Fishing In The Everglades

By: Glenn Wilsey, Sr.

Some of my stories are based on questions asked of me on my airboat tours and from The Airboat Association of Florida web site. I may write about the scientific exploration of the glades or of the messes created when the political types try to control the workings of the glades. The last three stories last year were no exception. I try to give the local views of what’s happening in the area instead of the scientific explanations because I’m here, my friends are here and we certainly aren’t scientists. The inner workings of The Everglades give me a headache, but it is important to me that your questions are answered as quickley and as correctly as I can. Some of the questions that give me headaches concern why something happens or what the effects of something are. I will continue to answer all of these questions to the best of my ability but I have decided that the first story of this year is going to be about one of the fun things that we do in The Everglades, fishing!

While conducting airboat tours in The Everglades, I stop in some places and feed bread to the fish. As soon as the bread hits the water there is an explosion of fish and like magic, the bread disappears. The first question the tourists usually ask is "are these piranha?" They’re not piranha but they are cousins. When I throw the bread in the water about seven different kinds of fish come to check out what’s happening. Looking in the water around the airboat you can see Oscars, Tilapias and Cichlids from South and Central America. Some people that live in South Florida like to collect troplical fish and when they leave the area, sometimes they dump their fish off in the glades on their way out of town. That’s how we get most all of the tropical fish that we do have in South Florida. There are also Blue Gills, Specks and Shiners. These are small "pan fish" about two pounds or less. While the small fish are eating the bread, bigger fish are always lurking below waiting to make lunch out of the smaller fish. Looking down through the school of pan fish you can see Large Mouth Bass up to seven or eight pounds. On the outskirts of the school you can also see large Mudfish, Alligator Gar and some really big catfish.

The water in The Everglades has been high for ten years and that means there are way too many fish. When the next drought comes (and we are on the verge of having a drought now) the fishing will be great, for awhile anyway, and as the water levels drop the fishing will become exceptional as the fish congregate in smaller and smaller pools. If the water drops to an extreme level, there won’t be enough oxygen for all the fish and most of them will die and there will be no limits to how many fish you can catch. This drought used to come about every four to seven years or so, as El Nino’ dictated. Then came flood control courtesy of The Army Corps of Engineers and there hasn’t been a proper drought in The Everglades for way too long. Anyway, I digress. I was trying to avoid any politics in this story.

One day, I had a private fishing tour, a father and son who wanted to go way out into The Everglades for some fishing. We met at the dock at 6:00 am, and loaded the airboat. We took off in the dark and watched the sun come up on our way out to the l-67 levee. As we skimmed across the sawgrass, I saw an alligator about nine feet long and we stopped for some pictures. After continuing on our way, I looked up and saw three white tail deer running just in front of the airboat. We followed the deer for about one hundred yards and they split up. My passengers, the intrepid father and son once again got some great pictures. By the time we got to the l-67 levee the sun was just peeking over the horizon. We stopped the airboat at the levee, grabbed our fishing equipment and climbed over the levee and started fishing in the canal. The water level had dropped drastically and the fishing was outstanding. They had a tackle box full of some of the best lures on the market but all I had was a bag of one-ounce jigs. I told the son to try one of my jigs. He looked at all of the shiny new lures in his tackle box, then looked at me and then again towards their tackle box, then back at me and said "ok". As we walked to the canal he told me that his mom and dad were divorced and that his dad didn’t have much time with him. So when they did get time together they liked to fish. We stepped up to the edge of the canal and the son looked doubtfully at the jig that I’d asked him to put on his line and took a cast to the other side of the canal. As soon as the jig hit the water, WHAM something grabbed it! It was an Oscar. The kid reeled it in and it was about a one pounder. On the next cast he caught a three pound bass. I could see that this 13-year-old kid was not new to fishing. He was casting and reeling in like a pro. The fishing was really great that day; the kid caught a fish every two out of three casts. He was very exited and he had about a million questions. The kid caught some species of fish he’d never even heard of before. My new friend caught a mudfish (bowfin) that was about six pounds. The kid also caught his first Pickerel and his first Gar. His dad was having a blast all on his own and said he’d never caught so many different kinds of fish in one day. Their three hours of fishing time was up and dad looked at me asked if it was time to go. I asked him if he had any other plans and he said no. So, I told him that I didn’t have any other tours for the day and I’d just as soon keep fishing. They were having so much fun I told them we could fish as long as they liked. Two hours later they were so worn out they finally asked to go. The kid said he had been on a lot of fishing trips and this one to the glades was, "the best, ever!" I had a great time myself on that fishing trip. I’ll let you in on my little secret, I enjoy taking other people into The Everglades and watching them having fun. This was just one story about a fishing trip way out in the glades that makes me smile when I think about it and it makes the headaches go away so I’ll definitely write about more fishing trips in the future.

Once again on behalf of The Airboat Animals of Florida web site staff, and myself we would like to thank you for coming to see our award winning web site. And I hope you enjoy the entire site as much as I like to think that you enjoy my stories.

THANK YOU

Glenn W. Wilsey Sr.

"Gatorman"

*This story or any part of it can not be used or reproduced with out written permission of the author!