Fish on: Florida report — and last minute gifts for the anglers

To prove I’m human, I started the saltwater season in Fish On’s Florida HQ with a mishap only a rookie could commit.

I keep a 17-foot Carolina Skiff in my garage. Before I trailered to a river to launch it, I went through my checklist to make sure all was ready. I carefully checked all of the equipment and screwed the drain plug in snugly, hooked the trailer to the car and off I went, stopping for four gallons of gas and got to an empty ramp in no time.

I unhooked the safety chain and the crank strap, fastened the rope tied to the boat and the trailer and backed it in. The boat slipped off the trailer and I went to pull it in by the tie rope so the wind didn’t move it too far away when I noticed it was a bit stern-heavy and there was water on the floorboards.

I jumped into the water and maneuvered the boat’s bow back to the trailer, hooked it to the winch and cranked it mostly out of the water. Then I pulled the car half way up the ramp and let about 50 gallons of water pour out to the drain which had no plug in it. I had put the plug in the wrong hole — what a jerk!

Since the water was 95 percent fresh as the tide receded, I drained the boat, dried the floor, started the motor and all the electronics with no problem and spent a windy hour just tooling around to make sure everything was set to go.

With that unimpressive start, I was more careful on the next trip and put the boat in near Naples where things picked up. I managed to catch 10 snook up to 30 inches and a nice crevalle jack that fights like crazy on light tackle and takes a nice picture (see photo, your columnist is on the left).

I noticed a school of mullet come into the little bay where I was snook fishing, appearing very agitated, like a school of bunkers with bass or blues near them. Suddenly a tarpon about 5 feet long and probably 80 pounds or so jumped out of the water and crashed down on the mullet school, stunning several of them before circling around to eat them — an impressive performance.

Since I had brought only light spinning rods with 14 pound test line I figured I was out gunned and didn’t even cast at the tarpon. Call me chicken.

With only a few days to go before Christmas, are you stuck on what you should be getting your fishing pal, husband, wife kids or yourself as a gift this year? There are some great deals for anglers of every skill and experience. I thought I’d mention a few of them to you, especially some of the smaller items, that would be appreciated by your angler when spring rolls around.

Rod and Reel: While I may sound like a broken record here, I continue to recommend the spinning rod and reel sets offered by Penn. I’m gradually switching all of my everyday spinning reels over to the rugged Penn Battle II series in the 4000 size that can be bought in stores for about $109 With a 7-foot medium heavy rod, the set can be bought for $129 or even less on the internet.

To go with the set, I recommend you also purchase a 150-yard spool of 14- to 15-pound test braided line by Power Pro or Berkley for about $15 to put on the reel or simply as a stocking stuffer. If you put the braided line on the reel you’ll have to use a monofilament leader, so I suggest buying a spool of 30- to 40-pound Ande clear mono line for about $15 that can be cut to size for leader purposes. One spool will last for years.

This rig is very versatile and can be used for casting lures to bluefish and bass or bottom fishing for porgies, weakfish or fluke. It also has the strength to land an outsized, unexpected big fish if you get lucky enough to “get bit” by one.

Lures: There are a million lures out there you can buy but you can also pick just a few to fish the local waters and never need more. For striped bass, I recommend a popping lure called Smak-It Jr. made by Stillwater lures in yellow. For some reason the yellow is the most effective and the lure can be bought online or from Tightlines in Sag Harbor. Other effective lures that you might want to use as stocking stuffers include an inexpensive Lazer Eye Pencil Popper from Bass Pro Shops or a Live Target “Glass Minnow Baitball” Jerkbait from Jack’s Marine.

Other Gear: I use a Nikon CoolPix waterproof camera for all of my fishing trips and have for years. It’s versatile, easy to use, very dependable and takes great photos.
You might want to add a Boga Grip or the less expensive Rapala Aluminum Fish Gripper, devices to clamp on a fish’s lower lip to land them or hold them to unhook or for a photo. And, finally, a good pair of fishing pliers with carbide clippers in a scabbard is a huge help in removing hooks from fish and clipping lines, leaders and braided lines while rigging. My pick there would a pair of 7-inch Calcutta or Browning pliers from Bass Pro for about $35.
I hope you all have a Happy Holiday season and a wonderful 2017!