South Florida exotics trip

[MSA]

Flew into Ft Lauderdale to target Peacock bass, clown knives, snakeheads, several other invasives, and some saltwater species if I had time. My goal was 30 new species of fish, and I hit that number on the last day.

I rented an airbnb on Lake Ida and was able to catch everything within 10 miles of the house.

Clown knives

Peacock Bass

Redhead Cichlids

Bullseye Snakehead

Mayan Cichlids

Armored catfish aka plecostomus or "plecos"

Coppernose Bluegill

Bonnethead sharks

Florida Gar

 

[Kurtr]

Are any of those good eats?

 

[MSA]

Barracuda

King Mackerel

Tarpon

Made a friend in the everglades

Walking catfish

Spotted Tilapia

Florida Largemouth

Checkered puffer

Lookdown

Slippery Dick

 

[1lessdog]

Did you catch everything off shore? If so where did you know where to go.

 

[wslayer]

That Lookdown is a pretty cool looking fish. Nice scores . . .

 

[MSA]

Are any of those good eats?

I only cleaned and ate the king mackerel, which was awesome on the grille. We thought about eating the Barracuda, but I was worried about ciguatera poisoning, so we gave it away. After a hard day of fishing in 95 degree heat and 95% humidity, the last thing you wanna do is clean and cook fish. went for the crown cokes on ice instead.

 

[MSA]

Did you catch everything off shore? If so where did you know where to go.

Yes, all shore fishing. Lots of research on local facebook pages and google earth, alot of potential spots turned out to be bogus, gated off, fenced in, no access, private property, no parking within walking distance, etc. but thankfully south florida has endless fishing opportunity.

 

[Rowdie]

The clown knives get way bigger than I thought. I friend had one in an aquarium and it was very aggressive.

 

[MSA]

The clown knives get way bigger than I thought. I friend had one in an aquarium and it was very aggressive.

The world record is 14lbs and caught in that lake i was fishing. That's at least double the size of the ones we caught

 

[svnmag]

You're a fine fisherman. Me and the boy once saw you launch solo in the 'Race. I regret not hailing you.

 

[grantfurness]

Awesome trip

 

[Narcs]

Fantastic! Trip like that is on my bucket list.

 

[CatDaddy]

I've never seen a more beautiful slippery dick!

 

[Allen]

How the hell did you catch a pleco? I thought those species only ate algae off of aquarium glass...

 

[Allen]

p.s. Outstanding trip. My one trip to Florida scratched more itches than any other fishing trip that I have ever taken.

 

[Eatsleeptrap]

Any snakes or alligators? The two reasons I did not like fishing down south after March.

 

[MSA]

How the hell did you catch a pleco? I thought those species only ate algae off of aquarium glass...

Caught one on a skittle (yes, the candy, look it up online, its a thing) and one on a piece of worm. Plecos will chew on just about anything

 

[MSA]

Any snakes or alligators? The two reasons I did not like fishing down south after March.

I did find my first brahminy blind snake, a species of thread snake, one of the smallest snakes in the world, adults are only 2-3 inches long and the width of the ink tube inside a pen, and we had a southern black racer come thru the back yard when i wasnt nearby. Otherwise it was just too hot for snakes, they were all either underground, or tucked way back in the dense reeds in the swamp trying to stay cool.

Seen alot of gators out in the Everglades, and all but one kept their distance. we had an overly friendly one about 7 feet long that kept us company hoping to snap up any panfish & bass that flipped out of our hands. he stayed close enough for me to pat him on the nose, I suspected him to be a former pet by the way he enjoyed our company and followed me around after I paid attention to him.

 

[scrotcaster]

Not a f***ing chance with a gator that close. Your more a man than me lol

 

[Fester]

Not a f***ing chance with a gator that close. Your more a man than me lol

In flip flops also..that fucker launches at him and he is missimg a limb ha...been around a few gators and them suckers can be dam fast coming out of the water...