Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Florida Sportsman

At Florida Sportsman, we’re always exploring developments in technology to make our time in the outdoors more efficient and satisfying. In this issue, Managing Editor Steve Dougherty and I document inside stories behind some exciting gear reveals in the sport-fishing industry, from electric outboards to UV-protective fabrics. At the same time, as we do in pretty much every issue, we’re proud to celebrate the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Florida anglers and hunters. Look around at your friends on the water and in the woods: Inventors and recyclers, always finding novel ways to re-use materials already in hand. It might be little things, like writer Tim Lewis sharing his turkey calls crafted of “found” objects (page 28). Or really big things, like the self-perpetuating oyster reefs nurtured by an academic and…

Years ago, I explored the Withlacoochee River with a BOTE paddleboard outfitted with a 9.9 hp gas-powered outboard. The addition of a tiller motor turned the 14-foot SUP into an immensely versatile micro skiff, reaching a top speed of 15 mph and significantly improving on my paddle-powered range. However, the noisy pull-to-start outboard left something to be desired amid the silence of the river. The introduction of electric outboards is not a recent development. Torqeedo has been delivering electric outboards since 2005. Their Cruise 6.0T tiller, which is equivalent to a 9.9 hp, weighs 47 pounds. The 1P67-rated 5,000w battery pack weighs 80 pounds and can reach full charge in two hours. Mercury Marine’s recent entry into the electric domain hints at future developments from established manufacturers of conventional outboard…

FELLSMERE SPAWN TACTICS KAYAK BASSIN’ SEASON 7, EPISODE 3 “KAYAK FISHING FLORIDA” Throwback to the years when Fellsmere Reservoir, west of Sebastian, was open only to kayaks and other paddlecraft. Host Chad Hoover and friends Jason Broach and Gene Jensen show how it’s done during the spawning season. Broach: “Swimbaits are gonna be our primary bait, throwing over levees, over and around hydrilla patches. If we see bedding fish, go to creature bait, throw it in a bed, try to get females active, males active!” Jensen: “Right now we’re in pretty much spawn, pre spawn in Florida. We’ve got these miles and miles of grass. Key to catching bass, you’ve got to find them first. Use a nice big paddle tail to cover water. As soon as you get bit,…

Spring in South Florida is just around the corner. The one thing we can count on in March is the wind. Weak cold fronts stall just above South Florida, strong high-pressure areas move offshore, and this creates northeast winds that blow for a week at 15 to 25 knots. These conditions can be very good for sailfish and big spring mahi. That might sound fantastic, but I prefer to fish calmer waters. When the winds come up in South Florida it’s nice to be able to switch gears and catch a lot of fish in protected waters. The calmest waters will be in the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) in the Everglades. Water levels have been dropping for weeks in these areas. The receding water forces small minnows to move into…

March begins Southwest Florida’s transition into spring. Certainly, we will still have a few cold fronts to deal with and the wind that comes with them, but change is happening. Moving into mid-March we start seeing migratory fish moving in from the south. Our winter fish visitors that escaped the cooler waters up north will be thinking of heading back soon. We look forward to watching the water temperatures begin to slowly warm and with that, the fishing gets better. Patience is still important early in the month as we wait for the water to warm up above 72 degrees consistently. Early in the month we will still be fishing for cold weather fish like sheepshead, trout, and mackerel. Sheepshead will continue to be found both in the backcountry as…

Come March 16, hunters will be hitting the forests and swamps of Central Florida to chase a bird that might offer the most challenging test of one’s woodsmanship—the Osceola turkey. Frustrating as they are fun to hunt, turkeys force the hunter to engage stealth, silence, patience, and calling skills to fool their wary eyes and ears. Finding turkeys is the first task. Much of this region’s public and private lands abut the St. Johns River marshes and its tributaries, which provide a mosaic of cypress swamps, pastures, hardwoods and sandy pine ridges. Like all game, turkeys tend to feed, travel, and roost around “edges” or zones where one type of habitat meets another. Look for turkey tracks in the mud or sand where oak-laden creek bottoms meet higher ground, or…

Just like that, winter is over, and we make our way into spring transition. Bring on the spring breakers so long as they bring with them 70-degree water temperatures! Inevitably we will still get a few cold fronts this month, but the temperatures will be slowly rising. Triggerfish, Spanish mackerel, sheepshead, and pompano should be on everyone’s radar this month, especially if you like fresh fish for dinner. Spanish mackerel will be at the top of the list of targeted species this time of year for both inshore and offshore charterboats. With the warming water temperatures comes an influx of baitfish, including cigar minnows, Spanish sardines, and glass minnows. They will be showing up on the beaches, in the passes and moving their way into the bay. Typically, they aren’t…

Not to second guess what the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), along with a private partnership with Duke Energy, and Mote Marine to a lesser extent, have been doing over the last two decades regarding fish hatcheries. Scratch that, it’s time to second guess them. With the current water quality issues statewide, I realize and appreciate that many of you are ready to stop reading, not wanting to see another word about hatcheries when we’ve got dead zones for estuaries. But, truth be told, that’s exactly when a successful hatchery strategy can make an impact. What we’ve unfortunately got in Florida right now is a broken water management system and an underachieving fishery enhancement program. We’re fishless with no help on the…

Croquette, derived from the French term croquer, translates to “crunch” and was a traditional way of recycling leftover meat and scraps during lean times. Turkey hunting is my favorite, and I ensure not to let any part of those magnificent birds go to waste. Once the carcass is nearly devoid, I meticulously extract every edible portion, including meat from the legs and wings. For small bites, these croquettes make a big impression. When you bite into these petite turkey parcels the combination of textures and an assortment of flavors results in a very satisfying nosh. Whether oven-baked or deep-fried, croquettes pair well with a variety of your preferred sauces. The combination of sriracha and maple syrup introduces a delightful blend of heat, sweetness, and salt. Prepare a generous batch as…

The Osceola subspecies of the American wild turkey is a jewel, a treasure worth admiring and conserving. Those are my words. I am being subjective. That said, I believe that I have earned the right to this subjectivity through 45 years of chasing all four subspecies of wild turkeys in the United States. I love the pursuit of the eastern, the Rio Grande and the Merriam’s versions of our greatest game bird. Proof of that can be found in the hours, the air travel, the sweat and the miles on the ground I have invested in that pursuit over the last four and a half decades. My heart connects most profoundly with the bird that is unique to the southern half of the Florida Peninsula. The three other subspecies range…

March is a month known for many unique natural changes and marks the beginning of the Vernal or Spring Equinox. In the Ten Thousand Islands region of Southwest Florida spring is also open season for one of the most famous and popular sportfish species in the world. The common snook or sometimes referred to as just snook or “robalo,” can be found throughout the tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, from coastal North Carolina to Brazil including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Snook are a diverse species that thrive in a variety of environments, including offshore wrecks and reefs, inshore and nearshore mangrove islands, creeks and inlets, and river estuaries. According to my long-time friend and Ten Thousand Islands fishing expert Charlie Thompson, this time of…

Whistling winter winds will begin to subside in the West Central region as cold fronts begin to wane. Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead as Daylight Savings Time begins March 10. If calm is what you’re looking for, it may be a few more weeks before the wind machine slows. In the meantime, sheepshead that have been feeding around pilings near piers, bridges, docks, and on rocky jetties will continue to be targets even on those days when winds is blowing 20 knots. Their spawn generally starts around the full moon in February and continues into March and sometimes even April. Regardless of the timing, this time of year you’ll find some sheepies that can bottom out your scale. Live shrimp might be readily available but a better choice…

I’m sure there is a purpose for March, and I’m also sure the reason doesn’t involve heading offshore. The challenge lies not just in the limited calm weather days but also in the scant 18-24 hour notice we receive. That means assembling a crew capable of taking a day off at a moment’s notice becomes imperative. So, for offshore fishermen, March’s primary advantage may be its proximity to April, and the start of another bluewater season. If a rare calm day occurs in March, one can anticipate encountering blackfin tuna and wahoo along the 28-fathom ledge. While high-speed trolling and live baiting prove effective for big wahoo, pulling a traditional ballyhoo spread with a lipped diver behind it ensures a more diverse catch of pelagics. Bottom fishing should be excellent…

Blowing a lower unit on the first morning of a three-day sailfish tournament might severely discourage most crews, but the loss of one engine led Captain Brian Cone and team Trophy Hunter to win the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament held November 30 through December 3, 2023. “We like to run fast to find showers of ballyhoo and tailing fish,” said Cone who runs Contagious Charters out of Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada. “But we lost an engine first thing and had to switch strategies.” Cone says that when he fishes around schools of ballyhoo that are being scared into the air by sails, or “showering,” he likes to visually pinpoint the action and run quickly to the surface activity. They use binoculars to locate showering bait schools—“sprinkles” if there are only a…

South of Jupiter sits Juno Beach Pier, one of Florida’s favorite fishing piers. Walk out and you’ll find folks always seem to be catching something. The water is often a clear blue out at the end, with a murkier, powder blue at the beach when a mild surf is breaking. Folks at the pier store, where you pay admittance, are helpful enough, but getting information from pier customers can be elusive. It’s possible they don’t want to share their great spot with the rest of the world, since the pier and casting distance are finite. However, you’ll undoubtedly meet kindred spirits with a broad spectrum of anglers of all age. The local “pier rats” (slang for regular customers) are dialed in with their buddies when the action heats up. Weekends…

Every surf angler knows the value of good bait and sandfleas are like gold. In years past, a little digging along the surf line on most any Florida beach revealed the presence of mole crabs, a.k.a. “sandfleas.” Fast forward to the present time, where did all the sandfleas go? On many Florida beaches, they are nonexistent. Jerry Pope, a commercial sandflea harvester from East Central Florida, has seen a noticeable decline in sandflea abundance. Several years ago, the populations were so good that Pope and his business partner Jim Balazs could easily fill an order for 40 gallons of sandfleas in just an hour. “They were large sandfleas and we called them ‘turtles’ or ‘bucket fillers’ because they were so big,” boasts Pope. After three years of back-to-back storms, he…

For many of us, deep-drop fishing is a “Plan B” kind of thing. It may not be an everyday activity, but it offers a thrilling and enjoyable change of pace. It’s something we do when the inshore bite is slow or when sharks are intruding on our shallow snapper fishing (seems like all the time these days). For others, deep dropping becomes a primary passion. The techniques offer reliable means to fill a cooler with tasty and common cold-water fish like snowy grouper, vermilion snapper and tilefish, and also exotic creatures like hake, barrelfish, lancetfish and wreckfish. It’s 60 degrees down there and these fish have a healthy diet of shrimp, squid, and crustaceans. With names like “snowy grouper” and “golden tilefish,” you just know they’re great to eat. GEARING…

March heralds the arrival of spring in the Florida Keys, a highly anticipated season embraced by both locals and visitors. One of the migratory species that quickly becomes everyone’s favorite gamefish is the tarpon. Easily spotted in bridge channels and backcountry waters, and under docks eating fish scraps, tarpon are sought after for their incredible strength and stamina. With iconic aerials and unmatched power, they present a thrilling challenge for even the most seasoned anglers. Notable locations to witness the mass migration include Boca Grande Channel, Northwest Channel, Key West Harbor, Shark Key Channel, Bahia Honda, the Seven-Mile bridge and Channel 2 bridge. Driving along U.S. Highway 1 at certain points offers a breathtaking view of this spectacular fishery. You’re sure to see boats fishing, and catching, around the Seven…

March is a mixed-bag month inshore, with the weather often dictating what your target is that day. It can be cold and wintertime species such as pompano, Spanish mackerel and bluefish are your target species. Catch a warming trend for a few days and species like snook and tarpon tend to come out of the woodwork as their metabolism increases with the warming water temperatures. The sailfish bite should stay strong and if it is anything like the past couple of years, action should be consistent all the way through the summer. The majority of anglers will live bait the edge of the reef around Palm Beach and Jupiter, as this is a highway for many different pelagic species. Covering more water on the troll can be the ticket around…

With warming tides and sunny weather, seatrout return to area grassflats, especially during high tides, and are hungry for deep-running jigs. It’s a little early for shrimp or baitfish, and trout will now grab all sorts of plastic baits, even large twister tails that resemble nothing found in this hemisphere. Pinfish may return depending on water temperatures, and they are the go-to trout bait for the Big Bend. It may be a little early to buy live pinfish, which are caught in traps and sold by marinas. If none are available for purchase, bring a crappie rod or two, armed with 6-pound line, small weight and bobber. “Pinnies” can be caught over thick grass bottoms. The best bait that stays on a tiny hair hook is a square piece of…

There is a lot to choose from in March. Not only do the resident fish start turning on but the annual migratory visitors begin showing up in Northwest Florida. If that’s not enough to cause a fishing traffic jam, the freshwater species are also waking up. Having all this happening at once is a nice dilemma for fishermen to deal with. In fresh water, largemouth bass begin spawning as early as February but continue into March. Lake Jackson is normally an outstanding lake for fishing the spawn. But for the last couple of years the lake has been abnormally low due to drought conditions. The bad news is that large areas of the lake are dry. Fortunately, there are also large areas of the lake that still have enough water…

MARCH 2024 MAR. 1-2:Spring Backcountry Fly Championship, Islamorada. www.bfctournament.com MAR. 2:El Cheapo Sheepshead Tournament, Jacksonville. elcheapo.profishingtournaments.com MAR. 5-9:Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring Championship, Hollywood. www.questfortheringfl.com MAR. 7-9:Chub Cay Classic, Chub Cay, Bahamas. www.chubcay.com MAR. 9:Power-Pole National Redfish Tour, Steinhatchee. www.powerpoleredfishtour.com MAR. 11-14:March Merkin Invitational Permit Tournament, Key West. www.marchmerkin.com MAR. 15-16:Professional Redfish League Excalibur Tournament, Steinhatchee. www.professionalredfishleague.com MAR. 15-16:Second Annual Red Grouper Bash, Fort Myers. www.redgrouperbash.com MAR. 23: Cray Cray in the Hatch Inshore Tournament, Steinhatchee. www.seahag.com APRIL 2024 APR. 6:Florida Redfish Series, Crystal River. www.flredfishseries.com APR. 10-13:Final Sail, Miami. www.bluewatermovements.com APR. 11-13:Key West Sailfish Tournament, Key West. kwst.profishingtournaments.com APR. 12-14: Pompano Showdown, Pensacola. www.panhandlesalt.com APR. 18-20:Marathon Premier Sailfish Tournament, Marathon. www.marathonsailfish.com APR. 21-24:Herman Lucerne Memorial Tarpon Cup, Islamorada. www.hermanlucernememorial.com APR. 25-27:The King of the Beach, Madeira Beach. www.oldsaltfishing.org…