Fly Fishing and Much More in the Everglades National Park

Covering the southern tip of the Florida peninsula and Florida Bay, the Everglades National Park is the only subtropical preserve in North America. The Everglades contains both temperate and tropical plant communities, including sawgrass prairies, mangrove and cypress swamps, pinelands, and hardwood hammocks, as well as marine and estuarine environments providing some of the best sight fishing opportunities.

Aside from the Florida Everglades' outstanding and diverse fishing opportunities for species such as tarpon, bonefish, permit, snook and redfish, the park is known for its rich bird life, particularly large wading birds, such as the roseate spoonbill, wood stork, great blue heron and a variety of egrets. Bald eagles, Florida panthers, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, also reside in the Everglades. It is also the only place in the world where alligators and American crocodiles exist side by side.

Everglades Gamefish

Most of the sought after flats and backcountry species found in the waters close to the Florida Keys can also be found within the borders of the Everglades National Park. Redfish are uncommon in and around the Keys, it's not until you venture back into the shallow estuarine Everglades Park areas that they become plentiful. Snook are widespread around the Keys but not sought after here like they are in the park. Generally snook closer to the Florida Keys tend to gather in deeper water in and around the channels and bridges minimizing good sight fishing opportunities. Tarpon will frequent every nook and cranny from ponds in the sawgrass, tidal rivers, to the gulf beaches. With the exception of the fresh to brackish areas the same generally holds true for permit. Like permit, bonefish will venture well into the park until the salinity levels drop below their liking. Cobia, snapper, grouper, sharks, gar and Florida largemouth bass and loads of other fish too abundant to mention all live in the waters of the Everglades National Park.

Access

The Everglades can be accessed easily from several different points; boat ramps ranging from Key Largo to Long Key, Flamingo, Chokoloskee and Everglades City. If you interested in strictly fishing from Whitewater Bay north, staying near Flamingo would be your best bet. All of Florida Bay can be easily accessed from the Keys. The best way to experience the Everglades however is by mothership; nothing can come close.... allowing you to fish at all times of the day and into the evening without the travel time to and from the boat ramps.

Thanks to Charles Rosen for this video taken "way back in the sticks."

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International Designations From the National Park Service

Everglades National Park is a subtle place where earth, water, and sky blend in a low green landscape; where mere inches of elevation produce distinct changes in vegetation; and where a great wealth of birds and other wildlife find refuge. For this is almost exclusively a biological park dedicated to the preservation of a complex and precisely ordered living mechanism. It lies at the interface between temperate and sub-tropical America, giving a rich diversity of species, many at the limit of their ranges. 

The topography is so subdued that a broad sheet of water slowly flows over and through the porous limestone bedrock on its way to the sea, rather than following well-defined valleys. Most of the park is actually covered with water during normal wet seasons, while dry winters cause fresh water to dwindle to a few open areas crowded with wildlife.

The great floral variety of the Everglades is one of the key resources of the park. Among its more prominent and colorful plants are Bromeliads and epiphytic orchids. As many as 25 varieties of orchids are known to occur in the park, in addition to over 1000 other kinds of seed-bearing plants and 120 species of trees. Over 36 threatened or endangered animal species reside in Everglades National Park, such as the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) and crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), the Florida panther (Felis concolor coryi), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritima mirabilis). Over 300 species of birds have been recorded, seven of which are rare or endangered.

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