Florida Sportsman is the complete fishing magazine for Florida and the Tropics. Devoted to fishing, boating, and outdoor activities in the Sunshine State, Florida Sportsman is the authoritative source for Florida's most active fishermen.
SELECT CONTENT AVAILABLE NOW ON OUR DIGITAL CHANNELS Whatcha gonna throw? Find the four rigs you need to know for success on Florida piers. Scan code for online articles. WEBSITE WWW.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.COM FOUR BASIC PIER RIGS – BY SID DOBRIN It’s fall and the fish—and fisherfolks—are migrating to the beaches. Here are the rigs that will get the job done on any coastal pier. If you missed this featured article from Sid Dobrin last year, catch it on the Florida Sportsman website this month. DIGITAL WEB EXCLUSIVES TOP 10 FOR SNOOK – BY BRENTON ROBERTS Snook are apt to eat artificials of many varieties, making fishing for them a blast for light tackle enthusiasts. In certain conditions, some lures work better than others. Fill a tackle box with these baits…
Yes, we’re mostly a fishing magazine—but at the right time of year (as in now), we engage expert, passionate writers to share inside stories on uniquely Florida hunts: our early whitetail rut, our much-coveted Osceola turkey, our tee-shirt-weather waterfowling, among others. Think of it as special content for the “new-to-Florida” hunter. What about the “new-to-hunting?” Glad you asked. For foundational tips, plus gear reviews, firearms advice and bucketlist road trips, let me point you toward the larger communications network of which our magazine is a part. The Outdoor Sportsman Group includes authoritative hunting titles such as Game & Fish, Petersen’s Hunting, Bowhunter, Gun Dog, and many others. Their staff devote the same level of care to their subject matter as we do to our own. Same can be said for…
The National Marine Fisheries Service now says we, the recreational angler, are catching too many red snapper out of season, resulting in too many fish dying after release. This announcement is on the tail of another ridiculously short two-day season in the Atlantic. So, which is it? A fishery overfished, and not doing well enough for a season longer than two days? Or an ocean thick of chunky red snapper resulting in too many fish being caught out of season? Jacksonville angler and Florida Sportsman editor Capt. Rick Ryals says it’s the latter. “We’ve never had a red snapper fishery this good. Not in the 1960s, not in the ’70’s,” Rick exclaimed. “Never.” However, John Carmichael, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, says the NMFS March 2021 stock assessment paints a…
If you’ve been meaning to check out Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast, October is a great month to do so. The weather should be cooler and they will be hosting their 52nd Annual Seafood Festival, Oct. 15-16. I’m not sure it’s practical to fish and do the festival on the same day, what with 20,000 people showing up when the weather is fine. Maybe a 4-hour kayak trip near the public library at the far north end of town… more on that in a moment. If you can time it right, plan to fish a weekday and then stick around for the festival, a major celebration of the local fishing heritage and the outstanding seafood the region still provides in the form of clams, oysters and more. Arts and…
DAIWA FREE SWIMMER BR Fishing big live baits? A dropback is a good technique. That means letting line pull free at the strike so your fish gets its mouth around the bait before you come tight to set the hook. Spinning reels can be built with a clutch and spool tension system to enable an automatic, controllable line release, and that’s what Daiwa offers in its new Free Swimmer series. You flip a lever at the base of the reel, and that puts the spool in freespool mode. Adjust the tension control knob for the preferred resistance. When a fish bites, the line runs… and after a four or five count, you flip the lever back to engage the main drag, and hopefully you’re on! Daiwa also suggests using the…
I love gag grouper. I’ve loved gags since the first one I ever hooked dove into a wreck and broke me off. It’s funny to me that much like snook inshore, grouper have already mapped out an escape plan before they ever bite. Snapper pull hard, but they lack foresight and planning. Grouper grab a bait, and immediately head for safety. Anytime I do a seminar on grouper fishing, I try to stress that when battling a billfish, you need to pace yourself. The battle may go on for a long time, and you can’t burn up all your energy. A grouper’s fate, however, is almost always determined in the first 10 seconds of the fight. Either you keep so much pressure on him that he can’t reach something to…
