One of the favorite October targets of tourists worldwide and locals is the fish we find off the coastal Gulf known by many names: False albacore, little tunny and others. The fish is sometimes mistaken for the bonito. Maybe it’s that “bonito” is one word and Spanish for the masculine form of “pretty.” Unfortunately, we must go with the lying, ugly term “false albacore,” for accuracy’s sake. Throwing top-water plugs at albies is fun, but fly-fishing for them is a one-of-a-kind experience. In the late summer and fall, bonito migrate from New England to Florida, crashing the influx of baitfish…

Are you a “waver?” Is it even necessary? Two boats zipping by in a channel, hardly strangers in the night. But there’s some sort of unwritten rule on the waters that seems to separate the "bad" boys and girls from the good ones. Some boaters wave when passing another, some don’t. Waving means more than just saluting a stranger or acknowledging an acquaintance. It reminds us that we’re all in this water safety thing together. There’s another unwritten rule on the water; call it the mariner’s code. If another boater is in trouble, we’re all in trouble. If a boater has capsized in the Gulf, the …

St. Petersburg and Tampa, you’re clear. Bradenton, you’ve apparently received a free pass. Sarasota, be mindful (or noseful) at the beaches. For the first time this year, Mote Marine Laboratory scientists last week recorded low concentration levels of that noxious algae bloom with a name that makes bay area anglers recall a horrendous 2006-07 year of dead fish, burning lungs and searing noses: Red tide. Many anglers fishing Upper Tampa Bay through the summer have noticed an orange-like bloom. That was not red tide, according to Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Research …

King me. Rather, king us. Just off your area beaches, there have been reports of kingfish being caught. The fish out there are an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mix – a ton of bait mixed in with Spanish mackerel, bonito, sharks, a few tarpon and, yes, king mackerel. This weekend’s cold front could drop the water temperatures just enough to allow anglers to declare open season on the fall king mackerel run. The first week of October is a bit earlier than usual to usher in the kingfish. The run typically continues until the first major cold front around Thanksgiving. In addition to nearshore …

Florida Sportsman Magazine will host its annual outdoors show — one of the most popular on the West Coast of Florida — at the Florida State Fairgrounds this Saturday and Sunday. The show is essentially the Florida Sportsman Magazine in person, according to publisher Blair Wickstrom. It will provide hands-on, how-to seminars dealing with proper technique and use of gear. The show at the Fairgrounds, 4800 U.S. Hwy. 301 in Tampa, will take place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8. A $3 off coupon is available in the September issue of the magazine. The hands…

You catch ‘em, they cook ‘em. The fishing trip isn't always over when the rope is tied to the piling and the boat cuddles the dock. Relax. Let the fun seep into the night. No need to swap clothes. Head into one of the few Tampa Bay area restaurants that will cook your fillets. Come dipped in ladyfish goo. Come with fresh fish and stories still dripping with saltwater. Hand the cook your catch, and watch nature's smoke bomb blow the horizon orange. Gulfport has Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish (1350 Pasadena Ave. S.), Tampa has 220 East on Davis Island. Bradenton boasts Jose’s Real Cuban Food and…

The opening of gag grouper season in federal waters Sept. 16 not only means tasty fish for recreational anglers, it triggers big business for charter captains. From the business side, charter captains in areas such as John’s Pass in Pinellas County are hit harder by tighter gag restrictions than those in Bradenton and Sarasota. While tourist-heavy areas such as Anna Maria Island and Siesta Key attract out-of-town anglers who will fish regardless of what species is in season, it seems anglers in John’s Pass, for example, are mostly “meat” anglers. They are locals, and if they’re going out to …

“Use your hands. You’re in Florida.” So said Capt. Doc Lee after my first fishing experience in Florida about five years ago. I was using a fork to eat panfish and, well, that just wasn’t Floridian enough. Grab the fillets in your fingers and get those digits greasy. Fishing captains are a unique breed. Book one someday, if only to absorb their personalities. Book a bad one, and you might never come back. Get a good one, and you’ve made a friend for life. Doc hassled me all day. “Hook ‘em,” he’d shout when I’d fall asleep on a speckled perch bite. Every time: “Hook ‘em!” Doc is only one type …

Looking back more than 50 years, you'll find an entire generation of anglers who wish they had known the effects the sun had on their skin. And we’re still learning. According to some sunscreen dealers and dermatologists, sunscreen — despite the advertisements — is never waterproof. So people should apply sunscreen at a minimum of SPF 15 every 30 minutes. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends on its website an SPF of at least 30 be used year-round. Consider that long-sleeve cotton T-shirts only provide an SPF of 10. Fortunately, skin-care technology has advanced along with awareness …

Normally, anglers in the Tampa Bay area would be priming their gear for the September opening of snook season. But the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has closed the recreational harvest of snook on the Gulf Coast until Sept. 1, 2012, citing damage done to west coast snook populations by the 2009-10 winter freeze that killed an estimated half-million linesiders. So what’s an angler to toss a line for? You can always drive to Florida's  east coast to keep a 28- to 32-inch snook, where the FWC kept the regularly-scheduled snook season open. That's because research from FWC …

The white, crescent-shaped outlines of bubbles bloom and split on the surface, an early-morning invitation for a gathering of shad. The 62-year-old freshwater fishing captain, who knows Bradenton's Lake Evers as well as the lake's oldest fish, unravels a cast net onto the water. Shad have swarmed to the high oxygen levels provided by a churning aerator. Now they're surrounded by walls of green mesh. Dead bait. "That's a lot of bait," Doc Lee says, flipping the net into a bucket as the shad flop into a gob of shimmying bait fish. "That should last all day." A Florida country lake before dawn …

Anglers aren’t the only ones affected by the hurricanes and tropical storms that spaghetti plot their way from the scorching Atlantic and Caribbean waters to Florida, a vulnerable target with its exposed, one-thumb-down shape. Fish take action before, during and after these summertime storms, and many anglers begin prepping their summertime gear soon after The World Meteorological Organization Hurricane Committee has decided which household name to slap on a storm. (A funny thing, really. Apparently, this committee spends a portion of its annual meetings voting on the removal or addition of …

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recently has been considering some changes to shark fishing, including a proposal to add tiger sharks and great hammerheads to the banned fishing list. The FWC, which met for public workshops in June, is debating whether it should also ban chumming from the shore, or within 100 feet from public beaches, as well as a requirement of non-offset, non-stainless steel circle hooks with the use of natural baits when catching sharks that do not have a minimum length requirement. The FWC’s Division of Marine Fisheries Management will consider various…

There are four primary components that determine a fish feed: Water level, wind velocity and direction, air pressure and water temperature. Keep a log of those hot bites and how they relate to these four components, and with some hard work, you will begin to think like a fish. Or fish like you think. Some anglers who keep logs of these variables and how they relate to a feed say it’s the best way to not only predict a fish bite, but to become a master angler. The NOAA Web site has the information for these variables in different regions. But it will take some work, some paper and a pen (or …

Construction crews this week began removing sections of the eastern span of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge north fishing pier, a curbside destination for species such as grouper, Spanish mackerel and tarpon. But that doesn’t mean anglers will stop fishing the piers. The western spans, built in 1971, will remain open to the public, as will the bait shops that are open 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The Florida Department of Transportation in 2008 closed the eastern section of the north and south piers, citing safety issues with the aging spans as a result of deterioration and saltwater …

Gulf Coast and Everglades anglers won’t be filleting snook for supper for a while thanks the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) decision to close snook season through August of 2012. Snook season will re-open on the East Coast this Sept. 1 as scheduled. As snook recover from freeze the past two winters, the FWC is trying to protect the species, which biologists have said was hit harder by the freezes on the Gulf Coast than on the Atlantic side. The Snook Foundation estimated a half-million snook were killed statewide in early 2010. Still, some area captains say snook …

You probably won't see them on television. Sponsors' logos won't be wrapped around their boats or their bodies.You've likely never heard of them. They are the anglers who make the finest catches with the most amazing stories, yet do not show up atop the leader boards during summertime fishing tournaments. It's tournament time in Tampa Bay, the time when the regular old anglers pound the waters for those “bragging rights,” and the weigh-ins are parties of their own, where those who have caught the best-and-biggest fish beam with big checks before cameras and tent-shaded spectators. Bumper-boat…

As some big threadfins have moved back into the area from the south, Spanish mackerel — and even a few kingfish — are reportedly being caught off the Tampa Bay-area beaches. But numerous captains continue to say there are more tarpon off the beaches than they have seen in quite some time. “I’ve never seen this many tarpon at this time of the year,” said Capt. Scott Moore, who has been fishing Boca Grande Pass, where boats are congregating for serious tarpon action. Anglers who like to get threadfins for tarpon fishing should consider using a Sabiki rig instead of a net. Threadfins do not stay…

Surely the Miami Heat thought the balls of fire on its jerseys this season were bull's eyes, just as Gov. Rick Scott feels his shaved skull is a bulletin board for citizen potshots. But none of the Sunshine State's targets are as punctured and peppered as the centropomusundecimalis. Already, tourism junkies and fishing fanatics have crowned snook as the No. 1 gamefish in a state dubbed the fishing capital of the world. Many Suncoast anglers know the full moon in June enhances the snook spawning activity off the beaches and in major passes (about 100 meters on either side). Think anyone's …

Some fathers will say they don't care much about Father's Day. Especially when you forget to even call. “Don't worry about it,” he might say, “it's just another day.” Then he hangs up the phone and daydreams. In the vision, he's positioning the boat so your bait dangles over the part of the ledge that is not holding fish. “I don't know why you're not catching anything,” he says in his fantasy, “same tackle, same bait, same spot, same technique … must be the angler.” Dad also won't admit the oil that just spat out of the frying pan and scortched his forearm stings. He points to his skin. "…