Multispecies Fishing in the Everglades

[ArthurLK11]

Hello everyone,

 

One of my favorite things about living in southern Florida is the wide variety of fish species found in both fresh and saltwater. You can head to a local canal and catch nearly a dozen different species just messing around. I wanted to share this trip I took one afternoon to Tamiami Trail in the Everglades. Plenty of constant action on small soft plastics worked close to shore made for a great day of fishing. Hope you guys like it. 

 

 

[Captain Phil]

My wife and I grew up in South Florida, raised a family and started a business.  As kids, we fished the canals and rock pits for bass.  When our son was a baby, we took him to Tamiami Trail and walked the bank fishing with him watching us in a portable crib.  On the weekends, we would overnight at the pier on the ocean.  Before all the condos were built, the bay was covered with ouster bars, snook, red fish and snapper.  When we had money for a boat, we fished Okeechobee, The Keys, The Ten Thousands Islands and the Bahamas.   South Florida is a fisherman's paradise. Enjoy!  ☺️

[ArthurLK11]

44 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

My wife and I grew up in South Florida, raised a family and started a business.  As kids, we fished the canals and rock pits for bass.  When our son was a baby, we took him to Tamiami Trail and walked the bank fishing with him watching us in a portable crib.  On the weekends, we would overnight at the pier on the ocean.  Before all the condos were built, the bay was covered with ouster bars, snook, red fish and snapper.  When we had money for a boat, we fished Okeechobee, The Keys, The Ten Thousands Islands and the Bahamas.   South Florida is a fisherman's paradise. Enjoy!  ☺️

 

What years was this? I ask because I've always been curious to learn what the canals were like before all these non-native fish became established? What kinds of fish were most common back then?

[Captain Phil]

2 hours ago, ArthurLK11 said:

 

What years was this? I ask because I've always been curious to learn what the canals were like before all these non-native fish became established? What kinds of fish were most common back then?

I started fishing when I was 12.  That would have been around 1960.  At that time, my fishing was limited to walking the banks of canals and rock pits.  I caught tons of bass up to 4 pounds on a regular basis, mostly on plastic worms.  In my teens I started to travel farther to fish.  Many of the canals in South Florida are connected to the ocean.  Once in a while, we would hook a large tarpon or snook along with the bass.  Peacock bass and Oscars started arriving in the eighties. Before that, snook and tarpon were a bycatch of bass fishing.  When I moved to Central Florida in 1997, exotics had started to take over.   The Highway 27 canals were so full of Oscars catching a bass became rare.  I never had a chance to fish for Peacocks.  My son lives in Weston and the lake behind his house is full of them.  If you really want an experience, ride over the Everglades City and fish the 10,000 islands.