Florida

I am heading off to Florida on Monday and plan to do some fishing. I will be heading to the west coast. Most of the fishing done over there is from boats or on the flats from skiffs with fly gear. Anyone ever done any shore fishing over there. They don't tend to use beach casters but I want to give this style of fishing a try from the beaches over there. Anyone got any tips or information? The web is just full of charters advertisments. :roll:

Most beach fishing actually done from the Pier!

Check out West Coast

http://www.pbrla.com/fishrpts.html
http://www.navarrebeach.com/fish.htm

I know of a guy that fishes over there regularly.

You have a pm Luke. :D

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2004/09/02/story164629.html

take your rain coat !!!!!!

Most beaches are used for swimming & you know how they are about rules & regulations there, you’ll probably be arrested for fishing from a beach. Piers are a good idea, but charters are the way to go, although they may work out a little expensive. For bone fide news and advice check out the florida section of
http://www.reel-time.com If you think you can pick up good spots from this I’d suggest renting a boat as it works out cheaper than charters but success is not as guaranteed. Great fishing to be done on the gulf coast but again make sure you check out the regulations as there are stiff penalties for keeping certain species under a certain weight or length. Do your research & you’ll have a great time. Again, that website is a great resource, log on to it & ask other users questions. I regularly use the New England section as I trvel back and forth to Boston regularly and find it & the users very helpful.

Thanks for the advice lads. I plan to fish on the beach at night if I can so bathers won't be an issue. Less chance of getting caught too... :roll: Charters are very expensive unless with a group or on the cheap. Had a bad experience there last year with a dodgy day boat. Skipper and mate were basicly getting punters to pay for their fuel while they fished! unbeleivable. Booking a guide is also expensive with fly fishing being the choice of tackle.

Luke,

Anything that can be caught on the fly can be caught on bait over there. Usually the better specimins come to the bait each year. I've never been there but I have seen the fly fishing excursion prices so I doubt that I'll ever get to have a go at it in Florida. The peir fishing could be a bit of craic and a great way to spend a few hours. If it's anything like any of the other warm waters that I've fished it will be the smaller species on a float rod with fish pieces as bait and a bit of ground bait over the side. The bigger species a bit further out on bigger baits. I have heard that in some parts Baby Tarpon (to 60lb) are common around some of the piers. I'm sure these would be great craic. If you can give me a rough idea of the area you are going to be in I can ask around on one of the fly tying e-mail lists that I am on and see what I can come up with for you. Some of the lads on these lists live in the Florida area and regularly bait fish.

Kev

The plan is to head to St petersburg on the gulf coast (west) and head down through Sarasota, To Fort Myres. From there I would like to go to Captiva Island and then back to Orlando for the flight home. This is a fair stretch of coast and is reputedly good fishing. Any info on where in these places is good and how to approach it from a beach caster point of view would be great. I won't be driving. We will be taking Greyhound buses down to these spots and I will be fishing where I can. The other half has also to be considered... :evil:

thanks for all the help
Luke

I was over a couple of years ago and went on on a 'Party' boat a couple of times - Key Largo then Key West. I wasn't that impressed - basically pile them on and to hell with it. Fish caught were generally small as well.

I spent a fair bit of time wandering around the harbour at Key West and it was absolutely thick with fish. Most I didn't know, but there were definitely Barracuda and pretty big sharks wandering about right below me. I don't think fishing was allowed on the pier - I certainly never saw anyone doing it.

The 'real' fishing boats were helluva expensive to take out .............. so I never bothered.

I never tried shore fishing at all.

Good luck - I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Done exactly the same at the keys last year myself Arturg. Probably the same 'Party' boat aswell! get you to pay aboard, cut up ome frozen mullet then anchor near a coral reef and throw chum over the side. Only the skipper and mate were allowed fish from the back of the boat in the chum trail... They caught all sorts while we caught verry little (all fish head for chum trail...) I was disgusted at this lack of respect to customers.

Was also i harbour in key west you describe and saw the 'Sharks' you speak of. They were actually Tarpon! About 70 lb'ers I estimated! And lots of them too. yes they are protected in the harbour. Whole streches of coast in the keys are protected nursery areas. The charters are expensive. that is why you need a big group. Doing it alone is not an option. I want to try the west coast this year and was hopeing to chuck a few leads with the beach caster and see how it worked out... Pier fishing is the norm over there with shops only selling small spinning rods and Bass type rods. I was fishing in key Largo for Baracuda and Gars and witnessed others catching Snappers and Grunts etc. which were all similar to Cookoo and Balan Wrasse. Always wonered what could be acheived with a beach caster out there. I'd say a 12 ft rod would turn a few heads and have a few curious quesions asked... :shock:

never fished in florida, but if you want to get in the mood read this book..

http://www.buy4now.ie/Eason/productdeta ... tid=1010.0

92 degrees in the shade
John

i have just come back from a two week family holiday in orlando - just missed the hurricane !!. while i did not dare suggest to the wife that i might try a fishing trip - i did manage to locate the biggest fishing and shooting store that i have ever seen. It was called 'outdoor world' and took up 4 acres of floor space. the amount of stuff on offer was mind blowing - while the fishing is different over there i did manage to buy handfulls of rapala lures - 100s of mustad hooks, neoprene gloves / waders etc for a fifth of the price over here. In fact i bought so much that i had to buy another holdall to carry it all back to Ireland. So if you get the chance try to locate one of these stores.

best of luck with the fishing

mick