Florida bills itself as the Fishing Capital of the World.
Drop a line into the water almost anywhere in the Sunshine State — with 7,700 lakes, 10,550 rivers and 2,276 miles of shoreline — and it won’t take long to agree.
Florida is renowned for its freshwater monster largemouth and exotic peacock bass. For the New England light tackle fisherman, Florida can be an angler’s paradise.
“Florida has larger bass and other fish than in New England,” fishing writer, TV personality and guide Jim Porter said in a classic understatement. “We live in a semitropical environment, which allows the fish to feed and grow year-round.”
Porter would know. He’s caught and released more than 110 bass weighing 10 pounds or more in his 23 years in Florida.
Porter has developed what he calls “The Four Great Truths of Fishing.”
Catching fish is easy — finding them is the hard part.
Dry lures catch darn few fish.
The harder you fish, it seems the luckier you get.
And finally, be safe. The scariest critter New England anglers are likely to encounter along our shores is a normally harmless snake. Not so in the Sunshine State’s wildlife-packed fishing holes.“First, don’t let small kids get near vegetated bank shorelines,” he said. “Gators like to lay in wait there. Also, summers are very hot — come from November to April, if possible.”
Regardless of the well-documented heat and sometimes crushing humidity, the fish are lively throughout the year and across the state.
Northern Florida
The 310- mile-long St. Johns River is Florida’s longest inland waterway, flowing lazily north — in and around Jacksonville. The headwaters of the St. Johns begin in the swamps just south of Melbourne and can range from 150 feet to more than three miles wide over various flood plains. It winds through natural lakes, including Lake George, which contains enough salt in it to allow Atlantic stingrays, mullet, blue crab and striped bass to thrive. Yet the salinity is low enough where the renowned Florida largemouth bass lurk in the relatively shallow waters near where fresh springs empty into the lake.
Blair’s Jungle Den (1820 Ormands Jungle Den Road in Astor, Fla.) is located right on the river, three and a half miles from Lake George. Informal and relaxed with the feel of a fishing camp, this motel is made for anglers. The Jungle Den isn’t for those seeking spa treatments or concierge-level amenities. This is a fisherman’s home base. Book a room at Blair’s Jungle Den and you get housekeeping, nearby laundry service and a TV — but, most important, boat ramp access.
Rates range from $49 to $69 a night for single rooms; efficiencies are $84 to $109 a night. (To book, call 386-749-2264 or go to blairs jungleden.com.)
The St. Johns River is so well-known for its fantastic largemouth fishing that it’s been dubbed “Florida’s Bass Factory,” but the stretch between Lake Harney and Lake Monroe also brings huge numbers of American shad, prompting those who know these waters to tempt the fish with spoons and small jigs from December through March.
