Fishing and Boating
Our Fishing and Boating expert, Capt. Tommy Thompson, will tell you where the best fishing spots are, what’s biting, and tips on making your fishing and boating trips an exciting adventure!
Off The Beaten Path: Jefferson County Florida’s Short 6-Mile Gulf Shoreline
If, on a fishing trip to the Jefferson County coastline, you think you’re the first human to ever see this shoreline, you’re wrong. This rugged 6-mile stretch of our Big Bend is now, for the most part, uninhabited and relatively unfished, due in part to the fact that it’s rocky and shallow. But now we …
Thoughts Regarding Table Value of Smoothback Pufferfish
From Tommy Thompson, Natural North Florida Fishing Expert Since the spring of 2015, there’s been an “outbreak” of smoothback puffers along Florida’s Gulf Coast, from Tampa Bay to Pensacola. Likely a deepwater species, I’d never seen one until I caught 4 off Steinhatchee on Florida’s Big Bend last year. These are NOT the small porcupine …
HURRY! Enter TODAY! The Florida STAR TOURNAMENT starts 5/28/16!!!
The CCA Florida STAR Tournament starts this weekend! This year CCA STAR has gone statewide and has over $500,000 in prizes & scholarships up for grabs, and all you need to do is sign up and get your clients to sign up as well! The first captain who guides his client to the capture of …
$100 Reward For Tagged Seatrout–Thanks to UF/IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station in Cedar Key
The Conservation Fund awarded the University of Florida a grant for $19,500 to fund a tagging study on spotted sea trout in Cedar Key and Steinhatchee. The project is determining tagging mortality rates and fishing mortality to assist with stock assessment and management.To date about 150 fish have been tagged with $100.00 reward tags and …
Fishing Feature: The Importance of Lure Color and Style
Lures catch fishermen; fishermen catch fish. That’s a true statement, and while many anglers on Florida’s Big Bend lug tackle bags and boxes holding vast numbers of lures and baits, most of them have their “go-to” lures rigged and ready to fish. Springtime flats fishing usually begins in earnest when the water temperatures get …
Doug Johnson’s Reeling For Kids Tournament, Steinhatchee, June 3 & 4, 2016
Without a doubt, the Doug Johnson Reeling For Kids Saltwater Challenge Tournament is the largest and most popular fishing event on the Big Bend, Former Gator football superstar Doug Johnson started the event about ten years ago, and it’s grown in popularity and size ever since. While it’s not inexpensive to enter your boat and …
The “Shacks” at Steinhatchee—A Cut Above The Average “Shacks”!
Not too many years ago, when they were Paces’ Cottages, what’s now the Shacks at Sea Hag Marina were exactly that–SHACKS! But since the purchase of the property by the Norwood family, and after a lengthy and elaborate upgrade, these cottages and houses are now some of the best rental lodging in Steinhatchee. That’s great, …
Fishing Feature: The Often Overlooked Waccasassa Bay, Levy County
According to Dunnellon resident Buzz Phillips, who’s been fishing Waccasassa Bay his entire lifetime, the fishing’s not as good there as it was twenty or thirty years ago. That may be true, but the unspoiled waters reached by leaving the Waccasassa River are hard to beat when many other Big Bend ports are crowded …
Fishing Feature: Cedar Key’s Main Ship Channel
Cedar Key In the 1880’s, steamships plied the waters between New Orleans, Havana, and Cedar Key. Yet after the hurricane of 1896 and the depletion of the cedar trees by pencil manufacturers, Cedar Key became a sleepy fishing village on Florida’s Big Bend. But in spite of the town’s loss of commerce and population, its …
Spring is Cobia Time on Florida’s Big Bend!
Our Big Bend channel markers provide good cover for predators. Proof comes in the springtime when visitors to our coastline question the appearance of boats circling almost every marker alongside the Barge Canal south of Yankeetown and either of the major channels at Cedar Key. Spring is “cobia time” and lots of anglers are on …