“Seriously Brady, It’s like shooting fish in a barrel….”, “ You won’t be able to keep count of the fish you’re gonna catch” , “It’s like
fishing in an aquarium, dude…”
These were all quotes that were RACING through
my mind as we drifted along an impoundment canal that paralleled the Alligator Ally in
the Great Everglades last Saturday morning at about 7 a.m. The reason they were racing through my head
was because we had just driven 198 miles right after work Friday night, slept in
the truck somewhere in West Palm, woke up at 4:30 a.m. to finish the drive, ate
five day old pizza that had been in the truck for well over 9 hours, put our
money where our mouths were and registered for the Everglades CISMA Invasive Species
Roundup... and there we sat 30 minutes into fishing without a single bite… OH NO…..
what if last time I was here it was just a fluke, what if all the rain the week
before shut down the bite for the only day we were there to fish? What if…
never mind….”I’ve got a fish! “ Ahhhhhhhh! Relief, we won’t get skunked. That was
about the only 30 minutes of the day we didn’t nearly constantly have a fish
pulling against at least one of our lines.
The CISMA (Cooperative Invasive
Species Management Area) Tourney we had entered was one that I’ve attempted to
fish six years in a row, and only made it the last two of the six. Each year
the time came and went with a wedding or birthday or whatever keeping me from
pointing the truck south and letting the fishing rods eat! Last year, in fact,
it was a wedding that got me to Miami Beach close enough to be able to slip out
early with my kayak and attend the first one of hopefully many to come, thus making it yet another (and most likely
not the last) social event I ultimately showed up to smelling like fish and
carrying a big smile on my face, along with the obligatory South Florida sun
burn / coon eyes. Although I didn’t get
to make it to the weigh-in last year, it was a success just getting on the H2O
and experiencing what it is all about down there. This year, however, it was
planned, thought out, estimated and executed perfectly. This year, with the jon
boat in tow, Brady and I shuttled down the turnpike with big expectations: expectations that were met and exceeded!!!! The Everglades CISMA is a friendly tournament
with a few basic divisions on a per angler basis: most Snakehead, largest Snakehead,
most weight total, most types / species, and a Jr. angler for each category too. It’s a south FL wide
tournament with three weigh- in spots: one in Sothern Miami, one the Ft.
Lauderdale / Davie and one in West Palm. We registered for the Davie area and
fished one of the small boat ramps off of the Alligator Ally (I- 595). About 35 miles from civilization and in the
land of large reptiles and thick bugs, there are small access boat ramps that
provide connections to the many impoundment canals of the vast Everglades National
Park. We picked one with good lighting to detour crime and restrooms for convenience. Driving along the highway not having knowledge
of what lies under the dark tannic stained water, it just seems like any other
road side drainage canal, but not in south FL where nothing is what it
appears to be. The lack of freezing
temps allows for year- round breeding of these jailbreak, jaw chomping, jumping juggernauts. The focus was the invasive
fish that have been released within the City’s drainage systems and found their
way into the warm breeding-friendly waters of the everglades.
Not long into the morning, we had
each caught a handful of Oscars, and it didn't take long to decide that was our
targeted fish for the day to try for the aggregate weight division. So it began. Oscar fishing. These triple-tailed little buggers were feistier
than a Cocoa High girl at prom. Being extremely territorial and darn hungry to
boot, catching them was as easy as ….well, you know…. Many times after missing
the initial strike that quickly stripped the little amount of bait we offered,
they would come back and hit the EMPTY HOOK-- for good measure, I suppose. Nobody
needs to tell these Amazonian cannibals to clean their plates after dinner…wow. Mingling
among other invasive species under the lily pads, these Oscars provided an endless
supply of entertainment. We mixed in a good number of Black Bass (native),
Warmouth (native), Brim (native), Mayan Cichlid (non-native), Banded Cichlid
(non), Bowfin (kind of native), Oscars (non) and some other species that I really wasn't sure
what the heck they were but they looked pretty darn cool. When lunch time rolled around and it was time
to finish that pizza strategically placed on the dashboard hours before, we
headed to the truck at the ramp and swapped out coolers because the one on the
boat was full to the “gills” with fish. Good problem to have, folks. After hitting up the now-toasted pizza and
tossing the crust to the resident boat ramp gators, we headed back through the
canals to try for round two. At lunch we
talked over strategies to cull the biggest bang for our buck with the remaining
time we had till the weigh-in's narrow window opened and closed. We figured
we would ride the hot hand and stick with the Oscar bite and “stick” is what we
did, stick it to em, that is. I guess when it heats up in the everglades above
the water so does the bite under the water. We absolutely slayed them after
our siesta under the causeway bridge!!!!
Having heavy coolers and tired arms is the only way to show up to a
weigh-in, in my opinion. So that’s what we did, fished to the bitter end and hauled
ass to the UF extension office where the makeshift scale and a few scientist
were waiting to see the day's catch. As we
caught fish, Brady and I shared a cooler but I employed an old way of marking
fish used on the head boats for many years: I would get my knife and make one
line on the heads of all the fish I caught so we would be able to separate them
at the weight-in. It worked flawlessly, if I do say so myself.
And now the moment you’ve been waiting for, I’m sure: the
results.
Brady Brady-
17 Oscars = 9 lbs (one at 1.23 lbs the biggest one of the
day for us)
3 Bass
3 Big Bowfin
3 Mayan Cichlid
And many other lil guys
Capt. Nate-
44 Oscars = 34 lbs (7 over a pound)
3 Bass
5 Mayans
And MANY other lil guys!!!!
Now this event is an attempt to educate locals about the resources
just a few miles away, as well as an attempt to rid the waters of non-native
fish, so it’s a kill tournament and anglers were encouraged to take and eat the
fish they caught or to donate them to the local food pantry they had agreements
with throughout the South FL area.
Having just relocated farther south on the Island myself and planning on
throwing a “big ‘ol” house warming fish fry, I asked to keep our catch and my request was met to my surprise with, “Oh…here…take this cooler-full!" "And all these,”says another scientist. “Oh, take a bunch of these, they're good,” says another as
he shovels fresh fish into our coolers…..laughing, all I could think was OH MY
GOSH I HAVE TO CLEAN ALL OF THESE!!!!
So we ended up with a few new treats for the
local Central FL natives to snack on at the someday fish fry. All in all, we ended up catching well over
100 fish including all the bass and other fish that refused the cooler; I filleted
86 fish in two hours using the wonderful electric knife I picked up at Walmart.
And sore back and aching hands aside … I’d do it again tomorrow without hesitation. Furthermore, Brady agreed, it was “like shooting fish in a barrel.” He couldn't even come
close to keeping track of the fish he caught and he even referenced aquariums a
time or two…
Cheers,
Capt. Nate
6th Annual Everglades
CISMA Non-Native Fish Round Up
Results
The 6th Annual Everglades Non-Native Fish Round
Up had a total of 52 anglers. In total, 1,062 fish (16 different species) were
caught with an overall aggregate weight of 545 pounds. This year, there were
ties in both the adult and junior categories. The tie was broken by whichever
angler had the overall largest aggregate weight (not including snakeheads).
Prizes will be mailed to the winners by the end of this week.
Most Species (Slam):
·
Adult: Josh Friers (7
species; 53.6 pounds)
Prize: $100 gift card to Bass Pro Shop, Naples
Zoo Membership
·
Junior: Sebastian
Fraguela & Charlie Gannon
Prize: $50 gift card to Bass Pro Shop
Largest Fish (other than Snakehead):
·
Adult: Daniel Hagood
(Nile Tilapia; 3.52 pounds)
Prize: $75 gift card to Bass Pro Shop
·
Junior: Ethan Rogge
(Sailfin Catfish; 2.94 pounds)
Prize: $25 gift card to Bass Pro Shop
Total aggregate weight (not including Snakehead)
·
Adult: Daniel Hagood
(53.7 pounds)
Prize: $75 gift card to Bass Pro Shop
·
Junior: Ryan
Osborne(30.54 pounds)
Prize: $25 gift card to Bass Pro Shop, Cane
fishing pole
Largest Snakehead:
·
Adult: Jerry Joseph (6.8
pounds)
Prize: $75 gift card to Bass Pro Shop, Zebco rod
and reel
·
Junior: Ethan Rogge
(4.56 pounds)
Prize: $25 gift card to Bass Pro Shop, Zebco rod
and reel
Total aggregate weigh (Snakehead only):
·
Adult: Jerry Joseph
(14.8 pounds)
Prize: $75 gift card to Bass Pro Shop
·
Junior: Ethan Rogge
(8.18 pounds)
Prize: $25 gift card to Bass Pro Shop
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