Florida Sportsman is the complete fishing magazine for Florida and the Tropics. Devoted to fishing, boating, and outdoor activities in the Sunshine State, Florida Sportsman is the authoritative source for Florida's most active fishermen.
It's been three decades since the goliath grouper was put in the total no-keep department. Once, this largest of about 21 groupers that can run close to a half-ton had been overfished for years, frequently speared and sold. So the bag limit eventually became zero. Now, after all those years of total protection, the goliath has made an astounding comeback. Too astounding perhaps. We hear continually of goliaths slurping up all manner of other fish around bridges, wrecks and hard bottom both shallow and deep. We also hear from Floridians who can remember that the fillets of this grouper are as delicious as any in the family. We commend the state for currently taking a close look at the goliath situation, as well as reviewing the status of other popular…
Behind the scenes of Florida’s diverse and abundant marine life are ranks of scientists committed to documenting the life histories and inter-relationships of fishes. Much of the vital field work is performed by graduate students who, in many cases, literally plunge into their research. Meaghan Faletti, a 2013 graduate of Florida State University, came to the attention of Florida Sportsman recently. A recreational diver and spearfisher, Faletti ran the FWC Lionfish Outreach program from 2014-2016. For her Master’s thesis at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, she is currently studying hogfish (“The best-tasting fish in the world,” she opines). Also, Faletti is working on an intriguing new population study of pinfish, funded by the Florida Forage Fish Coalition, a recent partnership of private conservation…
ANGLR Tracker Used to be we called a scale a de-liar. Now there’s a growing array of digital devices that’ll put the truth in your tales. One company, ANGLR Tracker, sells a sensor you strap to a fishing rod, pair with a smartphone app and press whenever you hit a honeyhole or catch a fish. The app records your number of casts, locations and catch results, then aggregates weather data for a kind of digital log-book. The sensor (with charger) sells for about $130 and there’s a $50 per year fee to access your online logbook and various trip-summary consoles. See www.anglr.com Minn-Kota “New” Talon Minn-Kota’s powered stake anchor, the Talon, is now built to be controlled in several ways—including directly from the touch screen of a Humminbird sonar/plotter combo.…
SaltMarsh Skiffs SM 1444 The next generation of landlocked anglers ready to graduate from bridge and pier fishing and move into a backwater boat will appreciate the simplicity, functionality, and cost effectiveness of the SM 1444. This 14-foot by 44-inch skiff (58-inch beam at deck level) takes a page from the classic aluminum duck boat design and merges it with a modified hull style ideal for poling into the skinniest of waters. Coming in at a meager 185 pounds hull weight and rigged with an outboard or surface drive up to 20 HP, this boat will take you just about anywhere inside, over shallow waters inaccessible by most. This is a true double duty boat which is at home on the flats one day and in the duck marsh the…
Shrimp: small in size, but a giant player in estuaries throughout Florida. Everything eats shrimp, and they’ve proven time and time again to be one of the best baits inshore. Lure manufacturers have been making soft-plastic shrimp imitations for decades, in different shapes, sizes and colors. Some of them come rigged on a jighead, some on a weedless hook, some un-rigged. There are many different ways these can be fished. Here are some tactics for common scenarios that will help you catch more fish. In the Rough Redfish love to get up in seagrass flats, burying their heads into the thick of it, hunting for shrimp and other crustaceans. This sets the stage for some excellent sight-fishing, but a bait with an exposed hook is practically unfishable in this situation.…
Use a dehooking tool to remove the hook, or cut the line as close to the fish as possible. Bragging rights shouldn’t come at the expense of the sailfish. Despite the best intentions of well-meaning anglers, sailfish held out of the water for photos stand a greater chance of dying after being released than those left in the water following a fight. And just for the record, hoisting a sailfish out of the water for a photo is against federal law (unless you hold a Highly Migratory Species angling permit and plan to keep it). Atlantic highly migratory fish (including sailfish and marlin) “must be released in a manner that will ensure maximum probability of survival, but without removing the fish from the water,” says the code of federal regulations…
