The winds are blowing, tides are low, and the water is too cold for the fish to bite right now. Don’t lose hope, because thanks to the hot water runoff of the power plants, February can be a most productive month. Snook, Redfish, Pompano, Jacks, Trout, Sharks and Cobia are just a few of the species which invade the warm waters of the power plants.

Photos of a 67-inch Tarpon and a 45-inch Pike have made two anglers, Sean Riley of New Port Richey, FL, and Brian Papenhagen of Blissfield, MI, grand prize winners in the 2011 BoatUS Angler Catch of the Month fishing photo contest. Their grand prize includes a high quality fish replica from Mount This! Fish Company that specializes in hand-painted fiberglass replicas and a gift certificate from BoatNameGear.com.

We have some great catches going on right now and the weather is beautiful for this time of year. On Show Me The Fish Charters operating out of the Bradenton Beach Marina, fishing out of a custom 31 ft Morgan Sport fisherman, my parties are catching bone-bruising amberjack, red grouper, scamp, mangrove snappers, porgys, triggerfish, sea bass, bonita (little tunnys), blacktip sharks up to 5 ft, and an over-abundance of catch-and-release gag grouper. Best action is starting out about 115 ft offshore of Anna Maria and Longboat Key. Going out to 150 ft  to the deeper ledges and wrecks it gets even more wilder and crazy with larger fish. Extra large pinfish have been working magic this week for AJs and smaller baits for the mangrove snapper and other tasty reef fish. The red grouper are eating anything we put down. On a couple of trips I have seen red grouper come up with fried chicken bones in their mouths someone must have dropped overboard.

On Show Me the Fish Charters running my custom 31 ft Morgan sport fisherman operating out of the Bradenton Beach marina—our parties are enjoying limit catches of great gulf amberjack, red grouper, scamp, mangrove snappers and porgy's to fill up the coolers for the meat hunters.

A few days either side of the full moon can be a great time to fish on the low tides, but navigation can be tough and even hazardous at times unless you know the waters well. This past weekend’s full moon along with some winds from the northeast blew Tampa Bay waters out to negative lows greater than the predicted levels, forcing fish into potholes and into channel edges.

With all the residential canals and inshore reefs, bay anglers are truly are blessed when it comes to fishing in December and it seems you never have to run far to find what you are looking for. Fish seem to acclimate themselves to the lower tides and feed all day with little or no concern of weather. Fishing around the grass flats also begins heating up, with plenty of respectable sight fishing. Live baits are occasionally unnecessary, especially with all the artificial lures available in today’s arsenal of fishing tackle, although it can be helpful when you’re looking for larger fish.

Recreational anglers targeting Red Drum in northern Florida can soon take home more of the popular fish, thanks to a change approved Nov. 16 by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The decision came during the first day of the two-day November Commission meeting in Key Largo.

Largemouth bass angler Rick Clark of Crystal River, Florida, recently went on the fishing trip of a lifetime to Northern Michigan, guided by none other than BoatUS Angler member and outsized television fishing show personality Mark Zona. Clark’s girlfriend, Layne Lowrey, also of Crystal River, won the fishing trip in a contest for members of BoatUS Angler, and gifted the prize to Rick, proclaiming herself the “best girlfriend ever”.
 
Of course Rick agreed (as would any wise angler), and while fishing with the “Awesome Fishing Show” host in the backwoods near Traverse City, Michigan, Clark said he learned three important things:

Thanks to successful spotted seatrout management, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted Nov. 16 to increase both commercial and recreational fishing opportunities for the popular fish.

"What we are trying to do is be fair in a fishery that is in abundance, and in some cases, way in abundance," said Chairman Kathy Barco. "We are dealing with a success story."