Evening star., 1941-01-20
Fishermun's Paradise in Vast
Florida Wilderness Planned
As National Park Area

mess of mangrove swamp. A country
where anything can happen and
usually does: the last refuge of great
flocks of tropical birds. including
the great curleW. and possibly the
home of the last flock of famingos
in the continental United States
A country where oysters grow on
trees. where you can row boat
alongside the mangrove and pick
the toothsome bivalve from the
woods. Where giant, uncouth. pre-
historic animals inhabit the waters
Alligators. sharks. giant Sawfish
monster jewish, and even the great
whale shark. follow the water trails
into what eventually will become
a national park.
Little of the untamed country in
the proposed park can be visited by
motor or on foot. Along the coast,
in the Ten Thousand Islands area,
a man hardly could walk a mile
through the tangled mass of man
grove roots. If he did, and lodged
the poisonous snakes, and didn't
drown, he wouldn't last long. And
if the mosquitoes didn't drive him
crazy.
Fine Fishing in Area.
The area 10 be included in the
park takes in the entire Cape Sable
country, including the three canes
and parts Of Monroe and Collier
/ Counties. 1t also takes in Key Largo
o0G Opa or ty-o ep,oO uoye ~, ,La
east. and runs short distance north
of the Tamiami Trail the 285-mile
motor road cut through the heart.
of the Everglades from Miami to
Tampa, south of Lake Okeechobee
1t includes large part of the finest
fishing country in the United States,
an area where fishermen in the
know go for early, middle and late
tarpon.
Between Turkey Key and Lost
mans River and Flamingo, a little
fishing village east of Cape Sable,
you won't see human being. unless
he goes there in boat For the
only way to get into that country is
by boat, and by shallow-draft craft
at that. Only a few of the rivers
have any depth. Several projects
to establish modern fishing camps
have been launched All have been
/ defeated by the twin devils of in
accessibility and mosquitoes. 1t
hardly would be possible to eradicate
mosquitoes from the entire territory.
so vast is it.
/ TarpOn Found All Year.
"Tarpon breed far up the rivers in
this country said Victor Brown
Everglades City taxidecmist You
can find small tarpon in the rivers
at any time Of the year. And you'll
find few in the Shark River coun-
try in any month. But the big ones
generally start coming in around
early March"
Few of the anglers who 90 South
after the big game fish of the ocean
have been in the Shark River coun-
try, as that territory in the Ten
Thousand Islands south of Lost
mans River, is called It isn't an
easy trip. by any means. You leave
Everglades City on a bright morn
ing, your boat loaded with bait. ice
and provisions for tour of from two
days to a week. Your craft is a
shallow-draft cruiser, heavily DOW
cred, with ample cockpit space for
fighting giant fish. You cruise down
the coast through brilliant sunshine,
in shallow water averaging 3 or 4
feet in deOth, where seasickness
never has been known. Three or
four hours later you arrive at the
mouth Of the Rodgers and Broad
Rivers. two tidal rivers whose
mouths are the same,
There you may start fishing. Big
tarp frequent both rivers. They also
hang out in Lostman's, Lopez,
Aliens, Harney's, Shark Gall nine
branches). Little Sable. Big Sable,
and every salt water creek that goes
back into the 'GladeS.
Alligators Become Wary.
| Away up in the back country, 25
miles from the Gulf, where you can
catch small tarpon on one cast and
black bass on another, I've seen
bobcats and bear. and alligator
slides The gators themselves are
not easy to see. Hide hunters have
made them wary of the sounds of a
boat. You can. if you are venture
some, push away back in the head
waters of these rivers up into fresh
water, And still find tarpon. Small
ones, but tarpon nevertheless. The
big boys hang around the mouths
of the rivers. waiting for the tide to
bring their food down.
You live on the boat. There's no
place to land anywhere in this re-
gion, except picturesque Tussock
Key, little plam-covered islet: or
the Banana Patch, where some set
tier tried to make a 90 Of it, and
was driven away by mosquitoes. You
couldn't walk anywhere In the coun-