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HELP!! First time florida fishing

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ChazerOne43

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Taking a trip to florida for a week ....end of January beginning of February. Flying in to FLL. I'm mostly a surf and back bay guy. And I fish mostly artificial. Bringing my gear with me. Never fished florida before ...any and all info/advice would help....IM EXCITED

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2 hours ago, ChazerOne43 said:

Taking a trip to florida for a week ....end of January beginning of February. Flying in to FLL. I'm mostly a surf and back bay guy. And I fish mostly artificial. Bringing my gear with me. Never fished florida before ...any and all info/advice would help....IM EXCITED

Where you headed in Florida? 

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Will you be fishing the West coast or staying East? Red tide has been terrible in SWFL, and it isn't showing any signs of slowing down yet. 

 

As a general rule of thumb, if you can't get a hookup, throw a live shrimp. If nothing bites on a live shrimp, it's because there's nothing around to bite. 

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If you are Palm Beach or south of it fish any drainage ditches you can access. You ll find peacock bass and maybe some clown knife fish .

Fish any of the big inlets for reds and anything else moving through them.

If you aren't fishing on the edge, you are probably blocking the channel.

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First advice, don’t stick your finger into any fish here, most have teeth. About the only salt fish you can is the snook, but do not hold them by their gill plate. The gill plate is a razor. 

 

Like stated, red tide is a problem from south Charlotte harbor to Marco island.

 

Shrimp will catch anything and everything. You don’t need much if you are just casting into mangroves. A size 1 hook, no need for circle hooks inshore. A small 1/8 oz egg sinker or slip shot. Don’t buy factory frozen shrimp, they are soft and don’t last long. Live shrimp are the best, but if one dies use it. Ive never done good on squid here. I buy 50 shrimp each time out. If I don’t use them all, I’ll give them a kid or freeze them for next week. 

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3 hours ago, Jesse shaw said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Jesse shaw said:

 

 

3 hours ago, mtl50 said:

 

 

3 hours ago, PistolPeteFL said:

 

 

3 hours ago, reelfire said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Bdemiri23 said:

 

 

3 hours ago, John P said:

 

 

2 hours ago, mtl50 said:

 

 

45 mins ago, saltfisherman said:

 

Wow you guys are awesome ....I'm going to be staying in Weston with my girl, her  brother and my dad we are all flying in from nj....they all fish ...planning on staying on the east cost mostly .....and thanks for the heads up on fish teeth .....will be deffinatly be using my lip grippers.....do bait shops carry live shrimp.....might want to catch a party boat or a decent priced charter....I really want to see a tarpon.....do I need a license or anything....out here in nj we need a salt water registry 

Edited by ChazerOne43
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14 mins ago, ChazerOne43 said:

9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow you guys are awesome ....I'm going to be staying in Weston with my girl, her  brother and my dad we are all flying in from nj....they all fish ...planning on staying on the east cost mostly .....and thanks for the heads up on fish teeth .....will be deffinatly be using my lip grippers.....do bait shops carry live shrimp.....might want to catch a party boat or a decent priced charter....I really want to see a tarpon.....do I need a license or anything....out here in nj we need a salt water registry 

No license needed if you fish with a charter or party boat. Saltwater and freshwater license can be purchased online or walmart. I like online because then you can download fwc app and have your license on your phone. 

Tarpon are up in the back creeks mostly this time of year. 

If you aren't fishing on the edge, you are probably blocking the channel.

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17 mins ago, ChazerOne43 said:

9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow you guys are awesome ....I'm going to be staying in Weston with my girl, her  brother and my dad we are all flying in from nj....they all fish ...planning on staying on the east cost mostly .....and thanks for the heads up on fish teeth .....will be deffinatly be using my lip grippers.....do bait shops carry live shrimp.....might want to catch a party boat or a decent priced charter....I really want to see a tarpon.....do I need a license or anything....out here in nj we need a salt water registry 

The shops do carry live shrimp. If you have a good live well pump that be transferred to a bucket bring it with you. Keep you bucket closed the birds here like to steal your bait. Their stand right on the top lip and eat the whole bucket. 

 

Yes to a lic, a non-resident lic will be required. If you fish off ahead boat or private charter only then no a lic is not needed. Some piers you pay a fee but that is your lic too and no additional lic for the state is required. Fee might be 5-10 per person. These piers will/might have bait shops on them. 

 

The choices for head boats are much better on the east than west coast. The run to deeper water is very close on the east. To find deep water on the west a rule of thumb is one mile of distance per one ft of depth gained. 

 

If you fish on your  own please keep track of the rules. FWC doesn’t play lightly. Have a rule booklet from the baitshop with you and a way to measure. The booklet has pictures. If in doubt throw the fish back. There’s an app for your phone that’s free, “fishrules”. It updates regulations and gives you pictures and limits. 

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To add to the local input here, when I went last year, I did a bit of research within and outside of this site and was able to find a fair amount of info discussing fishing in the area I was going, in my case Cape Canaveral. Was able to hook up from surf and pier with paddle tail minnows and bucktails. Everyone I met on the pier reinforced the shrimp message echoed above. 

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53 mins ago, ChazerOne43 said:

9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow you guys are awesome ....I'm going to be staying in Weston with my girl, her  brother and my dad we are all flying in from nj....they all fish ...planning on staying on the east cost mostly .....and thanks for the heads up on fish teeth .....will be deffinatly be using my lip grippers.....do bait shops carry live shrimp.....might want to catch a party boat or a decent priced charter....I really want to see a tarpon.....do I need a license or anything....out here in nj we need a salt water registry 

 

If youre staying in weston then you're going to be surrounded by peacock bass.  All of the drainage ditches will have them, mixed with largemouth, snook, tarpon, jaguar cichlids.  You can walk the banks of all hte lakes and drainage ditches and fish small jerkbaits, paddle tails, or jigs.  The easiest way to do it is with live shiners.  Peacocks fight outrageously harder than largemouth, so dont overlook them because theyre freshwater.  Also, there are gators, they probably wont do anything to ya, but best to keep your head on a swivel, girl was eaten by one near weston a few years back.

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