Most of Bradenton was asleep and dreaming when I pulled up to the locked gate that barred access to Jiggs Landing on the shore of Ward Lake (a/k/a Bill Evers Reservoir). Beeping my horn and flashing my lights, I knew I was signaling my presence to a small white Boston Whaler somewhere in the inky darkness. The lake is located south of State Road 70, approximately 6.5 miles from downtown Bradenton. It was created as a water source for the City of Bradenton in 1939 when a dam was constructed across the Braden River. The reservoir was expanded to almost 400 acres in 1986 and stores over 1.4 billion gallons of water.
Moments later, Andy “Doc” Lee appeared out of the darkness in his 13-foot Whaler, “Slow Poke.” Lee has been fishing the lake for 45 years and it would be safe to say that no one knows it better. I first met Lee in the late 80s when we formed the Manatee Chapter of the Florida Conservation Association (now CCA). Lee, who hails from upstate New York, started fly fishing at age 7 when his aunt gave him his first fly rod and a fly-tying kit. When he moved to the area in 1977, he called Bradenton Herald fishing editor Jerry Hill to learn about fly fishing locally. A friendship developed and Lee became a featured speaker and fly-tier at Hill’s Bradenton Herald Fishing College.
I did my first story on Lee for Florida Sportsman in 1996. That day we fished the Manatee River and caught an assortment of different species including a 15-pound snook, flounder, channel catfish, panfish and bass. The thing that attracted me to Lee in the first place, besides the fact he catches a lot of fish, was his innovative methods and handmade flies.
We fished for bluegills and redear sunfish (shellcrackers) on three-weight fly outfits. Lee rigged me up at the ramp with an 8-foot, 4-pound leader, strike indicator and a “flutter” fly he developed. After motoring to a nearby shoreline where the river enters the lake, he showed me how to fish the rig and soon we were catching hand-sized panfish. Over the four hours, Lee moved several times to areas of grass where the panfish congregate. He triangulates the spots from landmarks on shore and then verifies the location on a fish finder. While the fishing wasn’t “hot,” according to Lee, we did manage to land over a dozen fish that he would clean for dinner.
As we were headed in, Lee said I had a good chance of meeting Fred and the fish-eating squirrel back at the ramp. Noticing the puzzled look on my face, he explained. For the last few years, Lee has been greeted at the ramp by a red-shouldered hawk he named Fred who loves fish carcasses. Another frequent “greeter” was a squirrel that also loves the remains of the fish he cleaned. On cue, Fred was sitting on a nearby fence when we returned and waited patiently as Lee cleaned fish. When he was done, he flipped the remains on the ground and Fred swooped in for breakfast. The only thing missing that day was the fish-eating squirrel, but Lee invited me back for another chance. I accepted right away; after all, how often do you get to meet a fish-eating squirrel?
