Southwest Florida Fishing Reports » everglades fishing reports

April 2012 Tarpon time;

john — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 17:39:55 +0000

: Tarpon on fly

April is off and running and this week has been historic. We have been hooking some big tarpon but they never make it to the boat. This one did and we got the measurements on this monster. 49” Girth and 60″ lenght. It puts her at 180lb or 190lb give or take 3% error. We pulled her up for this quick shot and started the motor and revived her by the boat for a few minutes before she kick off in good shape. It was taken on 20lb tippet on a Hardy 10wt. Great rod. The fish was done in 45 minutes. Way to go Beat. My posh English client.

March Fishing 2012;

john — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:44:21 +0000

Big snook in the Everglades

Peters tarpon at the boat

Redfish on fly Everglades style

We are half way through March and lots of great things are happening. Some bigger fish are around including this nice snook that Jack caught and this monster tarpon that Peter tangled with along with a few redfish like John’s. John and I had seen 25 laid-up tarpon in two days with one eat. Crazy but the water temperature needs to warm a bit and they should start biting if they don’t leave.HaHa!!

Peter brought his good buddy Bob along on this trip. Checkout the color on Bob’s big redfish in the backcountry.That was a fun day. Lost of good shots and we ended up with three redfish and one nice snook. Fishing is a lot better this month for sure!!!

These backcountry redfish are the most beautiful copper color

Febuary 2012 snook fishing;

john — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:47:15 +0000

After fishing the Simms Crew

This photo above was taken by Rick with the Simms design team in front of the Seafood Depot in Everglades City . That is Dave Chouinard with me, there top sales guy who lives in that RV during the time he is on the road making sales calls. We spent the day talking about the Simms line of products. When we were done fishing Dave showed me their complete clothing line in the RV behind my skiff in the photo. We also caught 25 snook on fly as well as getting Rick his first snook ever. He ended up with 10 or so. Dave is one of the best fly casters I have ever seen and I have seen a lot. Both of these guys truly love the sport and it shows. Looking forward to doing some more fishing with those guys. We had a lot of fun. Let me know if you want anything from Simms and I will get you in contact with Dave and his crew!!

The sighfishing has been great the last couple of months with the warmer weather the snook and redfish have been swimming together on the outside islands. Tarpon are showing up as well. Peter and I hooked a 150Lb tarpon last week that broke us off on a oyster bar and then went to the shoreline to rest and we followed. Got the flyline back and then while trying to connect the backing onto the reel he made a run and broke the tippet. Great memories!! Peter and I have had a few over the years. Looking forward to a great season!

December Redfish Magic;

john — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:23:53 +0000

: Snook

: Typical redfish this month on fly

December has been a banner month for redfish. We had a few days were we sighted more than a half dozen redfish in a day when the conditions were right. The snook fishing is starting to heatup in the backcountry with some real big 15lb-20lb fish smashing flies and jerkbaits. I bet we get one tomorrow. I can feel it!

September and October redfishing in the Everglades;

john — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:41:30 +0000

These have been the two best months I have personally every seen for sightfishing redfish. When the conditions were right the reds were there in good numbers.

Sightfished Everglades style

Here is Jen with one of many we sightfished on fly this fall.

Way to go Ian!!

Ian with a perfect redfish on fly. Jen and Ian fished with me off and on for a week and we had a blast. We had one day where we caught 12 snook and 6 or 7 redfish. When it is good it is good right Jen!! Look forward to fishing with you guys for a week or so in April. Got you in the books!!!

August flyfishing in the Everglades 2011:

john — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:14:35 +0000

Hooked and lost a few but not this beauty

We fished as Hurricane Irene pasted to the east of southwest Florida. Bringing some strong westwinds and extreme high tides. However, we still managed to catch Snook,redfish and this tarpon during the three days we fished. The smaller tarpon 20-50lb were around and we had a hard time keeping them on past the first jump. James Overturf caught this wonderful tarpon on the 7wt.. Fun times!!

April Fishing 2011;

john — Sun, 08 May 2011 16:08:48 +0000

Really busy month but just wanted to thank everyone who fished with me this past month. We caught lots of tarpon and caught some big snook. Here are a few pictures from April.

One day we spent sometime snook and redfishing and end up with this nice red.

Dr. Williams fished with me for a week and landed this nice redfish and hook 10 tarpon and landed a few over the second week in April. We did a video of two of the tarpon fights and will try and collaborate with the good Doctor to see if we can post the videos. I just need sometime.

Beat had two days with me and we had the leader on this 100lb tarpon and lost two others in dramatic fashion.

The judge's 100lb tarpon taking us up the Shark River for 45 minutes before the line broke. We hooked 5 on this day!!

We really had a great April with an average of two hookup a day on Big tarpon. May has started out the same way with some big snook that broke off and landed and we got a few nice tarpon in the boat during the first week in May. June is open for fishing and in the past has been fantastic. Leaving the dock around 5:30 and returning after lunch is the usual trend. This is the best month for a Grand Slam (Tarpon, snook, redfish) in the same day. May is booked up but June has a few days open still. Get in on the action.

March Tarpon Fly Fishing this Week 2011;

john — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:23:30 +0000

All Ready touch the leader and Got the DNA for BTT Research

Big fish around and are eating well!!!! Just ask Alan!

Big March Tarpon fight in the Everglades 2011;

john — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:02:46 +0000

End of the fight March 21st

Roy's tarpon right before we landed it

The last two days we had a real push of big fish move in and Roy MacDowell III was here for the Tarpon of a lifetime. A 140+ class fish maybe bigger.We even got the BTT DNA sample on this one. Alan Macpherson fished with me yesterday and we land one bigger after an 1 hour fight. I will try and get those photos in ASAP. Just really busy!! More to come.. I still have some days open the last week of March..

Flyfishing Everglades March 2011;

john — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:03:54 +0000

The big tarpon have moved in and on certain tides are all over the place. Hooked and landed one yesterday around 150+. Laidup photo will be coming. This is a photo of my good friend James and his tarpon landed on the 9wt.Come on down and get in some of this action!!!

Nice tarpon