High & Dry

Interested in taking up backcountry fishing? Well, you better do your homework before you hit Florida Bay or any other shallow-water estuary for that matter, or the only thing that you’ll be going home with is a damaged outboard motor and a hefty fine! Observing the following guidelines will insure your days on the water are both safe and successful.

We’ve said it before; Florida Bay is not for the faint of heart. To uninitiated boaters, Florida Bay appears to be a backcountry paradise intermingled with small islands and teeming with big fish. What they don’t realize is that lurking just below the serene surface, hundreds of shallow sea grass banks are just waiting to entangle careless boaters.

In reality, Florida Bay is comprised of dozens of individual basins which are dissected by shallow mud banks and connected by winding passes. These very passes are actually the gatekeepers of Florida Bay - permitting fishermen, wildlife and water to intermingle between the basins. Boaters who aren’t aware of this simple fact can easily find themselves left standing high and dry in only a few inches of water. Each year, Everglades National Park Rangers investigate over 80 boat groundings. Over time, sea grass damage from these careless groundings has totaled over 10,000 acres. Fortunately, there are some simple things you can do to prepare yourself before heading out to play on your favorite bay.

Every professional fishing guide who prowls Florida Bay will tell you that the most important thing to remember when navigating this or any other shallow-waterway is to use your eyes – eyes enhanced by a quality pair of polarized sunglasses. Sure, this may sound easy enough, but when you take into account that an increasing number of 30 to 40 foot boats run aground in the shallows of Florida Bay every year, and that authorities tell us most of those boats had a GPS/chart-plotter onboard but the operator didn’t know how to maximize its use, and suddenly what sounds “easy enough,” isn’t such a surprise.

We’ve learned that a common misconception is that electronic charts are always incredibly precise. Your chart plotter is only as good as the chip you put in it and even then, electronic charts for Florida Bay and other skinny water estuaries are rarely updated to reflect changes in the bottom. Just because the plotter tells you that a channel is present, you should really use your own two eyes to verify that it is. After severe storms, new cuts and passes open up, old ones close and shoals move around. Only your own vision can reveal these changes. Obvious signs of dangerously skinny water no more than two or three inches deep include mangrove seedlings, wading birds and a calm patch in a surrounding chop. In an effort to protect the environment and your investment, avoid these areas at all cost. A safe rule of thumb is to use a GPS/chart-plotter to get you in the neighborhood, but then let your eyes lead you through the front door.

Tides are a very important factor in shallow backcountry bays, too, especially in Florida Bay. You can be comfortably fishing at one minute and left high and dry on an exposed bar the very next. When tides change, flats drain quickly, so be extremely mindful of the precise tidal phase. The highest and lowest tides occur during full and new moon periods, though backcountry water levels also change with season – as much as a foot higher during the summer wet season and a foot lower during the dry season. Your chart plotter doesn’t tell you that. These depth changes are even more pronounced during the winter. As northerly cold fronts blow through, they push water out of the northern parts of Florida Bay - leaving many previously submerged flats dry as a bone.

The way you navigate Florida Bay or your own favorite backcountry waterway is essential. However, the type of vessel you head into the shallows with can be even more critical. In general, to safely reach the vast majority of backcountry areas, a shallow drafted flats skiff in the 15 ft. to 19 ft. range is the most appropriate. Flats skiffs have been specifically designed for this sort of use and typically draw less than ten inches of water, but they do need as much as three feet of water to get up on plane without causing any damage to the fragile bay floor. A 17 ft. to 22 ft. bay boat may feature a deeper “V” than a typical flats skiff, but with a draft of only 10- to 16-inches, they are still suitable for exploring most of Florida Bay other than the most shallow of flats. Boats over 25 feet in length are sometimes seen in the backcountry, but really have no place here and are usually the same vessels you later see run aground.

The above are only some basic guidelines. It’s up to you to know the limits of your vessel and how much water it drafts so you can make an informed decision about where to go. The capabilities of your particular boat can vary widely depending on the size of its engine, the make and model of the craft, how large the fuel tank is and even how many passengers you have onboard. One thing is for sure, you can also take initiative to reduce potential damage to the vulnerable sea floor by installing trim tabs and using them wisely. Fully deployed, trim tabs keep your bow down and your propeller pointed away from the bottom.

What happens when you cross a careless boater and an unfamiliar waterway, high and dry in the Florida Bay mangroves 

A roadmap to success;

If you’re new to Florida Bay, start by picking up a complementary copy of The Florida Bay Map and Guide. Park staff worked diligently with the Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association to develop a road map of sorts for FloridaBay that the average boater could easily read hand-in-hand with a nautical chart (NOAA chart #11451). While the commercial chart has passes marked on it which help you navigate from point A to point B, what it doesn’t tell you is that not all of the passes in Florida Bay are created equal. They all look alike on paper, but in reality, while one pass may be relatively deep and easy to navigate, the next may be very shallow, winding and completely inappropriate for your particular vessel. This is where The Florida Bay Map and Guide comes into play by allowing you to compare passes and navigable channels using a color-coded system based on draft and experience level. Similar to a trail map for a ski resort, the passes are ranked from beginner to advanced. The Florida Bay Map and Guide also provides valuable information from local experts who have been navigating these waters for decades. You can pick up a copy of the guide free of charge at 50 bait & tackle shops, marine stores and marinas between Homestead and Marathon. You can also download a copy right from the comfort of your home at www.NPS.GOV/ever.

Despite even the best laid plans, someday you will likely find yourself aground in Florida Bay or your favorite waterway. How to react is what separates the novices from the professionals. The first thing to do is STOP! Do not try to power off. This will only make the situation worse and potentially result in more damage to your boat or motor and a potentially larger fine. Instead, turn your engine off, trim it up and inspect for obvious signs of damage. Once the mud settles, get out and check to see if you are hard aground with a freshly mowed strip of grass behind you or lightly aground where the boat will push free. If you can easily push the boat to deeper water, do so, and count your blessings. If not, resist the urge to call a friend, and instead call a professional towing company to re-float your rig. The towing company will call Park Rangers to inspect the damage. If you follow these tips and react accordingly, you will not only reduce the wear-and-tear on your prized possession, but you will reduce the damage to the sea floor. Trust me; Park Rangers know the difference between a responsible boater and an irresponsible boater who tried to power off a flat. The difference in the amount of damage – and the fine you receive – will be obvious. Fines and court costs for grounding cases run from $175.00 to over $100,000.00 depending on the severity and the blatant disregard for the precious environment.

Now that you know the appropriate kind of boat for Florida Bay, how to plan safe passage to your favorite fishing spots and what to do if you run aground, do you know how to conduct yourself once you get there? There are two rules of etiquette; being courteous of your fellow fishermen, and being courteous to nature. You can help make your own experiences and those of others more enjoyable by keeping a few important things in mind. Provide other fishermen plenty of elbow room – particularly those poling the flats. If you can read the name of someone’s boat, you are too close. Also, be mindful of anglers fishing the edges of channels. If you blow by them at full speed, you could knock the angler, the guide or both overboard, so slow down when passing.

While it’s important to respect other users, it’s equally important to respect the ecosystem and the wildlife that make up Florida Bay. Every time someone runs aground, a scar is cut into the sea grass bed, destroying prime habitat for shrimp, crabs, lobster and juvenile fish. It can take sea grass up to ten years to recolonize one small area. Do your part to prevent adding to the carnage.

When running through channels, remember that endangered animals such as manatees, sea turtles and crocodiles, along with dolphins and sharks utilize these same routes to travel between basins. Slow it down and keep a sharp eye out for all of these creatures. During the winter, dozens of species of birds, including the roseate spoonbill, bald eagle and osprey, come to Florida Bay to feed and nest. If you are fishing a shoreline or mangrove island and flush birds that look agitated, you have likely disturbed a nesting colony, leaving helpless chicks exposed to hungry predators. By moving down the shoreline or away from the island, you can help the birds return to their duties of ushering in the next generation. Inshore fishing guides readily admit that their clients enjoy the wildlife as much as the fishing in Florida Bay. There are few other places in the world that offer such incredible fishing experiences surrounded by such natural beauty.

Like many of Florida’s shallow water estuaries, Florida Bay is full of skinny water, submerged hazards and optical illusions. It is not a place for the faint of heart or the fool-hardy. Do your homework before hitting the Bay and your day will be filled with bent rods and screaming drags rather than a damaged lower unit and a hefty fine.

reckless boaters can do damage to fragile shallow grass beds that could take years to repair 

A line to live by…

Remember the old saying when navigating shallow water. “Brown…Brown…Run Aground! White…White…You Just Might! Blue…Blue…Sail on Through! Green…Green…Nice and Clean!”