Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2021 i Florida Sportsman

This month we’re revisiting a subject many of you obviously enjoyed same time last year: Florida’s Hidden Gems. Our Field Editors write about making discoveries on their home waters. It’s about finding that little angle—perhaps an unusual fish, a new tactic, a different river, or an unexplored season—not yet promoted. Now, before you go accusing us of “spoiling” the next hotspot, let me clue you in on a little trade secret. When I look at the where-to, how-to articles we prepare each month, I re-read a little quote from A Sand County Almanac*, by Aldo Leopold. The following is printed on the wall by my desk: “Recreational development is a job not of building roads into lovely country, but of building receptivity into the still unlovely human mind.” In other…

LODGING: With 434 rooms to rent at South Seas Island Resort, there’s one for you. Rooms from $349, Gulfside villas from $549, homes from $1,200. www.southseas.com FOOD: The Pointe or Dock Fords at South Seas Island Resort. Or an easy golf cart ride into Captiva Island to The Green Flash, RC Otter or the Lucky Duck. GUIDES: Charles Martz, Harbormaster, cmartz@southseas. com . Trips are 4 hours (half day) or 8 hours (full day) and can accommodate up to 4 persons per vessel. 8 a.m. – 12 p.m./12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.…

“There is 3 to 5 percent live coral coverage in the Keys,” said Dr. Kylie Smith, with Mote Marine Labs. In the 1970s live coral coverage was 70 percent. Huge brain coral heads dominated a landscape of magnificent hard corals. Today, corals are dead and dying, reefs are barren. What happened? Coral wasting disease, from something scientists cannot isolate, causes corals to rot away and die. Coral bleaching is caused by a number of factors including higher ocean temperatures. Corals live ideally in water from 70 to 85 degrees F. Higher temps and turbidity kills a plant that lives inside coral which produces carbohydrates and oxygen and helps coral dispose of wastes. This causes bleaching. Acidification of the oceans weakens corals by disrupting the process by which corals form skeletons.…

If you want more of a challenge in your East Central Florida fishing, go looking for the big tripletail around the Intracoastal Waterway channel markers in the Indian River near Sebastian Inlet. Sebastian is one of the spots where these odd-looking gamesters with the steroid dorsal, caudal and anal fins move from the ocean into the river system in the summer months. It’s far from a measurable migration but there’s enough to offer anglers a welcomed change. They generally hold close to the inlet. Most tripletail are caught in the ocean around floating debris, wrecks and buoys where they congregate. The Port Canaveral ship’s channel buoy line is one of the premier ocean spots to find them, evidenced by the International Game Fish Association record book dominated by big Canaveral…

WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Big schools of hard-fighting jack crevalle, with some individual members topping 40 pounds. WHERE TO STAY: Any of the numerous resort hotels in the Treasure Coast, from Palm Beach to Vero Beach. Local guides are typically attuned to the jack fishery and many are happy to go after these generally dependable fish. LOCAL FLAVOR: Few anglers eat jacks. Snook, on the other hand... Snook season opens Sept. 1 on this coast and a slot fish of 28 to 32 inches yields mild, refined fillets. Won’t find snook at restaurants, but you might get a wahoo or swordfish steak—both species are plentiful hereabouts in the late summer and fall.…

Squid. Pretty good bait, right? Rig one whole for swordfish. Slice for snappers. Hey buddy, pass that calamari. Wait, that’s squid? Well, duh. Marcos Hanke, a Puerto Rican fishing guide and fisheries biologist, is on a mission to spread the word: Squid are great to eat—and they are fun to catch. He’s also passionate about collecting information on these creatures. Hanke has some seriously deep water close to his home port in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Down there in 3,000 feet of water lurk the diamondback squid and neon squid, which routinely weigh 15 pounds and can top 40. They are feisty critters. And delicious. “They taste like conch,” Hanke says. Moreover, as Hanke points out, they are abundant, grow quickly and live short lives in the wild. “It’s a very…

WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Famous among serious anglers in search of sailfish, tarpon and bonefish, Islamorada is also a perfect family destination with charter captains well-versed in arranging creative, action-packed variety trips. Among them, Capt. Jake Roth of PowerPlay Sportfishing , www.powerplaysportfishing.com. WHERE TO STAY: Little Basin Villas, enclave of nine detached villas each with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths: www.littlebasinvillas.com. Also nearby is Postcard Inn. LOCAL FLAVOR: Within walking distance or short drive of Little Basin Villas is Kaiyo Grill for sushi and prepared fresh fish, the Square Grouper for fish sandwiches and Morada Bay for mahi tacos at sunset. Just down the road is Lazy Days restaurant, where you catch it, they’ll cook it! (Along with all kinds of delicious specialties).…

BOCA GRANDE OFF-SEASON WHAT YOU’LL FIND: A lot less boat traffic than tarpon season (April-June), with an incredible variety of angling options. From bottom-bouncing for snapper, to trolling for mackerel, to jigging for snook and reds, this area has it all. WHERE TO START: The most popular boat ramps are a few miles away from Boca Grande Pass. To the north there are two at Placida: a county-owned ramp and an adjacent privately owned ramp at Eldred’s Marina. Another busy facility is found to the southeast at Pineland Marina on Pine Island. Yet another option is to stay right on Boca Grande with your boat in the water. That’s right, Boca Grande, that notoriously upscale community on Gasparilla Island. You’ll pay a bridge toll to get there but during the…

The only thing better than a picture of your toes in sugary white sand with a backdrop of emerald green waters, is a picture of you hoisting a redfish with a huge grin and that same spectacular backdrop. The Florida Panhandle coast has provided some of the most exhilarating sight fishing for bull redfish for years. It is hard to beat cruising beautiful beaches and locating a school of 50 fat redfish headed your way. This is primarily a boat fishery due to the long distances you must travel to avoid the crowds and umbrellas that push those fish off the beach. That is, until now! Combine a passionate guide obsessed with sight fishing redfish on our coast with a fitness and adventure junkie and you get the newest hack…

Get the Late Season Bite Late summer and early fall fishing in the Florida Keys can be tough, especially when compared to the spring fishing we experienced just a few months ago. It’s time to work a bit harder and run a bit farther out in order to get a good bite going. With the super high water temperatures inshore, you can expect the reef dwellers to find some cooler water by going a bit deeper than you would otherwise find them. The tarpon schools that fill the channels have gone farther north, but some still remain. Spend enough time looking for them and you can get a late season tarpon bite. The one inshore species that doesn’t seem to mind the temperatures is the elusive bonefish. My flats guide…

Watch for Bait Runs and Bonito Blitz Many Southeast Florida anglers focus their attention on the nearshore beach zone this time of year. That’s a good call, given that the Intracoastal waters are almost too hot to produce good fishing, while just over the barrier island, the relatively cool Atlantic is full of life. Captain Sam Atwell of Down Sea Charters (downseacharters. com) in Vero Beach explained his gameplan. “The snook will school up in the trough by the hundreds and sightfishing these fish in the gin-clear water makes it one of the most appealing fisheries that the Southeast Region has to offer,” said Atwell. He suggests live bait, such as pilchards or threadfin herring, for your best success with snook, but a small swimbait or fly is a great…

On Warming Tides This time of year, the inshore and nearshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico can be quite warm, often reaching temperatures in the high 80s. According to many scientists, this seasonal warmth is a new phenomenon forcing some species to head to cooler, deeper and more habitable waters. Bay scallops are good examples. And others, like snook, move north as the Gulf, and our climate, warms. The Big Bend’s annual bay scallop harvest is in full swing in August and ends on either Labor Day weekend or the 24th of September, depending on your location. The harvest dates and requirements vary, in what I consider the FWCs effort to make things just more complicated than necessary. To review rules and regulations, I urge you to visit www.myfwc.com…

The Fish Transition Apalachicola Bay is a good place to explore anytime but especially this time of the year. Often in September, the white shrimp gather in the bay before moving into the Gulf. This attracts any number of hungry gamefish to the bay. Redfish, speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, flounder and even largemouth bass take advantage of this bounty. The numerous creeks that meander through the marsh and empty into the bay are good places to start fishing. The Little St. Marks, St. Marks and East River are some of the larger ones. Getting into them from the bay can be tricky since the channels aren’t marked well and at low tide are difficult to enter. This network of creeks can also be reached from the Apalachicola River through the…

On the heels of Keep ’Em Wet, comes Return ’Em Right. These aren’t just do-gooder hash tags, but practices that will both help restore fish stocks, and soon, help keep you from running afoul of the law. “Return ’Em Right is an upcoming program that will be the leading voice for tackling barotrauma in the Gulf of Mexico,” said program Communications Manager Nick Haddad. Haddad said the program’s goals are to reduce mortality in reef fish resulting from barotrauma and release, improve anglers’ experiences with release gear and to increase the overall health of reef fisheries. Haddad’s employer, Florida Sea Grant, is working with partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Restoration Center (NOAA RC) and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) to provide anglers the knowledge and tools…

There may be no greater need for communication between captain and angler in the blue-water arena, than the constant communication necessary between captain and angler while daytime swordfish fishing. At night, swords rise to the top of the water column where their oversized eyes can help them find baits, but during the day, they are in the deep darkness, where keeping a bait in the lower 10 percent of the water column is mandatory for the crew to be successful. I caught up with Capt. Jeff Crab-tree of the Chunda, who has specialized in daytime sword fishing for several years. “Fishing below the Gulf Stream current can be challenging,” said Crabtree. “Starting out right is critical. We fish the structure we find between 1,500 and 2,000 feet. Our goal is…

WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Tripletail, one of the best-eating of all Florida fish, sneak into the Indian River Lagoon through the ocean inlets of East Central Florida. Find them on channel markers and other structure in deep water. WHERE TO STAY: Numerous restaurants and motels are available in the town of Sebastian on the west side of the river. Sebastian Inlet is on the east side. Several locally-owned ocean front motels on State Road A1A are north of Sebastian Inlet with South Melbourne Beach addresses. Three restaurants are available. They’ll cook your tripletail if you like. WHERE TO LAUNCH: Sebastian area launch ramps include the Main Street Park ramp in downtown Sebastian, or boaters use the launch site across the Indian River on the south side of Sebastian Inlet, which involves…

ALLIGATOR ALLEY AND GLADES CANALS WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Freshwater canals girding east-west portion of I-75 in the far southern Florida peninsula. Loaded with fish and frequented by all manner of Everglades wildlife. WHERE TO GO: Along the 80-mile Alligator Alley you will find at least eight boat ramps, all free to use but not all maintained. My favorite is Everglades & Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area-Alligator Alley and it is located at mile marker 35.3 on I-75. Here, four ramps can accommodate boats on a single axle trailer, and at least one ramp that can accommodate boats on a tandem axle trailer. Kayaks, canoes and airboats may also be launched. The Miami Canal and L-68A canal can be accessed from these boat ramps. There is plenty of parking and…

DEEPWATER SQUID FISHERY WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Delicious squid, catchable on hook-and-line. Fine “side dish” to Puerto Rico’s fantastic fisheries for tuna, tarpon, blue marlin, mahi and numerous other finfish species. Try for squid in Florida waters? Let’s do it! Squid are unregulated in Florida state and adjacent federal waters—bag limit would be two squid or 100 pounds per day, whichever is more. WHERE TO STAY: Currently Capt. Marcos Hanke (787fishing.com, 787-646-2585) is running some trips for them out of Fajardo. He docks at the Puerto Chico Marina near the El Conquistador—a beautiful resort on the east coast. LOCAL FLAVOR: Check back with the Caribbean Fishery Management Council online at www. caribbeanfmc.com. Along with Puerto Rico Sea Grant, they are working on a recipe book featuring squid and other alternative species…

When a hint of fall approaches, the scent of wood smoke on the water takes me back decades in time when nearly everyone I knew fished and had smokers in their back yards. It could have been a hog, a venison backstrap, chicken, or some ribs in the smoker but usually, it was fish. Spanish mackerel, kingfish, amberjack and mullet were most often on the racks of the smokers, but the favorite was mullet. Yes, the mullet. Great bait for so many different species of fish anglers target, but for my friends and me it was fresh smoked mullet on the table. It was the main course with a few sides like hush-puppies, baked beans, cheese grits, corn on the cob, and if we were lucky, someone would fix a…

The angler standing in the misty spray put a deep bend in the long rod. It uncoiled, hurling the heavy jig in a high arc toward the panicked bait-fish that were sandwiched between the diving terns from above and the striped bass from below. The fog hadn’t fully burned off when the rod took another deep bend, put there by a twenty pound striped bass fooled by the white jig swimming in the strong current. This scene could be in coastal New England or somewhere along the Northeast shore. Instead, it was in North Florida, on a small river below a dam on a freshwater lake. The Jackson Bluff Dam was constructed on the Ochlockonee River in 1928 to generate electric power for Tallahassee and the surrounding rural area. It…

PANHANDLE BEACH BIKE WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Undisturbed beaches with redfish, pompano, lady-fish, and bluefish. GUIDED FISHING: Capt. Lionel James, www.lionstaleadventures.com, 850-585-4747. Primarily fishes Okaloosa County beaches on his “fleet” of YOLO Bolt electric bikes with 4-inch tires, waterproof control panels, lithium battery and 500-watt pedal-power motor. TRY IT NEAR YOU: Florida law considers most pedal-assist electric bikes to be “bicycles” and thus entitled to the same access afforded conventional cyclists. However, some state and national parks, as well as a few municipalities, have special regulations limiting their use. Check before you go. Capt. James recommends riding near the waterline to “leave no trace” and of course never riding on dunes, critical habitat for many species.…

Something for Everyone Scorching temperatures are the norm this time of year in South Florida, but do not let this intimidate you into missing out on some very good fishing opportunities. As we get later into September, we may see some slightly cooler days and cooler nights. Baitfish schools start to reappear in our bays and along the oceanside beaches. In and around the baitfish schools, plenty of quality gamefish will be seen feeding. Early mornings, late afternoons and evenings will normally be the most productive fishing hours, but if you get an overcast day the fish might feed all day. In North Bay, small baitfish in big schools will be attracting plenty of snook and tarpon for catch and release, small and large jack crevalle, seatrout, mangrove snapper, barracuda,…

Open Water Options This is peak timing for Charlotte Harbor’s blackwater tarpon fishery. Summer rains have stained the mid-harbor water so dark brown in color that it really does look black. Fortunately summer tarpon give themselves away by slow-rolling on the surface, a trait which allows anglers to spot fish in water where the subsurface visibility is so bad that it can be measured in inches. These are schooling fish but the schools are so spread out that a school of a hundred fish might be scattered over several acres of water. Areas worth eyeballing include the mouth of the Myakka River, the three 20-foot holes mid-harbor, the north end of Matlacha Pass, and the west side of the Cape Haze bar, though these fish can be found almost anywhere…

Lookin’ for Linesiders and Lobsters Despite the sultry days, coldwater upwellings and hurricanes, there’s still some good fishing to pick from in East Central Florida in August and September. Come Sept. 1, snook harvesting opens again after a three-month layoff, and that gets a lot of people back to their favorite snook haunts like Sebastian Inlet. What’s more, we start feeling a little break in the temperatures and know summer is coming to a close. It’s also a time when we should see action picking up with snook, red-fish and tarpon along the beaches and around the inlets with the arrival of early baits. If summer rains kick in, like they should in late July and August, the result will be cooler, forage-rich runoff offering some good light-tackle and flyrod…

Full House, Kings and Jacks The summer months are officially behind us and while August will remain in a summer pattern, September is sure to start our transition into fall. Red snapper season has come to an end and it is time to change our targeted species and mix in some different fishing techniques. The next few months are some of the best months to target king mackerel in the Panhandle. There are many methods used to catch king mackerel but slow trolling or drifting live cigar minnows or herring over natural bottom and bait schools is the best path to a consistent bite. If you are specifically targeting those giant smoker kings, increase your bait size to a blue runner, bluefish, or mullet. When trolling for king mackerel, it…

Flounder fishing gets good in the fall, as they gear up to spawn. Recently I caught up with Capt. Roger Bump, Florida Sportsman’s Northeast Weekend Forecaster (jacksonvillefishingtrips.com), for some tips. Bump is a flounder expert. Like most inshore species, flounder move with the tide and favor structure and ambush points. Bump made it short and sweet: “Start deep when the tide is low, areas like jetties and deep docks. As the tide comes in, work your way to the grass lines, oyster bars and sandbars found around the creeks. No matter what, make sure you have moving water.” BAIT AND WAIT Livebait fishing for flounder is the most popular way to target these tasty fish, with the two most effective baits being finger mullet and mud minnows. Bump stressed to…

➊ Plan accordingly in any situation where you interact with other boats. Be aware of how a larger vessel’s actions might affect your safety and how your own actions will affect the safety of other smaller vessels in your proximity. ➋ Take the high ground. It’s far easier to be polite and allow somebody to go ahead of you at a busy intersection than it is to race onto plane and jockey for position. If you do plan to take the lead, indicate your intention by giving a single horn blast to overtake on the other vessel’s starboard side or two blasts for their port side—or hail them on Channel 16 (sadly, the odds of receiving a response to these conventional signals is low these days. Still, we try). ➌…

For the watery parts of Florida I hunt, 17- to 18-inch boots perform the best overall. These can be entirely rubber or rubber with a neoprene upper and come in a variety of thicknesses of insulation. Most of the year, uninsulated ones are most comfortable. Waterproof snake boots (shown at right) are also available. I received a pair as a gift, and while very nice, they have some drawbacks. They are heavier than rubber models, their texture results in more noise when traversing vegetation (especially briars), the waterproofing is prone to fail after a year or two, and they are slower to dry after immersion.…

WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Hard-fighting redfish cruising the surf, ready to pounce on flies or jigs. WHERE: If you’re going to hit the surf north of Jacksonville, between Fort George Inlet and Talbot Island, Heckscher Drive is your route, and Browns Creek Fish Camp will have the paddle tails and jigheads you need. Walking directly across the street to Chowder Ted’s is a must. The chowder is out of this world, and they serve the best burger on Heckscher Drive. Fishing Matanzas Inlet will require a stop at The Avid Angler in St Augustine to stock up on supplies. Captains BBQ is always good, but after a long morning’s wade, a BBQ sandwich there will make the pain of that cast you blew, throwing at a trophy red, go away in…

MULLET ON THE MENU LOCAL FLAVOR: Gulley’s Home of Mullet by Gullett 12255 U.S. Hwy 301, Parrish Riverside Restaurant 29250 Lake Lindsey Rd., Nobleton (352) 796-8222 Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish 1350 Pasadena Avenue, South St. Petersburg CATCH YOUR OWN: It’s fun! Castnet usually the best method, on coastal waters. Sept. 1 begins the reduced bag limit for mullet (50 fish per person or per boat, whereas it’s 100 from Feb. 1- Aug. 31). Also note there are portions of Pinellas County where the striped mullet bag limit is 5 per person or per boat: Riveria Bay and Bayou Grande (Papy’s Bayou), Placido Bayou (Smack’s Bayou), Snell Isle Harbour, and Coffee Pot Bayou, and certain connecting areas of Tampa Bay, and areas of Tampa Bay between the municipal pier head…

TALQUIN TAILRACE WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Unique, swiftwater fishery for striped bass, hybrids, giant catfish and more. Like nothing else you’ll find in Florida. WHERE TO STAY: There are RV and camping facilities and boat ramps near the Dam at Ed & Bernice’s Fish Camp (850-379-8146) and Riverfront RV and Campground (850-570-1190). There are several national chain motels at the intersection of I-10 and SR 267. In addition, there are also several fish camps on Lake Talquin that have rental cabins and RV and camping sites.…

Get in the Strike Zone While most calendars would leave you to believe that the months of August and September are a transition from summer to fall, from a fishing standpoint, both months would still be considered a summerlike pattern, but with migrations of fish coming into play. We generally will see the start of a fall bait migration in September in our nearshore waters and some cooler water temperatures due to the last of the daily summer thunderstorms. On the offshore side of our fishery, two notable species are very much in play these months with the first being the amberjack. These rod-busting drag-screamers will test your strength and the action at times can be downright stellar. Amberjack are generally found in our region well offshore in the 80-…

Temps Are Rising; Big Fish Are, Too! Sweat trickling off your chin and down the back of your neck will remind you what time of year it is. Water temperatures can push up into the 90s. August heat can be relentless, but approaching September, changes can begin to soften the heat. We’re in the midst of our rainy season and summer thunderstorms are the norm. Afternoon tide changes often trigger a seabreeze that increases moisture along the coast and inland areas prompting these brief and sometimes violent thunderstorms. The benefit that we see from them is an immediate relief from the heat. Rain falling from alto-cumulonimbus clouds can be very cold. Fish benefit from the cool rain as surface temperatures in the shallows drop dramatically, allowing greater oxygenation of the…

Fall Harvest Okay, I’ll concede to you that I may be jumping the gun a little to call the August/ September time slot as fall. It’s still HOT, but the days are getting shorter, and the wind should have switched to the northeast for at least a few days by now, and that brings to mind the two sweetest words Northeast Florida saltwater fishermen get to hear during the course of a summer’s swelter. Yup, the “mullet run” is on, and everything above the mullet on nature’s food chain is feeding up in anticipation of colder, windier weather. The whole thing starts with “Mikey The Finger Mullet,” who along with his few thousand cousins have stuffed every creek and swarmed over every flat all summer. They will leave the relative…

Panama Bonanza The sportfish of Panama are as varied as the countries which sail through her canal, and early fall highlights many of the offshore species. “In August and September, we are blessed with great offshore fishing,” says Boris Blanco, a Panama City resident who works for the famed Tropic Star Lodge in Pinas Bay (Pacific coast). “This is prime time for sailfish, marlin (black, blue, and striped), tuna and mahi. Our fishing day starts at around 6:30 a.m., and we’re usually back by 3:30 p.m. That’s mostly because you won’t have to travel more than 20 miles from the lodge.” A typical late summer/early fall trip starts with catching bait. “We’ll catch bonito first, right outside the lodge,” said Boris. “It usually takes about 20 minutes to catch eight…