The Great Florida Red Drum

They’re arguably the most sought-after coastal fish in Florida, the largemouth bass of the saltwater world.

They’re aggressive, hard-fighting backbay bruisers that strip line off reels and give anglers heartaches. Red drum, or redfish as they’re often called, hold a special place in the fishing capital of the world’s lore. For some anglers, they’re the perfect target: strong bodied fish that strike artificial lures with tenacity.

Plus — and this is a major factor in the species’ popularity — you can sneak up on schools and sight-cast to individual fish. They typically feed on the bottom, flopping their spotted tails above the surface. Anglers key in on the tails, casting within a few feet of the exposed fish. Some days redfish will refuse to take a lure, even when perfectly presented only inches in front of their mouths. You can do everything right and still not hook a fish.

But when it works, it’s almost magic. It happens like this: cast, twitch, wait, twitch, wait, boom!

Sight-casting a hefty 8-pound red is an accomplishment near the apex of the Florida fishing world, just a notch below landing a tarpon on fly. It’s a skill that tests even seasoned anglers. Cast too soon and you’ll miss the target. Cast too late and you’ll spook the whole school.

“It’s all about the pursuit,” says David McCleaf, a Fort Myers guide who specializes in kayak fishing in places like Pine Island Sound, one of the top redfish spots in the country. “It’s kind of like hunting. You’re poling along and waiting for the fish to make a mistake.”

Habits

Redfish can be found just about anywhere along the coast — from the open Gulf of Mexico, where you can battle 50-plus pounders, to freshwater portions of rivers and creeks, where the undersized reds (also called rats) hide and feed. The best place to find them consistently is in estuaries and bays. That’s also where keepers are typically caught (redfish must measure between 18 and 27 inches to be legally taken). Redfish are found in schools over grass flats during the mid-tide phases. If it’s really low water, reds tend to seek deeper holes near the grasses. When the water is high, they’ll often retreat to the shade and safety of the mangroves (remember, all fish are prey at some point in their lives). They also congregate around oyster bars and structures like pilings and docks.

Redfish are bottom-oriented.



They plow through grasses at nearly a 45 degree angle, their thick heads and shoulders prowling for shrimp and crabs and their tales flapping above the surface. When in this feeding mode, redfish are often called tailers. It’s when sight-casting is possible. The idea is to get as close to the fish as possible, cast in front of them, wait until they get close to the lure, and then twitch the rod slightly to make the lure look like a shrimp that’s trying hide in the grass.

They also cruise around bays and open water, looking for baitfish schools or just traveling to a new feeding ground.

“The schools that are more willing to eat are doing what we call ‘belly-rolling’,” McCleaf says. “If they’re swimming along and turning on their side, they’re feeding.”

Techniques

Chasing redfish combines fishing and hunting techniques. First, you have to find the school. Approach with stealth and caution. Some anglers swear redfish detect tiny wavelets slapping against a fiberglass hull from 50 yards away.

Once you’re close, skill becomes a factor. The ability to cast a lure as small as two inches a few boat’s lengths away is critical. And you need to be able to hit a target the size of a Frisbee in order to attract the fish you’re targeting while not chasing off the whole school.

A wide arsenal of angling abilities is needed to regularly land reds, but it’s worth assembling all those tools. The reward is not just the trophy red you land today, it’s all the reds you’ll catch in the future. And after 10 hours of casting for redfish you can see a couple dozen yards away and still coming up with nothing, patience will take on a new meaning.

Like most fish, reds are suckers for a live shrimp. Put one on a hook under a popping cork, toss the rig into a pothole and wait. You’ll catch something, although you may haul in more of the dreaded saltwater catfish than prestigious reds. Most serious redfish anglers use artificial lures. It adds a degree of difficulty, but the rewards are equal to the effort. It’s not real hard to fool a fish into biting a live shrimp or pinfish. Convincing one to gulp down a piece of plastic with a hook in it is much more difficult.

“It’s not the type of lure. It’s how you present it,” McCleaf says. “Don’t cast right on top of them. You never want to have your line to land on the fish. Ideally, you want a presentation where they’re swimming toward you. We call it the 10 and 2 o’clock presentation.”

Many anglers have successfully snuck up on a redfish school, only to cast and see fish scatter as soon as the fishing line lays down on the water. Redfish in most coastal areas of Southwest Florida are heavily pressured. Like other coastal species, redfish may stay in one body of water for several weeks, or longer. During that time they may see hundreds of boats and learn the difference between a soft piece of plastic and the real thing. Anglers from the southeastern coastal states where redfish are common have often been quoted as saying that Southwest Florida is the toughest place in the country to catch reds. That’s how many anglers are chasing them here.

Internet message boards on sites like floridasportsman.com are filled with information on catching redfish. You can log onto the site, post questions or photos and get input from hundreds of anglers around the state. Or just read through old posts until you find a topic that’s unfamiliar.

Tackle

Just about any large, stiff rod will work when fishing with live or cut bait. Artificial lures require a lighter rod-and-reel and smaller diameter line. McCleaf uses a 7-foot medium action rod (he uses a medium for fishing near mangroves and a medium-light on open grass flats) and a 2500 or 4000 series reel, depending on the season. During cooler months he uses the 2500 because it’s big enough to land reds and small enough so that you can easily cast small lures. If it’s summertime and snook are a likely bycatch, he goes with the 4000, a heavier reel that’s capable of handling large snook. Most coastal anglers here use braided lines like PowerPro. McCleaf prefers 10 to 15 pound test braided line and a length of 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. He uses upwards of 30 pound leader for the 4000 series reel.

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Red drum facts

-- Copper to bronze in color with a large spot on the tail, sometimes several spots or none at all

-- In comparasion to other fish, mouth looks almost like an overbite

-- Large scales and a thick, large head

-- Juveniles are found inshore, up to 30 inches or 4 years of age

-- Adults spawn offshore and can grow to 50 pounds or more

-- Anglers with a Florida saltwater license can keep one 18- to 27-inch redfish per day

-- A 27-inch redfish weighs about 8 pounds

-- The Florida record is 51 pounds, 8 ounces

SOURCE: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Red drum lingo

-- Bull: A redfish larger than 27 inches

-- Rat: One smaller than 18 inches

-- Sight-casting: Casting a lure toward a fish that’s visible in the water

-- Belly-rolling: Schooling reds, like many fish, sometimes turn on their sides when feeding

-- Tailers: Redfish in shallow water that are feeding with their tales above the surface

-- Popping cork: A Styrofoam float that’s used to suspend live bait off the bottom. It also makes a “pop” sound when jerked across the water

-- Pressured fish: Reds that have become accustomed to fishing techniques, anglers and lures

-- Cut bait: Chopped chunks of fish like mullet and ladyfish used as bait

On the Net

-- floridasportsman.com

-- myfwc.org (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)

-- hightailincharters.com

-- redfishcup.com

-- redfishtour.com

The Pensacola Beach Pier

The Pensacola Beach Gulf Fishing Pier is many things to many people.
It is a place to:
Catch saltwater fish of various species.
Take a romantic quarter-mile walk over emerald-green waters.
Observe stunning sun rises and sunsets.
The Pier, in the heart of Pensacola Beach, stretches 1,471 feet into the Gulf of Mexico. It's the longest such pier on the Gulf and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
"What can I say? It's beautiful out here," general manager Sal Pinzone said. "We're here so people can have a good time. We're here to serve the public."
Admittedly, fishing is the main attraction at the pier. Locals as well as visitors from places like Navarre, Santa Rosa County, south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle know about the many kinds of fish just waiting to be hooked at different times of the season. King mackerel, Spanish mackerel, cobia (a.k.a. Ling, lemonfish), pompano, redfish, flounder, bluefish and sheepshead are just some of the fish being taken this spring.
The annual cobia migration going on now is one of the most exciting times to visit the pier. Cobia, a sleek, extremely strong fish, generally weighs between 20 and 40 pounds. It puts up a mighty fight, which is thrilling for anglers or observers.
"We award a year's free pass to the person who catches the season's first cobia," Pinzone said. "We do the same for king mackerel. We also run a tournament in conjunction with Gulf Breeze Bait & Tackle and occasionally run our own tournaments."
Visitors can bring their own gear, but it not necessary. The pier is fully equipped with rental rods, reels, baits, nets, gaffes, coolers and carts. It also has a full line of artificial baits, replacement line and other necessities.
The pier also sells soft drinks and beer.
Visitors can bring a chest of their own beverages, but glass is prohibited on the pier. Coolers are inspected, and glass containers must be returned to parked vehicles.
"A Florida fishing license just for the pier for out-of-state visitors is included in our prices," Pinzone said. "When you pay to fish the pier, you are covered."
The pier is undergoing an expansion project that soon will add a modern short-order restaurant, a bait and tackle shop and gift shop. The restaurant will be called The Fish Sandwich and Snack Bar and offer picnic-style seating for 138 people.
"It will feature fish sandwiches and shrimp plus the stuff we had in the original diner — hotdogs, hamburgers, ice cream, snow cones, sodas," Pinzone said. "Hopefully it will open in the early part of April."
The pier is open 24 hours a day. Various prices for different age groups are posted. To learn more about the Pensacola Beach Gulf Fishing Pier, log on to http://www.fishpensacolabeachpier.com/ or call (850) 934-7200. n

In & Around ""Apalach"

APALACHICOLA, Fla. -- I'd spent the beautiful spring morning strolling the sands of one of the four barrier islands along this stretch of Florida's gulf shore, stopping once to watch a patient heron, which was eyeballing an even more patient fisherman in the hopes of sharing his catch.
Earlier, I'd focused my binoculars on a pod of dolphins dipping and diving in the warm waters and thought about the European explorers who had sailed these seas.
They didn't find gold, except perhaps for the treasure trove of natural attractions that I was enjoying along this stretch of Florida's "forgotten coast."I'm vacationing in Franklin County, 1,400 square kilometres of Florida's northwest panhandle that takes in the municipalities of Carrabelle and Apalachicola, the county seat. More than 87 per cent of county land is either state or federally protected, a fact that no doubt pains developers, but is a blessing for vacationers.
There's just one traffic light in the entire county.
However, like other Florida resorts, there has been a surge of construction in recent years, including a range of beach homes -- cottages and condos to seven-bedroom mansions -- many of which are rented to tourists.
With the Gulf of Mexico on its southern boundary, the region boasts more than 300 kilometres of warm water shoreline. It's part of a healthy eco-system that provides some added fresh attractions for visitors. The waters around the community produce 90 per cent of Florida's oyster supply while Apalachicola's shrimp boats harvest four varieties of the succulent treats during their 10-month fishing season. Not surprisingly, most of the 3,000 people living in "Apalach," as the locals call it, still rely on the region's rich fishing resources for their livelihood.
They say it's like Florida used to be. Judging by the ease I'd fitted into the laid back local landscape, I'd have to say vacationers back then must have enjoyed a pretty relaxed lifestyle.
Despite its reputation as Florida's "forgotten coast," it was anything but when I took my mid-morning meander along the beach, at least as far as the wildlife was concerned.Lying just 130 kilometres southwest of Tallahassee, and a long stone's throw east of the muscle and sun-screen beaches of Panama City, Franklin County, by comparison seems to have slumbered through much of Florida's $50 billion annual tourism boom.
I'd spent the previous day kayaking the tranquil freshwater creeks in the area and a delightful couple of hours hunting shells along the quiet shoreline. Now, back at my beach-front lookout, the only sounds were ocean splashing against sand, and ice tinkling in my rum punch. It's a scene that calls for a long, delicious sigh, which I dutifully released to a cloudless, blue sky.
Vacations sometimes call for energy and purpose. Today, however, I felt all that vigour was for the birds. And talking about birds, it wasn't only my peckish heron that made this Florida patch its home.
The county's four barrier islands provide the first landfall for migratory birds arriving from South America. Not surprisingly, there are all manner of sea birds, including gulls, brown pelicans and cormorants. In the fall, the islands are also the last jumping off point for the birds as they head back south. Come spring, colourful songbirds -- warblers, buntings, tanagers, grosbeaks and vireos -- all claim landing rights here.Sipping my cold drink, I took it all in. Relaxation came without guilt, especially considering I had planned a deep-sea fishing excursion for my next day of vacation.
There are 17 marinas in the county with the largest concentrations found in Carrabelle and Apalachicola. Fishers are lured by flounder, redfish, sea trout, whiting and pompano, and there are some 50 professional fishing guides in Franklin County. Most captains charter by the half or full day with prices often including licences, equipment and bait.
Given the location, it's not surprising to find that just about everyone around town is carrying a fishing rod, but camera enthusiasts are also drawn to the area.Whether snapping panoramas of colourful fishing boats, clicking away at a school of dolphins or focusing on a bald eagle nesting among the surrounding pine and cypress trees, camera buffs are kept busy.
When you've finished your day of kayaking, photographing or fishing, you can take a walk to any numbers of corner eateries and enjoy a fabulous grouper sandwich, a local delicacy that is on pretty well every menu.Prices are pretty reasonable. For less then $10, I enjoyed a dozen delicious oysters served on the half shell at Eddy Teachs' Raw Bar on St. George Island. Or you could go for draft beer and an assortment of fried catfish, onion rings, fries and hushpuppies (fried corn bread) at Pirate's Tiki Hut in Carrabelle. Neither option will slim your waistline, or your wallet.
From staying in Apalachicola's impressive restored historic district or renting accommodations on St. George Island, the largest and the only inhabited barrier island here, there's a wide range of accommodation choices.
In the low and off-season -- fall through spring -- you can track down excellent bargains ranging from inns and motels to beach condos and villas.
Connected by bridges and causeways to the mainland, St. George is easily accessible from Apalachicola, but island life still moves at a more languid pace.
Only 25 kilometres long, St. George Island is easy to explore. You can simply park your car, rent a bike, a motor scooter or just walk along the trails.
At the eastern tip, St. George Island State Park occupies almost 2,000 acres of sandy coves, salt marshes, pine and oak forests.
The park offers both primitive and full-facility camping and its 14 kilometres of pristine beaches are ideal for family-oriented fun.
The park is a major resting spot for migratory birds on their long trips down to the Yucatan.
Offering a true escape from the commercial lures of the mainland, neighbouring St. Vincent Island delivers an up-close and personal contact with Mother Nature.
With its mild and sub-tropical climate, St. Vincent Island is habitat to a rich assortment of resident wildlife in its tidal marshes and forests. Daily ferry service to St. Vincent from Indian Pass on the mainland (25 kilometres west of Apalachicola) takes only a few minutes. No vehicular traffic or overnight stays are allowed.

Panhandle Fishing Report

For Great Fishing Tips "Click Here"

AJ AND GROUPER
By, Key Loco, 4/3/08

I had an itch and a one day pass burning a hole in my pocket and Thursday's forecast was looking good. I had no trouble scaping up a scurvy crew for the day inspite of it being a workday (big surprise). We left the pumps at 0600, wallets $136 lighter and we were off into the fog. Seas were a true 1 foot and never got worse than 2 foot all day. Ran out 23 miles to pick up some livies and I'm guessing we left with around 30 total: Ruby's, squirrelfish, sand perch, and one lonely lizardfish. Headed 11 more miles from there to 145' and picked up 4 A.J.'s within an hour. Flipper decided he wanted my last one more than me but he didn't get it. We decided it best to pick up and head to the 200' mark to see what was stirring. Worked the area for awhile and made some passes through the hardbottom areas and picked up some decent gags and a huge 42" A.J. to finish off our limit. There wasn't a shoulder left in socket on the entire boat! All in all a we had 5 A.J.'s, biggest was 42", five Gags, biggest was 33", and a Lane Snapper.

COBIA REPORT
By Will2Fish, 3/29/08

Fished all the way to PC Saturday and didn't see a fish. Sunday we ran down to Navarre pier and started fishing west. Ended up 1 for 3, with 1 no eater, and broke one off. First time I've ever broken a fish off. Reeled up the to the leader and it looked like someone cut the line with scissors right above the hook. So I looked at the pack of hooks, Owner 8/0 straight hooks with offset eyes made to be snelled on, and i noticed that not all the eyes were completely closed and very sharp where the eye meets the shaft. I would advise anyone who uses Owner hooks to check this carefully, almost positive it cost us our fish Anyways, we put one in the boat and thats what matters.

Specks On the Flats

Allison Gunter of Lakeland, shows off a nice 20 inch speckled trout she caught

Specks are being caught in 3 to 4 ft. of water right now along the flats of local waters in the Panhandle of Floida. Reports are also coming in from Mississippi and Alabama. Another good location for this species is around the waters of pensacola and Navarre. Along with other prized species like Red Drum and Flounder. The surf fishing is on fire right now in these locations too with another favorite. The Pompano.

http://www.freewebs.com/rncmarketing/

Destin Dredging

Over the next few days, Norriego Point will receive 30,000 to 50,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from East Pass, Destin City Manager Greg Kisela says.

The dredging project that was scheduled to start Tuesday is only expected to remove 2,500 cubic yards of sand from the pass’s navigation channel. However, Kisela told the City Council Monday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired a second contractor to dredge sand from outside the channel.

“This will do two things,” Kisela told The Log. “It will clear for navigational purposes the East Pass coming into Destin, so that will help boaters, including the fishing fleet. In addition it will provide us some sand that we can use to help the east Destin beaches.”

Kisela told the council the dredge was traveling from Panama City to Mobile this week, so the Corps paid it to stop in Destin. That saves the

Corps the money it would normally pay to transport dredging equipment here.

It’s been almost a year since the council voted to pay the Corps $75,000 to have the pass dredged. The Corps’ district office said at the time that dredging would begin by August 2007, but the Corps’ head office repeatedly delayed the start.

Things improved after the Corps received a $229,000 earmark to carry out the dredging in the current fiscal year.

Monday, North Florida Diversified’s Gary Duncan, whose company is handling the channel dredging, crouched over a pipe-fusing machine as master electrician Tim Piggott worked to repair it. Duncan said the breakdown had kept his company from beginning the dredging last Friday, but he expected to start later that day.

Kisela said the two companies will be dredging different parts of East Pass, so if they’re working at the same time, there won’t be a conflict. He said the second dredging project will use up the remainder of the earmark funding.

Cobia from the Pensacola Beach Fishing Pier

This Cobia was caught from the Pensacola Beach Fishing Pier just a week ago.
go here for fishing tips

Zac Strickland shows his catch.

Latest News on Navarre Fishing Pier

NAVARRE BEACH — After some 3 1/2 years in ruins, local angler Keith Cuthrell does not think the fishing pier will be rebuilt.

Cuthrell used to fish on the Navarre Beach pier several times a week before it was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. Although federal, state and local funding has been approved to replace it, Cuthrell has little confidence that he’ll be fishing from a new pier next summer as projected.

“I just think something bad is going to happen before it’s over with,” Cuthrell said. “It’s just taking too long. They just don’t have their act together in the county.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has allocated $4.5 million to build the new pier. Santa Rosa county and state will chip in $250,000 each for a total of $5 million.

County Commissioner Gordon Goodin said he thought the county might receive a permit to move forward from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection last month. Although the permit has not been approved yet, Goodin said the project is still expected to be completed next summer.

“Nothing that I’ve seen indicates that we’ll have any problems at all,” Goodin said. “We’re right on target of where we should be.”

PBS&J engineering firm has been hired to design the new pier. It will be the same length as the old one, but wider and higher. There will also be blowout panels on the walkway, which are designed to prevent massive damage from another storm surge.
The pier can also be extended if construction bids come in lower than $5 million or if additional funds are secured.

PBS&J submitted the permit application to the DEP last year. Construction cannot interfere with sea turtle nesting season, which runs May through October. The work is expected to be finished in July 2009.

David Broxson is a lifelong Navarre resident who spent much of his teenage years on the pier. Since Ivan, he has had to drive to Pensacola Beach or Okaloosa Island to fish off those piers.

“I’ve fished on (the Navarre) pier all my life,” Broxson said. “It’s just taking so long getting things going. It doesn’t seem like (the county’s) planners are really getting things done.”

While he is not as pessimistic as Cuthrell, Broxson is not entirely convinced the county will meet its July 2009 target.

“When I’m standing on that pier, fishing on it, then I’ll believe it,” Broxson said.

N.O.A.A Has Gulf Coast Anglers Seeing Red Over New Snapper Laws and Bag Limits

Anglers on Florida's Gulf Coast are seeing red because, in a way, they won't be seeing red for quite a while.NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service announced a complete closure of red snapper fishing for recreational anglers starting Aug. 5 that will last almost 10 months - opening again on June 1, 2009. The closure is for federal waters only. On Florida's Gulf side, that's anything past the state's 9-mile jurisdiction.

NOAA says the action is necessary to prevent exceeding recreational quotas for the 2008 fishing year.

There's a bit of history involved here and some federal shenanigans.

In 2007, NOAA Fisheries Service implemented temporary regulations in the Gulf to reduce mortality and harvest rates. These set a commercial quota of 3.315 million pounds and a recreational quota of 3.185 million pounds. That commercial quota applies to about 200 commercial boats in the Gulf, compared to tens of thousands of recreational anglers, said Ted Forsgren, the director of Florida's Coastal Conservation Commission.

The temporary rules also reduced the bag limit for recreational anglers to two fish and added a zero bag limit for captains and crews of charter boats. The minimum size limit remained at 16 inches and the federal season remained April 21 through Oct. 31 - again in Gulf waters.

Panhandle Gamefish

This cobia was caught on the Pensacola Beach fishing pier. Photos by Mark Clabaugh

Hello folks and welcome to paradise! There is a lot happening in the world of fishing in the month of April. In fact, a lot of people would tell you that it is the most exciting saltwater fishing month of the year!! First, chronologically speaking, in March the first cobia was caught at the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier! Second, snapper season opens April 15 for state waters (inside nine miles), but federal waters do not open until June 1. So for a month in a half we will be fishing for red snapper within nine miles.

Cobia or ling are caught seasonally off the cost of Northwest Florida and start showing up in March and peaking in April and May. These large fish migrate from South Florida North in the early spring. Fisherman on the pier generally monitor piers like Panama City and Okaloosa Piers, and in earlier days the Navarre pier, to gauge when they will be arriving at Pensacola Beach. Since the hurricanes, the early warning network has been somewhat disabled, meaning catching the first cobia comes as a surprise.

There are two means by which you can catch cobia off Pensacola Beach. One is to buy a pass at the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier and sight fish for them. Most anglers at the pier will fish at the end of the pier with an array of cobia jigs. Once a fish is spotted, the more seasoned fisherman will quietly cast beyond the fish jigging back. This technique requires excellent casting skills and practice. My friend Kenny Wade and his son crab cast on objects in the water or on the beach. For a demonstration of his skill Kenny casted out beyond an object in the water that was several yards away, jigged and returned a piece if insulation smaller than a paper plate in one cast.

The second way is by boat. In the early spring if you're at the beach on any nice day you will see all kinds of boats with towers running up and down the beach just outside the sandbars. Some days, the boat traffic is so busy it looks like a highway out there.

Panama City Tournament

Hailed as "America's most all-inclusive sport-fishing tournament," the Grand Lagoon National takes place, Aug. 20 - 24, 2008, in Panama City Beach, Fla. The event boasts six competitive divisions at four marinas for a purse totaling $1 million. Poised to become one of the nation's largest sport-fishing tournaments, the Grand Lagoon National is expected to draw more than 400 boats and 2,000 anglers from across the country. An estimated 40,000 spectators will watch them compete during four days of reel action and adventure in this award-winning Northwest Florida beach destination on the Gulf of Mexico.Home to one of the country's largest sport fishing fleets, the region hosts more than ten major fishing tournaments annually. At the 2001 Bay Point Billfish Tournament in Panama City Beach, for instance, a 1,046-pound blue marlin was caught, setting a new state record and weighing in as the world's 14th largest catch. Florida's third biggest blue marlin also was caught in the Grand Lagoon, tipping the scales at more than 998 pounds."The region's diversity appeals to virtually every kind of saltwater fishing buff, allowing them to compete in an unprecedented six divisions during the course of a single tournament," Spann points out. "In the fishing world, a tournament of this size and scope is totally new. Given the breadth of the facilities, the quality of the fishing and the inclusiveness of this format, the Grand Lagoon National earns its moniker as 'America's Saltwater Fishing Tournament."
Registration will take place March 1st -- August 18, with entry fees running $100 -- $6,000, depending on the division (see below). Register online at www.grandlagoonnational.com.

Tourist season

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Alabama beach resorts posted record visitor spending on lodgings last year, bouncing back three years after Hurricane Ivan left widespread wreckage on the coast.
Tourism officials hope high gas prices and a slide in the national economy won't reverse those gains this year.
March heralds student spring break frolics and the kickoff of get-to-the-beach tourism.
Visitors driving to the Gulf Coast may notice that gasoline prices tend to bottom-out at the end of January, then start rising in March and peak on Memorial Day.

Fisherman meeting

A two-fish bag limit on red snapper was the first big hit local fishermen took back in February.
But earlier this week, they were dealt an even bigger blow: a reduction in the red snapper season in the Gulf of Mexico’s federal waters from four months to just two months.
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A large group of local fishermen, calling themselves the Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen, gathered Thursday at Gulf Coast Community College to discuss how they can fight these latest restrictions.
They say they have a right to fish and to support their families and the community.
They're hoping strength in numbers will convince the feds.
Executive Director of the CCGF, Bob Zales II said, "We got to work together as a complete group of people, because that's the only way we're gonna’ make it happen; we've got too many people against us."
The fishermen are asking the public to get involved and let their legislators know how they feel.
"Lady Kelley" Captain Mark Kelley said, "We need you to get on board. They're fixing to take your fishing privileges totally away from you."
If they don't get public support, the fishermen, they fear the life they currently lead, will slowly dwindle away.
"Fishing Fool" Captain Mike Eller said, "It's a gradual process. It's gonna’ be 10-15% less charters this year, plus, fuel is going up higher, and it's gonna’ be maybe another 10 or 15%. Then you're gonna’ see some of your corporate people instead of booking 10 and 12 hours, they're gonna’ start booking 6 and 8 hours because hey, we can only catch this much, so why do I need to go 10 hours. It's gonna’ shrink and it's gonna’ shrink."
If you would like to get involved with the Conservation Cooperative of Gulf Fishermen, email action@conservationfishermen.com or call 774-5822.

New Regulations

The FWC also known as the Florida Wildlife commision has put new regulations on game fish limits and sizes for both commercial and recreational fisherman for the year 2008. If you plan to visit the coast this year and take part in the great fishing this area offers it is strongly reccomended that you review and make yourself aware of these new laws. The FWC has vowed to crack down harder on those disobeying these laws and has put in place stronger penalties for those caught.

Game Fishing

As the weather warms up so does the fishing on the Gulf coast. Warmer water temps bring large numbers of very popular species of game fish along the coast, bringing out hordes of fisherman to the local beaches for the start of the spring and summer surf fishing season. Popular species being targeted include Whiting, Spanish Mackeal, Redfish(red Drum), other Drum varieties and the most popular Florida Pompano. This time of the year also brings a large variety of Sharks to the coast. All of wich are fun to target and catch and not to mention great table fare.