Went To Alligator Alley

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CHOMPERS;3821282; said:
Lots of salt, mostly. :D I couldn't resist.

Pretty much anything that you'd find in the intercoatal, you will find in the Indian & Banana Rivers. Some favorites growing up were blue crab and shrimp. We had sea horses in our canal but I think those days are over. There are still pipefish (close cousins to sea horses) in there. Redfish and specled trout are among the top game fish. Blue and channel cats are common bottom feeders. Atlantic stingrays are everywhere (caught a huge one as a kid that was about four feet across). There are puffers of every kind too. The list goes on and on (brings back tons of memories though).

I just want to add that while I was out fishing earlier last week (post freeze) I saw many dead Grey trigger fish on and around the island .5 mile north of manatee cove. A few of the fish where huge. One was an easy 5 lbs. There were also many redfish laid up in the drift wood that surrounds the island. the reds seemed to be in good health, just a little sluggish.
 
Speaking of talapia and as I mentioned before, the lake that I fish at didn't suffer a fish kill (however some were in ill health). My swimming pool on the other hand lost a bunch of talapia. Everything else has faired well. I have some blue catfish, bullhead catfish, bluegills, specs and other panfish, and mosquito fish and wild mollys.

My water hyacinths and water lettuce took a beating but they have done fairly well considering what they went through.
 
fhawk362;3821307; said:
Anyway, they say that the Cuban Anoles eat the baby Greens, so that is why the Green populations are so low now.

Yea I heard that as well, also the curly tails that are here now are eating both.[/QUOTE]
Curly tails? They sound interesting. I haven't seen any yet. Take a picture for me if you see any.
 
CHOMPERS;3821346; said:
Yea I heard that as well, also the curly tails that are here now are eating both.
Curly tails? They sound interesting. I haven't seen any yet. Take a picture for me if you see any.[/QUOTE]

This isn't my video but these are the curly tails we have around here, they tend to be near populated places, the checkers near my house is loaded with them, probably cause its easy food and all the cement is warm. There's a lot of them around my school as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omPefGZ12hA
 
CFLfish;3821311; said:
I just want to add that while I was out fishing earlier last week (post freeze) I saw many dead Grey trigger fish on and around the island .5 mile north of manatee cove. A few of the fish where huge. One was an easy 5 lbs. There were also many redfish laid up in the drift wood that surrounds the island. the reds seemed to be in good health, just a little sluggish.

thats no good, i went snorkeling friday and saw a few trigger fish swimming happily, none that big though.
 
Louie;3819436; said:
Thats a lot of PB. Imagine they only take feeders?


I am sure enough lived in deeper areas to "restock" the waters however it will take years .

They dine exclusively on Cichlid Gold floating pellets....and yes it could take awhile for the shallow canals to get "restocked".

Superlaz;3820729; said:
Nice Batch Matt, see a few 2 spotters ;)

Yepp! Collected them to save the very nice looking heavily speckled parents from being caught. They spawned on a rock very visible from shore and easy targets for the locals.

CFLfish;3820954; said:
yes, if you would of read some of the thread, you would've seen that people have reported seeing PB post feeze.

...and...if you try to understand his location, you would realize that he's in the Northern fringes of South Florida which gets much colder that Miami-Dade County and the devastation at his location is more severe.
 
fhawk362;3820887; said:
Anyone see any live pbass, and if so where at, I havent seen a single one alive since the cold :(, really bothering me. I'm hoping theyre just not being as active and hopefully they will come out soon, havent seen near as many natives as i usually do either. My canals loaded with algae cause of the die offs of plecos and smells cause of the dead fish. Birds are picking them off but there were a lot for a while. Im just hoping there were enough survivors to keep everything intact.


Lots of them PB in South Miami-Dade.
 
GudEnuf;3821822; said:
Lots of them PB in South Miami-Dade.

Yea thats a far ride but I'm tempted to head down there if I don't see any around here soon.
 
Ive looked in numerous canals in Central broward from Davie to Sunrise to Plantation and its all the same. Dead Pbass in all of them. I would be suprised if there are ANY left in broward county. Im sure a few but it will be a LONG time before they were as abundant as a month ago. Mayan, Tilapia and Pleco population has taken a beating also. Should be an interesting summer time to see what is left in the canals.
 
My Grandpa sent me an article from a fishing magazine in Punta Gorda, Florida, where he migrates for the winter. One of the authors of the magazine headed out into Charlotte Harbor and basically said there were so many dead fish floating that you could walk on the water. Everything from Snook, to Sea Catfish (which really don't even mind the cold, I guess they were shocked by the snap) and even a large Goliath Grouper. Very disheartening to hear. In early April I will go down for a week and a half, and we go right on a canal that empties into Charlotte Harbor, which is 8 minutes by boat at trolling speed from the strech of canal in my Grandparents' yard. I hope it has at least rebounded by then. I spend the whole vacation fishing, and the part I look foreward to most is Shark and Stingray fishing in Charlotte Harbor. This cold snap is really a downer :(
 
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