Joe and I snuck out early this past Friday. The normally packed parking lot at Outdoor Resorts in Chokoloskee was completely deserted – the first time we’ve witnessed that despite years of fishing the Everglades. We unloaded the boat in silence, and on the water a thick sheet of fog added to the spooky atmosphere, small twisters rising into the air from the dark surface. Running across bays at 50 mph was to-the-bone cold, and we willed a gold sun to rise over Sunday Bay. A school of bottle-nose dolphin were the first signs of life we saw, languidly rolling at the smooth surface near a deep shoreline. Further down we saw a few gators hunkered down on muddy shorelines, obviously suffering ill effects from the recent cold front. (more…)