By Nick Carter
The Florida Everglades are a million and a half acres of wetland famously called a river of grass. From the water at Flamingo, it’s more of a mangrove jungle. Here at the southernmost outpost of Everglades National Park, tannin-stained fresh water filtered through a hundred miles of swamps meets the salt water expanse of Florida Bay. The scenery is spectacular, and the prevalence of life is astounding.
From the 12-foot American crocodile named Fred, who suns himself on the boat ramp at the marina, to steering around manatees that slurp air in the pre-dawn gloom, to the riotous clamor of hundreds of birds that erupt from mangrove keys on approach for a cast, there is something wild and alive in every direction you look. That includes beneath the water, which was wind-stirred to a chalky green on the flats when we fished in early December.
With a cold front blowing in, the wind ripped out of the north as we steered kayaks from the channel at Flamingo Marina. This first afternoon on Florida Bay was an appetizer followed by two full days of fishing. Conditions would be tough, especially from our rigs, but with a variety of habitats and wind breaks easily in range of the marina docks, “The Glades” around Flamingo are particularly well suited to kayak fishing—especially when those kayaks are pushed by powerful electric motors.
We were well equipped on this Sport Fishing Adventures expedition, riding Bonafide Kayaks with Newport electric motors and testing out new Quantum Myth rods with Strive spinning reels. The four of us set out to fish waters only one of us had ever fished before.
read more at sportfishing.com.
