Back in late May Everett, Capt. Steve and myself planned a quick overnighter to Oyster Bay Chickee. Word was that the tarpon were real active, and we were jonesing to find out for ourselves. Once all the gear was unloaded at the Chickee, we set out to find some fish. Started off along some long shorelines, interrupted by a creek here and there. It was kind of slow, a few tarpon rolled but always out of range, and very sporadic. Dropped some baits in the creeekmouths and nothing, worked some fallen trees and nothing. Moved deep into some flats we scouted earlier in the year to look for some reds. After a while of poling I got a good strike out of some murky water on a decent red, and missed it. I was pissed that I just blew dinner! Headed back toward the chickee for hopefully a few snapper and if we had to a seatrout or two. Anchored up on a corner and for a good hour or so we caught nice sized trout, snapper, and spanish mackerel. Dinner was served! Back at the Chickee we cleaned the fish and got everything set up. Was during that time that we saw for the second time an Everglades Skunk Ape. They are out there Fo $ho! It was a hot, still night with a bright full moon. The fish fry was unreal as it always is. Did a little fishing off the dock and caught some more trout, and hooked up with a few nice sharks, landing one (well, getting one boat side anyway). Sipped on a little rum, and tried to get some sleep. It was so buggy that night. The noseeums annihilated us, as we still haven’t found a true ‘noseum’ proof tent. Let us know if you have one! By morning, i think all of us were wrapped like cocoons in our sheets to try an avoid the little bastards. That was the worst night of sleep of my life for sure, and we have camped out there on some rough nights. By morning it didn’t take long to get moving and get the hell away from the chickee. It was the golden hour, a beautiful quiet sunrise in Everglades National Park. As we made our way through the rivers tarpon were rolling all over the place, it was a really good sign. Down at the same spot as the day before it was happening. It was an unreal sight. In every direction, at almost every moment, silver broke the surface. Small tarpon in the 20 pound range up to big fish near or over the 100 pound mark rolled and gulped air. There was no wind and the water was slick, perfect conditions. During the morning we did jump a half dozen small fish, and had a few good battles lost. But the coolest thing, was toward the end of the morning sun, a giant pod of poons moved through the area on a mission. For 15 minutes this school pushed water, rolled and steamed to the north. These were solid fish too, many in the three digit class. And there were hundreds, if not thousands of them. I wish we had a good video cam for that one! They stayed well out of range of us, but what a sight to see. Can’t imagine the ‘old’ days! It was time to head back and get packed up as a late summer storm began to brew over the glades. We had to run a little wide to avoid getting poured on during the run back to Flamingo, and we made it back no problems…Great trip!
Scott Baker
