The Wildlife You See While Fly Fishing in Florida

While out fly fishing I am always on the lookout for other wildlife or participate in other adventures like airboat rides in the everglades.

The freshwater canal furthest south in Florida is the Aerojet canal.  It borders the Everglades National Park.  Brooke and I went exploring this canal one day and although we didn’t catch any peacock bass, we did find a lot of wildlife.  The first thing we saw was two manatees.  One was surfacing towards where the canal comes in from the Atlantic Ocean.  The other was near the salinity control structure.  It was resting with its back out of the water where I could see moss, algae or some other green plant material growing on it. Not seeming too exiting, I did not take any pictures of them, although now I wish I had.  A lesson I should have learned long ago is to take more pictures than I think I want.  It may be boring at the time while I’m interested in getting the fly in the water, but later on at home the photo may be fun and interesting to see.

We hiked along the Southern Glades Trail, fishing along the way.  

At the South Dixie Highway bridge I managed to catch a Mayan Cichlid.  Other than that, the fishing was very slow. This canal is pretty straight and featureless.

Brooke climbed upon a rickety old dock which was missing a few boards.  As she was fishing off the dock I noticed a crocodile along the far side of the canal. 

Bringing this to her attention, she quickly stood up to get off the dock. 

By this time the crocodile had started making its way toward her but then eased its way back to shore once Brooke was off the dock.  Just down from the crocodile you could see its haunt, a nest of broken down plants. 

Hiking back to the salinity control structure the manatees were no longer there.  Brooke had found some small fish on the saltwater side that were interested in her lure.  They kept nibbling on the rubber fish part until it was almost gone.  Handing the pole to me I lowered what was left of the lure near the fish and quickly jerked up on the next nibble.  This hooked one of the fish and as I lifted it out of the water Brooke gently grabbed a hold of it.  It was making some funny, whimpering noises and as it wiggled Brooked held it tighter.  

I guess a little too tight for the fish’s comfort and it puffed out into a soft prickly ball.  

I removed the hook and Brooke threw the puffer fish back into the brackish water.