Everglades flyFishing with Captain Chris Brown
Snook, Tarpon, Fly Fishing, and Light Tackle in Chokoloskee, Florida
I’ve been fishing the Everglades since I was a teenager, and after all these years, I still get excited every time I head down there. There’s just something about that place that’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it yourself.
Every March and April, I make Chokoloskee my home and spend my days fishing some of the most beautiful water Florida has to offer. From the Shark River north through Chokoloskee and beyond, there’s an incredible amount of country to explore, and I’ve spent a good part of my life learning it.
What I love about the Everglades is how far removed it is from everything else. Once you leave the dock and start heading into the backcountry, the roads, buildings, traffic, and cell phone reception start disappearing. Before long, you’re surrounded by mangroves, winding rivers, little creeks, and miles of untouched Florida.
To me, that’s the Everglades the way God made it.
But we’re down there to fish, and that’s something I take seriously.
Fishing the Everglades in March and April
Springtime is one of my favorite times to fish the Everglades. We’re targeting snook and tarpon throughout the backcountry, and as the big migratory tarpon begin showing up along the beaches, that opens up a whole different kind of fishing.
One day we might be working our way through the mangrove shorelines, looking for snook. Another day we could be fishing the rivers and creek mouths for tarpon. When conditions are right and those big fish are moving along the beaches, that’s where I want to be.
I don’t have one particular place that I fish every day. The Everglades doesn’t work that way.
Water temperature, wind direction, tides, weather, and where the fish were the day before all play a part in deciding where we’re going. Sometimes we run north, sometimes south, and sometimes the best fishing is tucked away in the backcountry.
After spending most of my life on the water, there’s also something I call fisherman’s intuition. You can look at all the conditions and make your plans, but sometimes you just have a feeling about where those fish are going to be.
It’s something you learn over time, and it’s not always easy to explain.
Fly Fishing and Light Tackle
I enjoy fishing with all kinds of anglers. Some of my customers have been fly fishing their entire lives, while others are fairly new to the sport. Some prefer spinning tackle, and that’s perfectly fine with me.
I offer specialized light-tackle and fly fishing, and we choose the equipment based on the fish we’re targeting and the conditions we’re fishing.
For spinning tackle, I use Daiwa equipment, from lighter setups for snook and smaller tarpon to medium tackle when we’re targeting larger fish.
On the fly fishing side, I use Thomas & Thomas rods, Abel reels, and Scientific Anglers fly lines.
One thing I’ve always enjoyed is tying my own flies. Every fly I fish is hand-tied by me, and over the years, I’ve made plenty of changes to the patterns I use.
Tarpon fishing isn’t what it was years ago. Those fish seem to get smarter every season. Years back, we were throwing some pretty large fly patterns. Today, many of the flies I tie are smaller, more detailed, and a little more refined.
You have to be willing to change with the fish. Just because something worked twenty years ago doesn’t mean it’s going to work the same way today.
That’s part of what keeps fishing interesting to me. You’re always learning something.
More Than Just a Day on the Water
One of my favorite parts of guiding in the Everglades is taking somebody down there who’s never experienced it before.
From the minute we start the motor and head into that beautiful, protected wilderness, the experience begins.
Everybody’s different. Some people want to know about the mangroves, the wildlife, and the history of the area. Others are completely focused on catching their first tarpon or snook.
I enjoy all of it.
There’s nothing quite like watching somebody hook their first tarpon. The excitement, the screaming drag, and the look on their face when that fish comes out of the water are things that never get old.
And sometimes that fish gets away.
That’s fishing.
I’ve seen just as many memorable reactions from people losing a big fish as I have from people catching one. Usually, those are the stories we end up laughing about later.
What I really enjoy is the camaraderie that develops throughout the day.
It doesn’t matter whether somebody’s a lifelong fisherman or just getting started. We’re out there because we share something in common. We love fishing, and we love being on the water.
You spend a full day together in a place like the Everglades, and by the time you get back to the dock, you’ve usually made a pretty good friend.
That’s one of the things I appreciate most about what I do.
Come Experience the Everglades
I know traveling down to Chokoloskee is a commitment for a lot of people. It’s not exactly around the corner, and that’s part of what makes it special.
I take a lot of pride in knowing the little creeks, rivers, shorelines, and out-of-the-way places that most visitors never get to experience.
My goal is to give you the best fishing day I possibly can while showing you a part of Florida that means a great deal to me.
We’ll fish hard, make decisions based on the conditions, and hopefully have plenty of good stories to tell by the time we’re finished.
And if I’ve done my job right, the thing I hope to hear when we get back to the dock is pretty simple.
“Captain, when can we come back next year?”
That’s what makes it all worthwhile.
Captain Chris Brown
West Coast Fishing Adventures
Tarpon Springs & Chokoloskee, Florida
westcoastfishingadventures.com
