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The 2016 Python Challenge Attempt at Removing This Snake from FL. Environment

APtravelnews–December 2nd,-Florida News Release from FF&WCC-This coming year, with the help of our partners, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida are hosting the 2016 Python Challenge™. This month-long invasive species awareness campaign will again include a public competition to remove nonnative Burmese pythons from public lands in Florida. With expanded participating areas, the lands where participants can search for and remove pythons have more than doubled.

Are you up for the Challenge? Register for the Python Removal Competition and compete to see if you can harvest the longest or the most Burmese pythons and win grand prizes of $5,000 in the team category and $3,500 in the individual category. 

We are providing frequent hands-on training for people who want to learn more about how to capture pythons, both before and during the event. The 2016 Python Challenge™ will kick off at the Invasive Species Awareness Festival on Jan. 16, 2016 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Details about trainings, competition rules and registration, prizes and events are posted atPythonChallenge.org.

Remember – you can help conserve the Everglades, one of our national treasures. Join the 2016 Python ChallengeTM!

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Florence Alabama, Where FAME Music Started in 1959

 

Florence and Muscle Shoals is proud to have hosted many of the top music entertainers known and loved world wide.
Florence and Muscle Shoals is proud to have hosted many of the top music entertainers known and loved world wide.

APtravelnews-December 1st,-Bob and Barb “On the Road Again” this time in Muscle Shoals, AL.-Music is like mans heart beat. So when FAME was established with entities such as FAME Publishing, FAME Recording Studios, FAME Records, and Muscle Shoals Record, word got out that “great” sounds were coming from Muscle Shoals and so in 1961 FAME moved over from Florence to the Shoals. FAME has had some of the greatest artists in Rock Music history. Artists such as Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Otis Redding, the Osmonds, Jerry Reed, Alabama, Mac Davis, the Gatlin Borthers, Bobbie Gentry, and many others. More recently FAME has recorded projects for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Matisyahu, Band of Horses, Drive by Truckers, the Civil Wars and Jamie Johnson to name just a few. Tours are available with very knowledgeable guides by calling 256-381-0801.

Lots of gold was mined at the FAME Studios.
Lots of gold was mined at the FAME Studios.
The action section of FAME during a guided tour.
The action section of FAME during a guided tour.

In 1969 Rick Hall’s House band, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section left FAME and partnered with Jerry Wexler to found the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, , AL. The studio owned by Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Roger Hawkins, and Barry Beckett cranked out hits on the Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Bob Seger, Traffic, Rod Stewart, Cat Stevens, the Staple Singers, Levon Helm, Joe Cocker and a whole bunch more. The Rhythm section was eventually immortalized as “the Swampers” by Lynyrd  Skynyrd in the lyrics to “Sweet Home Alabama.” Call Bonnie for tour information at 256-394-3562

Peace love and music the Cher generation!
Peace love and music the Cher generation!
The sound mechanics and full scale detail hub of record making.
The sound mechanics and full scale detail hub of record making.

Gag grouper recreational harvest closes in most Florida Gulf waters in early December

 

Gorgeous grouper surprised us in Paradise, all day long!
Gag grouper surprised us in Paradise, all day long! They were all released during their season except for the 7-pounder we(I)  caught.

APtravelnews- Game and Fish news release- Nov. 30th,–Gag grouper will close for recreational harvest in most Gulf of Mexico state waters Dec. 4, with the last day of harvest being Dec. 3. All Gulf federal waters will close Dec. 3, with the last day of harvest being Dec. 2.

State waters off Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties were open from April 1 through June 30 and were not open during the July 1 through Dec. 3 season. Monroe County is also excluded from the July 1 through Dec. 3 season because it follows Atlantic rules for gag grouper.

The FWC manages marine fish from the shore to 9 nautical miles in the Gulf of Mexico.

To learn more, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Gulf Grouper.”

 

Enough Species of Freshwater Fish Keeps Anglers Coming To the Sunshine State Year-around.

Barb loves to fish when she has an edge and doesn't have the whole day to hopefully hook a neighbor with shoulders enough for us to spar with! She has become an Al's lover too!
Barb loves to fish and she is showing a largemouth 7-pounder, caught in one of the thousands of retention ponds in Florida. This rain-catcher pond behind our home is chock-full of threadfin shad and all manner of bass, including invasive Peacock bass too!

APtravelnews-November 29th,-Bob and Barb On The Road Again-PSL, Florida. With about 5,444 lakes and innumerable ponds and waterways, retention ponds, etc. there are many species of rod-bending fish in Florida fresh and brackish waters.  The primary species are Largemouth Bass, Peacock Bass, Crappie-Speck, Asian Snakehead, Sunshine Bass, Suwannee Bass, as well as so many sunfish and brim varieties as well, not to mention the hundreds of species of foreign invaders released by people, tired of their aquariums and releasing all manner of Amazonian critters into the Everglades water shed. These invasive species find their way into waterways all across and up and down the state.  Given the fact that there are more than 34-species of freshwater fish that can be caught on rod and reel, there is no wonder fishing is one of the primary pursuits of visitors who visit the Sunshine State.

The largest Lake in Florida; Lake Okeechobee has more Largemouth bass and Crappie (Specs) than any other lake in Florida, and has active sport fishing guide services as well. The neophyte angler believes that Largemouth Bass are an easy hookup and catch, but bass being living creatures, are cold blooded fish affected by a whole range of variables that can often make them seem to have a strong case of “lock-jaw.” The power a savvy angler has over these big mouth predators is understanding how to match the hatch. This is similar to a fly fisherman picking a fly that as closely as possible mimics what they are feeding on at that time-frame. Believe me, bass can change their feeding pattern almost in an instant. If you can find out what they are feeding on (as I did this morning when my Al’s Goldfish treble hook snagged a silver threadfin shad about 3-inches long) I realized why my gold Al’s Lure wasn’t getting strikes, so I changed to a silver Al’s 2.5 inch and took strike after strike, with the resultant jump and dodge again and again. I had successfully matched the hatch! The important thing I’ve learned whether I trout fish with fly’s or bass fish with lures is taking the time to scope out where the fish are biting, what they are biting on and just taking the time to think out a plan of action before I go and  blow my shots by being too hasty trying to get my lure into the water!

wounded warrior heath crappie
Crappie (Specs) are not very difficult to catch. You just need to know when and on what they are biting on. These fish are a few we caught on Lake Norris in TN.