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.
STRIKE ZONE FISHING JACKSONVILLE 11702 Beach Blvd. Jacksonville, FL 32246 904-641-2433 www.strike-zonefishing.com STRIKE ZONE FISHING MELBOURNE 2771 W New Haven Ave Melbourne, FL 32904 321-956-3474 www.strike-zonefishing.com SUNSHINE ACE MARCO ISLAND 1720 San Marco Road Marco Island, FL 34145 239-642-7444 SUNSHINE ACE FORT MYERS 18911 Tamiami Trail South U.S. Hwy 41 Fort M ers, FL 33908 230-415-1161 SUNSHINE ACE BONITA SPRINGS 9100 Bonita Beach Road SE Bonita Springs, FL 34135 239-992-0169 TAMPA FISHING OUTFITTERS 3916 West Osborne Avenue Tampa, FL 33614 813-870-1234 www.justforfishing.com BETT’S FISHING CENTER 8926 126th Ave. Largo, FL 33773 727-518-7637 www.customfishing.com DOGFISH TACKLE 8750 Park Blvd Seminole, FL 33777 727-393-2102 GATOR JIM’S TACKLE 3301 Pinellas Point Drive S. Petersburg, FL 33712 727-363-0900 DISCOUNT TACKLE 3113 First Street US 41 Bradenton, FL 34208 941-746-6020 LEHR’S ECONOMY TACKLE 1366 N…
Hey Karl, We need to plan a swordfish trip at the end of the month. Check out March 31: It’s a blue moon—the second full moon in the month. And, that will be the second time we’ll see one in 2018. They say a “double blue moon” happens maybe three times a century. What’s that have to do with swordfish? Well, I looked back, and last time we had a double blue moon was 1999. What a year that was! So many of us were pushing to protect swordfish from commercial longline bykill, setting the stage for the closed areas off Florida’s east coast, and the DeSoto Canyon in the Gulf. As you recall, Ellen Peel from The Billfish Foundation, Mike Leech from IGFA, Ken Hinman from National Coalition for…
Native to Australia, barramundi possess several of the top characteristics of North America’s most sought-after sportfish: Ravenous as a post-spawn bass, powerful as a snook, acrobatic as a tarpon. And guess what, mate? You don’t need an airline ticket to Sydney to catch one. A Central Florida fish farm has the unique distinction of being the only licensed barramundi fishing operation in the state of Florida. For a fee, you can hook these devils all day long. On any kind of tackle you can dream of. “We’re stocked with barramundi for both catch-and-release fishing and market sale,” says proprietor Byron Hennecy. “The property is permitted and regulated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and Department of Agriculture.” Similar to snook, barramundi are protandric hermaphrodites, which means by age four…
Honest, dependable—a 5-gallon bucket is that one piece of equipment upon which land-bound anglers can always depend. Tight on space? Making a long hike? Consider the bucket: Tackle Storage: Transport castnet, tackle trays, pliers, hook-outs, fillet knife, etc. Heavy loads hard on the hands? Pad the handle with a pool noodle segment or towel secured with duct tape or zip ties. Bait Holder: Unless you can conveniently reach the water, hauling up a flow-through container each time you need live bait is a pain. Clip on a battery-powered aerator—problem solved. Using dead bait? Overturned bucket keeps birds from stealing your ammo. Elevation: Stand on an overturned bucket for better angle on bridge fishing. Or spot beach-run snook or bait schools. Elevation also helps with casting. Take a Seat: Buckets are…
Soft plastics come in all colors of the rainbow, every size and shape imaginable and have pheromones, scents, salt or even coffee impregnated into them now. Depending on the rigging method and profile, soft plastics can be used shallow or deep, in the weeds or timber, on any body of water anywhere in the world which holds bass. If limited to only three kinds, what would you choose? The basic plastic worm has proven itself for many decades, surely one of the first choices. Two others worth adding to your bag are the “stick-worm” style and the swimbait style. The traditional method of rigging worms is “Texas” style. Here, the worm is rigged weedless. It can be rigged with a bullet shaped weight in front of it, and the weight…
Black Sea Bass Limits Atlantic: 13 inches minimum (total length), 7 per person bag Gulf: 10 inches minimum (total length), 100 pounds per person Nothing tastes better at the end of a cold day on the water than a batch of fried sea bass fillets. Captain George Strate, retired from running Mayport’s finest partyboats, said he dearly loved wintertime sea bass fishing. “Talk about easy fishing,” George says. “Twelve miles off the beach in 60 feet of water can be plenty far enough to catch good bass. They just get better and better, the colder it gets. Traditionally once the water temperature drops below 65 degrees the red snapper and tomtate grunts start pulling farther offshore. That makes targeting bass easier.” Put your anchor away, George insists. Unlike red snapper…
