This year, angler contributions amounted to more than $160,000 to help the find a cure for childhood cancer. John Cumberland of Lutz reeled in a grand slam of redfish, snook and trout on the waters of Tampa Bay.

Guided by Captain Tim Drummond, Cumberland caught a total of 83.5 inches to become the overall winner in the pro-am catch, photograph and release fishing tournament.  Because this tournament was a qualifier for the Florida Keys Outfitters/International Game Fish Association Inshore World Championship in Islamorada July 7-9, 2009, Cumberland will be representing PCF this summer.

In other honors, John Tortorella, the former Tampa Bay Lightning coach, was presented the Ted Williams Award at Friday night’s Fishermen’s Ball, This award honors an individual with a love for the outdoors who is dedicated to his community and to children’s causes. 

Captain Bret Gamrot received the Lucky Strike Award, which recognizes a tournament guide who displays excellent character, quality service and a commitment to finding a cure for pediatric cancers.

You can keep your brown pelican, when it comes to a bird that represents all that is special about this great state, I'll vote for the osprey.

And apparently so will most of the middle schoolers in Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has announced that the osprey is the winner in a statewide vote of fourth- through eighth-graders to be Florida’s new official state bird.

The FWC and the Department of Education dreamed up this little experiment in democracy to help get the state's youngsters more involved in the great outdoors.

Students across the state did their share of research on birds, and even held debates as they searched for an alternative the current state bird, the mockingbird.

But the lesson is not over. You can follow this initiative as the students’ selection will go through the legislative process to decide if the osprey should become the new state bird.

The FWC has prepared a bill that will go before the Legislature early next year. The bill must be approved by the House, the Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist before the osprey is officially designated as the state bird. To learn more go to http://www.vote4bird.org./.

More than 77,000 students voted for the top ranking birds which included the snowy egret, great egret and black skimmer.

The weather may picture perfect for weeks at a time, then a cold front blows through, muddies the water and scatters the bait.

"It has been tough," said Steve Papen of Fintastic Charters who palace sixth in last weekend’s Southern Kingfish Association tournament out of John’s Pass. "Bait was really tough to find and that makes all the difference in the world."

Veterans such as Papen spend long hours looking for bait. He typically likes to enter a torunament with 100 baits in his livewell, but this time of year he will settle for 50.

Most of the Gulf’s wrecks and artificial reefs also hold baitfish this time of year, but these well-known spots tend to get hit hard during the week.

So it is doubtful you will see any anglers fishing this weekend’s Old Salt King of the Beach tournament at any of the more popular spots close to land. When big money is on the line, these waterborne warriors may run as much as 50 miles across heavy seas to fish a spot that has not been worked by other anglers.

But if the wind blows and muddies the water, all bets are off.

The state has a strong conservation movement and as a result, many species that suffer in other regions are thriving here under sound management practices.

Anglers, at both home and abroad, can thank a long-seated public-private partnership for the state's success. Not only have Florida's fishery managers helped protect various species, they have also been pioneers in raising more saltwater fish for stocking efforts.

An initiative by the Wildlife Foundation of Florida and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, partnered with various private institutions around the state, calls for six or more new fish hatcheries to be built in coming years. These new facilities will cost roughly $8 to $10-million each and be phased in over a ten-year period beginning in 2009.

The money will come from industry supporters, private donors, grants, government bodies, non-profits, academic and private fisheries research institutions, as well as concerned citizens and average anglers.

Sportfish are already being produced at the state's Port Manatee Fish Hatchery on the banks of Tampa Bay. Another hatchery should come on line on Florida's East Coast sometime in 2010.

The red drum (redfish) raised in the West Coast facility are regularly caught by anglers. For more information, go to http://www.wildlifefoundationofflorida.com/

The snapper closure occurs each year to help rebuild overfished stocks in the Gulf. Spotted sea trout, a tightly-managed, but highly-successful conservation story, are protected during a two-month closure to help keep population levels strong.

Snapper fishermen are often confused by the regulations. That is because state and federal regulators have two different seasons. The recreational harvest of red snapper in Gulf federal waters closed on Aug. 5.

The red snapper sport season is scheduled to reopen on April 15 in Gulf state waters and on June 1 in Gulf federal waters. One would think these two bureaucracies would get together and come up with a plan that is a little less confusing.

For spotted sea trout, all harvest and possession is prohibited from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 in all waters south of the Flagler-Volusia county line in the Atlantic and south of a line running due west from the westernmost point of Fred Howard Park Causeway, which is about 1.17 miles south of the Pinellas-Pasco county line in the Gulf.

The recreational harvest of spotted sea trout will remain open until February in northeast and northwest Florida waters.

for more information, go to the myfwc.com.

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.

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.

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

The kid's event is part of the Old Salt Loop Tournament, a five-day offshore fihsing adventure that is now in its 37th year. The West Coast of Florida isn't known for its marlin and sailfish, but they are out there in the Gulf of Mexico, you just have to travel to get them.

The boats left Thursday and will be back on Sunday with photos of their catch from the "Loop Current." The public is invited to come down to Vinoy Park from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m,. for the official "weigh in."

If you are planning to fish the kid's tournament, all you need is a fishing pole. The Old Salts will provide the shrimp and squid. And if that is not enough, formeer Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mike Alstott will be handing out the awards afterwards. Anglers must pre-register.