OnWater Journal

ETHANOL MOONSHINE: BAD MOJO FOR YOUR BOAT MOTOR

REDFISH SIREN SONG CASE OF THE MISSING WIFE COOKS & THE CATCH GROUPER BEURRE BLANC W/ CARAMELIZED ONIONS

November 2009

photo: Mark Grandin

We take for granted the places we love on the St. Johns River. We think they will always be there – the fish camps, marinas, boat ramps, waterside restaurants and other spots we visit.

Places like Stegbone’s Fish Camp in Welaka. A typical fish camp, open since our fathers and grandfathers began using it decades ago. The old timers still come, and these days they bring their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As they say at Stegbones, “Its good to see people connecting with the river.”

But places like this are disappearing. Even though growth in Florida has slowed due to the economy, it will return, particularly at the water’s edge. Now is the time to preserve the places we love, before they are gone.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) works to conserve land for people along the 310 mile length of the St. Johns River. The St. Johns River program will help preserve the character and heritage of sites along the river and create a connected system so everyone – boaters and non-boaters alike – can visit and enjoy the river for generations to come.

The Trust for Public Land

1022 Park Street, #401, Jacksonville, FL 32204

www.tpl.org

www.tpl.org

Why We Are

W

elcome to OnWater Journal; it’s our inaugural voyage and we’re glad to have you along.

We enjoy an incredible diversity of natural resources in North Florida. . .and we’re blessed with lots of water – water of all sizes and salinities.

Water defines, or very least brackets, our outdoor experience.

In North Florida, we have the outdoors in much the same way the Central Floridians have Disney World. It is our attraction, our distraction, and, to many of us anyway, our siren song. OnWater Journal exists to celebrate the North Florida out-of-doors.

I hope you find much to like about our new publication. In it you’ll find works of information, art, and inspiration – strong writing and crystal images from the pens, minds, lenses, and imaginations of North Floridians – the best our area has to offer.

And you’ll find our design is simple and clean. We want you to read and enjoy without the distraction of unnecessary filler and decorative fluff. To those ends, we believe that quality will find a readership.

In this issue: Surf-caught redfish advance writer Bucky McMahon’s dreams of wealth and leisure. • Tim McDonald’s wife turns up missing one dark night; for a while the cops think he’s done her in. • Reviewer Jason Sheasley looks at The Founding Fish, New Yorker writer John McPhee’s lovingly penned homage to the lowly American shad.

If you own a boat or know someone who does, read The Ethanol Dilemma.

Corn biofuels cause dire problems in the marine industry, notably phase separation and plastics breakdown. Since a move’s underway to double the amount of ethanol in our gas by the first of the year, boaters likely will see more fuel related breakdowns.

Break out the briquettes and fire up the Weber Grill for Cooks & the Catch, where top chefs Robbert Bouman and Dicky Lambert grill up a sumptuous grouper beurre blanc with sweet caramelized onions and a crisp, tasty fresh corn barley salad.

Finally, these pages absolutely are more lively, entertaining and evocative due to the exceptional photographic efforts of OnWater Journal editor Woody Huband.

Huband pored over hundreds of images to find just the right image to enliven each written contribution. His contributions. to this publication makes us better.

There’s much more in these pages, including our aspiring but ever-growing list of water-and outdoor-related events, trips, clubs, and groups in North Florida.

Enjoy.

David Lambert

OnWater Journal 3

Enjoy the BEST of nature in North Florida today!

GTM RESEARCH RESERVE

4 OnWater Journal

Spend a day enjoying 10 miles of gorgeous nature trails & ample beach access.

Enjoy hiking, biking, bird watching, fishing, kayaking, canoeing & much more!

Photos by GTM Staff

Photos by Craig ONeal

GTM Environmental Education Center (Just minutes south of Ponte Vedra on A1A)

505 Guana River Road ~ Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 ~ (904) 823-4500 www.FloridaDEP.org/GTM www.GTMNERR.org

FEATURES

Redfish Siren Song

by Bucky McMahon

One very special day a long time ago, Bucky McMahon and brother-in-law David Montanye became the darlings of the fishing gods. But it was just that one day . . . and it was long, long ago.

12

Case of the Missing Wife

by Tim McDonald

Late night. Two cops stare at Tim McDonald and ask the same two questions: “What happened” and “Where is she?” Problem was, he didn’t know.

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The Ethanol Dilemma 16

by David Lambert

Ethanol fuel blends cause some serious issues for boaters. It attracts and absorbs water and its solvent characteristics turn acrylics, rubber, and resins to a glutenous sludge that can gum up your boat’s fuel system.

Choosing Your Canoe

by Tom Mitzlaff

Who better to advise you on how to buy a canoe than a man who designs and builds his own. Learn to pick the right boat for the right water. You’ll be a much happier paddler for it.

20 OnWater OnWater Journal Journal 55

DEPARTMENTS

Cooks & the Catch On The Net

Grouper Beurre Blanc & Caramelized Onions

OnWater Journal is a copyrighted publication of OnWater Media

With Fresh Barley Corn Salad “. . .beurre blanc sauce moves easily throughout the meat groups – veal, pork, fish, game. . .”

1396 NE Withlabluffs Way, Lee Florida 32059 phone/fax: 904-241-4163 Cell: 904-403-5525 Vol 1, November 2009 Editor, Publisher David Lambert

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Food and Wine Editors Robbert Bouman rbouman@fscj.edu Dicky Lambert rlambert@fscj.edu

. . .grabs, snippets, & gloms from the Internet and the Web that inform and improve your outdoor life

Events & Groups Editor Dick Michaelson michaleson1@onwaterjournal.com

Info Events Groups 6 OnWater Journal

Founding Fish John McPhee’s Homage To The American Shad “. . .a braid of personal history, natural history, and American history, in descending order of volume.”

Photography Editor Woody Huband woody.huband@onwaterjournal.com Contributing Editor Jason Sheasley jason.sheasley@onwaterjournal.com

Florida Greenways & Trails

23

Read Write Review

d.lambert@onwaterjournal.com

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Advertising & Marketing David Lambert d.lambert@onwaterjournal.com Contributors Robbert Bouman Dicky Lambert Tim McDonald Bucky McMahon Dick Michaelson Rich Santos Jason Sheasley Woody Huband Submissions: Email written submissions – poetry, prose, articles ideas, reviews – to editorial@onwaterjournal.com.

Double space all written submissions, please.

Photographic and artwork: Email 180dpi (med rez) submissions to photos@onwaterjournal.com for consideration Copyright and Electronic Linking Information Copyright © 2009 OnWater Media

Events, Tides, Moon & Meetings Around North Florida

OnWater Journal™ and OnWater Journal Online™ are trademarked names owned by OnWater Media, Lee, FL. All parts of this publication – text, photography, images, and art – are copyrighted by OnWater Media and the respective writers, photographers and artists. No part maybe used or reproduced without permission from the publisher.

. . .schedule, see, inform, know, anticipate, play, decide, act, meet, work, enjoy

Electronic Linking – OnWater Journal™ encourages responsible and relevant electronic linking. We permit you to publish clips, quotes, and snippets (but not complete articles) from OnWater Journal™ on two conditions: 1) You must clearly attribute the author, photographer, or artist; and 2) You must include with the clip a complete, functional electronic link to the issue of OnWater Journal™ from which the clip was taken or to www.onwaterjournal.com

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CONTRIBUTORS In 1992 Bucky McMahon published his first feature article for Outside magazine.

That was the beginning of a long, strange adventure in the travel/adventure writing biz. He continues to write for Outside, but scribbles also for Men’s Journal, Esquire, Skin Diver, and other publications that ask him to explore and write

McMahon

Tim McDonald is an old-school journalist. Don’t ask him what that means because he doesn’t exactly know. Still, he would want you to know he can hold his liquor, sort of, has a striking baritone, and knows how to stand around a campfire.

He’s written for some of the best newspapers and wire services in the world and now lives in wooded splendor in semi-retirement, driving a Harley and splitting fairways with 300-yard drives.

Huband

Jason Sheasley’s a Yankee by birth, but his accent would convince you he’s lived south of the Mason-Dixon all his life. A geologist by profession, he travels the country with rock hammer and fly rod in hand. He can be found toiling over a timetraveling boat that he hopes will one day propel him 8 million years into the past where he can fly fish for the largest sea creature known to exist - C. megladon.

McDonald

“I count on things to work,” says OnWater Journal editor David Lambert, who penned this month’s article The Ethanol Dilemma. “I don’t ask much of my tools; chain saw or boat motor, but I do want them to crank when called upon.” He writes and edits for conservation and outdoors publications when he’s not editing this magazine.

Sheasley

When boat designer Tom Mitzlaff talks about boats, people listen up. Learning from Tom Mitzlaff is like watching a sky scraper under construction, only in hyper fast-forward. You almost hear synaptic fires and the neurons spikes – from there, symmetry and design. Mitzlaff is the charismatic designer of Mitzi Skiffs.

Dutch-born chef Robbert Bouman spends his days extolling the virtue and value wines, cuisine, and culinary arts; he has for nearly two decades. A boardcertified sommelier from the Netherlands’ Heerlen Hotel and Catering College, chef Bouman knows that food and wine need not be complex or expensive to be world-class. He now teaches in the culinary arts program for Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Bouman & Lambert

Lambert

A love for science has informed Chef Dick Lambert’s palatal interests and taken him into the disparate worlds – he’s a mead maker, beer brewer, and beekeeper. Lambert’s an expert on kitchen-efficiency design and he teaches culinary arts and wine appreciation for Florida State College at Jacksonville. Four of Lambert’s students have prepared cuisine at the White House.

“Being on the water with a camera always presents me with a dilemma: Do I fish or take photos?” says OnWater Journal photo editor and contributor Woody Huband. “Tough decision. Fact is, most days I do both.” Woody provides the critical eye behind many of this issue’s stunning marshscapes and other photographic captures. He bought his first SLR in ‘69 and he’s been shooting artistically or professionally ever since. We think you’ll enjoy seeing what his eyes see. We know you’ll appreciate what his lens produces.

You have to look hard to find a native Floridian these days. Still, it’s no surprise that writer/author Dick Michaelson is one of them. “My grandfather made cast nets and my step-father was a commercial mullet fishermen, so the Florida outdoors comes pretty natural to me,’” he says. Retired now from the Army National Guard Aviation, Michaelson advocates conserving our resources for the next generation. He can be found chasing redfish in the early morning with a fly he’s hand tied. His book Fly Fishing Florida’s First Coast is in it’s 3rd printing.

CLICK HERE

OnWater Journal 7

Backcountry Serengeti by Woody Huband

COOKS & THE CATCH

Grouper Beurre Blanc

Our backyard grillmasters gather here to demonstrate a bit of grilling that’s guaranteed to elevate your culinary creds. The meal? A grilled grouper beurre blanc with caramelized onions and a fresh corn and barley salad.

Beurre blanc, by the way, is French for ‘white butter.’

Master Chefs Robbert Bouman and Dicky Lambert selected grouper for its flaky white meat, which holds together well under heat. Before stepping outside, they cut the grouper into 6-ounce servings, then marinate it for

The Recipe Grouper Marinade

Prep time for marinade 15 minutes. Once the fish has marinated, remove fish then reserve the remaining marinade to use to make beurre blanc sauce.

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive Oil 3 red onions sliced into ¼-inch rings; 5 lbs. grouper (or white flaky fish or choice) cut into 6-9 ounce servings; 6 garlic cloves mashed; salt and pepper 2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves 1 sprig of rosemary fresh (use sparingly) Salt and pepper fish and toss with herbs, garlic, onions and extra virgin olive oil Marinate in refrigerator for 3 hrs.

After marinating remove fish onions and thyme marinade and save for beurre blanc sauce

Beurre Blanc Sauce

(to be prepared as fish is cooking) Ingredients 2 Tblsp extra virgin olive oil 1 cup dry white wine.

1 cup white wine vinegar 1/4-cup of heavy cream 10 OnWater Journal

Caramelized Onions and A Crisp Corn-Barley Salad Make This The Perfect Fall Grill

3 hours. While the grouper marinates, they build the corn-barley salad and gather ingredients for the grill.

Start your grill with enough charcoal to cover the half the grill grate. When the coals are ready (lightly ash-covered, which provides a medium hot grill), push them over to one side, which will leave you room to warm cooked fish. Grill the grouper over the coals for 10 minutes or until it’s firm, but still juicy.

2 Tbsp unsalted butter 1 3-inch sprig of fresh rosemary Onions and herbs from marinade Salt and pepper to taste.

In a heavy-bottom pan, add 2 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil to pan. Add the reserved onions/thyme from marinade and caramelize the onions with herbs until the onions are dark brown.

Next, add white wine, vinegar, and fresh rosemary.

Reduce liquid by cooking it down to ½ of original volume.

Cut cold butter into tablespoonsized pieces and whisk in until the butter is melted. Stir in butter on low or no heat Then add ¼-cup heavy cream and mix. At this point taste sauce and add more vinegar to taste.

We find that some palates prefer a more tart beurre blanc sauce.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Place grilled or sautéed fish on platter and top with beurre banc Sauce. Serve Hot.

Corn and Barley Salad

Corn and barley salad is a refreshing, colorful addition to any table. While its taste is flavorful and complex, you’ll find

that is a quick fix that your guests will enjoy. Prep time for cornbarley salad is ½-hour.

Ingredients

4 ears of fresh yellow corn remove from cob 1 box of instant barley cooked to manufacture’s recommendation 1 large red pepper seeded and diced ½-inch squares 1 bunch of parsley, rough chopped 1 bunch of basil, cut into thin strips (optional) ¼ Tsp of red pepper flakes Salt and pepper.

Salad Dressing Ingredients

½ cup of good red wine vinegar 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil ½ lemon juiced 1 mash/ pressed garlic clove Whisk together First, blanch fresh ears of corn, then let cool. As the corn is cooling, cook the barley, strain it and run under cool water to stop cooking.

Remove corn from cob with a sharp kitchen knife.

Mix all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Whisk salad dressing. Serve at cool room temperature or chill slightly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Top: Mise en place

Chef Robbert Bouman Chef Dicky Lambert

Center: Chefs Bouman and Lambert at the green Weber grill.

Bottom: Marinated gray grouper over medium hot coals.

Photos by Woody Huband

OnWater Journal 11

Redfish Siren Song

W

e cast our lines at the newly risen sun, and though our sinkers plunked down well short of the mark, we waded backward out of the flashing silver sea with the considerable satisfaction of men who had kept their appointments. How many others could make that claim? None in sight. We had Monty’s secret surf-casting spot to ourselves.

It was, I recall, an economically precarious time for both of us – which must’ve been why my brother-in-law and I had the day off in the middle of the week. But it was also the hopeful beginning of summer in the Florida beach town where we’d lived most of our lives, and summer was the whole point of the place.

“Secret spot” notwithstanding, our expectations were suitably slender. Pansized whiting was what we were after, but hardly had we dug our heels into the soft sucking sand when destiny struck: Thump! Then our poles bent C-shaped, and our drags – set by negligence just right for leviathans – began to whine like 12 OnWater Journal

dentists’ drills: Reeeeee! Sharks, most likely, we thought, playing them for, oh, maybe ten minutes, ducking under each other’s lines to keep from tangling until at last they came ashore, the backwash streaming round their bullet-headed hulks. Redfish! Big ‘uns. Not just edible but delicious. And sellable. Monty was muttering recipes as he baited up with trembling fingers. No sooner cast than back in the action again.

Thump! Reeeeee! Oh, we slayed ‘em all right. Even drew a little crowd. “Y’all gettin’ ‘em good, huh?” But we were losing ‘em, too, the biggest snapping our sorry monofilament wherever it was nicked.

All too soon we had no hooks, no sinkers, no shrimp. The reds were

and jobwise, as I recall, it was sweat of the brow, not prowess with the pole, that pulled us through that summer.

(Editor’s Note: Author Bucky McMahon crafted this article about a time ‘back in the day,’ when redfish were plentiful and size and bag limits were not yet conceived. A year or so after that special day, Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme’s blackened redfish recipe went viral.

photo by Woody Huband

Clamor for succulent redfish flesh resulted in murderous catches.

Unrestricted harvest caused the redfish population to drop like a lead weight, so quickly in fact that many would question whether or not the species would survive.

That they did survive is due to slot limits and catch seasons, results of effective lobby efforts by associations like the Coastal Conservation Association and publications like Florida Sportsman.)

still out there, and all we could do was whip the sea with our naked lines like the minions of mad King Xerxes.

In a snapshot taken that afternoon, there’s a genuine look of frontier madness in our eyes. We stand shoulder to shoulder, sunburned and wind-tousled, our fingers cocked in the bloody gills of four enormous monsters of the deep. You can tell we were still thinking that we’d happened upon our true callings, and ideal summer jobs, as professional fishermen. Alas, our luck hadn’t really changed.

We’d just had it paid out all in one installment. We never saw scale nor fin of the big reds again. It was back to whitings, fishingwise,

:Bucky McMahon scribbles monthly for Esquire, Outside, Men’s Journal and other publications who ask him to travel, explore, and write.

OnWater Journal 13

case of the missing wife

by Tim McDonald

H

omicide cops never looked this big on television. TV cops

are usually lean and mean, or scruffy and lovable. These guys were just huge, with colorful ties and white shirts billowing over their bellies, like successful insurance salesmen.

But, they had the eyes. They watched me carefully. They watched my eyes when they asked questions and they watched my eyes when I answered. When they weren’t watching me, they looked at each other.

“Why won’t you let us search the boat?” This was the third time they’d asked.

“Because Laveda is not on the boat,” I answered. “She’s out there somewhere.”

14 OnWater Journal

I made a sweeping gesture from the bow of my houseboat, by which I meant to indicate the whole of the Intracoastal Waterway from Sisters Creek to Fort George.

Here’s the crazy part: When I denied them permission to search the boat, I wasn’t even thinking about the .38 revolver, which I had fired that day, lying on the table under the magazine. Or the blood on the grip. Or the broken glass, just out of sight beneath the captain’s chair. Or the filet knife. Blood on that, too.

I didn’t think about that part until afterward. Right then, I was just concerned – there’s a word, concerned – about my missing wife.

When the homicide cops – who had called them, anyway? – asked me if my wife and I had a fight that day, I told the truth. Yes, we had. No big deal. Husbands and wives have fights, don’t they? That doesn’t mean the husband shot the wife and tossed her body overboard, leaving her to sink slowly into the murky waters of the ICW, does it?

I began pacing up and down the dock at the marina. The Marine Patrol guys had been friendly and attentive earlier − before the homicide boys showed up. Now they moved subtly away, holding their radios to their ears, pretending to listen to incoming calls.

I didn’t care.

“Any news”? I said loudly.

“Uh, no sir.”

Back at the boat, the detectives settled themselves into bow chairs.

When I stepped back aboard, the older one stood up. The younger one stayed seated. He looked comfortable.

“Mr. McDonald, I just don’t understand how you could have made the entire trip back from Ft. George without noticing your wife was missing,” the older one said. “It was a half hour before you called the Marine Patrol.”

You watch enough detective movies, you like to think how you’d handle these situations. Like Richard Widmark maybe, or Robert Mitchum.

Robert DeNiro definitely. Short, blunt answers. Telling nothing, giving nothing away. You know you’re innocent and you’ll find a way to prove it, even if your story seems implausible.

But when you’re the guy, when it actually happens, you come off as the twitchy, high-strung dope the whole audience knows is guilty.

“Look,” I said one more time, “I was at the front, at the wheel. My wife was at the back of the boat. I thought she was laying down in the bed, back in the stern. It’s night, it’s dark. She’s quiet. She was tired. What exactly do you want me to say?”

Well, now I know what they wanted me to day, but at the time, I was distracted. The idea that someone would actually think you’d done something to your wife is too far-fetched.

“Sir, if you let us search your boat, we promise we won’t say anything if we happen to find anything, like marijuana for example. I mean, if you have anything like that on board, we don’t care. That’s not what we’re looking for.”I sighed and put my hand to my forehead. “I don’t have anything like that on board,” I said. That isn’t what Bogart would have said. I hadn’t read the book of homicide-suspect snappy rejoinders.

This went on for hours, literally. The questions, the pacing, the squawk of the marine radios, the buzz of jet boats, the noise of the helicopters moving over the waterway, lights shining into surrounding marshes.

Long after midnight, the call came. A marine patrolwoman held up her radio and shouted, “They’ve found her!”

I was as overjoyed by the announcement as I was terrified by its incompleteness. I could get no more information from her, and when I went back to the boat, the two homicide detectives were gone.

Inappropriately, I marveled at how men of such girth could move so stealthily.

Forty-five minutes later she showed up, escorted by a phalanx of

smiling rescue personnel. Her clothes were caked with dried mud and she was covered with insect bites. She looked stunned.

Later, Laveda told me the story. She had been at the edge of the stern, trying to disentangle a rope that was tied to the trailing dinghy.

Abruptly, she lost her balance – and, here’s where the story becomes muddied. In that split second, as she teetered on the edge, she simultaneously thought about our argument – payback! – and she thought about the practical implications of falling too close to the prop.

And so, to this day, she cannot clearly say whether she actually fell or jumped. Or a combination of both.

In any event, she was in the water, at dusk, with the houseboat slowly chugging out of the Ft. George River headed south along the Intracoastal, with her oblivious and completely unhelpful husband not hearing her screams for help. She remembers treading water and watching the wake of the boat “fading into the sunset.” Her words.

She swam ashore and burrowed into a hole she dug in the sand in, an unsuccessful ploy to avoid the mosquito hordes, and she waited.

I wondered out loud how the cops, who clearly did not believe my story, could believe hers.

Turns out – they didn’t.

“You sure you want to go back to the houseboat,” they asked her persistently. They also told her they had been on the verge of arresting me for my “suspicious behavior.”

Late the next morning, with Laveda still resting in bed, I picked up the paper and noticed the .38. Then I noticed the blood, from where she had cut herself on the broken glass. Hmmmm.

Guns, her blood and a confirmed fight.

For the next few hours I thought about nothing but prison movies. :Writer Tim McDonald has lived and worked in some of the world’s more exotic places, from Alaska to Trinidad to South Africa. He’s written for some of the best newspapers and wire services in the world and now lives in wooded splendor in semi-retirement with his wife Laveda.

OnWater Journal 15

16 OnWater Journal

The Ethanol Dilemma

Why Moonshine Is Bad Mojo for Your Boat Motor

by David Lambert

L

ast year a persistent rumble in Madison County told of pine forests being logged.

Soon great tracts of the county were plowed and planted with tidy rows of corn seed.

The corn grew tall from daily watering. But, when the silk showed brown and smooth, the corn wasn’t harvested. Cobs and stalks grew dry and brittle and wizened in the summer sun.

photo by Woody Huband

This was not food corn; this was corn destined for the distiller, a biofuel crop. This corn was grown to fuel the engines of our cars and boats, our leaf blowers and weed trimmers, our lawn mowers and chain saws. This corn would become the ethyl alcohol generally known as ethanol, gasohol, or E-10.

When distilled from corn, ethanol is a pure grain spirit that has graced the gallon jug for centuries. It’s called moonshine. Mixed with conventional gasoline, proponents say, ethanol increases fuel octane ratings while decreasing our dependence on foreign oil. And, while ethanol can be and is produced from soy and cellulose, sugar cane, sweet beets, algae, and pine trees, corn is the bio-product of choice

for the nation’s burgeoning bio-fuel industry.

But corn-based ethanol has a dark side; in fact, it has many dark sides, but this article only one of them: corn-based ethanol and its effect on boat motors.

The reality is this: Ethanol is known to damage boat motors and their fuel delivery systems. Dozens of manufacturers and organizations recognize the problem and many have publicly declared that ethanol is harmful to smaller combustion engines.

A sampling of those includes the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), ALLSAFE (made up of national associations that represent consumers and manufacturers of products that use ethanol blended fuels) Briggs and Stratton, Yamaha, and a host of other industry giants and organizations.

Ethanol causes lots of problems.

The alcohol in ethanol mixes willingly and well with water. In a gas tank, water molecules attach by an electro-chemical bond.

Once bonded, at saturation point, the water-ethanol mix separates from the gasoline and drops to the bottom of the tank. The process is known as phase separation.

Industry engineers tell us that phase separation begins in two to three months if E-10 fuel is left unused or untreated. When separation starts it is irreversible, at least for the purposes of boats and fuel. Additives and water separators won’t and don’t help. The only sure way to remove the ethanol-water mix is to fully drain the tank – an often impractical solution with long-run environmental consequences.

Equally harmful to boats and motors are ethanol’s corrosive qualities. Left unused for several months, say during the winter months when many boats are stored, the corrosive solvents in ethanol attack resins applied to the interior of metal gas tanks to prevent rust. They also dissolve and/or break-down many gums, varnish, and residues in fuel tanks and fuel lines, emulsifying them into a resinous sludge to be sent through a fuel system into the engine.

Picked up by the fuel delivery system, the sludge clogs carburetors and fuel filters. It also eats gaskets, seals, and fuel lines, breaking down the composites and rubbers used in virtually all pre- and many post-2005 combustion engines. Whatever the assault, the result is the same – a frustrated boat owner opens his wallet to his local marine mechanic.

Outboard motor repair specialist Lester Johnson, says ethaOnWater Journal 17

nol related problems are responsible for much of his business these days: “Never seen anything like it,” says Johnson, owner of Lester’s Outboard Repair in Jacksonville, FL., “Probably 70 percent of the motors coming into my shop in the last year have ethanol related problems.

“The biggest issue is that ethanol pulls water in,” Johnson told OnWater Journal.

“Doesn’t matter whether you have a 6- or 600-gallon gas tank, metal, fiberglass or plastic, you’ll still get condensation water in the tank, and that can get into the engine.”

The ethanol-water mix can pass into the combustion system, where the ethanol burns, but the water vaporizes as steam, Johnson explains. “On long motor runs,” he says, “it can act like a steam cleaner, breaking down oil that lubricates the cylinder walls, then the pistons overheat and seize.”

To aggravate matters, a separated fuel mixture can lose up to 3 to 5 percent of its octane rating when the high-octane ethanol separates from gasoline. Octane helps engines perform efficiently. An octane drop makes engines work harder, which leads to overheating. Inefficient motors burn more oil, introduce more carbons into the environment, and use more fuel – not exactly the effect Congress was looking for when searching for a clean, green alternate to fossil fuels.

The politics of ethanol are unsettled. It’s an industry in the business of producing fuels from food crops, an industry on which we pinned our energy-independence hopes, an industry responding to the Clean Air Act. And it’s an industry that is getting big incentives and subsidies from the government.

Subsidies are good for business. A July 2009 editorial by writer Crispin Littlehale in American Laboratory, a publication for chemists, notes 172 ethanol plants in 25 states at the end of last year – pretty good numbers for an industry which barely existed 10 years ago.

But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. The worldwide economic meltdown created an overproduction of ethanol. Gasoline purchases are substantively down despite the government mandates that ethanol production increase yearly, up to 36 billion gallons a year in 2022. The result is drastically reduced profits. In 2009 we see many ethanol production plants closing down, standing idle, or are mired in bankruptcy litigation.

The future of ethanol is further tainted by recent studies which show the production of corn-based ethanol uses more energy than it creates. “There is just no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel,” wrote David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University. Pimentel’s study found that the growth, transportation, and production of corn-based biofuel used 29 percent more energy to produce than it provides. Numerous studies worldwide support Pimentel’s finding.

Adding fuel to this fire is the 2009 request by Growth Energy and 54 ethanol producers to waive the Clean Air Act provisions (which require new fuels to undergo tests and evaluations) and fast-track an E-15 ethanol mix into the nation’s fuel supply. E-15 employs fully 50 percent more ethanol than the current E-10 mixes. Fast-tracking would provide an almost immediate 50 percent increase in sales and a whopping increase in profits.

Chemistry, statistics, research, politics, profits. Where does all this leave the small boat owner? For starters, the Florida ethanol statute exempts marine fuels and other specialty, off-road fuels, including aviation. While no substantive numbers exist, by all accounts nearly every drop of small commercial and recreational marine fuel is purchased at gas stations and convenience stores. And those fuel suppliers in our area sell only ethanol mixed fuel. While you can buy non-ethanol fuels at a marina, none but the largest boat owners do, and marina gas is notoriously overpriced.

An unofficial check of gas stations in the six counties in North Florida shows virtually all of them sell only E-10 fuels. In fact, OnWater Journal couldn’t find any who didn’t – and this, nearly a year before state ethanol-mixed fuel mandates takes effect.

The one positive for small-boat owners is that specialized post-filling-station additives can greatly reduce ethanol problems. Products like StarTron® and Marine Formula STABIL® reduce water absorption problems and phase separation and make your fuel useable for up to a year. Note that these products don’t work if phase separation has already begun, nor do they mitigate ethanol’s corrosive qualities.

A word to the wise: Add additives as soon as you fill your tank. But, unfortunately, evidence exists that phase separation can begin in gas station reservoirs. . .or before.

18 OnWater Journal

Crop Corn in North Florida Additives, emulsifiers, enzymics, and filters may slow, stop, or mitigate the effects of phase separation, but nothing stops the corrosive effects of ethanol, the solvent. Under attack are rubber, plastics, silicones, vinyls fiberglass, and aluminum – all items found in good supply in the marine environment.

So, what’s a boat owner to do?

“There are no known additives which can eliminate all the gasoline-ethanol, solvency or solvent-caused plastics, rubber, silicone and gasket elastomer problems,” says Robert “Tom’ Wicks, product engineering manager for Gold Eagle Company, maker of Marine Formula STA-BIL®. “Replace the old hoses with new and approved ethanol-gasoline compatible gaskets, [fuel] lines and fittings,” Wicks wrote in an email to OnWater Journal.

But ethanol-approved fuel lines aren’t all

Timeline and Truths:  In December 2007, the U.S. Congress passed and President Bush signed the Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS) in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 which required that nine billion gallons of renewable fuels be added to the nation’s gasoline supply by 2008. That amount increases to 36 billion gallons added yearly by 2022.  All but a small fraction of ethanol bio-fuel in the U.S. is distilled from corn.  Ethanol is hygroscopic – it attracts and attaches to water molecules in a gas tank. Conventional gasoline does not mix readily with water.  Ethanol is an efficient, aggressive solvent that breaks down gums and varnishes and attacks rubber and fiberglass resins.  In March 2009, Growth Energy and 54 other ethanol manufacturers petitioned the EPA to waive the Clean Air Act requirements for new fuels and fuel additives and allow the ethanol industry to increase the amount of ethanol added to gas to 15 percent by volume, a 50 percent increase of the current ethyl alcohol fuel content. The EPA must rule on the petition

by Dec 31, 2009.  Florida law requires that by December 31, 2010, all gasoline sold for on-road consumer use must contain 9-10 percent ethanol by volume (known in the industry as E-10).  The Florida statutes specifically exclude marine fuels from complying with E-10 mandate.

Those fuels can be purchased at marinas.  Virtually every gallon of fuel purchased for use in small-commercial, recreational, and trailerable boats and marine craft is ethanol mixed (E-10) fuel bought at local gas stations and convenience stores.

Article resources: ww ALLSAFE http://www.allsafe-fuel.org/who.html EPA – Clean Air Act and Renewable Fuel Standards http://www.epa.gov/ air/caa/

a Harvest To Become Biofuel that easy to find. A call to the four largest automotive suppliers in North Florida turned up no, that’s zero, E-10 approved fuel lines. Still, even a new conventional fuel line is less likely to degrade than an years-old line.

As for water in your E-10 blends, Sam Jenkins, VP of Advanced Marine Inc., in Jacksonville offered this advice: “Use the additives when you buy gas, then burn all the fuel out of your engine when you stop use. Let it run until the engine quits, and keep your gas tank nearly full, up to 95 percent. That reduces air space which prevents condensation.”

Those sage suggestions mean the final cost of fueling a boat will be higher than what you pay at the pump – and you’ll use more of fuel too. But the price is bearable if you value reliability in a boat motor; that is, if you value leaving the boat dock, not leaving your motor with the boat doc.

Growth Energy’s Request for Clean Air Standards Act Waiver http:// www.growthenergy.org/2009/e15/Waiver%20Application.pdf Growth Energy’s EPA Ethanol Letter http://www.growthenergy.org/2009/ e15/04.10.09%20Letter%20to%20EPA.pdf NMMA – National Marine manufacturers’ Association http://www.nmma. org/government/environmental/?catid=573 Yamaha Motor’s Stand on E=10 Ethanol http://www.yamaha-motor.com/outboard/events/dynamicevent/3/987/the_ boaters_log_-_volume_1_no_1.aspx STA-BIL®, Marine Formula (Discount Coupon, Click here) http://www. goldeagle.com/engine_care/411onethanol.aspx StarTron Enzyme Additive http://mystarbrite.com/startron/ State of Florida Renewable Fuel Standard http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0526/ch0526.htm :David Lambert is an outdoor writer, author, and editor. Lambert publishes and edits the monthly web magazine OnWater Journal.

OnWater Journal 19

Choose The Canoe That’s Right For You

by Tom Mitzlaff There are a lot of canoe designs on the market; each has characteristics that affect stability, paddling, load capacity, and rough-water handling. While it’s much to consider,these characteristics contribute to the pleasure of using a particular canoe. Since many people buy canoes without the benefit of research, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned about the subject.

I researched and designed my first hand-built canoe 15 years ago – an 18-foot cedar-strip model. It was a beauty, clean lines and striking blends of natural wood colors. Since then, lots of people have asked me about canoe design in general.

There are many different canoes. A little knowledge of boat design will help you considerably when you shop for a canoe.

First, ask yourself what you expect of your canoe. Do you want ease of paddling? Large load capacity? Maneuverability?

Tracking? Is cost a factor?

Let’s consider the various ways to look at canoe shape in two dimensions. Look at figure # 1, the profile view you see when you view a canoe from the side. Figure # 2 is the body plan. It is the shape of a canoe as seen when looking at it level, from the bow to the stern. The different lines you see are station lines, which represent the shape of the craft if you were to cut through the canoe’s width from left to right at even intervals.

This allows you to see the shape of a canoe.

Figure #2 also shows the designated water line (DWL) of the boat when it sits level in the water with an average load. These terms will help you keep up with me as I explain the factors that affect the performance of different canoes.

Length The center half of a canoe provides about 75% of its stability and load capacity. The ends of a canoe function to part water 20 OnWater Journal

at the bow, then bring it back together at the stern. Generally, the longer the canoe and the higher its length-to-width ratio, the faster the boat will be and the easier it will be to paddle. A longer canoe will also track better.

Beam The beam is the maximum width of a canoe. A wider canoe has more carrying capacity but generally is more difficult to paddle because it offers more resistance, more surface contact with the water.

A narrower canoe will be easier to paddle, but less stable.

Where the maximum beam occurs on a canoe is important. A canoe that has a maximum beam through its depths is said to have plumb sides (see Figure 3). If the maximum width (beam) occurs at the gunnels, the canoe is said to be

‘flared.’

Flared sides offer good final stability, that is, the hull becomes more stable when it is loaded because above-water width gets wider as it sits lower in the water.

When the gunwale beam is narrower than the sides, then the sides are called tumble home.

Tumblehome sides help stiffen the hull. A canoe with tumble home will have good initial stability and it will allow the boat to roll over the waves better, but the final stability suffers. The boat will feel stable to a certain point, beyond which it can rapidly roll over.

Depth Measure the depth of a canoe from the gunwales to the bottom. Free board is the distance between water and the gunwales. When a manufacturer refers to a specific canoe’s load capacity, he is stating the amount of load this boat will take and have six inches of free board.

Hull The contour of a canoe’s hull incorporates all the design elements to form the shape of the canoe. How the design elements work together determine how well a canoe will perform (see Figure 3).

A flat-bottomed canoe offers the greatest load capacity. It turns more easily as it slides through the water. This characteristic makes it good for

close quarters and running rivers.

But, flat-bottomed hulls are slower due to more friction, more boat surface contacting the water. A flat bottom will feel most stable when it is well balanced, but it will tip suddenly if it is ‘heeled’ over beyond a specific point.

A shallow-arched canoe has a ‘domed’ shape. It feels ‘canoe-y’ but has a good initial and final stability. Waves tend to slide under the boat, which is nice if you paddle much on large waters.

Most general purpose canoes use the shallow-arched contour as the starting point in design.

A shallow-‘vee’ contour brings the hull deeper into the water, which produces more ‘wetted’ surface, which causes it to track better than other designs.

However, better tracking causes less maneuverability. It’s a tradeoff. The shallow-‘vee’ shape is good for sailing canoes and boats used on large bodies of water.

Rocker is what gives the canoe its characteristic banana shape when viewed from the side. More rocker makes a boat turn easier, but it is also makes it harder to paddle the boat in a straight line (to ‘track’). Rocker is measured by how high the ends of the canoe along the keel line sit above the lowest plane of the bottom of the canoe when the boat is sitting level.

A canoe that is straight along the keel line is said to have no rocker (see Figure 5). Some canoes have extreme rocker, like a slalom canoe.

My cedar-strip canoe was built from plans which I modified to OnWater Journal 21

accomplish the tasks I wanted for my boat. It is 18 feet long with a 34inch beam and 12 inches of depth. It has a slight rocker with a modified ‘vee’ bottom and tumble-home sides. Why did I choose this shape?

Simple, I wanted a boat that tracked well, but would allow me to turn in tight places. Slight rocker provides those capabilities.

An 18-foot canoe is a big boat. One problem I have is that if I’m paddling by myself in a cross wind, the canoe veers sideways because of its long length. It catches considerable wind. (Ed note: This tendency can be reduced by placing weight in the bow of the boat. A lidded 5-gallon bucket filled with water or sand works well to reduce this problem).

The modified ‘vee’ shape of my boat allows it to ride over waves, but it takes some getting used to if you want to stand up.

Buying Advice

Future paddlers: Don’t buy a canoe because the literature looks good. Think about where you will use your boat most of the time. Will you be fishing from the boat? Paddling alone or with a bow paddler? Ease of paddling and tracking should be your first concern if you will paddle large bodies of water. A big canoe is easy to stand in, but you pay for it when you paddle.

No canoe performs great all the time: A ‘perfect-10’ boat in all categories does not exist. You can’t, for instance, have a fast boat that is exceptionally stable; you can’t have a long canoe that is easy to paddle. A boat that tracks well doesn’t turn in tight places.

So, before you buy–think seriously about what you want the boat to do. If your canoe candidate doesn’t perform the way you want, then it isn’t the boat for you. Don’t waste your money.

:Tom Mitzlaff is the talented boat designer behind Mitzi Skiffs, one of the truly hearty, shallow floating crafts for the shallowwater and backcountry enthusiast.

His boat and canoe designs are legendary in the industry.

The Finest Waterfowl Book Written in Decades

Florida’s 400 Miles of Greenways Walk & PaddleTrails

by Jason C. Sheasley As October brings cooler temperatures, more people will step outside to enjoy the diverse outdoor opportunities in North Florida.

With this in mind, Florida Dept.

Environmental Protection (FDEP) has declared October as Florida Greenways and Trails Month. An FDEP dedicated website promotes use of the state’s 80,000 managed acres with 400 miles of trails that attract 3 million visitors each year.

Another website offers info and brochures for Greenways and Trails hiking and paddling venues across the state. The site divides the state into five regions – Panhandle West, Panhandle East, North, Cross Florida, East Central, West Central and South. Maps and information for trails and greenways are available for each of the five regions.

This year’s Greenways and Trails festivities have an added significance for the State. The nonprofit organization American Trails named Florida as the Best Trails State at their 19th National Trails Symposium in November 2008.

The award is given to the “state which is facilitating an outstanding statewide system of trails.”

Additional resources: http://www.floridagreenwaysandtrails. com

Spent Shells Along the Atlantic

by Tom S. Long

Waterfowl hunting where the North American tradition began!

Stories of modern hunts from Florida to Maine. Watch as the author’s son grows up hunting ducks and geese!

Tales of the old market gunners up and down the coast! Wooden decoys from contemporary as well as old-time carvers!

More than 360 photos, old and recent, on 240 pages. Modern color shots plus classic pictures of market gunners, live decoys, duck clubs and hunting blinds taken more than 100 years ago!

Check out our website and order online at: spentshellsalongtheatlantic.com

OnWater Journal 23

American Shad: A Fish With A Past

Bookstores are full of fishing how-tos and tomes which promote angling as a metaphor for life. We can be thankful that author John McPhee’s book, The Founding Fish, is neither.

McPhee’s book is an homage to the American shad, a hard-fighting, flavorful fish that travels courageous distances to spawn. It’s a love story with statistics. The Founding Fish is, according to McPhee, a “personal history, natural history and American history,” in which the American shad plays a pivotal role. George Washington, for instance, was a commercial shad fisherman.

In 1771 our first president recorded a catch of 7,760 American shad.

McPhee begins The Founding Fish with a personal account of shad fishing on the Delaware River, near New Hope, PA – a tale of his threehour fight to boat a 4-3/4 lb. roe shad – the ‘the poor-man’s tarpon.”

In The Founding Fish, the author combines science, folk wisdom, history, humor, and personal narrative to describe the shad’s place in American history. Shad territory extends from the Bay of Fundy to the St. John’s River.

McPhee travels from Nova Scotia to Florida in search of shad. Along the way the reader is introduced to a host of individuals and historical figures whose livelihood, in one fashion or another, is linked to the American shad. Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Confederate General George Pickett and John Wilkes Booth are just a among historical notables whose lives entwine with the American shad.

reviewed by Jason C. Sheasley The Founding Fish, Author: John McPhee Publisher: by Farr, Straus and Giroux 352 Pages, ISBN 0-374-10444-1 24 OnWater Journal

McPhee writes of the culinary merits of this fish, whose Latin name of Alosa Sapidissima translates as ‘most savory.’ So it is only fitting that The Founding Fish include an appendix on preparing shad for the table. In the appendix McPhee provides commentary and recipes for various ways to prepare shad and shad roe. By the author’s admission, he’s tried only some of the recipes; others are included for historical reference.

The St. Johns River is the southern terminus of the American shad’s spawning run. McPhee

dedicates a full chapter (The Shad Alley) to fishing in Florida.

Traveling 1,400 miles from the Bay of Fundy, shad arrive at the mouth of the St Johns in the fall of the year when the ocean is cooler than the river. By the time they travel several hundred miles upstream to their spawning grounds, they use up more than 80 percent of their energy reserves. One hundred percent of the shad die in the river.

Fred Cross is a fisheries biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC). He is the state expert on shad who provided McPhee with hard how-and-where information for shad on the St. Johns; he identifies Shad Alley and its corresponding shad hot-spots. According to Cross, the St. Johns shad fishery “is a middle-of-the-day fishery – a gentleman’s fishery – you don’t have to get up before dawn. If the fish run strong, you can catch ‘em earlier. You get four or five fish a day. Ten or twenty is not unusual. Fifty to sixty fish used to be a good day.” With Cross’s directions in hand, McPhee and Chandler fish Shad Alley and take three dozen shad. Anglers planning to fish for shad on the St Johns River would be remiss if they did not read this chapter.

In The Founding Fish, John McPhee crafts an engaging history of American shad and its influence on the history of the United States. It’s a personal look and a serious history that is an excellent read for all manner of outdoorsman.

Author John McPhee

An excerpt from The Founding Fish:

big fillets in the broiler, the grained savor of lemoned roe; but now this little buck shad -- two and a half pounds -- takes off across the river, flies into the air, and struts around on his tail. He leaps again. He leaps once more and does a complete somersault. He can’t be said to be cocky, of course, but he suggests cockiness and pretension. He’s all show and no roe. . ..”

Author John McPhee is a Pulitzer-awarded author and a four-decade veteran staffer for the New Yorker. He writes on topics things that interest him. One of those, “The Atlantic Generating Station,” is a piece about the improbable task of building a nuclear power plant off of the coast of Jacksonville. In 1999 McPhee won a Pulitzer Prize for Annals of the Former World.

Article Resources: Author John McPhee’s website http://www. johnmcphee.com/ American Shad http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/shad.htm Publishers: Farr, Straus and Giroux http:// us.macmillan.com/author/johnmcphee Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission http://www.myfwc.com/WILDLIFEHABI-

“American shad are schooling ocean fish, and when they come in to make their run up the river they follow the deep channels.

In the estuary toward the end of winter, they mill around in tremendous numbers, waiting for the temperature in the cold -migration, in pulses, pods -- males (for the most part) first. Soon, a single sentence moves northward with them -- in e-mails, on telephones, down hallways, up streets -- sending amps and volts through the likes of me. The phone rings, and someone says, “They’re in the river.”

“The roe shad is often twice the size of the buck shad. She may weigh five to six pounds, while he weighs two or three. Shad don’t exactly strike. First there’s a fixed moment a second or two in which you feel what appears to be a snag (and might be); then the bottom of the river seems to move, as if you are tied to a working trampoline; and you start thinking five, six pounds,

:Jason C. Sheasley is an environmental geologist and a contributing writer and associate editor for OnWater Journal.

OnWater Journal 25

Be Aware Watch Participate Enjoy Do See Act Work Join

moniqueburrfoundation.org Annual Junior Inshore Fishing Tournament www.captainsclub.org Captains Club Contact: David Day, 904294-0959 AT&T Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament www.kingfishtournament. com Benefits Jacksonville Marine Charities Contact: 904-251-3011 jmc@kingfishtournament. com 2009 Bluewater Tournaments www.nefma.com Northeast Florida Marlin Association, St. A Contact: 904-824-4913.

Bubba Catfish Tournament (freshwater). www.descjax.org/ catchbubba.html Benefits Downtown Ecumenical Services Council Contact: 904-403-3859

Sea And Sky Spectacular Nov 6-8 Jax Beach OnWater Journal’s compilation of regional events,shows, meetings, clubs, trips, and tourneys through the North Florida region and then some. Want your group or event to show here monthly? Email Dick Michelson michaelson1@ onwaterjournal.com

Monthly Events, Walks, Floats, and Views November 2009 Nov. 6-8 – Sea & Sky Spectacular http://www.coj.net/ Departments/Recreation +and+Community+Services/ Special+Event s/Sea+and+Sky+Spectacular/ default.htm Jax Bch Oceanfront

www.floridasportsman. com/shows/ Nov. 14 – WOW Regatta Jacksonville Rudder Club http://www.rudderclub. com/calendar.html Nov. 14-15 - Florida Sportsman Fishing & Boat Show Orlando, Central Florida Fairgrounds www.floridasportsman. com/shows Nov. 14-15 – Sailfish Only Open Tournament Northeast Marlin Association, St A www.nefma.com/ membership/events.asp

Nov. 20-21 – Flagler College Inshore Fishing Tournament St. Augustine Contact: Danny Trosset 407-665-2913 Nov. 7-8 – Florida Sportsman dtrosset@ Fishing seminolecountyfl.gov & Boat Show Jacksonville FL, Prime Nov. 28 – Jacksonville Osborn Convention Center 26 OnWater Journal

Light Parade http://www.coj.net/ Departments/Recreation+a nd+Community+Services/ Special+Events /Light+Parade/default.htm Downtown Boat Parade/ Parade of Lights www.captainsclub.org/

December 2009 Dec. 5 – Commodore’s Ball www.captainsclub.org/ Dec. 5-6 – Gatorbowl Regatta Jacksonville Rudder Club http://www.rudderclub. com/gator.html Dec. 12 – Palm Valley Boat Parade www.captainsclub.org/ April 2010 – Jacksonville International Boat Show Metro Park and Marina – www.jaxboatshow.com Contact: 904-673-0093 mail@jaxboatshow.com

Annual Events Amelia Island Blue Water Shootout www.accharters.net/index. html Contact: Capt. Allen Mills of AC Charters Anglers for a Cure Inshore Slam Fishing Tournament www.anglersforacure.org Benefits The National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, cofounded by Katie Couric Contact: Jordan Carroll, 904-305-1599; Matt Hahnemann, 904226-7848 bentlywiz8@bellsouth.net Annual El Pescado Billfish Tournament www.elpescadobillfish.com Benefits the Monique Burr Children’s Foundation Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor, St. A. Contact: Lynn Layton, 904642-0210 llayton@

Cat’s Paw Marina Family Fishing Classic www.catspawmarina.com for kids and Adults, St. A Contact: 904-829-8040 Clay Roberts Memorial Inshore Slam Fishing Tournament www.inriverorocean.org/ index.php Benefits the Clay Roberts Scholarship Fund Contact: board@ inriverorocean.org El Cheapo Sheepshead Tournament www.jaxfish.com/sections/ home/elcheapo07home. cfm Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club Contact: Frank Journa, 904-465-4552 fjoura@bellsouth.net First Coast Offshore Rodeo www.offshorerodeo.com Benefits Dreams Come True Contact: Russ Ost, 904616-7882 info@offshorerodeo.com Florida Fish & Wildlife Fishing Tournaments myfwc.com/CALENDAR/

index.htm FWC Activities and Kids events Contact: Gus Cancro, 850488-605 Florida Georgia Saltwater Classic www.bluewaterpromo.com Benefits Rotary Club of Camden County, GA Contact: Terry Adkins 800546-4622 Florida Times-Union Redfish Roundup www.jacksonville.com/ RedfishRoundup A Catch and Release Tournament Benefits Safe Harbor Boys Home

Kingfish Challenge, Redfish Spots Tournament www.acgfa.com Ancient City Gamefish Association Contact: 904-501-1447 kfc@acgfa.com Kingbuster 400 www.fishska.com www.kingbuster400.com Southern Kingfish Association Contact: 904-819-0360 sokingfish@fishska.com King of The Valley Invitational Redfish Tournament, Palm Valley www.currentproductions.us Benefits Young Life in St. Johns County Contact:: 904-673-0093 Monthly Whiting Tournament www.thebigwt.com/ Oldest City Red-Trout Celebrity Classic www.redbone.org Benefits Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Contact: 904-724-0064 Savannah Red-Trout Classic www.redbone.org Benefits Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Contact: Capt. Kirk Waltz, 904-241-7560 Inshore Fishing Association Redfish Tour Florida East Coast Division, Jacksonville www.redfishtour.com Contact: Lee Causey 478836-4266, 941-266-5338 office@redfishtour.com Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club Numerous tournaments during year www.jaxfish.com Contact: Chris Rooney, christop.rooney@comcast. net Jax Kayak Fishing Kayak Tournament www.jaxkayakfishing.com Benefits Daniel Memorial Contact: Mike Kogan, 904382-5007 mike@jaxkayakfishing. com Junior Kingfish Challenge,

Tournament of Champions www.fishnsfa.com Nassau Sport Fishing Association Contact: Jim Wilson, 904607-4224 fishnsfa@bellsouth.net

Clubs, Groups, Organizations, & Associations Amelia Island Sailing Club Meets at Kraft Athletic Club, Fernandina Monthly Sailing Events Contact: Charlie Steinkamp, 904-583-3156 Steiny1642@aol.com Ancient City Game Fish Association www.acgfa.com Meets 3rd Tuesday St. Augustine Shrine Club Contact: boardofdirectors@acgfa. com

Captain’s Club www.captainsclub.org/ Private Club Meets 2nd and 4th Tuesday Contact: 904/223-3822 Duval Audubon Society www.duvalaudubon.org/ Meets 3rd Monday September – April Swain Memorial United Methodist Church, Jacksonville Contact: Denise Jump, 904-781-8379 denise.jump@everbank. com First Coast Fly Fishers www.fcff.org Meets 1st Monday Southpointe Mariott, Southpoint Rd and JTB Contact: Rob Benardo 904-563-1516 Florida Sea Kayaking Association Meets 1st Tuesday, Baymeadows, Jacksonville http://www.clubkayak.com/ fska/ Contact: Greg Bailey; gbailey@clubkayak.com Florida Lure Anglers www.flafishingclub.com/ sponsors.aspx Meets last Monday Mudville Grille, Jacksonville Contact: Chuck Dehlinger char132@yahoo.com 904-382-4849 Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club www.jaxfish.com/sections/ home/A2homepage.cfm Meets 1st and 3rd Thursday Mayport Boat Ramp, Mayport FL Contact: Chris Rooney christop.rooney@comcast. net Jax Kayak Fishing www.jaxkayakfishing.com/ Web group and forum of kayak fishers, conventional and fly Annual Tournaments: Largest Kayak Fishing Tournament in US Contact: Mike Kogan, 904382-5007 Kayak Adventures Paddling Club www.kayakjacksonville. com Contact: Rachael Austin,

904-249-6200 rachel.austin@ kayakjacksonville.com Inshore Saltwater Anglers, Inc www. inshoresaltwateranglers. org/ Monthly Inshore Tournaments Contact: Fred Anson, 904476-8786 Jacksonville Rudder Club www.rudderclub.com Contact: 904 264-4094 office@rudderclub.com North Florida Trail Blazers Member: Florida Trail Association Contact: Alton www.meetup.com/ hiking-560/ Northeast Florida Marlin Association www.nefma.com/ membership/events.asp Meets at Camachee Island, St. A Monthly Offshore Tournaments Contact: 904-824-4913 Nassau Sport Fishing Association www.fishnsfa.com/ Meets 4th Wednesday Kraft Athletic Club Pavilion, Fernandina Quarterly Fishing Tournaments Seminole Canoe and Kayak Club www.flsckc.com Meets for monthly paddle trips Contact: John Malinowski, 904-7039140 felis555@bellsouth.net

Area Airwaves Radio Florida Sportsman Radio Capts. Rick Ryals, Roger Walker, and John Bottko Saturdays 7-10 a.m.

AM 930 The FOX Live call in 904/448-0930 Podcasts: www.930thefox. com/pages/fishreport.html/ Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Radio Show Capt. Mike Kogan AM 1010-XL Radio Sports Saturdays, 6-7 a.m.

Podcasts: www. jaxkayakfishing.com/radio. html The Outdoor Show Kevin Faver, Capt. Kirk Waltz and Jeff Lagaman AM 1010XL Radio Sports Saturday 7-10 a.m.

Live call-in, 904-641-1010 www.outdoorsshow.com/ Podcasts: www. outdoorsshow.com/cpg/ displayimage.p?album=las tup&cat=0&pos=0 Florida Roads Outdoors Show WJXX ABC-25 Saturday, 7:30-8 a.m.

Kevin Faver’s Fishing Forecast WTLV NBC-12 Thursday 5 a.m. & 5 p.m. www.firstcoastnews.com/ sports/fishing/

Sierra Club, Northeast Florida Group www.florida.sierraclub. org/Northeast/ Meets 2nd Monday, Lakewood Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville WaveMasters Society Jacksonville Beach FL www.wavemasters.org Contact: Mitch Kauffman mitch@radicalside.com

OnWater Journal 27

St. Johns River Guidebook Now Available!

GET YOUR FEET WET – A guide to the St. Johns River Begin your journey exploring your St. Johns River!

Use your guidebook to: Explore parks and places along the river.

Identify plants and animals that you encounter.

Engage in fun outdoor games and activities.

Learn about the ecology and history of the St. Johns.

stjohnsriverkeeper.org

Order Online Today Order Online Today: stjohnsriverkeeper.org/guidebook stjohnsriverkeeper.org/river_guidebook.asp