If you like to fish, Florida is the place to wet a line. Seventy species of saltwater fish and thirty species of freshwater fish give anglers a wide choice of opportunities. Sailfish, cobia, grouper, and dolphin are favorites of the offshore crowd. Redfish, spotted seatrout, tarpon, and in south Florida, snook provide those who prefer to fish the quiets and scenic backwaters with some of the most exciting angling in the world. Of course there are plenty of lakes and rivers for freshwater anglers to pursue largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, and catfish.

One of the exciting aspects of fishing in Florida is that anglers usually have the opportunity to catch at least a dozen species whenever they fish in saltwater and a half dozen species wherever they are fishing in freshwater. With so many species of fish to be caught, your chances of hooking up with one or more species on each fishing trip fish are pretty good.

Your chances of catching more fish will increase if you know something about them. To get you started, here is some basic information and tips on how to catch the most sought after species in Florida. Expanded information for some species such as tarpon, redfish, snook, and striped and largemouth bass is provided because these are some of the most popular species of fish sought by anglers.

If you have any suggestions, please send them to kris@florida-outdoors.com.

Southwest Florida Species Availability Chart