Salt Water Sportsman covers the world of saltwater fishing. The magazine offers loads of how-to information, advice for those who travel within the greater U.S. and surrounding waters, and reviews of new boats, tackle and electronics.
There’s nothing worse than losing a big fish, but some lost fish hurt more than others. I had a bad one a few years back, when my fishing buddy James hooked his first true doormat. This was when we first started fluke fishing. I’d been using a light, fast-action setup, catching one good fish after another. James is a stubborn old cuss and had stuck with his striper rig all spring. Before this trip, though, he’d finally broken down and bought a new rod light enough to fish the ¾- and ½-ounce bucktails that work so well in these waters. Forty-five minutes into his new rod’s maiden voyage, we were drifting off a ledge under a bridge when I heard him holler. His rising inflection echoed off the stanchions. “Hey,…
Silver tails slicing a flat’s glassy surface at daybreak. A subtle V-wake moving along a mangrove-fringed shoreline. A trio of gray silhouettes gliding silently toward the bow over white sand. These are just a few of the scenes that come to mind when anglers think about bonefish, a species that has evolved over millennia to thrive in the shallows. The gray ghost rarely ventures out of its comfort zone; in tagging studies by Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, a Florida based conservation organization, 70 percent of recaptured bonefish were caught within 1 kilometer of where they were initially tagged. Migrating to Spawn But it’s a different story come spawning season, which spans fall to spring. During full- and new-moon cycles, bonefish leave the relative safety of their home flats and travel…
A Delaware angler who had never caught a cobia before this summer made his first one count in a big way, hooking an 89-pounder that shattered the existing state record by 10 pounds. Scott Brooks, of Hockessin, was headed back to Indian River Inlet Marina after a morning jigging for bluefin tuna 30 miles offshore when he spied schools of bunker swimming a couple of miles off the beach. Brooks and his boatmates, who included his cousin Jesse Coulbourn and brother-in-law Andrew Farach, had cut short their offshore outing because of approaching weather. With the storm past and the baitfish swarming, they decided to stop and cast to the edges of the massive schools to see what they could turn up. Brooks grabbed a Penn Spinfisher VI rod rigged for…
Capt. Danny Alvarez has been fishing since he returned home from military service about half a century ago. He has spent much of that time guiding charter anglers to flounder, black drum, speckled trout and redfish in the productive coastal waters around Corpus Christi, Texas. But in all those years, he’s never once laid eyes on a rare leopard redfish outside the pages of a fishing magazine—until August 27, when Alvarez hosted his son, Eric, and several of their in-laws on an outing on Laguna Madre near Baffin Bay. After helping them catch their fill of trout, Alvarez took the extended family to an area where he’d been having good luck with oversize red drum. “This time of year, usually the big bull reds are starting to run a little…
AFTER A BRIEF HIATUS, CAPITOL TACKLE’S DOORS OPEN TO ANGLERS IN FREEPORT. Known for the 24-foot neon sign marking its unlikely presence in the most urban of American cities, Capitol Fishing Tackle has relocated to the suburbs. The 125-year-old shop moved from Manhattan to Freeport, just east of the city on Long Island’s south shore. The big sign now shines on Guy Lombardo Avenue, footsteps from waters that hold stripers, bluefish, fluke, false albacore, tautog and sharks. No longer will Long Islanders who work in the city have to worry about bringing home their new one-piece surf rods on the subway and the commuter train. “We decided to move the store to what we think of as the fishing capital of Long Island,” Owner Richie Collins says. “We really have…
Capt. Daniel Ramos took his wife and little guy, Danny Jr., to the swordfish grounds offshore of Haulover Inlet, scoring on a fresh bonito belly on the drift down deep. The special catch was Danny Jr.’s first broadbill ever, undoubtedly just one of many fishing accomplishments in his future. YOUR CATCH To send in your catch photo, email us at catches@saltwatersportsman.com. Got a piece of good news to share? Want to gripe? Like to see your thoughts on the pages of Salt Water Sportsman? Send your letters, manuscripts and any relevant comments to editor@saltwaterssportsman.com or via U.S. mail: SWS Editor, 555 Winderley Place, Suite 300, Maitland, FL 32751. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcomed but will not be acknowledged or returned unless accompanied by an SASE. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts…
