December 2023

As if Covid and RSV infections are not enough to deal with, now south Florida saltwater anglers must grapple with another dreaded illness that has no known permanent cure: MANGROVE MADNESS!! Unfortunately, one of the vicissitudes of a life of fishing in the Everglades is the extreme likelihood that one will eventually contract this pernicious disease. How do you determine if you are afflicted? Common symptoms include repeatedly attempting to make nearly impossible long casts to tarpon hiding under overhanging mangrove branches or in log-infested, narrow backcountry creeks.

Another sure manifestation is venturing into claustrophobic mangrove tunnels filled with numerous snags, clutching branches, and sticky spider webs in search of elusive snook.

Fortunately, when I contracted this wicked malady, I immediately sought medical attention. The good news, my doctor informed me, was that the latest scientific piscatorial research reveals that, as he put it quite succinctly, “the tug is the drug.” In other words, it is curable only by catching and releasing prodigious numbers of truculent snook and high-flying tarpon in mangrove jungles and other infested overgrown locations.

Actually, I would later learn that there really is no cure. However, intensive on-the-water treatment several times a week reportedly can forestall deadly relapses. I urge all my fishing colleagues in the Everglades to take appropriate action to prevent succumbing to this mind-bending disease!!