Florida Sportsman July 2021

If you’re going for snapper on one of the new artificial reefs featured in this issue, you’re surely interested in making the most of your catch. With only limited days to fish for red snapper, and sharks and goliath grouper becoming ever more problematic (see next page), we’re all doing what we can to maximize returns. One thing you can do is try to weed out the smaller fish. Projects Editor Rick Ryals offers some great tips in this month’s Offshore Seminar—among them, using larger baits (see p. 14). Not having seen much recently on the subject of fish cleaning, a trick I’m happy to share is this: Never discard the cheeks and throats. On snappers over about 4 pounds (groupers too!), these parts yield tender, delicious meat. Cheeks can…

A nglers’ contributions to the assessment of goliath grouper stocks just might pave the way around the roadblock to management of the species: Naysayers crying skimpy data on a fish closed to harvest for the last 30 years. Let’s strap on a fighting belt and do a power-lift to get this fishery opened for a limited harvest. Here’s what’s going on. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently green-lighted staff to develop plans for a small, highly regulated harvest of goliath grouper. Perhaps it will be similar to the state’s successful alligator hunt program. However, the commissioners are again hearing opposition from non-anglers, mostly dive operators and some researchers, claiming there isn’t enough information on the stock assessment of the goliath to support harvest. “Stock assessments for a species…

We need you to go out and catch goliath grouper, and document it. One way or another, the more goliath grouper you catch, and document, the closer you’re going to be to taking one home for dinner. To become a FWC Fish Reporter, go to My FWC or directly to your App store and download the free FWC Fish Reporter app, it takes only seconds, and you’ll be set up to begin documenting your catches. For those of you who can catch at least ten goliath grouper a month, please sign up for a fin-clip kit. Contact: Goliath. Grouper@MyFWC.com…

There’s no inlet at Vero Beach, but spend a little time here and you’ll wonder: Do they really even need one? On this unique stretch of Southeast Florida, exceptional fishing and diving reefs are just a long cast, or a short paddle, from the beach. From the Disney Resort at Wabasso Beach south to Round Island Park, a matrix of limestone and worm rock reefs paves the nearshore seafloor, popping up in some areas visible at low tide. The worm rock is an interesting formation made by colonies of Sabellid (feather-duster) worms which secret mucus as they build their cases, cementing sand into hard structure. The bulbous, brainy-looking formations are excellent fish habitat and also important foundations for other types of reef-builders, such as stony corals and sponges. Macroalgae, the…

BAIT AND TACKLE: Vero Tackle & Watersports, opens weekdays at 7 a.m., 6 a.m. on weekends. Live shrimp, rods, lures, friendly advice; also guided river fishing for snook, trout and more. (772) 234-9585 LUNCH: Riverside Café under the Merrill Barber Bridge, great spot to park or tie up your boat. Try the Jake Owen mahi sandwich. Who’s Jake? C’mon, man! DIVE SHOP: Deep Six, www.deepsix.com, 772-562-2883 (They produce an excellent Beach Dive Guide, essential reading). BEACH ACCESS: Wabasso Beach; South Beach Park; Sexton Plaza; tiny public lot at Riomar Dr. There’s an ocean fishing pier, but it’s private. ACCOMMODATIONS: Much as we hate to admit it, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort is pretty sweet. For an authentic Old Florida experience, camp at Sebastian Inlet State Park.…

If anglers on Florida’s east coast get any red snapper days this year, it will be in July, and chances are, there won’t be as many as we’d like to see. The SAFMC believes that our discard mortality is too high for us to fish more days. They continue to harp on the theory that too many fish are dying after being thrown back. Now that may be impossible to confirm or disprove, but there’s little doubt that the now-mandatory use of descending devices (perhaps a better option than the venting tools once used) has helped more snapper survive. Still, in a best-case scenario, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is going to allow us to keep 1 red snapper per person, for a very limited number of days. if…