Sea Angler editor’s first experience of fishing in Florida was a hard-earned lesson in how perseverance pays off, and why you should never give up!
It was only my second morning and I was still getting acclimatised to the clinging heat and humidity of July in the Florida Keys. It was six am and the sun was still yet to rise, but it was busy in the marina outside my hotel with massive, grunting, GM trucks burning gas and backing huge, glossy, expensive looking, fishing boats into the water ready for another day in the sportfishing capital of the world.
The first thing that became obvious on my drive to the city of Islamorada from Miami airport two days before had been how nearly everything, and everyone, seemed to revolve around fishing: the Overseas highway that leads you from Miami all the way to Key West was chocked with boats being towed and the closer I got to Islamorada the more tackle shops, boat brokers, marinas, charter fishing signs and ‘we cook your catch’ restaurant signs I saw. Even the fuel stations along the side of the road advertised live bait for sale and a fishing T-shirt and a branded cap is almost compulsory day wear! I was in an angler’s paradise, and I liked it!
After a day to myself exploring the shore fishing from the bridges that connect the Keys I was packed and ready for my first day on the water; it was time to head to the Fisher Inn Resort marina in Islamorada and meet Captain Alex Monteagudo, owner of Hold Tight Charters, for day one of my Florida Keys fishing adventure. The plan was to head north into she shallow waters of Florida Bay and the Everglades National Park where we would be light tackle, inshore ‘backcountry’ fishing for snook, snapper, grouper, redfish, spotted trout, and if the gods looked favourably on us, tarpon.
To give you some context here on the scale of the Everglades, Florida Bay alone contains 800 square miles of marine waters and mangrove swamps – it’s a vast, staggeringly beautiful, wilderness to be explored, yet from a fishing point of view much of it is extremely shallow: You may be fishing in as little as two feet of water despite being many miles from land.
‘GATOR
Our first stop was to hold the boat steady with the trolling motor, throw out a chum bag and let Captain Alex get the cast net ready to catch some pinfish – a very commonly found member of the bream family, and thread herring for live baits. Why don’t more anglers in the UK use casting nets to catch baits? I was pondering this as I watched him expertly cast the weighted net over a school of bait fish pecking at the chum slick. The sound of the net hitting the water disturbed the early morning routine of a resident alligator which made its way to a distant mangrove island to be left in peace. That’s the other thing that quickly becomes apparent about the Everglades – the sheer amount of wildlife around every turn: dolphins, manatees, turtles, sharks, flamingos and sea eagles all put in an appearance over the course of the day, almost in a choreographed ‘Everglades wildlife display’ routine for visiting tourists. The only creature that didn’t enter the display was the invasive Burmese python which can grow to 20 feet long and have taken over the habitat and decimated the Everglades’ furry mammal population. With ‘gators, giant pythons and bull sharks there’s plenty of wildlife to keep you on your toes, and your toes out of the water!
Bait tank filled it was time to open up the twin outboards on the 25-foot boat, burn some fuel, and make our way to the first mark. We would be fishing very light tackle tactics with lure rods, fixed spool reels and weighted foam floats, under which we would be fishing live baits. Simple yet effective.
The mangrove islands create an underwater network of roots that provide the perfect nursery habitat for small fish to hide and feed in. Unsurprisingly, this is why it also attracts predators who stalk the boundaries of the underwater forest in search of prey. The technique is to cast the live bait as close as possible to the mangrove without casting too far into the mangrove where, invariably, it would get snagged and lost. Six inches too short and you wouldn’t find the fish, six inches too long and you were snagged in the bushes. Placing the bait with a perfectly weighted cast proved a challenge! But the challenge was about to get a whole lot harder when it became apparent that, for whatever reason, the fish were right in amongst the mangroves and our casts would need to somehow get under the overhanging branches where our live baits would be close enough to tempt them out of their snaggy lairs.
A smashed bait and flash of silver from an early tarpon raised my hopes for more to come but, in true fishing cliché, we were then struggling to buy a bite and the phrase ‘you should have been here yesterday’ was actually uttered. We were running low on pinfish and Captain Alex decided to move on to using the herring we had in the tank which were smaller and much more delicate. A mangrove snapper and a couple of jacks followed but the morning’s fishing was decidedly slow until a lazy lemon shark which had been cruising the mangroves in front of us decided to take a live bait. Floridians have a funny relationship with sharks: most anglers tend to see them as pests and not worth fishing for. Maybe it’s because there are so many of them and they are too easy to catch. Maybe it’s because they follow you around looking for an easy meal and spook the fish you are targeting. I, however, was delighted to catch one and add another Florida Keys species to my tally!
GROUPER
Alex has been a captain backcountry fishing the Everglades for 20 years and was a pro at spotting the fish and identifying them as they approached my live bait. Before long the float went under and he cried ‘it’s a grouper!’. After a short tussle the fish was in the net and I had my first Goliath grouper. While this little fellow may not have been a Goliath in size I was over the moon. Growing up I had learned about these extraordinary fish which can grow to over eight foot long and over 600lb. At this size they are the super predators of the ocean and will even engulf sharks on their cavernous mouths. Everything is prey for a big Goliath grouper! As a boy I had also learned how susceptible the species is to overfishing. It’s the largest species of grouper in the Atlantic Ocean and almost exclusively found in Florida and Caribbean waters. They were protected in 1990 and classed as critically endangered until 2018. However, Goliaths have been making a comeback and in 2023 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, controversially, lifted the ban allowing limited, and very tightly controlled, harvesting by recreational fishing. Young Goliaths spend their juvenile years in the backcountry of the Everglades before migrating offshore to take up residence in deep water reefs and wrecks. You’ll also find them around the piles of the many bridges that connect the Keys where they lurk around the structure waiting to ambush anything that is dumb enough to get within striking range of their enormous mouths. “If you hook one you must keep the rod tip low to the water and away from the mangrove bushes”, said Captain Alex. “It’s tempting to strike and lift the rod upwards, but you’ll more than likely get the line caught in the mangroves and lose the fish”. With this advice heeded, we pressed on and motored to yet another mangrove island in search of better luck.
With the trip edging ever closer to its conclusion both Captain Alex and I were determined to end on a high. The fishing had not been easy but despite the lack of snook, and the intensifying heat as the sun rose ever higher in the sky, I was laser focused on casting, recasting and putting my baits in the all-important sweet spot just in front of the mangrove. At the very least it wouldn’t be through a lack of effort that we hadn’t caught a snook or a tarpon yet! Arriving at the final mark Captain Alex said he knew there were some big groupers here which he had seen last time he was here with customers. All we needed was the local sharks to make themselves scarce and perhaps we were in with a chance.
FINAL FLING
With one pinfish live bait held back, just in case, I was now entering the last chance saloon. Once the pinfish was gone we were heading for home. It’s at these moments that you want things to click and come together, for all the experience you’ve gained, and effort you’ve put in, to be channelled into this one final moment of perfect opportunity. Alas, my final, hopelessly wayward, cast sent the poor pinfish flying into the mangrove bushes, the line inevitably tangled and the chance lost for ever. After a few brief seconds of screaming a tirade of crude four letter Anglo-Saxon words in frustration at my crushing stupidity and unwavering incompetence, Captain Alex grabbed the rod and twanged the taut line propelling the pinfish and float back over the mangrove from whence it came before it ‘plopped’ into the water in front of us. Unbelievably, it was free from the mangrove and still on the hook, albeit somewhat dazed, confused and a little worse for wear. As far as a ‘live’ bait, it was hanging on in there and on life support, the last rites weren’t far away! It had one last cast left in it.
Summoning all my remaining powers of concentration, focus, and determination I flicked the rod and sent the pinfish on its final voyage into the unknown. It travelled through the air in what seemed like slow motion before the float and bait sailed through the gap in the overhanging mangrove and landed with pinpoint precision at the edge of the mangrove. ’Great cast!’ said Alex, at which moment the float disappeared under the surface and he shouted, ‘big grouper on!’.
This was it. It had literally come down to the very last cast of the day, but I still had to get the fish out of the tangle of mangroves and to the boat. Keeping the rod tip as low as possible I immediately applied pressure in order to keep Goliath from retreating any deeper into the network of snags. The fish, however, had other ideas and almost immediately began taking line off the reel. It was clear this was one of the big groupers Captain Alex knew were in residence here. With my heart in my mouth, and Captain Alex’s expert advice in my ear, I managed to steer the fish into open water where the odds were now much more heavily stacked in my favour and before long the beast was netted and aside the boat. At somewhere between 20lb-30lb it was a specimen Goliath grouper for the Florida Keys backcountry and Captain Alex assured me he may only see five to ten this size over the course of a year. Releasing the fish back into the water I was in awe of its power and hoped that one day it would make its way into the deep waters of the gulf and grow to become a mega grouper, living a long-life snacking on sharks as the king of the reef!
Was I elated? Yes. Was I exhausted? Utterly! Had the trip been a success? Without a shadow of a doubt – but perhaps not in the way I had expected. “That’s the essence of successful fishing” I said to Captain Alex, as we packed up ready to make it back to Islamorada in time for a swim at the pool and a much needed cold one, or two. “Today just shows that it might come down to the very last cast, which is why you need to keep fishing, keep persevering, keep the faith that everything will come together in the end”.
At the end of the day, whatever happens, and wherever you are, keep fishing hard until the very last cast. Never say die and never give up. You just never know what might happen!
GETTING THERE YOURSELF
America As You Like It has a seven-night holiday to Florida from £1,980 per person, including return flights from London Heathrow to Miami and car hire. Also included are two nights at the Fisher Inn on Islamorada, three nights at the Oceans Edge Resort & Marina on Key West and two nights at Hawks Cay Resort on Marathon.
Tel: 020 8742 8299
Contact captain Alex for a day’s fishing at Holdtightcharters.com
Fishing in the Everglades National Park requires a day pass to be purchased. Day pass information and purchasing option can be found at www.nps.gov
For more information about visiting the stunning Florida Keys yourself go to www.fla-keys.co.uk
