While most of the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier is empty on a chilly winter morning, the octagon at the end holds a row of poles fitted with massive reels. Several fishermen sit waiting for any sign their bait has been taken. Read the […]
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has proposed a 32-day season that would begin June 11 and end July 12 in federal and state waters. That stretch is eight days longer than what was proposed for 2018, but, if approved, would be eight days shorter than the 40-day season that was ultimately approved for the […]
Zipping along in golf carts, talking with schoolchildren, teaching tourists how to cast a line or even rescuing endangered sea turtles, Navarre Beach Fishing Pier has a few new “pier guys” on the payroll. Self-titled Lead Pier Guy Thomas Mintz heads up the new team. He started in the position in March and said he […]
Fishermen will soon be able to cast their lines into the state waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the hopes of reeling in gray triggerfish. The recreational season was closed for most of 2017, opening only for a limited time over four weekends this past fall in state waters. Now the Florida Fish and […]
No one knows for sure how many red snapper are out in the Gulf of Mexico. Fishermen believe there are more than the numbers calculated in stock assessments. A team of 21 scientists from state and federal agencies and universities in the Gulf Coast region, including Florida, are determined to paint a better picture of […]
Okra, a juvenile green sea turtle, has had a rough year. After sustaining serious head trauma that exposed part of her skull, Okra ended up on the end of a fisherman’s line on the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier. The hook was caught in her right shoulder. Fortunately, she was rescued and sent to the Gulfarium […]
Navarre and Gulf Breeze students cut into more than 100 lionfish last week as part of a large dissection research project. The students of Navarre High School, Navarre Beach Marine Science Station, Gulf Breeze High School and others in Escambia County were partnering with the University of West Florida Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation […]
The Navarre Beach Fishing pier will be the site of the Take a Kid Fishing event on Navarre Beach in October. The event coincides with the Navarre Beach Fishing Rodeo that will also be going on that weekend. The Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners approved the Navarre Chamber Foundation’s request for the use […]
Shaun Abbott leans against the railing of the Navarre Beach fishing pier, his pole leaned up against the side of it with a colorful lure dangling from the end of the line high above the sparkling green water of the Gulf of Mexico. Read the full article in the March 30 issue of Navarre Press. […]
Ken Haddad of the American Sports Fishing Association has been instrumental in helping the Gulf Angler Focus Group push for more recreational red snapper fishing opportunities in federal waters. Read the full article in the Feb. 9 issue of Navarre Press. Subscribe online at navarrepress.com for as little as $38 per year.
The closure of the gray triggerfish season in 2017 is bad news to fishermen in both state and federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. But the closure also signals that perhaps the rebuilding plan that was put in place for gray triggerfish population nearly a decade ago may actually be working. “In a sense, […]
Oyster populations are poised to thrive again in the region thanks to the Oyster Cultch Placement Project, a $5.3 million regional plan designed to enhance and improve the oyster populations in Pensacola Bay, St. Andrews Bay and Apalachicola Bay. The project’s most recent focus was on the waters in the Pensacola Bay System in Escambia […]
Recreational fishing in the Gulf is big business. According to Amanda Nalley, the public information specialist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, it brings in billions each year, and that includes fishing for red snapper. “While we don’t have this number broken down, we do know recreational fishing in Gulf Waters adds $7.6 […]
As beach season winds to a close and the number of visits to the 1,545-foot long Navarre Pier become less crowded, the pier has moved to its winter hours. As of Nov. 6, the pier opens at dawn and closes half an hour after dark. Though the traffic is beginning to slow, the pier saw […]
It won’t be long before anglers along the Emerald Coast can compete in the Navarre Fishing Rodeo. The event, in its fourth year, is set to take place Oct. 1-2 and is part of the 13th Annual Beaches to Woodlands Tour. The tournament highlights the abundance of fish that can be found in area waters […]
If you hook a sea turtle while fishing on the pier, do not cut the line. That’s what Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Patroller Jim Holmes begged of fishermen Friday, Sept. 9 after a fishing “novice” cut the line on an entangled turtle off Navarre Pier before rescuers could arrive. When the turtle was spotted, pier […]
Plans to reopen the greater amberjack recreational fishery in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico this month are off the table due to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projecting the allowable harvest has been exceeded. The fishery was scheduled to be open until the end of the year. A similar fate for the […]
James Bodison totes a cart loaded with a cooler, fishing rods and the other necessary items, such as bait, a tackle box, weights and sinkers needed to make his day of fishing off the Navarre Beach pier a successful one. Though July is typically not the best month of the year to fish, it matters […]
Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced two license-free fishing weekends in June. The first took place this past weekend for saltwater fishing and the second, a freshwater fishing weekend, is scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday for Florida residents and visitors. “Florida is the fishing capital of the world,” Scott said in a press release. “As […]
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will soon set the dates for the 2016 recreational Red Snapper season in the Gulf Mexico. The proposed season is 72 days, which would be two days longer than the 2015 season. Read the full article in the Feb. 25 issue of Navarre Press. Click HERE to subscribe […]
