freshwater report, Everglades canals, 26 September

With the bad weather yesterday (and certainly much worse shortly..). All of the coastal 'glades and backcountry areas were not very fishable so I set my sights on the freshwater canals west of Ft. Lauderdale which were relatively un-affected yesterday morning. Once again a solo scouting session up into a few canals I've never fished before, well away from the cities. As usual when scouting, a variety of gear aboard from spin and plug rods to fly rods. Worked here and there with spinning gear and a variety of lures - that didn't draw a single strike as well as a 7wt flyrod with a popping bug that only got one or two half-hearted strikes for that first hour on the water. All of the freshwater areas down here have had very high waters since mid-summer, making them tough to fish until the dry season when water levels will recede, hopefully.. Along with very high waters - the canals I fished yesterday had a lot of current. I'm guessing that water managers are doing their best to drain off as much water as possible with this being the peak of hurricane season...







With no success, I switched from a popping but to a clouser style fly in Mickey Finn colors (yellow, white, orange and red). Here's a pic of a few of the patterns that work for us in this area, the yellow pattern in the upper left corner was my choice that day, on a 1/0 hook with a wire weedguard..












What a difference, my first few casts got hammered, with two or three small peacock bass - then this nice small male..











A few casts later and a surprise - a much bigger fish this time - on that same fly - a 5lb largemouth that really put a bend in that light fly rod... before being carefully released, Please excuse the photo quality - but that's what you get with a cell phone, solo..











A few more peacocks, caught and released with this same chewed up fly then this nice oscar..











Once again a few more peacocks then this last surprise for the morning... a 30" gar fish






tough to hook a gar on fly since their mouths are mostly bone and teeth.. one more fish for a fly that no longer had a weedguard at all...







Pretty good morning and you can bet that area will be one worth a look with clients aboard later this year.







Here's hoping the folks up in northern Florida make out okay tonight when that hurricane comes through...











"Be a hero... take a kid fishing"