A predator that can no longer stand the teasing brusquely goes for the kill in an explosion. Such adrenaline-soaked moments make us try to replicate those scenarios again and again. But not all surface lures are created equal. Grouped by their designed action, topwaters fall in three basic categories: those that wake to subtly draw attention from gamefish; ones that pop or chug, loudly ringing the dinner bell for nearby predators; and others that walk the dog, imitating a frantic baitfish doing its best to avoid being eaten.

Offshore Angler Wake Bait

The first group is well-represented by Offshore Angler’s Wake Bait, which entices fish with its shallow swimming action.

Z-Man Pop ShadZ

Z-Man’s Pop ShadZ is a superlative example of a popper because its unique ElaZtech construction makes it super-buoyant, practically indestructible, and soft enough for fish to grab and hang on.

Yo-Zuri 3D Inshore Topnock Pencil

The extremely realistic Yo-Zuri 3D Inshore Topnock Pencil is a perfect flag bearer for surface walkers.

Rapala X-Rap Saltwater Subwalk

Rapala’s X-Rap Saltwater Subwalk, which mimics an injured baitfish’s plight but a few inches underwater, is a leading representative of a more recent suspending subcategory.

The post Topwater Lures: Wake, Pop or Walk appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Tying up to the dock of a waterfront joint for a bite and a beverage is a just reward for your resolute angling efforts. With recommendations from our editors and fishing guides from Florida to Texas, we’ve compiled a list of 12 great Gulf Coast establishments that are only a short run to the fishing grounds.

1. City Seafood, Everglades City, FL. Serves some of the freshest stone crab claws in the Gulf procured by its own boats.
2. Barnacles, North Captiva, FL. Lots of shaded outdoor seating, and only 10 minutes from world-class tarpon fishing at Boca Grande Pass.
3. Gill Dawg, New Port Richey, FL. Locally inspired dishes, signature cocktails, and an awesome little music venue with a full calendar of events.
4. Fathoms, Carrabelle, FL. Just up the river from St. George Sound’s tarpon fishing, this is a great spot for lunch or to wait out a storm.
5. Bayou Joe’s, Panama City, FL. Old Florida-style food for breakfast, lunch and dinner with 180-degree views of Massalina Bayou.
6. Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, AL. A fun eatery with live music right on the Intracoastal Waterway. Say hi to Lucy, the owner and Jimmy Buffett’s sister.
7. Yul’s Place, Biloxi, MS. No fancy website, but it offers great margaritas and tasty burgers, tacos and boiled crawfish.
8. The Blue Crab, New Orleans. Superb seafood and live music with a full bar close to the prolific reds and trout fishery in Lake Borgne and Biloxi Marsh.
9. Topwater Grill, San Leon, TX. Fresh local seafood overlooking Galveston Bay. Try the shrimp or oysters harvested by its fleet of boats.
10. Waterman’s in Galveston, TX. Casual and fine dining, featuring coastal cuisine and expansive outdoor decks with great water views next to Waterman’s Marina.
11. Fins Grill and Icehouse, Port Aransas, TX. Offers a full bar, live music in the evenings and a varied menu, and will gladly cook your catch.
12. Parrot Eyes, South Padre Island, TX. Good food and drinks in a cool atmosphere overlooking Laguna Madre and its great redfish and trout fishery.

The post Gulf Coast Watering Holes appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Don’t fret hitting the flats in breezy conditions. Instead, learn to harness the wind to deliver your lure to the target in challenging situations. Here are three nifty trick shots to get you on the road to casting greatness.

Crosswind Shot

When a strong breeze threatens to carry your lure into foul territory while fishing a shoreline, adjust your aim for a crosswind cast. As the artificial lands, raise the rod, let out some extra line before engaging the reel, and allow the wind to blow the slack toward shore. When you begin the retrieve, the line will pull the lure into perfect position for a long, parallel-to-the-cover presentation.

On the Swing

In clear, shallow water, fish are sensitive to nearby splashes. So, cast a light lure 15 feet or more upwind of the target (depending on wind strength) and let the breeze sweep it into the strike zone. Close the bail when the lure hits the water and keep the rod high to track the line’s trajectory. If the lure is on a collision course with the fish, crank the reel a couple of times. If it’s going to drift just out of reach, point the rod at the lure as it approaches the target to add some slack and extend the swing just enough.

Spinnaker Cast

When the wind blows 90 to 180 degrees off your bow, don’t risk spooking a fish cruising straight at you or tailing ahead of the boat by landing your lure in front of it. Instead, cast a safe distance to its right or left, keep your rod tip high, and let line pay out of your reel for a couple of seconds after the lure touches down. Allow the wind to create enough belly on the line to pull the artificial in a right angle when you retrieve, resulting in an intercepting presentation.

The post Three Tips for Casting in the Wind appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Why would you want to lighten up your flats skiff? Plenty of reasons, to be honest. Maybe you no longer have that big truck to pull the boat. Or maybe you want to run and float in even shallower water. Whatever the reason, consider these options.

Don’t Go Crazy With Horsepower

Choose the right powerplant. Sure, we all want to go faster, but bigger motors come with a cost. Not money, silly—weight. For example, a boat such as the Xplor X7 can see draft variance by up to 2.5 inches depending on which outboard you choose, and it’s no slouch in the performance department no matter what you rig it with.

Don’t Bring Your Entire Tackle Collection

Check yourself on your tackle. If your shoulder stretches when you pick up your tackle box, consider ditching some of the lead or, better yet, consolidate into one small box that you can tweak for your target du jour.

Go Light on the Boat Anchor

Switch to an aluminum anchor. An 11-inch aluminum fluke anchor is large enough for most flats skiffs and weighs just 2.5 pounds, about a third of the weight of a common Danforth.

Consider a Plastic Emergency Prop

Get a plastic emergency prop (and the right adapter to fit your hub). Many of us like having a spare prop aboard just in case we get a bit too skinny at some point. While the plastic ones might not perform incredibly well, they weigh next to nothing and will get you home in a pinch.

Update to a Lightweight Battery

Get a lighter battery. With a modern LiFePO4 starter battery, you can get 1,000 cold-cranking amps at a mere 16.5 pounds. And you guys who run trolling motors? As a general rule, you can cut your battery weight by half.

The post Five Tips to Make Your Skiff Lose Weight appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Although inshore purists are often sorely tempted, poling platforms and push poles are not expressly designed for jousting with annoying Jet Skis. On the contrary, this combination on flats boats and technical poling skiffs opens up vast stretches of super-skinny water that is inaccessible to boats equipped only with trolling motors. Deliberate poling is much quieter than the pulse of a troller, and most craft will float shallower than the motor’s shaft length. The height advantage of the elevated platform also lets the poler spot fish or movement before fish are alerted, plus the boat can be quickly repositioned for better casting angles.

To take full advantage of poling opportunities, the first step is choosing the right push pole. Construction materials include fiberglass, hybrid glass and graphite, and carbon fiber and graphite, with weights decreasing per foot with each respective option. The price tags increase for those on crash diets, though.

Pole length is determined by the length of the boat, height of the platform, depth of the water normally encountered, and the bottom consistency. The general rule of thumb is to add 3 feet of pole beyond the boat length, but soft pluff mud bottom or deeper beachside flats might force the addition of an extra foot or two. Go too long, and docking and trailering or storage become problematic.

If you’re making the transition from troller to poler, get the lightest pole you can afford based on your expected use. Less weight means less fatigue and easier handling. Longer lengths equal more hand-over-hand force without replanting. Using a pair of gloves like those made by Fish Monkey improves grip and reduces wear. And when you do slowly ease up on a tailing redfish for the perfect cast, a satisfied sigh and the whizz of line zipping off the reel will be the perfect soundtrack.

The post Choosing the Right Push Pole appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Bigger is better when it comes to landing nets—until it’s time to store one within the confines of a skiff or small bay boat, which rarely includes stowage for beach-ball-size hoops. Enter these collapsible models, which feature a compact storage size but unfurl to end big battles.

Bass Pro Shops Gold Series Folding Landing Net, $40

Like an umbrella, this clever landing net packs tightly around the handle to let it slide into the tightest spaces. Yet the 26-by-25-inch landing net deploys with a fast, one-handed operation, and the handle telescopes from 35 to 62 inches to spare anglers’ backs. Bonus: The net is easily replaced.

Stowmaster Saltwater Series Landing Net, $230

Collapsible yet strong, this model pairs aircraft-grade extruded aluminum with rubber-dipped, knotless nylon netting (24-by-28 inches) that preserves fishes’ delicate slime layer and helps them survive the fight. That netting also resists tangles, and the hoop collapses to half its size. The handle extends like a go-go-gadget arm to 84 inches, and a lifetime warranty makes good on (unlikely) damage.

The post Two Top Collapsible Landing Nets appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Have you ever experienced the terror of having your head held underwater? Remember gasping for breath when you surfaced? Took a while to recover, didn’t it? But at least you did.

That can’t be said for a fish that is essentially drowning in air while being posed for photo after photo by anglers, many of whom are increasingly looking for social media glory.

Death by Instagram. SMH.

Many of us have done it, likely unaware that gills exposed to air for too long, internal organs crushed by gravity, jaws damaged by hanging, or protective skin slime wiped away by dry hands can lead to a quick or slow death. As the late, great angler Lee Wulff once said, “Gamefish are too valuable to be caught only once.”

A fight over 15 minutes puts the fish at risk. I once failed to revive an 8-pound bonefish for a spin angler fishing 4-pound line after a 20-minute fight. I was also subject to fishing with a friend who insisted on using a 4-weight fly rod for Florida Bay redfish in 90-degree shallows, and the fish would go belly-up. I’ll never do that again.

Consider leaving your catch in the water boatside. A jaw clamp is fine to remove the hook, but don’t lift the fish by the jaw to weigh it. Instead, wet your hands and support the fish under the head and midsection. Make sure your partner has the camera ready. Lift the fish, get the shot, lower the fish, and keep it supported until it can swim from your hands.

Rubber nets are helpful to keep a fish steady while unhooking—they do not remove slime from the skin. And consider taking down your hook barb with pliers. Leave a small bump, and it will normally keep the hook in place during the fight.

The post Fish CPR appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Many anglers abandon their fishing plans when they see a severe cold front in the forecast, but those who don’t chicken out can score big in the shallows when the chill is on. Over my many years of fishing, I’ve caught some of the largest snook, redfish and trout in the dead of winter, when few souls were willing to brave the elements. It only requires putting on a couple of extra layers, knowing the target species’ tolerance for the cold, and finding a few spots where the water is at the low end of their preferred temperature range.

The post What are the Coldest Water Temperatures Southern Inshore Gamefish Can Handle? appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Save the day by switching to alternate inshore targets.

You have better odds of winning the Powerball jackpot than finding perfect conditions every time while out fishing. Bait moves, somebody beats you to a spot, the flats are muddier than the Mississippi River in July, or those yardstick-long snook you found last week are suddenly 20 miles down the coast. When the day starts like this, it’s time to shift gears and take advantage of other less glamorous opportunities.

Black Drum: Soak a quarter blue crab near an oyster bar, or toss a juiced bucktail jig or crustacean fly at those broad black tails waving in the air. What they lack in speed, they make up for in sheer pulling power.

Sheepshead: Although they get somewhat brazen with the spring spawn, trying to sight-cast a sheepie in crystal-clear water any other time is more challenging than a 40-pound permit.

Barracuda: Toss a tube lure or silver casting spoon beyond a ’cuda hovering in a sandy pothole, crank as fast as you can, and hold on once the silver missile launches.

Spanish Mackerel: Run-and-gun action for striking Spanish mackerel is a blast. They’ll empty a spool in a split second, and are suckers for cast or trolled silver spoons or well-placed Clouser and epoxy minnow flies.

Jack Crevalle: One of the toughest fights in the briny pound for pound, jacks use their broad, powerful tail to full advantage. Wolf packs are ravenous, and a bright topwater plug or jerkbait is seldom refused.

Sharks: Many a tarpon trip has been salvaged by pursuing another inshore heavyweight. Lemons, spinners and blacktips top the list of acrobatic shark trophies, and all will gladly slurp down a suspending plug, or bright red or orange streamer fly.

The post Target Alternate Inshore Species for Success appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“What the [expletive] am I looking at?” asks Roger, fly rod in hand and 60 feet of line on the deck, most of it in a messy tangle under his left foot.

Twenty-five yards in front of us, the tip of a caudal fin gently pokes out of the glass surface and lazily pushes water.

“Permit,” I say.

“Really?” is Roger’s response.

“No dumbass, we’re in New York,” I laugh. “Bluefish…Big f’ers too.”

“But I wanted to fish for striped…” I shush him before he can finish. This was some cool stuff. I was pushing a flats skiff in maybe 12 inches of water, and fins were appearing and disappearing pretty much everywhere we looked. “Man, screw striped bass,” I say. The truth is that I could care less what he wanted.

With just about every push, we’d spook at least one monster bluefish. Every single one of them looked around 36 inches. “Boy, I sure as hell wouldn’t wanna wade here,” I laugh. Bluefish are truly vicious animals.

“Dude, there’s a half-dozen of ’em at 11 o’clock, 40-foot,” I say, pointing with my left hand as I squint to make out a bunch of daisy-chaining fish. “Don’t mess this up,” I say in a hushed but forceful tone, with the full understanding that it was likely he would. And he did. But I was ready. Grabbing a spin rod out of a rod holder on the poling platform frame, I put a popper 20 inches in front of a pushing fish. One pop and it turned. Another pop and a different fish darted from the other direction and violently smashed the thing. Dozens of fish spooked and shot off in different directions, creating puffs of mud and boils in a 50-yard radius. There must have been hundreds of bluefish in that flat.

For a minute, the fish stays in the same spot, thrashing its head, astonishingly bright lipstick-red gill pates flaring. Then it tears off to the south, dumping line off my Daiwa Saltist 5K and making several extraordinary leaps out of the water.

Man, I love that kind of stuff. I mean, really love it. Having fished for tailing bluefish on the flats for a good two decades, every time I see this kind of thing materialize, it affects me in the same way as when I saw it the first time. Those tails, man—it’s like I’m being offered a glimpse of something I’m not even supposed to see.

Hell, I’m getting excited right now just writing about it.

The post Stalking and Catching Big Spring Bluefish on Northeast Flats appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.