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Fishing Report
Mark King
863-677-0983 Cell
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The Gambler Ace worm — red metalflake glinting
within its 5-inch body of watermelon-rind-colored plastic — was
intended for bass. But nobody told that to the fierce little
red-eyed warmouth that mistook the wobbling lure for the meal of a
lifetime.
What ensued wasn't much of a battle, but it was the first of many in
Everglades Water Conservation Area 2 — known as the Sawgrass
Recreation Area — where Clewiston Capt. Mark King and his dad, Dave,
renewed old times Monday morning. Besides the chunky warmouth, the
day's catch also included the intended bass, plus bluegill,
stumpknockers, gar, and more than a few brawny bowfin, or mudfish as
the toothy brawlers are not-so-fondly called.
Farther south, in WCA 3, anglers find much the same cast of
characters, if they can get through the Mayan cichlids and oscars.
Asked how the exotic panfish were biting down in the L67A canal,
Holiday Park Recreation Area employee Kelly Sims said, "Only in the
hundreds."
Bass are forced out of the vast Everglades marshes by falling water. They sit out the dry season in the canals, where access is excellent along the federal highways. |
Alligators grow fat and anglers grow tired in the resulting bounty of fishing, which just doesn't get any better.
For the Kings, the fun started when they took their
first Everglades trip several years ago. Dave treated Mark, who was then
driving a tractor-trailer rig between Ohio steel mills and Chicago, to a
trip with retired guide Bobby Livers.
"We caught more than 40 bass over 4 pounds. Forty-one, I think," Dave
recalled.
"That's what made me decide I wanted to be a fishing guide," said Mark,
who now works out of Scott Martin's Anglers Marina in Clewiston, mostly
on Lake Okeechobee. But for anglers who want lots of action, he
frequently trails his boat to the Sawgrass Recreation Area, where he
often starts fishing without ever having to start the big engine on his
20-foot bass boat.
The four-year fishing guide notes that first catch
of big bass was unusual for the size of the fish, but not the
numbers. How well the largemouths bite depends on fishing factors
including the gravitational effects of the sun and the moon (see The
News-Press Fishing Forecaster), ultraviolet exposure (bass hate
cloudless skies), and moods even the fish can't explain.
Overall, however, it doesn't get any better in Florida, at least
mathematically.
According to Everglades fisheries biologist Barron
Moody, on average the WCAs produce bass at more than twice the rate
of Florida's next-best lakes (Okeechobee and the Stick Marsh). The
bass catch rate peaked last year in April and May at 3.92 bass per
hour of fishing effort.
Catch rates soar from there for the combination of oscars and Mayan
cichlids. Last year during the peak four weeks, April 6 through May
3, panfish anglers averaged 13.45 fish per hour.