Saltwater

There are many ways to pursue the elusive Atlantic permit.  Anglers will often tip the odds in their favor by casting a permit’s favorite food, live crab.  Others find that duping one into biting an artificial jig is an even more unique challenge, and many agree catching a permit on the fly represents a truly great angling achievement.

The snook fishing on the west coast of Florida from Tampa south can be stupendous. One major key to finding lots of feeding linesiders is to follow their movements in response to weather and seasonal changes.

Anglers who travel may think of Miami Beach as a sparkling fun destination. Indeed, the only time they might visit this hip city is for the annual Miami Boat Show.

Spotted seatrout, aka speckled trout or just plain "trout," are among the most abundant and prolific of inshore fish species throughout much of their range along the coast of the southeastern U.S. They are also one of the easiest to catch.

Sometimes redfish are ridiculously easy to catch — when they're schooled up and feeding, they'll hit anything that lands near them. But other times, they can be a real challenge, particularly when you're chasing hard-fished reds in clear, shallow water. In those situations, you might need to get stinky.

Bass Anglers are well aware that fluorocarbon line is a must-have tool because of its remarkable sensitivity as well as the fact that it sinks rapidly, driving crankbaits and other lures deeper. But fluoro fishing lines like Bass Pro Shops® XPS® KVD Signature Series 100% Fluorocarbon is also great in saltwater.

A bight is defined as a contour or a bay “indenting into a shoreline.” And the northern reaches of Florida Bay that border the mainland of the Sunshine State are loaded with fish-filled bights. East of Flamingo in the Everglades National Park lie Snake Bight, Garfield Bight, and Rankin Bight. These “indents” are loaded with snook, tarpon, redfish, and seatrout as the main game fish species.

Fishing with the bucktail lure is basically some hairs tied to a jighead, which is the essence of simplicity itself.  When the bucktail is white, it matches or mimics that vast majority of scaled baitfish around the world such as minnows, shiners, whitebait, sardines, mullet, and balao.

There are many wonderful flats habitats where anglers can enjoy bonefish, tarpon, and permit fishing at the same time. Such places include the Bahamas, Yucatan’s Quintana Roo coast, Belize, Roatan, Little Cayman, and Florida’s stretch of water from Miami to the Marquesas. For many American anglers, fishing the flats of foreign shores can be a somewhat more expensive and complex undertaking than achieving the same stateside.

Though there’s a stretch of summer swelter between, the seasons will turn and fall will arrive before you know it. It’s a magic time along Florida’s southwest coast, with all manner of minnows, sardines, and such cascading south along the beaches and mangrove points as the days get shorter.