Ken Udell of Boca Raton shows off a big black grouper in his right hand and a hogfish in his left hand that he shot while diving with Jim ‘Chiefy’ Mathie. Steve Waters/The Coastal Star
By Steve Waters
This is an exciting month for South Florida angle
By Steve Waters
The last day of Florida’s lobster season was March 31 and it doesn’t reopen until the lobster mini-season at the end of July. The seasons for grouper and hogfish don’t open until May 1. So, what’s an underwater hunter to do in April?
Alan Zaremba holds a peacock bass he caught in a southern Palm Beach County canal. Photos by Steve Waters/The Coastal Star and provided
By Steve Waters
Although South Florida is renowned for its largemouth bass fishing, exotic fish such as peacock ba
Anthony Javarone Jr. holds a big jack that he caught on a live mullet while fishing from a boat. The fall mullet migration brings predator fish into play. Steve Waters/The Coastal Star
By Steve Waters
You know autumn has arrived in New England when t
Fishing Tournaments 2022
May 14: Lantana Fishing Derby. Captain’s meeting set for 6 p.m. May 12 at the Lantana Recreation Center, 418 S. Dixie Highway. The awards party is set for May 15 at the recreation center. Entry fee $200 per boat by May 1 or
A study by Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Mississippi State University is researching sharks that steal fish from anglers. Capt. Jake Booth holds a wahoo caught in 500 feet of water off Boynton Beach that was
BOYNTON PARK TO GET NEW RAMPS: Boat launch ramps at Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park will close in the spring, probably in April and May, so they can be rebuilt. Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star
By Willie Howard
Boca Raton’s Silver Palm Park and its
Mike Champlin and Ryan Golubovic with a small wahoo Champlin caught off Mar-a-Lago. The wahoo hit a bonito belly strip trolled below the surface behind a planer. Photos by Willie Howard / The Coastal Star
Ocean fishing heats up with tournaments, fa
Capt. Geno Pratt, left, kneels alongside the 101-pound wahoo caught aboard his Geno V. The anglers trolled a bonito strip and sea witch behind a planer in 160 feet of water off the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. Pratt said the wahoo was the largest he
Capt. Art Sapp (center) and his Native Son team based in Pompano Beach stand for photos after beating 39 other boats to win the Hope Town United Sailfish Tournament with 13 live-bait releases posted in two days of fishing last month. The team won $79
Reef balls are made by spraying concrete or gunite over rubber molds, with the intent of getting coral and sea fans to grow on them.
By Willie Howard
Country singer Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Reefs Foundation, CCA/Florida’s South Palm Beach County ch
A feisty winter sailfish jumps during this year’s West Palm Beach Fishing Club Silver Sailfish Derby. The 2021 derby is set for Jan. 7-8. Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star
By Willie Howard
November’s northerly winds bring sailfish to South F
The crew of the Hypoluxo-based Southern Comfort IV holds the 51.3-pound wahoo caught July 11 to win the Big Dog/Fat Cat KDW Shootout. From left are mate Josh Joyner, Capt. Bill Cox and mate Ashley Mann. Winning angler Mark Boydston reeled in the wah
ABOVE: Doug O’Neal and Chris Deen hold a 30-pound bull dolphinfish, or mahi mahi, that Deen caught using a live goggle-eye near a large sargassum mat off Palm Beach in July 2019. Mahi mahi fishing tends to be good during July and August in the waters
The fishing team aboard Hy Jenx celebrates the catch of this 194.8-pound bigeye tuna that hit a trolling lure intended for wahoo in about 80 feet of water near the Juno Beach Pier. The fight by angler Beau Kelly, far right, lasted about an hour. Capt
Capt. Bruce Cyr of the Lantana-based Lady K drift fishing boat shows the 60-pound kingfish he caught off Boynton Inlet in early May 2019. Cyr’s kingfish hit a dead sardine on double 5/0 hooks in 180 feet of water. Photo provided by Bar Jack Fishing
Angler Doug Sarmousakis holds what remains of a kingfish that was mostly eaten by a shark during the Aug. 10 Mark Gerretson Memorial Fishing Tournament. Photo provided by John Miller
By Willie Howard
Sharks are lingering around fishing boats and eat
The Whoa Nellie team (from left, Kate Spinweber, Barry Spinweber, Rhonda Throop and Todd Spinweber) shows the 49.5-pound wahoo that won largest fish in the Lake Worth tournament. The team caught the fish north of Boynton Inlet on a surface-trolled ba
Lady K drift boat Capt. Bruce Cyr, left, and mates Ashley Mann and Hernando Castano show the 92-pound wahoo they caught trolling in 90 feet of water off Boynton Beach. The wahoo hit a red-and-black Wahoo Whacker lure. The Lady K is based at Sportsman
ABOVE: Capt. Carl Torresson of the Slob City fishing team holds aloft the 47.2-pound kingfish that won biggest fish honors and $14,200 in the Boynton Beach event. Angler Chris Bradshaw of Kings Park, N.Y. (second from left) caught the big kingfish
