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!
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.”
My 10-pounder, but I didn’t enter it! I will if there’s a next time!
APtravelnews-November 17th, Port St Lucie, FL, Bob and Barb On the Road Again–This is a copy of The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission news piece.(FWC) just concluded Season 3 of the Trophy Catch citizen-science, conservation rewards program for anglers who catch, document and release largemouth bass greater than 8 pounds. One angler caught the biggest bass in three seasons and, for the first time, a woman joins the ranks of Hall of Fame winners in a big way. Now it is time to celebrate. FWC staff will honor the 15 lucky anglers who entered a total of 17 Hall of Fame bass weighing more than 13 pounds each at a ceremony Dec. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in Bass Pro Shops in Orlando.
Hall of Fame anglers receive a free fiberglass replica of their first catch prepared by New Wave Taxidermy, gift cards from Bass Pro Shops, a SpiderWire sweatshirt and sunglasses, a Fitzgerald rod and Glen Lau DVD. They also receive 10 extra chances to win a Phoenix Bass Boat with a Mercury outboard and Power-Pole anchoring system in a random drawing of all TrophyCatch registrants. Every angler who registers for TrophyCatch, whether he or she submitted a fish or not, is entered for one chance to win the TrophyCatch Phoenix Bass Boat. The drawing is typically in November and the boat given away in December.
Bass Pro Shops, host of the event, is a major sponsor of TrophyCatch (TrophyCatchFlorida.com) and awards gift cards for each of the three club levels: The Lunker Club (8.0-9.9 pounds; $100), The Trophy Club (10.0-12.9 pounds; $150) and the Hall-of-Fame Club (greater than 13 pounds; $200). TrophyCatch requires each bass to be legally caught and released after photographing the entire bass (head to tail) on a scale.
Tom Champeau, director of the FWC’s Division of Freshwater Fisheries Management, will be at the event with KP Clements, TrophyCatch director, to present the rewards.
“TrophyCatch is providing FWC biologists with important scientific information to better manage Florida’s valuable freshwater fisheries,” Champeau said. “It is a great example of citizen-science supported by corporate partners to ensure that Florida remains the ‘Fishing Capital of the World.’”
Keith Allen from the American Outdoors Fund will award the angler who caught the heaviest verified bass of Season 3 with the TrophyCatch Championship ring. Seth Chapman caught a 15-pound, 11-ounce bass last March from Kingsley Lake, Clay County, to claim not only the largest bass this season but for all three seasons. Former season winners include Bob Williams, Season 1, and Brooks Morrell, Season 2.
Porschia Gabrielse is TrophyCatch’s first female Hall of Fame winner. She did it in style with her largest verified bass weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces. It was just one of three Hall of Fame entries she submitted. She is now the overall leader with 41 approved submissions.
Other anglers with bass over 15 pounds this season included Len Andrews, George Smock and George Canova. Among the 15 Hall of Famers, four of them are out-of-state residents, emphasizing how important recreational fishing is to tourism.
Join the FWC Dec. 11 to celebrate these great anglers and their willingness to provide important data to FWC for conservation and releasing what for many would be a catch of a lifetime. Also “Like” us at Facebook.com/TrophyCatchFlorida to see more about each of these anglers and the latest TrophyCatches as well as to learn who the finalists are for this year’s random Phoenix boat drawing and to learn when and where the boat will be given away. Subscribe to YouTube.com/TrophyCatchFlorida to check out past winners and be notified when the new winners’ videos are posted.
From the miasma, life came! But only due to water being created by G-D’s plan of nature!
APtravelnews- August 21st–Goose Holler’ Farm, TN.—Water! H2O is a whole lot more than just being wet, thirsty and clean. Water is life itself!
All water that was ever on, and in earths atmosphere, going back to the beginning is still here. We and all animal and plant life are predominantly made up of water. The problem with water today is how it’s used and abused, wasted to undrinkable, flushed away and mixed with dangerous unnatural chemical compounds rendering it useless and unhealthy for the support of life and most important of all; taken for granted. Just ask anyone in California if today, they take water for granted, or the peoples of desertification all over the arid nations of the world, how they think of water! The bottom line is; today with a world population of billions and compare these numbers to the few millions of peoples of the past, water is being used by a modern, unprecedented amounts of peoples and businesses from agricultural to every possible niche in every aspect of life’s uses and needs, from direct need in human waste and hydration needs, to every social and business requirement. Take a look at Las Vegas, it’s fountains and pools, lawn and landscape watering, and what are they about to do? Take down the big lake that Hoover Dam has created. Las Vegas is frantic now that wonderful dry heat they tout also is evaporating waters by a factor of 20-percent per day!
According to an article in Eating Well March and April 2015 “fully 50-percent of your water footprint is devoted to your diet (food and drink) think about this: just one cup of tea takes 9-gallons of water to create that tiny bit of tea. 1 oz. of chocolate needs 127 gallons to create that cocoa bean. For a 3-oz. piece of beef it takes 347 gallons, an oz. of almonds-120 gallons, a 3 oz. piece of chicken 98-gallons, a cup of coffee 34 gallons, a glass of wine 24 gallons to make that vine that matures and offers those grapes.” A few more general stats and tips: The daily water footprint of the average American is 2000 gallons per day (both direct and indirect usages) that’s about double the worldwide average and this is an equivalent of running the dishwasher 400 times. When taking a 10-minute shower you use about 25-gallons. Aiming for a 5-minute shower or less and you can save about 300-gallons a month.” Look I can go on and on, but bottom line is; where it’s possible to save water, or anything we routinely use. Think about all the possibilities and act. You can save a whole lot more than just dollars! Remember many new companies who have started up bottled water businesses in the recent past are all now highly successful multi-million dollar businesses. Quality of water injected with chlorine for purification bred a whole new enterprise out of need!
