When I was younger, probably about 10 years ago I remember that my uncle had a place down in the everglades that we would always go fishing at. It wasnt a big place, it was a normal sized trailer, and he kept a lot of fishing rods there and there was also alot of tackle in the trailer too, seeing that we would go down there fishing almost every weekend, I think I was about 15 years old. He had a small carolina skiff boat that we would take out and fish the mangroves, and the hundreds of islands that made up the saltwater part of the everglades.
There were lots of fish to be caught there, we were mainly after snook and redfish, and the occasional trout if we could get them to bite, the snook was the prize fish though, in my opinion they are the best tasting fish that you can eat, that is why the fishing regulations that are on them are so strict. We would use medium sized fishing rods, and my dad would usually go with us fishing there also, we would use a popper, or as some saltwater fishermen would call them corks. What you do is you let the cork sit in the water, and you pop it every 30 to 45 seconds, unless you are very close the mangroves, this is where the snook and the redfish love to hang out. Once you see the popper go under water, that is when you set the hook, I will usually count for about 2 seconds though to make sure that the fish has taken the bait completely, once you get the hang of it the landing percentage of the fish you will catch will rise dramatically.
I had caught my first hammerhead shark there, and as a little kid that is the best feeling in the world, well I wasnt really a little kid I was almost old enough to drive but it was a great experience. There was also this wonderful resteraunt down the street from the trailer that my uncle had owned, really nice local seafood place. They also had chicken wings and other types of bar foods, I wasnt old enough to drink alcohol yet, but I stiil managed to sneak a few sips from my uncle being the young rebel that I was. The only thing I didnt like about fishing in the everglades is that the mosqitos there were crazy, I do not know how one could survive without a good amount of mosquito reppelent applied that was the only thing I hated about the place, when you where out by the mangroves next to an island, if you didnt have some mosqito repellent on, you would be gettin eatin alive.
I did not have a digital camera at the time, I think that is when they first started coming out to the public, you needed to have a good amount of money to afford one back then, so I am unable to post any pictures of the couple of trophy fish that we got in our several trips that we made out there. About 9 years ago my uncle had sold the trailer he had in the everglades and got another vacation house, this place was in a much better location for saltwater fishing, one of the best places for saltwater fishing in the world actually. It was down in the Florida Keys, Marathon Key to be precise, but that is a whole different story, where the time I spent in the keys I have caught way more fish, but when I think about the past I still miss the everglades like crazy.
Tags: everglades, snook