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.
On a final layout for this issue, next to a simple photo of a man holding what we—for 55 years—have called “largemouth bass,” Managing Editor Ed Killer tapped the following comment: “Should we start calling them Florida bass?” Killer, who joined our staff over the summer, is a 30-year veteran journalist with an eye for compelling stories, engaging style… and unflinching accuracy. I should’ve known what I was getting into. Picture it, all of us diligently tapping away: Art Director Drew Wickstrom tapping on his mouse, Production Manager Jean McElroy tapping on the press calendar, Group Publisher Michael Cassidy tapping on budget reports. Tap, tap, tap, everyone trying to get things out on time. Ed was of course referring to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announcement, in July,…
In April 1991, Karl Wickstrom, then publisher of Florida Sportsman, asked the readers a simple yes or no question: YES, let’s go for the constitutional ban on commercial nets. Or, NAW, let’s stick to trying for stricter laws and enforcement. Fortunately for the state of Florida, an overwhelming number of you responded YES. Four years later, following a 72% landslide at the polls, a gill and entangling net ban went into effect. For those of you not familiar with the Save Our Sealife (SOS) amendment effort, read more about it in our “Looking Back 55 Years of Conservation Advocacy” (page 34). For those of you who helped collect signatures, mostly at polling precincts in 1992, to place the amendment on the 1994 ballot, if we want to save our inshore…
At the boat ramp on State Road 200, just before Amelia Island, Lofton Creek is very narrow, only a good cast wide. Most passersby believe the creek offers little fishing action. However, navigating south from the boat ramp, Lofton soon widens into a fine example of a Florida coastal creek showcasing both fresh and saltwater gamefish. Downstream of the ramp, fishermen will find a deep turn in the creek. Locals call this popular fishing hole the “Horseshoe,” and they also know it for a memorial plaque for Captain Richard Sheets, posted on a cypress tree. Some of the largest bass in the creek—some over 10 pounds—have been taken close to the knees of this memorial cypress. In that first mile south from the boat ramp, fishermen will find cypress, lily…
Florida anglers trolling the offshore reefs and bluewater rips frequently overlook some great fish-catching opportunities right in their propwash. Among seasoned fishermen, putting a bait close is a proven tactic—especially useful in kingfish tournaments. Typical slow-trolling spreads include live or rigged dead baits set at varying distances from the boat. Many anglers tend to put baits pretty far back, under the assumption that unnatural noises spook gamefish. This has some merit in tuna fishing, but king mackerel are funny. Some days the biggest ones bite right behind the outboard motor. Fort Lauderdale’s Young Guns fishing team, headed up by seasoned angler Lance Irvine, has fine-tuned their team’s kingfish tactics. When targeting tournament-winning kingfish, they’ll place a live blue runner right in their propwash. “While kingfishing out of Key West, we…
Up on the Great Lakes, fishermen use nets as long as 15 feet to bring salmon over the rails. For the past few years on Florida’s Big Bend, I’ve used the opposite: a short, extending Frabill that was easily hidden and took up little space in my boat. As a guide, I have an aversion to waving a big landing net, advertising to other boats that I’m catching fish. In many regions, that kind of behavior will attract other boats like seagulls to floating crackers. Yet, I’ve recently switched to a bigger landing net. Why? 1) You have to be deadly accurate with a small net. A client may have the fish of a lifetime thrashing by the boat or diving under the hull, and poking at it with a…
I first flyfished for Everglades canal and creek snook and tarpon around 1975. The hallowed fishing grounds for this pursuit was and still is the famed, brackish Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41) canal from just east of Ochopee to approximately U.S. 92 leading to Marco Island. Flood tides from the Gulf of Mexico usher in saltwater and with it baby tarpon, snook of all sizes, red drum, and the occasional sheepshead. Mixed in the upper, fresher reaches of the waterway are largemouth bass, bream and nowadays every exotic freshwater fish there is. The big draw is the falling tide which flushes untold millions of mosquito minnows (Gambusia affinis) and occasional mollies from the freshwater prairies beyond the canal banks. This tidal action, plus a strong northeast wind, sets up a feeding…
