Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i Florida Sportsman

As we went to press at the end of March, our staff and field editors—same as you, no doubt—were beginning to grapple with the uncertainties associated with fighting the COVID 19 coronavirus. Among late minute decisions, we pulled our events calendars from the Ac tion Spotter columns. We will post new dates on our website, www. floridasportsman.com, as they are announced We decided to keep our accounts of fish migrations, seasonal tips and local recommendations, and in the months to come we’re adding more how-to advice for close to-home pursuits. We are especially committed to posting your photographs in the magazine and online.  We love seeing your big catches, your smiling kids, the unique scenes of the Florida seaside, lakes and fields. We always have you in mind. Direct contacts…

GAME PLAN: Compact estuary with great fishing options for skiffs and paddle craft. Numerous no-wake zones make it especially kayak friendly. WHEN: Year-round. LODGING : WannaB Inn is an 80-unit resort sitting on five acres of land. Stump Pass is to the south, the Gulf of Mexico is to the west and Lemon Bay is to the east. BOATING: WannaB Inn has three docks and a boat ramp for those traveling with their own boat. Allure Boat Rentals is just down the road for those wanting to rent a boat. Boat ramp at Manasota Beach Park. EATS: Farlow's on the Water offers tropical dining with on-the-patio atmosphere. Another option, the SandBar Tiki and Grille, boasts an extensive menu and outdoor bars with a beachy casual vibe. LURES: 3.5-inch Vudu Shrimp…

“High numbers of snook we are seeing in the park tells us that the ecosystem is resilient and responds to big pulses of fresh water into Florida Bay.”— Pedro Ramos, Superintendent, ENP Florida Bay anglers and ecologists alike are reporting a big uptick in the numbers of young gamefish on the shallows of Florida Bay. And Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Southwest Florida in late 2017, likely provided the shot in the arm the ailing fishery needed. Make no mistake, acre upon acre of bare mud bottom remain in northeast Florida Bay since the massive seagrass dieoff that started on the heels of 2016’s localized drought conditions. That event caused super-high salinity, a major stressor to seagrass. And at this writing, salinity readings have again spiked along the mainland…

For rigging (single-hook) lure for use on 50-80 pound tackle. Match hook to lure size. A good rule of thumb for selecting a hook to fit the lure is choosing one just large enough to slip over the lure’s head. The hook’s gap should be about as wide as the head of the lure.…

Let me say up front, I’m both Chair of the English Department at the University of Florida and Chair of the American Sportfishing Association’s Advocacy Committee, so books about fishing are always on my radar. I am, that is, the Fishing Professor. There are a lot of books about fishing out there. Keep in mind that fishing is the most written about sport in the world. Heck, for a very long time in our literary history, Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler (1653) was the second most reprinted book in English—second only to The Common Book of Prayer. William Humphrey, in his book My Moby Dick, tells us that there are two kinds of fishing books: “the instructional and the devotional. The former is written by fishermen who write, the latter…

HUNTING IS A YEAR-ROUND PASSION for Floridians. Not long after the spring gobblers go quiet, Sunshine State hunters begin gearing up for perhaps the most important season of all: permit season. And here’s your scouting grounds: At MyFWC.com, under Things To Do – Hunting – Limited Entry Permits, you’ll find a selection of permits you’ll very likely want to apply for. Most all of the earliest application periods are for fall 2020 hunts. Alligator Harvest permits (granted through a lottery process) are open for application as of May 8, running through May 18. There’ll be a second waves of applications later in the summer, but get on it early is good advice. Starting May 15, Limited Entry Hunt applications are open (as indicated in the main story, you can apply…

Pretty much nobody keeps marlin these days. Why not, you ask? Lots of good reasons—populations still stressed from decades of overfishing; big fish difficult to properly preserve; meat high in mercury concentrations; tournaments easily settled via length measurements or video (some still hang fish of certain pre-determined “trophy” sizes); circle hooks diminish mortality. That said, in the rare event a marlin dies during the fight, you should be prepared to deal with it. The meat is good grilled or smoked—if you can get ice around that fish and get to port quickly. MINIMUM SIZES BLUE MARLIN: 99” lower jaw fork length WHITE MARLIN AND ROUNDSCALE SPEARFISH: 66” lower jaw fork length LONGBILL SPEARFISH: retention prohibited. Lower jaw fork length is a straight line measurement from the tip of the lower…

Groupers Inshore and Off The Atlantic shallow water grouper season reopens May 1. Gag, black, red, scamp, yellowfin, yellowmouth, rock hind, red hind, coney and graysby are now legal to catch and keep. You can be sure that every bottom fisherman in South Florida will be hitting the waters looking for their first grouper of the new season. The biggest grouper we encounter in South Florida, of course, is the Goliath grouper—but that’s a technicality as the species is protected from harvest. This giant grouper can exceed 300 pounds. Once greatly diminished in numbers from overfishing, Goliath grouper may be hooked and brought to the surface but not taken out of the water before being released. There is no open season on the Goliath grouper. The black grouper, potentially exceeding…

Snook, Reds, Tarpon and More May is a big spawning month for snook. Spawning aggregations ball up in the passes during new and full moons and should probably be left alone while they’re making baby snook, but between spawning cycles when they spread out on the beach, careful catch-and-release fishing is a great way to bend a rod. Or two or three at a time if you can find a bunch of fish holding around a blowdown or on some beach rock. You can also look inside the passes for snook stacked up on docks along the back side of the barrier islands and further inland at places like the Boca Grande railroad trestle or the Punta Rassa docks near the mouth of the Caloosahatchee. Redfish aren’t spawning but catch-and-release…

Trophy Trout on the Move The time is now for that trophy 10-pound trout that might be on your bucket list, says Capt. Nate Lemmon, of New Smyrna Beach. “May and the first two weeks in June is by far the best for bigger trout,” said Lemmon, who guides on the north end of the Indian River, parts of the Halifax and the north portions of Mosquito Lagoon. “The water is warming, the big females are starting to spawn and they’re looking for mullet.” Finding schools of mullet in as little as one to two feet of water is the key, Lemmon said. “Big trout want mullet all clustered up.” Anyone who has fished for trout for any length of time in the region from Sebastian Inlet to Daytona Beach,…

Tripletail Moving In There is no maybe concerning fishing this time of the year. It’s definitely a good month to fish. Since both freshwater and saltwater species are biting, anglers just have to decide which ones they want to catch. For a more laidback approach, panfishing really fills the bill. There are numerous varieties of panfish but one of the best in May is the shellcracker or redear. Almost all of the lakes in NW Florida have good populations of these sunfish and they often spawn during April and May. When looking for good places to fish for shell-crackers, it helps to remember that they eat native aquatic snails as well as non-native apple snails. These snails typically lay light pink eggs above the water on the stalks of emergent…

Four Dream Trips For that “once-in-a” type trip, you might as well set some serious goals. What follows are four goal-directed slam-style fishing trips, each good enough that you might just go ahead and plan the next four years so you can hit each one. Tropical Inshore Slam: Belize. There is no better place to find all of the big three—permit, tarpon, and bonefish, hungry and accessible than in Belize. Bonefish are around all year, and there are multiple ways to target them. Want lots of chances at fish? Find your way to the flats off the Turneffe Atoll. For the bigger (but more solitary and wary) fish, the central and northern lagoons are prime locations. The tarpon migration is in full swing, and they are plentiful in the lagoons,…

“The wind and tide came together and on that magical day I hooked eight tarpon and landed five.” Fishing has always been for me both an escape and a source of never-ending learning. The magic that began in childhood (the excitement of a live fish tugging line off the reel) never left, even as I made my way through a career in a successful orthopedic practice and as team physician for the Seattle Seahawks. Always thrilled by the rush of sight-casting for fish, somewhat late in life, I came to determine what is the ultimate prize: Tarpon. What was supposed to be a “bucket-list” trip twenty years ago evolved into an annual pilgrimage to the Keys, hunting these magnificent animals. It started in the Everglades with a guide poling a…

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission concedes that southern flounder, the most popular of Florida’s three flounders, is currently undergoing overfishing and is likely to be overfished. The FWC also states in an October 2019 stock assessment that the current fishing practices will continue to place southern flounder in an overfished state. “It’s extremely rare to find a fish over five pounds today. Commercial giggers used to be able to get 400 pounds a night; now they’re lucky to get 200 pounds.”— Capt. Jordan Todd The history of flounder regulation in the state is straightforward: Prior to the net ban in 1995 there was none. Since January 1, 1996 flounder regs have remained unchanged; a 12-inch minimum with a ten fish recreational bag limit. Commercial limit? Besides the 12-inch…

MERCURY RACING 60R New for 2020 from Mercury Racing is a slick little performance solution for technical poling skiffs. The 60R is the only outboard in its class with a 15-inch midsection offering a lower center of gravity than competing 20-inch motors for better handling and stability as well as eliminating the need for a jackplate. This four-cylinder, 1.0 liter long-stroke powerhead is tuned for torque with a 6300 WOT throttle range for maximum acceleration. An 18-amp alternator is useful for maintaining a battery charge for electronics and bait pumps. The 60R features a 4.25-inch, high thrust gearcase to accommodate a stout 2.33:1 gear ratio which will handle up to 20 percent more prop-blade area than a standard case. The 60R is equipped with Smart-Craft Integrated Marine Technology and Engine…

The FWC encourages everyone to participate in an approved Boating Safety Course. In fact, it’s the law if you were born after January 1, 1988. In order to operate a boat with ten horsepower or greater you must have completed an approved course and obtained a Boater Safety Education ID Card issued by FWC. If you’ve spent much time on the local waterways on any given weekend you might wonder if anyone has ever taken this course. A look at weekend traffic often suggests lots of inexperienced boaters are among us and the knowledge one gains by participating in this educational opportunity would benefit all of us. This is an excellent activity to participate in as a family. The 2018 statistics show us that 77 percent of operators involved in…

Over the winter, Florida Sportsman staffers field-tested the new Topwater roof-top rod box from Yakima. We’re pleased to report the box is holding up. It’s a convenient, lockable transport option for up to 8 rods to 8 feet in length, with foam pads and rubber retention straps. The box has an aerodynamic Carbonite-textured lid and comes with mounting hardware to fit Yakimas or other roof racks. We’ve transported rods on a small sedan as well as an SUV, and found space inside for kayak paddles, PFDs and other gear. Suggested retail price $549. See Yakima.com…

WILDERNESS RAW AND QUIET is the big draw on Florida’s WMAs, but a few offer excellent facilities for associated outdoors recreation. The shooting range at Triple N Ranch is one such hidden gem. Tucked off Highway 441 in the remote heart of Florida cattle country, this is a full-featured, fully staffed shooting range open five days a week (closed Tues. and Weds). The range opened in November, 2017. Management continues to add facilities and features. The mission: To provide the public a place to gain skills and knowledge for safe, responsible target shooting and to accommodate hunter safety students. At present, there are supervised handgun and rifle ranges (to 200 yards), automated 19-station sporting clays course, 10-station 3D archery course and a 5-field archery targets. The main office sells snacks,…

When Reid Smith, 7, was given the word "magazine" as part of his class' Vocabulary Parade, he was given the perfect opportunity to show off the trout he caught off his grandfather's dock on the Indian River, in Fort Pierce. SEND US YOUR PHOTOS WE WELCOME your fishing and hunting photos for publication in the Action Spotter and in our online community galleries at www.floridasportsman.com. SEND DIGITAL PICTURES, 600 KB to 1 MB in jpeg format. For smartphone photos, email the Actual Size—highest resolution. Images must not have appeared or been submitted elsewhere. Send photos to: photos@floridasportsman.com. INCLUDE NAMES of people pictured, hometowns, location of catch and any key details, such as weight of big catches. NOW ON PODCAST! Florida Sportsman magazine’s READER- FAVORITE Action Spotter section has…

School a Wreck Permit With water temperature climbing and many anglers focusing on tarpon, now is a great time to give permit a shot. If landing a permit is on your bucket list, and you have access to a boat or want to hire an area captain, May marks a great month to make this a reality. The key is to have the wind or tide float the crab naturally into the area. The 10,000 Islands region doesn’t have a viable fishery for permit on shallow flats, not like in the Florida Keys, but we absolutely see a very healthy fishery on the wrecks south and west of Marco Island. Wreck fishing for permit is significantly easier than trying to hunt down, stalk, cast to and get a tailing permit…

Explosive Action, Inshore and Off Between spring and summer in the West Central region almost anything can happen on the water and usually does. Fishing action is exploding with everything from blackfin tuna, kingfish, cobia, grouper, and tarpon ripping drags and bending rods to fat trout, snook and pompano working the flats and cruising the passes. Pelagics and bottom dwellers alike find conditions to their liking, with plenty of food and just the right temperatures to trigger appetites. This might be the easiest time of the year to get an Inshore Grand Slam of snook, trout and redfish, all caught in the same day. While these three popular fish remain closed for possession from the Hernando/Pasco county line south into Collier County through May of 2021, they provide some big…

Solid Month on the Blue Water Northeast Florida is certainly not a blue marlin hotspot, but if they keep you awake at night like they do me, May is the month to donate a day to fishing for the fish of a lifetime. Get an early start, stop on the first good rip in 75-plus-degree water and pick up a couple dolphin for dinner. Once that job is done, I would head east until I hit a rip with water warmer than 78 degrees and put out a spread of lures, or mixed bait and lure spread and pick up my speed to 9 knots. Staying out deep, with big baits, may mean you come home with either an empty fish box, or having released the fish of a lifetime.…

Grassflats, Close Wrecks Producing Inshore, the flats will be warming up, with trout moving over the grass beds and redfish hiding from the midday sun under the docks. Offshore, won’t be long before anglers have red snapper on their minds; until then, scamp, vermilion snapper, lane snapper, mangrove snapper, king mackerel, cobia and mahi-mahi will have to suffice. Plus, amberjack will be open during May so everyone who wants sore arms will be happy, too. Bait should be becoming fairly consistent around the buoys and shallow wrecks and having a variety of both dead and live baits will help greatly. Keep those eyes peeled and a bucktail or topwater ready; anything can happen in May! Trout fishing can be an absolute blast in May. For traditional grassflat fishing, by far…

We’re not even going to pretend to summarize a 54-year guiding career in a single page. That work has been admirably completed by the writer Patrick Mansell, who interviewed the legendary captain and composed The Bouncer Smith Chronicles: A Lifetime of Fishing. The book, which you can buy on Amazon, is a terrific collection of short stories collected from interviews. For this month’s “I’m a Florida Sportsman” column, we got Bouncer’s views on the business of guiding, hints and reflections for the next generation of professionals. The captain has been a leader in the conservation of fish and marine habitats. He’s run one of the most respected, well-recognized fishing charter service in Florida. He recently announced that he’s hanging up his pliers, retiring at the age of 72. What advice…

I’m often asked about the best way to maintain saltwater rods and reels. I think I do actually have the best way, and I’ll reveal it in a minute, but first a few basics. Over the years I’ve seen countless trends come and go. Decades back we’d routinely pull apart drag assemblies and sideplates on our sturdy but somewhat porous Penn, Daiwa and Shakespeare spinning reels. The simple mechanisms required little more than periodic light grease (gears and drag washers) or light machine oil (line rollers and what few ball bearings were available). I can remember as a kid using Vaseline inside my cheap but highly functional Ryobis. It worked, but required frequent replacement. No big deal as there were like nine parts on the schematic all told. As reels…

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREAS are refuges for countless non-game species. Many of these creatures are what scientists term specialists—they rely on certain habitat types—and some are endangered. The red-cocked woodpecker is a good example, an excavator of nest holes in stands of older longleaf pine such as those found at Triple N Ranch. Another example is the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow, endemic to the dry prairie of nearby Three Lakes WMA. Both species are subjects of collaborative restoration work among state and federal scientists. And of course there are iconic species pleasing to bird-watchers: the swallow-tailed kite, a spring-summer visitor, and the eastern meadowlark, noted for its pleasant whistle. Reptiles and amphibians also take up niche communities. Researchers identified a population of striped newts on WMA lands in Osceola County—farther south…

The Month for Tarpon When life gives you tarpon, you go tarpon fishing! Not sure that’s how that quote goes, but it sounds good to me. May is all about tarpon in the Florida Keys. The largest concentration of tarpon all year will happen on and around the full moon in May. This coincides with the annual palolo worm hatch, which happens mainly on the south side of the Florida Keys archipelago in and throughout Hawk Channel. The palolo worm hatches out of the rocks and shallow corals to spawn in large numbers and the tarpon cannot get enough of them. They feed nonstop, creating an incredible spectacle and making this a target-rich environment for fly anglers who come to the Keys from all over the world to experience this…

Snook Running the Beaches, Reds Hugging the Mangroves This month seems to really kick off the summer bite in our region, and fish can be found just about anywhere. The snook will be starting to inhabit areas such as the Jupiter and Palm Beach inlets for their annual summer spawn. Some fish are also starting to roam the troughs along the beach. A frisky whitebait free-lined or pegged to the bottom on a fishfinder rig will be sure to get some attention. Remember, snook season will run through the end of the month, so if catching a keeper is on your mind, now is the time to do so. Snook won’t be the only fish working down the coast this month. Speaking with Cole Taschman of Captain Cole Fishing Charters…

Mixed Waters As an angling destination, Cedar Key offers advantages over many other ports on this stretch of Florida coastline. For one, the shore is not especially straight nor is it a long run to relatively deep Gulf waters. The town of Cedar Key is comprised of not just one island, but an archipelago of smaller islands bounded by the Gulf of Mexico to the west and the shallows of Waccasassa Bay to the east. Fishing options are, as you might expect, boundless. If you’re a deepwater fisherman, you can take advantage of a relatively easy ride to deep, mixed bottom. There are two deep channels leading to the open Gulf—the Northwest Channel and the Main Ship Channel. The Northwest Channel is an efficient way to get directly to the…