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.
I’m just gonna come out and say it. Self-driving recreational boats are a terrible idea. Off Marco Island a few years ago, I watched a small express sportfish on autopilot plow by an artificial reef at 30 knots, missing an anchored skiff by inches. The sportfish never stopped. As if human misjudgment weren’t terrifying enough, the potential for computer-aided disaster seems limitless. Last month, I was aboard a next-level autopilot-equipped demo boat at the International Boat-Builders’ Exhibition (IBEX) in Tampa. We were idling up the Hillsborough River as a representative from the automation company pointed out features such as LIDAR-calculations, cameras, autodocking, adaptive cruise and collision avoidance. While he was standing there talking, the boat piloted itself into a bridge fender. It was a glancing blow but heavy enough that…
With 175 state parks spanning 815,000 acres, including 100 miles of beaches, 2,275 miles of trails and access to some of the state’s best fishing, we have a treasure in Florida buried in plain sight. Of our state parks, 100 allow fishing, and among that number are some are the most visited in the state. Honeymoon Island, Gasparilla Island, Bill Baggs Cape Florida, St. Andrews and Sebastian Inlet all make the top ten list with over half a million visitors each per year. And all have exemplary fishing. In total, close to 30 million people will visit Florida State Parks this year, slightly down from 32 million in 2021-2022. The Florida Park Service is a division of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Florida State Parks are supported by tax…
As I paddled my kayak away from shore, I was trying to decide which fishy-looking shoreline or oyster bar to target first. To the north were docks along the western shore. To the south were numerous oyster bars. And to the east, directly across from where I had rented my kayak at Anastasia Watersports, was a long, mangrove-studded shoreline. It all looked good. So, I just stopped paddling and fired my soft-plastic jig to a crescent-shaped oyster bar that was about 200 yards from where I started from. Thump. I reeled once more. Thwack. My rod bent. Seatrout on! Salt Run is definitely a “first cast fish” kind of place. It’s a 3.5-mile-long lagoon, starting just inside the southern bend of the St. Augustine Inlet and eastern side of Davis…
STREAMLIGHT WAYPOINT 400 A spotlight is essential equipment on a boat, and the new Waypoint 400 rechargeable spotlight from Streamlight offers a bunch of great attributes. For one, it’s super powerful, 1,400 lumens on the highest setting (an effective beam distance of 1,265 meters). But equally valuable, intensity can be dialed back to two lower settings. This not only maximizes run time on the rechargeable lithium-ion battery (up to 84 hours) but affords discretion when using the light in populated areas. The Waypoint is compact and the housing feels solid. The handle is grippy and textured for secure hold in wet conditions and comes with a lanyard. It’s also IPX8 waterproof to 2 meters. An integrated stand allows you to position the light hands-free, helpful if you need to illuminate…
The general trend in Florida saltwater rods has been longer is better. Six-foot rods in the 1980s gave way to seven-footers, then seven-sixes came of age in the ’90s, and now 8-footers are commonly used on the flats—to say nothing of the 10-foot plus rods guys are prowling the surf with these days. However it’s worth asking: Is there a place in the Florida salt for a shorter rod? Perhaps, even, a much shorter rod? A guide in Islamorada is making some interesting arguments. Filling the hours left open by the 2020 pandemic shutdown, Capt. Brandon Storin, out of Bud N’ Mary’s Marina, challenged himself to see how many saltwater fish he could catch with the 36-inch Shakespeare Ugly Stick Dock Runner spinning combo he found in a local shop.…
I’m an offshore angler at heart, where we’ve relied on paperclip-style snaps for years when building artificial dredges to tease up sailfish, blue marlin and white marlin. However, my recent explorations into Florida’s remote backwaters have revealed yet another valuable application for these small, bent pieces of metal—fishing topwater and suspending hard baits above rocky limestone and oyster-laden shallows. Artificial lures, and even many live bait presentations benefit from a nonslip loop knot at the terminal end, as opposed to the tag tied tight with a fixed connection like a uni or palomar knot. This allows a tad more freedom of motion for lures to execute their designed maneuvers and is essential when the retrieve calls for a pause to let a lure finish its gliding motion. While many professional…
