Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2017 i Florida Sportsman

"The doors to reallocation have long been rusted shut." Now that's a strong and welcome one-liner coming as it does from the marine recreational fishing community. The indictment of our largely broken federal fisheries system is part of what should be a policy manifesto for the future. It's titled "A Vision for Marine Fisheries Management in the 21st Century: Priorities for a new Administration." The new report by the Center for Coastal Conservation and allied interests calls for modernization of a saltwater management machine that has been tainted by outdated preferences for large commercial takings, at the expense of the public good and economic well-being. In short, rusted shut. Not that these thoughts are new for those of us who have been wailing for so many moons against commercial bias…

Growing numbers of anglers are renting boats to get their fishing fix on the water. Many boat rental companies now offer center consoles and flats boats, rigged with features like livewells, life jackets, poling platforms and electronics. Most companies rent boats with full tanks of fuel and the customer fills the tank on return. Be sure to ask about what your rental includes and doesn’t include, and what to do and who to call in case there’s an equipment failure while at sea. Anyone born on or after January 1, 1988, who operates a vessel powered by 10 horsepower or more must pass an approved boater safety course and have in his/her possession photographic identification and a boating safety education identification card issued by the FWC or temporary certificate issued…

Before dawn on opening morning of small game season, several parties of hunters crossed the bridge spanning Blackwater Creek in Seminole State Forest Wildlife Management Area northwest of Sanford. They wanted to find a spot to sit in the forests before shooting hours began. Just over the bridge, my son Steven and I stopped and watched the others continue going up the dusty roads. Alone, we waited for a little light to begin filtering through the trees before launching our canoe. With my son in the bow and me in the stern, we headed up the creek. Gliding along silently, we passed nearly impenetrable thickets of palmetto, briars, vines and other brush growing on the bank. Nothing could walk through that thick growth and over the crisp, crackling leaves without…

Offshore anglers from Deerfield Beach south to Ocean Reef can expect sailfish to be in good numbers almost every day. The sailfish will almost always bite better when the wind is blowing from a north quadrant so target these special fish just after a cold front has pushed through the area. The majority of the sailfish fleet will fish live goggle-eye jacks, large thread-fin herring, horse pilchards and medium size blue runners from under a kite that keeps the live baitfish struggling on the surface. That struggling baitfish will not only attract the sailfish but also dolphin fish of all sizes, wahoo, blackfin tuna, kingfish, an occasional yellowfin tuna and plenty of sharks. Some of the best action will take place around artificial wrecks that are in depths between 120…

You’ve got to love sheepshead. They’ll bite on the most bluster y days, even when the water is muck y from winter winds. The fishing for them is at its best precisely when most of our winter visitors are in town. This is almost exclusively a bait fishery with sand fleas, tubeworms, fiddler crabs and shrimp the top choices of most anglers. The piers at Placida, El Jobean and Sanibel and the Boca Grande Phosphate Dock are all famous for sheepshead, but during peak season there are at least a few fish under almost every dock along the ICW and on every patch of rocks along the beach as they school for their spawning run. Black drum, including fish over 40 pounds, are ganged up under the major bridges and…

In the winter months South Florida usually commands the sailfish spotlight. But hold on. There are years when East Central Florida waters outside Sebastian Inlet and Port Canaveral offer some pretty decent numbers of the spindlebeaks. When strong cold fronts bring rough ocean conditions and pull down water temperatures, the sailfish will run south toward Stuart and the Palm Beaches and sponsors of the prestigious tournaments are happy as clams. On the other hand, if our temperatures remain on the mild side in January and February a good percentage of the sails will postpone, even cancel, their run for warmer climes. They’re very comfortable right here, thank you. The result can be some fun fishing outside Sebastian and as far north as Pelican Flats east and southeast of Canaveral. It’s…

The Panhandle in January is a sportsman’s paradise for those looking in the right areas. There are very few places where you can hunt ducks in the a.m., catch redfish and trout during the day and sit in a deer stand in the evening. The Panhandle of Florida is a great place to do all this and January is definitely the time. The hard part will be deciding where to go. Read on for some good inshore and hunting options for each region. But first, a wild card: offshore fishing. When the weather cooperates, grouper, vermilion snapper and amberjack will all be hungry. If the seas are flat and you have the means to make it out to the floating oil rigs, tuna will be biting. Live baits are well…

GULF OF MEXICO Red grouper season is open all year in Florida state and federal Gulf waters, landward of the 20-fathom curve (one fathom equals six feet). Beyond or seaward of 20 fathoms, season is closed from February 1 to March 31, to protect spawning fish (includes red, black, gag, scamp, yellowfin and yellow mouth). Minimum size for red grouper is 20 inches, with a bag limit of 2 per person, within the aggregate grouper limit of 4 (zero bag limit for charter captain and crew in FL state waters only). Note that minimum size for black and gag grouper is now 24 inches. Circle hooks (no stainless steel) must be used with natural bait, and possession of a dehooking device is required (long nosed pliers are considered to be…

For people interested in renting boats for a longer term, Albury Brothers Boats of Riviera Beach has recently started just such a program with its 23-, 27- and 33-foot center console models. Renters can lease the boats by week or the month with broad limits on where they take the boats—possibly as far away as the Bahamas, if they choose. The boats, on trailers, may be picked up in Riviera Beach or delivered to the point of use and insurance is included. Jeff Lichterman, President of Albury Brothers, said, “Essentially, a person now has the opportunity to own one of our boats by the week or month…boating as a service. We will gauge demand and grow the charter fleet as required.” As an example of rental rates, for a 2016…

The stripes-and-spots combo isn’t limited to Florida’s northern Gulf Coast. This combo is viable at least three Atlantic-coast watersheds in Northeast Florida: The St. Johns River near Jacksonville, the Nassau River and the St. Marys (which forms part of the boundary between Florida and Georgia). According to Capt. Chris Holleman of Jacksonville, striped bass and hybrids have been rare in the lower St. Johns River over the last five years or so. Possibly this is a result of ups and downs in stocking. Holleman, who runs Blue Cyclone guide service, says that in strong years, it’s possible to get stripers and seatrout during the tail end of the fall shrimp run. “We could get a lot of them on jigs and soft plastic, fishing near the bottom in about 17…

Seminole State Forest covers 12,616 acres of the Wekiva River Basin in Lake County. The nearby Lake Tracy Unit of Seminole Forest includes another 9,311 acres. A few small streams create lowland hardwood habitat, but the forest generally consists of sandy scrub country, meadows and pine flatwoods. Blackwater Creek runs about 19 miles from Lake Norris to the Wekiva River, a tributary of the St. Johns River. Much of the creek flows through public hunting lands. “In the 2016 season, hunters harvested about 300 squirrels over the three-weekend small game season,” said Tony Young, a state spokesman. “The habitat looks good this season and should provide favorable hunting, depending upon the weather.” In 2017, Seminole State Forest Wildlife Management Area opens to small game hunting from Jan. 14-15, Jan. 21-22…

Spotted seatrout, sheepshead, whiting, pompano, silver trout and black drum are all fish that tend to show up with regularity when Santa has left town. Among them, the spotted seatrout is arguably the most targeted fish this time of year for several reasons. They are generally more active in the colder water months. Also, seatrout tend to school up, so catching several from a specific area is more common than not. In addition, they hit a variety of baits, are respectable fighters and are good table fare. Combine those attributes and you have a species highly sought by anglers of all skill levels and ages. The general strategy for targeting spotted seatrout in this region is two-fold. The deeper passes and grassflats are the main two areas these fish will…

Winter fishing is as basic as knowing your A, B, Cs. Cold front frequencies are fairly predictable, coming in about once a week, so keeping your fishing plans flexible is important. Some areas may not be suitable all the time for fishing, but all the time there are some areas that are suitable to fish. Just as howling winds from a front will churn and chill Gulf waters, backcountry areas that are completely surrounded by mangroves will keep winds buffeted to a light breeze. Fish retreat to these areas for protection from the elements. But not all areas are the same. Sandy, light-colored bottoms reflect heat and keep water temperatures low. Being coldblooded, metabolic rates of fish are governed by water temperature. Cold water dampens and slows the appetite, and…

Bluewater fishing in January in Northeast Florida is a lot different than the long awaited sailfish season currently going on a couple hundred miles south of here. Oh we’ve got the sails alright, but take it from me, there’s a whole lot of difference in the weather you can fish five miles off Stuart, and what you can fight your way through to fish 50 miles off Saint Augustine. If, and that’s a big if, you can get 50 miles off our coast, we not only have sails, but we also have plenty of blackfin tuna, and a few wahoo, and mahi. The incredible thing about our winter wahoo is their size. These are not the 20-pound schoolies of spring, these are the giants that First Coast fishermen have found…

Asked: At the Tampa FS Expo, Oct. 8-9, a gathering of fishing and hunting experts, exhibitors and vendors. Q What’s the most difficult aspect of being a woman involved in fishing and hunting? Sydney Sewell, kayak bass angler and radiology student, Valrico People underestimate you. We can catch as many fish and have as much knowledge of fishing as men, and there are women out there who have the passion and love for it as much as men do, so when they underestimate you a little bit, it’s kind of annoying. Also, I don’t like it when companies use women for their figures and their bodies to promote their products in advertising. Cheyenne Lee, pro spearfisher and 4x world record holder, Stuart The hardest thing is not being taken seriously.…

Redfish often school close to and under boat docks for a variety of reasons. Possibly the dock is located on a deep dropoff, or maybe there’s a creekmouth close by. The presence of tidal current and baitfish are also good signs. Docks that have lights at the end, and are decorated with rods or serious fishing boats are sometimes productive, but one of the best redfish docks I discovered had a sailboat moored there and no evidence of fishing gear. Its owner had left the redfish under their dock for other fishermen to catch! One trick I’ve been using recently to identify fishy docks is modern side- and down-scanning sonars. After installing a Humminbird Helix-12 on my Triton 260 LTS bay boat this past spring, I soon discovered a new…

On the Gulf Coast you can shore dive and get a limit of sheepshead in 10 feet of water. On the east coast, if you can get out, the pelagics are there. If you don’t dive in the winter already, the rest of us would rather you don’t start now. Here’s why: 1. It’s cold. That means you have to wear a 3mm or even 5mm wetsuit which is a far cry from summer days in the Keys catching lobsters in just a bathing suit. 2. The Big Sharks are home. I don’t know where they come from but in winter we see some of the biggest and baddest sharks so bring your big boy pants. 3. The weather is rough. Freediving is challenging enough; getting a snorkel full of…

“Down in the Keys, the traffic is much lighter, and the boat traffic isn’t bad either. ” Right this moment, all up and down the Keys, from Key Largo to Key West, there are flats boats, center consoles and even pontoon boats waiting at the docks for you to take out for some subtropical diving and fishing adventures. Sound ideal? It is. For those willing to do some prep work to make sure they get the right boat in the right place, renting a boat is a convenient alternative to chartering a trip and to towing your own boat down through that 18-mile stretch. Renting a boat can become so convenient and habitual, that some people, like Fred Moll of Pembroke Pines, make it routine for multiple trips to the…

Just about all major rivers which empty into the Escambia Bay/Pensacola Bay system will likely have a cold weather run of stripers and year-round presence of big specks. However, the following rivers and launch ramps are proven places to get into the fast winter fishing. Blackwater River Oyster Pile Boat Launch upstream of Milton Carpenter’s Park just north of downtown Milton Escambia River Jim’s Fish Camp off US Highway 90 Yellow River Brown’s Fish Camp south of Milton Hwy 87 Crossing southeast of Milton Other Options: >The Choctawhatchee River, which enters Choctawhatchee Bay near Fort Walton Beach, has a few rogue stripers (remnants of past stockings) which mingle with wintering populations of spotted seatrout. >The lower Apalachicola River at times yields mixed bags of trout and stripers, as does the…

Fish the shallow patch reefs, channels or basins and you can have an excellent day. The cooler, gustier time of the year is here and it will be here for a while. Knowing how to work with and around the wind makes all of the difference. As a cold front approaches, it’s critical to check the forecast before deciding where to go. In strong winds, fishing the leeward side of the islands is paramount. This is the protected side, opposite from where the wind is coming. Windward is the side you want to avoid most days. Sea conditions will differ greatly from the leeward side to the windward. Fishing the leeward side will make for a much safer and more comfortable trip (the size of the vessel plays a role…

The beach offers a good variety of species this month. Large schools of bluefish can be found terrorizing anything in their path. When you find one, you will typically find many. Plugs such as Rapala X-Raps, spoons and mylar jigs work great for bluefish. A quick retrieve is your best bet for this aggressive species. Use a short trace of wire as the bluefish have razor sharp teeth. Spanish mackerel will be mingling with the bluefish in the surf this month, willing to take many of the same offerings. Juno Beach Pier is a great place to target mackerel by land, since the pier gives you the ability to get outside of the beach break. Shoreline-accessible jetties such as the Fort Pierce Inlet, Jupiter Inlet, and Lake Worth Inlet will…

It’s been a couple of years since I devoted a January Action Spotter column to big wintertime trout. I’ve mentioned it every so often in my columns and features, but things have changed. Last year’s big Labor Day hurricane, Hermine, did a pretty good job of scrubbing our coastline, flooding the small fishing towns with her tidal surge and waves. But she also washed off the bars and rocks that line our Gulf shoreline, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m sure there are cogent scientific theories as to why a period of time without tropical storms or hurricanes makes rocks scuzzy, or coated with silt and algae-like growth. Personally, I think that the shallow shelf along our Big Bend restricts the general tidal flow to the extent that our…

January fishing is simple. Anglers have fewer choices as many fish narrow their preferred habitat in response to cold weather. Couple this with the closed seasons on gag grouper and red snapper and the fishing options narrow even further. Many saltwater anglers shift their attention inshore, focusing on creeks, bays and coastal rivers. Fortunately in Northwest Florida there is no shortage of these. In fact any navigation chart or aerial photo reveals a shoreline that’s covered with waterways and bays to fish. In selecting a creek or a river to fish, there are several things to consider: how easy it is to navigate and whether or not it can be entered and exited at low tide. Most rivers are deep enough to enter and exit, but some like the Aucilla…

Temperamental doesn’t even begin to describe January weather, but FLW Tour pro J.T. Kenney knows the key to success is understanding the windows of opportunity. “Typically, this is the only time of year we see a lot of cold fronts; typically every 6 to 8 days,” Kenney explained. “When the fronts come through, the fishing typically gets pretty tough.” Sunshine State winters are brief and relatively moderate, but sudden temperature drops coupled with high barometric pressure sends these fish into full-on pouting mode. That being said, a couple days after a front and those preceding the next one will find the fish feeding heavily. So, despite their intolerance to meteorological fluctuations, the species’ legendary size and aggression has historically attracted season openers like the Bass Pro Shops Southern Open it…

We headed out fishing around 7:30 in the morning. This was a birthday fishing trip for my good friend Kevin Dettman. Also along for the trip was longtime friend Nate Miller and another great friend Telly Tyson. We were four guys who were going to have a great day no matter what. This was also my first trip fishing in my 21-foot Grady White, so anticipation was high all around. We were trolling rigged ballyhoo, one without a skirt, two with different colored skirts and one lure without bait. We trolled around 120 feet of water heading south from Jupiter Inlet down to the northern end of Singer Island. We had a bite on the ballyhoo with no skirt, but it was bit off just before the hook. By the…