Looking for an opportunity to catch a variety of fish, and lots of them? If you live in South Florida, you don’t have to look very far.
While anglers around the country sing the praises of Lake Okeechobee, some of the best fishing in Florida can be found in a canal near you.
“That’s what I like about this area,” said Mark Reich, who lives in unincorporated Fort Lauderdale. “It’s full of canals and you can fish just about anywhere.”
Reich, 29, has been fishing area canals for the past 17 years. He doesn’t own a bass boat and really doesn’t need one. When he goes fishing, he sticks three rods in the back of his Jeep, fills an aerated cooler with some wild shiners and heads for any one of several dozen canals. If the fishing is slow one place, he jumps in the Jeep and tries another spot.
“A lot of times, driving around, if I see a spot, I’ll mark it on my map — I put a little star there — and use that for future reference,” Reich said. “I hang around tackle shops, and when someone says where they caught a big bass, I’ll mark it on my map.”
What makes for a good fishing hole? Chances are if it has water, it has fish. In addition to canals, ponds and lakes in housing developments and golf courses harbor fish. Species include largemouth bass, bluegills, speckled perch (crappie), catfish, shellcrackers, oscars, snook and even tarpon.
“Just because you walk up to a canal and it’s a narrow one, a lot of people think there’s no fish in there. That’s not true,” said Lori Borini of Denny’s Bass Shop in Margate, which just last month weighed in a 10-pound bass caught in a canal.
“Look for little minnows. If you see something scatter from the edge when you walk up, that’s a definite sign of fish. Where there’s bait, there’s bigger fish.
“Look for cover — culvert pipes, overhanging trees, rocks, lily pads. Fish relate to cover. If you see birds hanging out, that means there’s food there for them. They’re not going to sit there for no reason.”
The best baits and lures depend on what you’re after. Reich has one rod rigged for fishing plastic worms, an ultra-light outfit for little spinnerbaits and a heavy-duty rod for plugs and shiners. Cane poles used with shiners or live worms will catch all kinds of fish. Youngsters with spincast outfits and white bread can catch bluegills and oscars all day.
For bass, wild shiners are hard to beat. They also catch snook and tarpon. Wild shiners are preferred over domestic shiners because, having dealt with bass before, they get nervous when in their vicinity. That nervousness often triggers strikes from bass.
“A lot of people get discouraged when they go fishing. They don’t get anything and they move,” Borini said. “Bass are going to strike, No. 1 out of hunger, No. 2 out of anger. Sometimes you have to present a shiner more than one time in a particular spot.
The bass are definitely sitting there. If you can’t get them to eat because they’re hungry, get them to eat out of anger.”
Shiners require some care. For starters, they must be acclimated to the water in which you’re fishing. Take your bait bucket, dump out some of the water from the bait shop and add some water from the canal. Do this several times, until the water in the bucket is about the same temperature as the canal.
