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!
Boat? What Boat? Try Wade-Fishing on Florida’s Taylor and Dixie County Coastlines
Redfish are a common catch for anglers wading the Big Bend I guess I’m guilty of assuming that everyone who fishes on the Big Bend has a boat. I’m hardly an elitist, but consider myself lucky to have had access to, or ownership of, a boat for the last 50 years. However, I’ve …
Spotted Seatrout–A Big Bend Favorite (To Catch and To Eat)!
Fall is here and all those undersized spotted seatrout that Big Bend anglers have been catching and releasing since last spring have grown up. Now, they’re mostly all in the 15 to 20-inch slot (you can keep one over 20-inches) and there should be no problem catching dinner as the waters on the Big Bend …
Florida’s Big Bend 2016 Recreational Scallop Season Ends–With A Bang!
Five of the seven counties that make up the official Florida bay scallop harvest are in Natural North Florida–Levy, Dixie, Taylor, Jefferson and Wakulla. And what a year 2016 has been! The harvest started in June, and quick boat limits (see www.myfwc.com/fishing for regulations) were taken. And even after Hurricane Hermine slammed the coast over …
It’s Late Summer, and The Big Bass Are Hungry
The weather’s starting to cool, making big largemouth bass hungry and making it much more comfortable for anglers to spend the day tossing lures on our freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers. If you’re interested in fishing local lakes, you can’t get much better action than at Newnans Lake in east Gainesville. There’s a good …
CCA Gainesville Banquet, September 29, 2016, Touchdown Terrace at Florida Field
If you’ve heard of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) you know that they’re a big voice in Florida and in Florida’s leadership as a fishing destination worldwide. But all that advocacy doesn’t come without a cost. CCA maintains offices nationwide, and our own CCA-Florida keeps and office in the Orlando area as well as a …
Suwannee River Wilderness Trail Paddling Guide
DOWNLOAD PDF HERE. The Suwanee River Wilderness Trail (SRWT) starts at White Springs and follows the river for 171 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. This Paddling Guide is a product of the SRWT partnership.
State Designated Paddling Trails
DOWNLOAD PDF HERE A compilation of paddling guides prepared by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Greenways and Trails for state-designated paddling trails located in Natural North Florida. Excludes the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.
Fall Fishing on Natural North Florida’s Big Bend Flats
The term, ‘flats’, means lots of things to lots of different anglers. Bonefishers love to sight fish over stretches of shin-deep, pure white sand or marl. Tarpon enthusiasts often find their prey on ‘flats’ that are six to eight feet deep, and everyone knows that redfish prefer shallows where the rough, rocky bottom holds …
Jefferson County in Natural North Florida–Short on Coastline, Long on Fishing!
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 …
Two More Reasons Natural North Florida’s Big Bend Coastline is Pristine
There are two reasons that the Big Bend’s Gulf waters are so well-preserved, both thanks to the folks at the University of Florida’s Nature Coast Biological Station and the area’s friend and Sea Grant Agent, Dr. Savanna Barry. In recent months, Dr. Barry realized two of her goals that are of importance to anglers and …