South Florida

[unipsychofishman]

I'm attending an educational ecological trip to South Florida late this February and am wondering at the possibility of doing as much fishing as I can get away with. I am not certain exactly what waters we will be nearest so I want to be fairly generally prepared for fishing in fresh, salt, and brackish water. (I believe most of our time will be spent near the everglades but also some time will be near beaches and coastline)

I have experience bass fishing and typically do very well in freshwater systems throughout North America but have never had much experience fishing in salt.

Due to the primary nature of the trip I am restricted to shore and to a general purpose medium weight/action four-piece travel rod or two and a few different sized reels and maybe one or two flat tackle boxes of gear.

From what little research I've done I want to specifically be prepared for bass, snook, ladyfish, bluefish?, sheepshead, sea trout, drums, inshore snappers, really small tarpon, and maybe mullet? I've studied a great deal into the biology of each of these species but I want to be as prepared as possible.

Any other species I should be prepared to catch? Any I have no chance of encountering? Will my gear be even close to appropriate for these kinds of fishing?

[tamefish1]

Shoot me a pm with your phone #. I think I can answer about any question you have as I'm from S. Florida and fish way too much!

[unipsychofishman]

Well I didnt have nearly the amount of time fishing that I had hoped but it was still a very enjoyable experience. We spent a lot of time on the water in kayaks but as I was the only fisherman in the group everyone just wanted to push forward and see as mush as they could and so I had to just sneak a cast or two whenever I got the chance. It was pure torture to literally be within casting distance of world-class fishing and be unable to make the most of it. That being said, I did manage to entice two nice speckled trout to bite with my limited casts and brought one all the way in for dinner. I also managed to catch a very small largemouth bass before we left. I'll see if I can post a pic or two later.