Everglades Holiday Park 2/18/19

[SFL BassHunter]

RangerAndBass put out an invite yesterday on UB and I decided to take him up on it.
We got in contact and decided to meet up at 8am over at Holiday Park. First off, thank you Ranger for the invite. As I mentioned to you, I had a great time!

We started fishing in one of the flats and got in there a ways. It looked great, extremely fishy with pads and reeds. It wasn't long before R&B caught one. It was a decent one and got the skunk out of the boat.
Of course we thought we were going to get into them. Boy were we wrong.




We fished the flats for some time without another bite and eventually went back to the middle canal. The water clarity was fantastic. A good 5-7, maybe even more of visibility. We found a few fish on beds but they were easily spooked by our baits. After some time without a bite we figured they would eventually turn on...after all these South Florida bass are on Cuban time. Boy were we wrong.

They weren't on any time but their own and it was lockjaw time. Eventually I made a cast to the other side of the canal and worked the ledge with my watermelon red uvibe bouncing off the bottom with a 1/16th oz weight. Then a thud! Finally! Set and there was weight to it. This fish had some muscle as I reeled it in across the canal, it never surfaced and started to do some strong head thrashing. I thought for a moment that I might have a mudfish on. But when it got closer to the boat, what a relief! It was a bass and it looked like a nice one.
R&B got the net and helped me get her measured. At 20" I thought this fish would weight more, considering the fight it put up. Weighed in at 3lbs 13oz. We both thought she'd be over 4.






With such great water clarity we spotted a few bass and couldn't get any to play nice. As R&B sat down to rig up a rod I saw a very healthy 18+ inch bass swim down the opposite way at about 5 or 6 feet. Put a worm in front of it and she ignored it. Made several other casts in that direction and nothing.
Then came a LONG, LONG, LONG stretch of no fish. We fished all the way to Miami Canal, fished part of that, then went around and found some flats again. Fished the flats with no luck.

We then got back on a canal that took us back to the one we had started on. Here we worked pads and reeds. I put a 1/8oz on and a Okeechobee Craw Ding Dong (Vibe Style bait) and kept working the outskirts of the pads and down the ledge. Then like a freight train my second fish took the bait. Pretty much set itself, but I set the hook on it for good measure. It was a short fight and I thought this fish might be bigger than the first. Got her turned around and swimming towards the front of the boat. Had Ranger just about ready with the net but I made a split second decision and used her momentum to make her fly. She went over the console and electronics and into the boat. She looked bigger than the other up until she went on the ruler. Turns out she was 19.50 so she was close.




^^^^ That's a whole lot of writing and we've only caught 3 fish.

Eventually we worked our way back and went into the flats again. Here we made cast after cast after cast. I hooked into another bass got it close to the boat and as I was swinging it in, the fish hit the Gunwale and bounced out. Woops, that was a fish handling violation. MLF would not approve. But it was a non-scorable bass so I wasn't upset.

We made it back to the ramp when it looked like everyone was planning on leaving and the air boats were all over the place.

Despite the tough fishing I did manage to boat 2 nice fish and had a great time. It was my first time fishing there and really like those canals.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Appreciate the report guys. Too bad the fishing was slow, but fortunately you managed to stick a few nice ones. I miss fishing Holiday. It's been long while.

[SFL BassHunter]

Appreciate the report guys. Too bad the fishing was slow, but fortunately you managed to stick a few nice ones. I miss fishing Holiday. It's been long while.

It was really cool. I like those canals and flats. I feel like when that place is productive, it's really productive. Those rocky banks and ledges looked awesome for some frog action. Too bad they wanted nothing to do with topwater baits today.

[Capt. BassinLou]

It was really cool. I like those canals and flats. I feel like when that place is productive, it's really productive. Those rocky banks and ledges looked awesome for some frog action. Too bad they wanted nothing to do with topwater baits today.

I hear you... this is one of the longest froggin droughts I have been on in a very long time

[big g]

Glad you two got together and had a fun day.   Wow that's tough fishing, but you did get some fish measured for the month.  I was hoping you two would run the south canal past the Miami River, out to the big cuts on the north side.  That's a long run, but often worth the trip.  The three pines area was often where tournaments were won years ago.  Congrats again for a fun day on the water.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Glad you two got together and had a fun day.   Wow that's tough fishing, but you did get some fish measured for the month.  I was hoping you two would run the south canal past the Miami River, out to the big cuts on the north side.  That's a long run, but often worth the trip.  The three pines area was often where tournaments were won years ago.  Congrats again for a fun day on the water.

The 3 pines area, is a fun stretch.

[RangerAndBass]

Well SFL, it wasn't the day I had hoped for but at least the company was good! Blame it on the blue sky or the full moon.
The water did look great, and we fished shallow and deep and in between. We tried everything, fast and slow.
I believe we did as good as we could.
Let's try again soon.

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[BarryFL]

Well, if you're only going to catch two, a 19.5 and a 20 is the way to do it.

~Barry~

[LgMouthGambler]

Good stuff guys!

<")))>{

[SFL BassHunter]

Well, if you're only going to catch two, a 19.5 and a 20 is the way to do it.

~Barry~

That's true.


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[FLO GROWN]

Thanks for the report guys,glad you guys got some nice fish,it's been tough all over lately, thanks for sharing!!!