[KingFlySC]

Some of you may remember my post about camping in the Everglades a few months back. Well we did it, and it was an amazing trip!

We left out of Upstate SC, around 7:15pm Tuesday May 28th. 13 hours later right at 8:15 am the 29th we pulled up to the flamingo visitor center. We checked in and put our names in the book for the Shark Point chickee for 5 nights.

After transferring the coolers and sportsmans trunks from the Jeep to the gheenoe we strapped everything down and launched. The wind was blowing a bit but was coming pretty much straight out of the east. The run through tin can channel was a bit slow due to the extra weight but we made it to the chickee and set up camp.

The weather was pretty amazing while we were there. Wednesday was windy, and after the drive through the night we just hung around the chickee. I woke up from a hammock nap and proceeded to catch probably 20 mangrove snapper on a spinning rod right from the chickee. Then my wife wakes up, cracks a beer, slings a lure out and reels in a trout like it was nothing. I knew at this point that this was going to be a good trip.

Thursday through Sunday gave us fairly light winds in the mornings and evenings and the fishing was great. We hung around the keys within 5-10 miles of us. We pretty much ran straight into the wind, and drifted/ poled down the edges of each key.

One afternoon we anchored out in one of the basins and caught trout and ladyfish until we got tired of it.

We found the reds on 3 different keys and put the fly rods to work.

The evenings were spent cooking dinner and drinking corona and tequila. I was worried about bugs, but the only bugs we had any issue with at all were deer flies, and they didnt bother us up on the chickee.

The wind started to calm to nothing Sunday morning and it got pretty hot. We also ran out of beer and ice so we decided to roll out a day early. We broke camp and headed for Key Largo. We spent 2 nights there enjoying the perks of a cheap hotel room and some killer food at various restaurants. Ended up running into @Flatbroke426 at the hotel and got to talk fishing and boats for a bit.

Ill be the first to admit I am a lucky man to have a wife that wants to do trips like this. She is absolutely addicted now. She can pole the skiff like a pro and put me on my first Redfish on fly. I watched her make perfect casts to fish after I spotted them. She even got a Juvi Tarpon to eat a fly but didn't get the hook set. Amazing trip overall. Thanks to everyone that gave me information, tips and suggestions! Especially @DBStoots! Thank you sir!

 

[Scrob]

Glad it worked out so well. What were the temps at night while sleeping? Ever feel too hot?

 

[KingFlySC]

Glad it worked out so well. What were the temps at night while sleeping? Ever feel too hot?

Temps at night were in the mid to low 70s with a decent breeze. It was actually very comfortable at night. I was surprised at this. I think if we would have been anywhere else but that particular chickee it would have been a different story.

The in between times from around 6pm - sunset were pretty hot. No way to get out of the sun at that point. We took about 15 gallons of freshwater with us just for cooking and bathing. Rinsing off in that and then laying in the hammock in the shade was a great way to cool off in the afternoon.

 

[EsteroS]

Very impressed you did this trip end of May, sounds like the wind was your friend this time around to keep the noseehms away. We went in March, 8 beers in i forgot about the bugs, worked as good as any repellent ive ever worn. Thanks for sharing.

 

[KingFlySC]

Very impressed you did this trip end of May, sounds like the wind was your friend this time around to keep the noseehms away. We went in March, 8 beers in i forgot about the bugs, worked as good as any repellent ive ever worn. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah hows that for some irony? Went later to avoid the wind and the wind ended up being the saving grace. Having said that it was only 5-10mph and a few mornings it was glass as far as the eye could see. I think we just got lucky or something. Couldn't have asked for better conditions this time of the year.

 

[Scott]

Sounds like a great trip. Pictures don’t come up for me. Every link I click on I get a “you don’t have permission to view media within this album “

 

[KingFlySC]

Sounds like a great trip. Pictures don’t come up for me. Every link I click on I get a “you don’t have permission to view media within this album “

I had the wrong image code inserted in the thread. Should be fixed now.

 

[Scott]

Still no worries for me. Now instead of the image url. I get a big blank box with

IMG in the upper left corner

 

[Snookyrookie]

No pics for me either but glad you had a great time, Flamingo is an incredible place. Hopefully the plans for bringing water south go through and work as expected to make the park even better.

 

[KingFlySC]

Well crap, maybe one of the mods can help me figure out what the issue is with the pictures?

 

[Flatbroke426]

So glad you had a great trip and it was great running into you all in Key Largo and meeting you both.

 

[DBStoots]

Some of you may remember my post about camping in the Everglades a few months back. Well we did it, and it was an amazing trip!

We left out of Upstate SC, around 7:15pm Tuesday May 28th. 13 hours later right at 8:15 am the 29th we pulled up to the flamingo visitor center. We checked in and put our names in the book for the Shark Point chickee for 5 nights.

After transferring the coolers and sportsmans trunks from the Jeep to the gheenoe we strapped everything down and launched. The wind was blowing a bit but was coming pretty much straight out of the east. The run through tin can channel was a bit slow due to the extra weight but we made it to the chickee and set up camp.

The weather was pretty amazing while we were there. Wednesday was windy, and after the drive through the night we just hung around the chickee. I woke up from a hammock nap and proceeded to catch probably 20 mangrove snapper on a spinning rod right from the chickee. Then my wife wakes up, cracks a beer, slings a lure out and reels in a trout like it was nothing. I knew at this point that this was going to be a good trip.

Thursday through Sunday gave us fairly light winds in the mornings and evenings and the fishing was great. We hung around the keys within 5-10 miles of us. We pretty much ran straight into the wind, and drifted/ poled down the edges of each key.

One afternoon we anchored out in one of the basins and caught trout and ladyfish until we got tired of it.

We found the reds on 3 different keys and put the fly rods to work.

The evenings were spent cooking dinner and drinking corona and tequila. I was worried about bugs, but the only bugs we had any issue with at all were deer flies, and they didnt bother us up on the chickee.

The wind started to calm to nothing Sunday morning and it got pretty hot. We also ran out of beer and ice so we decided to roll out a day early. We broke camp and headed for Key Largo. We spent 2 nights there enjoying the perks of a cheap hotel room and some killer food at various restaurants. Ended up running into @Flatbroke426 at the hotel and got to talk fishing and boats for a bit.

Ill be the first to admit I am a lucky man to have a wife that wants to do trips like this. She is absolutely addicted now. She can pole the skiff like a pro and put me on my first Redfish on fly. I watched her make perfect casts to fish after I spotted them. She even got a Juvi Tarpon to eat a fly but didn't get the hook set. Amazing trip overall. Thanks to everyone that gave me information, tips and suggestions! Especially @DBStoots! Thank you sir!

Glad to hear y'all had a great trip! Happy to have helped.