my partner told me to shut off the big motor.  Boats were running every which way and we were still sitting in the marina.  I picked up my worm rod and started down the bank.  A six pounder ate my worm on the first cast.  We had our limit in about 30 minutes.  The people running the tournament saw the whole thing.  We won the classic and never fired the big engine.  I have been back to Lox a few times, but the fishing was never as good as it was on that day.  I don't know what happened to the trophy, but I remember it was huge.

[geo g]

Lol you don’t have to run far to catch nice fish at Lox.  One of my favs is to go around the spoil bank and fish the back side to the flat.  An east or west wind I’ll let it blow me down that flat wall in stealth mode.  Caught many big ones doing that.

[ArthurLK11]

Nice man. That sounds like a great day. 

[Captain Phil]

Did anyone here ever see that huge white gator that used to be at Lox?  I heard it was the oldest gator in Florida. Reported to be 17' long.  I fished there once when the water was low. I saw this gator up on the mud flats as I fished with my son.  It was gigantic!!   It didn't move, but I was afraid it would spook and charge the boat.  It scared the hell out of us and we left fast.  I've seen lots of big gators in my life.  Never seen anything like that since.