Florida in January

[Sebastian GER]

Hi,

I'm a student at UT Austin, Texas. I'm planning on getting wet during the winter break in early January and thought about flying to Florida. Do you have any recommendations on where to go? I would like to go hunting with some local spearfishers (I'm freediving). Since I'm a poor student I would like to camp or get a cheap accomodation for a week or so. Are there any good spots accessible from land?
What will the water be like in terms of visibility and temperature?

Thanks for your answers

Sebastian

[billieball]

I know in the Ft. Lauderdale area there are often people going out freediving and/or spearfishing. Someone on this board will probably reply. My family and I live in the Panhandle (Panama City, Panama City Beach, Destin, etc.), and a shop called Dive Locker has excursions for spearfishers year-round. You can look them up at www.divelocker.net/index. Good luck!

[settingsteel]

Florida is pretty big "water-wise" Seb, consider most of it is wrapped around the sea so its all a question of where in the peninsula you wanna head to...If its having some college fun, and diving- The keys, Tampa, and Ft Lauderdale(Dania/Hollywood Bch"fun&fish") are some good choices as is Miami, albeit a bit expensive.

[Sebastian GER]

I am not searching for college fun, this is all about spearfishing. I basically want to go to a place where I can hunt for several hours a day in clear water and don't pay a hell of a lot money. I don't care if I have to camp alone or anything.

[jtkwest]

realistically summer is the time to plan a trip to Fl. the winter is hit and miss vis. due to the constant 10 to 20 mph wind. there are days that are calm, but they are random. i live in key west now but i used to live in west palm beach. I started spearing there.Honestly, (i know some people will beg to differ ) the best spearing is the keys by far! spearfishing is illegal from the beach in Fl., except from long key bridge south, to key west. anywhere else you can spear but you cannot enter or return from any public beach with spearguns. if you can find a PRIVATE owned beach you are good , but you may not spear near docks jetties or pilings near shore. Now that I sound like a cop, you CAN come to key west, get a kayak, and hit nearshore coral heads. There is a youth hostel,(20 bucks a nite or something) Key West is super chill. you can ride a bicycle anywhere,(rent those too) i can give you GPS#s and if the wnd lays down maybe you could get dowm on one of my reef excursions. if you scuba we have killer wreck diving with BIG FISH!! They allow spearing on some local dive boats. Ever heard of Hogfish? hands dowm the best tasting fish . all over the place dowm here

[settingsteel]

Originally Posted by jtkwest

realistically summer is the time to plan a trip to Fl. the winter is hit and miss vis. due to the constant 10 to 20 mph wind. there are days that are calm, but they are random. i live in key west now but i used to live in west palm beach. I started spearing there.Honestly, (i know some people will beg to differ ) the best spearing is the keys by far! spearfishing is illegal from the beach in Fl., except from long key bridge south, to key west. anywhere else you can spear but you cannot enter or return from any public beach with spearguns. if you can find a PRIVATE owned beach you are good , but you may not spear near docks jetties or pilings near shore. Now that I sound like a cop, you CAN come to key west, get a kayak, and hit nearshore coral heads. There is a youth hostel,(20 bucks a nite or something) Key West is super chill. you can ride a bicycle anywhere,(rent those too) i can give you GPS#s and if the wnd lays down maybe you could get dowm on one of my reef excursions. if you scuba we have killer wreck diving with BIG FISH!! They allow spearing on some local dive boats. Ever heard of Hogfish? hands dowm the best tasting fish . all over the place dowm here

Although the above is somewhat true I have been spearing M. Bch for years and never have encountered a problem diving from the beach, although I have been in conversation with life guards, police on horse back etc. they have never ever giving us a hard time, The keys is great to spear, but YOU NEED TO BE 3 MILES from shore and the Monroe County law enforcers DO NOT mess around, they will write you up FAST- if you can charter or meet up with someone then your set, but be prepared to pony up some bucks for the campground, if there is space available. I think Dania Bch is good, but not a whole lot of "quality" fish, Cape canaveral, sebastian...these are all good, easy to camp on the beach (in general, some areas may be a bitch) and the diving is very good, but I cannot tell you specifics in that I have not been over there in quite some...hopefully someone will chime in.

[matt285]

Any info on bradenton area beach dives?

[jtkwest]

[quote=settingsteel;680807]Although the above is somewhat true I have been spearing M. Bch for years and never have encountered a problem diving from the beach, although I have been in conversation with life guards, police on horse back etc. they have never ever giving us a hard time, The keys is great to spear, but YOU NEED TO BE 3 MILES from shore and the Monroe County law enforcers DO NOT mess around, they will write you up FAST-
from Long Key bridge to Key West ,( the last 50 miles of road) THERE IS NO MINIMUM DISTANCE (I am looking at the handbook now )you can spear at every bridge as long as you stay away from fishing areas (some of the bridges have fishing sections. a bunch of areas `are santuaries so they are out of bounds. but coral heads are 200 yards off shore here . in k/west. Monroe county officers are definately the most draconian police force going . just dont shoot the jewfish or take any mini lobsters and you will be ok

[Sebastian GER]

Thanks for all your replies! Is anyone hunting in Florida, could I join on some hunting trips? It is not that I dislike hunting alone in general, but it is so easy to drown alone and I know from my past experiences that it is better to go with someone who knows the area. Since I am German I don't know the waters here in the US, but have experience from Norway and trips to the Mediterranean. Would join shore and boat trips, and share gas of course. I could be in Florida (anywhere you want me to be) in early January. My time window is about the 3rd until the 14th. Could also take some days off in December, if that is the only possibility.

jtkwest: The youth hostel sounds great, do you have the address? How much are your reef excurcursions? I can scuba, but I will use this holiday for freediving.

Sebastian

[settingsteel]

Yes indeed, I stand corrected, but this does not prevent Marine Patrols to hassle you, as I have had friends that have had in the past, and even had their catch conficated and cited warnings...as a general rule most spearo's hitting the keys apply the 3 mile rule everywhere- and (DO NOT even travel near santuaries) just to prevent head aches, just my 2 cents, not here to argue with the rules that are clearly written, only passing my personal experience based on just that experience.

If you are in the Miami area PM me and we can head out, their is a hostel in Miami Beach too just that its usually packed and south beach is expensive...I still recommend you look into Hollywood/Dania Beach...or hit the keys just make sure you go out with someone familiar with Monroe county thats all

[jtkwest]

Setting Steel:sorry, not trying to be argumentitive i just have this thing about being right sometimes.Sounds like you might have the same problem possibly.We would probably get along great. You should drive down here and kill some stuff sometime with me. We wont get arrested "I swear " it is only 4 hours drive for you unlike this other poor fellow from Texas.

[jtkwest]

Sebastian GER: I will hook u up with the # for the youth hostel later tonight or tomorrow.If you want to see rules for Monroe county spearing go toWWW.myfwc.com I think Asfar as my trips : they happen on the weekends primarily, unless it is too windy for my boat,(unfortunately alot lately) you could possibly go but lets be honest I dont know you so I would have to meet you and if I get a bad vibe or something I dont want to promise anything definately other than info, which I wuold be happy to give you. You could definately take a kayak a kill stuff 200yards offshore here in front of casa marina hotel.It IS legal. charter boats bring snorkelers ther occaisonally. coral heads everywhere, 15 ft depth easy

[settingsteel]

Originally Posted by jtkwest

Setting Steel:sorry, not trying to be argumentitive i just have this thing about being right sometimes.Sounds like you might have the same problem possibly.We would probably get along great. You should drive down here and kill some stuff sometime with me. We wont get arrested "I swear " it is only 4 hours drive for you unlike this other poor fellow from Texas.

Nope don't have that problem at all jtk, I never argued your facts, taken straight out of the WWW.myfwc.com, nor have I ever argued with any MP that tell us we can't be spearing in an area we well know we can be spearing in, I say we loosely, since I have not speared in the keys for along time without being accompanied by a local who knows where we can and cannot spear, which is exactly what I have suggested to Seb.

The keys is a great place to hunt if you can head out with a local or someone very familiar with them (keys)...as a note we had hunted an area close to pennekamp a few yrs ago and passed close to the boundary on the way in, we never stopped our boat and had our guns in bags (unzipped), we got pulled over after about 2 hours of questioning, and complete boat overhaul we were let go with a warning...no big deal, just would prefer to avoid it altogether, I think we got off ok since my buddy was a local and was very familiar with the regs...The keys is a good place to hunt, but a GREAT place when your with a local, thx for the invite, likewise if your ever in Miami

[jtkwest]

setting steel: they have a reef off the beach in miami?how deep? beach diving in palm beach sux. the 30 ft reef is more like a speedbump up there. the 60 to 90 ft reef is awesome but 3(?) miles out , funny ,I always lamented that you had to have a boat to do anything up there, (or dive bridges illegally, which I did ) the keys is so shallow it would seem better. I dont know miami waters though. got any pics of fish taken from beach dives? I never had much luck with that really.

[settingsteel]

Originally Posted by jtkwest

setting steel: they have a reef off the beach in miami?how deep? beach diving in palm beach sux. the 30 ft reef is more like a speedbump up there. the 60 to 90 ft reef is awesome but 3(?) miles out , funny ,I always lamented that you had to have a boat to do anything up there, (or dive bridges illegally, which I did ) the keys is so shallow it would seem better. I dont know miami waters though. got any pics of fish taken from beach dives? I never had much luck with that really.

we head out about a mile from the beach, its the first reef, you encounter along the east coast (Dade/Broward area), its not a "full on" reef like those in the keys, but it holds your mixed bag of fish, and they don't get alot of pressure-dives are 25-40 feet, the next reef is about 2 miles in 40-75 feet a bit more developed, but again not like most in the keys, and they are ok (IMHO the first reef is just as good, although some may not agree- but second is better for pelagics), and yes if you have a boat its much better, fact Dania is about the only place you can comfortably access without one