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2 months ago | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Yeah, yeah, tell me about another online fishing education course. Go chop mullet, dude. I’ve waded through FWC’s Shore-Based Shark fishing module, the Skyway Fishing Pier bird tutorials, and the Everglades Boater Education permit. I was born long before 1988, but voluntarily went through a boating safety course to get my FWC Boater Safety ID card. I’m filled to the gills with requisite learning. So it was with some reluctance that I clicked through the Florida Friendly Angler course.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Versions of this conversation come up pretty frequently. A friend muses about a new boat, perhaps the perfect rig to “run over” to the Bahamas. Cue talk of ditching the single engine rig, start looking at twins and greater fuel capacity. Maybe he’s stuck on a mudflat: Cue speculation on the shallowest ride this side of an airboat. Ditch offshore boat and go technical skiff. Or you might be totally gonzo, like me—lately I’ve been daydreaming about a musky boat.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
What type of fishing boat best fits your budget, your lifestyle and your fishing goals. Take a look at these new boats designed to get you to the fish in freshwater, inshore and offshore. Related: How to Choose a New Florida Fishing BoatA kayak is a boat? For sure it is! One of the major kayak manufacturers, Hobie, recently released an updated model enhanced to accommodate bow and stern motors, battery storage and wire management.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Quantum released two new series of saltwater spinning reels in summer 2024 and I had a nice chance to work with the gear in some Florida fisheries. The Strive and Benchmark are both equipped with carbon fiber drags, IPX6-equivalent water sealing, and solid components. Strive, the entry-priced reel ($99.95-$139.95), is jacketed in white; Benchmark—with upgraded gearing for pro use ($149.95-$189.95)—is dark gray.
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Aug 20, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases. Late summer is travel season for a lot of Floridians, and for those inclined to spend our PTO in search of billfish, tuna and mahi, Costa Rica is an attractive option. It’s a safe, stable country, geographically almost a mountainous version of Florida.
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Aug 20, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
What’s the best way to run a boat at night? “Don’t.”That’s the advice I usually give to new boaters or persons fishing unfamiliar waters. If you’re out there after dark, go slow. Walk, don’t run, in other words. For all the technology that we have—from light sources to chartplotters to night-vision cameras—the consequences of the slightest mishap while running in darkness are too great to justify the time-savings. Lighted navigational markers may fail.
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Aug 5, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Spend enough time on the water around Florida and you’ve seen it. That point at which an unmaintained, aging or badly damaged boat goes from “classy” or “fixer upper” to… derelict. In legal terms, derelict is not a matter of age. And it’s not just a matter of personal taste. Florida actually has laws on the books defining “derelict vessel.” The laws empower authorities to issue criminal fines and civil penalties to vessel owners who will not remove derelict vessels from the waters.
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Jul 14, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
This summer I hopped on a few boats with the Quantum development team at the tail end of a two-year torture test. Two brand-new series of saltwater spinning reels, the Strive and Benchmark, had been run through the gauntlet. What kind of stuff goes on before reels are boxed and shipped to tackle shops? Here’s one example. Midweek in late June, I watched Quantum Sales Manager Gary Zeidman wrestle magnum inlet snook on the soon-to-be-released Strive SV6000 reel.
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Jun 30, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Summer is prime time to dodge the sun and fish Florida waters under the cover of darkness. Many of us are going out for evening snapper fishing on the reef or docklight fishing for snook on the Intracoastal. Others are rising at 4 a.m. to get set up for wahoo trolling or tarpon fishing. Me?
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Jun 25, 2024 | 
floridasportsman.com | Jeff Weakley
Anglers need little convincing as to the ecological value of oil and gas "rigs" in the northern and western Gulf of Mexico. One need only glance into the water and admire the barnacles, algae, sponges, corals and other organisms adhering to the steel legs. Flashing about are vast schools of blue runners and other baitfish. Bigger critters live here, too. Troll a lure topside and you’ll hook tunas, king mackerel and perhaps marlin. Drop a jig and it’s snapper, grouper, amberjacks and more.
