Surf's up

With hurricane season a few days a way, it is time to start keeping track of the weather reports, looking for that first low pressure system to start spinning of the coast of Africa.

While I hope no killer canes threaten the good people of this state, or any one else for that matter, I wouldn't mind getting a chance to try out my new surfboard sooner than later.

The key to catching waves is being in the right spot hours, if not days, before the storm passes by. One of the best websites to keep track of storm surf is Gulfster. Click on the forums and you'll tap into some spirtied discussions by folks who take their sport, or more correctly, their lifestyle, seriously.

But this is just one of the many websites you can surf to surf. Skip Maxwell, an old friend from days as a lifeguard on Clearwater Beach, has a shop on Gulf to By called Double Barrel Surf & Skate. Skip is religious about tracking waves. Here are a few of his favorites: aurasurf, intellicast, noaa buoys, surfline and double barrel's own wave reprot, updated daily.

Stingers

Sharks, stingrays ... now you can add Portuguese Man of War to the list of nasty sea creatures that can ruin a trip to the beach. A Clearwater lifeguard's recent encounter with a Portuguese Man of War that left him badly burned was not a typical occurrence.

"I can't remember ever having anybody hit by one of those before," said Joe Lain, who has been the Water Safety Supervisor for Clearwater for 19 years. "I have seen them before, but this was pretty unusual."

Man of war are more common on the Atlantic Ocean where surfers, scuba divers and swimmers learn to avoid their nasty sting. Isolated specimens are occasionally observed offshore in deep water, but seldom close to shore.

"We have had a strong west wind and maybe it got blown in from the Loop Current," Lain speculated.

But Floridians should consider themselves lucky. In Queensland, Australia, the other "Sunshine State," beachgoers must contend with the dreaded box jellyfish. These "nasties," as the Aussies call them, can send you into cardiac arrest.

Twenty years ago, paddling off Cairns, I ran into a former surfer-tuned-kayak guide who met with a "sea wasp" a few years earlier and still had the scars to prove it. This poor bloke actually died on the beach but was resuscitated by his mates.

So thank your lucky stars that you don't live in Oz and have to wear a lycra "stinger" suit every time you go for a swim.

(Photo: Dozens, if not hundreds of Portuguese man-of-war washed up on the beach at Pass-a-Grille in 2003. Times -- Lara Cerri. Click to enlarge.)

Wiley coyote

State wildlife officers are searching for a coyote in Lee County that that has eluded them after wreaking havoc among the local canine population.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Susan Love was walking her two dogs - a 2-pound Pekingese and a 20-pound unidentified breed - when they came across the wily coyote. The 20-pounder challenged the coyote which then retreated into the darkness.

But things didn't fare so well for Lance Franklin, who was out waling his 2-year-old Malti-poo after dark. A predator, presumably a coyote, grabbed the dog and fled.

On May 17, Yeadon Hyer was walking his Pekingese about a mile away from the two previous attacks when the coyote struck again. Hyer, 71, tried to fight off the beast, breaking two toes in the process, to no avail.

State wildlife officials the same animal may be responsible for all three attacks. Coyotes, a clever cousin of your common pooch, have been slowly spreading out through Florida over the last 25 years. Officers advise dog owners to carry a flashlight or walking stick.

A noisemaker will also work, but only if it makes the sound, "mheep mheep."

(Pictured: A coyote that was caught in New York's Central Park in 2006. AP photo. Click to enlarge.)

Monster wahoo

What started as a typical day kingfishing turned into an epic battle for Team Lagerhead at last weekend's FLW Kingfish Tour event in Sarasota.

Brian Simmons, Corey Alley and Capt. Steve Papen were fishing aboard Doug Speeler's Contender about 170 mile offshore of Sarasota when they hooked what they thought was just another kingfish. At first we thought we had hooked a real moose," said Papen, who has a string of tournament victories under his belt. "It was a real beast."

But Papen knew it was no ordinary king mackerel when it took off for a 60 mph an hour run. Only one fish int he sea is capable of such speeds and that is the wahoo.

"I have caught my share of 50 pounders before," Papen said. "But I never heard of a wahoo this big being caught in the Gulf of Mexico on this coast."

When the anglers finally landed the fish, it measured 71 inches long and weighed 94 pounds. Papen quickly checked the record books int he 20-pound test category and was disappointed to learn that he did not have a world record.

For the record, the largest wahoo ever caught on 20 pound test was landed in Bermuda in 1961 and weighed a whopping 115 pounds. But the 16-pound test record was caught in 1991 in Gulf Breeze and weighed 94 pounds 8 ounces.

(Photo: Courtesy Steve Papen. Click to enlarge.)

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.