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.
DIGITAL WEB EXCLUSIVE BEST BAITS & RIGS FOR SURF FISHING IN FLORIDA - BY MIKE CONNER Nothing says summer like sand between your toes and a line in the trough. Use these recommendations for surf success! YOUTUBE LATEST & GREATEST IN KAYAK FISHING Industry professionals cover the latest models, most inspiring builds, new electronics and innovative accessories in the kayak fishing scene. PODCAST HOT WEATHER TACTICS It’s a hot a one, and the fish are feeling it too. Let’s cover how you can entice the bite even as air and water temps rise. BECOME A SOCIAL STAR Send post-worthy pics: @floridasportsmanmaga-zine or #floridasportsmanmagazine GET YOUR MUG IN THE MAG Email your best catches or scenic shots to photos@floridasportsman.com…
Want to look like you really know what you’re doing? Hook a fresh shrimp on a bottom rig and have your guest drop it on an artificial reef. You can guarantee they’ll hook a fish within a matter of seconds. Go ahead and tell them! Ninety nine percent of the time, you’ll be right. There was a time when you could perform a stunt like this on our seagrass beds, but thanks to the slurry of crap we’ve dumped in our bays, for a lot of us that time has passed. I’ve seen live shrimp sit 30 minutes on dead Indian River Lagoon bottom that once held raging hordes of pin-fish, snappers and trout. After 30 minutes, a catfish or puffer eventually eats it, but by then the magic is…
For decades Florida Sportsman has recommended keeping fishery regulations as simple and straightforward as possible. The basic premise was/is, the more complicated we make the rules, the less likely people are going to follow them. And taken one step further, the more complicated we make the rules, the greater the chance people will simply give up on fishing altogether. So, truth be told I wasn’t surprised by current Florida Sportsman Editor Jeff Weakley’s answer when I asked how he felt about the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) proposal to increase the state’s two snook management zones to nine zones. Jeff told me he thought it was a terrible idea. “Who has the bandwidth to keep track of all the different regions and limits?” Weakley exclaimed. “The average angler…
If you think the boat ride from Key West to the Dry Tortugas is far…hold my beer. Roughly 50 miles west-northwest of Fort Jefferson lies the southern terminus of Pulley Ridge. This sensitive and ecologically important coral community is basically a giant area of live bottom stretching north more than 80 miles. When the weather is right, adventurous anglers make the run from Key West with hopes of fast action with numerous species of snapper and grouper. Die-hard Gulf coasters load up with provisions and steam to the ridge from Naples and ports even farther up the coast—it’s about 130 miles from Key West and 150 miles from Gordon Pass. Scientific field surveys exploring the biodiversity and ecology of Pulley Ridge have focused on different locations within the reef system,…
Wanna know why they keep my very favorite candy bar right next to the cash register at the grocery store? Because they know I’ll react. I can’t help it. I would never shop the aisles of the store looking for a candy bar, but if that lady in front of me has a full cart of groceries to unload, there’s going to be a Hershey bar with almonds in my cart. I was not hungry for a Hershey bar, but when one is sitting right where I wait to pay, my reaction is very predictable. Such is the theory behind why wahoo can’t resist a lure flying by at 21 knots. While we’ve never gotten one to confess, there is evidence that they are simply reacting to something running super…
Snorkeling for bay scallops on Florida’s Gulf Coast should be on everyone’s bucket list. Tender scallop morsels sautéed in butter and garlic, served over thin pasta with (very) chilled white wine, is a summertime ritual for us. There are many miles of coastline available, from the southeast corner of Bay County (in the Panhandle) stretching south to Pinellas County near Tampa. Five approved regions have been established by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) with differing harvest dates and daily bag limits. Taylor and Dixie counties are perhaps the most popular among the scallop veterans, as well as the Crystal River region in Citrus County. Steinhatchee remains the epicenter of healthy seagrass bottoms, with Keaton Beach on the north end of that belt, and Horseshoe Beach on the…
