"Darwin's Theory" .....The evolution of good fishing

Having a fisherman who lives across the street from me is great, but having a fisherman who is also a fellow guide as a neighbor is even better. Darwin Berry is a fishing guide in the Chippewa Flowage, Hayward, Wisconsin. In the summer time, he guides Crappie and Muskie fishermen, and in the winter, he takes anglers to where we went today...The Inter Coastal Waterway near Naples, Florida.

After a brief stop at the bait shop for some shrimp, we were underway out of Bayview Landing in Darwin's spotless, high-powered Flats boat. Darwin had scoped out the most precise tide info and we took a fast ride to Henderson Creek area. After a few decelerations in the protected Manatee zones, he dropped the trolling motor and we began to cast over shallow oyster bars. Darwin eased us along where the tidal current flowed and we cast to the Mangrove roots and over the Oyster bars

I wasn't at all surprised when Darwin hooked the first fish on a live shrimp. He's an expert with light spinning tackle and has a deft touch and feel, and he knows precisely where to cast.

Dar was surprised though, when I hooked up on several Snook, a couple of Jacks, the Trout to the left, and for a while, I was actually keeping up with the "Pro", using my Clousers and Puglisi's on a clear sink intermediate line. I had a blast!

The bite continued and we probed all the nearby shoreline, eventually making our way to places that Darwin had memorized. He began to really hammer the fish. One very large Snook gave him a real battle. Eventually the Snook broke off, cutting the line on the roots. A true monster, we estimated the Snook to be well over 35-inches.

The capper of the day came after we had lunch and while we were lazily fishing a nearby cove, Darwin mentioned that this cove was a good place for Redfish. Just after he said that, he hooked the beautiful Red pictured. A capper for the Capt.!!!

In all, we landed 25 fish including Lady Fish, Trout, Snapper, Catfish, Jack, Snook, Red Fish and Sheepshead. That's 8 species!

If you want a charter trip with Darwin, his Florida Email is darverberry@msn.com