Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2022 i Florida Sportsman

The more west you go, the better the fishing,” said Tom Janke, a month-long resident of Boyd’s Campground on Stock Island, just a canal east of Key West. “I like the Tortugas, so I want to live as close as possible,” he added with a smile. During our impromptu interview, Tom and I were standing on the deck of his 27 Sea Vee bay boat in a slip at the campground. “My wife prefers hotels,” he said with a laugh. “I have my RV so I can camp here from mid-June to mid-July,” he said. “It’s the perfect time for me. It’s not that hot yet, the mutton bite is still pretty good and the red grouper are off the chart.” Looking around Boyd’s boat basin, it was clear Tom…

Some folks leave dinner early to check on their kids, let the dog out for a doodle break, or make sure their brisket’s smoking nicely. Brian “Bean” Storin’s fiancee Astrid DeGruchy said her man has been known to head home just to babysit his mullet. Storin admits: “I’m obsessed with my mullet.” Working out of Bud ’N Mary’s Marina in Islamorada, Storin knows that netting fresh mullet around the piers, or on the nearby flats is the ticket to tarpon success. Of course, gathering bait before every trip becomes laborious, so Storin’s big on brining his baits. “I add a couple inches of ice to the bottom of my YETI cooler, place a single layer of mullet on the ice, sprinkle salt on top of the mullet and add another…

Couple of things I’ve learned—some the hard way!—to make my fishing days a little easier. One, I fuel up the night before my trip. I use ethanol-free Rec 90 fuel. It’s nearly $6 a gallon last I fueled up, but good insurance against a range of gremlins. I also check my trailer tire pressure on this trip—and ensure my trailer lights are working and my bearings are doing their job without overheating or grumbling in protest. If it’s been more than a few weeks since I last used the boat, tonight or early tomorrow, I’ll top off the charge on my starter and house batteries. This simple exercise also prompts me to check water levels and terminal connections. Fresh fuel, proper voltage, good trailer tires and bearings—if you can guarantee…

Shore-based shark fishing is popular in Florida and not without some controversy. Chumming to attract sharks along crowded beaches has caused some to wonder whether such activities might bring sharks into closer contact with beach-goers, leading to encounters that may have undesirable consequences. In addition, several species of sharks are considered endangered, and their fragile biology can often result in death to animals not considered a risk to humans and not necessarily targets of anglers. In an effort to address concerns for the safety of swimmers, surfers and other beach patrons, and to manage concerns for the sustainability of sharks taken from nearshore fishing efforts, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) developed regulations and educational programs aimed at ensuring that beach-goers and recreational anglers could coexist while enjoying…

Strong, fast, elusive and tasty, wahoo are top-shelf catches on any offshore fishing boat. During those hot-water days that can produce slow summer fishing, the scream of a reel working to stop a brightly striped bullet of a fish is a welcome sound. Strong, fast, elusive and tasty, wahoo are top-shelf catches on any offshore fishing boat. Despite being relatively scarce, wahoo can be a good target fish—especially on days around the full moon when other fish can be less than eager to feed during the day. Tournament anglers who know how to catch summer wahoo have an advantage over those who don’t. ’Hoo Do You Love Boating a 20-pound-plus ’hoo during one of the many summer KDW (kingfish, dolphin, wahoo) tournaments almost always translates into a paycheck because so…

Having gotten sick and tired of days with too much wind in them, I recently purchased a 15-foot Gheenoe with a 6-hp outboard. I bought the Gheenoe with plans on stalking redfish with my flyrod and catching flounder around grass lines when they show this fall. There are plenty of days I can fish inshore in Northeast Florida while the ocean is closed to anything smaller than an aircraft carrier. The minute I backed my mighty craft into the driveway, I had to call my boy Lonnie Pitts Jr. to see where we could do our maiden voyage on a typical early spring 20-knot windy day. “Let’s just hit Four Creeks,” he said. “The wind won’t matter, and it’s right by your house.” “Where? Never heard of it,” was my…

Almost as quickly as the wriggling three-inch herring hit the calm surface of Biscayne Bay, the water erupted in unmistakable orange and pink flashes. Captain Alex Geneteau, who had just pitched a couple of bait-net scoops of the live chum behind his 24-foot bayboat, yelled, “Are you kidding? Look at those muttons! They’re right here.” Geneteau had been hoping to put us on some good inshore action for the prized snapper along the east side of southern Biscayne Bay, but hadn’t figured it would be immediate and close enough to sight-cast to. Paul MacInnis, an enthusiast who’d driven down from Port Canaveral early that morning, wasted no time casting a hatch-matching 3 ½-inch Rapala X-Rap Subwalk past the fray behind Geneteau’s 24-foot Islamorada Boat Works bay boat. In short order,…

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) oversees 800,000 acres of natural lands, estuaries and wilderness. I had the pleasure of spending a few days at two SFWMD campsites, Istokpoga and Hickory Hammock Campgrounds. Both are RV, pop-up and tent accessible. Only 25 miles north of the town of Okeechobee, the Istokpoga Campground has onsite hosts and plenty of room between sites. Each site features a level gravel pad, picnic table and fire ring. A modern boat ramp provides immediate access to the Istokpoga canal, which connects to the Kissimmee River only 1.5 miles away. Speaking of the Kissimmee River, it holds the record for the most extensive river restoration in the world. It took 20 years of work to return the river to its innumerable natural curves and turns…

The Goose Pasture Campground is a free campground owned by Suwannee River Water Management District located in the Aucilla Wildlife Management Area, right off the banks of the Wacissa River. The campground offers limited amenities including picnic tables, portable toilets, RV dump station, trash cans, and access to the river. The sites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The campground is not open for camping during general gun season November until the end of January). There is no fee for camping, but a self-issued special use authorization (SUA) must be obtained and is available at the kiosk. For information call 386-362-1001 or 800-226-1066 (FL only) or email recreation@srwmd.org. The Suwannee River Wilderness State trail is a chain of public and private campsites which make traveling the Suwannee river an…

In the early 1900s, New York advertising magnate Barron Collier pushed through the swamps of southern Florida and linked Florida’s west and east coast. He also opened up an incredible fishery around Everglades City. The Tamiami Trail was an amazing engineering feat—then called the eighth wonder of the world. Famous writers like Hemingway and presidents like Teddy Roosevelt would make the pilgrimage to catch giant tarpon and snook. Fortunately, the incredible fishery has been preserved with the creation of the largest wild area in the eastern U.S. covering the Everglades National Park and the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge as well as several large state parks. Today, the angler who trundles down the scenic two-lane road between Naples and Miami only has to make a short detour to Everglades…

HUK A1A SUN HAT A1A rings a familiar bell to Florida anglers. Indeed, for Huk’s A1A lineup, the designers focused on offering tropical weight performance attire for coastal anglers. Case in point: The A1A Sun Hat. It has a shapeable wire brim, elastic cord and perforations to let air move. Keep the UV out and let the cool in! One size fits all. Colors black, oyster and Huk blue. MSRP $40. HOBIE HANK CHERRY CHAMPIONS COLLECTION Winner of the 2020 and 2021 Bassmaster Classics, Hank Cherry recently teamed with Hobie Eyewear to design a collection of floating polarized fishing sunglasses. Together, they are proud to announce the new Hank Cherry Champions Collection. The Bluefin Float is Hobie’s largest frame to date and is a great choice for anglers with larger…

The river went from pine forest to cypress swamp and ran faster as it narrowed. Along the way, we passed two spillways in the cypress swamp, excellent spots for snook and bass to ambush small fish that wash over. The plants along the shoreline seemed to cover the river as we came to the old dock of Trapper Nelson. We stopped to have lunch and check out the homestead that is now a part of Jonathan Dickson State Park. River anglers typically meet at a spot downriver, where kayaks are loaded and taken upstream. At this point, the river opened, and the shoreline turned into mangroves. My companion, Florida Sportsman staffer Jean McElroy, caught a monster snook—40 inches—on a curly tail jig. After that, we made the paddle to the…

Setting stands for hunting with a longbow often entails a good bit of work. Shooting lanes need to be cleared and limbs that could interfere with drawing or pointing the bow removed from trees. This work, however, proved enlightening over the years. My first exposure occurred after selecting a red maple as a stand tree in a copse of predominately pines. Even though it was December and the understory barren and brown, I sweated a good deal sawing the necessary limbs as they were numerous, and some were thick. Despite my increased scent and the fact my hunts had been short on deer sightings for the past few weeks, deer showed up early in the afternoon hunt; maybe 13 in total but at least eight—keeping track of individuals became difficult…

Some of Florida’s largest kings of summer are caught along the beaches and inlets from Daytona Beach to the St. Marys Inlet. However, there are times when targeting kingfish in close to shore is extremely slow, while just a few miles offshore, king fishing is red hot. A prime example comes when there is a late day incoming tide where clean water shows up at the tips of jetties or sloughs along the beaches. In conditions like this, fishermen may be better off running offshore 5 to15 miles. Also, if there is a lack of menhaden along the beaches and greenies and mullet at the inlets, kingfish will migrate a short distance offshore where cigar minnows and other baitfish are plentiful. Keeping in contact with your cell phone or VHF…

The St. Johns River Water Management District owns nearly 785,000 acres of land within 18 counties, and virtually all lands are open to the public 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, explained Ashley Evitt, Media Outreach Manager for the District. “These lands serve a variety of vital functions, including helping to filter out pollutants from stormwater runoff, prevent erosion, provide regional flood protection and serve as protected plant and animal habitat,” said Evitt. Recreational activities vary depending on the property, but those interested in camping have 24 locations to choose from. All locations offer only tent camping and only in designated locations. Many of the sites are located in remote areas and can only be reached by hiking, bicycling, boating or horseback riding. No recreational vehicles are permitted…

Rush hour. Grid lock. People tight-lipped, antsy to get to work. Same story plays out each workday across the busy expressways of Florida. Even in Old Homosassa, except in this instance it takes place on the first finger pier, adjacent the public boat ramp, at McRae’s Bait House and lasts just a few minutes as skiff guides jockey for position to pick up their charters for the day. Old Homosassa has grown, says Captain Susan Bogart-Miller, Manager of River Safaris & Gulf Charters, but grown the right way: “You don’t see big chain hotels here,” she said. “We don’t have big buildings and we don’t have beaches. But we do have springs, rivers, lakes and big, beautiful oak trees.” And, I should add, some of the best inshore fishing and…

RED GROUPER might qualify as the “everyman’s grouper.” They’re widespread, found in good numbers and not shy about striking baits or jigs. They’re taken in relatively shallow nearshore waters but also at times in water hundreds of feet deep. Reds can be found around rocky reefs and patches as well as over flat, hard or sandy bottoms. In fact, their tendency to prowl relatively smooth bottom is a great attribute for savvy anglers who enjoy fishing lighter tackle. For most grouper, using light lines is a kamikaze move, as gags, blacks, scamp and other species will head right back into line-shredding coral at the sting of a hook unless stopped by heavy line. But reds found over mostly smooth bottom offer anglers a great chance for real sport on relatively…

Brian Cone is not a human being. He’s a dolphin, and a large one at that. How else to explain someone who knows what dolphin think, how they act and when and where they’re going to dine. The Islamorada skipper wins too often to dub it luck. He’s captured at least one tournament win every year for the last 31 years. On days when some anglers couldn’t get a bite in a school of starving grunts, Cone puts his team on fish. That’s exactly what happened off Marathon in the Tom Thumb Bull and Cow Dolphin Tournament held April 30-May 1. Cone’s crew aboard his 34-foot catamaran Contagious thwarted nearly 80 boats and over 600 anglers jousting with bulls and cows—the kind you observe in the blue Gulf Stream, not…

When it comes to mahi fishing, every captain on the ocean has a love/hate relationship with seaweed, and more specifically sargassum. I was told for many years that mahi love shade. They supposedly hung out under seaweed to get out of the sun for a while. I totally believed that theory until I started noticing there’s different kinds of seaweed, and while they all provide shade, they most definitely don’t all provide mahi. Weedlines are formed by two bodies of water colliding. This is most often caused by tides around river mouths, or two bodies of water coming together offshore, often as a result of the Gulf Stream current off the east coast, or the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico. When two active, rapidly moving currents collide, the…

There was a time not so long ago when the local bait and tackle shop was the functional nerve center for the fisherman. It wasn’t just where you bought a new rod or stocked up on ice and bait for the day, it was where you connected with like-minded folks, a place where you could walk through the door and step simultaneously into past and present. Today, many of us are emerging from the fog of the internet and “big box” lifestyle to reclaim our space at the counter. So, too, are new anglers discovering the value of personal connections, local intel and access to quality, locally relevant gear. Florida Sportman’s staff of Field Editors profile some of these spots, with more in the months to come. SPECIAL THANKS TO…

Florida still has its quiet places to camp and fish. If you don’t mind the occasional airboat, one spot is Shired Island, down a 15-mile turnoff of CR-357 that connects Cross City to Horseshoe Beach. Guarded by no see-um gnats each dusk and dawn, the island is a genuine piece of Florida’s Nature Coast. It features a small campground with a fairly long beach and separately, a decent boat ramp with floating dock, and parking for perhaps a dozen trailers. No charge for launching a boat, though the county collects the hefty sum of $10 for overnight camping. Ten more, if you require electricity. Shired Island sits between Horseshoe Beach on the northern horizon, and the mouth of the Suwannee River far to the south. There are no roads and…

The bug, a size 2 fly rod mouse imitation, hit the water with a gentle splat. Immediately, the water bulged nearby, a large bulge, a harbinger of good things to come. After a long moment, the bug just disappeared. It could have been a bluegill strike. I set the hook with authority. The fish, surprised, wallowed on the surface a moment, the way only a large bass can. Then the water exploded, and the battle was on! Normally a coastal saltwater fisherman, a recent drive through the Ocala National Forest stimulated my curiosity. I’d been there a few times through the years on paddle trips, but had never fished there. Some research and a campsite reservation at Juniper Springs National Recreation Area followed. I’d be spending four days exploring and…

Haulover Canal is one of those little-known gems usually reserved for the locals. It’s a one-mile cut that could be easily missed on charts if it wasn’t for the dotted line noting the Intracoastal Waterway that follows the canal northeast of Titusville across Merritt Island between the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon. It’s on undeveloped NASA property that is managed by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Those that have spent time fishing Haulover know it’s more than just a launch site close to the redfish in Mosquito Lagoon or the trout hotspots in the northern reaches of the Indian River. It’s the variety of catches that come from its coquina base habitat that sets Haulover apart. The canal is significant in early Florida history having been dynamited out of…

MAYPORT MIAMI KEY WEST ST. PETERSBURG CEDAR KEY PENSACOLA Prime-Timer Tables for AUGUST 2022 Are fish and game more active during intervals of the lunar orbit? It’s a theory. Shown are “prime” times of moonrise, moonset, and when moon is directly over and under Lakeland, midpoint of Florida. MOON PHASES SEPTEMBER 2022 MAYPORT MIAMI KEY WEST ST. PETERSBURG CEDAR KEY PENSACOLA Prime-Timer Tablesfor SEPTEMBER 2022 Are fish and game more active during intervals of the lunar orbit? It’s a theory. Shown are “prime” times of moonrise, moonset, and when moon is directly over and under Lakeland, midpoint of Florida. MOON PHASES…