Florida is a fishing paradise, let’s face it. Offshore, inshore, or inland it doesn’t matter, there’s fish. A boat goes a long ways in providing fishing flexibility, but not everyone wants to maintain a boat or weather the costs involved in owning one. Renting one isn’t a cheap endeavor either.

Fortunately, this fishing paradise has alternatives all over the state. There’s 58,560 square miles within the Florida borders. 4,308 square miles of that is water, and there’s 1,197 statute miles of coastline, with over 660 miles of beaches. Inland, there are more than 11,000 miles of rivers, streams and waterways. The St. John’s River alone is 273 miles long, and by the way, one of only two rivers that flows from south to north in North America.

Along with all that water are countless bridges, docks, piers, and of course miles of fishable beaches. All you need is a license, time and tackle, and you’re in the fishing mix. Nowadays you don’t even need a license to fish from the beach.

Among the available fish are snook, pompano, whiting, sharks, sheepshead, and blues. That’s just saltwater. The bass population speaks for itself as far as freshwater goes.

The war between fishermen and lawmakers over snapper fishing is heated as a crematorium furnace on the south pole. On Thursday, July 15^th, new legislation was introduced that has both sides working the debate of the Atlantic snapper fishery hard.

For those of you unaware, there is a law already in effect that bans all snapper fishing in areas of the south Atlantic from North Carolina to Cape Canaveral. Florida’s concern is from south Georgia to Cape Canaveral. There is also legislation on the table to ban all bottom fishing. The depth of effect on all levels of fishing would be devastating, but so would continued overfishing, if that is truly the case. Thus, the debate rages.

In the days of whaling there was an experience known to those adventurous types known as a “Nantucket Sleigh Ride”. This harrowing experience was derived from harpooning a whale from a small boat, lashing the harpoon line to the bow, and hanging on as the tonnage angrily blasted through the water with the crew in tow. When the whale was finally tired and the crew’s adrenaline rush had subsided, the whale would be finished off with a lance.

In Florida, the closest we can get to that salt water rush is with a large snook or tarpon and a rod and reel while fishing from a kayak. The thrill and danger is far less but still pretty doggone rewarding if you can latch into a fish large enough.

Whether you ever get that level of thrill or not, fishing from a kayak is still pretty rewarding. Cruising quietly along, inches off the water, with the popping of fish tails, and the slight slapping of the water against the hull can be calming and exciting in the same minute.

We in Florida are much like Aussies in one aspect…there seems to be a large contingent of people who like hunting large reptiles capable of relative speed and considerable anger. The bigger the better. I am, of course, referring to our huge population of the rebounded ‘gator. With the population stable since the mid-eighties and growing, the FWC has, in the past couple of decades, issued permits for people to challenge death and attempt to bring home the timeless, almost mindless, but definitely not defenseless denizen of the swamp and some people’s back yards.

For those with this particular itch I deem as a death wish, our ever so cooperative officials at the FWC are offering free, yes free, three hour classes on how to better your odds at getting one of the last known dinosaurs. Actually, it covers more than the safety aspect, and delves into the hunt, proper techniques for getting them and processing, and believe it or not, even tells you how to take care of the hide.

Marco Island has been described as Magical, Mystical, and Alluring. The attraction is tropical sun-washed white beaches and a casual easy paced lifestyle. Sunshine, frolicking dolphins, and all of the water and sun sports that go with the beaches are available for your pleasure. Known to have a variety of great game fish, huge fish, fighting fish, and great eating fish, Marco Island is said to be one of the best places for a large variety of world-class fishing year round.

According to recent fishing reports from the Keys, the mangrove snapper fishing is at its peak right now. The waters around Islamoradora Island in the Florida Keys are perfect for fishing right now and reportedly unaffected by the BP oil spill.

Captain Dave "The Mad Snooker " has been busy hoisting in good numbers of snook with his clients. Captain Dave reports that they have been catching 30+ in just under 4 hours! Now, he won't promise that you will catch giant snook all the time, but you will catch loads of snook, even big snook, and maybe get lucky enough to wrestle one of the giants!

The fishing has been good even though it's been hot. The water temperature has heated up but there are certainly some strange things happening anyway. How about the sheepshead biting at the jetties and in the river? Can you believe the sheepshead is fired up? Now "fired up" during the summer time months isn't like the fall, winter and spring firing up but we've been catching anywhere from 10 to 20 sheepshead in the past couple of weeks. I certainly call that "fired up" for this time of the year.

The Black Drum is another species that fires up during the cooler water temperatures in the fall, winter and spring but we're still catching them right in the middle of summer. Tarpon have been all up and down the rocks at the jetties when the tide slacks off. It doesn't seem to matter if it's high slack or low slack, but they're out there before and after each change of tides.

The oil in the Gulf has finally been stopped, for the most part. I sure hope they keep it stopped so many of the fishermen and women can enjoy their sport as well as make a living over there. I see that NOAA has re-opened some of the previously-closed areas to fishing. That's a relief to a lot of people over there.

With the fall boat show season fast approaching, it is time to start thinking about advertising. Getting the best “bang-for-your-buck” is not always easy when choosing which way to spend your hard-earned advertising budget. But now you can offer your inventory to “Hot Prospects” at an extremely low advertising investment per boat by using the Boat Shopper and Florida Marine Times magazines in conjunction with the upcoming boat show season. If you advertise in the designated show editions, not only will your ad appear in our street edition, reaping the benefits of our high impact distribution, additionally we will be at popular boat shows handing out thousands of books with your ad(s) in them. Because they are FREE, they reach even more potential customers for you.

If you want to get your products in the hands of your customers then advertising in the Boat Shopper and Florida Marine Times during the upcoming boat show season is essential. Our goal is clear: make your advertisement easily accessible to anyone in the market for new or used boats and accessories.

Space is limited; call today to reserve your ad(s) in Boat Shopper and Florida Marine Times and get your ad in the hands of thousands of prospective buyers at these popular shows! Call Mr. Green at 1-800-367-1723 for details and restrictions. Our graphics design team is ready and waiting to create a full color custom ad, built exclusively for you, in order to meet your individual advertising needs. Allow us to get you the best “bang-for-your-buck”and bring customers to your door.

For centuries scholars and lay people alike have wondered about the effects of the sun and moon on everything, from the gravitational pull on the earth to the mindset of the mentally ill patient on the psychiatric unit. In ancient times many of the gods that were worshiped were based on the sun and moon.

But today much more is known about the lunar and solar events and how they affect the earth and nature, and the correlation between various natural events and the position of the sun and moon. Many early solar calendars were astonishingly accurate, and to this day a sundial will still accurately tell you the time of day. Fishermen can use the knowledge of the moon cycles to increase the chance of a successful catch.