Coastal Angler Magazine | May 2021 | Northeast Florida Edition by Coastal Angler Magazine

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KITE! PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE DALTON INSTAGRAM: @BOMBCHELLE_FISHING

VOLUME 26 • ISSUE 314

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F R A N C H I S E

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A V A I L A B L E

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MAY 2021

Secrets of a Billionaire Revealed “Price is what you pay; value is what you get. Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.” — wisdom from the most successful investor of all time

e’re going to let you in on a secret. Billionaires have billions because they know value is not increased by an inflated price. They avoid big name markups, and aren’t swayed by flashy advertising. When you look on their wrist you’ll find a classic timepiece, not a cry for attention–– because they know true value comes from keeping more money in their pocket. We agree with this thinking wholeheartedly. And, so do our two-and-a-half million clients. It’s time you got in on the secret too. The Jet-Setter Chronograph can go up against the best chronographs in the market, deliver more accuracy and style than the “luxury” brands, and all for far, far less. $1,150 is what the Jet-Setter Chronograph would cost you with nothing more than a different name on the face. With over two million timepieces sold (and counting), we know a thing or two about creating watches people love. The Jet-Setter Chronograph gives you what you need to master time and keeps the superfluous stuff out of the equation. A classic in the looks department and a stainless steel power tool of construction, this is all the watch you need. And, then some. Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Experience the Jet-Setter Chronograph for 30 days. If you’re not convinced you got excellence for less, send it back for a refund of the item price. Time is running out. Now CLIENTS LOVE that the secret’s out, we STAUER WATCHES… can’t guarantee this $29 chronograph will stick around long. Don’t overpay to be “The quality of their underwhelmed. Put a precision watches is equal to many chronograph on your wrist for that can go for ten times just $29 and laugh all the way the price or more.” to the bank. Call today! — Jeff from McKinney, TX

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Jackpot! Hoard of 1881-S Morgan Silver Dollars Found & Secured Mintage accounts for only 1.94% of all Morgan Silver Dollars Struck!

In 1859, Nevada’s Comstock Lode was discovered, and soon its rich silver ore made its way across the nation, including to the respected San Francisco Mint—the U.S. Mint branch known by collectors as the source of some of the finest U.S. coins ever struck. That includes the 1881 Morgan Silver Dollar, which exhibits crisp details, blazing luster, and the iconic “S” mint mark of the San Francisco Mint. Now you have the chance to add these historic, 90% pure U.S. silver coins to your collection!

Here’s the breakdown: in 1881, just 4.25% of the total Morgan series was struck. Less than half of those coins came from San Francisco. In the end, the 1881-S Morgan Silver Dollar accounts for just 1.94% of the entire series—and that’s before the mass meltings that have left so few coins for collectors to secure. And we can expect that even fewer of the survivors are of collector grade...

.71 ear Pe s O rY l ea d r!)

(MS63) condition by NGC/PCGS

 Sealed in protective holder  1881-S accounts for just 1.94% of all Morgans Struck

Actual size is 38.1 mm

Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)! Grading service varies. The condition of these coins are as though they were struck yesterday, despite being minted 140 years ago to circulate in commerce! And yet they have survived with a quality level of eye appeal that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

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The Morgan Silver Dollar was struck from 1878 to 1904, and again in 1921. In the 100 years since, most of these beautiful U.S. Silver Dollars have been worn out or melted down for their silver. It’s estimated that as little as 15% of all Morgans struck exist today in any condition. Even fewer come from this particular mintage.

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The Morgan Silver Dollar is the most popular and iconic vintage U.S. coin. They were the Silver Dollars of the Wild West, going on countless untold adventures in dusty saddlebags across the nation. Finding a hoard of Morgans doesn’t happen often—and when it does, it’s a big deal. So when we came across a recent hoard of 549 Morgan Silver Dollars—all struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1881—it was like hitting the jackpot!

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THE BASICS

By Michelle Dalton

Flying OF

Kites T

here’s something about kite fishing for big pelagic gamefish that gets me going. Flying kites presents baits with a natural appearance and allows you to cover lots of water for higher catch rates. Also, the technique provides the ultimate adrenaline rush, as you get to watch the strike happen. For those unfamiliar with kite fishing, let’s go over the basics. Captains consider everything from water color and clarity to baitfish and birds to determine where to start fishing. I like fishing edges, where water color turns green to a deep blue, usually somewhere in 100 to 300 feet of water. There are different kite designs for different wind velocities. Kites are typically launched and retrieved with electric reels. Launching kites is not a piece of cake, but with the right equipment, patience and steady winds, a beginner can practice and perfect the skill. Attached to your kite line are three release clips.

Each clip is assigned to a rod. An experienced crew will fish three live baits off one kite, with each reel’s line clipped to the main kite line. Although it seems like a potential tangled mess, it’s rather organized. For the bait lines, I use high-capacity baitcasting reels spooled with 20- or 30-pound monofilament. Attached to the mono, above the leader, there are a few terminal tackle items that make up your rigs.

First, a ceramic ring is attached to the kite line using release clips. Next, a neon float dangles in the sky above each bait to help track them from a distance. From there, a small egg sinker maintains the vertical drop that keeps baits at the surface. Finally, a bead separates the sinker from your leader. Your leader depends on the targeted species. For the toothy critters, I use an 18-inch wire leader connected to fluorocarbon with an Albright knot and a 7/0 live bait hook. For sailfish, I use 10 to 12 feet of 60-pound fluorocarbon leader with a 7/0 circle hook. By paying attention and adjusting the lines, the angler keeps the baits on the surface where they make the slight commotion predators find irresistible. The rigs suspend in air above the baits, completely out of sight of the fish. I prefer fishing goggle-eyes, threadfin herring and sardines. Healthy bait is far more likely to be eaten. Ahead of tournaments, my team and I spend weeks feeding and nurturing bait to keep it healthy. If you’re fortunate enough to hook a sailfish, don’t immediately clear the other lines. Sailfish often travel in groups. Leave those other baits in the water for a chance at additional bites. Traditionally, when winds start to die at the end of spring, the number of boats trolling offshore grows. However, kite fishing goes on year-round in South Florida. Even with very little wind, a kite will fly with the help of a helium balloon. Next time your friends want to troll around offshore, tell them to “go fly a kite!” Michelle Dalton books charters through her social media pages: @Bombchelle_fishing.

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on ply. ce mer ect ely. ng. COASTALANGLERMAG.COM • THEANGLERMAG.COM

MAY 2021

NATIONAL 7

Humbled

ON THE DAVIDSON By Nick Carter

he Davidson River in Brevard, N.C. is one of the most widely publicized trout streams in the Southeast. It’s a challenging fishery with beautiful water that holds some very nice fish. Part of the Davidson’s appeal, or its main drawback, is easy access. The river flows roadside through most its publicly accessible length. There is small water in the headwaters accessible only by foot, but for the most part it is a park-and-fish kind of place. On a gorgeous summer weekend, a buddy and I heeded advice from the guys at Davidson River Outfitters to join the dawn patrol. We arrived on

the river at first light to find a pod of big fish, maybe four or five in the 16- to 20-inch range, hovering near the bottom of a bellybutton-deep run. They were clearly visible in low summer flows. For the next hour, we worked the run together, one or the other of us making the same drift repeatedly as the other man tied on a new fly. It was a challenge that bordered on infuriating to see those trout, an occasional belly flash belying the fact that they were eating… just not what we offered. We tried everything, right down to a size 22 red midge pupa recommended at the fly shop. Finally, because we had tried everything else, I

tied on a white Woolly Bugger—another Davidson River staple. Just twitching it through the hole, a fish we had not previously seen streaked from the periphery to slam the streamer. Those big fish didn’t even flinch as I stripped in a pretty 11-inch brown. As I released the fish, an older gentleman waded down the side of the run. He glanced out at the pod of big fish still sitting on the bottom. “Wasn’t the one you were after, was it?” he asked. My response was to offer him a shot at the run. He declined. “Don’t want any part of it,” he grumbled. “Spent all afternoon yesterday standing right where you are.” That’s a snapshot of what fishing the catch-andrelease, fly fishing only section of the Davidson is like. The river is full of fish—and some big ones. It is also frequently full of anglers. The steady pressure makes trout wise. Of course, there’s always a guy who lights up Internet message boards with a photo of a big old bruiser. He’ll give advice like, “Use a little split-shot to get it down,” but I suspect there’s more to it. Pressured fish are on guard. Catching them requires perfect presentation of the perfect fly and also being in the right place at that right time. Arriving early, staying late and fishing hard makes it more likely you’ll be there when a 2-foot-long trout makes a mistake. This story is an abbreviated excerpt from the book “Flyfisher’s Guide to North Carolina & Georgia,” which includes maps and GPS coordinates to access points for all the region’s best trout fisheries. Purchase the book on Amazon or by contacting the author at nsc8957@gmail.com.

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“Rooted” GET

he Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. This jungle-like paradise provides crucial habitat for numerous rare and endangered species like manatees, American crocodiles and Florida panthers. It is a truly amazing land and seascape, and it’s home to an awesome angling experience like no other: an encounter with the “Silver King,” one of Nature’s most acrobatic and striking underwater wonders. Tarpon (Megalops), in brief, are like an enormous silver bullet. They are powerful, explosive and acrobatic fighters, with the stamina of an Energizer bunny. Due to their tolerance of a wide range of water salinity, tarpon swim the canals and ponds of south Florida. I’ve caught juveniles in freshwater ponds, so I’ve sampled the pure power of the species. But catching a true behemoth has long been on my bucket list. To achieve this, I traveled to Flamingo, the southernmost headquarters of Everglades National Park, in Monroe County, Fla. There I met Sam Root, an exceptionally knowledgeable Miami-based

By Rosemary J. White

IN THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES

fisherman and media personality who has traveled the world to test his fishing skills. I’ve admired Root’s media work, and have been fortunate to collaborate with him through companies like Mustad, Savage Gear and many TV platforms. On this trip, we set out to test the Savage Gear Pulse Tail Mullet and Pulse Tail Ballyhoo. These swimbaits are engineered to look and move like the baitfish they resemble, and are molded with Savage Gear’s pulse tail. The tail has a patent-pending split rear kicker that allows realistic swimming action fast or slow. The bait also features “line-through” rigging that allows the soft-plastic bait to slide up the line during the fight, giving the fish less leverage to throw the hook. With the aerial tendencies of tarpon, this is a pretty good feature to have. We launched out of Everglades National Park quickly to avoid being air lifted from the ramp by mosquitoes. The scenery was breathtaking. Winding through the narrow canals was like trekking through the Amazon. We arrived at our spot with the moon to the west and the sunrise to the east, both simultaneously visible. That was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

The action began immediately! We hooked multiple tarpon and got a first-hand perspective of why the line-through technology is helpful. An unobstructed fight, both from the lack of structure and the lack of a lure in the fish’s mouth makes for a pure battle of strength and endurance, on both sides of the rod. The acrobatics and sheer power of these fish as they launched into the air was mind blowing. At one point, it was all I could do to hold on as Root engaged the motor in pursuit of a monster tarpon with the reel screaming in my hands. After we exhausted ourselves—and several fish—we headed into the preserve canals to sightsee. We were ecstatic to get a glimpse of the American crocodile. The Everglades is the only place on Earth where both alligators and crocodiles coexist. When Root said it was time to “call it,” I cringed. I could have gotten lost for days fishing in the unparalleled landscape. The Everglades is a mix of different habitats including freshwater, brackish and salt, an angler’s paradise. I longed for more time to explore.

For more information on Savage Gear and their products, Sam does instructional “how to” videos on his Instagram @scssam. Follow Rosemary White @roasty194 for her fishing adventures that feature destinations throughout Florida and @daryn.white.fishing for photography.

Bow and pray.

Tarpon season in The Florida Keys is all about timing, skill and luck of the draw. Hook up and be ready to bow to the king. Stay tight and pray all those hours in the gym weren’t for naught. Whether you come just for thrills or to top your personal best, don’t miss the opportunity to experience true piscatorial bliss. fla-keys.com 1.800.fla.keys For the latest protocols on health & safety in The Florida Keys, please visit our website.

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SHRIMP: THE BAIT OF ALL BAITS

4) Shrimp (weedless, or as it comes out of the package) without a jig head I can go anywhere there are shrimp and catch trout, drum, snook and more with a very small tackle box. It’s the universal bait. My favorite is just the shrimp on the Barefoot Jig without a cork, but under the fixed and sliding cork is sometimes just the ticket. You can use the sliding cork Tim Barefoot around docks and snags at an irresistibly slow speed. The reason it works ears ago, I was obsessed with live bait of all kinds. I kept livewells so well is the jig head is balanced and will maintain a perfect horizontal with mullet, shrimp, pinfish and cigar minnows. I spent a lot of position with or without a cork. time tending to bait and battling the otters at the marina. My inshore bait of choice was the live shrimp… hands down. Live mullets will get the bite, no question, but the shrimp is simply irresistible. I would spend hours and hours catching, housing and feeding bait. I was just about at the end of my inshore live bait road when along came the DOA shrimp. I love everything about that soft plastic shrimp body. It’s pretty tough, looks just like a real shrimp and can be made to work in every single situation including depth, grass/roots and current when used with the correct hardware. I have to admit there are times when I may catch a few more fish with live shrimp, but I can carry my entire inshore tackle The key is to make the shrimp look like a real shrimp. box now in just a few small trays of jig heads, DOA shrimp A live shrimp does not move around stern- or bow-heavy. colors and a bottle of Pro Cure shrimp scent. It’s extremely A live shrimp moves thru the water slowly in a perfectly easy to just plug a DOA body on the jig, apply a liberal horizontal position. Just look at them in the livewell or at a amount of Pro Cure shrimp scent on the legs and underside, tackle shop that sells live shrimp. That’s the reason the DOA and start fishing. I have so much faith in this combination. catches so many fish: it swims horizontally. It’s just a given; they will eat it when properly presented. The weedless version of this shrimp can be extremely I could write several pages of this article regarding the effective for fish tailing in the grass or around mangrove different applications, but I’ll be brief. roots. This is one reason to keep one rigged and ready and I keep four rods rigged with shrimp: always moving around quietly. For videos of these variations, 1) Shrimp body on a 3/8-ounce Barefoot Jig. visit my website and click on “videos” 2) Shrimp under a fixed cork about 20 inches deep on a 3/8 oz. Barefoot Jig. For more from Capt. Tim Barefoot, visit 3) Shrimp under a sliding cork on a 3/8-ounce barefootcatsandtackle.com. Barefoot Jig (to suspend over shell beds).

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Summer-Long, Statewide Fishing Competition Launches May 29 C CA Florida, the state’s leading marine fisheries conservation, education and advocacy organization, will begin the seventh-annual CCA Florida STAR competition May 29. The summer-long event invites anglers and non-anglers to participate and win prizes valued at $500,000, including boats, motors, scholarships and more. Launched in 2015, Florida STAR focuses on conservation with its catch, photo and release format, conservation division and unique garbage division. Additionally, STAR is driven by its smartphone app, which allows participants to upload competition photos, eliminating the requirement to harvest or transport fish. “In the past six years, it’s been amazing to see STAR participants catch more fish, practice catch and release and support recovery efforts—all to conserve and enhance our state’s coastal waters and marine resources.” CCA Florida STAR Director Leiza Fitzgerald said. “But, what’s been just as exciting, is awarding more than $1.2 million in prizes, including $600,000 in youth scholarships, to the thousands of STAR registrants.” 2021 STAR features 17 divisions targeting 12 inshore and offshore species. STAR’s signature divisions include the West Marine STAR Tagged redfish, and prizes in this division are a Contender Boats 22 Sport, Pathfinder Boats 2200 TRS and Spyder 19FX Vapor all powered by Yamaha Outboards. For the first two youth anglers who win this division, prizes include two Salt Marsh Skiff 1656 tiller boats powered with Yamaha Outboards, trailers, Minn Kota trolling motors and Humminbird electronics. The other signature division, the Tigress Outrigger & Gear Tagged Dolphin Division, offers one winner a $10,000 cash prize or scholarship to the STAR registrant and CCA Florida member who catches the first

tagged dolphin. Dolphin are captured, tagged and released off the Florida Keys by the Dolphin Research program implemented by the Beyond Our Shores foundation. With a focus on inclusion of anglers of all skill levels, every fish an angler catches counts in STAR’s Power Pole Conservation Division. This division makes each participant a citizen biologist by documenting catches in the app with data to be utilized in research. Engagement of youth is another priority of STAR, and CCA Florida youth members (ages 6 to 17) can participate in the competition for free. Kids are encouraged to submit entries in the Youth Scholarship Division presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors for an opportunity to win one of 12 scholarships with a total value of $100,000. Youth may also garner community service hours by gathering trash and disposing of it properly in the Costa Kick Plastic Trash Division or even win a new boat, motor and trailer by catching a West Marine tagged redfish. Other divisions include ladies, kayak, guides and more. Since most division winners are determined by a random drawing, it is about submitting qualifying entries for an opportunity to be drawn as a winner. Registration is open throughout the competition and ends Sept. 6. To register for STAR 2021 or receive additional information on divisions, prizes and more, visit ccaflstar.com or Facebook.

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CATCH. PHOTO. RELEASE. WIN. MAY 29 TO SEPTEMBER 6 CCA Florida STAR is the largest family-friendly saltwater ﬁshing competition in Florida, and it’s unlike traditional ﬁshing tournaments.

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or the first time in decades, there’s an old-school inshore grand slam tournament slated for South Florida. The first Herman Lucerne Biscayne Legends Classic, presented by Hell’s Bay Boatworks, will launch on Biscayne Bay July 7-8 thanks to The Herman Lucerne Memorial Foundation and Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. Twenty-five teams will compete in an exciting one-day contest, chasing bonefish, permit and tarpon in what is perhaps the greatest urban inshore fishery on earth. Registration is open now, and space is limited.

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FAST CAST for Expedient Accuracy By Stu Apte

EDITOR’S NOTE: Legendary fly fisherman Stu Apte has fished worldwide for anything that swims for more than 70 years. Here he shares some tips on sight casting.

ow would you like to go after an elephant armed with a BB gun? In theory, that is what we attempt to do when we go after 100-poundplus tarpon—or any other fish you can see and must quickly cast to before they see you—with a fly rod and a comparatively light leader tippet. The difference is, you can’t get an elephant with a BB gun, but you can catch all kinds of 100-pound-plus fish with a fly rod using a comparatively light tippet. All you must do is learn to implement the proper fish fighting techniques, and how to get your cast to the fish with speed and accuracy. I started developing and teaching this back in the late 1950s and early 1960s when I was a backcountry guide in the Florida Keys. I will try to describe how to do the fast cast: If you are right-handed, you will have the fly rod in your right hand and carefully hold the fly by the hook pointing away from you in the first finger and thumb of your left hand. I generally fish at least a 12-foot leader, so this is a little easier for people with a shorter leader. You should have approximately 8 or 10 feet of fly line out of the rod tip.

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Do a forward roll cast in the air, without letting the fly or line hit the water. Abruptly stop it before it reaches its zenith, and then shoot a little line on your back cast, once again stopping it before it reaches the end of the cast. This should load your rod enough to make a 50- or 60-foot presentation, sometimes even a 70-foot cast without even a full false cast. Yes, this is something you must practice for accuracy, but once you get it down and it is not difficult, you will catch more fish by doing a fast cast than anything else I can teach. Now, it is important to dress your line with Line Speed so it will flow through the guides easily. Depending on where I’m fishing and the quality of the surface water, I might have to dry and redress my fly line four or five times during the day. So I keep Loon Outdoors Line Speed or Stream Line nearby so I can use it in my Loon Outdoors Line Cleaning Tool. Reprinted with permission from Loon Outdoors: loonoutdoors.com.

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WACKY RIG FOR THE STAGES OF THE SPAWN By Tyler Woolcott

hen bass flock to the banks this time of year, it draws in a lot of anglers. Many times, it’s possible to locate big bass in the shallows, but it can be tough to make them bite because of pressure on heavily fished lakes. A wacky-rigged Senko is one of my favorite techniques in this situation. I slow down, stay farther off a spawning area and pick it apart with a finesse approach some anglers won’t try. A wacky worm flat out gets bit. Whether it’s a Senko-style bait or a Trick Worm, the size of fish I’m targeting and water clarity play a huge role in the decision. On a clear body of water with spotted and largemouth bass, I throw a smaller 4- to 5-inch worm. When the target is primarily largemouth, I throw a larger 6-inch Senko or a Magnum Trick Worm. Throwing the wacky worm is a more finesse approach, and it’s also versatile. A wacky-rigged worm is easy to throw and skip around docks, wood, grass, open water or any bank bass are attracted to. You catch fish spawning around the cover, those about to spawn and those finished up and looking to feed. People get overwhelmed in over-thinking color choice. I stick to more natural colors like green pumpkins and baitfish colors because, at the end of the day, you are trying to use finesse and present something natural. I often stick a nail weight in the larger end of the worm to get the bait into the strike zone faster and keep it there. Depending on depth, I use a 1/32- or 3/32-ounce WOO! Tungsten Nail Weight. Whether you’re fishing a tournament for $100,000 or just out fun fishing, getting a bite on a tough day can boost confidence and tell you you’re in a good area. I keep a wacky worm rigged at all times, and I throw it anywhere from

Florida to the Great Lakes when I’m struggling for a bite, especially on a highly pressured fishery.

Wacky Worm Gear A wacky worm calls for a spinning rod. Lighter line and a rod you can use to skip the bait helps put it where the guy fishing the bank ahead of you couldn’t with his baitcaster. I use a 13 Fishing Omen Black 7’1” Medium Fast action rod paired with a 3000-size reel. This rod is ideal. It is short enough to make accurate casts and skips. It has a medium action to reel into a fish and keep him on without pulling the hook. The fast tip helps you feel bites and work the bait appropriately. I use between a size 2 and a 1/0 Hayabusa Spin Muscle guard hook, depending on the size of the bait. My line of choice is a 10-pound Seaguar Smackdown braid in lime green. Depending on water clarity, I fish an 8- to 12-pound Seaguar Tatsu leader. Tyler Woolcott is a professional tournament angler and guide. Check out his website at tylerwoolcottfishing.com.

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ampa angler Christian Greico scored a pretty good payday fishing the recent MLF Toyota Series Harris Chain event. Not only did he chalk a solid tenth-place finish, he caught a tagged largemouth that tacked an additional $5,000 prize onto his tournament winnings of $4,150, which included Big Fish for the event. The tagged fish, a 9-pound, 12-ounce giant, was the headliner fish in the Apopka Fish Challenge, which features cash prizes for anglers who catch fish of various species that were previously tagged by FWC biologists. The big bass was named “Jim Thomas” after the Winter Garden environmentalist who founded the conservation organization Friends of Lake Apopka (FOLA). After the tournament, Greico contacted FWC about his “Jim Thomas” catch and was awarded a $2,500 prize from FOLA and an additional $2,500 from Bass Pro Shops for his approval of the fish into TrophyCatch. The Lake Apopka Fish Challenge offers anglers the chance to catch a tagged fish in Lake Apopka and return the tag to the FWC for a prize from FOLA. The fish challenge is also a study to see if the competition elicits changes to angler behavior and increases fishing efforts on Lake Apopka. Although “Jim Thomas” has been caught, there are still thousands of dollars’ worth of prize fish swimming around Lake Apopka. Tagged bass, bream and specks representing about $5,000 more in prizes are swimming the lake, so don’t stop fishing! The event began in January and will conclude on May 31. The TrophyCatch program rewards anglers who provide documentation of their catch and release of largemouth bass weighing 8 pounds or heavier in Florida. The FWC encourages anglers to join TrophyCatch to become citizen scientists and assist in the management and the conservation of Florida’s freshwater fisheries. The associated TrophyCare program promotes best handling practices for trophy bass to ensure that each TrophyCatch bass is released alive. Check out Greico’s video of the actual landing of “Jim Thomas” at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_G0-bxAN20.

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Fishing Report & Forecast Mayport By Capt. Kirk Waltz

he spring run should be on the go before the ink dries on this report. Warm weather and fairly calm skies should have the fish wide open. The big rocks at Mayport will hold good numbers of sheepshead, reds, drum, trout, blues ,jacks, ringtails, and Spanish. Throw lures early in the clear clean water before the boat traffic shows will produce some really nice trout and reds. My go to baits are the gulp swimming minnow, mirror lure, and a bomber long-a. Go early or stay late when things are quiet seems to produce the better results. Fresh live bait like fiddler crabs, shrimp, mud minnows, finger mullet thrown on jigs are almost a guarantee that you’ll get a strike. Look for diving birds to locate schools of pogies/menhaden. Get out the cast net for a live well full and the fish will hammer these with a vengeance. Again I really look for clean outgoing water or incoming for the better bite of fish. These fish have been cold and are eager to feed on this weather change. Sheeps , reds, drum, and ringtails will devour the fiddler baits. Trout, blues, jacks, reds ,and Spanish love those fish baits. Float rigs are a great method for taking fish at the rocks too worked on the clean tide changes when the water is the clearest. Find that clean water and you will locate the fish. The huge black drum should hang around for the 2 NORTHEAST FLORIDA

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month but as it gets hot the number will drop. Remember to release these big bruins but, find them in deep water by soaking ¼ blue crab chunks on the bottom at the end of both rock piles. Spanish will feed in good numbers around the inlet at high tide and can be caught with small Clark spoons or sea hawks trolled or thrown and pulled quickly thru the water. Oh, and those bait pods that are off the beach…make sure you check them for bull reds, cobia, and huge jacks for some fun in the sun. Grab a few baits from the pod and pitch them back into the foray using an egg sinker rig, big jig, or a Cajun thunder float and watch out! Make sure you bring big rods and small ones cause anything can happen, be prepared for battle! The offshore scene will start to heat up as bait moves into the party ground spots,. Nine mile, PG, PM ,BB, And MG areas to name a few can be great spots to start. Last year the kingfish really fired up along the beaches all the way to the party grounds along with jacks, cobia, tunny, cudas and more. Grab some pogies if available on the beach or jig some minnows off the local wrecks and reefs. Bottom fishing will be great with some seabass lingering around, triggers, vermilions, ringtails, and of course snapper. Check the regs folks! Capt. Kirk Waltz can be reached at 904.626.1128 or 904.241.7560 for charters or for more info go to www.Enterprisefishingcharters. com He also can be heard on The Outdoors Show with Capt. Kevin Faver and Jeff Lageman on 1010am or 92.5fm from 7am to 10am every Saturday giving out fishing reports, tides, and weather. Go to www. outdoorsshow.com

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pring has sprung. Fish are moving and biting. Club members are meeting, fishing, and we are excited and ready for more. The clubhouse was busy for our April 1st meeting. We had the Easter egg hunt for the kids and they had a great time and we had Captain Chad Starling from Team Buck Rogers Fishing Charters come out and give us a seminar on anchoring, sea bass, and rigs. If you weren’t there you missed a great opportunity to see some of the tricks he was willing to give out. We also had Connie Schreifels the Sales Manager with Revere Survival come out and talk to us about safety and life rafts. We would also like to thank everyone who signed up to help work the JOSFC booth at the boat show. We hope to see you are the clubhouse soon. We are excited about some of our plans and speakers coming up. Bring your friends and family for a night of food, fun, and learning. Look for

our flyers in stores and bait and tackle shops and scan our new QR code to get right to our website. Upcoming Events May 1st- “2021 Men’s Sailfish Pot Party” more info at their Facebook page. (not a JOSFC event) May 6th- Club Business. Dinner. May 15th Trolling Tournament and Inshore Redfish Tournament. The backup date is May 22nd. You have to be a member to participate. Make sure you get in on the Calcutta. May 20th- speaker TBD. Dinner Check out our website to keep up with upcoming events, schedules, or any changes. www.JaxFish.com Our meetings are on the first and third Thursday of each month. Due to Covid guidelines, we are currently meeting outdoors. Dress for the weather. We are open to the public so we would love to have you at a meeting even if you are not a member.

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WE ARE GROWING 2021 is going to be a new and exciting year. Mark Feagle and Cheryl Knoy have joined forces at Watson Realty Corp., Orange Park, and created The West Bank Group. Our expansion comes with the vision to better service our customers and our community with the legendary quality service you deserve and have come to expect from Watson Realty Corp. Purchase or sell a home with The West Bank Group and we will contribute $400 towards your closing costs or give you a FREE fishing trip with our preferred captains. If you need real estate services in the Orange Park area, give either Cheryl or Mark a call today! Mark Feagle | 904.607.1139 Cheryl Knoy | 812.343.9072 MFeagle.WatsonRealtyCorp.com | CKnoy.WatsonRealtyCorp.com MFeagle@WatsonRealtyCorp.com | CKnoy@WatsonRealtyCorp.com

CGFA will meet again on TuesdayMay 18th from 6-8pm for our monthly club meeting! We will have a guest speaker, awards from our April tournament,raffle and dinner. Guests are always welcome! Meeting location is St.Augustine Shrine Club, 250 Brainard Dr. in St Augustine.In March, our club members targeted Black Drum in our monthly tournament and the winning angler was Joe Driscoll. April is our Trolling tournament. Winners have not been determined yet. This month is ourLadies Tournament where all inshore and offshore fish count. June is our 1-day kingfish shoot-out. Fishing day is TBD!Also in June is our annual membership party. Club members enjoy a nice dinner together and celebrate our fishing efforts throughout the year with an awards presentation. Guests are welcome for a $10 per person fee. Back in April our Young Anglers Club learned how to tie different knots and learned the purpose of these knots. This month they will be learning how to cast. Each month our YoungAnglers learn something new; effects of trash

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in our waterways, how to tie knots, cast a fishing pole, throw a cast net, boat safety, all things related to fishing! Please mark your calendar for our annual Challenge Tournaments!On July 8-11th, 2021, adult and junior anglers from up and down the coast will compete to catch the biggest Kingfish and Redfish. The 4-day event will takeplace at the Northeast Florida MarlinAssociation Clubhouse, located inside of Camachee Cove Marina. Full details can be found on our website,www.acgfachallenge.com. ACGFA was founded in 1958. We are a family oriented group who enjoy fishing and good fellowship. Our dues are $65 per year per family and we meet monthly at the St. AugustineShrine Club. We have speakers on some aspect of fishing, boating, or water safety every month. Guests and new members are always welcome!Go to www.acgfa.com for moreInformation.

MAY 2021

Erin Johnson Club President Jacksonville Marine Association 904.669.5153 NORTHEAST FLORIDA 7

Wahoo Junkies - What’s Next? By Captain Tim Altman

his month we have had some more really great posts in the Wahoo Junkies Facebook Group with lots of pictures and stories from Northeast Florida. First things first…Tournament Results: Northeast Florida Wahoo Shootout: It turns out that my ole buddies Casey Smith & Geoff Stam onboard the Turn 3/Sofishticated did indeed hold on to win the Northeast Florida Wahoo Shootout…but it wasn’t without some nail-biting suspense during the last week of the tournament. Spencer Ross and Team Flossy weighed a 107lb fish in the closing weekend and had a day left to fish going into the final day of the tournament. Despite unfavorable weather conditions Team Flossy gave it a go on the last day needing only a 68lber to take over the lead. Needless to say, they came up a little short and settled for 2nd place which yielded them a Kubota side by side worth over $15,000. What a great tournament. Congratulations to all the winners in the world’s largest Wahoo tournament and a huge “Thank You” to Paul and Lauren Dozier for continuing to put on a World Class tournament.

While the final weekend in March marks an end to our Wahoo tournament season, it is not an end to catching to big Wahoo. April 1st usually means we Knuckle-Dragging high-speed Wahoo fisherman put away our huge reels and a heavy rods and only drag them out for overnight Swordfish trips…but it doesn’t mean we quit chasing the elusive triple-digit Wahoo here in Northeast Florida. Beginning in May even though we transition to our Mahi spread, we run planers deep rigged with horse ballyhoo skirted islanders style lures on cable or wire in search of “the one”. We also will pull diving lures such as Magbay Magtracs, Nomads or Bonita style lures keeping a Wahoo presentation active at all times even though our primary target is Mahi Mahi or Billfish. Mahi-Season will relent to our next obsession here in Northeast Florida….King Mackerel. Some of the largest Wahoo of the year will be caught this summer by King Mackerel fisherman live baiting as by-catch during their tournament season. So, folks even though the theoretical “Wahoo Season” is over…it’s really not.

Wahoo Junkies St. Augustine Showdown: 29 Boats competed in the inaugural St Augustine Showdown presented by Strike Zone Fishing. Capt. Geoff Stam and Team Turn 3 (without Casey Smith) won the tournament by weighing a 96.77lb and a 44.40lb Wahoo for a 2-fish aggregate of 141.17lbs and took home just over $11,500 in cold hard cash. Marc Padgett and Team Finnikki won 2nd place with a 2-fish aggregate of 109.56lbs and was the tournament’s leading money winner taking home just over $23,000 in general tournament and Calcutta winnings. Gary Terrell and Team Hoos on First rounded out the winners finishing 3rd with a 99.30lb 2-fish aggregate taking home just over $3800 in winnings. All in all this cash tournament paid out $46,080 in winnings to 6 winners. Next year we hope to have a bigger tournament with a record payout in cash. For results & information you can visit www.wahoojunkies.com As a notable note - Capt. Geoff Stam’s “Turn 3” boat is a 27ft Contender and if I’m not mistaken, it is the smallest boat ever to win the Wahoo Shootout. Capt. Geoff and Casey Smith have had a wonderful run this year, it has been nothing short of amazing. While Geoff has been a successful King Mackerel tournament fisherman, Casey has been a pioneer of High-Speed Wahoo fishing here in NE Florida over the last 16-17 years. They are great fisherman and even better people. Congratulations Casey Smith, Geoff Stam, Brian Ferrell, Georgette Smith and my favorite Wahoo fisherman Cannon Smith on a great win.

Where can you purchase all of your Wahoo tackle and rigging? Strike Zone Fishing Jacksonville. Strike Zone owner Dave Workman Jr. has the largest selection of Shimano Reels in Northeast Florida and has a huge selection of High-Speed Trolling specific tackle and rigging. Ask for Archie or Dalton to get expert advice on all your Wahoo specific needs. My name is Tim Altman and I am a full-blown Wahoo Junkie…it has been 7 days since I last fed my addiction. Please feel free to email me with any questions and/or suggestions. I love to talk Wahoo and I’m always up for learning new tricks!

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MAY 2021

Visit www.wahoojunkies.com for Wahoo Junkies gear! Until next month, please stay safe on the water and remember that great things happen when you take a kid fishing.

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Captain Tim Altman HooDoo Sportfishing Charters www.saltwaterchallenge.com tim@saltwaterchallenge.com

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Fishing Report & Forecast The Northeast Florida Marlin Association Nassau Sound By Capt. Tony Bozzella ay is a great month for many species. Depending on what you want to go for, you have options. The big craze will be the Cobia run. Many anglers will be cruising the surf & near shore areas looking for rays. Often as large rays migrate the north Florida waters they “stir up” morsels, like crabs, eels, shrimp, etc. I like to throw a TBS Cobia jig behind the rays, or many times you can sight fish them, very exciting!! If it’s low tide, I like fishing for reds.Redfish will be wildly spread. Usually early morning hours in the shallow water you can hunt a backing red through out the hot months with success. There will be redfish in the backcountry, but many single & small groups, unlike winter larger schools. Standard methods jig & shrimp, piping corks, & lures are all good choices. I always recommend the

10 NORTHEAST FLORIDA

way you are most confident, and you know! If I have to fish Incoming & high tide, I like float fishing or throw lures on points,& over structure. That could be grass, rocks, or shell/ oyster. There will be a wide variety of species including, trout, blues, Jack’s, reds, Spanish macs, & ladies. A lot of fun!! Anglers will have to pick the species they want & plan what tide you will fish. Timing is everything.

MAY 2021

-Capt. Tony Bozzella / TBS JIGS

Professional Angler / Guide www.tonybozzella.com 904 651 0182

our times as many marlin and more than twice as many sailfish caught, released, and logged already this year than last year suggests it’s going to be a great season. That is great news for Club NEFMA members and we didn’t even get to our biggest tournament of the year at the time this article was written! Typically, April and May are the best time to go trolling the deep blue water in our region and by the early April deadline for the magazine everything was hot and getting hotter. Tuna, particularly blackfins, are thick at the ledge with some boats catching a dozen or more in a day. Yellowfins are further out but several have been caught in the region and it is early in that season. It was a fantastic Wahoo season in terms of the size of fish and good fish are still being caught as we reach the tail of that season. And then there is the other regional favorite, Dolphin/Mahi which arrived in April, right on schedule, and should remain in the

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region for a few months. Billfish however are the big story so far this year. Eight of our club’s boats have logged in billfish so far in 2021 including: four marlin, eighteen sailfish and seven swordfish! It’s hard to determine if there are more fish in our region, if the boats are making more trips or maybe it’s just easier to log the fish with our new NEFMA APP (available at reeltimeapps.com) but the numbers are definitely up this year and the season is far from over! In May we will have our NEFMA Spring Dock Party and a mini tournament and we’re planning a few seminars and summer events for members, guests and sponsors. Check out our brandnew website for more information. It’s still www.NEFMA.com but it’s better than ever! And don’t forget to download the app to follow the tournaments.

Tight lines. -Paul Raudenbush, President Northeast Florida Marlin Association

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Fishing Report Pier and Surf By: Noel Kuhn

he Pompano and big Bonnethead sharks finally made their appearance in the middle of April. That means that this month will be on fire. Our cold spring water temps delayed the run but it is now go time. This means perfect timing for the Florida Surf Casters 17th Annual 2021 Spring Surf Fishing Tournament. This is a fun family tourney with a kids division. It is sponsored by and held at Strike-Zone Fishing in Jacksonville, Fl. The date is May 15th 2021. For all the rules and regulations please visit www. surffishingflorida.com. You can drop off your entry fee at StrikeZone Fishing or pay online. See you at the weigh in! Now I want to help you be more successful in the surf zone. Specifically when it

comes to Whiting and Pompano. The most important thing is matching the hatch when it comes to what they eat. These baits are Donax clams aka Coquina & Periwinkles, sand fleas aka Mole Crabs, small Calico Crabs and shrimp. When using using these baits remember that even a two pound Whiting or Pompano has a small mouth. Therefore use a small piece of bait approximately 1” x 1/2”. So when cutting up your store bought clams and shrimp remember smaller is better. If the sand fleas are huge just cut them in half. When using Blue Crabs to imitate Calico crabs cut the knuckles into chunks the size of a sand flea. When it comes to rigging there are two choices. First is the double dropper rig. They are also known as a Pompano rig or chicken rig. If you buy them pre-made get the ones with 2/0 circle hooks. They usually come with floats and or beads. The jewelry on them is not as important as the hook size and good quality baits. Second choice is the fish finder rig aka sinker slider rig. You will want to use the same hook size as on the double dropper. If you really want to get your string stretched May is also the kick off for big Blacktip sharks. My baits of choice are either a Whiting or Pompano head. Once again matching the hatch. Plant your sand spike deep and your drag light! Hang on and have fun!

Noel Kuhn Surf fishing guide and long distance casting coach. 904-945-0660 www.TheSurfAngler.com

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MAY 2021

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Fishing Report & Forecast Fernandina / Amelia Island By Terry D. Lacoss

ag grouper season opens on May 1st where bottom fishermen will be targeting these hard fighting, delicious eating bottom dwellers with fairly heavy fishing gear. A series of 2–3-foot lime ledges can be found running just off the coast of Northeast Florida’s Amelia Island to just south of Jacksonville. These rocky fish havens are very accessible to literally all sizes of fishing boats. Include a kayak fisherman I thought had been carried offshore by winds and currents! Many of these fish structures are located within five miles from shore, harboring excellent fishing action during the warm months of summer.

Expect to catch a wide variety of pelagic game fish including sails, king mackerel, cobia, Spanish mackerel, barracuda and more while live bait trolling. However, the real draw to these close to shore fish havens is the hard fighting and excellent grouper fishing. Small boat fishermen in particular target these near shore reefs because of the short inexpensive boat ride and to catch one of Northeast Florida’s favorite seafood table fare for the evening’s dinner table. The hard fighting and excellent eating “Gag” grouper. Best bottom fishing bait includes live pinfish, grunts or fresh squid. 12 NORTHEAST FLORIDA

MAY 2021

Offshore live bait trolling at the “Amberjack Hole” and “East FC” live bottoms will produce king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, cobia, barracuda and the occasional blackfin tuna. A solid game plan is to jig up a live bait-well full of live Spanish sardines and cigar minnows at a nearby live bottom and rig them to your terminal trolling tackle. Hard fighting cobia will be holding close to working shrimp boats, channel buoys and close to the surf where large concentrations of menhaden are schooling. Offshore fishermen will also find cobia following hooked bottom fish up to the boat often completely catching fishermen off guard. A premium pair of sunglasses with amber lens will enable fishermen to see under the surface of the water when sight fishing for hard fighting cobia. Shark fishermen will find good numbers of pelagic sharks during the month of May both at offshore wrecks, ledges and near-shore inlets too. Some of the best shark action comes while drifting dead baits with behind a working shrimp boat that has just cleaned their catch. Shrimp boats discarding their bi-catch will also attract hard fighting tarpon, cobia and fast swimming kingfish too. Redfish will be prowling the beaches offering some of the very best light-tackle fishing of the year for both light tackle spin fishermen and fly fishermen too. Simply look for large areas of surface disturbance where red drum weighing to 40-pounds will be stocking large schools of menhaden. Excellent sea trout and redfish fishing are also available during the month of May in the back country. Timing is critical as fishing is best when a good running tide is flooding oyster beds where huge concentrations of finger mullet are present as well. A flooding early morning tide is key, particularly when arriving around mid morning. As days grow older the heat of the day seems to slow down the trout bite. Some of the larger sea trout and redfish are taking surface plugs fished along the edges of finger mullet schools. A local favorite is the Storm “Chug Bug” in the chrome and blue color pattern. This popular trout lure also has a sound chamber where led balls rattle against their plastic chamber, which ultimately imitates croaker grunting. Also the loud popping sounds created by the “Chug Bug”, imitates game fish smacking live shrimp right on the surface. When mullet schools are not numerous, a variety of sub surface plugs work will for summer sea trout. Include the Mirror Lure’s S25MR/ Catch 5 in the mullet color pattern. And don’t overlook casting a ¼ ounce led head jig rigged with a 3-inch Berkley Gulp shrimp in the white, or new penny color patterns. A favorite sea trout fishing pattern also includes free-lining live shrimp without weights on the deep sides of structure including jetties, boat docks and oyster beds. Surf fishermen will be targeting excellent eating whiting, pompano, yellow mouth trout and more. Fishing with fresh shrimp, or sand fleas during a flooding tide is key. Look for some of the best surf fishing action to come where shallow bars offer an ambush point for game fish.. For more information and charters, call Amelia Angler Outfitters (904) 261-2870, or visit www.ameliaangler.com.

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Fishing Report & Forecast Flagler Inshore By Captain Chris Herrera

t’s time to pray for west winds and hit the beach as cobia will be invading our nearshore waters. Hit the beach when the sun is up and watch for cobia piggy backing on Manta rays as long as water temps stay in their comfort zone (68-72). Unpressured cobia will eat just about anything (flies to plugs) but for picky eaters keep some live bait (pogies, mullet, shrimp or even mud minnows) handy and ready to fire. Fishing at first light or last light still proves to be successful with topwater plugs. Rapala Skitter Walks, Top Dogs and Zara spooks are top water lures that has proved to be the gator trout lures of choice along with any kind of popper top water for those that cannot “walk the dog”. When the topwater bite tapers off go for subsurface suspending baits like a Sebile Magic Swimmer or lipped diving plugs worked with a stop and go retrieve. Live shrimp and a bb split shot

tossed up current along the ICW will produce trout for live bait fisherman. Redfish continue to shadow mullet seeking refuge on top of oyster beds and will be fooled by Fishbites Extreme jerk baits, gold spoons and a Sebile Stick Shadd. Bouncing jigs with shrimp or mud minnows around oyster beds will also produce good catches of reds and flounder. Slot snook are starting to show up this month, local bridges, docks and seawalls fished at night will produce linesiders. Live select shrimp, pinfish and lipped diving plugs are local favorites when chasing snook but remember to use a minimum of 30lb. leaders to avoid cut offs. Topwater enthusiast can also trick snook into biting at first light off the ICW where bait is available. Inlets and nearby creeks with drop offs will hold flatties and doormats waiting to eat a live mullet on a fish finder rig or mud minnow pinned on a jig head. Best tides or during change of tides at area inlets or outgoing tides at creek mouths. For shallow water flounder try a Slayer Inc. spinner baits or inline spinners. Spanish Mackerel, blues and jacks will invade our near coastal waters just outside of Matanzas Inlet, proven techniques for Spanish is to slow troll spoons or look for acres size schools chasing bait on the surface. It’s a great time to grab a fly rod and practice catching as spanish mackerel are ferocious eaters. Capt. Chris Herrera Serving Flagler Beach, Palm Coast, St. Augustine www.palmcoastfishing.com 386-503-6338

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MAY 2021

NORTHEAST FLORIDA 15

Fishing Report St. Johns River By: Richard Hamilton

he weather has calmed down a bit and the fishing is heating up. Life is good here in Northeast fl. First up is the Redfish, get some fresh dead shrimp or crabs and hit the shell bars that extend out into the deeper parts of the river like near

Mandarin point and near Goodbys creek. Croaker and Yellowmouth are showing now more as the water warms. Dead shrimp and cut bait like a piece of cut croaker well be best. Remember marker 18 is a good start and work the drop offs north and south. Mullet are beginning to show but next month the size will be better on these babies. Chuming is important so go at it. May is the time for Bream. Docks and pads are good now for Bluegill. The shell cracker will move to their bedding haunts towards the full moon in May so get plenty of wigglers and night crawlers and fish on the bottom where shell cracker usually bedd every year. You can smell them, they smell like watermelon to me. When they start spawning they put off an odor and if the wind is good you can actually smell them… Its post spawn for most Bass so time to hit the docks and blow downs with worms and crank baits. Some schoolling will happen out off the shell points in deeper water. Look for the birds and fish busting the surface. Strippers go deeper now out around the bride pilings. Shiners are great but its been tough to find good shiners for this whole year. So use shiners if you can find them. Jigs and deep diving crank baits work well also. What a wonderful time of year to be out fishing and on the st johns river.. Life is Good…….Til next time, keep your lure moving and your line tight.--Richard. R & J Tackle 501 S Orange Ave, Green Cove Springs (904)284-5081

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Kacie Olsen- Knockoutdoors - Hawaiian Pinapple Wahoo recipe By Kacie Olsen

Ingredients: • 1 1/2 lbs Fresh Wahoo cut into 4-6 pieces • ⅓ C soy sauce • ⅓ C honey • 3 T sliced ginger • 2 garlic cloves • 1 T olive oil • Pineapple Ginger Salsa • ½ pineapple, pealed, cored, small diced (about 3 cups) • 1 jalapeño- seeds removed, very finely diced • 1 mild red chili (or ¼ C diced red bell pepper)- for color • ¼ C finely diced red onion • 1 tsp finely minced or grated ginger root • ½ Cup chopped cilantro • zest and juice of one small lime • ⅛ tsp kosher salt • pinch sugar (optional)

and adjust. • Prepare the Wahoo. Heat oil in a large heavy bottom skillet, over medium high heat. When oil is hot, place the fish in the skillet, saving the marinade. Sear the fish, on its sides, and set aside. For medium rare, a quick 2-3 minute sear on each side is all you need. • If you like your wahoo cooked more, place in a warm oven until desired done-ness. • Pour the remaining marinade into the skillet and bring to a boil for 30 seconds, until it thickens. Strain and place in a small bowl. You will have about ⅛ to ¼ cup. Directions: • Make marinade for the wahoo. Blend soy sauce, honey, sliced ginger, • Spoon this over the wahoo, along with a generous amount of pineapple garlic and olive oil in a blender until smooth. Place wahoo and marinade salsa before serving in a ziplock bag or bowl for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours. Kacie Olsen is a 3rd generation Florida native • While wahoo is marinating, make pineapple salsa. Cut pineapple in raised in Stuart, Florida, the sailfish capital of half, saving top half for another use. cut the bottom off, creating a stable the world. A strong passion for the outdoors lead base. With a large sharp knife, cut the skin off in vertical slices cutting her to pursue wild game and offshore fishing. downward. Cut into wedges and remove the core. Slice and dice into Regardless of the season, Kacie enjoys traveling ½ inch cubes and place in a medium bowl. You should have about 3 across the US and aiding in conservation while cups. Toss in the rest of the ingredients. for a milder salsa, add only ½ a creating lifelong memories with likeminded folks. jalapeño. If your pineapple is ripe you will not need to add sugar. Taste

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MAY 2021

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FLAGLER SPORTFISHING CLUB By Chris Christian

he Flagler Sportfishing Club will be having its monthly meeting at the VFW on Tuesday, May 4th; The meeting will feature

Upcoming Events: Monthly Club Meeting – May 4th, VFW Club Surf Tournament – May 22nd. Sign Up on the web Club Litter Gitter Trips – 1st Tuesday of every month – May 4th – Sign Up on the web

Surf Fishing Guide Noel Kuhn, who guides for Fishbites and Guy Harvey Oceanfront Resort in St. Augustine. Noel is the premier Surf Fishing Guide in North Florida and well respected by the local surf anglers. The Club can learn some basics and advanced techniques on surf fishing in advance of our Surf Tournament on May 22nd. The Surf Tournament will be run by our Male Angler of the Year Mark Heffley.

Free Bait! Bring this card to:

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Join the Flagler Sportfishing Club www.flaglersportfishing.com Join now and get 3 free months. flaglersportfishing.com/become-anew-member/ . Contact: Chris Christian @ chris@flaglersportfishing.com YouTube: Also, check out our new YouTube Channel for Fishing Quick Tips – search Flagler Sportfishing Club and subscribe

West Bank Seminar Series Is Back By Mark Feagle

Fishing… As I write this article, Florida is still open and we’re setting up for our second event of the year. I am so excited that we are able to have seminars again and look forward to continuing to do them. May we will take a slight break to set up for our largest seminar to date. Our next seminar will be on kingfish sometime in June. Check my website for details. well. I have missed having all the people together talking fishing and having fun. On April 21 beginning at 6pm we have Rick Ryals a well-known and respected offshore captain. Captain Rick is the host of the Florida Sportsman Radio and Co-Host of Florida Sportsman Best Boat. When it comes to offshore fishing Rick has caught just about every species out there. Rick will be speaking on the topics of Sailfish and Mahi-Mahi with specific ways to make your trips out of NE Florida more successful. With the annual migration

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MAY 2021

about to begin, now is a perfect time to get the best tips and tricks to make your trip worth wile. You can get your ticket on Eventbrite. com and we will have a local food truck on site for dinner. The event will be Conservation… As President of the Coastal Conservation Association’s Jacksonville Chapter, we have set the date for the first Water Way Clean Up Event of 2021. The event is scheduled for May, 8, 2021 and at Jim King Boat Ramp. We will be looking for volunteers and sponsors to make this clean-up event special. As we all know our river is littered with debris everywhere and we can do our part as fisherman to make sure our waters stay as clean as possible. This event will be a lot of fun and will have a lot of great prizes and giveaways. Also, our annual CCA BBQ event will be held on 6/25/2021 at the Florida Tackle and Gun Club. This event will be our first since the pandemic and we are very excited to have everyone back together. As always there will be cool door prizes, silent auction items and some really cool live auction items. This event is being held outdoors and is going to be great time. Real Estate… In addition to hosting the seminar series and volunteering for the CCA, I am also a full-time REALTOR® in Jacksonville. You should know that our local real estate market is on fire right now! We are in desperate need of homes to sell in order to meet the current buyerdemand. If you have thought of upgrading or moving away, I would love to talk to you. Home prices are on the rise, and with mortgage interest rates in the mid 2% range, there is no better time than now. Call me any time: 904-607-1139. I look forward to seeing everyone at the seminars again. Until then – Tight Lines!

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Fishing Report & Forecast St. Augustine Inshore By Capt. Tommy Derringer

ay is a fantastic month for fishing in Northeast Florida. The inshore fish (redfish, trout, flounder, drum, bluefish, ladyfish, jacks, etc.) will be on the feed with the influx of baitfish (finger mullet and pogies). With warming air and water temps the nearshore fishing should be firing up as well with huge jacks, cobia, and maybe even a tarpon or two... all waiting to put up that fight of a lifetime. Inshore the redfish will be crushing the finger mullet and that means a top-water plug, especially at first and last light, will be the go-to lure of choice. Look for large concentrations of mullet and toss your plugs around them. There’s sure to be a redfish lurking around looking for an easy snack. Once the sun gets higher in the sky I like to switch to a search bait this time of year. The water will become fairly murky and a lure that makes some noise will be a good way to get the redfish’s attention. Some of my favorites are spoons, twitchbaits, and one of my favorites, the Saltwater Assassin Lil Boss paddle tail. Of course a popping cork with a shrimp or mud minnow will

catch its fair share of reds this month as well. May has always been a “gator” trout month for me. A top-water plug will account for some of the bigger trout catches this month. The outgoing tide along the ICW banks should be loaded with trout, especially if the baitfish are around. Once the day heats up a bit I like to fish a 1/4-ounce jighead paired with a soft plastic for the trout. Use a twitch, twitch, pause method and most of the time they’ll hit it on the pause. A free-lined live shrimp with a small pinch weight a few inches above it is a great was to catch some trout too. The flounder bite has been consistent all year and will be a good bet this month. Some of the bigger springtime flatties will start to show in the inlets. Use a finger mullet or big mud minnow pinned to a jighead or fish-finder rig. Bounce the minnow (or mullet) along the rocks at the area inlets to find some of the big “doormats”. As of report time the cobia still haven’t shown up in good numbers along the beach. May could be a good month to get out and take a look for the brown bruisers. Even if the manta rays have moved on the cobia will be on the pogy pods along with quite a few heavy hitters like big jacks, sharks, and maybe even a tarpon or two if the water warms up enough. The weather is so nice this time of year!... even if the fish aren’t biting… so get out there!

Capt. Tommy Derringer 904-377-3734 • www.InshoreAdventures.net

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MAY 2021

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Fishing Legend Larry “Fishman” Finch Reveals His “Insider Secrets and Tips” for Catching Huge Florida Pompano and Whiting! By Terry Newsome

hen it comes to catching huge numbers of Florida Pompano and Whiting surf-fishing the Atlantic coastal waters of Florida from New Smyrna Beach to Ft. George Inlet, no one can compare to fishing legend Larry “Fishman” Finch; and for good reason! Winner of over 50 local inshore fishing tournaments, Larry has been featured in a multitude of outdoor magazines and TV fishing shows. Larry has conducted countless surf-fishing seminars throughout Florida for Pro Bass Shops and Florida Sportsman Magazine. Additionally, I had the privilege of filming and producing a DVD series of instructional fishing videos with Larry on how to catch Redfish, Speckled Trout, Flounder and Florida Pompano. You may have also seen Larry featured in the on TV in news. Larry and is wife Murphy (a former schoolteacher) previously owned the bait shop and concession on the Jacksonville Beach Pier. A TV Sportscaster was filming a “lifestyle” segment for prime-time news. Larry and Murphy were catching Whiting off the Jax Beach Pier on EVERY cast! (In fact, Larry was quick to point out that Murphy out fished him during the TV news segment!) Larry and Murphy have done so much for our community and I am proud to say that I have personally been fishing and filming with Larry for over 40 years. I am extremely grateful for our friendship and for the vast knowledge he has shared with me over the years. Recently, I had the honor of booking a Florida Pompano and Whiting surf-fishing charter with Larry at New Smyrna Beach, Florida for my close friend and co-worker Mr. Daniel DellaPosta Jr., an IT Executive for a billion-dollar corporation with international headquarters near Orlando, Florida. The “Team DellaPosta” charter included Daniel DellaPosta Jr., his Father (Daniel Sr., who currently lives in Virginia,) Uncle Tony and Cousin Mark. The Pompano and Whiting action that day was a sight to behold as Team DellaPosta had “tight lines” all-day! (See photo.) I was so excited about this charter that I purchased a brand new 4K Ultra High-Definition Video Camera, a new set of professionalquality wireless microphones and new “quick-release” fluid tripod to officially document the action! It was a great time of fun and fellowship for everyone as we all learned so much that day from fishing legend Larry “Fishman” Finch! What I admire most about Larry is his generosity and the way he truly cares about others. Larry is always eager to share his lifetime of local fishing knowledge with anyone who asks without hesitation. He takes the time to explain (in detail) exactly what he is doing as he demonstrates precisely how to employ his time-tested fishing techniques that will make you a better angler. “If you give someone a fish to eat, you fed them for a day” Larry explains, “but if you teach them how to fish, they can feed themselves for a lifetime!” During the charter with Team DellaPosta, Larry made sure that all 4 anglers in the group were properly set-up with all the equipment and bait they needed. Larry revealed his insider secrets and tips to each of them throughout the day resulting in an experience that they will always remember. “For me, the most impactful tip from Larry was to loosen my drag and patiently reel in the line the fish is willing give to you,” Daniel explains, “and not to keep setting the hook, tightening the drag or aggressively reeling in the fish to land it as quickly as possible. That made a huge difference for me in the number and quality of fish I landed.” Daniel’s father (affectionately nick-named “the Flounder Pounder”) is an excellent inshore saltwater angler in his own right. Dan DellaPosta had an excellent day as well and caught several large Pompano in the 3-pound class. Everyone on Team DellaPosta caught fish as it was truly a family outdoor adventure for the ages! Another example of Larry’s desire to promote recreational fishing for the entire family also occurred that day. A lady was casually walking

down the beach and stopped to ask Larry if she could take a picture with him as he showcased one of the 4-pound Pompano he had just caught. During the photo-op, Larry had a huge “bite” on another rod and Larry immediately handed her (a total stranger) the surf-rod and coached her as she reeled-in her first Pompano ever! (Unfortunately, she lost the 3-pound Pompano in the shallow water near her feet… but Larry was thrilled for her as it was a defining moment in her life that she will always remember.) Having owned 11 retail seafood markets in Northeast Florida over the years (including the thriving Atlantic Coast Seafood market in Jacksonville managed by his amazing daughter Laurie Murphy,) Larry’s “job” is to literally go fishing every day and as a result, Larry keeps his finger on the pulse of Florida’s fisheries and where the fish are biting. Larry has an extremely successful seafood business because he and

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MAY 2021

NORTHEAST FLORIDA 21

his family are dedicated to catering to the needs of their customers. “We have a large selection and variety of fresh quality seafood for our customers at reasonable prices,” Laurie proudly explains, “and we also offer delicious seafood cooked to order including daily specials for take-out. Plus, we also have a nice selection of bait and tackle available for our seafood customers who also love to fish!” After successful day of surf-fishing with Team DellaPosta, Larry ended the experience by looking into the video camera and saying: “I have really enjoyed our time together today… as it was truly another great day at the office!”

tactic as a 9-year-old “young entrepreneur” growing up in Tennessee where young Larry would use discarded tin cans and pieces of porch screening to create unique minnow and bait traps. He would then sell his locally harvested bait (or hatch) to local fishermen and bait shops! Young Larry’s local baits “matched the hatch” and were more effective that the “farm-raised” or commercially grown baits sold by other bait shops. “I call it matching the hatch” explains Larry. “Pompano not only feed by smell… they also feed by sight and love to eat small crustaceans and mollusks like Donax (Coquina Clams.) I try to match the colors of the Donax they are eating and by using red, yellow, and blue beads. With their keen eyesight, this helps to attract feeding Pompano to my bait.” Larry prefers using live sand fleas but also uses fresh clams, fresh shrimp, and small chunks (or “knuckles”) of a live blue crab. I have seen Larry catch hundreds of sand fleas at a time with his custom “sand flea rake.” One of the best tips I ever heard from Larry was how to hook your live sandflea baits. “Be sure to place your hook through the bottom Telson or digger flap located on the bottom rear side of the sand flea then bring the point of the hook up through the top of the shell,” explains Larry, “as this will keep the sand flea from using its digger to burying itself in the sand out of the reach of feeding Pompano and Whiting.” One of the keys to Larry’s success is his ability to “read the surf.” Larry simply looks at the structure/contour of the beach, wave action, sandbars, sloughs and run outs. “I prefer to fish the last half of the outgoing tide and the first half of the incoming tides. I cast my bait to specific spots where the waves are breaking near the front-side of the sandbar near run outs in least 18 to 24 inches of clean water,” says Larry, “and as the breakers crash down on the sandbar, it churns up sand fleas and other crustaceans from the bottom, creating an easy meal for the Pompano.” FLORIDA POMPANO & WHITING STATE RECORDS

LARRY’S INSIDER SECRETS & TIPS Florida Pompano are always “on the move” and can be extremely difficult to catch on a consistent basis. The annual migration of Florida Pompano is triggered exclusively by coastal water temperatures. However, when the weather has been mild, Pompano will spend the winter along the coast of east-central Florida (provided that the water temperature stays in the mid 60-degree (F) range.) “The perfect coastal water temperature for catching Pompano is 68 degrees” says Larry “and I constantly monitor the weather conditions and water temperatures to anticipate where the Pompano schools will stop to feed next.” When migrating, Pompano “nervous” tend to stage and “stack-up” in the surf as they approach deep-water ocean inlets. For surf-fishing, Larry recommends using up to 3 medium/heavy action graphite rods 12 to 14 feet in length (placed in sand-spike rod holders 20 yards apart.) Larry builds his own custom surf-fishing rods that are 13 feet 6 inches in length. He prefers Penn bait-caster reels (with a premium drag-system but no “level wind”) for optimum long-distance surfcasting. Larry uses premium 15-pound test monofilament line with a clear 42 inch “double-drop” leader with two 8-inch droplines. The first dropline should be 12 inches from your (4 to 6 ounce) sputnik/spider sinker. The second drop line should be 18 inches from the first drop line; then finally, a 12-inch leader should be attached with a barrel swivel to the line from your reel. (The sputnik sinker allows you to keep a taught line raised above the breakers and whitewater.) Larry uses Eagle Claw (Laser sharpened) 1/0 circle hooks. Larry also uses a brilliant “match the hatch” technique. Amazingly, he learned this freshwater fishing 22 NORTHEAST FLORIDA

MAY 2021

According to the official State of Florida website for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Larry T. Finch official holds the State Record for the largest Whiting (Kingfish) at 2.19 pounds caught on 9/16/18 near Flagler Beach. For Florida Pompano, the state record is 8.4 pounds, and the minimum size limit is 11 inches (at the fork.) The daily bag limit is 6 per harvester per day and currently there here is no closed season for Pompano. In my opinion, Larry Finch also holds the “unofficial” state record for Florida Pompano; and here is why. A major Fishing Magazine was writing an article about Larry and Pompano fishing. The magazine photographer met Larry on location where Larry quickly landed a 24-inch Pompano that unofficially weighed over 9 pounds (a possible state record!) Larry briefly paused to measure the fish, posed for a few pictures for the magazine article, then released the Pompano! When asked how he was able to land such a powerful fish in using such a small 1/0 circle hook… Larry replied “I just loosened my drag and let him run. I only took what the fish would give me.”” With over 25 years of corporate experience as a writer, director and producer, Terry Newsome has personally filmed and produced over 100 outdoor television shows and instructional fishing videos internationally. He is an avid coastal angler and is a former co-owner of Pine Island Fish Camp on the Intracoastal Waterway just north of St. Augustine, Florida.

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Fishing Report & Forecast St. Augustine Offshore By Capt. Robert Johnson

Can We Do Both?

Can we troll in the morning and bottom fish in the afternoon? That is a common question asked by my charters customers in May. Obviously the answer is yes we can! It can be a hard choice if the Mahi are biting but fresh grouper fillets are hard to beat. May marks the opening of shallow water grouper season. The species that open are Gag, Black, Red and, Scamp. All of these species can be found from the shelf edge back inshore to 80 feet. The tactics used are a little different for each species. Gag Grouper prefer big baits and it’s hard to beat a live pinfish. This is heavy tackle fishing with 80# mainline and 100# leaders being the standard .Its man against beast and the first 6 to 8 turns of the handle is where the battle is won or lost .These fish get large and will best even the most veteran anglers. Scamp and Red Grouper are not nearly as prone to breaking you off in the bottom. The bait of choice

for Scamps is a live sardine but they will also take a small grunt. Red Grouper will readily eat cut bait and many are caught by anglers using double rigs targeting Red Porgy and Trigger fish. It’s been a strange year for Mahi. In April we had some double-digit days followed by days with only a half dozen fish. Hopefully, May will be better. Mahi are not picky eaters and will try to eat just about anything you pull. You will increase your hookups by pulling medium size ballyhoo rigged on monofilament leaders. The tried and true Sea Witch ballyhoo combo is hard to beat Green and yellow, blue and white are my personal favorites. If you see the fish coming in hot it also helps to feed it to him by taking the reel out of gear just before he takes the bait and allowing him to swallow it. Most people are catching Mahi to eat so a gut hooked fish is a caught fish. May also is peak time for Blue Marlin they like Mahi too. Many will be caught on the same tackle used for Mahi. If Marlin are your target, then larger baits rigged on heavier tackle is needed. I caught 3 Blues on mother’s day years ago all on a blue and white islander sea star with a large ballyhoo. Lures are not my personal thing but probably account for more Blue Marlin than baits. Top choices would be C&H deep runner in blue and white commonly called American Express (you don’t leave home without it) I also have had good luck on CH green and black stubby. This requires a lot of patience but the reward can be a fish of a life time. Whatever your target species, it is available this month. Capt. Robert Johnson www.Jodielynncharters.com JLFishing@bellsouth.net #jodielynncharters #jodielynnsportfishingcharters (904)540-2628

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MAY 2021

NORTHEAST FLORIDA 23

TIDE CHART - MAY

Mayport Degaussing Structure 30.3967° N, 81.3950° W Date Day Time 01 Sat 12:11 AM 5.79 H 02 Sun 01:08 AM 5.49 H 03 Mon 02:10 AM 5.18 H 04 Tue 03:14 AM 4.93 H 05 Wed 04:18 AM 4.75 H 06 Thu 05:18 AM 4.63 H 07 Fri 06:11 AM 4.55 H 08 Sat 12:46 AM 0.40 L 09 Sun 01:34 AM 0.27 L 10 Mon 02:16 AM 0.14 L 11 Tue 02:56 AM 0.07 L 12 Wed 03:34 AM 0.07 L 13 Thu 04:11 AM 0.15 L 14 Fri 04:49 AM 0.30 L 15 Sat 05:28 AM 0.48 L 16 Sun 06:11 AM 0.65 L 17 Mon 12:34 AM 4.88 H 18 Tue 01:22 AM 4.83 H 19 Wed 02:14 AM 4.79 H 20 Thu 03:10 AM 4.77 H 21 Fri 04:09 AM 4.76 H 22 Sat 05:08 AM 4.79 H 23 Sun 06:05 AM 4.83 H 24 Mon 12:54 AM -0.50 L 25 Tue 01:48 AM -0.84 L 26 Wed 02:40 AM -1.05 L 27 Thu 03:31 AM -1.10 L 28 Fri 04:24 AM -0.99 L 29 Sat 05:18 AM -0.75 L 30 Sun 06:14 AM -0.47 L 31 Mon 12:50 AM 5.36 H

Hgt 06:33 07:34 08:34 09:33 10:28 11:20 12:08 06:59 07:43 08:24 09:04 09:43 10:21 11:01 11:40 12:22 06:58 07:48 08:39 09:30 10:22 11:14 12:06 07:00 07:54 08:47 09:40 10:34 11:28 12:24 07:12

Time AM -0.42 L AM -0.12 L AM 0.11 L AM 0.25 L AM 0.29 L AM 0.25 L PM 0.16 L AM 4.49 H AM 4.42 H AM 4.35 H AM 4.26 H AM 4.16 H AM 4.05 H AM 3.95 H AM 3.88 H PM 3.86 H AM 0.76 L AM 0.76 L AM 0.65 L AM 0.43 L AM 0.13 L AM -0.22 L PM -0.58 L AM 4.88 H AM 4.89 H AM 4.87 H AM 4.81 H AM 4.72 H AM 4.62 H PM 4.52 H AM -0.22 L

Hgt 12:42 01:42 02:45 03:51 04:53 05:50 06:39 12:52 01:33 02:12 02:50 03:26 04:02 04:38 05:17 06:02 01:06 01:56 02:50 03:49 04:47 05:43 06:37 12:57 01:48 02:38 03:30 04:23 05:20 06:21 01:22

Approximate Correction Times Palm Valley ICW: H: +2:20 L: +2:00 +/- for Other regional Locations JAX Beach: H: -:29 L: -:20 Bings Landing: H: +2:57 L: +2:44

Time Hgt PM 4.63 H PM 4.50 H PM 4.43 H PM 4.46 H PM 4.58 H PM 4.74 H PM 4.91 H PM 0.05 L PM -0.03 L PM -0.04 L PM 0.02 L PM 0.16 L PM 0.35 L PM 0.55 L PM 0.74 L PM 0.89 L PM 3.91 H PM 4.02 H PM 4.22 H PM 4.50 H PM 4.87 H PM 5.29 H PM 5.69 H PM -0.88 L PM -1.09 L PM -1.16 L PM -1.08 L PM -0.85 L PM -0.53 L PM -0.17 L PM 4.46 H

St. Augustine Beach: H: -:07 L: -:15 St. A City Dock: H: -:04 L: +:09

06:39 07:44 08:51 09:55 10:57 11:54

Time Hgt PM -0.12 L PM 0.19 L PM 0.41 L PM 0.53 L PM 0.56 L PM 0.51 L

07:22 08:01 08:38 09:14 09:50 10:28 11:07 11:49

PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM

5.06 5.15 5.20 5.19 5.15 5.08 5.00 4.93

06:55 07:54 08:56 09:58 10:58 11:57

PM PM PM PM PM PM

0.96 L 0.95 L 0.83 L 0.61 L 0.29 L -0.10 L

07:29 08:21 09:13 10:05 10:59 11:54

PM PM PM PM PM PM

6.01 6.20 6.25 6.15 5.95 5.67

H H H H H H H H

H H H H H H

07:25 PM 0.16 L

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NORTH FLORIDA 5

SURF FISHIN’ WITH A SABIKI RIG

By Chris Beardsley

ishing the surf is a grab bag when it comes to tackle and whatever is biting. I’ve been fishing the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico for more than 20 years, and I try to be prepared for virtually anything. My tackle box is like so many others. It holds DOAs, various swimbaits and paddletail combos, drop rigs, assorted jigs and weights and some twitch baits and poppers to shake things up. Like I said, I like to be prepared, and my attack is varied. I like to throw cut bait on a big rig for drum and sharks using a 2/O or 3/O circle hook on a fish-finder rig or a drop shot tipped with live pinfish. This is a great setup and can lead to some exciting rod bends. A cast net is great for gathering baitfish by the bucket, but a Sabiki tipped with a marble-sized piece of frozen shrimp is a great alternative. It’s no secret that Sabiki rigs are excellent for catching baitfish. Vertical jigging them is a common offshore tactic that can be equally effective inshore and from the beach. Pinfish, and the like, are small, so keeping the bait small is ideal. A side note, fishing a Sabiki can make fishing a lot of fun for kids since pinfish, croakers and catfish—oh, the catfish—are quick to strike and within easy casting distance from the beach; typically no farther than the first cut. Keep in mind, however, that they are also excellent bait stealers. Be prepared to rebait often. I like the smaller Sabiki rigs with size 14 hooks and just enough weight to keep it anchored. The colors of choice are hot pink and chartreuse with metallic matching skirts. Likely, most color combinations will work; just remember to keep the hooks relative to the size fish you’re after. The action can be fast and furious, and once discovered the Sabiki rig will fill your pinfish quota quickly. Surprisingly, the Sabiki catches more than just pinfish and other bait.

Bluefish, flounder, small jacks, shark, slot trout and whiting are all eager diners. Whiting, in particular, fall for this diminutive offering, and it’s a great way to fill a cooler. Since first trying Sabiki surf fishing, the variety and sheer volume of fish we’ve caught has left an impression. It could be argued that some days the bite is on, and an old boot would be equally effective… maybe. On the other hand, some of the largest whiting I’ve seen have been pulled from the surf using a Sabiki. Fishing the surf is a grab bag when it comes to tackle and whatever is biting, and I like to be prepared. With that said, I have no intentions of replacing my DOAs, swimbaits, etc. with a box of Sabikis. Instead, the Sabiki is now a permanent fixture in my surf fishing arsenal and something I’ll be sure to have on hand whenever I go. For more surf fishing tactics from Chris Beardsley, go to coastalanglermag.com.

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MAY 2021

LIONFISH FESTIVAL SLATED FOR MAY 15-16

how up in Destin and have a great time pitching in with the fight against invasive lionfish at the seventhannual Lionfish Removal and Awareness Festival May 15-16. Held on the docks at AJ’s Seafood and Oyster Bar and HarborWalk Village in Destin, festival activities include fillet demonstrations; familyfriendly games and activities; art, diving and conservation booths; and the world’s largest lionfish spearfishing tournament, the Emerald Coast Open. For more information, go to FWCReefRangers.com.

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SCREAMIN’ REELS TOURNAMENT SLATED FOR JUNE 11-13

omen, men and teens are invited to a non-intimidating Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing Screamin’ Reels tournament with education June 11-13 in Islamorada. Hosted by the nonprofit Ladies Let’s Go Fishing Foundation, the tournament kicks off on Friday with a presentation on offshore fishing and conservation, plus a meet and greet from 6-8 p.m. at The Tavernier Elks Club. Saturday and Sunday is fishing, learning on the water and friendly angler competition for inshore and offshore species, departing from Whale Harbor Marina, Islamorada. Participants can fish from their own boats or

charters supplied by the organization. Prizes will be awarded to individual anglers, including Penn combos, art prints and other fishing items, presented on Sunday upon the return of boats at Whale Harbor. Prizes for inshore and offshore species and releases include Heaviest Fish Overall, Offshore Billfish Release, Party Boat award, Junior Angler, Longest Inshore Fish, Wild Card prizes and more. This tournament offers easy rules and is perfect for novice anglers. Charter boats fill quickly, so early registration is encouraged. Registration is $89 early entry, $99 regular per adult angler, $45 for teens and includes about $20 in gifts. Featured on national network television and more, the series is supported by major partners including Recreational Fishing and Boating Foundation, Take Me Fishing, Vamos a Pescar, Mercury, Magic Tilt trailers, Shearwater Boats, Power-Pole, Penn, TACO Metals, Lowrance and Fish Florida. Largest Annual Sponsors are Freedom Boat Club, ICOM, CCA Florida STAR, Bob’s Machine Shop, AFTCO, Costa, Smith Optics, Frogg Toggs, Hubbards Marina, Star Brite and Future Angler Foundation. Local sponsors are Breezy Palms, Jeanne Towne of Fidelity Real Estate and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. Annual and class-specific contributors are listed on the website. 2021 LLGF event plans with fishing offered schedule includes: • May 15-16: Gulf Coast Inshore Saltwater Weekend Seminar • June 11-13: Keys Fishing Learning on the Water Inshore/ Offshore • Oct. 15-17: Keys Saltwater Weekend Seminar Inshore/Offshore • Nov. 20-21: St. Augustine Surf Fishing Academy Bimini Bahamas boat trip, Virtual meetings and more TBA For more information, go to www.ladiesletsgofishing.com and www.facebook.com/ladiesletsgofishing.

Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing!®

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Only $89 per person to enter. Charter fishing additional for Saturday & Sunday. Can't make it? Check out the LLGF’s Fishing Fever Tournament on October 15-17, with full-day instructional & hands-on seminar on Saturday! Fishing Friday & Sunday.

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he clown knifefish looks like guide, of Swamp to Sea Guide Service, in south it escaped from a mad scientist’s Florida to talk about his history with this amazing laboratory. Originally from tropical species. Here’s what he wrote: “I remember over 25 years ago when my mom Asia, it is one of the non-native species that have taken hold in Florida waters. With its would drive me around to the local tackle shops long knife-shaped body and black spots, it is a so I could speak with shop hands and check for beautiful species that anglers from all over the new pictures on the wall. On occasion, we would see a Polaroid tacked up with a giant silver alien world travel to target in south Florida. Clown knifefish are powerful and agile. fish with black dots all over it. When you asked They offer explosive thrashing jumps similar the guy at the counter what they caught it on, to tarpon, and are nearly impossible for most the response was always the same: a Gambler anglers to land without a net. I caught my first red shad worm, because that’s all you fished if clown knifefish when I moved to Palm Beach you weren’t using live bluegill. County 10 years ago. My biggest clown knifefish weighed more than 12 pounds. I caught it while fishing with my buddy Capt. Bill Lepree. It ate the last shad in the livewell as we were eating Publix subs. After some drag screaming runs, it got wrapped around bridge pilings and broke the line as it swam backward into the net. I once made a “Catch & Cook “Everything has made a Clown Knifefish” Youtube video. complete rebound since then. We’ve Let’s just say they’re not as tasty as learned to catch them consistently they are fun to catch. on bait, artificials and even a few on Any of the ponds and canals fly. I’ve managed to build a successful connected to Lake Ida in Palm guide business with clients calling Beach County are good places to from around the world to target target clown knifefish. I use light clown knife fish. fluorocarbon line, a small octopus Capt. Patrick Smith holds the world-record 14.5-pound clown “In 2018, I was lucky to have a hook and live shiners, shad or knife fish for Michael Donvito, the client who caught it. client catch the current IGFA record bluegill. They can also be caught PHOTO COURTESY OF SWAMP TO SEA GUIDE SERVICE. at 14.5 pounds. I’m sure that record on artificials and fly. Small white “It took another 15 years or so before I will fall any day, as we are seeing some absolute swimbaits, bladed baits and small hair jigs all work, and you’ll likely catch peacock and finally got my hands on a real clown myself. giants out there.” largemouth bass, along with many other exotic Unfortunately, it was during the freeze of 2010, Follow Ryan Izquierdo on Youtube when the canals were full of dead ones, along species when targeting clown knife fish. (RyanIzFishing) and Instagram @ryan_izquierdo I reached out to my buddy Capt. Patrick with dead peacock bass, shad and just about to check out his fishing adventures. Smith, a world-record holding clown knifefish everything else.

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GET SET FOR A

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By John Lidington

ummer is just around the corner. As temperature and humidity climb and seas calm, the best place to be is underwater! Now is the time to prepare, so your diving plans can proceed smoothly when the season gets hot. When do your tanks’ VIPs expire? If it’s during the busy summer season, schedule a VIP now. What about their hydro dates? Again, if the date is near, do it now. Hydrostatic testing will usually take them out of commission for several days. Don’t be without them when you really want to be diving. While you’re checking them, put fresh o-ring in the regulator seats, too. When was your regulator last overhauled? If it has been more than a year or 100 dives, it’s time for an annual service. But even with regular maintenance, problems can still occur when salt crystals, corrosion or plain old grit get where they shouldn’t be. If your regulator is still within a year from the last service, some simple checks will help catch developing problems now, before they impact your summer diving. Mount your regulator onto a tank, turn the air on, then off. Tank pressure should read constant for at least an hour. If it falls, air is leaking from the system and you need to do a careful bubble check of the regulator and all hoses to locate the problem. With air still off, gently inhale through each second stage mouthpiece. If they don’t hold vacuum, there’s an exhaust valve problem. Don’t forget your BCD. Exhaust valves and dump valves can get stuck when sitting idle for a while and may sometimes tear when used. After checking all those valves, inflate your BCD fully. Will it stay fully inflated overnight? If not, more thorough servicing is needed. Okay, your gear is set. But are you ready to dive? Summer is the best time for visiting Palm Beach County’s wrecks, reefs, turtles and Goliath groupers. That means drift diving. If you are new to drift diving, or want to refresh your skills, join Pura Vida Divers for a one-day PADI Drift Diver course. This class is scheduled every Saturday in May. Students will complete an independent online e-learning component, then do a classroom review before heading out for a two-tank dive to put skills into practice. On Sundays, follow up with the PADI Delayed Surface Marker Buoy Diver course. This one-day course covers the advantages and techniques to deploy your surface marker buoy (or “safety sausage”) on a line from depth. During busy summer boat traffic, a surface indicator is essential as divers begin their ascent. Both courses can be completed in one weekend. Contact Pura Vida Divers at (561) 840-8750, or visit www.puravidadivers.com.

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OYSTER REEF DEPLOYED IN CHARLOTTE HARBOR

ater quality, marine fisheries and recreational angling are set to get a boost after two dump truck loads of oyster shells were deployed in Turtle Bay in Charlotte Harbor last month. CCA Florida partnered with Ingman Marine, Abbott Construction, Lee Reefs, SanibelCaptiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF), Capt. Jay Withers, Placida Point LLC, Clermont Oyster Bar and Lake County Solid Waste Division to make the project a reality. Abbott Construction hauled dried-out oyster shells from CCA Florida’s Oyster Recycling Program in Astatula to a staging area in Placida. The materials were loaded on a barge and deployed in Turtle Bay at a pre-permitted location. “This is a unique partnership involving a huge amount of support from the community as well as our sponsors and members,” CCA Florida COO Adam Miller said. “With all the water quality issues Charlotte Harbor is facing, it is important to partner together and do what we can to help restore the water quality, seagrasses and marine life.” The oyster shells, donated by Clermont Oyster Bar, are dried for six months to kill potential pathogens and will, over time, form a new oyster reef. “With an estimated 85 percent loss of oyster reefs worldwide, efforts for restoration must be made a priority all around the state, ” said CCA Florida Director of Habitat and Environmental Restoration Frank Gidus. In the near future, SCCF and Lee Reefs plan to deploy fossilized shell at the same site to serve as a host structure for new oyster growth. Oyster reefs filter pollutants, reduce turbidity and create habitat for a variety of marine species.

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FISH SMELL 1000X BETTER THAN WE DO. Underwater. In current. And even in nutrient-dense saltwater, fish can pick up a scent at the parts per billion level. Think that’s impressive? How about a bait with the ability to trick that sense of smell into believing it is even better than real food. In scientific tests, Gulp!® proved so effective on saltwater gamefish, it actually outfished real bait time and time again. Not only does the scent outperform real and artificial bait, it has 400 times the scent dispersion of the best competing soft plastic bait. Now, Gulp! is available in all of the most popular sizes, colors and actions, including the new Firetail options. Berkley® Gulp! We’ve done the science, now you catch the fish. berkley-fishing.com ©2020 Pure Fishing, Inc.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE BITE Berkley Saltwater Gulp! Continues to Outshine Live Bait for Coastal Anglers

ll along the coast, as the highways near the busiest launch ramps, the bait shop signs announcing what’s for sale reinforce what most anglers already know: natural bait does a good job of catching fish. Live baitfish and live shrimp are almost always on the bait shop menu as they present the most natural food source. But even the frozen slabs of baitfish and chunks of cut bait that are also widely sold—baits which have no action to them whatsoever—are eaten by saltwater species if presented the right way. But why? The answer is simple, as it all pertains to one of the most misunderstood senses in fish biology: a fish’s sense of smell. It’s this sense of smell that inspired the development of Berkley Saltwater

Gulp!, the line of baits that has transformed saltwater fishing with their effectiveness, ease of use and value. For as effective as live or cut bait can be in saltwater fishing, it’s far from the perfect solution. Live bait can be very expensive and difficult to keep alive. Unused bait becomes a treat for pushy pelicans or gets dumped into the water. Presented with a problem, the scientists at Berkley set out to find a solution. Fish smell on the parts-per-billion level, the equivalent of a single drop of water in an Olympicsized swimming pool. This powerful sense of smell is extremely important to a fish’s ability to feed. Fish rely upon their sense of smell because they live in an aquatic environment filled with particles

and debris that can look like food. Their noses tell fish the difference between food and other organic compounds. Berkley scientists set out to make the first artificial bait that really appealed to a fish’s sense of smell. The first step was getting scent to disperse from a soft bait. While fish attractants and scents are nothing new, all of the competitive versions were oil-based. And just like the old adage reminds us, oil and water don’t mix. An oil-based scent that is smelly to a human has no effectiveness on fish since it is not soluble in water. That’s why Gulp! scents are water-based. The water-based scent formula, now known as Berkley Gulp! and which has since become synonymous with saltwater fishing across the country, caught more fish than live bait in headto-head tests. This scent, combined with the proprietary material used in Berkley Gulp! baits, disperses scent 400 times more effectively than any other soft bait, meaning it creates a scent field that is easily detected by fish and which continues to expand as the bait is retrieved. “I started really using Gulp! in about 2007, a few years after it came out,” said Capt. Jot Owens, who operates out of Wrightsville Beach, N.C., where he specializes in putting his clients on big redfish, flounder and other species. “And from the first year I started fishing with Gulp!, we were catching more and bigger flounder than we had ever caught before—and we were fishing in the same areas we had always been fishing. I don’t

know what the magic formula is, but it really wakes fish up.” Capt. Owens said he prefers Berkley Saltwater Gulp! for a host of species, but especially for redfish and flounder. His go-to set up for flounder varies slightly depending on whether he’s fishing inshore or farther out. The set up consists of a 6-inch Saltwater Gulp! Jerk Shad (Chartreuse/Pepper/ Neon or Firetiger) on a 3/8-ounce long-shank jig head. Because Gulp! baits are wet inside and out, they can come unrigged, so Capt. Owens relies on a Berkley Fusion19 jig that has lead lips and a wire hook to keep his Jerk Shad rigged properly. When fishing inshore, he uses a medium-fast Fenwick HMG Inshore paired with a Size 2500 or 3000 PENN Battle III DX spinning reel, which is spooled with 15-pound braid and a 30-pound fluorocarbon leader. Farther out, he will increase the line size to a 20-pound braid mainline and a 40-pound fluorocarbon leader spooled onto a Size 3500 PENN Spinfisher. “Just make sure the bait is bouncing on bottom; I’m typically jigging with the rod tip pretty high,” Capt. Owens said. “It’s not that you won’t get bit dragging it on the bottom, but the bait is more effective bouncing up and down.” For redfish, Capt. Owens has his clients using 3- or 4-inch Gulp! Shrimp (Sugar Spice Glow or Chartreuse) on a 1/8- or 1/4-ounce jig head, increasing the weight of the jig based on fishing depth and current. The rest of his redfish set up is similar to that of his inshore rig for flounder:

medium-fast Fenwick HMG Inshore paired with a Size 2500 or 3000 PENN Battle III DX spinning reel, which is spooled with 15-pound braid and a 30-pound fluorocarbon leader. “The best retrieve is a hop-hop; let it sit for a second or two then give it another hop-hop,” Capt. Owens said. “Redfish are really bottom feeders, so they’ll almost always hit it on the drop or while it’s sitting on bottom for the brief pause. The way the Berkley Saltwater Gulp! Shrimp is putting out scent, redfish pick it up with the same excitement as they would a hunk of cut bait even though it’s not moving.”

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Troll and Watch Bottom for Spring Grouper By CAM Staff

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t’s a lot more fun to fill fish boxes when the various Gulf and Atlantic grouper seasons open in spring. These days, advances in electronics have made finding good grouper bottom easier than ever. There is, however, a trade-off. In the good old days, captains precisely timed their courses out of the pass in hopes of coming off throttle near a fish-producing rock pile. Before GPS and sonar, the best indicators of productive bottom were boats already there and catching fish. Successful anglers even welcomed new PHOTO COURTESY OF CRYSTAL LAFOSSE boats to the party, reasoning that more baits in the water served to excite fish into feeding. In case you didn’t notice, that’s not the way things work any more. Now any yahoo with a boat can plug coordinates into their navigation system and sleepwalk straight to a ledge or wreck. Community holes and artificial reefs are crowded and sometimes picked clean of fish. To avoid this, a good set of numbers is a jealously guarded secret. Camaraderie on the open sea is officially a thing of the past when picking up and moving off productive bottom is a logical step to avoid being marked in the mapping system of a passing vessel. We’ve traded open sharing of information for technological advancements the old salts couldn’t have dreamed of. With advanced radar, sonar, mapping and GPS, it’s up to the angler to spend time on the water to locate their own magic numbers. With grouper seasons opening in state and federal waters off the southern states, most species have finished with the peak of spawning. They have begun moving to deeper water and are hungry to feed-up and regain what was lost to the rigors of the spawn. However, grouper are also spread out more thinly right now than they are when they group up on deep-water structure in summer. You might not have to run as far to reach productive bottom, but you will likely have to do more spot-hopping to fill the boxes. It’s a good time of year to troll. Some fish will still be shallow enough to target with deep-diving lures. Using planers and downriggers, it’s possible to get lures down to 60 feet or deeper, and some very deep-diving plugs can get down to 40 feet on their own with the right braided line. This allows you to cover ground on and around those ledge coordinates you have marked. It’s a throwback to the olds days, when trolling up a grouper was the method for finding an area to stop and drop baits. If you keep an eye on the bottom machine, you might even spot a small formation you didn’t know was there. These small blips are the honeyholes that produce when the larger reefs and structure succumb to constant fishing pressure. Don’t care for boat rides and watching rods? Traditional bottom fishing may still be the best method. Check your shallower coordinates as you head out this time of year. Many boats ride right over good structure on the way to their deeper summer spots. Reefs or rocks as shallow as 40 feet will hold fish before they head out to their mid-summer haunts. Just be sure to drop some chum down upstream of the structure to bring them out of their hidey-holes. See your state’s saltwater fishing regulations to determine which species of grouper are open for harvest where you fish.

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NATIONAL 17

On the Swordfish Ledge

off Marathon

By Capt. Quinlyn Haddon

f you’ve ever been swordfishing out of Marathon, Fla., chances are you were deep dropping the same area I was in April, when the U.S. Coast Guard ticketed us for fishing in Bahamian waters. Dropping for swordfish is exhausting. Staring mindlessly at one single rod tip, it’s easy to lose your mind questioning if every other wave was a bite. It is also possible to spend an entire day doing the crazy-eyed swordfish rod stare and never get a nibble. During a slow drift along the ledge in 1,800 feet of water, our luck finally changed. A flock of diving terns approached and crossed behind the

boat. We opened bails on the flat lines and let pinfish swim toward the commotion. Immediately we hooked up and stole a school of mahi from under the birds. With four mahi hooked up along the port side, we had just begun the assembly line from hook to killbox when we were informed the U.S. Coast Guard was about to board our boat. Approaching from starboard to accommodate our fishing, three “Coasties” boarded to conduct a routine safety check. After about half an hour with our official guests on board, we finished with the school of mahi and decided to reel up the sword line. We activated the electric reel, and— distracted by our visitors—it took a moment to

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realize we were hooked up. The Coasties were going to have to put a pin in it. “Hang on fellas; we’re hooked up!” For the next half hour, we didn’t hear a word from our visitors. As the fish began to surface, the line scoped out underneath the Coast Guard cutter raft. We radioed asking them to move. After a lot of chaos and tight boat maneuvering, we landed the 150-pound swordfish with the Coast Guard on board. They even took the catch photos. It was all high fives and celebration until they asked us for our Bahamian fishing licenses and informed us we were illegally fishing in the Bahamian Exclusive Economic Zone. Later on, extensive research by Steve Steenstra, owner of Blue Magic Charters, revealed the Bahamian EEZ line runs about 24 miles from land, straight across the U.S. sword ledge. None of us, not even our GPS mapping knew about this line. A law enacted some 40 years ago had just been enforced for the first time. We were the first vessel cited. As I understand it, after visiting the Coast Guard Station in Key West, the EEZ line was drawn straight down the middle by default. Now that they’re enforcing it, recreational swordfishing from the Keys is threatened, along with the livelihoods it supports. As the situation unfolds, it would be wise to stay up to date before venturing offshore from the Keys. Capt. Quinlyn Haddon and Blue Magic Charters are following this situation closely. Contact her at (504) 920-6342 or through Instagram @CaptainQuinlyn and @BlueMagicCharters.

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ach spring, inshore anglers are greeted with big winds, big tides and small baitfish. There is no time where the size of your lure can make or break your trip more than the spring season. With the abundance of small baitfish in the water, it can be difficult to get the attention of your target species, especially when you are fishing with artificial lures. It is also very common to find gamefish gorging themselves on tiny glass minnows. This is routinely evident when you land a fish and they spit up these miniature meals. As anglers, we have two obstacles here: the sheer amount of forage in the water competing with your lure and the small size of the lure required. What I have found to be the most successful tactic is to use the smallest lure I can cast and appropriately present to the fish. Both hard and soft lures can be effective. Another key to success is color. I prefer a white-and-silver combination that closely matches the natural forage. I like to fish these lures on the edge of large bait balls when possible. I try to keep my lure on the edge or under the school to let the fish focus on a single target rather than a large mass.

By Capt. Michael Okruhlik

Using a slow-sinking lure is an advantage at this time of the year. A lure that will suspend or slow-sink is ideal. This allows the predator time to target your lure, and it also gives the appearance of a wounded baitfish, which is always a plus. When the bait is this thick, your lure needs to stand out, but you still need to match the forage in size and color. The use of tandem rigs allows for a couple of advantages. Casting two smaller lures could equal the weight of one of your typical offerings. This allows you to cast farther and still have the appropriate size lure. Rigging two small silver spoons with white bucktails is a great combination when fishing glass minnow schools. I also like to use a small floater/ diver with a small spoon trailer. The diving action in conjunction with the added weight of the spoon is a unique combination of action to entice strikes. Downsizing your lure presentation in spring can definitely up-size your catch. Capt. Michael Okruhlik is the inventor of Knockin Tail Lures, Controlled Descent Lures and the owner of www.MyCoastOutdoors.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KNOCKIN TAIL LURES

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“T

he easiest way I can explain ‘boat position’: if you’re at the baseball game, you’re either playing—which is fishing—or you’re watching the game, which means you’re not…” Capt. Mickey Brelsford decided he’d rather be in the game than on the sidelines, so installing the Rebel EZ-5 became a no-brainer after researching product information and helpful documents on the company website, then calling the drum anchor winch plate design that allows the drum to free-spool when the manufacturer’s technical support team for additional pointers. clutch plate is disengaged. To get that “ good, solid anchoring In the past, using a windlass yielded poor retrieval results position,” press and hold the “raise/power up” side of the and left no room for customization, like adding special button for about five seconds: this will cause the clutch plate to attachments or splicing rope and chain. Now, Capt. Brelsford once again rotate, but this time clamping down on the drum says his Rebel free-fall unit is the perfect fishing tool, providing and holding the boat at anchor. him a “good, solid anchoring position.” “Once I deploy my anchor and it goes into a free-fall, it’s “I don’t know how many times I’ve been on boats where straight down to the bottom as quick as it can go…” Brelsford [the line is] hanging up, snarling, getting knotted up in the said. “And then, once I set the anchor, I can free-line out as windlass or shredding line.” Brelsford said. much anchor rode as I need: that’s what I call ‘boat position’.” A retired policeman, Capt. Brelsford enjoys his time fishing As an added bonus, the Rebel drum anchor winch is near the coast of St. James City, Fla. on his 37-foot “Nostalgic compatible with an E-Z Anchor Puller wireless long-range Lady”: a 1981 Hatteras Sportfish that carries 300 feet of ⅝-inch remote, which controls your drum anchor winch from rope and 20 feet of heavy-duty chain. After adding a pulpit to anywhere on the boat. Capt. Brelsford purchased his on the his vessel, Capt. Brelsford used to pull up all his rope by hand, wasting time company website, ezanchorpuller.com. and energy on multiple retrieval and deployment attempts as he tried to find “This [unit] here—don’t worry about it—it just rolls right on and keeps on the perfect “boat position.” rollin’. That’s what it is: E-Z!” Unlike E-Z Anchor Puller Mfg. Co’s two direct drive series (the Hero To learn more, call 1-800-800-1640 or visit ezanchorpuller.com. and Patriot series), the Rebel drum anchor winch has a clutch and friction

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