Captain Favorite's Weekend Fishing Forecast: Feb. 20, 2014

Posted Thursday, June 18, 2015 12:00 am

Merab-Michal Favorite

BRADENTON – The Blue Wild Ocean Adventure and Marine Expo, will run from Feb. 22-23 at the Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center. The recent cold snap helped FWC officials identify over 4,000 manatees during their aerial survey. Because the swordfish population has recovered so successfully since they were overfished during the 1980s, the FWC is offering fishermen an opportunity to catch and sell them in Florida.

Fishing Updates

Fort Lauderdale 2014 Blue Wild Ocean Adventure and Marine Art Expo Set for February 22-23

The Blue Wild Ocean Adventure and Marine Art Expo is set to take place at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center from February 22 to 23 and will feature the top names in freediving, spearfishing, scuba diving, underwater photography and videography, marine artists, and other exhibitors from around the world.
The event spans 30,000 square feet of exhibition hall space with an additional 10,000 square feet of seminar/workshop space.
Admission is $20 at the door and includes entry to the Saturday night Blue Wild After Party at the Courtyard Marriott Ft. Lauderdale Beach where guests can mingle with industry celebrities and enjoy door prizes, BBQ and happy hour specials.

Show hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The Blue Wild After Party is from 7:30 to 11 p.m.
For more information please visit TheBlueWild.com. Like The Blue Wild Ocean Adventure and Marine Art Expo on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheBlueWild

Swordfish management pays off in expanded fishing opportunities effective Feb. 13

Swordfish management is a success story. Overfished in the 1980s and ’90s, the swordfish stock has since been fully rebuilt, thanks to domestic and international conservation measures.
Recently, NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Division created a new open-access commercial swordfish fishery in federal waters to provide additional commercial swordfish harvest opportunities using gears that minimize bycatch.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved several changes to state rules recently, many of which will allow fishermen who participate in this new commercial fishery to land and sell their catch in Florida. Recently adopted changes will go into effect Feb. 13.
Several changes to state rules are also consistent with existing federal rules, including a change to the cleithrum-to-keel (see image below) minimum size limit for recreational and commercial swordfish harvest.
For more information visit the website at http://myfwc.com/news/news-releases/2014/february/06/swordfish/

Weekend Fishing Forcast

High pressure will hold over the waters today. However...increasing southeast winds will advect warm moist air over the waters with locally dense sea fog developing today...increasing in areal coverage tonight. A cold front will move across the northern waters on Friday with scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms advecting slowly southeast over the waters. Fog will decrease in areal coverage behind the front on Friday. The front will stall over the central waters Friday night with showers subsiding...and locally dense fog redeveloping over the waters. Fog will gradually decrease in coverage on Saturday.

Thursday

Southeast winds around 10 knots. Bay and inland waters a light chop. Patchy fog in the morning. Monday night will bring southeast winds around 5 knots. Bay and inland waters smooth. Areas of dense fog.

2014/02/20 Thu 03:48 AM 1.18 H

2014/02/20 Thu 09:40 AM 0.41 L

2014/02/20 Thu 03:31 PM 1.87 H

2014/02/20 Thu 11:23 PM -0.04 L

Friday

South winds around 10 knots then becoming southwest in the afternoon. Bay and inland waters a light chop. Areas of dense fog in the morning. A slight chance of showers in the morning...then scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms. Thunderstorms may increase winds and seas in the afternoon.

Friday night will bring southwest winds around 5 knots then becoming east after midnight. Bay and inland waters smooth. Areas of dense fog. A slight chance of showers.

2014/02/21 Fri 05:03 AM 0.99 H

2014/02/21 Fri 10:10 AM 0.59 L

2014/02/21 Fri 04:15 PM 1.91 H

Saturday

Southeast winds around 5 knots then becoming southwest in the afternoon. Bay and inland waters smooth. Patchy fog. A slight chance of showers. Saturday night will bring southwest winds around 5 knots then becoming south after midnight. Bay and inland waters smooth.

2014/02/22 Sat 12:42 AM -0.1 L

2014/02/22 Sat 07:01 AM 0.87 H

2014/02/22 Sat 10:40 AM 0.76 L

2014/02/22 Sat 05:11 PM 1.93 H

Sunday

Southwest winds around 10 knots. Bay and inland waters a light chop. A slight chance of showers. Sunday Night with will bring west winds around 5 knots. Bay and inland waters smooth.

2014/02/23 Sun 02:07 AM -0.21 L

2014/02/23 Sun 06:21 PM 1.94 H

Solunar Forecast