Everglades National Park and the Florida Bay are large areas of mangrove islands surrounded by shallow water flats and deeper lake areas. We call this are the Backcountry.

This particularly vast are provides the angler with excellent fishing opportunities for snook, redfish, speckled trout, and tarpon, of all sizes. It is not uncommon to catch an additional 5-10 other species, while fishing for your target species. You never know what you will hook into when fishing in the back country.

Our tackle of preference is a light weight 8-10 lb spinning rod, which we can use live bait on, or cast artificial lure with. The lighter tackle gives the angler more feel when fighting the fish, and its also a lot more fun to fight a large redfish or snook, on light line as we all know.

Fly fishing enthusiasts also find the Backcountry to be an exciting fishing experience. A 9 wt. outfit with a matching floating line is recommended. The preferred technique for fly fishing in the backcountry is very similar to that for fly fishing for bonefish. The boat is poled over the shallow water flats while the angler looks for tailing redfish, snook or small cruising tarpon to sight cast to. This type of fishing is one of my particular favorites.