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Hey
I did the math on when this storm would hit: number of miles away
and
even if it increases speed I still got Sat. to get ready if it was going to
speed up and hit on Sunday. On Friday I told my wife its going to hit Sunday
night Monday morning. And every day the forecasters kept pushing back the
track 10 to 12 hours. First forecast it was supposed to hit us on Friday
night Saturday morning and at that time it was still 100 plus miles
southeast of Cancun and moving at 4 mph to the NNW. All of us captains go
through this crap every storm, ignore the hype, do your own math, call each
other, come to a reasonable consensus, prepare for the worst and hope for
the best.
So I load up the fly rods and a couple spinners,
a few beers, lunch, and a
block of ice because I'm putting one of those snook in the box. I
run back
to Flamingo, and pole into this spot and the snook were going crazy!
They
were blasting bait so hard I could see them almost a hundred yards
away. I
fished my way in and caught one on a top water plug on the spinning
rod.
Then I got my fly rod out, tied on a deer hair popper and poled in
to these
fish. I caught another one just short of the slot. I catch another
one just
short. Then I finally hooked this nice fish that was just blasting
the bait
along the shore line. What a great strike on that popper! What a
tug-a-war!
I had to keep him out of the roots. He pulled the boat this way and
that
way. I finally got him up and netted that 30" snook (29 3/4").
Nice snook on
top water fly, and dinner! I got a couple self portraits too.
So I keep fishing this stretch of water for 5 hours.
It was awesome! the
snook keep blasting bait, and tarpon are rolling. I get a couple
short
strike by the tarpon, and just cannot hook one. I was having so much
fun. It
was beautiful. The Everglades at its best, and I got it all to myself.
I get
home at dark. I fuel up, and ask Linda at the Marlin gas station
if they are
still evacuating. Yep, they have issued total evacuation of all keys
residents - Bah Humbug!
Saturday morning, same forecast crap!!!! Going to
hit Sunday night maybe
Monday morning - now finally they concede. The Florida Keys are now
in
"total mandatory evacuation." Bull crap I tell my wife. We got all
of Sunday
to get ready - LET'S GO FISHING!
We pack the cooler and take off to the same spot.
The fish are not blasting
like they were the day before. She hooks a nice snook on a plug.
She has to
tease it. It takes her three strikes on the same cast to finally
hook it.
It's a nice one but just short. Her first snook on an artificial.
A little
later she hooks a nice tarpon on the same plug. What a jumper. Strong
short
runs to the mangrove roots. She stops it numerous times. She gets
it up
along side of the boat, I get a few photos, and it flips off before
I have
to get down to unhook it. We move spots, and I get back into this
creek. The
snook are blasting the bait, but I just can not get a strike from
one. I
catch a couple lady fish. We pole deep into this creek, its getting
dark,
she hooks a tarpon, snook are blasting, and two owls start hooting
at each
other - spectacular these Everglades and it is just an hour boat
ride from
my house. We get back at dark.
That night at the the Marlin gas station Linda confirms
what I believe,
Wilma is hitting Monday morning. Roads are vacant. I see the famous
painter
Milard Wells and his wife. I give him the fish report, he cracks
a big
smile, whispers good job. I know that must have touched his heart.
He is
famous for his dramatic water colors of fishing the flats with these
great
big Everglades thunderstorms in the background. I just gave him an
Everglades fish report while the whole Florida Keys are in a "total
mandatory evacuation." Hey there are a lot of us down here still
holding the
torch.
Only 20% of the residents evacuated. We had 110
mph gusts, and 5.5 feet of
surge in my neighborhood, but most houses are above this level. Only
one
house got water in it, an older house on the canal. My house is 22'
above
flood, 12' above at the garage. Houses facing the water got most
damage. The
further south the higher the flood, 6 - 8' I think. Flamingo had
13' surge,
I talked to a ranger. We are protected from the huge network of flats
which
act as flood gates on a hurricane coming from the west. We will be
totally
exposed to the full surge on a storm coming from the east.
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