5 days in Florida 2015

[MuskieBait]

Some of my long targeted species were finally captured...plus some very beautiful fish.

I caught 17 new species from 5 days of fishing, and there are many more species that were caught but I didn't photograph. I would figure a conservative guess of 40+ species caught during the 5 days.

Florida had given me 102 new lifer species over 38 total fishing days (over the span of 4 trips). And yet, there are still lots of fish that the state has to offer. Unbelievable! I'll definitely be back!

Here are the stories to share. But I will post most of the fish pictures below. It is never the same without reading the stories though. You'll never get the sense of struggles we went through to catch some of these species.

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot...ida-day-1.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot...ida-day-2.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot...ida-day-3.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot...ida-day-4.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot...ida-day-5.html

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot...ida-day-6.html

Yellow Sea Chub (Kyphosus incisor) - Species #413



Black Margate (Anisotremus surinamensis) - Species #414



Grass Porgy (Calamus arctifrons) - Species #415



Smooth Trunkfish (Rhinesomus triqueter) - Species #416



Initial phase Queen Parrotfish (Scarus vetula) - Species #417



Initial phase Stoplight Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) - Species #418



Terminal phase Redband Parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum)



Peacock Cichlid (Cichla ocellaris)



Hornet Tilapia (Tilapia buttikoferi) - Species #419



Spotted Tilapia (Tilapia mariae)



Blue Tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) - Species #420



Pike Killifish (Belonesox belizanus) - Species #421



Jewelfish (Hemichromis bimaculatus)



Black Acara (Cichlasoma bimaculatum)



Mangrove Gambusia (Gambusia rhizophorae) - Species #422



Sheepshead Minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus variegatus) - Species #423



Blackear Wrasse (Halichoeres poeyi) - Species #424



Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) - Species #425



Bluehead Wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum)



Bermuda Sea Chub (Kyphosus sectatrix)



Rainbow Parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia) - Species #426





Dollar Sunfish (Lepomis marginatus) - Species #427



Brown Hoplo (Hoplosternum littorale) - Species #428



Atlantic Lookdown (Selene vomer) - Species #429



These are so beautiful I just have to show the second one I caught...





Other species caught but not photographed...

Sergeant Major
Spottail Pinfish
Slippery Dick Wrasse
Redtail Parrotfish
Porkfish
Tomtate Grunt
French Grunt
Bigeye Scad
Atlantic Bumper
Slender Mojarra
Sand Perch
Houndfish
Bandtail Pufferfish
Yellow Bullhead
Walking Catfish
Eastern Mosquitofish
Mayan Cichlid
Seminole Killifish
Golden Topminnow

[greatwhite]

Wow very cool. I only once fished down there with my youngest son and we caught sea perch I think caught some yellow fins in Jamaica.

[Roper]

Really really cool. Thanks for taking the time to post those.

[GoldenLakePete]

Beautiful fish! Slippery Dick!! (Lol - juvenile sense of humour here).

What, no gafftopsail catfish? That's what I mostly caught when surfcasting.

[MuskieBait]

Thanks guys!

Beautiful fish! Slippery Dick!! (Lol - juvenile sense of humour here).

What, no gafftopsail catfish? That's what I mostly caught when surfcasting.

We were fishing from the pier so we were further out from the surf. I've caught Gafftosail before so we were not focused on them at all. They pull pretty hard though and they are fun...but those Rainbow Parrotfish pull even harder. The 5-6lb parrot pulled harder than the 20lb chinooks I catch off the dock in the fall.

[Dead Ringer]

I spent most of my life in Florida and did my masters in fisheries there an I can't say I've ever met someone with as much enthusiasm for the many species present there as you. It is really refreshing that you are excited about even the tiniest of specimens, the ditch fish and so many species that most look right past. Thanks for sharing!

[Hunter John]

Beautiful fish and a great achievement Musky bait. Thanks for taking us along with you.

[MuskieBait]

I spent most of my life in Florida and did my masters in fisheries there an I can't say I've ever met someone with as much enthusiasm for the many species present there as you. It is really refreshing that you are excited about even the tiniest of specimens, the ditch fish and so many species that most look right past. Thanks for sharing!

I have a group of friends who shares the same passion. We are enthusiastic about catching all species small and big and no species is overlooked (except maybe for the all too common Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass and Rainbow Trout that everyone has caught).

It's OK that people look past many of the species...they don't know what they are missing at all

Part of this passion is not only trying to catch different species of fish, but to learn how do distinguish the species meticulously and understand their behaviours and habitats. If you don't know where the fish lives at certain time of year and how they interact with the environment and with other organisms, it will be difficult to find and catch them. We also have to be able to realize that the Sea Chub we caught are not merely one single species but two very similar looking species - the Yellow Sea Chub has 12-13 anal fin rays while the Bermuda Sea Chub usually has 11 anal fin rays. This is the detail that we delve into. In essence, our passion is rooted in ichthyology with a strong focus on fishing.

[BIG MAC]

MuskieBait, great pictures, I spent 1 day last week fishing out of Matlacha Bay west of North Fort Myers and we caught sand Sharks, Stingray, Refish, a lizard fish, small snook and a few different species of blowfish and I thought that was impressive. Did make it down to Boca Grande Pass but to early for the Tarpon runs.

I think you could catch easily 20-25 different species in 1 day of hard fishing. will pass your pictures onto the folks who took me out.

[MuskieBait]

MuskieBait, great pictures, I spent 1 day last week fishing out of Matlacha Bay west of North Fort Myers and we caught sand Sharks, Stingray, Refish, a lizard fish, small snook and a few different species of blowfish and I thought that was impressive. Did make it down to Boca Grande Pass but to early for the Tarpon runs.

I think you could catch easily 20-25 different species in 1 day of hard fishing. will pass your pictures onto the folks who took me out.

How big were the Sand Sharks? Do you have pictures? I'm interested which species they belong to.

Redfish and Snook are fun. We saw a few snook from the pier but there were not on my target list. We also saw a couple of tarpon at Boca Raton but my friend said they were not very interested in his live shrimp.

Down in the Keys, It is possible to catch 20-30 species in 1 day without trying too hard. The Keys is fun!