everglades | The Filson Journal

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Casting in The Everglades with Flip Pallot

He calls it “the report card.” It’s the shape of the flyline as it comes over your shoulder on the forward cast, and unrolls out there in the distance, for all the world to see.
“The flyline will tell you all you need to know about your cast,” Flip Pallot instructs. Whether or not you have moved the tip of the flyrod in a straight line. Whether or not you stopped your backcast abruptly enough. Whether or not you applied acceleration at the right time or the wrong time. “Mistakes you make on this end of the rod,” Pallot says, patting the fly reel, “are magnified on the other end of the rod.” Meaning the line, and the fly, and where these two dozen Flip Pallot acolytes hope it lands.

3 Min

Profiles

Law Enforcement on Airboats: Patrol, Pursuit, and Rescue

The widespread use of airboats is nothing new for the Florida Everglades. But their 20th century applications have grown beyond pleasure boaters seeking access to these remote areas, subsistence fishermen or hunters, and commercial tour operators. The airboat in the 21st century has become a widespread tool of law enforcement to combat illegal activity, ranging from drug smuggling, illegal dumping, animal cruelty, and illegal border crossings.

3 Min

Profiles

The Rod & Gun Club, Everglades City

The isolated location and the private trappings of the club’s reputation have led the rich and famous to seek it out over the years. Five presidents, from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon, have enjoyed its luxuries and opportunities for both fishing and shooting. Hemingway moored his fishing boat Pilar here, en-route to catch 1,000-pound Blue marlin.

3 Min

Profiles

Python Bounty Hunter: Donna Kalil

The snakes that she’s hunting are the result of a good idea gone wrong. In the 1970s, the first Burmese pythons were imported from overseas as pets. They were a hit, and their numbers grew due to breeding programs and increased imports (importation has been banned since 2012). Released into the wild by their owners, they discovered an Eden in the Florida Everglades region, a place filled with food where they thrived. An apex predator, their only competition is large American crocodiles, alligators, and Florida panthers, and even those creatures can succumb to the pythons; nothing seems to stop them. The only other thing that can kill them in the wild is an extended hard freeze, which rarely happens this far south. They quickly took to the waterways and started to feed, and feed, and feed.

5 Min