Team Bandit heads to FLW Kingfish Championship

Team bandit, captained by Ron Mitchell of Port St. Lucie, will head  to the $275,000 FLW Kingfish Series Series Championship and the $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship this fall after picking up three top 20 finishes in events this spring and summer. Team Bandit picked up badly needed points with an eighth place finish in Brunswick, Georgia, the third and final stop of the east coast series. Mitchell's team will face the top three teams from each of the the 15 FLW Kingfish Tournament Series tournaments in a three-day event to be held in Orange Beach, Alabama, Oct. 4-6. The final big money event will be held one moth later in Biloxi, Miss. For more information, go to www.flwoutdoors.com.

Terry Tomalin, Outdoors Editor

Local man scores big in Hawaii

Mark Prendergast, an angler from St. Petersburg, along with three fishing buddies from South Florida, recently scored big in a prestigious billfish tournament in Kona, Hawaii. While the Gulf Coast gets its share of sails, swords and white marlin, we seldom see the big blues that make the Pacific a playground for big game fishermen. Prendergast and his fellow anglers on Team Lantana caught and released three blue marlin as well as a short-billed spearfish in the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament that draws anglers from as far away as Japan and New Zealand. The winning fish was a 689 pounder caught on 80-pound test line by a Tokyo angler. It was the third largest caught in the tournament's 48-year-old history. The record, a monster 916 pounder, was set in 1973. The tournament advertises "no cash prizes, just 48 years of heritage and international prestige."

Terry Tomalin, Outdoors Editor

Reality Kingfish

Sick of hearing about America's next top model or the most eligible bachelorette? Finally, a reality show worth watching...On Sunday, Sept. 9, The FSN network will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the FLW Kingfish Tournament held earlier this summer in Ft. Pierce. The hour-long show will follow five of the top teams, from captain's meeting to weigh-in. The weather was rough that weekend and no fish broke the 50-pound barrier. Still, the anglers managed to land several 45-pound plus fish. Tune in to see who brings home the $100,000 purse. For more information, go to www.flwoutdoors.com.

Terry Tomalin, Times Outdoors Editor

Florida leads nation in anglers

Florida leads the nation with 2,755,000 anglers; that's 250,000 more than the second place state, Texas. According to the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, California ranked third, with 1,740 fishermen, followed by Minnesota with 1,435,000 and Michigan with 1,408,000. Florida did not rank in the top five when it came to hunters (Texas was first with 1,115,000), but it did rank second in the nation in terms of resident "Wildlife Watchers." An estimated 4,177,000 people like to get outside and look at birds and other critters. California had the most wildlife watchers with 6,233,000. According to the survey, more than 87 million Americans, or 38 percent of the population 16 and older hunted, fished or observed wildlife. They spent an estimated $120 billion pursuing those activities. Those numbers break down even further: 30 million (13 percent) fished and spent a total of $41 billion; 12.5 million (5 percent) hunted and spent $23 billion and 71 million (31 percent) observed wildlife and spent $45 billion.

Terry Tomalin, Outdoors Editor

College sports? How 'bout fishin'?

Sure, college football season is about to kick off, but sports fans, that's not the only game on campus. Two hundred anglers representing 50 colleges and universities across the nation will head to Lake Lewisville, Texas next month for the U.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. The event, now in its second year, has the backing of Boat U.S., the nation's largest recreational boater advocacy group, and industry heavyweights such as Ranger boats and Garmin electronics. The anglers, who will compete in teams of two, come from a variety of schools. Some, including the University of Alabama, Penn State, Texas A + M and Virginia Tech, have large athletic programs. Some schools, however, might be unfamiliar to many readers. How many of you know where Wabash College is? Hint - it's not the school in Animal House. Students from two universities - Florida Community College at Jacksonville and Webber International University - will participate.

Terry Tomalin, Outdoors Editor

Conservation group thanks feds for following the law

The Marine Fish Conservation Network, coalition of more than 190 national and regional environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing groups and aquariums is applauding the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for initiating new efforts to protect coastal fisheries. In a recent press release, the conservation group cited a recent NMFS web posting which said the agency would develop regulations for quota-based fishery programs. According to the Marine Fish Conservation Network, this marks a reversal in the federal agency’s previous decision not to develop national standards for the Congressionally-mandated limited access programs, such as individual fishing quotas. Unregulated limited access programs have allowed industry heavyweights to take an unfair share of the market. Critics also believe it has led to increases in bycatch in some fisheries. The Marine Fish Conservation Network cited Alaskan king crab fishery, an industry made famous by the popular television series Deadliest Catch, where the fishing fleet plummeted from 251 boats in 2004 to 89 boats in 2005 due to the newly-implemented limited access program. Additionally, discards of legal male crabs in this fishery were eight times greater than in previous seasons, according to a study by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Terry Tomalin, Times Outdoors Editor

Red snapper on the table

     Red snapper will be just one of the topics to be discussed when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meets at the St. Petersburg Hilton, Sept 12-14. The Commission also will consider draft rules for red snapper harvested in Gulf of Mexico state waters.  These draft rules are consistent with pending permanent rules for red snapper in federal waters that will replace interim federal rules. These measures could reduce the daily recreational bag limit of Gulf red snapper from four fish to two fish per person, establish a zero daily bag limit for captains and crew of Gulf for-hire vessels, and change the recreational fishing season for Gulf red snapper from April 15 through Oct.

31 to June 1 through Sept. 15. In addition, these possible rule changes could reduce the minimum size of commercially harvested red snapper in the Gulf and the minimum size of imported red snapper from 15 to 13 inches total length, and reduce the daily commercial bag and trip limit of Gulf red snapper from four fish to two fish per day. Proposed rules may also allow only non-stainless steel circle hooks to be used to harvest any reef fish when natural baits are used and require a venting tool and a de-hooking device to be present onboard vessels harvesting any reef fish.

Terry Tomalin, Outdoors Editor

Longline industry seeks relief

The federal government has also determined that the commercial grouper fleet has too many boats chasing too few fish. The feds currently have had a number of management tools at their disposal including a commercial license limitation system, quotas, trip limits, minimum size limits, season closures and gear restrictions.

But all this has done is prompt the commercial boats to race to see who can catch the most fish before the quota is filled. This “derby” mentality has been bad for bother the producers and consumers. West coast fish lovers want fresh, locally-caught grouper sandwiches year round, now just eight or ten months out of the year.

Federal officials have had a reef fish permit moratorium in effect since 1992. A year-old 6,000-pound trip limit has helped slow things down, but commercial fisherman still can’t land grouper during the closed season of Feb. 15 to March 15.

Over the past 12 years, the number of commercial grouper boats has steadily declined, mirroring the health of the stocks. In 1993, there were 1,112 boats lading fish. In 2005, that number had dropped to 820. Grouper has always been the meat and potatoes of the commercial longline fleet on the west coast of Florida. Revenues average about $10.7 million a year, or 83 percent of the total longline take. But this is just a fraction of the overall industry. During the same time period, grouper and snapper imports increased dramatically. By 2005, frozen grouper imports were valued at $21.5 million, more than double the domestic catch.

Everybody – commercial and recreational fishermen as well as federal fishery managers – agree that something needs to be done. But exactly what is still a matter of debate. Several proposals are currently on the table.

One would eliminate all “latent” reef fish permits. That means, if you have had a reef fish permit, but have not landed at least 1,000 pounds every year for the past five years, the permit may be revoked. This would help reduce the number of fishermen in the industry, but not necessarily do anything to improve the stocks. The fishermen who still have permits would simply fish longer and harder to catch more fish.

Another The second proposal would involve a voluntary buyback or buyout of some reef permits. A similar plan, proposed two years ago, drew strong criticism from recreational and environmental groups. A buyout would reduce the size of the fleet, but the fishermen who still have permits would simply fish longer and harder to catch more fish.

Federal officials are also considering the creation of a grouper permit endorsement which would allow a select group of fishermen to be the only ones allowed to catch grouper. While this would reduce the number of fishermen, those with permits would simply fish longer and harder to catch more fish.

Yet another proposal, and the one with the most traction, is the establishment of an individual fishing quota system (IFQ). This management measure would set a total allowable catch and split it among qualified fishermen, who can then choose to fill it as they please. The IFQ program would eliminate derby fishing and protect fish stocks. Where IFQs have been tried, the feedback has been positive. Whether IFQs will work in the Gulf of Mexico, only time will tell.

To learn more about the plan, go to www.gulfcouncil.org. The public may submit written comments up until Oct. 25.

Terry Tomalin

Scallops bounce back

Tampa Bay's bay scallop population is staging a comeback. Since 1996, volunteers for Tampa BayWatch have searched local waters every August for live specimens of the elusive bay scallop. The Tampa Bay-area once supported a thriving bay scallop industry, but by the mid 1960s, poor water quality had forced the scallopers to find other employment. But thanks to the efforts of Tampa BayWatch and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, water quality has improved. One indication of the bay's revival is the health of the local scallop population. Biologists consider these tasty bi-valves the marine equivalent of the proverbial "canary in a coal mine." Last weekend, 220 volunteers in 46 boats scoured the waters of Tampa Bay once again as part of The Great Bay Scallop Search. The results were astonishing. One volunteer alone found 289 scallops on the back side of Shell Key (that is nearly three times as many as the total haul of the previous record year, 1997). In all, a total of 529 live scallops were documented. For some historical perspective: Only one scallop was found in 2005. Searches were not held in 2002 and 2003. More importantly, 38 out of the 65 total areas surveyed reported at least one scallop. "This is nothing short of phenomenal," said Peter Clark, executive director for the environmental group. "This shows that scallops can survive across a broad area of Lower Tampa Bay."

Terry Tomalin, Times Outdoors Editor

Five saltwater adventures for the sportsman.

Late summer is often considered to be the doldrums among local fishermen. Soaring mid-day temperatures make the fish and the fishermen sluggish. Here's a list of five fun late summer outdoor activities that will get you out of the airconditioning and back out on the water.

1. Scalloping off Homosassa- The season is only open until September 10 so its now or never. The catch has been very good this year. The secret among scallopers is that they are bigger later in the season. There is no better way to beat the heat and bring home a tasty meal.

2. Wading for big snook -Walking the sandy edges of the barrier islands during the last 3 hours of daylight produces a lot of very big catch and release snook. Live pigfish aka grunts, are the top choice in most spots.

3. Shark fishing-Hot water means the sharks are here. Night fishing, by boat, in the passes will provide hook-ups with huge bulls, lemons and an occasional hammerhead or tiger shark. Not for the faint of heart of inexperienced.

4. Bluewater trolling- August and September represent the peak fishing season for blue marlin, sailfish, swordfish, and tunas out on the edge of the continental shelf..120 miles out.

5. Lobster trip to the Keys- Lobster season is in full swing in south Florida and the crazy crowds of mini-season are gone. The catch has been good this year and there are plenty of the coveted crustaceans left to find.

Ed Walker

www.LightTackleCharters.com