Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Best Saltwater Fish In Florida

By David Spates

If you want some of the best saltwater fishing in the world then the tropical waters of Florida will be your best bet. Florida offers great fishing from the inshore waters, to the deep waters in the gulf and the Atlantic ocean.

There are many species of saltwater fish to be caught when fishing in Florida. Some of the popular ones among anglers are as follows, snook, dolphin, redfish, bonefish, tarpon, marlin, and all types of sharks. Some of these fish can be caught offshore and some can be caught inshore.

One of the most looked for saltwater fish that stay inshore are the snook. There are four different species of snook, and they are some of the best eating out of all of saltwater fish. There are closed seasons for snook, and they require a special snook stamp on your slatwater fishing license to keep them.

Dolphin, otherwise known as mahi mahi is an offshore fish that will also put up a great fight. They are very colorful and often the smaller ones will travel in schools. The most efficient way to catch dolphin is by means of trolling, anywhere in south Florida on the gulf side to 10-40 miles offshore. They are excellent to eat and the season is opened year round for them.

Another great tasting fish are snapper, which can be caught offshore and inshore. There are various types of snapper but the one thing that they all have in common is they love to hang around rocky structures. They can be a light as a pound up to over a hundred pounds.

If you are flats fishing and want a fish that will give you a fight you can try to go for some bonefish. For their weight they will fight harder than any saltwater fish there are, you will need some experience under your belt to land one of these, as they can strip a 100 yards of line off your reel in the matter of seconds.

If you are into big nasty mean fish, you could give shark fishing a try. The best bait for shark fishing would be a live fish, like a pinfish with the tail cut off, so it bleeds. Sharks can smell blood from miles away, and a bleeding fish in distress is as good as dead in waters where sharks are known to prowl.

Know that you know some of the popular game fish there are in Florida know you can decide what type of fish to go after. I would learn how to fish inshore good before going offshore, offshore fishing requires heavier and more expensive tackle than inshore fishing, and they are harder to find offshore also.

If you must do some offshore fishing, you can round up some money and hire a captain. There are fishing charters up and down every single coast in Florida, do some looking around and ask a lot of questions. Find the captain with the best local reputation and you will catch the most fish. - 16752

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