First Report for 2023 by Ed Valitutto

Posted on January 19, 2023 by VHFC

I went out yesterday (1/18) fishing the mangroves with a guide I used last year in a 16′ bay boat. We’d had some ‘Florida cold’ weather (50-60) for the last few days that put the fish off their feed. Fortunately, today was warmer and the waters went from 55 yesterday to almost 70 which improved the fishing but it still needs more time.
After several short mangrove snappers and sheepshead, we decided to try for speckled trout. Almost immediately I caught two nice keepers. Fl allows 3 keepers each, but the guide doesn’t count and cannot keep any! I like that rule. Didn’t matter since I couldn’t hook another.
We then decided to fish along the docks as we slowly returned to our launch point. What a surprise to hook into a keeper redfish! What a fight on light tackle! Even better was the keeper sheepshead caught a few docks later.
It was a fun time and great eating!

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.