Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Florida Sportsman

“I make a few half-hearted casts, trying to find bottom, wishing I was back on my porch...” FROM THE EDITOR It rained all night. My pool is near to overflowing and my sliders are fogged. Snook, says the voice in my head. Spillway must be running. But dammit I don’t want to go snook fishing at the spillway. I just want to enjoy my coffee while I finish reading Jewfish, a great new novel by Andrew Furman. Jewfish is set in South Florida. It has nothing to do with goliath grouper but instead quite a lot to do with snook fishing. Furman’s protagonist, Nathan Pray, carves his own plugs, runs an old skiff, navigates by ranges. He does things the hard way—meaning not your way. He’s an idealist on the…

When I’m fishing solo, I’m probably working a shallow flat, poling my skiff with a fly rod at the ready. It’s a juggle not easily done without a bit of practice. The hardest part is figuring out what to do with the push pole, once you’ve spotted a fish. At first, I’d try to pinch it between my legs, just to drop it and blow out every fish in the county. After a few mishaps like that, it was time to figure out the best way to stow the push pole in a quick, silent and stealthy manner. CADDY UP COWBOY Many companies offer a “caddy” style push pole holder, such as the Tibor Push Pole Caddy, that mounts to your poling platform. These holders are a quick and easy…

Your Summer Favorites Light winds, calm seas and hot temperatures are the norm in South Florida during the month of July. Perfect conditions to target five of the top species that call South Florida waters home: dolphin (a.k.a. mahi-mahi), mangrove snapper, broadbill swordfish, hogfish, and Florida crawfish. Dolphin come in different sizes. Schoolies range in size from baby one-pounders to fish of about four pounds. Then there is the lifter. These fish are between five and seven pounds. Heavy lifters are fish between seven and 10 pounds. Gaffers are dolphin that if you try and lift them there will be a good chance that your line will break, and these fish generally are 12 to 20 pounds. The last size is the slammer dolphin and this fish is over 20…

BEST BET Head out to the beach at sunrise and walk the water’s edge as the sun comes up behind you. Those barely visible grey shadows you see moving slowly along the bottom parallel to shore just outside the wash are snook and they’ll hit silver spoons, light colored jigs hopped along the bottom or dead-drifted plastic shrimp. Rolling into Midsummer July’s sweltering heat signals that it’s time to check out Charlotte Harbor’s blackwater tarpon fishery. Schools of harbor tarpon are not tightly packed like those in the passes or out on the beach. A batch of a hundred fish might be spread out across a quarter mile of water and will be marked by rolling singles or perhaps two or three rolling fish at a time and the whole…

Wahoo on the Offshore Banks, Big Kings on the Beaches Yes, it’s sultry hot but that’s good if you chase big wahoo in the deep water of the Atlantic during the summer months. Now can be the best time of the year in East Central Florida waters for “hoos” to 50 and 60 pounds or even that once-in-a-lifetime 90- or 100-pounder. Sure, wahoo are taken year around, including big ones, but records show that June through September is a peak for bragging size fish. Maybe it has something to do with the warmer water temperatures, or the summer spawning cycles of the big females, or the simple fact that more people are fishing. Full moon periods are regarded as best by some. I’ve kept big catch records for this part…

Stay on the Move Hot! Just as you can count on the weather being hot in July, you can also bet the fishing will be just as hot in the Panhandle. Bottom fishing can slow in the warmer months, but moving a little deeper can help a lot. Trolling inshore and offshore can be a blast in July, changing things up and staying on the move when things slow will give you the best chance. In the bays, trout will be hot in the mornings as the sun rises and redfish will be looking for shade under the docks mid-morning. If the heat gets to be too much, fishing the lighted docks at night for trout, redfish, and flounder can be the perfect solution. When it gets really warm and…

"If Atlantic anglers could join the Gulf anglers in their 45-day red snapper fraternity I'm positive they would sign up." Not another permit. “Just let me fish,” I could imagine anglers across the state saying. For me, as it is, if I want to use my center console to fish, I need a fishing license. Okay. But, if I want to keep a yellowfin tuna I also need a HMS permit. A snook, a stamp. A lobster, a stamp. A largemouth bass, a freshwater license. Stone crab, need to register now. And if I want to fish with my brother-in-law in the Gulf of Mexico for grouper, yep, you guessed it, another permit. Who can realistically be asked to keep up with all of this? From the sounds of it,…

Bass fishing in Florida in the summer isn’t for the faint of heart. Hot, still mornings, hazy with bugs, give way to afternoon thunderstorms no one in their right mind would want to be caught out in. But for dedicated anglers willing to get out early, there are two very strong arguments for getting your tackle together and launching on the lake. One is the thrill of finding school bass flushing bait at first light. The other is the thump of a big fish taking a bait pitched into heavy cover. Jesse Tacoronte, a Bassmaster Elite angler from Orlando, is the kind of angler who budgets his time according to the primary objective. If it’s that flurry of action he’s looking for, he’ll try to locate the schooling activity common…

Red Snapper, Gags and More on the Reefs American red snapper or known to many as “AR’s” continue to be available to harvest with the season closing on July 25, so take advantage of this slightly extended 45-day season this year that has been open since mid-June. While we often think of red snapper as a deepwater fish, you may be surprised of how shallow you can catch them provided you are fishing the right areas. In the Gulf of Mexico south and west of the 10,000 Islands, it is not uncommon to catch them in your favorite snapper or red grouper areas in 50 to 80 feet of water, however, perennially the larger AR’s tend to hold a bit deeper in 90 to 120 feet or deeper. If you…

Focus on Shade, Strong Tides July’s heat can definitely affect when and where you might fish. Tropical weather might play a part in long-term planning and rapidly building thunderstorms might keep you on your toes on any given day. Factor seasonal weather patterns in your planning and monitor conditions constantly as you go. Warmer water holds less oxygen and this can make fish lethargic. An early morning or evening start, at cooler times of the day, is advantageous. Moving to deeper water or areas protected from the sun can improve your odds of catching fish during midday hours. If you’re working the flats, mangrove islands with plenty of overhanging limbs can hold snook and redfish on higher tides. Snook, trout, and redfish continue to be closed in much of the…

Kings of Competition There is no month with more fishable days than July. Generally speaking, early morning calm makes running offshore a snap, and southeast sea breezes bring us home. The biggest fear is almost-daily thunderstorms. There are weather apps for your phone, and satellite weather for your newer electronic suites if you’re too far offshore for cell reception. In Northeast Florida, July is all about kingfish. No veteran tournament fisherman will admit to having caught a single king before the July Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament is over on July 18. It’s going to be an interesting 40th anniversary for the Greater Jax, and the week will kick off with a one day “Tournament of Champions” with the field comprised of past winners. There’s also been a ton of interest…

Plan for Panama The Pacific coast of Panama offers the fishing trip of a lifetime for a variety of species. Your job now is to pick your target—yellowfin tuna and roosterfish top my list—and start planning. Yellowfin tuna are the quarry for my dream trip for many reasons. Their power and size can make for memorable workouts, but just as important to me is the joy they bring as a dinner guest. Shane Jarvis, owner of Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, explains why and when Panama is unique, and what a trip might look like. “Yellowfin are here year-round, but there are trends that they follow, and some months are better than others,” he said. Jarvis uses water temperature changes as one of his indicators that things are about to…

Many lakes suffer from nutrient-rich inflows, which feeds the growth of invasives. It’s a double-whammy. It’s true what you’ve heard: Many of Florida’s freshwater lakes and rivers are regularly treated with herbicides to control invasive aquatic vegetation. Invasive plants such as hyacinth, water lettuce and submerged hydrilla can crowd out native emergent and submerged vegetation. If not removed, or at least controlled, on a body of water, invasives can make navigation impossible or contribute to other consequences . In the past year, the practice has raised ire—over 170,000 individuals had signed a petition on change. org entitled “Stop State-sanctioned Poisoning of Our Lakes and Rivers” as of early 2020. Facebook pages such as Save Florida Lakes and Waterways popped up, with members sharing observations and photos of fish with an…

Longer Runs Pay Off Gray snapper are ferocious eaters and the largest ones bite live bait. The dog days of summer are here and along with the high temperature, we can expect most of the large biomasses of tarpon, permit and many other species to begin a dissipate. You may say that the fishing will get tougher because you have fewer options overall. Throughout the spring, the yearly spawns create large gatherings of fish that can make fishing much easier at times. In the summer, we have to work a bit harder and run a bit farther. We also have to fish smarter, which for me is avoiding the midday heat. I like to leave at sunup and be back at noon. I also like to catch the sunset tarpon…

Eyes on the Beach If you find the clouds of bait hugging the beach, you are going to find some fish. T always make the joke that I have to “summerize” my boat come July, because chances are, if I’m fishing, it’ll be on the beach this month. Snook being the main target, with tarpon being the accomplice. Gobs of bait call the trough of the beach home this month and the predators take note. It may be pilchards, it may be glass minnows, either way, if you find the “clouds” of bait hugging tight to the sand, you’re going to find some fish. I often beach hop until I find action. A good pair of binoculars are handy when scanning from the dunes. Sometimes I get lucky and find…

Green Grass Gold Anglers who experience our Big Bend waters for the first time are always astounded by the vast expanse of green seagrasses here. Our extensive grass flat extends from the shoreline to depths where sunlight barely reaches it. And it stretches north from Tarpon Springs to St. Marks, with just a few interruptions at the mouths of dark water rivers and creeks. All that healthy grass provides nutrients and habitat for one of the Big Bend’s greatest marine assets, the bay scallop. The summer harvest season for bay scallops, limited geographically to the Gulf waters from the Pasco/ Pinellas county line to the Mexico Beach, is a huge economic driver for local communities. Season dates vary by location and specific information can be found at www.myfwc.com. Scalloping is…

Rely on July July leaves no doubt that it’s summer, especially in Northwest Florida. It’s a good time for anglers to consider cooler and less vigorous fishing options. Panfishing one of the many local rivers is a great choice. Easing slowly along a shady river bank by paddle or trolling motor, is the perfect platform for fishing ultralight spinners, small crankbaits or flyrod bugs and streamers. Tossing lures under the overhanging trees or around the logs and stick-ups is a fun way to improve casting skills. If a slower pace is preferred, then spot-fishing with crickets and worms is a better choice. Either method is a good way to spend the day. There are any number of panfish species that are available. Redbreasts, warmouth, bluegill, speckled perch, stump-knockers and shellcrackers…

Growing up in North Florida has taught me a lot of things, like don’t be scared of gators, and frog legs are some of the best meat you can eat! From the age of 4, I was sitting in the treestand or the boat with my dad. When other little girls were wanting to go shopping and do makeup, I wanted to wear camo and watch the Outdoors Channel. There is no other place I would rather live. I hope to one day raise my own kids here. Today, one of my favorite things to do is take my niece, Delanie, fishing. She enjoys it just as much I as I do. Our first trip was quite the event. My boyfriend, Shelby, and I were planning on fishing the Chipola…