First and foremost, please go over to my Instagram and check out the link in my bio and sign the petition to certify the clown knifefish as a game fish. Without going into too much detail, a group from an undisclosed state came to South Florida and bow fished for clown knifefish in the lake Ida chain. They killed over 70 clown knifefish and are planning to return and do it again. We are trying to stop that from happening. For those of you that don’t know, these clown knifefish bring lots of tourism dollars to South Florida. Though classified as invasive species, several marine biologists at FWC have confirmed that the clown knifefish happily coexist with the local ecosystem. They do not eat native bass or bluegill fry. Ongoing testing shows their diets consist mainly of shad and grass shrimp.
Everglades fishing is so hot right now! Any stop along Alligator Alley will produce several largemouth and peacock bass. My personal bait of choice is always topwater, but don’t be afraid of throwing some jerk baits, sub surface twitch baits or smaller swimbaits. In the urban fisheries such as the Griffin and C14 canal, live bait is where it’s at. The Griffin canal is one of the only places in South Florida where you can catch snook, tarpon, largemouth bass, peacock bass and snakehead in one spot! This fishery really starts to heat up towards the end of spring. The Lake Ida chain is also doing well.
If you’re fishing by land, you will notice most of the peacock bass are still bedding and many of them may have fry with them on their beds. I have said this before, and I will continue to repeat it. Please leave the bedding fish alone! They are trying to protect their fry and allow them to grow big enough to survive on their own. If you do happen to catch a bedding fish, please try to release it next to the bed so that eventually it will make its way back to its fry. Please do what you can to insure our fisheries remain for the next generation.
Capt. Johnny Stabile
(954) 440-5200
South Florida Fishing Charters
sflfishingcharters.com