Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i Florida Sportsman

Yeah, yeah, tell me about another online fishing education course. Go chop mullet, dude. I’ve waded through FWC’s Shore-Based Shark fishing module, the Skyway Fishing Pier bird tutorials, and the Everglades Boater Education permit. I was born long before 1988, but voluntarily went through a boating safety course to get my FWC Boater Safety ID card. I’m filled to the gills with requisite learning. So it was with some reluctance that I clicked through the Florida Friendly Angler course. It was developed through a partnership with the FWC and Florida Sea Grant and introduced in 2022. Turns out, this one isn’t part of any requirement. Also, as it turns out, it’s pretty great. To be fair, the Florida Friendly Angler course is overly long at 1 ½ hours. A 25-minute…

Duck hunting season has ended, my fellow hunting friends. I hope your freezer is well-stocked with waterfowl, and your retrievers enjoyed their time in the field. Since it doesn’t get that cold here in the south, a light duck dish is a delicious addition to the menu. My husband and I are new to wild mushroom gathering, so the bounty has been educational, exotic and pretty tasty. In this dish, we use oyster mushrooms we found growing out of the bark of a tree. We identified them carefully to make sure they were safe to eat—some wild mushrooms are toxic. The excess went into the freezer to liven up a future recipe. WILD MUSHROOM AND WARM DUCK SALAD INGREDIENTS 3 cups baby arugula⅔ cup dried cranberries (reduced sugar)⅓ cup red…

Last winter, it seemed Florida Keys wahoo fishing was great for some and lackluster for others. Our crew spent several days getting skunked, or if we were lucky—gaffing day-saver kingfish. Typically, winter is the most productive time of year for wahoo fishing in the Keys. But this past winter, the wahoo? They weren’t wahoo-ing. Meanwhile, up in Jacksonville or “San Salvador North,” the fishery was booming. Tournaments were being won with monster fish over 120 pounds and recreational boats were stacking their coolers with their daily limits. A stark contrast to the Florida Keys reports. Why is the wahoo fishing in these areas so drastically different? Of course, there are the usual factors such as the presence of bait, wind direction, and current. But, there is something to say about…

In February, much of the United States is either quite cold or covered up with snow and cold rain. It’s no wonder so many people either live here or come here for weeks or sometime months. If you enjoy the outdoors, then this is the location to be. Fishermen can enjoy inshore, offshore, and freshwater fishing that is second to none. Being a native of South Florida, and having spent countless days on the water, I quickly realized that the best way to enjoy what we have to offer is to take advantage of things that happen mostly during a specific time of the year. Cast silver shiny spoons at Spanish mackerel and bluefish to get hooked on catching these flashy aggressive fish like I am. Years later, I stumbled…

February can be called “hump month” for fishing in Southwest Florida. A lot like Wednesdays for 9-to-5’ers in the working world, we are getting closer to better days. Although we may be lucky enough to see low 80s a few times, temperatures in the 70s are more the reality until we get into March. Remember these fish are Floridians, and Floridians do not like cold weather. During February’s coolest periods, anglers need a bit of lucky timing regarding cold fronts. The fronts stunt the fishing for a few days making things tougher, especially inshore. Wind, especially that which comes driving down on us from the north or northwest, will dictate how successful the fishing days will be. Northern winds will silt up the backcountry waters and prevent incoming tides from…

In this season of roses and Valentines, I say: “What’s not to love about sheepshead?” These are my go-to fish on the Space Coast every February. They require relatively simple gear, they’re easy to find, fight hard and taste great. Searching for sheepshead requires simple deduction skills—find structure, find fish. Think craggy, rocky, reefy structure near clean, deep water. Inlets with their big, imported granite boulders cascading into clean ocean water. Jetties and piers held up by towering pilings. Nearshore wrecks and artificial reefs with plenty of surface area to grow invertebrate life for sheepshead to graze on. Sheepshead congregate in large spawning groups on nearshore structure each winter. From shore, anglers can find them at Ponce Inlet, Port Canaveral’s Jetty Park, and Sebastian Inlet State Park. Surf anglers should…

Spring is approaching, but first we must get through February, quite possibly the quietest month of the year in the Panhandle region. Winter temperatures limit the species that are willing participants. The few willing to brave the cold have options. The key to success is to watch weather patterns and be flexible. I’ll stick to bridges and jetties for black drum, sheepshead and redfish. Loading up on a variety of bait will always help your catch rate but especially this time of year. For instance, if my main target is sheepshead and black drum, I’ll stock up on oysters and ghost shrimp. For redfish, I’ll catch live bait and have jumbo shrimp ready. The bridges are typically protected enough from the brutal north winds we get in February. On windier…

In this month’s Conservation Front (page 28), Ed Killer, Managing Editor, tackles the complexities and absurdities of Atlantic red snapper management. If you fish offshore Central or Northeast Florida, you’re well aware that the numbers of red snapper on the reefs far exceed the numbers federal managers tell us are there. You’ve felt the sting of manic, one-day fishing seasons. Proposals to close bottom areas or restrict associated fisheries. Unnecessary frustration. Clearly, if we’re to get anything close to a true fishing season for red snapper in the Atlantic, anytime soon, we need better data. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has been tracking this disconnect and wants to be part of a solution. To get accurate reporting from anglers on the water, the FWC has created a…

Nothing gets an Atlantic Coast angler’s blood boiling more than red snapper talk. The brightly colored fish inhabits thousands of reefs along the offshore ridges between Fort Pierce and Fernandina Beach. Some are just a couple of pounds in size. Others are as large as 45. These apex predators eagerly take offered baits in depths as shallow as 75 feet or as deep as 200. For recreational anglers trying to catch any of the myriad of bottom species open for harvest, the red snapper is an omnipresent opportunist gobbling every bait intended for another quarry. Federal regulators view the red snapper as an untouchable conundrum in a struggle to balance fishery resources. Meanwhile, commercial fishers’ claim to the red snapper commodity is dwindling and they want to put a stop…

Florida’s rivers offer the outdoorsman/woman a plethora of outstanding recreational opportunities. The plant and animal life they support is astounding! Florida has many famous rivers like the Suwanee, St. Johns, and Crystal River, and many more little-known, but equally interesting, spring creeks, blackwater sloughs, bayous, and streams to explore, over 25,000 miles worth in total. Think about that. Over 25,000 miles of rivers to explore! Many of these rivers are important ecologically, archeologically, historically, and recreationally, but what we as anglers want to know is, are there fish? Almost always, yes there are! Then how do we catch them? Rivers (as we’re looking at them here) are dynamic conveyers of fresh water from higher to lower elevations (thank you, gravity!). Their flow, measured in cubic feet per second, or cfs,…

This time of year, one of my favorite target species is the silver trout (also known as the white trout or sugar trout). The silver trout is a native Florida species and can be caught year-round, however large schools of these aggressive predators travel south to winter in the region. Silver trout are among the smallest species of trout and are often overlooked due to their small stature, rarely more than 15 inches in length. They’re an exciting light tackle option and quality option at the dinner table. Much like their larger and more recognized cousin the speckled trout (spotted seatrout), silver trout are also voracious feeders that prey on a wide variety of small fish like sardines, herring and pilchards, invertebrates and crustaceans like their favorite, shrimp. Silver trout…

Cold fronts in the West Central Region average about every 5 to 7 days in February. The two coldest months of the year, January and February sometimes even have freezing weather. Seas that settle when winds drop between cold fronts dictate an open weather window for offshore anglers to fish. When those temperatures sneak into the 70s, a day off work might be in order. It’s been since 2010 when freezing temperatures lasted for several days plunging water temperatures into the 40s and shutting down the bite. The prolonged freeze caused major damage to Florida’s snook fishery as well as speckled trout. These days, we’ve lost our traditional winter weather. Red tide, pollution spills, and a loss of seagrass adds to a stressed environment for the fish. If water temperatures…

I’m afraid I don’t care too much for February. I don’t do a lot of fishing for big largemouth bass, but I never seem to get a calm enough day off to take advantage of some of the best wahoo fishing of the year. I spend most of the month curled up, out of the wind, sucking my thumb, and crying. For freshwater anglers, good weather in February is magic time indeed. When the weather warms the water a little, the biggest female largemouths of the year will prowl shallow water looking for a place to call home for her babies. Speckled perch (crappie) anglers will turn on live scopes and do in an hour what their forefathers needed weekends to do. There should be good fishing on Crescent Lake,…

It took exactly one netted cobia to teach me I would never again gaff a 36-incher. Not only was the cobia immensely better behaved than it would have been on a gaff, it later yielded two perfect fillets instead of having one of them torn up by thrashing on a gaff. Cobia, dolphin and so many other fish are much easier to control and measure in a landing net than thrashing around on your deck. On my boat we net all dolphin under 12 pounds just to give us a cleaner boat and better fillets, but you’d better know what you’re doing with the net. Unlike with a freshwater bass, you cannot lead a heavy dolphin into the net, because the tight line leading the fish toward the net will…

February is one of the cooler, windier months. Cold fronts keep us bobbing and weaving. We often have high winds as the fronts push through. Between fronts, if we get lucky, we get an early peek at spring. With the water temperatures still in the low 70s, the inshore rock piles and coral heads that litter Hawk Channel on the Atlantic side of the Florida Keys are teeming with life. That makes for an extremely hot bite in cool waters. Snappers, groupers, jacks, mackerels, porgies and many other species are very active in these shallow spots. The spots can be found in as shallow as 10 feet of water while others are as deep as 40 feet. Wind speed and wind direction can help you determine where to fish safely.…

Weather always seems to dictate the target this time of year. Anglers are often forced to make a gametime decision when on the water. My advice is to have plan B, C and D in your back pocket. Some of my best fishing days have come from making an audible during days like we have in February. The north end of our region from Fort Pierce to Vero Beach tends to light up this month. Reports of grass regrowth and good water have seemed to make for a bit of a bounce back for seatrout. No, it’s not nearly what it was, but it’s a step in the right direction. Is the 2020 regulation change contributing to this? You’d like to think so. The “Central East” region, from Palm Beach…

The Big Bend’s coastal waters and fish populations have recovered much faster from recent hurricanes than shore facilities have. Floating docks are scarce or non-existent, taken away in surges and winds. Boats had to launch and then bump their bows onto the shoreline or concrete ramp, allowing the last angler to climb aboard. Or better yet, wade out knee-deep before climbing in, which isn’t for everyone. With aluminum boats and kayaks this hasn’t been a problem. They can always be scratched a little. Repairs continue. Sea Hag Marina in Steinhatchee had a soft opening Nov. 1 and is up and running now. Not sure about the local bait situation, however. Live shrimp are normally trucked in from further south. If we finally get cold weather this winter, which hasn’t happened…

Every year white bass start feeling the urge to reproduce when the water temperature warms up. In Lake Talquin when the temperature reaches 58 degrees, the white bass migrate from the lake into the Ochlockonee River to spawn. This typically happens over shoals, gravel or sandbars that build up along the river bottom near creek mouths and river bends. These feisty relatives of the striped bass and sunshine bass can be caught on grass shrimp or crawfish, as well as small spinners and jigs. Crawfish can usually be seined from roadside ditches that are filled with water or purchased from bait shops. Grass shrimp can also be scooped up with a dip net from the vegetation on local lakes. These baits are usually fished with just enough weight to reach…