Evening star., 1940-12-22
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

South Florida is getting ready Tor
the influx of the usual crop of wild
eyed anglers. Scores of Washington
fishermen make the trip to Florida
each year, hoping for the elusive big
one Almost anywhere you go along
the Florida Coast from early jan
uary to April you'll find some WASH
ington anglers. Many of them go in
for the big stuff off shore. hoping for
marlin or sailfish. Others try from
bridges, or the shore for the smaller
fish. But all of them get something.
It's hard to miss during the winter in
Florida, and particularly south of
Cape Canaveral. where the Gulf
Stream swings off shore.
Miami, of course, is the hot spot,
the center of everything. 1t has SAIL
fishing, marlin fishing. and angling
for all the other fish in addition to
the greatest concentration of fine
charter boats anywhere on this con-
tinent. Further Miami isn't far
from the Florida Keys, where you
can catch anything. big or little, and
where the usual is a surprise.
Don't Like Cold Weather.
North of Canaveral in winter the
fishing is not as good on the East
Coast as it is south of the cape. Nor
is fishing on the West Coast-in
winter-as good north of Boca
Grande as south of that point where
the waters of Charlotte Harbor meet
the Gulf of Mexico. The semi
tropical fish do not like cold weather
and regardless of what you hear oc-
casional cold does stretch down past
Middle Florida. Last winter, during
the cold snap late in January, un-
counted thousands of tarpon, snook
and other shallow water fish were
killed by the frost.
Tarpon, by the way, do not get
around South Florida in any number
during the early winter. They can
be caught in Florida during any
month, but to do it you'll have to
get down around Key West or Bahia
Honda. Yeah, we have tarpon here
every month in the year." said an
old fisherman at Key West. But
you catch em mostly at night" That
night fishing for tarpon. by the way,
is the best there is. When 6-foot
chunk of cleaning silver takes your
bait and starts going places you
have just about the ultimate in fish
ing, particularly if there's moon.
One South Florida spot that has
been neglected because of the lure
and glitter of the bigger cities is little
Stuart, on the st. Lucie, 107 miles
north of Miami, and 30-odd miles
from Palm Beach. The record tar
pom for the United States came from
st. Lucie, and every year the catches
of sailfish off that little port are
amazing. Furthermore at Stuart
you won't have the marine conges-
ton and boat concentration you'll
have around Miami or Palm Beach.
Sometimes it becomes so congested
in the Gulf Stream off Miami they
really need traffic cop. That never
happens off Stuart.
Some Places to Try.
If you 60 to Florida looking for
place to fish you might try these
spots: Miami Sailfish, marlin,
kingfish, amberjack, shark, snook
and occasionally in the winter tar
pom trolling at night in Govern
ment Cut between the jetties.
Miami, in short, has everything,
but the concentration of anglers is
too great for a man who wants
to get away from it all.
Stuart-Offshore for sailfish,
marlin, amberjack. dolphin, king
fish and bonito. Bluefish from the
beaches, and small tarpon, jack and
snook in the st. Lucie. At Salerno,
IL miles south, is Florida's largest
commercial shark fishery.
Palm Beach-Hot sailfish center,
where more than 5000 sail annually
are caught. Bluefishing at Lake
Worth inlet, and pompano from the
beaches.
Florida Keys-Best bonefishing in
Florida, off Tavernier, Whale Har-
Dor of Islamorada. Offshore sail
fish and marlin, and in the creeks
and passes small tarpon and the
other small species, such as man
grove snapper, jack and snook.
Early tarpon on the reefs near
Bahia Honda.
Key West Sailfishing not 80
good. But all other species, in