Cooper City Canals
An urban fishery may seem like a bit of an oxymoron to people like us who praise the solitude of small mountain streams miles away from roads and less adventurous fishermen. Even more so, to describe that urban fishery as wild, raw and untamed further emphasizes the great dichotomy that is South Florida’s canal system. These myriad and interwoven waterways serve as highways for fish and fishermen connecting ponds, marshes, creeks, lagoons and even the open ocean. Migrating species abound in these man-made canals and a fisherman may have opportunities to catch native largemouth bass alongside peacock bass, various cichlids, snook, snakehead and juvenile tarpon just to name a few. A true “box of chocolates” fishery if ever there was one! The species enthusiasts that we are, Collin, Chad and I met up with our friend Spencer to fish his backyard and neighboring canals. We literally launched his canoe and jon boat, outfitted with trolling motors, feet away from his swimming pool and back patio!
Our success was quite the opposite of our recent trip out of Jupiter with Captain Scott. Today, we couldn’t touch a fish in the morning mist compared to our recent saltwater experience where all of our best fish came early in the morning. Spencer mentioned how it was a “cold” morning to be fishing the canals and that he expected the fishing to improve as the temperature rose. All fishermen know that temperature is an omnipresent concern in fishing. Since our quarry is almost always cold-blooded, that leaves their activity levels deeply impressionable to water temperature amongst other things. For instance, 60 degrees might make for prime trout fishing in the southern Appalachians but it also makes for sleepy exotic species used to temperatures north of 80 and 90 degrees.
We came across bedding tilapia and the occasional grass carp slowly cruising through the narrow waterway but they showed no interest in our artificial flies. Just as my confidence was beginning to dampen I threw a cast up under a dock and was immediately rewarded for hitting the bank. An explosive eat occurred as soon as my streamer hit the water, game on! Though we eventually caught more and larger fish, this bullseye snakehead finally got us on the board! A new species to me, I’ve heard about these snakehead for years but finally got to observe one in the flesh. Unique patterns and a feisty fish, awesome!
There were times in our float that it felt like we could have been in some exotic Central American locale. The increasing heat and humidity, massive iguanas, and colorful fish all served to make us feel as though we were outside the United States. Suddenly though, a bark of a dog or the friendly wave of a neighbor would pull us back to Earth and remind us of the surreal setting we found ourselves in.
Fishing did remain a tad slower than we had expected put it continued to improve as the sun rose. When we eventually came to a grassy bank I took the opportunity to hop out and walk the shore for a bit. I found spawning gar and continued to search until I finally stumbled onto some aggressive Peacock bass! I was throwing a white woolly bugger variation that I tie to imitate the small Threadfin shad and found that the Peacocks responded best when I pulled my fly out of the water and quickly slapped it back down nearby. I imagine this action reminded the fish of fleeing baitfish and, as quickly as they could re-find the fly, they hammered it! This was my first experience with Peacocks and it was exhilarating! I ended up landing a handful averaging between 1 1/2 and 3 pounds or so, all a great deal of fun on my 4 weight!
Later on we picked up some Midas and Mayan cichlids sitting off of root balls. They were always tucked very tight to structure and it took a cast almost onto the bank in order to elicit a strike. One of the coolest catches was Chad’s. We had identified a pair of Midas that were practically glowing in the tannic water because of their amazing orange bodies and we called Chad over to catch one. After making good presentations for nearly five minutes, Chad finally aggravated the fish enough to get a solid take! Both Chad and Collin caught these fish and they were probably the prettiest fish of our trip down to South Florida. As our trolling motor batteries began to finally wear down we returned to Spence’s house. Collin and I were actually towing Chad and Spence when Collin stuck a great fish. It stayed deep and showed no interest in being dragged to the surface quickly. A bull dogging battle eventually produced a 15 inch snakehead for Collin! A fascinating fish, these and other exotic species remain a very controversial conservation topic throughout the region we were fishing in. That said, we were thrilled to have the chance to catch fish domestically that we would otherwise have had to travel halfway around the world for. We had an amazing trip and can’t wait to catch more of the naturalized exotic species that crawl in the unique environments of Florida’s canals.
Pictures: Collin Fuller (@collin_fuller) & Chad Hoffman (@chadjhoffman / chadjhoffman.com)
Guide: Spencer Smith (@snook_snacks)