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Everglades Snook Fishing: Shy Fish Keep You On Your Game
Posted under fly fishing reports by Dave Teper
Submitted by: Marshall Demott www.flyanglersguide.com
Sight fishing for Snook always seems to draw out the best of what I have going as a fly fisherman. Everglades Guide, Capt. Kevin Mihailoff ( www.snookin.com ) ran Roger Hall and I south from Chocoloskee deep into the bowels of Everglades National Park’s myriad islands and creeks on a flat surface as we saw the sunrise March 14. 40 minutes later we were on the bow and into the game. Silently, Capt. Kevin poled the shoreline perched aft. Silently, we looked for shadows as the sun slowly rose to illuminate the shoreline bottom. “Shit!, Damn it! and other curses between our teeth, we each hissed at blown chances at every sight opportunity as the coffee-colored water obscured more blown out fish. Being constantly poised and ready to deliver a fly takes energy and concentration for me to do for a long time. When I am on the front of the skiff with a fly rod I enjoy making maximum effort to be quiet. I try to keep moving though, to ease leg fatigue. At 62, I always try to build more leg and body strength and in turn I gain confidence as well, so I love being the front gunner, even if my mistakes are sometimes ragged at by the rest of the crew. I just want to be a slave to my job…. Both Roger and I had chances with missed casts, missed fish, blown opportunities,…. just BADASS luck til noon. Kevin moved around as the wind came up and sought out lees and coves with less wind and more current. Good things happened as we moved in a hurry to find fish. In my opinion, Kevin’s hunting pace marks him as an exceptional fishing guide. After picking up a few small Snook blind casting, we found a shoreline and were surprised by several fast-cruising Snook…turned out to be several schools of big Snook. Our luck began to change. We made some good casts, some good strips, had solid eats, solid hookups, excellent fights. Later on, Kevin took us up a creek, under branches to a small pond, 8″ deep where we had chances at several 30″-40″ Snook using small, light-weight dark colored, Ciclid flies. The Snook were super-spooky and just seeing the huge fish in such skinny water made this day one of the most memorable for all of us.
Jon Ain and Guide Doug Kilpatrick came from behind to win the 3rd annual March Merkin Permit Tourney. With only one permit on the board from day 2 Ain was in the running with others that had scored fish. The leader board was very close as most fish were small. Teams Gable/Dawes, Thompson/Moos, the omnipresent Hinrichs/ Suplee (with 2 fish and the lead), and World Angling’s own Mark Phillips and Mike O’brien. All the teams knew that one big fish could win the event. The conditions on day 1 and 2 were tough. Bad visibility, calm winds and lethargic tides left most teams fishless. Some boats saw plenty of fish and couldn’t get close while others said the flats were devoid of fish. The big fish were offshore spawning and not on the flats as they usually are in March. After a slow day 3 and with only 20 minutes left in the tourney Mark had all but given up hope trying to find fish. Exhausted and mentally drained Mark was about to throw in the towel when O’brien spotted a school of fish mudding and tailing at 10 o’clock. O’brien took the shot and dropped the fly right in the school. One strip and the flyline came tight. “An act of God” is how Mark described the event. With only 3 other fish caught on the last day O’brien’s fish was good for a 3rd place finish. Kris Suplee and Warren Henrichs took 2nd with their 3 fish caught on days 1 and 2 while Doug Kilpatrick proved his talents as one of the best keys guides by producing 2 large Permit for his angler on a very difficult day. Congrats to Doug and all the others who caught fish despite the less than stellar conditions.
