Posts in saltwater
How to Set Up Your Anchor Line for Sailfishing in the Keys

In this episode of Into the Blue, Captains Steve Rodger and Scott Walker demonstrate how to set up your anchor line in a way that makes adaptation easier (with practice) as well as how to be courteous when you roll up to a spot with a group of boats already fishing there. Plus, Walker gives us his favorite mutton recipe for the grill.

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Tips for Kingfishing Along the Reef in the Florida Keys

It’s a brisk day in the Florida Keys as Captains Steve Rodger and Scott Walker exit the marina of the Ocean’s Edge Resort in Rodger’s 36 Yellowfin on this episode of Into the Blue. “It was cold as all get out,” reflects Rodger, “it was probably 64 degrees, which in the Keys is about as cold as it gets. I’m wearing jeans, which doesn’t happen very often.” Today the pair is on their way out to the reef, ready for anything that might come their way but hoping to get into some yellowtail snappers or tuna. While some yellowtail certainly make their way onto a couple of their baits, another treasure of the keys is going to be much more prevalent today: kingfish. We’ll go into some of the strategies the two Into the Blue hosts used to prepare and adapt as they head out for a day on the reef.

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How to Deep Drop for Barrel Fish - A Rare Monster From the Deep

If you’ve ever been out on the open ocean, there’s a good chance that at some point you’ve gazed over the side into the deep blue, straining your eyes to see just how far below the surface you can see, wondering what could possibly await hundreds or even thousands of feet down below the sparkling rays of sunlight. Captains Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor sure have, and on this episode of Saltwater Experience they decided to see for themselves what they could haul out of that great, mysterious realm by using a technique called Deep Dropping.

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2 Tricks for Fishing the Everglades and How to Help Keep Them Healthy

The Florida Everglades make up one of the most well-known and treasured American National Parks. They are also being “strangled” by water issues. Since the damming of the Kissimmee River, the Everglades’ primary source of freshwater, this beautiful fishery has seen “endangered wildlife populations, declining water quality, water mismanagement, [and] extensive urban and agricultural development,” according to Captains For Clean Water, a conservation organization dedicated to restoring the health and natural beauty of the Everglades.

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2 Quick Tips For Catching Cudas with Derek DeYoung and Saltwater Experience

Barracuda have an unfair reputation among many saltwater anglers as a pest, but they can actually be a lot of fun to fish for in and of themselves, as we’ll see here in this episode of Saltwater Experience. Captains Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor make their way down to Big Pine, FL to meet up with acclaimed artist Derek DeYoung, an avid fisherman drawn particularly toward barracuda.

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How and Why to Catch Sandbar Sharks From the Beach

Sandbar sharks, known locally as brown sharks, are a highly migratory species found in subtropical waters around the world. The sandbar sharks we see in southern New England likely spend the winter months near Florida, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico. They arrive in Nantucket waters at the end of June, and their numbers seem consistent through early September. The Cape and Islands is the northernmost extent of their habitat in the North Atlantic.

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The Best Fluke-Fishing in the Northeast

.Nantucket Shoals is a vast area of shallow and constantly shifting bottom that extends 23 miles east and 40 miles southeast from Nantucket. Depths in this area can change from 100 feet to 5 feet over the length of a football field, creating tidal rips and breaking waves that have given the area its reputation as a ship graveyard. However, the same conditions that make Nantucket Shoals hazardous for boaters provide incredible habitat for gamefish.

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How to Catch a Key West Grand Slam

In this episode of Saltwater Experience, Captains Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor join up with Nick Labadie, an accomplished guide in Key West, Florida. It happens to be Rowland’s birthday, so, to celebrate, the trio sets out to try for a Grand Slam, an impressive accomplishment in which an angler catches a tarpon, a bonefish, and a permit in one day. It’s a race against time leading to an incredible day on the water and a memorable birthday for Rowland. We’ll take a look at some of the techniques they employed to catch each species so that you can go out and get your own Key West Grand Slam.

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The Value of Ballyhoo

In this episode of Saltwater Experience, Captains Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor take a stab at sailfishing after hearing about a ton of incredible ballyhoo sprays in the deeper waters of Florida. Though the conditions aren’t quite right at first, keeping them inshore for the morning, they eventually improve enough that Tudor feels comfortable taking his bay boat out into the open sea. Once they’re out there, though, it’s a pretty incredible sight to see.

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3 Advantages to Fishing From a Paddleboard

Conditions out on the ocean are fickle. One week can be perfect weather, clear water, blue skies, and the next could bring choppy waves, rain, and high winds. Captains Tom Rowland and Rich Tudor of Saltwater Experience expected calm seas for their outing, but were met instead with a cold front. Instead of stubbornly heading out to sea despite the conditions, Rowland and Tudor decided to try a more uncommon strategy: Paddleboards in the Everglades. It’s a unique and unconventional tactic, but highly effective for the conditions of the day.

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More Mahi-Mahi Tips

Sometimes plan B becomes our primary objective before plan A even gets started. That was certainly the case in this episode of Into the Blue as Captains Scott Walker and Steve Rodger accidentally run across the most incredible seaweed line on their way to do some swordfishing. Within their first couple casts the captains discover that this patch is STUFFED with mahi-mahi, a feisty and delicious catch.


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Proper Etiquette Around Other Boats (Plus Some Tuna Tips)

In this episode of Into the Blue, captains Scott Walker and Steve Rodger try a more popular fishing hole, a well-known submarine wreck, in hopes of finally getting a big haul of blackfin tuna. It’s a satisfying day on the sea after their last couple outings were dogged by sharks. We’ll take a look at some of their advice for catching tuna as well as proper etiquette around other boats on a crowded day.

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Tips and Precautions for Kingfishing in the Gulf

On this episode of Into the Blue, Captains Steve Rodger and Scott Walker head out into the Gulf of Mexico to chase some skyrocketing kingfish brought in by a cold front. It’s a hairy situation with a storm bearing down on them, but these two know what they’re doing and are able to catch some great fish and get out of there before the storm hits.


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