Steinhatchee, Florida’s 2016 Fiddler Crab Festival, February 12-14

Steinhatchee’s 8th Annual Fiddler Crab Festival will be bigger and better this year, with lots of food, live music, and arts and crafts.  Here’s a listing:     The Suwannee River Jam (Saturday, 11am – 5:30) happens all day Saturday and is the venue for the up and coming in the music field. Among other …

3-Day Trip: Fish North Florida’s Hidden Coast

The shorelines of Florida’s northwest counties are known for more than their white, sandy beaches and quaint, coastal cities. Their waters are abundant with a wide variety of salt and freshwater fish, and each county offers an assortment of boating, scalloping and other water activities. From freshwater kayak fishing to deep-sea charters, Florida’s northern shores …

Start Searching For Cedar KeySheepshead, Winter 2015/16

While opportunities abound for anglers to target many species in our Natural North Florida area in January, it’s the thought of big sheepshead that really gets local folks excited. Cold winter weather sparks the natural spawning cycle of sheepshead and the big females, some as large as ten pounds, school over and near artificial and …

The “411” on Fishing Steinhatchee’s North Shore in Winter Months

The close-in coastline south of Steinhatchee often gets more than its fair share of attention by anglers, especially during the cool early-winter months. There are, of course, a couple of good reasons. First, the bottom is rockier there, providing shelter and warmth for the bait fish and crustaceans that are of interest to inshore species …

“Christmas Trout” on Natural North Florida’s Big Bend

On our Big Bend, in warmer months, slot-sized spotted seatrout tend to roam the grass-covered bottom from Yankeetown to St. Marks, feeding on pinfish, shrimp and just about anything that gets within range. That includes a myriad of artificial lures and baits, ranging from soft plastics rigged under popping corks to hard-bodied lures, retrieved with …

Fish Natural North Florida’s “Dog Head” in Taylor County Gulf Waters

  Each fall, anglers departing Steinhatchee or Keaton Beach ask me about the best place to drift and catch spotted seatrout. My standard answer is “Dog Head”. A staple of our Big Bend fishery, seatrout hang out over lush grass beds, hunting for the pinfish, white bait and crustaceans that swim there. And successful anglers, …

Steinhatchee’s Northwest Territory–Great Florida Fishing!

The close-in coastline south of Steinhatchee often gets more than its fair share of attention by anglers, especially during the cool early-winter months. There are, of course, a couple of good reasons. First, the bottom is rockier there, providing shelter and warmth for the bait fish and crustaceans that are of interest to inshore species …

New Artificial Reefs Deployed in Taylor County, Florida’s Gulf Waters, October 2015

  During this past summer and fall, Taylor County deployed 2 new artificial reefs on the permitted Buckeye Reef site. This site is approximately 26 nautical miles off Keaton Beach. The first reef deployment consisted of 120 constructed concrete cubes. The cubes were placed in patches of 4 cubes per patch, for a total of …

Natural North Florida’s Three “F’s” (Fall Flats Fishing)

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 crustaceans …

Looking For “Dallas Creek” in Taylor County? Try Spelling It, “Dallus”!

Don’t ask me, but Dallus Creek’s name is spelled with a “u” and not an “a”.  I’ve never seen it done that way, so I suspect someone went to Texas, had a bad time, and came home to “dis” the Texans! No matter, Dallus Creek is located between Steinhatchee and Keaton Beach, Fl.  It starts …