Everyone and everything came out for the Miami Boat Show, like this night heron at Miami Beach Marina.

With the 2012 Miami International Boat Show over, those of you who didn’t make it south to the Miami Beach Convention Center and accompanying marinas missed your chance to view firsthand new products from boating companies and boating accessories makers. The official boat show dates were February 16-20, 2012.

Good thing Florida Sportsman magazine was there to cover the event and wade through the minutiae for you. And believe us, after all the years of covering boating shows, there are plenty of distractions amongst the gems.

Many of the new boats pictured here will be featured in future pages of Florida Sportsman magazine print. One not-so-well kept secret was the release of the brand-new Contender 25 Bay, a dual step bayboat from the well-known offshore center-console builder.

Consider the information below just a taste of what’s to come for 2012.

Contender 25 Bay

We had to sneak in after the show closed on February 16 to get a photo of the brand new Conternder 25 Bay. This boat had crowds surrounding it all weekend. The signature dual step on most-all of Contender’s hulls highlights this smooth-riding bayboat.

This photo is one of the first of the brand new Contender 25 bayboat on the water. The first two boats were made specifically for this boat show. In this picture, we headed out of the Miami Beach Marina for a test-ride. The Contender team experimented with the props all day to get the 25-footer running in the top 50s. Not bad for a first dip.

Teleflex Marine’s Optimus 360 by SeaStar

This one blew us away. The Optimus Electronic Power Steering System by SeaStar individually controls outboard engines to allow forward, backward, diagonal, sideways, and 360 movement. This new control system, in this photo rigged to a Dusky center console, might be a first when it comes to stress-free docking. There are no bow thrusters of any kind, just an extremely advanced hydraulic system that can be rigged after market.

The Optimus System is controlled by a separate joystick that’s exceptionally user-friendly and easy to use. Twist 360, rotate, push to the right or diagonally–the boat moves as the joystick does. BOOST mode allows the driver to compensate for increased currents, winds or tides.

Raymarine E-Series with HybridTouch

This could be a big one for Raymarine. The new e-Series network multifunction displays feature HybridTouch, ClearPulse Digital Sonar, ClearPulse CHIRP, and FLIR’s Thermal Night Vision. In this view, notice the bait school picked up in 20 feet of water.

Mako 17 Pro Skiff

Mako offers a full line of the boats ranging in size and price, but with the introduction of the 16 and 17 Pro Skiffs, even the most cash-strapped angler can get on the water and fish the shallows. The 17-foot skiff has a casting deck, full-size cooler, livewell and center console in a price package under $14,000.

Accon Marine Popup Navigation Light

The strength and ingenuity you expect from Accon Marine was on display. This pop-up navigation light was a hit at the show. The light pops down into place when not in use, covered and out of the way.

Suzuki 20-hp Engine

The new 20-hp kicker engine from Suzuki features its Lean Burn Control System. Suzuki’s new DF300, not pictured, was the first Suzuki V6 outboard motor to feature its Lean Burn Control System and it won NMMA’s 2012 Innovation Award.

LEHR Outboard Engines

West Marine displayed a new engine-maker: Lehr. Lehr engines are unique in that it uses propane to fuel the small outboard marine engines. Benefits include lower fuel costs, no gasoline, and no choke, priming or carburetor gum-up.

Bluewater Boats 180 Flats

Bluewater Boats introduced its 180 Flats at the Miami Boat Show. This is the first in a line of inshore boats from the Fort Pierce-based company. Two bayboats are expected in the future. A loaded wide-open deck and a hull color to match the poling platform are just some of the features.

Andros Boatworks Cuda 23

The Cuda 23 from Andros Boatworks was on display at the Sea Isle marina. If you have never considered a panga-style boat, check out this modernized version of a classic fishing hull. Features abound on the Cuda, including a custom tower with controls, full well, and a shallow draft that allows for take-off in less than one foot of water.

Today, in the world of wanting everything NOW, the critical link between you getting out on the water and a successful outing, in many cases, is your local tackle store. Being able to find out what’s biting from a friendly face, someone interacting with other members in the area, is easily worth the few more dollars you might pay than from a discounter or web special. Not every tackle store is created equal. You’ll want to find a store that’s connected to the local fishing market and is willing to share local fishing tips. The featured tackle stores on the list below all carry Florida Sportsman magazine and would love to share with you ideas on how to make your next trip a better one.

Dixie One Stop
294 SE 159the Ave., Old Town, FL 32680
352-498-7711

Flint Creek Outfitters
4414 SW College Rd., Ocala, FL 34474
352-237-5325
www.flintcreekoutfitters.com

MacRae’s of Homosassa
5300 South Cherokee Way, Homosassa, FL 34487
352-628-2602
www.macraesofhomosassa.com

Millers Boating Center
1661 NW 57th St., Ocala, FL 34475
352-622-7757
www.millersboating.com

“After 15 years of feeding–sometimes force-feeding–fish soft plastic baits professionally, there are two lists: winners and losers,” says bass tournament pro Davy Hite. Not all soft baits are created equally; many spin in circles, causing line twists. Some just don’t have the right scent, and some just don’t impart the right action.

Well, Trigger X baits’ newest Minniow soft jerkbait is a winner. Let Davy Hite, perennial Bassmaster Elite Series threat, explain how. Soft jerkbaits are a top presentation just about everywhere. The baitfish lookalike is versatility in fresh and salt.

Freshwater Tactics

Twitiching: The South Carolinian Hite uses jerkbaits beyond their originally intended freshwater purpose: twitching. Classically rigged with a 4/0 or 5/0 Wide Gap Worm Hook, Hite imparts three twitches to solidify the darting action, followed by a brief pause. Worked just beneath the surface, jerkbaits serve Hite best during the postspawn period when bass have baitfish on the brain and in their bellies.

Skipping: Hite calls it skipping, but to a bass, the lure’s action looks like a spastic, easy to whack minnow. Hite casts the unweighted jerkbait, and just as the bait impacts the surface, gives it a vigorous “buggy whip.” The minnow cartwheels out of control, like the worst gymnastics floor exercise you’ve ever seen. Hite takes up the slack and gives it another power jerk, never letting the bait come to it senses.

Carolina Rig: Rounding out Hite’s tricks, the bass bully takes it down a notch, and several feet, to Carolina Rig. Bass, according to Hite, can grow indifferent to the usual suspects: soft plastic lizards and straight tail worms. So around deep grassbeds and decided structure, he unconventionally Carolina rigs a Trigger X Minnow.

Saltwater Tactics

For salt water, jerkbaits are at home on oyster and grass flats no deeper than five feet. Trigger X and other soft plastic jerkbaits are prime casting options.

Jigging: With little cover to mess with, rig jerkbaits to a jighead that forces the bait to the bottom. Different jighead styles work; pick your own favorite. But side with a jighead weight that allows the bait to fall gradually–this is the time when most bites happen. A good starting weight is 1/8 of an ounce. Depending on tides, currents and depth, you may have to switch jigheads throughout the day.

Weedless: An exposed hookpoint will hook more fish than a bait rigged weedless. But when fishing heavy oyster or grass, fresh- or saltwater weedless worm hooks are a must. Most baits come in packs of at least a dozen, but it’s still pricey to lose baits to structure. Plus, no one wants to leave tackle in the water if they can avoid it.

Use a weighted wormhook to get the bait to the bottom and to force the bait to “swim” true in the water column. To properly rig a soft bait, line up the soft plastic along side of the hook before impaling the bait. This gives the angler an idea of where the hook should enter and exit the bait. When finished, expose the hookpoint, just a touch, through the top of the bait.

Sink or Swim?: Hite gets his softbaits running tight-and-right and swims it toward certain death. Stuck with a 1/8-ounce keel weighted hook, Hite drags it along subsurface at a lively clip to emulate the activities of shad and herring. This technique works well in saltwater and fresh when gamefish are actively feeding on baits at the surface. Hite, in fact, nearly won the 2011 Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake Murray this way. FS

Gags, a Mango, and a Porgy

Florida Sportsman member: Navy_Fishing

LateAgain, Myself and an old Navy friend from Lakeland went out to try our luck with the Mangos this morning and to say the bite was tough would be an understatement. Only 1 Mango wanted to come home for dinner, so we of course obliged him or maybe her. Gags were hot and eating everything we dropped down. Sardines, live shrimp, dead shrimp. Largest went 11 something pounds [...]

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Big Gags and a Frisky Shark

Florida Sportsman member: jewfish7

The weather looked decent so I tried to get a crew together but only my buddy Kit could ride out,oh well time to go find something willing to put up a battle. On the way out about 12 miles out we see something that looked very stange, there was a loon diving down and there was a huge colorspot under him.We pulled up and to our surprise it was a massive whale shark with a school of bait fish all around him,the loon was diving down getting him some.I made the mistake of taking my eye off the whale shark fetching the camera,when I got he dove down never to be seen again [...]

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The Bottom Bite

Florida Sportsman member: Gordo35

Ended up fishing with 3 buddies today. I just put the boat back at O’Neill’s the other day and we departed from my lift around 6:50. Stopped at the PAG marker and got some smallish Pinfish to go with the live shrimp I got from the marina. Headed out to the Egmont channel markers and got some nice Sardines and Cigar Minnows to join the crowd in the livewell [...]

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Can You Say Tuna!

Florida Sportsman Member: timbo615

My uncle is a long time local who moved to Tennessee. Whenever he comes in town I make sure I have plenty of time to take him out. This past week Thursday-Saturday looked to be the best days. Took another person out with us, his son-in-law, never really been offshore before. We ran out to the pride in hopes of playing around with some aj’s. We get there and the aj’s are all over. Uncle throws out a soft plastic and gets hooked up. He saw that it wasn’t a aj as it was really silver [...]

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Saturday Wahoo

Florida Sportsman member: JoeGuil

Headed out late and reached the inlet about 8:30. Trolled a pink rattle jet, 2 rapala magnums, a couple of other lures and a dolphin colored yozuri bonito. Zigged and zagged north for a little bit out to 450′ and in to 100′. Nada. Headed south and just north of the steeple picked up a smallish Wahoo on the rattle jet which surprised me with all the other stuff down deep. We were in 110′ [...]

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Miami Mutton Report- Yellowtails

Florida Sportsman member: miami mutton

Today, I went for the 5th time on the( take it easy). It’s a 30ft Robalo, out of key Biscayne. The seas were suppose to be 3 ft it was 2 to 4 at first then picked up, before we left around 2:pm it was already 4 to 6 feet, with east to southeast winds. We anchored in 90 feet, We were the only boat in the area. The tide was moving, but slow, started to chum and there came the yellow ball, the kids Inigo and John, started to catch tails back to back, while Ed, was fishing on the bottom, where he had a few hits and lost some nice fish [...]

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Kayak Sailfishin’

Florida Sportsman member: Saltysack

Well, where do I begin. How about, no one was up for Pompano and the second I walked out the door I saw lightning…solo trip and lightning. Well a few months ago I had a BAD run-in with a hammerhead and will only go solo on nice days when there are fellow boaters in the sea. Today was not that day. I saw the storm was pushing east and wouldn’t be a problem. But, I knew Rob was heading out of Dania. But, no bait in Dania [...]

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Enjoying the Break

Florida Sportsman Member: ElPatoLocoBPS

Hey guys! Happy late new year. Haven’t posted in a while. I apologize Ive been FISHING! Lol. I haven’t posted in a while but I do look at the reports probably every night. This is gonna be my first time uploading pictures. All my photos are taken from my Iphone, really wish there was easier way to upload pics from your phone. These past couple of weeks Team GoGeTiT and me have been trying to go out any chance we could with this winter break from school. We looked for any decent day the weather was promising [...]

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SLI Offshore Wahoo and Dolphin

Florida Sportsman member: Cat_Sass

We got a late start and cleared the inlet at 7:30 with overcast skies. Since it was just my wife and I, we decided to skip the livies and just troll some bally’s. We dropped the riggers at 80′ and started to set the spread. First out was a feather lure on the shotgun which was immediately hit by a small bonita. Tnen as soon as all the lines were set, the long goes off and my wife reels in a really small peanut [...]

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Valentines Day Treat

Florida Sportsman Member: Hooklesslure

Got an early start, met up with Gary Sr. with Dynamite Live Bait for some goggle eyes then headed for the inlet. Lines in by 7 a.m. we headed northward, not a half hour goes by we have two dolphin in the boat. Continuing northward in and out from 100′ – 300′ we continue to pick up more dolphin. Finally making it up towards the Sloans Curve area in the 200′ range the wire line begins clicking , could it be? Yes, hand jack the line to the boat and its a small wahoo.

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Red Hot Fishin’

Florida Sportsman member: e-money

Ended up 4 for 6 on sails, (2 were tagged) and about 10 fins. (8 gaffers and a couple flippers.) We also released several 5-10 lb fins for good karma!! We also got 2 kings in the 20-30 class.

All in all a FANTASTIC day on the water, where we went thru 4 dozen gogs+ Got a couple pics, and also a brief video [...]

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A Go for Dolphin

Florida Sportsman member: Alwaysforward

Taking FISHIN GYPSY (Will) who is a forum member from PA down visiting his son (Ty) in Vero Beach. They arrived at the house early and we headed out as soon as the boat was loaded. We arrived at the ramps at 5am to only one boat there. They too mentioned the forecast by NOAA was way off. There was zero winds at the ramp this morning. We headed to the NE spot and loaded up on Goggle Eyes and Runners once again. This spot has been hot for us for sure. Both livewells were loaded up before 7am. Got a shout out from Vindawg and called him over [...]

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Donkey Diggin’

Florida Sportsman member: sololobo30

I fished a fullday trip with a great customer and the gulf was a solid 3-5 ft but the fishing was great. Stopped and loaded the well with pinfish and pigfish then pushed through the sloppy conditions to wreck to target amber jacks and we weren’t let down.It was non stop rod bendin action as we ran through our live well of baits on aj’s.Tried to muscle up a goliath but broke off the only chances we had and seas layed off for the ride home [...]

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Naples Offshore Spearin’

Florida Sportsman member: SnookMagnet

Headed out with TG and JoeSnook yesterday morning looking to put some blood in Terry’s beautiful cat. Joe and I dove a couple tanks at a 40 foot wreck and shot a mess of nice sheepshead and snapper. Ran further out to the 60 foot range and regular-old-fished up a bunch of red groupers. Most of them went back in the drink as we thought the minimum size was 24 inches. Still brought home two good ones, the biggest about 12 pounds [...]

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Islamorada Slammer Dolphin and Wahoo

Florida Sportsman member: Captain Easy

Fishing has been pretty good down here in Islamorada lately. This report is a few days old, but we had Pat and the boys from South Dakota out for 2 days late last week and managed to show them a great time. On day 1 we started out catching kingfish just off the edge of the reef on live cigar minnows which made for some fast action. After warming the guys up with our limit of kings and a nice blackfin tuna I decided to hit some of the deeper wrecks in the 200 foot range and put a few nice mutton snapper in the box [...]

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Marquesas Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: Deep Penetration

Thursday night I go through the regular routine of readying all the tackle, boat, food, and miscellaneous items. All the while, in the back of my mind, I’m constantly thinking to myself if the trailer is ready for the 160 miles to KW and if boat engines are up to the 35 miles to Tail End. Luckily, a few trips out of Miami in recent weeks had given me a little sense of security. Friday morning 3 am and we’re loaded and on our way down.

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Dolphin and Wahoo!

Florida Sportsman member: Hooked Up Key West

Had a trip yesterday and today and went trolling for both to try and get some nice fish. Yesterday we managed to get some nice schoolies and lost a wahoo. Today we went two for three on wahoo. The weather was really nice both days. Scattered weeds around and the dolphin were under birds. All fish caught on Ballyhoo.

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Wahoo and Kingfish: Bay Boat Style

Florida Sportsman member: action88

Been fishing the edge for the past 5 days with a great kingfish bite going on in 90 to 105 feet of water, they have been chewing on small runners and a shrimp jig/combo, 2 days there we had 15 to 30 fish days with the average fish being between 8-15 pounds with a few over 20. We did the “Poor Girls” tourny Wednesday on a friends sport-fisher, we had a smorgasbord of bait including cigars, spanish sardines, runners, threadfins, and hoo’s [...]

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t=”225″ />Went out on the ‘Just Lucky’ to start the new year and it ended up to be a beautiful day on the water. With the NW wind, conditions were nice and a north current to boot. The Mackerel were think, but when you got one pass them, you were handsomely rewarded [...]

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Water temps are rising, tarpon are migrating up the coast, and lots of us are lovin’ these tarpon flies tied by Florida Sportsman Senior Member lemaymiami. Lemay is one of the frequent contributors to our Fly Fishing Forums, and offers insights (and a link to an instructional) into his Swamp Rabbits in our At the Bench forum.

FS Junior Member Jseay harvested this big buck on public land in Central Florida in late January 2012.

Florida Sportsman Senior Member JesseJames offers some helpful tips for hunting public lands in our state. In so doing, he also invites comments from other hunters. The thread, here, is a good read.

“Here’s some of the keys I came up with that should apply to archery/muzzle/modern,” writes JesseJames:

1. Scout – Take advantage of any opportunity to get into the woods before the season opens to locate spots. Don’t get locked into one particular area. Have back-ups of back-ups of back-ups.

2. Be Willing to Walk – The farther you’re willing to go the more chance of success you’ll have. A lot of people will only go a few hundreds yards into the woods. If you’re willing to leg out a mile or two it can pay off. If you’re willing to brave that swamp/marsh/briar thicket that a lot of other guys won’t you’re increasing your odds of killing something.

3. Invest in a climber – Ladderstands are nice but they lock you into one position and trying to relocate one opening morning in the dark is a noisy and time consuming ordeal. A climber gives you the mobility and flexibility if someone shows up in the next tree over one morning.

4. Communicate – Talk to the other guys you consistently see when scouting or hunting. If someone is using the same parking area when scouting then take a minute to talk to them. Find out where they’re looking and what they’re plans are so there aren’t any surprises opening morning. Small groups of hunters can coexist in a relatively small area if they’re all talking.

5. Hunt on Weekdays – While it’s not always possible take advantage when you can. There are days when I’ve felt like I had the entire WMA to myself.

6. Sit Longer – A lot of people get stuck in the AM/PM routine. If you have the patience to sit all day then you’re only bettering your chances. Besides people moving in and out of the woods may push something your direction.

7. Respect – People will walk in on you. Newer hunter’s will stumble around and step on every branch they come across. Be the bigger man. Use those back up spots. Help someone out if they need it. Remember why you’re out there in the first place.