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.
Classics like the Drone spoon not only never go out of style, they never go out of use. When does a fishing lure become a classic? With due respect to today’s innovative lure-makers, there are fish-attractors of yesteryear which hold undeniable appeal. They tug on your soul. Some old lures, such as the hand-carved Pfeffer plugs you’ll read about in this month’s “Waypoints” column [see next page], are hot collectors’ items. You wouldn’t dream of casting one of those into a bass lake, but no doubt it would garner a strike. Other lures become classics on purely utilitarian terms. In a feature this month [page 32], Mike Conner extolls the virtues of the humble jig—emulated, reconsidered, trademarked in some forms, modified, downright dependable to this day. L.B. Huntington, maker of…
So you have a bunch of old tackle in your garage, old storage boxes, from your youth, or maybe they were your dad’s, or even your grandfather’s. Stop. Don’t throw them away! In Florida, Sportfishing Capital of the World, there have been several well-known tackle makers in the past, and some very collectable lure makers. Some of the most collectable could easily be passed as worthless due to their “folk art” or “hand-made” look. JIM PFEFFER, ORLANDO, FLORIDA These valuable lures were carved and painted from the 1930s to 1960s. Jim would sit outside his shop carving; his wife Betty would do the painting. The earliest ones were all carved and painted by hand. Each of the dots was put on by hand. The Florida Shiner is the most common…
Mercury Marine 250 & 300 HP V-8 Four Stroke Mercury’s new V8 Four Stroke quad-cam design delivers more mid-range torque (@3500-4500 RPM) and class-leading (4.6L) displacement in the lightest package of all competitors in the 300-HP class. Both models are offered in either Mechanical or Digital Throttle and Shift controls. Adaptive Speed Control allows you to maintain a constant desired RPM at all times regardless of changes in load or sea conditions without requiring continual adjustments to the throttle position. A Tuned Multi-Chamber air intake keeps airborne noise to a minimum while fuel injector covers reduce high-frequency noise. A clever battery management technology exclusive to Mercury Marine senses a voltage decrease and automatically increases the idle RPM to boost alternator output, recharging batteries to the proper level while trolling. A…
Catching mutton snapper and other wary fish in deep, clear water often necessitates the use of a long leader to put distance between your bait and sinker. Trouble is, bringing that long rig back in with your dinner attached can be tricky. If your weight is permanently affixed 20 feet or more from the hook, that means a lot of hand-lining for you, and chances of escape for the fish, before you reach the business end of the rig. Also: If you’re using the really heavy sinkers, those things become miniature wrecking balls next to the boat. I’ve personally seen a cowling damaged because a 24-ounce lead knocked into it three times before the angler subdued it. On a recent trip to Tavernier, FL, I had the pleasure of targeting…
OCEAN BORN FLYING SERIES LURES August is a hot popper month, what with AJ season reopening Gulf side, kingfish stocks booming, and tunas tearing up the flyers. Couple of new ones are out from a familiar name in the plug game, Patrick Sebile. Flying Pencil 160 and Flying Popper 140, manufactured by Ocean Born Lures, feature the company’s unique “Flying” suite of aerodynamic designs for long casts. Pop, spit, swim, do it all with 4X strong trebles and eight color options. Floating, Sinking ($19.99 each) and Super Long Distance ($24.99) models are available.…
Get in the habit of doing a thorough flyline cleaning every other trip. It will extend the life of your fly line. Floating lines will float better and shoot through the guides better. Fill a bucket with water (or use your kitchen sink), add a non-caustic soap (liquid dishwashing soap is ideal) and submerge your entire line. Let it soak for 5 minutes, and reel it back onto the reel through a clean cloth under pressure. Perform this task twice if necessary to remove stubborn dirt. When fishing especially muddy or algae-tinged fresh waters, or salt water, an occasional cleaning during the course of the fishing day makes casting much easier, and requires only a clean, soft rag or washcloth doused in fresh water, or better yet, a commercial fly…
