Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Florida Sportsman

For many of us, nothing says summer like the squalling of drag as a king mackerel takes off for the horizon. In June, you’re liable to catch a king just about anywhere along the Florida coast. Kayakers at Melbourne Beach find them in the minnow schools. Pier fishermen at Navarre and Pensacola, in the Panhandle, hook them on cigar minnows or blue runners caught right there in the emerald surf. Off Miami, you’ll catch a few on rips as deep as 200 or 300 feet, now and then out there you'll get one of those “Bahamas kings" with the unusually deep bodies. Up in Northeast Florida, where the pogies bloom offshore of the St. Johns and St. Marys river deltas, kings are a huge hit all summer. In another few…

I’m not sure how I came up with this lure idea, but it was probably a trip to Starbucks. Spotting a jar of chartreuse and red drinking straws, sixty years of lure making experience started the wheels turning. Wherever you fish around Florida’s inshore waters, you will run into schools of Spanish mackerel and bluefish. They are both tasty if freshly fried but don’t keep so well. They make a great dip if you smoke them. Both fish put up a vigorous fight and frequently make the day if other fishing is slow. You can either cast into the school or pull lures through the edge of the school, being careful not to run your boat into them and putting them down. Diving birds are often the key to finding…

One thing to try is to trim the rubber legs some. This can help your hookup ratio, as a bass has less of a chance of short striking the lure and just eating the legs. Also, trimming one leg shorter than the other can help the frog walk better. You might stick three or four BBs into the body through the hook opening, to add a little noise and weight it to sit lower in the water, making it easier for the bass to get it when they're not committing. This will cause your frog to fill with water a little faster, so remember to squeeze it out every couple of casts. Tip: When they do blow up on your frog, let them eat it! Wait a couple of seconds…

Florida Shuts Down the Big Three of Inshore Fishing on SW Coast / Snook are no longer on the menu starting May 11, 2019 The above headline from the Fishing Wire was included to provide a little context for this column. A little more than two years ago, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) made a pre-emptive strike on restoration of inshore fish on the state’s southwest coast devastated by red tide and the harmful algae blooms as a result of Lake Okeechobee discharges. In areas affected by the extensive fish kills, documented between November 2017 and February 2019, the commission subsequently shut down all harvest of the Big Three of Florida fishing: snook, redfish and spotted seatrout. The closure, which began May 11, 2019, was scheduled to last…

Heading 40 miles or more off the Gulf Coast for red snapper? >> Find N.O.A.A.’s new marine forecast site at weather.gov. In the search box, type the coastal city from which you’ll be embarking. >>Manipulate N.O.A.A.’s interactive map to see conditions exactly where you’ll be fishing. >>Schedule your trip on a storm-free day with a maximum wave height of 2 feet and wind of 10 knots or less. While private craft 23 feet and up can safely navigate rougher seas, the 2 feet maximum is my preference for comfortable stationary fishing conditions for my passengers. (NOAA’s one- and two-day forecasts have been very reliable, in my experience. If NOAA does err, it’s on the side of caution. For example, on the summer day we fished, when wave height 43 miles…

Will red snapper be on the menu? If so, that’s an obvious target. But, artificial reefs and natural ledges along the Atlantic coast host a wide range of edible species. Using either a chicken rig or fishfinder rig made with 40- or 50-pound fluorocarbon leader, and size 2/0 or 3/0 sharp hooks, baited with squid or cut bait, some of the other desirable fish you may encounter include: Gray Triggerfish – Often found in same habitat as red snapper. Notorious bait-stealers. Sorta tough to clean – but well worth the effort. Black Sea Bass – Also common in same waters as snapper and grouper. Aggressive; scale down gear to enjoy the fight more – great tablefare. Assorted Snappers – It’s always nice to see different colors in the cooler, and…

This is big news for Florida offshore anglers. Actually big news for offshore anglers anywhere in the continental U.S. For that matter, it’s big news for offshore anglers anywhere in the world, who might be thinking of coming this way: A network of eight deepwater Fish Aggregating Devices, or FADs, is now moored in exceptionally rich bluewater fishing grounds in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The Captain Kelly Windes Fish Aggregating Device Buoy Network was funded by Destin-Ft. Walton Beach tourism officials in hopes of furthering interest in local natural resources. Mission accomplished. Bluewater fishing has always been a huge draw to this region, but over the last 10 to 15 years, there’s been a shift of big-game fans traveling west to Louisiana with dreams of tunas, wahoo, marlin and…

For Sam Heaton, Okeechobee reigns supreme. “It has a vast population of fish and endless amounts of hydrilla, and eel grass,” he says. NUMBER TWO: Lake Kissimmee. Similar reasons, so many different areas to fish in the weeds. NUMBER THREE: Everglades. “Crappie style fishing here provides plenty of other species,” says Heaton. “Mayan cichlids, catfish, and largemouth bass will add to your cooler in the glades.” NUMBER 4: St. Johns River – “Crappie love slowly moving water, and the St. Johns is almost always moving. Weed beds in the bend of the river, and bridge pilings are crappie magnets in the St. Johns.” Jake Sanders picked Kingsley Lake as his number one. The clear deep water, with loads of bait is the reason why. “What it lacks in weeds it…

Prime Time for Permit While May can be a downright stellar month for permit fishing in the 10,000 Island region, June is right up there in the team photo. For one thing, June always seems to be the month that the larger permit in the 20- to 30-pound class are caught. The single most critical component to targeting permit in this region is finding the right structure out in the Gulf of Mexico. The best structures have the greatest relief. This typically means shipwrecks, select artificial reefs and the now de-commissioned radio towers. Understanding where these structures are along with knowing how the tide relates to each are vital components to success. A simple online search of Collier County wrecks and reefs will yield you key information such as GPS…

Tarpon Tides and Bluewater Rides First, a general point about midsummer fishing in this part of Florida: Water temperatures rising to extremes can reduce oxygen levels, causing fish and the forage they’re after to move to areas offering greater depths or shade. Afternoon thunderstorms and cloudy skies can knock the edge off of hot days, bringing some relief, and the cool of the night brings comfort for all, including the fish. Night fishing is excellent this time of year, whether you’re dropping on reefs offshore or casting to fish in the local docklights. It’s also true that greater depths offer more stable temperatures and sometimes thermoclines considerably cooler than the rest of the water column. Most bottom machines have instructions that may vary for finding thermoclines, but in general, turning…

Sweet June If you’re a fisherman, and you don’t love June, I have to question whether or not you like ice cream or Christmas morning. I guess if you want to get picky, the largemouths are mostly done bedding, and the crappies can be a little hard to find, but after a cold winter and a windy spring, June is more than welcome for Northeast Florida Anglers. The best part of June is a normally predictable weather pattern. We often see an early westerly wind that gives smaller boats a following sea headed offshore, that switches around to a southeast seabreeze around 1 o’clock. That makes life easy for boats working the reefs for kingfish, amberjack and barracuda. The mahi started slowly this year, so here’s hoping they stay around…

Long Days, Long List of Options Inshore anglers who stay on the move and don't get locked in one species all day should capitalize. The best bet is to hit the flats along the Intracoastal early in the morning chasing trout, flounder and the occasional redfish. Live shrimp are always a good choice, but throwing topwaters at sunrise is just about my most favorite thing ever. I like to use a 7-foot, 6-inch spinning rod with 4-pound diameter braid and a 1 ½-foot 15-pound fluorocarbon leader attached to topwater that will “walk the dog.” Settling into a rhythm is the key and mixing in a pause or two every now and then will get that reaction strike from that following gator trout. The really good guys say to pause as…

Three years, 80 scientists, hundreds of returned tagged fish and the results are in! The Great Red Snapper Count estimates that there are more than 110 million red snapper in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This number is three times the number previously thought to be in the Gulf. The astonishing results are the culmination of an unprecedented new population assessment led by the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Previous estimates by federal fisheries officials put the population at about 36 million red snapper—meaning this new absolute abundance estimate should change the way the Gulf of Mexico fishery is managed by federal and state officials. The greater estimate is mostly attributed to a major new discovery of fish…

COLUMBIA PFG ZERO RULES ICE WOMEN’S HOODIE Columbia gave us all a few hours of additional comfort in the typical Florida summer day when it introduced Omni-Freeze cooling technology a few years back. The tiny, moisture-absorbing rings integrated into fabrics improve wicking and cooling. The company’s new ZERO Ice edition of Omni-Freeze, available currently on a PFG long sleeve women’s hoodie and a men’s shirt, promises to activate even more quickly, picking up on atmospheric humidity even before your body begins sweating. Plus, it’s been boosted to UPF 50. $65 for the women’s hoodie available in dolphin, carbon, purple and nectar. www.columbia.com…

Six feet of 100-pound mono,” Kevin Dall replied, when I asked about a leader for red snapper. Seemed a tad heavy; I used to think 50-pound was plenty. However, having been humbled by monster red snapper in past seasons, I listened. I was determined not to be bent over the gunnel, watching line scream off before unceremoniously snapping. I beefed up my tackle, bought a crimping tool and made rigs out of 100-pound mono, as advised. After all, we were heading out to where behemoths roam. MORNING DEW By Kevin’s orders, the alarm went off at 3 a.m. When a fishing season is only a handful of days long, you count on company out there—and you must prepare and make sacrifices (lost sleep) to succeed. The night before, most supplies…

The rodbuilding mindset my grandfather and mentor imparted to me was holdover from a Depression-age mentality and based in a philosophy driven by survival economics of using what you had on had or buying the cheapest way possible. Homemade rods, in my experience, were the equivalent of the kid at school whose mom made his sandwiches on homemade brown bread that looked more like a lump than slices as compared with the rest of the kids eating store bought, square bread for their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That image of the rodbuilder, though, is obsolete. “There’s no question that the DIY mentality has changed how we see rod building,” explains Brook Oliva, Vice President of Operations at Mud Hole Rod Building and Tackle Crafting, the largest rod building supplier…

Highlights from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Black Crappie Management Plan (Oct. 2019) and other FWC resources: >Florida is southern end of range in North America for black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) but it’s likely you won’t hear them mentioned much here. That’s because most Floridians call them speckled perch, or specks. >Black crappie, er… specks, often live in open water, but move shoreward during spawning seasons. >Peak spawn in spring, may continue through May in Panhandle. >Can spawn as early as 1 year old, but normally older fish. >Female lays tens of thousands of eggs in small nest on hard substrate, commonly sand, which supports rooted vegetation, or on roots of the plants. >Boom or bust spawn cycle—biologists trying to decipher why. Possibly high water better? >Eggs…

Best of Spring and Summer On the reefs, the snappers are on the last leg of their annual spawn. This happens throughout the Keys. The yellowtail snappers and the mutton snappers are the most active in June, the bite happens in about 100 feet of water outside the reefs on the Atlantic side. Chumming is a must! When you arrive on the spot, look for the fish on the sounder. Once you find them, anchor up current from the fish and chum. You have to bring lots of chum and keep it going throughout the day. Yellowtail are mainly targeted by freelining, which means drifting your bait out and not stopping it until you get a bite. Baits of choice are mahoua (glass minnows), bonito strips, squid or shrimp. The…

Run Far for Yellowfins, Fish Close for Mixed Bag Many fishermen have one thing on their mind this month, and it’s roughly 70 miles (depending on your departure point) east. June is typically the first month of the year with predictable enough weather to warrant easy crossings to the Bahamas all month long. There will still be some opportunities at targeting yellowfin tuna this month. Water temperature on the surface will be warming, though, often pushing these fish deep. Getting to the “Corner” off West End at first light will increase your chances at hooking up. The late afternoon hours can produce as well, when the sun is not directly overhead. Radar and binoculars are important for finding the birds working the schools of tuna. If the fish aren’t wanting…

First Scallops As the years pass, Florida’s fishing regulations seem to get more complicated. Opening and closing dates vary by species, as do bag and size limits. Then there are species-specific geographic “zones” to contend with. And there’s no recreational species with rules as complicated as those for bay scallops. Florida’s bay scallop season begins soon—June 15 for the region between the Fenholloway River and the Suwannee River (including Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach) and July 1 for Levy, Citrus and Hernando counties (including Crystal River, Homosassa and Bayport). There’s also a July 1 start date for the region that includes NW Taylor and all of Wakulla counties. And if that’s not confusing enough, the region that includes Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach has a lower bag limit for the second half…

Big Fish Moving In June is when several of the larger gamefish move within reach of inshore anglers. Cobia, kingfish and tarpon do their best to accommodate fishermen who want to test their fish-fighting skills. Cobia can be the easiest to find but not necessarily to hook and to land. Almost any structure near deep water is a likely place to find them: buoys, navigation markers, reefs and wrecks. Cobia also roam beaches with white sand and clear water, their dark shapes seen easily against the light bottom. This doesn’t mean that cobia are always easy. Many anglers have found cobia which refused every bait that’s offered. Other times they eat almost anything. Chumming and live bait are often the only remedies for fish with lockjaw. Most navigation markers from…

Go Deep in Belize It’s as close to a pristine fishery as you can get,” Mike Huxel says of the deepwater fishing near his property in the village of Placencia, Belize. Expensive boat fuel (about $7/gallon) might be partially responsible for the lack of offshore pressure, or it might just be that the coastal fishing is so good that few people feel the need to venture beyond the reef. “The water out there is almost always crystal clear, and the outer edge of the reef is basically a wall that drops over 1,000 feet,” says Huxel. Straight out of Placencia, which is roughly 60 miles south of Belize City, lies Glover’s Atoll. Glover’s is a protected, pristine atoll that offers brilliant snorkeling and some of the low-pressure fishing Huxel refers…

Over a couple of cold cervezas in downtown Jaco, I explained it to her: When you catch your first marlin, your friends toss you into the salty sea. My bride was panicked. I laughed and said, “not in the middle of the Pacific but back at the dock.” That did not make her feel any better. To calm her down I told her that the chances of her actually catching a marlin were extremely low. I lied, sort of. Because the next day we were to be fishing with Los Sueños fishing legend Bob Burnside. We would also be joined by his girlfriend Stacey, an accomplished angler in her own right. After boarding the Pescadora, Bob’s highly customized 40-foot Gamefisherman, within an hour, we were in blue water over a…

Gulf of Mexico Regs (for both state and federal waters, unless otherwise stated) MINIMUM SIZE: 16 inches total length BAG LIMIT: 2 per person (included in the 10 per harvester per day state snapper aggregate bag limit). Charter captain & crew: ZERO 2021 SEASON: June 4-July 28 for recreational boats fishing in Florida state and adjacent federal waters. The for-hire (charter) season for federally permitted vessels is June 1-Aug. 3. NOTE: Gear rules require circle hooks and dehooking to be used in Gulf state and federal waters reef fisheries. Requirement to use venting tools in state and federal waters was eliminated in 2014. Congress recently approved measures calling for descending devices. Also: Sign up for the mandatory (and free) State Reef Fish Survey at gooutdoorsflorida.com.…

There’s no limit to what you can come up with, when it comes to personalizing a rod build. Perhaps you want to pick up characteristics of a premium tarpon or surfcasting rod, but utilizing different ring guide materials. Or, rather than a new build, you’re looking to strip some old components off a favorite blank and do a rebuild. Another possibility: A technique-specific rod for which it may be difficult or expensive to obtain off the shelf. Mud Hole, an Orlando-based supplier of rodbuilding components and tools, catalogues some unique builds for various applications. Two examples we looked at recently: One is a flipping/pitching/punching rod series co-branded with Florida pro bass fisherman Terry Scroggins. The Mud Hole website offers choices of blanks, handles and colors, and offers a little video…

Load the Icebox Fishermen in South Florida have many species to target. Offshore, we have sailfish, marlin, mahi-mahi, wahoo, kingfish, cero mackerel, blackfin tuna, sharks, barracudas, and swordfish. Drop a bait to the bottom and you might come up with snappers, groupers, jacks, cobia, and African pompano. Inshore, we might target permit, tarpon, snook and bonefish, but there are others like seatrout, barracudas, snappers, groupers, jack crevalle, ladyfish, grunts, porgies, pompano, Spanish mackerel, and bluefish. What to focus on in June? Keep it simple and target the fish that are most numerous. Snappers are one of the toughest bottom fish to catch due to their keen eyesight and strong fight as they try to swim to the closest hole they can find. More than once I have hooked a sizable…

Match the “Hatch” June is the peak of the tarpon run in Boca Grande Pass. Fish can be caught there at any time of the day or night and on almost any moving tide, but many anglers look for strong ebb tides late in the afternoon which last through sunset. These conditions should result in good pass crab flushes during the weekends of the 11th/12th/13th and again two weeks later on the 25th/26th/27th. When the crabs are riding out on the falling tide it’s easy to match the hatch by scooping all the bait you’ll need when you’re running upstream between drifts. The blackwater tarpon fishery inside Charlotte Harbor will perk up this month when post-spawn tarpon begin to leave Boca Grande and disperse inland. Check out the mouth of…

Silver Kings on the Close Reefs With some luck, early-summer tarpon will be cruising shallow ocean reefs. The luck factor will be the presence of greenies, pogies, mullet but most importantly glass minnows. The tarpon will be good-size, averaging 50 to 80 pounds with the occasional 100-plus pounder in the mix. A westerly wind calming the inshore waters, along with a warm ocean with no effects from cold summer upwellings, make for perfect conditions. Tarpon can be found farther north around the Canaveral Bight immediately north of Port Canaveral and on shallow reefs offshore Titusville’s Playalinda Beach, both of which give Canaveral and Ponce Inlet anglers shots at them. But the most productive zone is a series of reefs in 30 to 40 feet of water between Melbourne Beach and…