Category: Outdoors

Posted on

Shark Valley: the perfect place to see alligators, not sharks

Don’t let the name fool you — you won’t find any sharks in Shark Valley. Named for its location at the head of Shark River Slough, this 15-mile loop trail is the perfect spot to get up close and personal with an alligator (from a safe distance, of course!).

Located inside Everglades National Park, right off U.S. Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail), this paved trail is perfect for biking, hiking, and bird watching. There are also guided ranger and tram tours for those interested in learning more about the Florida Everglades — the only place in the world where the American alligator and American crocodile coexist.

This diverse subtropical wetland, the largest in North America, spans more than 1.5 million acres across central and south Florida — half of its original size. Composed of nine diverse ecosystems, the Everglades is home to more than 360 different bird species, 300 fish species, 20+ snake species, crocodiles, alligators, panthers, otters, frogs, and many other mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.

Shark Valley sits right in the middle of the Everglades freshwater marsh and is an ideal location for viewing wading birds — from herons to egrets, ibises, hawks, owls, and anhingas, along with plenty of freshwater wildlife. But the one animal that cannot be missed along the first half of this trail is the alligator.

These majestic reptiles bask motionless in the sun right along the side of the pavement just steps from visitors. While this may seem like a dangerous scenario, these gators are used to people coming and going and rely on their natural habitat for food, meaning they do not seek out people or pets. As long as visitors do not engage in any reckless behavior, such as feeding or harassing the alligators — behavior that constitutes a criminal offense — Shark Valley is perfectly safe for both adults and children.

Midway through the loop, visitors can stop and rest at the Shark Valley Observation Tower. Standing 70 feet high, it’s the tallest structure in the park, with a viewing platform that offers scenic panoramic views of the Everglades.

For those interested in a more daring adventure, Shark Valley offers guided full-moon and new-moon bike tours. Accompanied by a park ranger, riders embark on a three-hour tour where they can embrace the magic of the Everglades and all its nocturnal creatures, including alligators, after dark. Upcoming tour dates include March 4, March 16, April 1, and April 16. Reservations are required and can be made through the Shark Valley Visitor Center at (305) 221-8776.

Shark Valley is located at 36000 SW 8th Street, Miami, and is open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in mid-December to mid-April, and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in mid-April to mid-December. Bike rentals are available on-site.

For more information, tour schedules, and entrance fees, visit www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/svdirections.htm.

Posted on

Run4Beigel: Memorial fund helps send at-risk children to summer camps

Scott J. Beigel was more than a geography teacher and cross-country coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD). Among the 17 souls who lost their lives that fateful day in February 2018, he was a man that impacted lives. Ultimately, he was a man who saved lives by unlocking his classroom so students could find shelter.

To raise money for the Scott J. Beigel Memorial Fund, the annual Run4Beigel takes place April 10 at Pine Trails Park in Parkland. It’s where his team trained and, after their initial meeting, he told them he knew nothing about cross-country running. The team was impressed by his candor, and by his wit. When asked how they could improve, he would simply say, “Just run faster.” According to his mother, Linda Beigel Schulman, he told the team, “You teach me about cross country, and I’ll teach you about life.”

The Format

Beigel won the love and admiration of his team. To honor his memory, they took to social media and within six days of his death organized the first Run4Beigel event. It drew nearly 500 people. This year’s event features the traditional 5K Run-Walk and 1-mile Fun Run, and a 10-mile Two-Person Relay has been added that requires participants to run 5 miles each. Run4Beigel is also being done virtually and runners from around the world will be participating in his honor.

“We expanded to accommodate those who want a bigger challenge,” said Doug Eaton, race director. “The multiple events add a competitive component that never existed before, and we hope to draw friends, family, the philanthropic community, and competitive athletes from running clubs.”

Eaton says the events are a good way to get involved in a wonderful cause. “Scott was a great human being who cared so much about people,” he said. “Honoring him shows the Parkland spirit.” T-shirts will be given to all participants, and winners will receive trophies and cash prizes.

“It’s really a celebration of his life, and there’s a lot of energy because the community comes together as one in his memory,” said Beigel’s mother.

The memorial fund is rooted in Beigel’s love for summer camp. “It was something close to his heart and that’s why my husband Michael and I partnered with Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education (SCOPE),” she said. “It’s an organization that funds ‘camperships’ for at-risk, low-income children affected by gun violence, and it helps youngsters become empowered and more self-confident.”

The Full SCOPE

The organization does not run the camps, but partners are vetted to meet high standards. “The camps help the emotional needs of kids affected by gun violence by offering an environment that is acceptive and responsive to their needs,” said Executive Director Molly Hott Gallagher.

Beigel’s parents found a partner in SCOPE that was experienced in working with underserved youth and had working relationships with accredited camps. “When Linda and I met, we hit it off immediately,” said HottGallagher. “This relationship has been incredible … because of the focus on providing greater financial access so kids can attend camps they could not otherwise afford.”

SCOPE partners with more than 50 nonprofit summer camps. Last year, it provided more than 700 children with a camp experience. “Helping at-risk kids affected by gun violence was very important to Scott,” said Eaton. “Our goal this year is to raise at least $300,000 and help send 200 kids to camp.”

According to Hott Gallagher, some of the organization’s partner camps are free for all children, and SCOPE subsidizes additional costs for meals, travel, programming, and staffing. Since its inception, SCOPE has funded more than 25,000 camperships.

Applicants must be between ages 7 and 16, be enrolled in a public school or public charter school, and qualify for the Free and Reduced Price School Meals program. They must commit to stay in school. Inner-city kids exist in a world where chaos and crime are routine, and they’re more prone to exposure to gun violence. “Summer camp is very therapeutic because it gives kids a chance to be themselves and have fun,” said HottGallagher. “It’s a break from their daily routine, and it’s proven to be psychologically beneficial.”

An Insight

Beigel grew up in Dix Hills on Long Island, NY. He was a self-taught guitarist, runner, teacher, coach, friend, advisor, and jokester. He found his dream job at MSD because it allowed him to teach geography his way, not always out of a book, but about life’s experiences.

Despite his biting wit, he was a humble man who lived by the golden rule of treating others as you would like to be treated. “Scott really never knew how much people loved him,” said his mother. “The first day he was at Douglas, he called to tell me he was the worst teacher in the world. Students who had doubts about him were the ones who loved him the most. Wherever Scott went, he impacted lives.”

Beigel loved to mentor kids and to be a champion for the underdog. He volunteered to teach in Cape Town, South Africa and returned home without any baggage. He told his mother that in America kids worry about what kind of athletic shoe to buy, but over there, kids were lucky to have shoes. “Mom, I left all my clothes for them, because I knew it was something they could really use,” he said. That was the essence of Scott Beigel.

Lingering Pain

“The scar tissue from what happened four years ago hasn’t gone away, but it’s made Parkland an even tighter-knit community,” said Eaton. “We still feel the pain of that day, and in Scott’s memory, we want to make things better. It’s a way in which our community can give each other a collective hug.” The 17 will always be remembered.

For Beigel’s legacy, this quote by Mahatma Gandhi is appropriate: “Life isn’t always about grand gestures, but when living by your values, you can make a difference.”

You can follow Run4Beigel on Instagram and Facebook. To sign up, go to www.run4beigel.com.

 

Posted on

Falling for February skies

From the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia to the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros, there is a lot to love about the night skies of February.

This month’s asterism challenge for beginners: the Winter Hexagon. An asterism is a picture in the sky that is not an official constellation — it might be a small “picture” within a constellation (Orion’s Belt within Orion, for example), or it might consist of stars from two or more constellations. The Winter Hexagon falls in the second category as it includes bright stars from several prominent constellations.

Starting with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, move clockwise to the hexagon’s vertices at Procyon, Castor and Pollux (a single vertex), Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel. Connecting Rigel and Sirius completes the hexagon. Good luck!

Celestial highlights this month:

  • 1 — New Moon. It’s the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects. The temperatures should be comfortable, so take a telescope or binoculars and get out to a dark location.
  • 2. Just after sunset, Jupiter and a very thin crescent Moon should make a beautiful pair in the Western sky. This “conjunction” will place them within about 4 degrees of each other.
  • 9. Venus reaches its peak brightness, as seen in the morning sky just before daybreak.
  • 16 — Full Moon. It’s nicknamed the Snow Moon by some ancient Native American tribes.
  • 16 — Mercury Mornings. Little Mercury is hidden by the Sun’s glare most of the year, but in mid-February, it will be about 26 degrees above the horizon just before the Sun rises. This is one of your best chances to see it this year.
  • 27. There will be a conjunction of Venus, Mars, and the crescent Moon in the Eastern sky before dawn. They will appear in a straight line low on the horizon.

Not just love is in the air this February. Here are some interesting launches:

  • The United States Space Force is planning two launches this month using a powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX and an Atlas V 551 rocket from United Launch Alliance. We haven’t seen a Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019, so it is a long-awaited treat! No specific launch date has been set as of this writing.
  • There is also a tourism mission planned by a private company called Axiom, which will use a Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. Again, no launch date has been set as of now.

Hope you love these winter nights, stargazers!

Posted on

New year’s nights

Congrats on completing another journey around our local star! For the record, you traveled about 584 million miles (940 million Km) around the Sun at an average speed of about 66,000 mph (30 km/s). Alas, your FitBit probably didn’t even give you credit for that… 😊

This month’s constellation challenge for beginners: Orion. One of the most recognizable constellations in the entire sky, Orion the Hunter is a great reference point from which to begin surveying the winter sky. Orion’s Belt is an asterism of three bright stars in a line that is hard to miss. At a roughly equal distance above and below the belt are two of the top 10 brightest stars in the night sky — reddish Betelgeuse above and bright-white Rigel below.

This month’s telescope challenge for beginners: the Orion Nebula. There is a tiny smudge just below Orion’s Belt, forming part of his dagger, which is an enormous star-forming region. It can be seen with the naked eye, so even small telescopes will reveal it as a fuzzy little cloud (“little” because it’s 1300 light years away!). And for slightly larger scopes, look for four very luminous, newborn stars very close together at the heart of the cloud. They are in a somewhat trapezoidal arrangement and, thus, are called the Trapezium.

More celestial highlights this month:

  • 2 — New Moon. We start out 2022 with some particularly dark skies (minus the Moon’s glow) — enjoy!
  • 3/4 — Quadrantid Meteor Shower. With only a crescent Moon out, this should be a nice meteor shower to see from dark skies. Best seen after midnight, but, as always, no binoculars or telescope needed — just lay back and enjoy some “shooting stars”!
  • 4 — Perihelion. Believe it or not, this day marks the closest that Earth will be to the Sun in 2022. Earth’s orbit is nearly a perfect circle, so our slightly varying distance from the Sun during the year has a negligeable effect on our seasons. Remember, it is Earth’s 23-degree tilt that produces its seasons.
  • 7 — Mercury at its greatest elongation. We don’t get many chances to see Mercury compared to other planets (it hangs out near something called the Sun). But this evening will feature our Solar System’s fastest-moving planet at about its highest possible point above the Western horizon after sunset (still relatively low in the sky, though).
  • 17 — Full Moon. This moon was named the Wolf Moon by early Native American tribes.
  • Throughout January. Various launches are planned from Kennedy Space Center, though none seem to have a confirmed launch date as of the writing of this article.

Enjoy the brilliant and bountiful winter constellations and happy hunting in Orion. Wishing you and yours a pleasant journey on your next trip around the Sun.

Posted on

Fish for fresh grouper before year’s end

The grouper season in South Florida closes for four months on January 1, so time is running short to catch one of the hard-fighting, great-tasting fish.

The good news is that now is the best time of the year to catch grouper according to the legendary Capt. Bouncer Smith, who retired after 54 years of running fishing charters in Miami Beach.

Live-baiting around coral reefs and wrecks is the most popular way to catch grouper. Boaters can either anchor up-current or drift or troll with their baits.

“Probably the most consistently productive bait that is readily available is pinfish,” Smith says, noting they can be caught on hook and line or in a pinfish trap. “With that being said, if you caught live ballyhoo and slow-trolled them in 15 to 50 feet of water, wherever you find a reef edge, they’re very, very effective.”

But, adds Smith, there’s an even better live bait for grouper — a baby bonito of 1-3 pounds.

They can be caught trolling a homemade, Sabiki-like rig consisting of some small spoons and bonefish jigs with a small trolling lead in front of them. Meanwhile, Smith says, your grouper fishing rod is already rigged with a 9/0 triple-strength circle hook and a 120-pound leader about 20 feet long, tied to a three-way swivel with a 1- to 3-pound weight attached to a short piece of monofilament tied to the bottom of the swivel. His preferred mainline is 80- or 100-pound monofilament because the line stretches without breaking when you apply maximum pressure on a grouper to prevent it from heading back into a reef or wreck.

“You’re trolling those little lures around all the wrecks out to 200 feet, and at some point, you’ll catch baby bonitos, which are very prolific in the fall,” Smith says. “As soon as you catch a baby bonito, you hook it through the upper lip and you drop it down on the upstream side of the wreck. And you better have all the drag you can afford.

“That live bonito is the No. 1 black grouper food you can drop down. It’s a great bait anytime, but the little bonitos are very common in the fall and the black groupers get common in the fall.”

Another tried but true, but seldom used tactic that works for grouper is to troll dead baits along coral reefs, which was perfected more than 50 years ago by Capt. Buddy Carey of the famed Pier 5 charter fleet in Miami. Smith says the technique is still effective and not that difficult to master.

“The grouper see something going by that looks like it might be edible and they’re out to get it,” Smith says. “They come charging up off the reef.”

Smith trolls skirted ballyhoo, using a planer to get the bait near the bottom where the grouper hang out. A planer is a small, rectangular, weighted piece of metal that is attached to the mainline of a fishing outfit at one end and to a long leader at the other end.

When it is deployed, the planer, which comes in different sizes that travel at different depths, glides down through the water behind the boat. Depending on the size of the planer and how much fishing line is put out, the bait can be presented at a depth that will attract the attention of any fish in that zone.

Smith rigs the ballyhoo on a 7/0 triple-strength 3417 Mustad J hook at the end of a 100-foot length of 100-pound monofilament leader attached to the planer. He uses dual-speed Penn International reels, size 30 or larger. In low gear, the reel can pull a grouper away from a structure. Then, the high gear setting enables an angler to get the fish quickly to the boat, before a shark can bite it.

“The grouper on occasion will come up and hit the ballyhoo on top of the water, but basically you want the bait about 10 feet off the bottom,” Smith says. “If it’s real close to the bottom, they’ve got the advantage of getting back into the bottom. And if it’s too high, then a lot of them will say, ‘Oh, that one’s too far away.’ But generally speaking, they come charging up to get that morsel going by.”

Smith says that anglers can learn how to precisely troll for groupers by practicing with a planer over a sandy bottom. When the bait starts hitting the sand, mark the fishing line and record the RPMs of the engines. The next time you troll, run at the same speed and let out the same amount of line, and you’ll know how far down your bait is running.

The grouper season closure, which runs through April 30 in Atlantic waters, was implemented in 2010 to allow the populations of black, gag, and red grouper to increase in number and in size, as well as to protect the fish during their spawning seasons.

The minimum size limit for black and gag grouper is 24 inches and reds must be 20 inches. Anglers can keep a total of three grouper per day, but only one can be a black or a gag. The other two, or all three, can be red grouper.

Follow Capt. Bouncer’s advice and you’ll be able to enjoy several delicious meals of fresh grouper for the holiday season. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until May.

Posted on

Look to November for fishing mutton snapper

After a cold front sweeps across South Florida in November, Capt. Abie Raymond knows that it’s time to fish for mutton snapper.

Now is when the tasty snappers gather on reefs in shallow water to take advantage of the reduced water clarity caused by the wind and waves. The limited visibility allows the sharp-eyed muttons to aggressively feed on ballyhoo, a baitfish that is plentiful this time of year.

“When you get a northwest wind, a little cold-front wind, and you get that north swell that creeps down and splits the gap between the coast of Florida and the Bahamas and agitates the bottom, all the way into the first reef especially, you’ll get this milky water in there,” Raymond says. “It’s just sediment in the water, and it makes the ballyhoo so much easier for the muttons to catch. Once that water gets dirty, they can ambush them way easier.

“You can catch muttons decent on the clear days, but when you’re sitting in a boat that’s anchored, it’s so much better when the water’s a little bit dirtier.”

The first step in catching mutton snapper for Raymond, whose Go Hard Fishing (gohardfishing.com and @abie_raymond) runs out of Bill Bird Marina in Miami Beach, is to catch ballyhoo. As he drives his 28-foot C-Hawk center console south from Haulover Inlet to Key Biscayne, he looks for the baitfish jumping out of the water.

When he spots “showering” ballyhoo, he anchors near a patch reef in 20 feet or ties up to a mooring ball on a reef and puts a block of frozen menhaden chum in a fine-mesh chum bag. That way he doesn’t “over-feed” the ballyhoo.

His preferred way to catch ballyhoo is with an 8-pound Shakespeare Ugly Stik rod with a 2500 Penn Spinfisher reel. To the end of the 8-pound monofilament line, he ties a tiny No. 20 gold hook baited with an even tinier piece of frozen shrimp, then he floats it back to the baitfish, which pick the offering off the surface. He uses a de-hooker to drop the ballyhoo into the livewell without touching the baitfish.

With plenty of bait, Raymond anchors near patch reefs in 10 to 30 feet of water from Cape Florida in Key Biscayne to North Key Largo. Then he puts the same ground menhaden he used for the ballyhoo in a chum bag with larger mesh and puts out two ballyhoo, one on each side of the boat.

The baits are hooked on ½- or ¾-ounce jigs. Raymond prefers Hookup Lures jigs — chartreuse is his favorite color, but pink and white also are effective — and says Troll Rite jigs work well. He breaks off the ballyhoo’s bill with an upward snap and runs the jig hook through both of the bait’s lips and through the front of its skull to keep the hook in place.

The ballyhoo are fished on 7-foot, 20-pound Ugly Stik rods with 7500 Penn Spinfisher reels spooled with 20-pound monofilament line and four-foot, 30-pound fluorocarbon leaders. (The dirty water and light mono allow Raymond to use shorter leaders compared with anglers who use 30-foot leaders for wary muttons.) He ties a four-wrap spider hitch in the main line and attaches that to the leader with an eight-wrap no-name or Yucatan knot. He attaches the jigs with an improved clinch knot.

Unless he has patient anglers, Raymond leaves the mutton outfits in the rod-holders.

“The reason I have them sit in the rod-holder is because they need to be real still,” he explains. “Customers have a tendency to want to wind and wind and wind. The rod-holder doesn’t have that tendency.”

Patience also is essential for letting the chum attract the snapper, as long as there is some current. As Raymond notes, “The longer you can sit on one of those patch reefs and wait to get a quality fish or two, the better. If you can allocate about two hours at one patch reef and let that chum really get established and let those fish really settle in and come running from all the other patch reefs, a lot of times you’ll do better. If you don’t have current, you give it half an hour, 40 minutes and you move on to the next one.”

While waiting for the muttons to show up, Raymond has his anglers fish some lighter spinning rods with strips of ballyhoo and drift the baits back in the chum slick for yellowtail snappers. Or he’ll have his anglers fish fresh dead shrimp on the bottom to catch porgies, hogfish, groupers, and yellowtails.

As good as the fishing can be this time of year, Raymond typically has the patch reefs to himself because so few anglers realize that mutton snapper can be caught in such shallow water.

“Most people just run right past that stuff,” says Raymond of when schools of ballyhoo jump out of the water as they’re being chased by the snapper, along with hungry sailfish and dolphin. “It’s usually happening in 20 to 60 feet of water and most people think that’s probably bonitos in there, that’s probably mackerel in there. Not this time of year. Most of the big muttons I caught last year were in less than 70 feet of water.”

So instead of going deep for mutton snappers, follow Raymond’s game plan and you’ll come home with enough fish for several delicious dinners.

Posted on

The skies of October

The drier, cooler weather of October brings with it improving conditions for sky-watchers!

Here are some night-sky highlights this month:

  • 6 — New Moon. With the moon absent in the night sky, this is the best time to make that (safe) trip to the Everglades to view “deep-sky objects” such as nebulas, star

clusters, and galaxies!

  • 7 — Draconids Meteor Shower. Although not one of the premier meteor showers, it’s one of the few that performs well before midnight. And, with moonlight being a nonfactor, it might be worth a trip to a dark location to try to witness a “shooting star” or two.
  • 16 — Launch of the Lucy Mission on a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. Amazingly, this spacecraft will visit eight different asteroids over the course of 12 years, seven of which orbit the sun on either side of the planet Jupiter (so-called Trojan asteroids).
  • 20 — Full Moon, aka the Hunter’s Moon.
  • 25 — Mercury at its best. You don’t get that many chances each year to catch a glimpse of this small world, but the morning of the 25th is as good as it gets. It will be found low in the Eastern sky just before sunrise, so get the coffee brewing early!
  • 29 — The brightest planet in our sky, Venus, will dazzle throughout October but will reach its highest perch on the evening of the 29th. It will be visible halfway up the Western sky (470) just after sunset. If the sky is clear, you simply won’t be able to miss it! (And you will understand immediately why so many ancient cultures made it their goddess of beauty.)
  • 31 — Launch of the SpaceX Crew-3 Mission on a Falcon 9 rocket will send four astronauts inside a Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. So, if all goes as planned, there’ll be a dragon in the sky this Halloween! 😉

Happy viewing, friends!

Posted on

September means snook season on the Atlantic

Snook fight hard and are delicious to eat, and there’s no better time to catch the fish than in September.

Snook season opens on Sept. 1 after a three-month closure on the Atlantic coast. One of Florida’s most popular saltwater gamefish, snook are protected during the summer because that’s when they gather at inlets as they prepare to spawn and are easy to target.

After spawning in South Florida, many snook head back into the Intracoastal Waterway and local canals. But a bunch remain in inlets, as well as off beaches and around fishing piers, where they can be caught on live bait and a variety of lures such as jigs, plugs, and soft-plastic baitfish imitations. That means land-based anglers have just as good a shot at catching a snook as those fishing from boats.

Because snook are so fun to catch and so good to eat, they are intensely managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Anglers are allowed to keep only one snook per day with a total length of 28 to 32 inches along the Atlantic coast.

The season is closed from June 1 to Aug. 31. Open season is Sept. 1 to Dec. 14, and then it closes Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, when the potential for cold weather can make snook so lethargic that unethical anglers could simply scoop up the fish with a landing net. The season reopens from Feb. 1 to May 31.

For anglers without boats, the fishing piers in Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach are good places to try to catch a snook, but it can be a challenge. One of the great mysteries of the undersea world is why snook that are caught and released at fishing piers all summer suddenly stop biting when the season opens.

It’s not that the fish have left the piers — you can usually see snook swimming in front of the underwater camera at Deerfield Pier (https://deerfield-beach.com/1474/Live-Cameras) — it’s that they’re not too interested in eating. Nevertheless, a few people always manage to catch a keeper snook.

Some anglers use sabiki rigs to catch baitfish such as pilchards, then put the baits back out on heavy outfits with egg sinkers to keep them near the bottom where the snook hang out. You can also use a small gold hook baited with a piece of shrimp to catch small jacks, pinfish, and croakers for bait. Or you can buy some live shrimp, the bigger the better, to tempt a snook to bite.

When fishing from piers at night, the best place to fish your bait is along the shadow line in the water, because snook typically lurk on the dark side of the line and ambush baitfish that swim along the edge.

Boat docks and bridges also harbor snook this time of year. Snook hang around pilings and wait for the tide to bring baitfish or shrimp. Anglers who fish at night prefer bridges and docks with lights and, like pier anglers, fish their baits and lures so they drift from the light side of the shadow line to the dark side. If you’re fishing a dock without lights, cast your lure or bait under the dock and let it sink to where the snook are waiting.

Tom Greene of Lighthouse Point, who has fished for snook for more than 60 years, said bridges across the Intracoastal Waterway in Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, and Boca Raton can be snook hot spots at the start of the outgoing and incoming tides. The fish will almost always be on the down-current side of the bridges.

Greene said he’d cast a Flair Hawk jig and bounce it on the bottom parallel to the bridge and along the shadow line. He also recommended working a Spooltek lure along the bottom.

“The secret of snook fishing is that snook are feeding on the bottom, not on top,” said Greene, although he acknowledged that the fish will occasionally hit a top-water lure.

Those who prefer to fish in canals can try the Hillsboro and Cypress Creek canals anywhere west of U.S. Highway 1. Greene suggested slowly trolling diving plugs from a small boat early in the morning and in the evening. He said kayak anglers should fish early and cast plugs or DOA plastic shrimp around seawalls and docks.

Rain also plays a role in snook fishing this time of year. After heavy rains, spillways in South Florida are opened to release the excess water into the Intracoastal Waterway. Snook wait at the spillways to feed on small freshwater fish such as bluegills, shad, and shiners that are swept through the water control structures.

Greene said the top spillways include the Cypress Creek in Pompano Beach and the Hillsboro in Boca Raton. His favorite way to fish the spillways is to hook a live or dead bluegill, shad, or shiner through the bottom of the mouth and out through the top on a 1/2- or 3/8-ounce jig. He casts the bait into the fast-moving water at the mouth of the spillway and bounces the jig on the bottom.

“I would find myself at a spillway at daylight and fish that,” Greene said. “If you can’t make the daylight bite, fish a spillway late in the afternoon. If you have to work all night, you can still fish them in the middle of the day because fish at spillways will eat all day.”

And if you’re successful, you’ll be eating fried or grilled snook for dinner.

Posted on

Space … the finally here frontier

Have you ever looked toward the night sky and wondered what exists beyond our pale blue dot?

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with one of South Florida’s own local astronomers, Kyle Jeter. A teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School since 1994, he started teaching the very first astronomy course in Broward County in 1997, originally just titled “Research.”

Recognized as the 2017 Broward County “Teacher of the Year,” Jeter certainly has had some out-of-this-world experiences. In 2018, he was selected for the Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador Program, in which he had the rare opportunity of visiting the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, one of the premier research and observation telescopes in the world, at 16,000 feet with an oxygen tank. Jeter also had the unique experience of being invited on the inaugural zero-gravity flight for teachers in the United States in 2005, and he flew once again in 2007.

There are so many wonderful reasons to look toward the sky with wonder at this time in history, as we embark on space exploration as we never have before.

For the astronomy novice, Jeter has many suggestions to get started. First, he recommends two apps you can download on your phone to aid in your stargazing and cosmic knowledge. They are “Stellarium,” a free app to learn about the constellations in the sky, as well as “Starwalk,” an app that allows you to point your phone in real-time toward the firmament to learn more about what you are viewing at that very moment.

Continue reading “Space … the finally here frontier”

Posted on

Beautiful Japanese gardens right in our backyard

 

After I moved to South Florida last summer, I heard about the numerous wetlands walks, nature preserves, and wildlife parks in the area. I was planning to explore many of them, especially if they were all outdoors, as it was still the middle of the COVID pandemic. 

One place that was recommended to me often was Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. So I decided to go there with relatives when they came to visit. And I liked it so much, I went back again a couple months later with other visiting family members.

The first time I went, I was floored by the beauty and tranquility of the park. I’ve been to many botanical gardens and similar lushly landscaped parks, but I hadn’t been to one like Morikami before. They call it “Roji-en: Garden of the Drops of Dew,” and it was designed by Hoichi Kurisu. The park comprises six distinct gardens that are inspired by significant gardens in Japan. 

After arriving, you go through a large building that houses the museum, gift shop, and café, and once outside, you descend down a wide staircase to a utopian setting below. There is a gorgeous pond in the center, with walkways that lead to the left and right of it, which make a large circle meandering through the different gardens around the pond. 

In addition to the abundant trees, topiaries, plants, flowers, stone structures, and bubbling brooks, we enjoyed peeking over bridges and seeing fish, turtles, and even an alligator sunning itself in the pond. In the various quiet oases we found, one highlight was the traditional bonsai garden. And we discovered other peaceful green corners where we could immerse ourselves in the serenity and zen of the place.

Being from out of state, I was surprised to learn about the century-old connection between Japan and South Florida, where “a group of young Japanese farmers created a community intended to revolutionize agriculture in Florida,” according to Morikami literature. My mom and I were fascinated to hear about the rest of its history:

“In 1904, Jo Sakai, a recent graduate of New York University, returned to his homeland of Miyazu, Japan, to organize a group of pioneering farmers and lead them to what is now northern Boca Raton. With the help of the Model Land Company, a subsidiary of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad, they formed a farming colony, Yamato, an ancient name for Japan.

“Ultimately, the results of their crop experimentation were disappointing and the Yamato Colony fell far short of its goals. By the 1920s the community, which had never grown beyond 30 to 35 individuals, finally surrendered its dream. One by one, the families left for other parts of the United States or returned to Japan.

“In the mid-1970s, one of the last remaining settlers, George Sukeji Morikami, then in his 80s, donated his land to Palm Beach County with the wish for it to become a park to preserve the memory of the Yamato Colony.” Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens debuted in 1977, as a living monument and a bridge of cultural understanding between George Morikami’s two homelands.

After we learned about the history of the place and strolled through all its verdant gardens, my family and I walked over to the open-air terrace café and had delicious Bento Boxes for lunch. 

It was quite a day enjoying what are the most authentic Japanese-style gardens outside of Japan and then topping it off with an equally authentic Japanese lunch.

To visit, go to https://morikami.org.

Jennifer Merrill is a recent transplant to South Florida from northern states. 

Posted on

The co$t of owning a horse

“A pony is a childhood dream; a horse is an adult treasure.”

—Rebecca Carroll

Many people dream of one day owning a horse. The allure is even greater in a place like Parkland, long known for its equestrian community. But before diving in headfirst, there are a number of factors to consider, especially given that the average lifespan of a horse hovers around 30 years, making them long-term companions. 

“A pony is a childhood dream; a horse is an adult treasure.” —Rebecca Carroll Many people dream of one day owning a horse. The allure is even greater in a place like Parkland, long known for its equestrian community. But before diving in headfirst, there are a number of factors to consider, especially given that the average lifespan of a horse hovers around 30 years, making them long-term companions. Aside from the initial purchase investment, horses require costly ongoing care. Tack and Grooming According to Ellie Scofield, owner of Spectrum Saddle Shop in Coconut Creek, essential grooming supplies average $50, and tack (saddle, bridle, girth, and pad) can range from about $350 for the essentials to thousands for show-level equipment. Boarding If you don’t have property equipped for horses, then you’ll need to board yours at a nearby stable. The following facilities offer monthly rates that include a private stall, bedding, feed (both hay and grain), stall cleaning, water, and turnout. Millpond Stables, Coconut Creek — $1,000 monthly Wattland II, Coconut Creek — $900 monthly or $300 monthly for stall only Jump On In INC, Parkland — $850 monthly Galloways Farm, Parkland — call for a customized quote. Lessons To refine your horsemanship skills, you’ll want to continue training in the discipline of your choosing. Millpond Stables teaches English and Western at a rate of $75 per hour. At Wattland II, lessons are $60 per hour and include instruction on grooming and tacking, a beneficial feature for new riders/owners. Jump On In INC teaches Hunters, Jumpers, Equitation, and Western. All lessons include basic horsemanship skills and are $65 per hour. At Galloways Farm, dressage lessons run from $65 to $80. Equine Vet and Farrier Your horse will require annual vaccinations, dental care, deworming, and hoof trimming/shoeing. Treatment for medical emergencies can cost thousands, though there are insurance plans available to help offset some of these costs. Even if you can afford the cost of upkeep, horses also require a significant time commitment. Boarding rates do not include grooming and exercising, which you’ll need to do regularly, not only to maintain your horse’s health and happiness, but to develop a bond as well. For those unsure if they’re ready for horse ownership, there are alternate options available to see if ownership is right for you. Many barns have leasing opportunities, and horse rescue ranches offer sponsorship programs and riding privileges. [Put in sidebar box?] For those itching to jump in, here’s some takeaway advice from the experts: “Make sure you get help. Watch and learn. Horses are very, very delicate.” 
—Dawn Watt, owner of Wattland II “You don’t become a rider in a day. Horsemanship takes time to learn. This is the only sport in the world where you are dealing with something that has its own mind.” 
—Amanda Myman, owner of Jump On In INC “Listen to your veterinarian, trusted trainer, and professionals, as well as good, experienced friends. Having horses is hard work, expensive, and one of the best experiences in a lifetime for both kids and adults!” 
—Ellie Scofield, owner of Galloways Farm

Aside from the initial purchase investment, horses require costly ongoing care. 

Tack and Grooming 

According to Ellie Scofield, owner of Spectrum Saddle Shop in Coconut Creek, essential grooming supplies average $50, and tack (saddle, bridle, girth, and pad) can range from about $350 for the essentials to thousands for show-level equipment. 

Boarding 

If you don’t have property equipped for horses, then you’ll need to board yours at a nearby stable. The following facilities offer monthly rates that include a private stall, bedding, feed (both hay and grain), stall cleaning, water, and turnout. 

  • Millpond Stables, Coconut Creek — $1,000 monthly 
  • Wattland II, Coconut Creek — $900 monthly or $300 monthly for stall only 
  • Jump On In INC, Parkland — $850 monthly 
  • Galloways Farm, Parkland — call for a customized quote. 

Lessons 

To refine your horsemanship skills, you’ll want to continue training in the discipline of your choosing. Millpond Stables teaches English and Western at a rate of $75 per hour. 

At Wattland II, lessons are $60 per hour and include instruction on grooming and tacking, a beneficial feature for new riders/owners.

Jump On In INC teaches Hunters, Jumpers, Equitation, and Western. All lessons include basic horsemanship skills and are $65 per hour. At Galloways Farm, dressage lessons run from $65 to $80. 

Equine Vet and Farrier 

Your horse will require annual vaccinations, dental care, deworming, and hoof trimming/shoeing. Treatment for medical emergencies can cost thousands, though there are insurance plans available to help offset some of these costs. 

Even if you can afford the cost of upkeep, horses also require a significant time commitment. Boarding rates do not include grooming and exercising, which you’ll need to do regularly, not only to maintain your horse’s health and happiness, but to develop a bond as well. 

For those unsure if they’re ready for horse ownership, there are alternate options available to see if ownership is right for you. Many barns have leasing opportunities, and horse rescue ranches offer sponsorship programs and riding privileges. 

For those itching to jump in, here’s some takeaway advice from the experts: 

  • “Make sure you get help. Watch and learn. Horses are very, very delicate.”
    —Dawn Watt, owner     of Wattland II
  • “You don’t become a rider in a day. Horsemanship takes time to learn. This is the only sport in the world where you are dealing with something that has its own mind.”
    —Amanda Myman,     owner of Jump On In INC 

  • “Listen to your veterinarian, trusted trainer, and professionals, as well as good, experienced friends. Having horses is hard work, expensive, and one of the best experiences in a lifetime for both kids and adults!”
    —Ellie Scofield, owner of Galloways Farm

Posted on

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

It used to be that May and June were the best months for dolphin fishing in South Florida, but that has changed. August and September are now the best times for catching the colorful, delectable fish from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys.

“I think the last few years, August is the peak,” Capt. Abie Raymond said. “September usually has some big ones, but not as many numbers.”

Raymond is a Miami Beach native whose Go Hard Fishing (gohardfishing.com, @abie_raymond) offers offshore and inshore charters as well as trips in Miami-Dade County’s freshwater canals for peacock bass, largemouth bass, and clown knifefish.

In addition to witnessing firsthand the transition from a springtime dolphin bite to a summertime bite, Raymond has come up with a couple new techniques for catching what is considered one of South Florida’s favorite saltwater fish to eat.

For starters, he uses minnow-sized pilchards that he nets before he heads offshore to attract dolphins to his boat around weed lines, weed patches, and floating debris, which he searches for from the tower of his 28-foot C-Hawk center console.

“It fires the dolphins up and it gives you more opportunities,” said Raymond of the inch-and-a-half-long baits. “They keep the dolphins around your boat. You don’t have to worry, ‘Oh, where’s my rod? Where’s my bait?’ while the dolphins are swimming by.

“You just grab a scoop and throw it overboard. The baits swim back to the boat for shelter and the dolphins bust them all over the place for 10 minutes while you’re taking your time, rigging your rod, tying a new plug on, a jig, whatever you want.”

Raymond said the idea came from seeing dolphins spit out little baitfish as they jumped or hit the deck of his boat. He also saw the baits after filleting dolphins.

“Their stomachs are packed with them. That’s the kind of stuff they’re picking out of the seaweed,” Raymond said. “So I figured they’ve got to eat the heck out of them and they’re not going to get full on them. That’s the beauty of it. You’re not going to overfeed them like you would with big bait. Even if the fish shut off, you throw a scoop and they start blowing up. It turns them on immediately.”

The tactic worked to perfection on a trip with Raymond and his father, David, out of Bill Bird Marina in North Miami Beach.

After Raymond spotted a couple of dolphins near a weed patch from his boat’s tower, he climbed down, dipped up about eight of the little baits, and flung them into the water. Those two dolphins and a bunch of their schoolmates quickly surrounded the boat. 

Raymond baited several lightweight spinning outfits with small pilchards as well as with some bigger pilchards.

At one point, David Raymond and I were both reeling dolphin to the boat and a third fish was on an outfit that Raymond had hooked while he was trying to reel up the bait to get the line out of our way. He stuck that rod in a rod-holder so he could gaff our fish.

Raymond’s dolphin outfits — a 10-pound Ugly Stick rod with a 3500 Penn Slammer reel spooled with 20-pound braided line with a 2/0 J hook — produced a fun, exciting fight with the schoolies, which weighed 5 to 10 pounds. 

“The braid is so strong and so durable,” Raymond said, “and those little reels now are so capable drag-wise, it eliminates the need for heavy tackle.”

Raymond does bring out heavier spinning outfits — 7-foot rods with Penn 7500 Spinfisher reels with 20-pound braid — for another new tactic for catching dolphins around weed lines.

He uses a fishing kite to put a skirted ballyhoo 50 feet behind his boat and another skirted ballyhoo 100 feet back. With his boat 100 to 150 feet away, Raymond trolls the baits along weed lines and across weed patches. The lure-ballyhoo combos look like flying fish, which dolphin love to eat, as they skip across the water.

Raymond wriggles a dead ballyhoo back and forth with his hands to break the entire spine, which gives the baitfish life-like movement when it’s in the water. He also breaks the tail to prevent the bait from spinning, squeezes out any intestinal matter, and breaks off the bill with an upward snap.

He inserts a 7/0 Mustad 3407 triple-strength J hook through both lips and through the front of the bait’s skull to keep the hook in place, and slides a weighted skirt or feather — a Jet Head, Billy Bait, or Sea Witch — on top of the ballyhoo. 

The lure’s weight helps keep the bait in the water instead of flying above it. Raymond uses a 1-ounce skirt on the far bait and a half-ounce skirt on the short bait.

The hook placement in the ballyhoo’s head instead of its belly, as in a trolling bait, is virtually weed-proof, especially positioned directly behind a skirt.

“If you have to go through patchy grass, it doesn’t matter because your hook is out of the water,” Raymond said. “We’ll drag the baits right over it, and that’s what makes it advantageous. You don’t have to worry about constantly picking grass off your baits.”

Now’s the time for dolphin fishing

And that means you can spend much more time enjoying the best dolphin fishing of the year.

Proudly powered by WordPress