Riverbend Park fishing, 12/20-2013

Went up to Riverbend Park near Jupiter, Florida yesterday.  First time I've been there in quite a while. The river that "bends" through the park is the Loxahatchee at its northern end, close to where it feeds into the ocean.  The Loxhatchee itself up there actually has some pretty good fishing - last year I caught a small tarpon not far from the canoe/kayak rental launch.  But I like to take my kayak back into what I call the cypress swamp, which sits off to the side of the river.  It consists of a series of small lakes and what are called "sloughs." I've had good luck on one of these lakes called Cowpen and intended to fish it yesterday.   During the latter part of the spring and for much of the summer this area is inaccessible due to low water.  But after the rainy season it all fills back up and you can get back into areas that hold some pretty nice largemouth bass.  It's rained a lot here recently so I thought I'd be OK.  But before leaving home in the morning, I called the kayak/canoe rental place and was assured there was plenty of water back there now.

I pulled into the kayak launch area around 10 a.m.  It was a bit cool, the sky was overcast and there was no wind, which was pretty unusual for this time of year, as storms up north tend to stir things up down here.  I took the water's temperature - 70 degrees, pretty cool for south Florida.  Bass seem to like the cooler temperatures at this time of year because it tells them they need to start feeding in preparation for nest building and spawning, which starts to occur in a few weeks.  As I slid my kayak into the water I was thinking today ought to be pretty good for fishing.  Of course, you never really know about that until you get out on the water and start casting.

I pedaled my Hobie Pro Angler around what's called the "picnic loop" and got out onto the main Loxahatchee.  Then it was just a short cruise down to the spot where you pull over to shore, get out of the kayak and haul it up and over a berm that separates the river from the cypress swamp.  I'm glad I bought the two-wheeled cart as an accessory for my Pro Angler.  It fits into slots behind my seat and I can lift it out and fit it under the kayak to help portage it from the trailer to the water or up and over barriers, such as that dirt berm between the Lox and the cypress swamp.

Once over the berm and back in the kayak I saw that there was two or three feet of water beneath me. However, in that first slough there are spots where cypress stumps, or "knees" as they're called, protrude from the water.  These could damage the Pro Angler's Mirage Drive pedal system, which extends below the kayak for about 18 inches.  So while passing through the sloughs I generally pull the Mirage Drive up out of its well and use a conventional paddle to propel myself along.

Once you get back into those sloughs, finding your way through them can be a challenge.  I've got a map from the Park Service, which shows how to find your way to various places back in the cypress swamp.  However, only some of the sloughs are visible on the map.  I suppose these are the largest ones, but once you get back among them, it's hard to tell those on the map from those that aren't.  I've been to Cowpen Lake at least half a dozen times and always make several wrong turns before I finally find my way back there.  Yesterday was no exception.  I checked the map before I set off and saw clearly that I needed to turn off Old River Run Slough to the left just after passing beneath the first foot bridge that I came to.  Well, I did that, but still managed to get lost for about 30 minutes, until I found my way back to the slough that led to Cowpen Lake.

I thought by then the sun would have burned through the clouds, as it typically does here by mid-morning.  That never happened - the sky stayed overcast all day long.  But maybe the lack of sunshine also contributed to the lack of wind, which for me was a positive.  It's much easier to fly cast and maneuver a small boat as a fishing platform when you're not being blown hither and yon.  In my experience, windless days here in south Florida between November and May are pretty rare.

I started off throwing a surface popper with my fly rod.  I had a couple hits from what looked like bluegill, whose mouths were too small to swallow the size 4 popper I was using.  I was pretty sure there were bass along the weedy shoreline where I was casting; they just weren't at all interested in my popper.  They must have been aware of this bug-sized object gurgling along on the surface above them but they just ignored it.

So after an hour or so I switched to spinning tackle and a black plastic worm, which I've found will catch bass anywhere.  I pedaled back into a small cove off the main lake where last year at this time I caught a five pound largemouth.  I didn't pull in any fish that big yesterday but within a few minutes of switching to the worm I had my first bass of the day.  Two more followed quickly after that one.

Assured that there were actually fish in the water where I was casting, and that they would eat, I went back to the fly-rod.  I've found that bass in that lake become more active as the day wears on, possibly because the water begins to warm from the sun.  That never did happen yesterday and I gave up on the fly rod a second time and went back to the worm.

By this point I was fishing the main lake and I noticed lots of fish--possibly bluegill--rising in the open water between a small island and the western shoreline of the lake. I decided it was time for the fly rod again.  I threw my popper in that area and didn't raise a fish.  I thought:  if these are bluegill, maybe I should downsize my fly so they can get it in their mouths.  Sometimes I'd rather catch bluegill on a fly rod than bass on spinning tackle.   I snipped off the size 4 and tied on a size 8 (with fishing flies, a larger number means a smaller fly).  Well, I caught three fish in five minutes - two bass and a bluegill. Clearly, they wanted something smaller than what I'd been throwing.

I stayed with that small popper for the rest of the afternoon.  I caught the biggest fish of the day on it, when I worked the popper slowly over an area where the tips of some submerged grass protruded from the water. I wasn't catching fish on every cast but on every cast there was a possibility that a fish would attack it, which is all you really need.

As we're now getting to that time of year when each day gets shorter than the previous one, I noted around three o'clock that already I was starting to lose the light, as the sun never had managed to dissipate the clouds.  Having gotten lost that morning on my way to Cowpen, I was a little concerned that the same thing might happen on the way back to the kayak launch.  The Park itself closes at sunset (around 5:30), when the gates are locked shut until the following morning, and anyone still in the Park would have a tough time getting out.  I still had two and a half hours to find my way to my vehicle, but as the afternoon wore on I started thinking more and more about heading back.  Around 3:50 a bass came up and ate my popper and I decided then that it would be a good idea to finish the day with a fish caught on what would be my last cast.

For some reason, I've never gotten lost on that maze of sloughs when I'm leaving Cowpen Lake (although I do tend to worry about it).  The way back to the Loxahatchee always seems obvious on the return journey.  I timed the trip back:  40 minutes from Cowpen to the kayak launch, including another hump up and over the berm between the swamp and the river.

I'll take a day like yesterday anytime.  Nothing huge, not fish on every cast, but enough action to keep me hopeful.  Most of the fish I caught had come on the fly rod, and all of those had hit a surface fly, which is always a lot of fun.  One park worker had buzzed around Cowpen in a jon boat with a trolling motor, doing I know not what.   He was the only person I saw on the water all day.

I shot some video of yesterday's trip and am trying to include it with this blog post but it doesn't seem to be uploading.  If it doesn't show up here, you can view it on youtube at:    http://youtu.be/t1NPPnmMgP8

To see more of my writing about fishing, check out my e-book TRUSTING THE RIVER, available for Kindle on Amazon.com.  Here's the link to that:

http://www.amazon.com/TRUSTING-THE-RIVER-Jim-Witham-ebook/dp/B00EBWELOE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386086241&sr=8-1&keywords=trusting+the+river