Space Coast Junior/Senior High School in Cocoa is among five Florida schools that have received privately sponsored grants for organizing fishing clubs for students.

It’s part of a program supported by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to get more high schoolers interested in sportfishing.

The FWC has partnered with the Fishing League Worldwide Foundation and the Bass Federation’s Student Angler Federation in offering $500 grants from the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation for forming the clubs, particularly in schools with diverse student populations.

Most of the clubs accent freshwater bass fishing and form teams with the goal of competing in state and national high school tournaments.

Amber Nabors, an official with the FWC, said the grants help support club-sponsored tournaments and the purchase of team jerseys and insurance.

“The program not only benefits the students, but program participants and their families receive education on conservation programs, aquatic and marine biology and boating and angler safety,” Nabors said.

The clubs, which are open to boys and girls, also receive assistance in completing conservation projects.

The Space Coast Anglers at Space Coast Junior/Senior High hold regular meetings and the members compete for an Angler of the Month award. They take part in community projects that have included neighborhood cleanups and manning booths at sporting shows.

Nabors pointed out that club members don’t have to come from a single school.

“Students from several schools may come together to form a team or club and fishing is one of the few sports where both male and female students can compete as teams at the same level,” Nabors said.

College scholarships are even available for bass fishing. Currently nine colleges in Florida have teams affiliated with the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series. Among them are the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida and Florida State University. The UF team is included on a list of the top 25 fishing colleges.

Ample grant funding is available so groups are encouraged to apply. Applications are available at www.highschoolfishing.org. Click on Join Now.

For more detail contact Nabors at Amber.Nabors@myfwc.com.

A first for BASS

For more than 30 years the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) has made few changes in the format of its tournaments. But that will change on July 19-22 when the first Bassmaster Classic Bracket Tournament is held on New York’s Niagara River.

The top eight finishers in the recent Elite Series at Cayuga Lake headed by winner Kevin VanDam from Kalamazoo, Michigan, will compete in a head-to-head, angler vs. angler format.

There’s no entry fee and $50,000 will be paid out, with $10,000 and a spot in the 2017 Bassmaster Classic going to the winner.

The pros will be credited with the weights of their five heaviest bass in each round but in place of a weigh-in, all fish will be weighed, recorded and released by onboard officials where they are caught.

Each angler will fish from a boat and he can run to his chosen location prior to the start. Everyone will fish the same amount of time during rotating morning and afternoon sessions.

In the two-day quarter final round VanDam, the No. 1 seed, will go up against No. 8 seed Drew Benton of Panama City; No. 2 Jordan Lee of Grant, Alabama, vs. No. 7 Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Arizona; No. 3 Brett Hite of Phoenix vs. No. 6 Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas; and No. 4 Jacob Powroznik of Port Haywood, Virginia vs. No. 5 Koby Kreiger of Bokeelia, near Fort Myers.

The semifinal round on July 21 will pit the match one winner vs. the match two winner, and match three winner against match four winner. The weights will start at zero and all with fish six hours starting at 8:30 a.m.

Those winners then go into the July 22 championship round, again with weights starting at zero, and the six hours starting at 8:30 a.m.

Bassmaster LIVE will broadcast daily with a camera in each boat. Fans can watch on Bassmaster.com on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and on WatchESPN and ESPN app on Wednesday.

“For the fans it’s really going to bring a new look to the sport,” VanDam said. “I know the coverage is going to be better. When you have a live camera on all the competitors the whole time that makes it a lot of fun.

“You’re not competing against the fish here. You know you’ve got to beat this other guy or you go home. It’s a unique format, and I’m looking forward to it.”

New reef near Pompano

A 324-foot tanker ship from New York City is scheduled to become an artificial reef on July 23 for divers in 120 feet of water 1.5 miles offshore Pompano Beach in South Florida.

Named the Lady Luck, organizers say the ship will be the world’s only underwater faux diving casino, complete with interactive art exhibits.

It will be the centerpiece of Shipwreck Park, an underwater cultural arts park with 16 other existing wrecks with underwater art exhibits. Displays will include a swim-through cascade of large dice, a card-slinging octopus and hustling table sharks as part of the Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park sponsorship.

On the day of the sinking, the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort and Spa will host a Ship Sinking Barbecue Fundraiser. Price is $75 a person.

Contact Bill Sargent at sargentwb@gmail.com.

  Oahe Marina and Resort owner Steve Rounds asked the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission, Thursday, to allow spearfishermen to take game fish such as walleyes in Lake Sharpe between Oahe Dam and the John C. Waldron bridge between Pierre and Fort Pierre.

Rounds said he’s planning a fundraiser Aug. 13 for the Make-a-Wish organization. As part of that event, he wants to hold a spearfishing tournament. Rounds said he believes he could attract more people to the tournament if they had the chance to spear walleyes and smallmouth bass.

Right now, spearfishermen aren’t allowed to shoot gamefish above the Waldron bridge. They can, however shoot rough fish, such as carp.

Two years ago, in 2014, a similar effort failed. The idea then was to open all of Lake Sharpe to game fish spearing for two weeks. The effort was fiercely opposed by local anglers. Eventually, Game, Fish and Parks officials cited safety concerns as a reason not to allow the temporary expansion of spearfishing on Lake Sharpe.

"It blew me away," Rounds said of the 2014 decision.

For Rounds, spearfishing represents a much-needed business opportunity. He said he’s suffered mightily since the 2011 flood. The flood itself caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the Oahe Marina and Resort, which is the privately run concessions vendor at the state owned Oahe Downstream Recreation Area.

The damage has since been repaired, but the loss of rainbow smelt in Lake Oahe has meant salmon fishing, which brought Rounds many of his late summer visitors, has collapsed.

"The salmon fishing is gone," Rounds said. "It’s the salmon fishing that’s killing me."

He’s a scuba diver himself and said the portion of Lake Sharpe between Oahe Dam and the Waldron bridge is one of the top five freshwater dives in the country. Being able to reliably hold spearfishing tournaments in that area could be a boon to his business, Rounds said.

"There are big organizations that would like to use this area for spear fishing," Rounds said.

Allowing game fish spearing above the Waldron bridge requires a resolution from the Game, Fish and Parks Commission, not a new rule. That means it doesn’t need to go through the formal rulemaking process, which requires a proposal and 30-day public comment period.

Rounds will need to submit a formal, written request to the commission asking for the temporary change. The commission then would put the request on the agenda for its August meeting in Pierre.

Scrolling through his social media news feed, Winnipeg resident Todd Longley takes note of the numerous images popping up of some of his friends proudly hoisting a sizable catch. One is a snapshot of a 42-inch, 37.5-pound channel catfish, a species that most anglers view as an impressive catch at around half that size.

The thing is, most of these boastful fish-pics aren’t coming from the tranquil scenery of rural Manitoba, they’re being fished from within the city.

Longley is a major player in the city’s urban fishing scene, an advocate for the Canadian heritage sport with deep roots in The Peg. He started his own guiding company, City Cats, back in 1999 that specializes in taking clients on fishing trips throughout Winnipeg, and he’s also a member of the Urban Angling Partnership, made up of the provincial government, city and private sector sponsors.

“We have a world-class fishery in our own back yard,” Longely says. “There’s nowhere in Winnipeg that’s more than 10 minutes away from good fishing.”

Urban fishing, of course, is just another way of saying fishing. But what it really means, according to David Clark, member of Ontario’s Toronto Urban Fishing Ambassadors, is making the best of the fisheries local to your community rather than getting into a car and driving off to a rural destination, while reconnecting with the city’s natural landscape. Most urban fishing is done from the shore, although there are still a number of rods cast from boats, canoes and even kayaks around the city. But most often, Clark says, you’ll see urban fishers toting their gear to and from on foot, cycling, or on transit.

And urban angling is a popular pastime in Winnipeg.

“[You’ll see] a lot of people out,” Longely says. “It’s such a chill, contemplative activity in a city where everyone is constantly looking for something to do.”

“A big part [of the urban fishing scene] is understanding your local watershed, river, streams, lakes and ponds,” says Clark.

Getting to know the art of fishing, for sport or hobby, means getting to know your environment, which is ideal for city dwellers who may spend much of their leisure time surrounded by concrete and construction.

“Once you get outside and start to walk along your local watershed, you see how beautiful the landscape really is,” Clark says. “It becomes more about the nature ... an experience with wildlife.”

Many of Canada’s largest cities have programs at municipal and grass-roots levels that promote the sport and leisure activity by offering skills clinics, gear shares or ‘hot spot’ maps in some form or another. Cities like Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal boast major bodies of water that are ripe with aquatic life, and their urban angling communities have been steadily growing.

Some of the most popular fishing spots within Winnipeg include the Assiniboine Riverwalk at The Forks, Midwinter Park and Fraser’s Grove, where you’ll find a bevy of cast rods on any given day with many “Manitoba moments,” says Longley, “when the fish goes back into the water unharmed.”

For the most part, urban anglers like Longley practice catch-and-release, though he is quick to point out that nearly anything you reel out is edible, the main exception being the protected sturgeon species.

Along with ongoing community events, including the Winnipeg Fish Festival, Fall Fishing Derby and Generation Next Angler series, the UAP is also involved with a youth outreach program that sees children gather at community centres where they’ll spend early mornings digging up bait, before being transported to the water to learn the skills necessary to reel in a catch. They even get to keep the rod.

Still, there’s an important factor in getting newcomers hooked, says Longley.

“I find they need to have success before they really get into it. I recommend [a youth or beginner] go with somebody who knows what they’re doing. Once they see someone catch, or catch one themselves, they’re hooked.

“Fishing is something that doesn’t break the bank. You don’t need a boat, you can fish right off shore,” Longley says. “It’s a good activity for a whole family to develop memories they can take with them forever.”

“If you’re willing to put in the effort, there are big catches in a city,” Clark adds. “If you become a good urban angler, you’re better at fishing anywhere you go. You’ve developed your presentation of bait and techniques in a place where it’s more difficult to hook them, and that skill will catch you fish anywhere else.”

Anglers KP Enderle, right, tested the waters with his line along with Pat Caldwell on a recent morning near Prior Lake. Kayaks for fishing generally have more stability, more room for gear and easy access to gear. Although the popularity of kayaking Bullfrogs croaked and red-winged blackbirds trilled as seven kayakers fanned out on a small, woodsy metro lake south of Interstate 494 on a recent Friday.

“Fish on!” one of the ’yak captains shouted as Jeremy Curtiss of Rosemount pulled back on his fishing rod to reel in a largemouth bass.

This was a casual, early-morning outing among friends in the Minnesota Kayak Fishing Association, arguably the fastest-growing subgroup of anglers in the state. Since forming in 2013, the association has attracted slightly more than 900 members. And on this sunny June morning they made an excellent showing by catching lots of bucketmouths, including several that were longer than 17 inches.

The popularity of kayaks as fishing platforms in the Land of Lund and Alumacraft has surged even though the overall kayak boom in the state has tapered off. Between 2000 and 2013, Minnesota kayak registrations more than quadrupled to about 58,000 units. Since then, according to DNR data, kayak registrations have dipped to about 55,000 boats as of last year. Meanwhile, kayak fishing enthusiasts say their sport undoubtedly is growing.

“The sport is taking off here and it’s fun to watch,” said Ron Strauss, president of the kayak fishing association.

So … what’s so great about fishing from a kayak and what is the gear commitment? The answers vary from angler to angler.

Grant Carston, 31, of Montgomery, Minn.

His 13-foot-long Old Town Predator kayak is almost 3 feet wide and equipped with fish-finding electronics. Previously poised to fish bass tournaments by motorboat, he dreamed of qualifying for the pro Bassmasters Classic. But when his young daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that causes her to have seizures, he quit his job to put caregiving first. Now he’s a player in the national Kayak Bass Fishing league because it keeps him close to home and spares him the big-money outlays required for a powerful boat, travel and equipment. The professional kayak fishing he does in Minnesota is scored via digital photographic entries against competitors from other states.

Carston fishes often, even when he is short on time. That is because his kayak gives him easy access to an array of productive fishing holes. He thrives on the low operational cost and the simplicity of hauling a kayak vs.a boat.

Ron Strauss, 57, of Roseville

Kayak fishing isn’t new, just new to the Upper Midwest. A strong manufacturing base has grown up around demand in Florida, other parts of the Southeast, California, both coasts, the Northwest and inland states like Missouri.

The only fuel you burn is calories, and most fishing kayaks are rigged with sit-on-top chairs. Plenty of fishing kayaks are powered by paddle, but more expensive models like Strauss’ 12-foot Hobie Pro Angler are pedaled like a bike. A pair of underwater fins propel the boat and a hand-controlled rudder steers it.

Strauss grew up a walleye angler and most members of the association target bass in their kayaks. His personal quest this year is to hook a 40-plus-inch northern. When that happens, he expects to get pulled around on the water like a bobber. “It’s more exciting to fish up close,” he said.

KP Enderle, 51, of Mound

Enderle likes the laid-back atmosphere of kayak fishing. “Boaters can be a little more aggressive,” he said. A favorite run for Enderle in his 34-inch-wide Vibe Sea Ghost 130 is to put into the Mississippi River 8 miles north of Clearwater and float-fish around the islands before exiting at Clearwater Outfitters. It’s a smallmouth bass factory if you're fishing from a kayak.

He first tried kayak fishing when he lived in California 10 years ago and loved it. He never did it again until he moved back to Minnesota in 2014, and he now finds himself in a fraternity of guys who welcome newcomers.

Pat Caldwell, 47, of Prior Lake

He operates a fleet of Perception Swifty Sports kayaks that are 9-feet-6-inches in length, weighing 44 pounds. The boats are suitable for the Active Solutions youth summer camps he runs because they are stable, easy to paddle, track well on the water, fit into a 6-by-12-foot trailer and can be handled by children during unloading and loading. And in Minnesota, boats under 10 feet long don’t need to be registered.

Caldwell sees kayak fishing as a new gateway to the outdoors at a time when recruitment of young anglers and hunters has become an important issue. Just two years ago, he started an advanced kayak fishing camp for children in middle school and high school. It’s a sport that can lead to early success and ignite passion for fishing, discovery and conservation. For young people, kayak fishing can be an outlet of responsible independence because of its affordability, safety and fun factors. In seven years, he’s only had one student flip a boat.

Jeremy Curtiss, 34, of Rosemount

You can spend nearly $4,000 on a fully loaded fishing kayak equipped with factory-installed GPS electronics, mini-solar panels, live wells and GoPro-ready side mounts. Or, like Curtiss, you can spend a few hundred dollars on a vessel and customize it with your own choice of inexpensive equipment. All together, Curtiss said he has invested about $1,200. He’s on the water five to six times a week and out-fishes many of his contemporaries. Kayak anglers often fasten a simple milk crate behind them for tackle storage. PVC pipe can be attached to hold rods. Curtiss has those conveniences and other self-styled accessories on his kayak, which is balanced at the rear with a small set of outriggers.

Like Carston, Curtiss competes in professional kayak bass tournaments. He proves over and over that ’yaks only need 18 inches of water to operate. He hugged the weedy shoreline in his 12-foot-long Current Designs Tailfin, repeatedly flipping a wacky worm into tiny pockets of open water that a motorboat could never reach before — boom! — another nice bass.

  If you drive along the ocean and stop at the mouth of any one of a dozen rivers between Astoria and Brookings, you will see a well-built fishing dock with a wheelchair accessible ramp that goes all the way to the water’s edge.

We stopped at the mouth of a river on the Southern Oregon coast. Our timing was wrong for salmon, and there was no one on the dock except for a fellow in a wheelchair. When I asked him about the fishing, he produced his catch, a half-dozen assorted saltwater fish. All that was missing was a deep fryer and a cup of tartar sauce.

From his perch high above the water, he could cast across the river channel, but there was good water at his feet. If the salmon weren’t biting, there was always another species that would.

We take it for granted, all the good fishing we can drive to, hike to, walk to and boat to in our state, but for 56 million Americans, it isn’t so easy. During the past 20 years, sportsman’s groups, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies have improved fishing access on many waters.

In some cases, it is as simple as paving a sidewalk or providing a gravel parking area on the shoreline. Many times a dock or a platform is the answer, with a ramp and handrail.

These docks and decks are often built within casting range of the best fishing holes. Drive to Trillium Lake on Mount Hood and look for the fishing platform. It is situated on one of the best spots, a deeper hole where the trout stack like cordwood.

There’s a similar dock at Krumbo Reservoir, and again, it sits right on the best trout-holding water on the lake. At Bend Pine Nursery, a paved path encircles the pond with access almost all the way around.

At Timothy Lake, the fishing dock is in deep water near the dam. Almost any day of the summer, there will be a family or two or three out on the structure, their baits suspended in the deep green.

Another good spot is Detroit Lake, up at the inlet of the North Santiam. Again this dock is near some of the best fishing. If there is water in the reservoir (and there is this year), the fish — rainbows and kokanee — are within easy casting range.

At Haystack Reservoir, the angling platform is built out from a cliff overlooking deep water. The payoff at Haystack could be a bass, a crappie, a kokanee, a brown trout or a 10-pound brood stock rainbow.

Even waters that don’t have a fishing platform can offer easy access. On the city limits of The Dalles, there is a Columbia River backwater called Taylor Lake. There, an angler can set up a rod against a forked stick and sit in their own vehicle waiting for a bite. The same thing can be accomplished at nearby Bikini Pond in the Mayer State Park.

Outside Heppner, Willow Creek Reservoir also has a spot where the locals enjoy drive-up, fish-from-the-car angling.

I still haven’t been able to find a document that lists all the accessible fishing locations, but the research can be part of the fun. Start with the ODFW’s Easy Angling web page (search Fishing Resources at www.dfw.state.or.us/), then click on Access Oregon, which lists some of the outdoor recreation areas throughout the state. Additional information can be found on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management websites.

On the subject of accessibility, there are a number of adaptive items that can make fishing with a disability a lot easier. The Adaptive Fishing Ty-All makes tying knots easier. The limited mobility fishing mount allows a user to set the hook and has resistance in the forward motion to keep tension on the line. I found a good resource for adaptive equipment at www.adaptiveoutdoorsman.com.

Open to everyone, accessible fishing sites attract anglers of all ages and abilities. But there is something different about anglers who congregate on docks.

They are usually in a good mood, especially if they have a fish or two on the stringer. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If the fishing is good, most of the dock anglers I’ve met are happy to share their secrets or lend a hand netting a fish.

Gary Lewis is the host of “Frontier Unlimited TV” and author of “John Nosler — Going Ballistic,” “Fishing Mount Hood Country,” “Hunting Oregon” and other titles. Contact Gary at www.GaryLewisOutdoors.com.

CEDAR RAPIDS — More anglers are forgoing the weeklong trips and secluded lakes, instead looking to catch their limit closer to home — including in the city.

According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 60 percent of anglers travel less than 20 miles to fish. In Cedar Rapids, that often means fishing off the bridges over the Cedar River.

Josh McDaniel, owner of C.R. Bait and Tackle on Third Avenue, called the river downtown “a hidden gem” for fishing.

“If you know how to fish the Cedar, you know how to get into some good fish,” McDaniel said.

He said the majority of his customers find their sweet spot on the Third Avenue Bridge, or one of the other bridges downtown.

Bob Oakley, owner of Bob’s Reel Service in Cedar Rapids, said he often is successful when he fishes on the banks of the Cedar River.

“If we didn’t catch fish, we wouldn’t go there,” Oakley said. “The fishing’s as good there as it is in Canada, but you’ve got to be there at the right time.”

McDaniel, who often fishes the Cedar River, said the 5-in-1 Dam plays a factor in the large fish population in the river downtown — the fish swim upstream, but stop once they reach the barrier.

The city has no regulations barring fishing off downtown bridges, said Gale Loskill, communications coordinator for the Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department.

However, DNR regulations still do apply when fishing in the city, DNR fisheries biologist Paul Sleeper said.

He said there are no safety concerns for the river, as the DNR conducts annual tests of the fish to check for high levels of chemicals.

The most common species in the Cedar River are flatheads and channel catfish, Sleeper said, but other species such as walleye and large-mouth bass can be found as well.

Oakley said fishing off the bridges is a good way to catch catfish, which typically reside in deeper parts of the river.

“The catfish is out in the middle of the river, so the bridge is the way to get to them if you don’t gave a boat,” Oakley said.

People don’t have to be expert fishermen to succeed on the river, McDaniel said. The trick is to have the proper equipment, such as a bridge net, and a strong enough rod and reel. Otherwise, a catch will fall back into the river after the fishing line snaps.

Dust off the old rod and reel, it's National fishing Week, and no license needed.

National Fishing Week is a week-long celebration of a heritage activity integral to our Canadian identity… recreational fishing. During National Fishing Week, Canadians will go fishing at hundreds of fishing events from coast to coast to coast.

In Ontario, there is no better time to try fishing than during National Fishing Week. Ontario’s Family Fishing Week falls during National Fishing Week from July 2nd to 10th. This means that Canadian residents can go fishing in Ontario without a license during this time.

Fishing is about so much more than just catching a fish. It’s about family, fun, and serenity. In a world full of distractions fishing brings us closer to our family and friends, and reminds us of what matters most. Fishing is an adventure, and nothing beats the thrill of reeling in the big one. Fishing has also been shown to have both mental and physical benefits.

Fishing benefits both Canadians, and the Canadian economy. The fishing industry generates over $8 billion to the Canadian economy. Fishing is good for us, plain and simple.

About National Fishing Week: National Fishing Week is supported by Catch Fishing, a national program dedicated to encouraging Canadians to get outdoors and enjoy our angling heritage throughout the year. It is supported by federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as hundreds of organizations and businesses that work hard to ensure sustainable fishing opportunities while safeguarding fish populations everywhere. To find out more about National Fishing Week, visit www.catchfishing.com.

ROCKINGHAM, Australia, July 5 (UPI) -- An Australian man out fishing with friends captured footage of a mako shark doing a backflip through the air to steal the bait from a line.

Jake Beazley said the mako shark approached the boat last week about 7-1/2 miles off Point Peron, near Rockingham, Western Australia, and took the bait at the end of a line.

The shark can initially be seen in the video swimming near the engine of the boat, which Beazley was fishing from alongside friends Lachlan Dance, Ben Hall and Shaun Davenport.

The shark appears to attack the boat's engine.

"He was biting the motor man, he was biting the propeller," one of the men says in the video.

The shark next swims a short distance away from the boat and performs a backflip through the air.

Beazley said the shark flipped two more times to break free from the fishing line after finishing off the bait.

"We have caught small sharks off the boat before but we've never had one swim right up to us," Beazley told WAtoday.

"When it started jumping out of the water it was amazing. It jumped out three times but we soon realized we had to take precautions because they can jump right up onto boats. So we drove off pretty soon," he said.