It’s not all about saltwater when it comes to fishing Florida
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT SALTWATER WHEN IT COMES TO FISHING FLORIDA
Abike ride from the heart of premier saltwater fishing, Mike Cohn is casting bait in a freshwater stream on Sanibel. He is part of a small but enthusiastic cadre choosing fresh over saltwater. “I really like it,” says Cohn, who is 33 and has fished freshwater for years. “There are lots of places, and very few people.”
While many assume that freshwater fishing is an inland sport, there are rivers, ponds and streams within hearing distance of Gulf surf. These hotspots are flush with bass, catfish, perch and sunfish, even snook and tarpon in freshwater or brackish basins. “It’s pretty cool,” says Nona McBean, a freshwater angler preferring the canals and culverts in Cape Coral, where she regularly lands 5-pound and 6-pound bass. “It doesn’t cost as much, and that’s great when you have kids.”
Florida’s freshwater fisheries cover some three million acres of ponds and reservoirs and 12,000 miles of rivers and streams, with no closed season, according to state wildlife agencies. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, names 33 species of freshwater fish as eligible for its Big Catch recognition. State authorities estimate freshwater fishing annually attracts 1.4 million anglers, many from outside the Sunshine State.
Back on Sanibel, Cohn flicks artificial spinners into a fresh waterway lined with grasses along the Bailey Tract, part of the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. It is an idyllic setting interlinked by hiking trails. Cohn casts his lure, working it, yelping as something in the tea-colored water strikes. Inevitably, it’s a sizable cichlid, an invasive species marbled in orange and
black and super aggressive at the strike. He returns the fish and recasts, careful not to snag on grasses and trees lining the banks. He’s also aware that alligators work the waters, too. Cohn also fishes the “Ding” refuge, where tarpon can gather. Nothing, he says, gooses him like a small tarpon hitting light tackle.
McBean started fishing freshwater as a teen. Small kids, she says, can hook a freshwater fish on a toy fishing pole. Side issues surface, however, as new homes go up along formerly remote canals and culverts, she says. McBean also warns that alligators and snakes are an issue. “But there are other spots to go to,” the North Fort Myers angler says.
Capt. Rob Modys, host of Reel Talk on 99.3 ESPN Radio on Saturdays, says ditch fishing is popular. “All over the Lee County area,” he says, “there are lots of waterways that drain rainwater. The biggest of the bunch is the linear park that runs along 10 Mile Canal in the middle of the county. There are access points along the way that allow for fishing and bike riding. There are a surprising amount of bass, snook, small tarpon and cichlids.”
Modys reminds potential freshwater anglers that licensing is a state requirement.
Craig Garrett is Group Editor-In-Chief for TOTI Media.
It doesn’t cost as much, and that’s great when you have kids.” —North Fort Myers freshwater angler Nona McBean