Mike Conner

1 month ago | floridasportsman.com | Mike Conner

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases. The farther you can cast, the more water you can cover. And sometimes that will lead to catching more fish. Sometimes. The fish have to be there in the first place. Long casts are the Holy Grail when you are fishing afoot on Florida beaches—from jetties, piers and even when blind-fishing on shallow flats, when you need to cover water.

Jan 17, 2025 | floridasportsman.com | Mike Conner

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases. In the mid to late ‘80s I fished the Hookworm, an amber-colored, translucent, curly-tailed worm made by the Burke company. It had “spines,” which added to its appeal. It is no longer produced. That tells me that far too few anglers knew about it, and certainly did not fish it.

Nov 17, 2024 | floridasportsman.com | Mike Conner

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases. The first time I used a split-shot fishing sinker, my Dad put a couple on my line, just above a juicy gob of red worms at our Miami neighborhood canal to make the bait hang straight down below my red-and-white bobber.

May 27, 2024 | floridasportsman.com | Mike Conner

Florida’s commitment to boating safety education seems to be working. “An encouraging trend is the decrease in Florida boating accidents, fatalities and injuries since 2020,” said Brian Rehwinkel, Boating Safety Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). “We saw 836 accidents in 2020 and that dropped to 735 by 2022.

Mar 18, 2024 | floridasportsman.com | Mike Conner

Nothing sickens a flyfisher’s stomach like the cracking sound, or outright KA-POW! of a fly rod during a battle with a good fish. (Or while casting or simply pulling line from the tiptop for that matter.)Most rods that “blow up” during battle do so because the angler allowed for too much bend in the rod, particularly the top third of the rod. It’s known as high-sticking. And it usually happens toward the end of a fish fight because of the decreased distance between the rodtip and the fish.