Saltwater

That Friday was a windy day in south Florida — the stiff breeze prevailed at 18 mph and ever so often, huffed and puffed a gust over 20.

The redfish (or red drum) has a huge range of distribution, spanning Virginia all the way down to the Texas Gulf Coast. This benefits countless shallow water marine anglers in the southeastern coastal United States. The resulting popularity makes the redfish the saltwater counterpart of the largemouth bass. Backing up the redfish's expansive distribution and availability is their readiness to strike an enormous array of natural and artificial baits.

I've always been fascinated by those channels that go from saltwater bays into the oceans, and most of my experience with them has been in Florida.

The trips I've taken with Captain C.A. Richardson have always been productive and the bulk of them have been in vast Tampa Bay.

When I began my customary pre-article research, I'd thought my sharking knowledge was pretty thorough from years of fishing them on the flats. But my ensuing investigative work of beach shark fishing uncovered an unexpectedly evolved and fascinating world.

Sanibel Island and Pine Island Sound offer wonderful year-round fishing.

Fishing is one of those things in life where you can do your best planning, but in the end must defer to King Weather.

Fishing for sheepshead gains popularity each winter like fans jumping on the proverbial bandwagon of a winning college football team.

It had been far too long since I’d been to Sarasota. Places like Longboat Key, Siesta Key, St. Armands Circle, the Asolo Theater and the Ringling Complex tugged at my mind.

I'd been to Savannah twice before and found it to be a marvelous destination with superb historic homes, numerous lush city squares, excellent art galleries, and gourmet restaurant