Couple of “cherry” snook lures plucked recently from a mangrove near FS office in Stuart.
June 18, 2025
By Blair Wickstrom
Blair Wickstrom is senior editor for Florida Sportsman magazine At least once a year I touch on issues most of us don’t need reminding about, such as being a sober skipper or nixing plastic water bottles on your boat. Or tips on proper fish handling and release techniques.
While reading these columns you were probably thinking, at least I’m hoping some of you were, “Of course I do this.” Even so, I’m sure there were a few of us who could use the reminder.
Especially considering what’s at stake. In all of these “do-gooder” type columns, even though most were pretty simple asks, there are consequences if we ignore them. Such as limiting our access to certain areas or contributing to the decline of fisheries. In either case, we all lose if just a few of us ignore some of these basic concepts.
For this year I’d like to untangle a mess, literally and figuratively. Because of miles and miles of seagrass die-offs, more and more inshore anglers are fishing where the fishing is still productive, shoreside structure. Whether it’s mangrove or oyster shorelines or bridges, docks or piers, we’re all funneled together, fishing where the fish are. Casting to structure.
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To make matters worse, to really get in the “zone” you’ve got to get beneath the structure, beneath the branches or dock platforms, not just next to them.
Getting hung up, or “monkey fishing” as one Flamingo regular told me I was doing when my jig skipped deep into the mangroves, is inevitable. But, what you do after your cast goes into the trees or figure eights a dock piling is the reason I’m writing this today.
For the good of all of us, it’s important that you get your lure, and line, back after making a bad cast. Maybe not that second; you can wait until you’ve fished your spot, but you’ve got to get your rig back. Breaking off your lure or bait and leaving it tangled in the trees or dock pilings simply isn’t an option. One hands-free technique to try: Reel your rodtip all the way to the hook or lure and gently poke. Watch, too, for other rigs that might be hanging nearby.
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Aside from doing the right thing, by leaving no trace, you won’t be contributing to the already too-high number of bird entanglements. We, as anglers, all lose when a bird dies entangled in one of our discarded rigs. “Broke-off” fishing gear may also impact sea turtles, dolphins, manatees and other creatures.
Just last year the FWC banned using multiple-hook lures and bait-catching rigs from mid November thru mid March on the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway bridge, our state’s largest fishing pier, because of too many bird interactions. We have to help prevent this from happening to a popular fishing area again.
While doing our part by retrieving errant casts, here’s another thing to keep in mind. If you see someone hook a bird while fishing, help them reel it in and release it. Breaking off a bird, like breaking off your lure in a tree, is not an option. Even an angry, full-grown pelican isn’t going to hurt you if it brings its bucket down on you. The FWC has good advice on how to handle this situation at myfwc.com/unhook .
Call to Action Leave no lure behind. In fact, if you see a lure abandoned in the mangroves or anywhere else, take a minute and retrieve it. Add it to your box. You’ll help save a lot more than a few dollars.
This article was featured in the May 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe
