The SE Bash is more about getting together for a good time than trying to catch the biggest fish to win a tournament. All Florida Sportsman members, their family and friends are encouraged to come out and enjoy the music, food and good company. The Bash is open to all.

A feature article in the February 2013 issue of Florida Sportsman, “Back in the Blacktips,” told of increasing numbers of sharks along the Florida coasts, thanks to tighter limits on commercial landings.

The Kayak Fishing ClassicS opened the East Coast divisional series on February 9 with the Mosquito Lagoon Redfish Classic in Titusville, Florida. The three redfish tournament was greeted with sustained high winds that would build during the three day weekend.

You can’t take a professional angler with you every time you go Kayak Fishing, but you can take all their knowledge and tips with you every time you fish.

You’ll catch more trout weighing over five pounds on purpose than by accident. You’ve fished for seatrout for years. You can catch a limit on command, most months of the year. And yet you’ve never caught one over 5 pounds.

Equatorial natives survive on the edge of the subtropics. During my high school cross-country running days, practice was held at John Prince Park, in Lake Worth, Florida. We trained around Lake Osborne.

4 patterns for tracking down late-season snook. To me there’s more to winter snooking than just harvesting that 11th-hour keeper. There’s mystery. You’re casting for a tropical species with a cool north wind on your neck. Each day is a riddle to be solved. There are no guarantees.

The recreational harvest of snook will close in all Atlantic waters, including the inland waters of Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River, beginning Dec. 15, with the last day of harvest being Dec. 14. The season will reopen in the Atlantic’s state and federal waters Feb. 1, 2013.

The bait you’ll need to procure is live shrimp … very lively shrimp. Once a shrimp is dead, I’m convinced that it becomes useless for dock trout. I’ve seen the proof many times, including a recent trip to New Smyrna Beach to fish with my friend Floyd, a lifelong Florida native.

Instant results! Two easy day trips for South Florida sails. As November winds usher in another winter, what could be better than planning a day trip for sailfish? On clear, warm waters, using light tackle, you can test your endurance against a powerful, stunning billfish that can top 100 pounds.

Fort Pierce, at the north end of Sailfish Alley, heats up when temperatures drop. A walk down Fort Pierce docks reads like a Who’s Who list of sailfish chasers. You’ll see boats, and crews, from all over the state—Jax, St. Augustine, St. Pete, Tampa, Daytona Beach, Panama City—plus a few from other locales that voyaged long distances to berth here.

Baker’s Haulover A Maritime Treasure of History and Pioneers by Martha Saconchik-Pytel Baker’s Haulover, A Maritime Treasure of History and…»

We’d beached the kayaks on the Indian River Lagoon spoil island half an hour earlier. We agreed—at least I agreed—that the kids would set up the tent while I built a fire and got lunch started.

To watch a surfcaster hurl his rig into that wild sea is a beautiful thing, as fine as a well-made fly cast or a well-thrown castnet. To watch that surfcaster gingerly bring in a pompano or six is a sight some might call even finer.

The St. Lucie County Reef Program has just released a new video on recent developments in their reef building program.…»

An east coast skiff guide divulges his secrets for locating and catching beach-run tarpon. Good numbers of tarpon are off the beaches in east/central Florida from late-May through October, as they are along Florida’s Gulf of Mexico shores.