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How Much Fun Can You Have Fishing in Florida? Lots of fun with endless fishing adventures. Anglers around the world come to Florida. Why? Because fishing is excellent and water is everywhere! Unlike the cold northern states, our weather is warm year round, so you can fish virtually any day of the year. Florida has over 8,000 miles of shoreline if you count inlets, bays, and capes. Western Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico, has 770 miles of shoreline. The eastern Atlantic side of Florida has 580 miles of coastline. Now add all the islands, freshwater lakes, and the Everglades, you can see how we boast having the most miles of coastline in the United States. And Florida has claimed its fame by calling itself The Fishing Capital of the World!

Know Where the Local's Go

Our mission in developing this website is to help anglers find where to go fishing in Florida and we recruited a lot of locals to help us find out. We also bring together all the best local and state resources into one place.

Saltwater Fishing

Saltwater fishing is the most popular sporting activity in Florida. You can fish from land, bridges, piers, docks, the beach, inshore, backwaters & flats, and offshore. We have thousands of reefs and wrecks offshore for action packed fishing, snorkeling, and diving.

With hundreds of saltwater species in the Gulf of Mexico, the Straights of Florida, and the Atlantic Ocean, your choices are endless. Anglers have the choice of targeting a specific species or catch whatever species happens to be in the area they choose to fish. Most species are excellent table fare too! Having the current Fishing Regulations Catalog on hand helps you to identify what the species is you caught and after measuring it, if you can keep it. And don't forget to have a current fishing license.

Fishing can be done from a boat, from land, or from a fishing pier. If you tow your boat to your destination, knowing where the closest launch site is a must.Our extensive lists can help you get to your next fishing destination.

Freshwater Fishing

There is a vast network of canals, channels, and lakes throughout the state offering excellent fishing with largemouth bass, catfish, crappie, panfish and bream being popular targets. Visit our Freshwater Fish page for details on our species.

Parks & Preserves

A large portion of Florida is within county, state, and national parks offering excellent freshwater, brackish, and saltwater fishing. These parks offer a vast variety of fishing opportunities. Each park has their own rules and regulations that may differ from state rules. All parks require fishing licenses and advise anglers to review their guidelines to ensure a safe and successful trip. Visit our Locations section to find a park near you.

Fishing in The Everglades

Karl Musser licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The Everglades covers one third of the southern Florida peninsula. Most of the area within the Everglades is a wild wet wilderness receiving 55 inches of rain annually. When we refer to the Everglades on this website we are referring to the rural areas outside of developed towns and cities.

With all this water comes a vast variety of fishing opportunities in freshwater, brackish and saltwater. Fishing by land is common on the roadsides, lakes, canals, or designated area's within national and state parks. Fishing by kayak, canoe, or small boat is limited only by your ability to get there, and back out! Because this area is a wild wilderness, you MUST plan your trip and have all necessary gear at hand to ensure a safe trip.

Freshwater species in the Everglades include Largemouth Bass, Yellow Bullheads, Bluegills, Golden Shinners, Sunfish, and Florida gar. You can also find snook, tarpon, and other saltwater species that have adapted to brackish and freshwaters.

Saltwater species are abundant in the Everglades where land meets the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Bay, and the Atlantic.

Locations

We have broken down Florida into 9 regions to help you plan your fishing adventures. Click on our Locations Map to jump to our large map and select the region you would like to fish in. We also have direct links to major cities around Florida.

If you already know your region, click on the links below:
Panhandle  Central West  Central East  Southwest The Keys Southeast

Weather

What can we say, the weather in Florida is just beautiful, that's why we are called the "Sunshine State."

Florida weather varies depending on what part of the state you are in. As you can see from the Florida Plant Hardiness map, our weather is not the same through out the state.

The sun is out almost every day. We have two very distinct seasons - very dry arid winters averaging highs of 80 degrees in South Florida and 70 degrees in the north. Summers are very humid and rain comes most afternoons with averaging highs of 90 degrees, in northern Florida it can be less humid but still around 90 degrees. Don't let the summer rains stop you, they come through daily in the summer, usually after 2:00 PM, and are brief. You can see the storms coming, so always seek cover before they arrive, some storms can be very intense with lots of lightning. Jump to our Weather page for more information.

Sunsets

When you finish your days of fishing, boating, golfing, hiking, and exploring, stop by any beach or any other location on the water for our daily ritual of watching the sunset. We have some of the most spectacular sunsets with every color of the rainbow showing up in the clouds. Be sure to look up in all directions after it sets and watch closely as the clouds change colors right before your eyes. Every night is different and spectacular!

Most spectators of this daily event look for the "Green Flash" which occurs just as the sun is disappearing on the horizon. I personally have never seen the green flash (could be my UV glass lens) but many have marveled at it's beauty.

Seasonal Population Differences

Our two distinct seasons in Florida are winter and summer. Not only is the weather different, so are the crowds. During the summer, mostly locals inhabit the fishing areas. But once it gets cold up north, the "snow birds" arrive tripling our population and crowding our waterways. Snow Birds are, as we locals call them, either part time residents or vacationers that come to our area to escape the cold winters up north. Don't get me wrong, we love the snow birds, they are a very important economic necessity for our tourism based economy in Florida. But locals start counting a few weeks before Easter the car carriers arriving daily. We look forward to the serenity of summer.

During the winter you must plan ahead, Fishing spots in the winter can get crowded, but with the knowledge you gain from our website, you can count on a great fishing trip.

Outdoor Life

Residents and visitors alike spend a good portion of their time outdoors enjoying 821,620 acres of federal and state parks, preserves, and refugees. The Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits, the Atlantic Ocean, backwater bays, inlets, bays, canals, and countless bridges offer anglers limitless saltwater fishing choices. Inland lakes and canals, both natural and man made, offer freshwater anglers a variety of species.

How many times have you seen this many Snook lined up in a row? It's not uncommon in Florida. This picture was taken in a very wealthy residential neighborhood in front of a row of boat houses in Naples. Notice the snook are in the shade and are waiting to ambush the next bait fish that comes by.

Notice the pelican on the top of the flag pole?

This flag flies high above a fillet station at a marina behind a restaurant in Southwest Florida. No wonder the pelicans flock when the fishing boats pull in.