The bass fishing in the Everglades isn't easy this time of year, but the rewards can be great for those who have the discipline to cast giant plastic snakes over and over and over again.
That's how Dean Belits and Justin Falzetti won the prestigious King of the Glades Open Team Trail Classic last month, and that's how they'll be catching fish this summer.
"A lot of people throw them," said Belits, who uses 16-inch snakes made by his father, Ken, "but they throw them for 10 minutes at a time, then put them down.
"You've got to keep throwing it. Usually you'll get a good bite."
Belits, 28, and Falzetti, 29, who have fished together since they were in the eighth grade, were patient enough to land five good bites weighing a total of 24.7 pounds out of Everglades Holiday Park to earn the title of Kings of the Glades.
It was the second Classic win for Belits and the first for Falzetti. They beat out defending champs Rodd Sayler and Steven Forssell by almost three pounds.
That day was typical of snake fishing. Belits and Falzetti, both of Sunrise, caught a 4-pounder in the first hour, then nothing for the next two hours.
Within a 10-minute span, they caught two 6-pounders, "then it was slow for a long time," Falzetti said.
They ended up catching seven or eight keepers in all. Falzetti landed the last fish, which was one of their biggest, at 2 p.m. Belits said they also missed some fish, including "a couple of giants. We had some huge bites but never got the hook in them."
Using such a big lure requires that you give a bass time to eat it. Falzetti said he and Belits "give it a good 15 seconds" before they set the hook.
The fishing in the L-67A Canal out of Holiday Park, Fla., two weeks ago was similar. Belits and Falzetti made repeated casts with the snake, although one of them would occasionally pitch a jig into the lily pads lining the canals.
They'd catch a fish, then go without a bite for a while, then they'd get a flurry of bites. Several times they saw the wake of a fish following their snake right up to the boat, but the bass wouldn't hit the lure.
Both men changed up their retrieves to see what the bass preferred.
"Sometimes they want it really fast, sometimes they want it slower," said Falzetti, who installs fire alarm systems. "Sometimes they grab it off the pads, sometimes in the pads."
The scorching heat of summer in South Florida is when bass love to eat snakes the most. Belits, who is a general contractor, said he and Falzetti have caught bass that spit out real snakes when they brought the fish into the boat.
"As long as it's hot, they'll definitely eat it," said Belits, who was shown how to fish snakes by fellow tournament fisherman Leo DeVega. "You can probably catch them for a couple of more months."
In addition to the southern stretch of the L-67A Canal, one of the better areas to fish snakes is the canal along the north side of Alligator Alley near the mile marker 41 boat ramp, especially at night.
Belits said the snakes that his father makes for him and Falzetti _ he doesn't sell them _ have the perfect combination of scent and hardness. The durability is important when they're repeatedly dragging the fake snakes through lily pads.
They fish the snakes on 7-foot, 2-inch Xtra Heavy Falcon baitcasting rods with 65-pound braided line and 5-0 Gamakatsu hooks.
It's a lot of long casts and a lot of reeling for a handful of bites, but if you have the perseverance to do it, that's how you become tournament bass fishing royalty.
