No excuses, go fishing

Today is National Hunting and Fishing Day, but since hunting season is closed right now, play it safe and go wet a line.

The state estimates that more than three million residents and visitors fish or hunt in Florida each year, contributing more than $8 billion (yes, that is billion with a "b") to the economy and supporting more than 85,000 jobs.

In these hard economic times, many families are turning to fishing instead of taking the usual vacations, i.e., Disney World, Busch Gardens. Fishing is relatively inexpensive. Once you buy the basic equipment, you don't need to pay a fee every time you go, as with golf or bowling.

And anglers are the vanguard on the conservation front. Sportsmen - hunters and fishermen - started the conservation movement. Organizations such as Ducks Unlimited have fought to preserve habitat, which is essential for fish, birds and a wide variety of mammals and reptiles.

But do yourself a favor, instead of letting the kids sit inside this morning and watch cartoons, head down to your nearest tackle shop and buy yourself of bucket of bait. If you don't catch anything, at least you'll get a tan, and you can always go home and make a nice shrimp cocktail with the leftovers.

To learn more about fishing in Florida, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Camping weather

When I woke up this morning, the air was cool and dry. Time to break out the tent and head for the woods.

Like many campers, I've been waiting months for an excuse to build a fire and sleep outside. Sure, you can camp during the summer, if you have to, but I would much rather wait until Autumn, when the nights are crisp and the skies are clear.

For at least two thirds of the year (September through April), Florida is a great place to camp. Granted, we don't have mountains, but we do have barrier islands. Grab a kayak, paddle out to Anclote Key and pitch your tent beneath the pine trees. You'll forget pretty darn quick that you live in a major metropolitan area that is home to four million people.

Florida has hundreds of good camping spots, but the best book early. I try to enter the fall with my "camping plan" firmly in place. I've already booked more than a half dozen campsites for my scout troop and at least a half dozen more for official "work" adventures with my crazy gang of friends. (Yes, when you're the outdoors editor, you do get paid to camp.)

Some of my favorite spots to camp locally include Pinellas County's Fort Desoto Park, Myakka River State Park in Sarasota County and Lake Kissimmee State Park, east of Lake Wales. If you don't mind a drive, Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine can't be beat.

Jaws captain dies

Frank Mundus, the legendary Long Island charter boat captain fictionalized in the movie Jaws, died last week. He was 82.

No fisherman, surfer, swimmer or scuba diver for that matter, will ever forget Robert Shaw's character,  Quint, from the 1975 blockbuster.

"This shark, swallow you whole," the rough and tumble charter boat captain told the panicked citizens of a resort town. "For ten thousand dollars...you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing."

In real life, Mundus fished out of Montauk, on the South Fork of Long Island, where he began "monster fishing" in the early 1950s. He once harpooned a 17 and 1/2 foot great white which weighed an estimated 4,500 pounds.

Mundus never though much of the film that made him famous. According to the New York Times, he thought it was "the funniest and the stupidest movie" that he had ever seen. In his later years, Mundus became a quasi-conservationist, switching to circle hooks and participating in government-sponsored tagging programs.

Today, many species of sharks are now considered onthe decline and most forward-thinking anglers refrain from killing these creatures, unlike the famous captain