Boating deaths increase

Florida led the nation with 77 boating-related fatalities last year, a 10 percent increase over 2006. State law enforcement officials say the number of deaths could be reduced by as much as 25 percent, if mandatory boater education laws were enacted.

But a proposal to "phase in" boater education for the state's one million boaters over the next 11 years went nowhere during this year's legislative session.

Legislators said they believed it was the younger boaters who needed the education.  But most boating accidents and fatalities involve people 36 years or older who have more than 100 hours boating experience and no formal boating education.

In 1996, Florida began requiring boaters 21 years or younger to take a mandatory boater education course. Since its passage, the boater education law has reduced the number of accidents from greater than 21 percent to 14 percent.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission maintains that 15 to 25 lives a year could be saved if everybody took a safe boating class. That is why the FWC proposed phasing in mandatory boater education, in five year increments, over the next 11 years.

But at a Feb. 6 meeting of the House committee on Conservation & State Lands, the FWC proposal fell on deaf ears. Legislators balked at a proposal to expand the current regulations. read the full story in tomorow's St. Petersburg Times.

Local anglers shine

Blair Wiggins of Cocoa and his partner Travis Tanner lead the field after one day of fishing at the FLW Redfish Series Eastern Division event in Panama City. The anglers ran 60 miles to catch their two-redfish limit weighing 15 pounds, 14 ounces to move into first place, but heavy winds may prevent a repeat performance on Friday.

But Tampa Bay-area anglers are holding their own in this event that will net the winning team $50,000. Rounding out the top five teams are St. Pete’s Frank Jackson and his partner Charles Espenlaub of Lutz (two redfish, 14 pounds, 7 ounces); Ken and Jeff Mullett of Sarasota (two redfish, 14 pounds, 6 ounces); Brady Nelson and Josh Ramsey of Palmetto (two redfish, 14 pounds, 2 ounces) and Raymond McDonald and Sean Creel of Panama City, Fla. (two redfish, 14 pounds, 1 ounce).

The $1.9 million Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series features three day events. The full field will fish again Friday and then the top five teams will advance to Saturday’s final round. The winner will be based on the combined heaviest three-day total weight.

The Redfish Series has two divisions – East and West – and each one holds four $170,000 qualifying tournaments. The top 50 teams advance to a no-entry-fee $300,000 championship to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in Biloxi, Miss. The winning two-man team will take home a $100,000 purse.

Triathlon brings out the meek, mighty and honest

Cody Sanford, (far right) of Clearwater, sprint towards the finish line at the St. Anthony's Meek & Mighty Triathlon in St. Petersburg. [MARTHA RIAL | Times]

East Lake High senior Brandan Lewis, who didn't begin swimming competitively until last August, overcame some momentary cramping to win Saturday morning's Meek & Mighty Triathlon on the St. Petersburg waterfront.

The top female? That wasn't totally clear until 43-year-old Land O'Lakes resident Maria Ajamian, originally posted as the winner, later told race officials she unknowingly failed to complete the entire bike segment of the race.

That left 11-year-old Ciara Hopkins of Clermont as the top female finisher (28:06). Delaney Owen, a 15-year-old home-schooled Clearwater resident, was the first local female finisher (28:38) in an event that drew 750 participants ranging in age from 6 to 90.

The Meek & Mighty, a precursor to Sunday's 25th running of the St. Anthony's Triathlon, featured a 200-yard swim, 5.4-mile bike ride and mile run, with those ages 10 and under competing on a slightly smaller course. Lewis, headed to the University of North Florida, finished in 26:22.

Ajamian, a married mother of three who never previously had competed in a triathlon, was posted as the winning female among competitors ages 15 and up with a time of 28 minutes.

But she later told race officials she completed only one of the three loops on the bike course, avoiding Rosie Ruiz notoriety. Ruiz was announced as the female winner of the 1980 Boston Marathon, but was stripped of the title when it was later determined she cut the course.

"I didn't bother to ask (about the bike loops) because I didn't know and there weren't any signs," Ajamian said. "We're honest people. I couldn't have lived with myself."

The oldest entrant, 90-year-old Ruth Gordon of Seminole, not only completed the course (in 1:10.27), but shattered the time she recorded in the 2003 Meek & Mighty -- her only other triathlon -- by nearly 10 minutes.

"I feel great," Mrs. Gordon said at the finish line.

Complete results can be found later this afternoon at satriathlon.com.

JOEY KNIGHT, Times Staff

whale tale

Dave Mistretta was fishing in 50 feet of water off Indian Shores on Sunday when he saw something large swimming toward his boat.

"The fluke came out of the water and we knew right away it was a whale (see video)," said Mistretta, who charters the Jaws Too out of Indian Rocks Beach. "There were two white spots on the tail so we thought it might be a humpback."

The 30-foot mammal swam underneath Mistretta's boat then took off swimming south. A spokesperson for the National Marine Fisheries Service confirmed that humpbacks occasionally venture into the Gulf of Mexico after breeding in the warm waters of the Caribbean.

The specie's scientific name, Megaptera novaeangliae, means "big wing of New England," is a reference to the animals extremely long flippers. The common name, humpback, comes from the fact that the whale's dorsal fin sits atop a large hump that is visible when it dives.

The humpback is a baleen whale, a filter feeder, that can reach lengths of up to 45 feet. Mistretta's sighting was considered rare and the captain considers himself lucky to have seen such a magnificent creature in the wild.

No more cooter

If you travel along a country roads in North Florida don't be alarmed if you see a bumper sticker on the back of a pickup truck that encourages all who see it to "Eat More Cooter." These river turtles, often seen basking on rocks and logs, are considered quite a delicacy in some parts.

But before you head out to try to snatch some of these tasty reptiles, take a close look at the regulations. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has announced closed season for the harvest of river cooter from April 15 to July 31.

And that goes for their young-ins too. No fried river cooter egg sandwiches until Aug. 1.

But don't fret. Even though the state wants you to eat less cooter, you can still go catch yourself a mess of soft-shell turtles, which look sort of like a big, leathery pancake. They are still fair game until May 1. But then the season shuts down as well.

Turtle fans can still get their fix though with alligator snapping turtles, loggerhead musk turtles, box turtles, Barbour's map turtles, Escambia river map turtles and diamondback terrapins. The Suwannee cooter, however, is off limits, no matter how hungry you get.

The kings are back

Forget the groundhog and his shadow, the only sure way to find out if spring is really here is to head to the Egmont Shipping Channel and start slow trolling for kingfish.

The bite has been sporadic in recent weeks as anglers have waited in anticipation for th big schools to head north from Key West to their summer feeding grounds in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. We Suncoasters should consider ourselves lucky as we get two chances to catch these open ocean predators, one in the spring and once in the fall.

Sure there a a few resident kings that linger in deep water even during the height of summer. Fifteen years ago, I hooked a 45-pound plus fish in the middle of July about 50 miles offshore. But fishing for summer kings is hit or miss. Your best bet to join the action is during the spring or fall run.

Friday, fishing near markers three and four, we hooked fought about 30 kings in a three hour period. Dr. Reggie Ligon boated five kings and lost at least five more. We kept a few of the smallest ones for a fish fry at Gators on the Pass.

Ligon was checking out Capt. Larry "Huffy" Hoffman's new 36-foot Scarab. Well, it isn't Hoffman's yet. He is thinking about by the triple engine fishing machine. The demo boat had more the 100 hours on it, and after we were done, a little blood on the deck.

The bite was nothing short of phenomenal. It seemed like every time we motored back to our spot and dropped the sardines over the side, Wham! Hookup.

Ain't spring grand?

Sound off about grouper

Anglers will get their last chance tonight to tell federal fishery regulators how they feel about a proposed three-month closed season for grouper. The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to shut down all grouper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico from Jan. 15 to April 15, the height of the tourist season.

Biologists say that gag grouper stocks are in trouble and that the closure, and a one fish bag limit, are needed to restore the population to healthy numbers. But on Tuesday, the reef fish advisory panel to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the federal agency that will actually vote on the proposed rules next month, recommended that no action be taken.

An independent scientist, hired by recreational and commercial fishing groups, pointed out errors in the government data, noting that overfishing for the species has already ended. But this isn't the first time the federal government has been wrong about grouper.

The NMFS once said red grouper stocks were in trouble, only to reverse course after new information came to light. The problem is that wheels of federal bureaucracy move slowly. Stock assessments proceed at a glacier-like pace, and by the time action can be taken, the situation has already changed.

Recreational groups, such as the Seminole based Fishing Rights Alliance, have maintained for more than a year that a bad economy and sky-rocketing oil prices have reduced the fishing pressure on grouper. It now appears that the recreational anglers were right all along.

But this issue still must be voted on and anglers have on last chance to let their feelings be known at a public hearing tonight at the Radisson Hotel, 12600 Roosevelt Blvd., in St. Petersburg. The discussion starts at 6 p.m.

Grouper victory

Fishing rights groups scored a major victory Tuesday when an advisory panel to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Commission said there is no scientific need to change gag grouper regulations

In a 13 to 1 vote, the Council's reef fish advisory panel recommended that no action be taken on gag grouper. The National Marine Fisheries Commission, the federal agency that regulates this deepwater species, had proposed a three-month closed season and lower bag limit to stop over fishing.

But a well-known Canadian marine biologist, Dr. Trevor Kenchington, hired by hired recreational and commercial fishing groups to review the data, pointed out errors in the government's stock assessments.

"He basically showed that the overfishing had ended," said Charlene Ponce, spokeswoman for the Gulf Council. "He is scheduled to make a presentation to the full council in April, at which time final action will be taken."

In a rare show of unity, a sport fishing group, the Fishing Rights Association and a commercial organization, the Southern Offshore Fishermen's Association, pooled their resources to hire Kenchington, a scientist who has proved federal regulators wrong before.

"This is a big day for us," said the FRA's Dennis O'Hern who has led the fight against the proposed regulations. "The numbers were there all along. All we needed is a PHD with no agenda to come in and show them where they had made a mistake."

Citizens will get their chance to sound off about the proposed grouper rules on Wednesday, when the Gulf Council holds a public hearing on the subject at the Raddison Hotel on Roosevelt Boulevard in St. Petersburg.

For more information, go to www.gulfcouncil.org.

Grouper season opens

After being stuck in port for one month, grouper fishermen finally get a chance to fish once again for the Gulf of Mexico's premiere offshore sportfish. Grouper season has been closed since Feb. 15 and anglers are eager to head to deep water and bring home some fish. But as fishermen relish the opportunity to catch these bottom dwellers, many are up in arms because of another looming federal closure. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council is considering new regualtions that would shut down all recreational grouper fihsing in the Gulf of Mexico from Jan. 15 to April 15 starting in 2008. In addition, federal officials also want to reduce the aggregate bag limit from five fish to three fish, only one of which may be a gag grouper. Local tackle shops and charter boat captains say such measures, coming at the height of tourist season, would decimate the West Coast recreational fishery. Anglers are now questioning the government's overall strategy. If grouper stocks are in such bad shape, and anglers may be limited to just three fish, why is there still a commercial fishing industry that is allowed to catch 6,000 pounds of grouper per trip. Many anglers feel that federal officials need to take a new approach to fishery management and re-examine the way stocks are split up between the recrational and commercial sectors. There is a groundswell of support to move the longline fishing fleet out to beyond the 50 fathom line as in required in the other Gulf states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Anglers will have a chance voice their concerns on goruper this Wednesday when the Gulf Council meets at the radisson Hotel, 12600 Roosevelt Blvd., St. Petersburg. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.

Free boats

Well, not exactly. But with the way the marine industry is going these days, it seems like dealers are practically giving boats away. Rising gas prices, a stagnant real estate market and uncertainty about the economy have rattled consumer confidence. As a result, would be boat buyers are thinking twice before adding another payment to their monthly bills.

This is bad for boat dealers, but good for consumers. Boat dealers have inventory on their lots that they have to move and they most are willing to make a deal.

I strolled around Tropicana Field yesterday as vendors were setting up for the Tampa Bay Boat Sale and couldn't believe the packed house. Every foot of floor space was taken up with cruisers, center consoles, ski boats and runabouts. I stopped and talked to a few salesman, each of whom was hoping to go home Sunday evening, minus the inventory.

The show opens today at 10 a.m. If you are in the market for a boat, get there early and walk the floor with with a pen and pad of paper. Take notes on what you see, paying close attention to those features that you can't live without and those you could take take or leave.

When making a major purchase such as a boat, some times it is best to sit back and watch the price. But it this case, it is possible to wait too long. Most dealers have brought boats they want to move. Wait too long and you just might lose the deal of a lifetime.

I talked to one dealer on Thursday who recently cut the sticker price by $30,000 (yes, five zeroes) and threw in a complete set of electronics just to make a sale. The move cut his profit margin in half, but he made a profit nonetheless.

You anglers may just want to head to the show to listen to some of the St. Petersburg Times Captain Corner correspondents at the Gulf & Bay Fishing School. Some of the area's best anglers will be offering around the clock advice on how to catch the big ones.

For more information go to the Tampa Bay Boat Sale.