I just got back from another trip to the Everglades region in southwest Florida where I did find some time to do a little fishing. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, my family has been visiting Naples/Marco Island, Florida for as long as I can remember, and in recent years I’ve discovered what amazing fishing SW Florida has to offer the fly fisherman. The Ten Thousand Islands and Everglades National Park is a labyrinth of shallow rivers, bays, and mangrove islands that could take a fisherman a lifetime to even scratch the surface. I’ve been anxious to explore this fishermans playground ever since I stared fly fishing. Visions of giant tarpon and snook nearly kept me up at night in the days before my vacation. Unfortunately for me, I had no boat and a tight budget. Not to mention I had my ol’ lady and son with me so I had to try and keep them happy. My uncle has a condo on the beech and he had mentioned that they’ve been catching just about anything right off of his dock. So, even though I wasn’t gonna get lost in the everglades chasing snook and tarpon there was still hope of putting a bend in my rod. After I arrived at the dock I saw some gear fisherman catching a mixed bag of fish on pink jigs with a piece of shrimp. I pulled out my fly box and tied on a pink and white clouser minnow, the closest thing I had to a pink jig. About a half hour into casting and my line came tight! After a couple speedy runs I pulled in my first spanish mackerel on a fly.