Everglades 10 Best Miami Charter Fishing
The Everglades is a magical place and one for the adventurous angler. As you drive through the entrance of Everglades National Park, you truly step off the grid of your everyday life. Not only will you see a tremendous amount of wildlife on any given day, but the fishing is among the best saltwater fishing in the world. The Everglades is a true world class fishery and is the place to practice the art of saltwater fly fshing and light tackle sight fishing. You can fish and explore these waters for a lifetime and still make new and surprising discoveries every time you go out. What makes fishing the Everglades so special, is the diversity of the fishery. Whether casting a fly to rolling tarpon or stalking the flats for redfish and snook, it can be done year round in the Glades. There is no other place on the planet where you have a chance to catch Snook, Tarpon, Redfish, Trout, Snapper, Grouper, Tripletail, Black Drum, and Everglades Largemouth Bass all in relatively the same area. Everglades National Park The Everglades or as Marjory Stoneman Douglas called it the “River of Grass”, runs south from Lake Okeechobee down to Florida Bay. The park is known for its large wading birds, such as the Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Great Blue Heron, and a variety of egrets. It is not uncommon to be able see all those birds in one day, especially during the winter. It is also the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side. Flamingo is also a world class fishing destination and many anglers all over the country come to South Florida each year just to experience what the Everglades has to offer. Whether it’s stalking the flats for tailing Redfish and Snook, or casting to a school of 100 rolling Tarpon, Flamingo gives you that chance of a lifetime. The park was established in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman to protect the unique and fragile ecosystem. Located less than an hour from the Miami metropolitan area, Flamingo is the perfect escape from the everyday grind of life. Problems seem to fade away as we make the drive through the park and down to Flamingo.
CAPT. JASON SULLIVAN
I am a South Florida native and full time fishing guide who has been fishing Southern Florida my entire life. The first time I visited Everglades National Park was a true life changing experience. After attending FAU and Nova Southeastern University on a baseball scholarship, I continued on and played 3 years of minor league baseball. I then returned home to my number one passion, fishing Everglades National Park.
The styles of fishing we do are a little challenging at times, but always fun. I am endorsed by Orvis and specialize in fly fishing and light tackle fishing for tarpon, redfish, snook, trout, bonefish, permit, shark, barracuda, and more. I trailer my 17’8ft Hells Bay skiff all over South Florida so we can experience the best the Glades have to offer.
MIAMI FISHING GUIDE
Within sight of downtown Miami, Biscayne protects a rare combination of aquamarine waters, emerald islands, and fish-bejeweled coral reefs.
The fishing in Biscyane Bay can be as good as it gets in South Florida. The weather allows us to potentially be on the water everyday of the year.
Every flat in Biscayne Bay can hold tarpon, bonefish, permit, sharks, seatrout, and barricudas. The beauty of fishing Miami is there are no long runs to the fishing grounds, it is just minutes from your hotel door. If you are not a interested in fishing the flats, there are plenty of other options when fishing inshore in Miami. Alot of big trout and mangrove snapper’s are loaded up on the grass flats in Biscayne Bay.
Let’s talk a little about one of my favorite things to do “after hours.” Late afternoon and into the night can be some of the best tarpon fishing in Florida.
As the shrimp and crabs flow through Biscayne Bay with the tide, the big tarpon and snook hang around bridge pilings that lie in the Bay.
They will also stack up in the cuts by the thousands, waiting for something to swim by for a quick meal. Hooking up to 15-20 a night with most of the fish being 70-150lbs. is not uncommon.
Let’s talk about how I fish at night on a outgoing tide. Fishing in Downtown Miami is usually a late afternoon or night fishery. These fish are nocturnal feeders and feed heavily at night. During daylight hours, they are around but very difficult to catch. There is a lot of boat traffic during the day and it keeps the fish down near the bottom. At night, the traffic starts to slow down, and the tarpon become a little more active. Floating crabs and shrimp in Government Cut during an outgoing tide usually gets things going. I like to free line them and have them drift naturally with the tide. On the outgoing tide, the tide will carry shrimp and crabs from the many grass flats in Biscayne Bay through all the bridges and out of Government Cut. So naturally, Government Cut is a feeding station. A lot of fish will come into the cut and line up at the buffet station. Some nights you can hear the fish blow up all around your boat. It sounds like bowling balls being dropped in the water. It is a really cool deal. Sometimes the Cut isn’t producing, so we need to fish the bridges that connect downtown Miami to Miami Beach. These bridges at night will create a shadow line from the street lights on the bridge. That is a perfect ambush point for tarpon. They will cruise that shadow line, which most times is right underneath the bridge. On the outgoing tide, the tide will bring the bait to the fish. I will set up tide from the bridge and naturally free line our baits to these fish. Tarpon are very lazy fish and they do not want to waste a lot of energy looking for food. So this is perfect for them. A lot of the times you will hear a fish bust or see on flash and then you know they are there. I will usually look for those signs before I even set up to fish.
When I fly fish around the bridges, I will do that exact opposite. I like to hold on to one of the pilings and fish up down tide. That way you don’t spook any fish and you naturally bring the fly right to them. Since you are fishing with there backs to you, they have no idea that you are even there. The good part about that is you can almost sight fish, and pick out which fish you want to target. I like using shrimpy looking flies or a big white streamer fly. The fish are not to picky and as long as you are quiet, you will get a bite. It is a great way to get your first tarpon on fly. You don’t have to make long casts, so it is a little easier for a beginner to get a bite.
The other way I like fishing in downtown Miami is fishing the many dock lights along the Intracoastal and back canals. The underwater lights around the docks attract bait and in turn bring the tarpon and snook. I like throwing flies at these docks because it mimics the bait a little better, but if you have live bait that will also work. This is all done by sight fishing. Making an accurate cast is extremely important in this situation.
These trips are perfect for if you can’t get away during daytime hours. All you need to do is jump on the boat and get ready for an intense battle with the Silver King with a Miami Fishing Guide.
MIAMI TARPON FISHING GUIDE
There are many ways in South Florida to hook and catch Tarpon. The possibilities are almost endless but here are the few ways that we target tarpon- Night Time in the various bridges and channels, on the flats with laid up fish, in open bays different times of the year, and deep in the back-country, where some of the little babies are.
Using spin gear, we catch them on live bait and artificial. I will use live shrimp, pinfish, ladyfish, crabs, and mullet. The type of bait we use all depends on the area and time of the year.
I do fish a lot for tarpon using artificial baits. I like throwing big plugs that look like mullet and ladyfish when I am fishing in the everglades.
Tarpon on fly has to be in my opinion the most exciting way to catch a tarpon. People spend thousands of dollars each year to chase these fish with a fly rod.
You can spend countless hours on a skiff and not have a shot on a fish, but as soon as you see a tarpon eat your fly you will be hooked for life.
I love sight fishing in general, but when it comes to sight fishing tarpon there is something about it that makes me want to be on the water every day.
Fishing in Downtown Miami is usually a late afternoon or night fishery. These fish are nocturnal feeders and feed heavily at night. During daylight hours, they are around but very difficult to catch. There is a lot of boat traffic during the day and it keeps the fish down near the bottom. At night, the traffic starts to slow down, and the tarpon become a little more active. Floating crabs and shrimp in Government Cut during an outgoing tide usually gets things going. I like to free line them and have them drift naturally with the tide. On the outgoing tide, the tide will carry shrimp and crabs from the many grass flats in Biscayne Bay through all the bridges and out of Government Cut. So naturally, Government Cut is a feeding station. A lot of fish will come into the cut and line up at the buffet station. Some nights you can hear the fish blow up all around your boat. It sounds like bowling balls being dropped in the water. It is a really cool deal. Sometimes the Cut isn’t producing, so we need to fish the bridges that connect downtown Miami to Miami Beach. These bridges at night will create a shadow line from the street lights on the bridge. That is a perfect ambush point for tarpon. They will cruise that shadow line, which most times is right underneath the bridge. On the outgoing tide, the tide will bring the bait to the fish. I will set up tide from the bridge and naturally free line our baits to these fish. Tarpon are very lazy fish and they do not want to waste a lot of energy looking for food. So this is perfect for them. A lot of the times you will hear a fish bust or see on flash and then you know they are there. I will usually look for those signs before I even set up to fish.
When I fly fish around the bridges, I will do that exact opposite. I like to hold on to one of the pilings and fish up down tide. That way you don’t spook any fish and you naturally bring the fly right to them. Since you are fishing with there backs to you, they have no idea that you are even there. The good part about that is you can almost sight fish, and pick out which fish you want to target. I like using shrimpy looking flies or a big white streamer fly. The fish are not to picky and as long as you are quiet, you will get a bite. It is a great way to get your first tarpon on fly. You don’t have to make long casts, so it is a little easier for a beginner to get a bite.
The other way I like fishing in downtown Miami is fishing the many dock lights along the Intracoastal and back canals. The underwater lights around the docks attract bait and in turn bring the tarpon and snook. I like throwing flies at these docks because it mimics the bait a little better, but if you have live bait that will also work. This is all done by sight fishing. Making an accurate cast is extremely important in this situation.
It is one of the most challenging ways to catch a tarpon, but by far the most rewarding. Book a trip with a native Miami Tarpon fishing guide!
EVERGLADES BASS FISHING
Fishing the Florida Everglades for bass can be a memorable and exciting experience. Depending on the time of year you can have days of up to 100 bass on fly or spin tackle. One of my favorite ways to catch Everglades’s bass is with a fly rod and any type of top water bug. Seeing a bass come up to the surface and explode on a fly is something you won’t ever forget.
This is a great way to introduce fly fishing to someone or yourself. You’re able to catch a lot of fish and experience what it’s like to fight a fish on fly. For a beginner with the long rod, this is a great starting point as soon as you get the basics of casting down. Although it helps, accuracy and distance is not required to catch fish as it is on the bow of a flats boat sight fishing in shallow water.
Some of the gear you need to fly fish the glades for bass would be any 5wt-8wt setups. I prefer 5wt or 6wt just because it’s a thrill with a lighter rod, but you can definitely use a 7wt or 8wt. In fact I will always have an 8wt on my skiff when fishing in the glades. Poppers, Gurglers, or any type of top water fly will work great. To get down a little deeper, I like to throw clousers but any baitfish pattern will work extremely well. I also like to use a 25-30lb bite tippet when bass fishing especially when there is a lot of dense cover. You might need that extra strength to pull your fish from the lily pads that cover the edges of the canals throughout the entire Florida Everglades.
If fly fishing isn’t your thing, light tackle is another great way to catch Everglades Bass. I love throwing topwater frogs and senkos. The senkos allow you to get to the bottom and a lot of times that’s where some of the bigger fish are. I like using a Texas rig setup with my senkos or sometimes with no weight at all. Using both setups, you can be very successful catching largemouth bass. Some of the best Everglades bass fishing around!
The historical Everglades waters flow south from the Kissimmee River into Lake O. From there it flowed south into Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay. That has all changed with land development in South Florida. There are still canals that were dug south of Lake O for water storage and flood control. These canals flow north to south and east to west. Most of these canals are in southern Broward County and eastern Collier County. In the winter months these canals hold some of the biggest bass in South Florida. The winter months are our driest months and these canals fill up with fish. The water leaves the flats and the fish follow into these deeper canals. The bass will stack up on ambush points and you can literally pick off 10-15 fish at one spot. You will catch a lot of pounders, as I like to call them, but you will eventually get into some fish close to 10lbs. This will start to happen about February each year and last into June, if we don’t have too much rain. I prefer using top water because there are days you can get a strike on almost every cast. Another good tactic when using spin gear is long 10 inch worms. Since there are a lot of snakes roaming around the Everglades, that is a good source or protein for a Largemouth Bass. It is not uncommon to see a snake swimming across the surface and a bass coming up and eating it. They pounce all over a decent size snake. Another great way to catch these fish is on a black and gold Rapala plugs. Another food source for these bass is small Mayan Cichlids and shiners. These baits are black, orange, and some have red on them. The tannic water brings out a lot of these colors, so a shiny orange plug works great.
Besides the fishing, the amount of wildlife you see is astounding. When the water is low, you can see alligators all the way down the canals. A lot of times you will see them laying on the bank and not even know they are there. The birds are plentiful as well. From herons to egrets to ibis’s, they are all there. We launch out of Holiday Park, which is off of US 27. When the fishing is tough, I like to launch from the Tamiami Trail and get into some areas that a lot of people don’t fish. When the water is high in most places, this area will hold a lot more fish.
So give me a call and let’s do some Everglades Bass Fishing!
FLY FISHING
The best part of fly fishing the Everglades is that it can be done all year round. No matter the weather condition, there is always a place to hide in the Everglades. We mostly target Tarpon, Redfish, and Snook with a fly rod but there are plenty of other options as well. Other species that we may encounter in Everglades National Park are Black Drum, Seatrout, Shark, Tripletail, Permit, Jacks, and Ladyfish. Another great thing about the Everglades is, if the weather is warm, you can target tarpon all year round. There is no other place in the world that you can do that. Come experience the some of the best fly fishing with top Everglades fly fishing guide, Capt. Jason Sullivan
TARPON – Tarpon can be caught year round, but the peak season is March through July. They can be found from the Gulf all the way to the deep backcountry. They range in size from 5lbs to over 150lb, so having the right setup is important. I recommend using a 10wt-12wt rod for the bigger fish, and 8wt-9wt for the juvenile tarpon.
SNOOK – Snook are some of the most exciting fish to target with a fly rod. We sight fish snook along the mangrove shorelines and up on the flats. These fish are anywhere from 3lbs-15lbs, so I recommend a 8wt-9wt rod.
REDFISH – These fish are found all over the glades. We target them tailing up on the grass flats of Florida Bay, along the Gulf Coast of the Glades, and deep in the backcountry. They range from about 3lbs to over 12lbs, so I like using a 6wt-9wt rod.
