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.
It’s always a good exercise making New Year’s resolutions, but I wonder if it’s even better for us to jot things down we learned in the outgoing year. I breezed through my fishing log for 2024. Do the same for yours! Loosely organized by subject & chronology, here’s a peek: BASS FISHING: I learned I’m officially “old school.” Started my year in Houston at a Berkley media event. Asked tournament pro Kyle Hall his favorite technique. From the lanky young Texan I figured I’d hear flippin,’ pitchin,’ froggin,’ spinnerbaitin,’ somethin’ to that effect. Nope. “Scopin’.” Forward-facing sonar has taken over competitive bass fishing. Guys pre-fishing don’t even fish: They circle a lake watching their sonar. BOATS: At the Miami Boat Show in February, I learned we’re all real interested in alternative…
The National Park Service (NPS) violated the law. Good for them. In March 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled the NPS broke the law by failing to implement a no-fishing marine reserve in Biscayne National Park in a timely fashion. Again, kudos to Biscayne National Park. First the backstory. In 2015, the NPS agreed to establish a 10,512-acre no-fishing marine reserve, encompassing 37 percent of the park’s best reef fish habitat, but failed to implement it. But, what they have been doing is working with the State of Florida to improve the quality of fishing in the park. The stated purpose of the no-fishing zone is for coral protection. The plan calls for banning recreational fishing but not snorkeling and diving. The plan also called…
Forces of nature, hurricanes are one of mankind’s most ferocious threats. They often create a world of trouble for everyone in their path. Sometimes, however, hurricanes surprise us. These giant storms alter coastlines in good ways as well as bad. One phenomenon called by some is the “wild pass.” Simply put, it’s when a storm creates a natural pass or inlet in a barrier island linking a land-locked waterway with a gulf or ocean. Two such cases occurred in Southwest Florida during the 2024 hurricane season. Both passes were created by storm surges. First, Hurricane Helene pushed a coastwide surge as it barreled into the Big Bend region of Florida. The killer ’cane made landfall Sept. 26 about 10 miles east of where the Aucilla River meets the Gulf of…
Things are changing in the world of bluewater fishing. A recent interaction with an old friend taught me just how much. We were trolling over a rockpile in 180 feet of water and the blackfins were chewing. They were biting to the extent that we would ignore the first hookup and wait until we had two or three hooked up, to slow down and do battle. It was great to hear my old friend Brad Reed calling me on the VHF. He had moved to Wyoming several years ago, and I was more than happy to make room for him on the rockpile. After an hour of fruitless trolling, Brad was ready to pull his hair out, while I had brought all the tuna rods in, and was leaving to try…
I’d need a couple more hands to count how many times I’ve had the smallest shrimp in the livewell catch the biggest fish of the day. Why that is, I’ve yet to decipher, but the cliché saying “elephants eat peanuts” definitely stands true when fishing crustaceans. Being that I tend to fish artificials more than ever nowadays, I applied this theory to soft-plastics on all inshore species with great success. You have to modify your tactics and tackle a bit to really implement this, but it can pay dividends on those lethargic fish. Which is when I see this really out-fishing other baits; on opposite ends of the weather spectrum. It comes down to the metabolism of a fish. During those harsh winter fronts, where water temperatures can drop drastically…
Conventional tackle anglers, and too many fly fishers, mistakenly chalk off fly fishing as a “top-water” technique. But it’s not really that limited. For fish that either make their living in deeper water, or fish that occasionally hole up well under the surface due to myriad reasons—cold water and hot water in particular—fly fishing works if you fish a sinking line. Sinking lines are available with various sink rates. The slowest rate can be had with both clear and opaque coated intermediate lines. The clear intermediates are the most popular of the two. These clear lines sink at a rate of one inch to an inch-and-a-half per second (IPS). In cases where you want to fish a fly near bottom in over 4 feet, it’s better to pick a line…
