Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i Florida Sportsman

A SEA STAR INSPECTS a new artificial reef off Okaloosa County. The 8-foot-tall concrete tetrahedrons are embedded with pieces of Florida limestone, which has a natural pH conducive to the growth of attaching organisms. Reefmaker-Walter Marine in Orange Beach, AL pioneered this design and continues to supply units like these to artificial reef programs around the Gulf Coast and beyond. Cost of one of the 8-foot units, including deployment, is about $2,695. See pages 36-40 for GPS coordinates of some recent installations around Florida.…

Remember that line from Field of Dreams: “Build it and he will come…”? Well, let’s change that around a little to, “Build the reefs and the fish will come.” The Okaloosa County folks have been doing just that—building reefs—and by all accounts, the fish are coming. The Okaloosa County 5-Year Artificial Reef Plan is aimed at making Destin–Fort Walton Beach the dive capital of Florida and building upon its status as a premier fishing destination. The plan provides for an annual budget of $1.5M, excluding any grant funds or partner contributions. This year, with partner support, the annual project plan totals $1.71 million. The 6th penny tax program is conservatively estimated to generate $4 million this partial fiscal year. Funding up to $1.71 million from the 6th penny was requested…

YOU LAND THE BUG. Let it sit for 10 seconds. Don’t move it. Light a cigarette, as the old joke goes. Then, twitch it once. Set the hook. Unless the fish has already struck. That’s what bass and bream fishing with a flyrod and a popping bug is all about. HARD POPPERS Most Florida fly fishers have bought the venerable Gaines poppers which came on the scene in the late 1940s. The No. 6 bugs were most popular. The Old Joe was a cup-faced standard. The company also made the Sneaky Pete, with a slanted front nose that makes the floating bug dive when you strip. Bass and bluegills hit them with gusto. Exotic panfish like Mayan cichlids tear them up, too. Everglades fly fishers such as the late Judge…

THE RABBIT CLAYS run everyone for a loop with their unpredictable bounces and deceptive speeds. I’d wager our group burned two boxes on a rabbit station at the Tenoroc Public Shooting Range near Lakeland one pleasant February afternoon. Misses were way over the top or way in front, chased by groans and chuckles from the peanut gallery, which is par for the course. Running real-deal cottontails are as dodgy, hustling and leaping at various angles, and every bit as embarrassing to miss with a shotgun as a crowd bears witness. Neither scoot as fast as they appear, and it’s best to lead through the center of the target down to the going-away rabbit’s foot to get lucky. Clay shooting, in all its forms, is a pastime growing in popularity, especially…

Any seasoned angler knows that a successful trip depends on a healthy ecosystem beneath the surface. But if you’ve been fishing Florida’s coastal waters for long enough, you’ve seen the changes—development eating away at habitats, reefs covered by sand dumping, seawalls replacing mangrove shorelines and fish populations shifting or shrinking. The decline of marine ecosystems hits fishermen hard. Enter Reef Arches, an innovative tool making waves in marine restoration—and promising big benefits for anglers. “We saw that we could create phenomenal habitat to restore corals/oysters/mangroves with a large-scale solution.” Founded in South Florida in 2023, the company is pioneering nature-based engineered structures designed to rebuild shorelines and provide critical habitat for wildlife. “My partners and I got into this business because it was the perfect blend of our love for…

“The next lionfish derby will be in August. Our prizes today will be for the most lionfish caught, the biggest and a prize for the smallest. Last time the smallest was one inch and three-eighths,” Rick Ratliff laughed. Rick is one of the owners of The Kyalami Scuba Club. Divers aboard their bright red dive boat were gearing up for dedicated dives offering prizes for spearing an invasive species that voraciously gobbles up juvenile reef fish. Florida is home to many invasive species of flora and fauna. Pythons and anacondas have been released in the Everglades, salt water aquarists have dumped unwanted fish into the ocean, people have planted melaleuca and other non-native plants. It is supposed that around 1988, lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific and Pacific Oceans, were released…

Was it the distorted view caused by refraction? The hypnotic waving of turtlegrass in the current? Maybe it was the fact that’d never handled a bully net nearly twice his height. Whatever the case, Harrison, my 12-yearold son, didn’t cleanly drop the mesh hoop over the lobster. Accidentally knocking its antennae launched the little orange rocket backwards in a plume of silt. I wouldn’t have been surprised if, once out of our vision, it scrambled up a mangrove like a startled cat. “Well, nothing is easy the first time, is it?” I chuckled to myself, slipping comfortably into Old Man Mode, as I reminisced about my youth chasing Florida’s spiny lobster. See, when I was his age, I snorkeled for lobster—I didn’t net them from the comfort of a boat,…

I CERTAINLY appreciated the fact that I was fishing with the great Captain Bouncer Smith. He is not only one of the best of the best, he’s legitimately a great guy. I can’t think of a saltwater delicacy he doesn’t have access to. Imagine my surprise when he stopped me from throwing the front half of a blue runner back overboard, after a kingfish had cut it in half. I was shocked when he filleted what was left of the runner, and stuck it in a tiny Ziploc full of sashimi ingredients. Blue runner? When you catch tuna, wahoo, and mahi on a regular basis, how can Capt. Bouncer’s delicacy be blue runner? My buddy Dan Parker pulled a fast one on me offshore Fort Pierce one winter. We were…

THE ST. JOHNS RIVER holds some of Florida’s best trophy bass fishing, however few fishermen have capitalized on this well-kept secret. Many of these secrets lay hidden less than a hundred yards offshore of a grass bed, bend in the river, offshore of a creek mouth, offshore of channel markers and many other popular tidal river structures. The St. Johns is some 300 miles long and up to 7 miles wide at its widest part. Add to the puzzle, it flows north and levels may fluctuate with the tides from 13 to 18 inches. Tidal flow is only .3 miles per hour! Locating an offshore structure can be challenging. Some of the most productive waters lie between Palatka and the mouth of Lake George where the river is narrow and…

LEARN KEY WEST REEF TACTICS UNFATHOMED SOUTHERN SMOKE SEASON 7, EPISODE 6 Check out the reef fishing action down in Key West with Unfathomed Host Capt. George Gozdz and local guest Capt. Pepe Gonzalez. Gonzalez shows the best rigs and baits for mangrove snapper, while Gozdz drops deep with the new PENN Fathom electric for a grouper surprise. The two pay a visit to Boat House Bar & Grill, one of Gonzalez’ favorite local restaurants. JIG-AND-SHRIMP FOR BULL REDS IN-FISHERMAN MAGIC AND MAYHEM SEASON 50, EPISODE 5 Rigging and fishing for bull reds at the jetties in Venice, Louisiana, offers hints at tactics and tackle that’ll work great in Florida, as well. In-Fisherman staffers Rob Neumann and Thomas Allen fish with Venice guide Capt. Chris Winchester, who shows why shrimp…

“My uncle had a 31 Contender and was always catching fish.He got to them first.”—Artie Chiodo If you’re looking to restore a hot rod from the 1960s it’s a good bet you’ll pick the 1964 Pontiac GTO, widely acknowledged as the car that kicked off the 1960s Muscle Car era. Other cars such as the 1965 Shelby Mustang GT-350 and the Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 that followed, were cool, fast and popular. But, it was the GTO that got the party started. As for cool, high performance, ocean running center consoles, Miami Vice got things going in the mid 1980s, but they weren’t fishing boats. It took a few more years, but not many, for Contender to hit the scene in early 1990s with their 31-center console, kicking off the…

Have you ever been out on the water later than expected, but skedaddled to avoid mosquitoes or curious alligators? I have, multiple times. But after getting used to standup paddleboarding, one night I took a chance and stayed out late. That one night—and a very memorable catch—turned into multiple nights and for me a new and unique way to sight fish. First, understand that Florida summer days are brutally hot. Being on a 12-foot paddleboard, I’ll drag my feet or step off to cool myself when I am out on the water. I bring what supplies I can: my Ozark Trail cooler that acts like a dry box for my tackle, phone and camera. My Igloo cooler backpack with multiple drinks and water that I strap to the BOTE HD…

Fishing clubs can be a positive environment for young anglers by fostering an exchange of knowledge and providing opportunities to get out on the water. The University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus (USFSP) overlooking Bayboro Harbor and the Port of St. Petersburg is minutes from productive fishing spots in the Tampa Bay area. When I started classes there in the spring of 2022, there was no active fishing club. I made it my personal mission to get one started. I am happy to hear that it is still active today. This is a recap of my experience and the basics of what you will need to get a fishing club started. MEMBERS & OFFICERS The basis of a fishing club is its members and officers. This is the outreach…

Fifty miles northwest of Key West, the swirling mass of fish behind Capt. Chris Trosset’s triple-Suzuki-powered Contender was as dense and species-rich as the Tennessee Aquarium. Behind Trosset’s chumbag, blue runners were running and mangrove snappers were snapping. Below them, yellowtails churned and devoured tidits of the thawing chumblock. Down farther yet loomed sharks of indeterminate ID. Barracuda slunk on the periphery. Teeth, everywhere. Mackerel were around, too, razoring fluorocarbon leaders that held chunks of bait we were freelining for snappers. We were anchored upcurrent of an old shrimpboat wreck. It was the kind of place Trosset’s father, Robert, or R.T., surely cherished back in the day. Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation makes it easy for us to return to spots like this. In Chris’ father’s early days of guiding,…

Wade-fishing is a surprisingly effective way to catch big flats fish, including some that you’re likely to miss when fishing by boat, even if you’ve got a fly-weight carbon fiber flats skiff or a kayak to get you there. Masters of the art like D.O.A. founder Mark Nichols and legendary west-coast guide Geoff Page spend more time out of the boat than in when conditions are right, and both of them catch fish that most of us only dream about, sometimes in ankle-deep water. Both of them follow similar tactics to find and catch big fish, following basic guidelines of this nearly lost art they shared with me over multiple fishing trips. CHOOSE YOUR SPOT BASED ON CONDITIONS When you’re wading, you can’t pick up and run five miles to…

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS We welcome your fishing and hunting photos for publication in the Action Spotter and in our online community galleries at www.floridasportsman.com. SEND DIGITAL PICTURES, 600 KB to 1 MB in jpeg format. For smartphone photos, email the Actual Size—highest resolution. Images must not have appeared or been submitted elsewhere. Send photos to: photos@floridasportsman.com. INCLUDE NAMES of people pictured, hometowns, location of catch and any key details, such as weight of big catches. CATCH MORE ONLINE Fish and hunt smarter and more efficiently. Check our daily "feed" to get on the best bets and top seasonal picks for all regions of Florida. And be sure to share your pictures and stories with us!…

Finding smaller fish isn’t the goal in most tournament situations. But after finding only oversized reds while pre-fishing, Kade Rogers and Chayson Herring of Team Wing It were on the hunt for slots during the Panacea event of the Florida Redfish Series (April 12). “We missed a fish early, then it was slow until around 1:30,” said Herring, who lives in Trenton. “At the last minute, we doubled up on our winning fish. We definitely got lucky.” The two anglers fished around rocky and oyster areas, but noticed some bronze flashes and scattering baitfish around a muddy creek mouth. Rogers pitched his lure at the fish and hooked up, followed by Herring who instantly hooked into a second fish on his go-to lure, a Johnson weedless gold spoon. “I live…

The flats of Key West can be a thrilling adventure, where navigating shallow waters in search of bonefish and permit presents unique challenges. With the wind whipping and the tides shifting, running a boat at 30 knots in just two feet of water can turn your heart into a drum. Below us, conchs, sea fans, crab traps, sponges, and a vibrant array of marine life darted beneath the clear surface, making the world feel both alive and electric. On this particular day, we had just wrapped up an exhilarating session fishing the flats of Mooney Harbor, located about 25 miles west of Key West. The water lay still, a sheet of glass that reflected the stunning colors of the Marquesas—azure, cyan, and emerald. We had successfully hooked several bonefish, but…