An experiment in pole-and-troll rules for Florida Bay flats likely will take shape near Flamingo.</p><p>Tuesday before the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, Everglades National Park staff outlined a proposal to create a pilot pole-and-troll zone in Snake Bight, near the park's visitor center at Flamingo.</p><p>Dave Hallac, the park's chief biologist, told the council the zone could be created in about a year, after final plans are approved and markers installed.</p><p>While Snake Bight has not been confirmed as the location for a test zone, sanctuary advisors said it appears Everglades staff is focused on the site for a prototype area.</p><p>"We got the impression that they're locked and loaded for Snake Bight," said Jim Trice, a sanctuary advisor who is active in Florida Bay sportfishing issues.</p><p>Everglades planners could not be reached at press time. But members of the sanctuary advisory group praised the plan.</p><p>"We're very pleased to see the park working to get a zone up and going" before the park finishes its new general management plan, said Jason Bennis, South Florida marine program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.</p><p>"It's a great opportunity to learn what works and what doesn't so the park can use that" in writing new rules for Florida Bay, Bennis said. "We'll see whether these kinds of zones can reduce seagrass damage in the bay."</p><p>Everglades National Park staff is updating its management plan for the first time in decades. Managers have suggested adding new protective rules to protect Florida Bay's shallow flats from an increase in boating damage.</p><p>One of the management proposals would create a network of pole-and-troll zones in shallow areas. Boaters would be required to use only electric trolling motors or push poles to navigate the designated flat.</p><p>An ad hoc group of bay anglers and guides, including Trice, wrote their own detailed proposal, called Alternative E, for bay management. One of the key recommendations was to establish a prototype pole-and-troll zone in the Snake Bight area to test the concept before the management plan is finished in 2011.</p><p>Alternative E backers recommended Snake Bight "because it's the most abused flat out there," Trice said. "It's not the most scarred, but is the area most prone to disruption because of more and more uneducated boaters."</p><p>The Sanctuary Advisory Council also urged the national park to establish a test pole-and-troll area but preferred Garfield Bight, just east of Snake Bight.</p><p>Hallac told the council that Snake Bight would be easier to monitor from Flamingo, and has a maximum no-motor distance of 1.8 miles from an approved navigation channel, shorter than the maximum in Garfield Bight.</p><p>Park staff "said they looked at four locations but only showed us charts of Snake Bight," Bennis said. "I assume that's the direction they're going."</p><p>Snake Bight is a popular spot for anglers to seek flats fish like tarpon, snook and trout. Some areas of the shallow flat "are bone dry" during summer low tides, Trice said.</p><p>Boating channels on the western and southern edges of the area would let fishermen get relatively close to their favorite fishing holes, Trice said.</p><p>"I'm kind of surprised that [the proposed zone] is as big as it is," Trice said, "but it's got some access, which is what we asked for."</p><p>Richard Grathwohl of the Marathon Guides Association said the proposal appears to satisfy many concerns raised by guides.</p><p>"In the old days, nobody ever motored through Snake Bight. They had more respect," Grathwohl said. "And they really didn't want to upset [pioneer bay guides] Cecil Keith and Jimmie Albright."