Looking For Some Great Cycling? Download Our Ultimate North Florida Cycling Guide

The Visit Natural North Florida Biking Guide is online and ready to use. You can read it online, or download it as a PDF.   It features 26 one-day cycling trips and 2 multi-day trips, all linked to the RIDE WITH GPS app that’s available for smartphones or certain Garmin GPS units. To use the …

Fishing The Big Bend Marsh–The Closer You Get, The More Reds You’ll Catch!

In the fall, high tides flood, pushing water well into the creeks and marshes all along Levy, Dixie, Taylor, Jefferson and Wakulla Counties, on Florida’s Big Bend.  We don’t have many mangroves, but we do have lots of spartina grass which offers comfort to redfish, or red drum. When the reds get back in the …

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 …

Natural North Florida Overcomes Hurricane Hermine

Hurricane Hermine comes ashore on Florida’s Big Bend, September 1, 2016 with minimal hurricane force winds. We’re a tough, resilient bunch in Natural North Florida.  When Hurricane Hermine hit just east of St. Marks in Wakulla and Jefferson counties on September 1, 2016 it had been a full decade since we’d had a similar event.  …

Explore Econfina in Taylor County

It’s spelled E-C-O-N-F-I-N-A, but the locals in western Taylor County call this river and State Park on Florida’s Big Bend, “Eco-feeny”.  But despite this confusion caused to visitors, the end of County Road 14 (off US98) offers lots of opportunities for folks wanting to see Florida “as it used to be”. Expect to see all …

Natural North Florida’s Bay Scallop Season Opens 6/25/16…

…and it promises to be a banner year for scallopers at Horseshoe Beach, Steinhatchee, Keaton Beach and St. Marks! The official abundance survey for bay scallops was released on June 24, and the numbers for Dixie and Taylor counties (Horseshoe Beach, Steinhatchee, Keaton Beach) showed a near 300% increase since last year.  Wakulla County’s numbers …

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 …

25th Annual Perry Optimist Saltwater Fishing Tournament, Taylor County, FL—May 7, 2016

The Optimist Club of Perry’s 25th Annual Saltwater Fishing Tournament promises to be special!  Anglers can fish from 7AM in the Gulf waters out of Steinhatchee, Keaton Beach and Econfina.  There’s a $50 per angler entry fee, but the prizes to be won are huge. Largest seatrout, $3000 2nd Largest seatrout, $1000 3rd Largest seatrout, …

Be Sure to Skip Lunch Before Heading to Fiddler’s Restaurant in Steinhatchee For The Weekend Evening Buffet

What’s the best $24.95 you can spend on a Friday or Saturday night after a hard day of fishing, boating, or just chillin’ at Steinhatchee, in Taylor County, Florida?  I’ll put my money on the seafood and prime rib buffet at Fiddler’s Restaurant.          

Natural North Florida Springs–Cool in Summer, Warm in Winter

Our Natural North Florida counties (Alachua, Gilchrist, Levy, Dixie, Taylor, Madison, Jefferson, Union, Lafayette and Wakulla) have the largest concentration of natural freshwater springs in the world.  And, when the weather gets hot, they’re the perfect place to cool off.  However, visitors and residents flock to the springs, and their contant 72-degree water temperatures, when …