Coastal Breeze News

READ MY TIPS Doug Browne [email protected] After we visited Matt at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina (approximately 45 minutes from Ashville, North Carolina) as he won his big match against conference rival Davidson College, we had an opportunity to discuss his freshman year on campus.  Sidebar-Leslie Browne was a tennis scholarship athlete at the University of New Mexico and I was a Big Ten tennis player at the University of Iowa.  One great perk being an athlete- We did not have to stand in line to get books! From the Furman Paladin’s media department, “Furman’s Mellow Named To All-“SoCon” ... Read More »

LADY ANGLERS Captain Mary A. Fink islandgirlscharters.com It is safe to say that all anglers, regardless of experience level, enjoy being on the water. What’s not to like? The beauty of the water, bountiful wildlife, serenity and the wonders of nature all come together to make a memorable experience. Finding and catching fish on a regular basis will only enhance your days on the water, whether in a boat or fishing from a beach, dock or bridge. In this article, I will share with you some very simple, yet effective ways to locate fish in our local back country areas ... Read More »

FOLLOW THE FISH Capt. Pete Rapps [email protected] Well, there are so many techniques and ways to catch a Snook that the answer is not all that cut and dry. To really be able to effectively target Snook, you have to know their habits, eating patterns, tides, water temperatures, moon phase, and a few other things. They migrate and move around a lot so you have to know where they typically spend time during different times of the year. Since we are now about to enter summer here in the 10,000 islands, I would recommend that you fish the outside points ... Read More »

Submitted The Marco Island Soccer Club Surge fielded five teams at the Eighth Annual Naples 3v3 Challenge soccer tournament this past weekend. The Under-10 Boys Surge took first place in the recreational bracket under coaches Mario Guzman and Mike Wesson. “They played their hearts out and won,” said Coach Wesson. The Under-10 Girls finished third with three wins and three losses, losing by a total of only four goals for the three games. “We played the undefeated team twice, and lost by two and one goal, so we were in each game until the end,” said U-10 Girls Coach Cory ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery [email protected] Throwing. Catching. Hitting. Base running. These are the fundamental components of baseball, and for Marco Island Academy baseball’s head coach, Andrew Delgado, they were the key to his team’s success in the 2013 season. “The score board is not what is important,” says Delgado. “I teach fundamentals. (The fundamentals) win ballgames.” This was a sound coaching philosophy for Delgado and the Manta Rays this year. In only its second season, the MIA baseball program finished with a record of 7-9 — an impressive feat when one considers that the team finished 1-8 last year. “This ... Read More »

The Rootin’ Tootin’ Red Grouper Tournament may go down in history as one of the longest tournaments in Marco Sportfishing Club history. Due to weather delays, the scheduled awards ceremony ended up being a “kick off” event and took place on Monday night, April 15th with the “fishing day” of the tournament taking place on Tuesday, April 16th. After 2 weather delays, 19 boats and 80 anglers finally got the chance to go out and bring back some red grouper. The tournament had two separate divisions…a 15 mile division and a 50 mile division, with the weigh-in at the Old ... Read More »

PEDAL IN PARADISE By Matt Walthour It’s that time again, are you ready this year? Have you been looking for a reason to dust off your bicycle? Well, time to get air in those tires, but be sure to do a safety check on your bicycle before you hop on. Check to see if the brakes work, check to see if the chain is lubed and is moving freely, is the seat the right height? Your bicycle can be your new source of freedom, not to mention all the health benefits. Why am I making all kinds of hype about ... Read More »

by Mike Harris The snowbirds have flown and the island is quiet. Just the right time to take care of the things your busy season schedule wouldn’t permit. Your local Coast Guard Auxiliary group, Flotilla 95, is offering a summer session of the Boating Skills and Seamanship (BS&S) course. This is an eight session course presented over four weeks.  The class will meet Monday and Thursday evenings from 7 PM to 9:30 PM at the Flotilla Station at Caxambas Park. The course will provide the new boater with all the basics of boating around the Marco Island area. It covers ... Read More »

It would be difficult to come up with a better scenario… the old south, 75 degree weather with rich beautiful blue skies, no wind, track meet nearby, excited fans ready to watch two closely contested tennis teams ready to battle for the next three plus hours. Adding to the excitement, college tennis offers a unique scoring concept; three different doubles matches square off at the same time but each team will gain only one point toward victory. In other words, the university or college who wins two out of the three matches wins just one point. During my tenure, we ... Read More »

Many flats fishermen have their boats set up for efficient casting. This involves minimizing items in the boat that can create obstacles and snags. Most of us fishing out of flats boats do not have bimini tops or T-tops for this reason. Because of this, there is no shade or any way to duck out of the direct sun. We have to dress properly to stay cool and prevent sun exposure. Out on the water, the sun is baking us from two directions. The most obvious is from above, but few think about reflection. The reflection from the water and ... Read More »

Let the warming trend begin! The average air temperatures in April are a few degrees higher than March, and will range between 61 and 86 degrees. This will in turn raise our average water temperatures up into the mid to high 70’s. Look for areas out on the flats where you have grass on one side of the boat, and sand on the other. Here you can fish the same flats on the top end of the incoming tide for Speckled Trout and Pompano. Cast out 3/8 oz bucktail type jigs tipped with very small fresh shrimp pieces for scent. ... Read More »

After many years of fishing, I have come to the conclusion that there are basically two types of angling enthusiasts: Proactive anglers and reactive anglers. Both types serve preferred individual purposes and one is not necessarily better than the other. The reactive angler is patient and waits for fishing opportunities to present themselves. An example of this may be making the choice to anchor in an area and remain there until there is a change in tidal movement or when the fish may start to bite. This angler can remain quite content and patient in fishing one or two places ... Read More »

Without a doubt, talent is a necessity on the professional tennis tour. There are so many different examples of junior tennis stars that are unable to make a living at the next level. The primary reason: Lack of weapons or, in other words, a talent deficiency. However, as we delve into the real world, the typical tennis player took up the sport at a later age and has far more realistic goals. As we focus on this particular group of tennis players, it is vital to talk about all the components of winning CTA or USTA league matches. If we ... Read More »

By Alex Galiana After four months of games, the regular season championship came down to one game. While most of the teams were just playing for a seeding position in the end of the year tournament, Island Pizza with a 14-1 record, was facing off against Cocomo’s (13-2) – the only team Island Pizza had lost to during the regular season. With a win, Island Pizza would garner its second regular season championship in a row. With a loss, an almost perfect season would have gone down as meaningless but still memorable. The game started out much like the last ... Read More »

When I was young, my grandfather used to take my brother and me fishing as often as possible. He loved to have us out on the boat. Sometimes he would take us out to the shallow reefs and we would drop cut squid or live shrimp down on a small hook. We would have a blast reeling in grunts, porgies, snapper and the occasional trigger fish. We would laugh and giggle as we pulled in one after the other on every drop down. What a blast! Other times, my grandfather would take us out for big fish. He would tell ... Read More »

A sea of red hit Mackle Park recently as young athletes had the opportunity to hone skills and refine techniques through a Football University Combine. About 300 kids from Collier and Lee counties, Miami and even West Palm Beach attended the free event. The event was sponsored locally by the Marco Island Optimists whose football league recently joined the Southwest Florida Youth Football and Cheer League. The combine was free for all 5th through 12th graders and was a joint effort between the US Army National Combine and the Football University. For all of the die-hard players out there, coaches ... Read More »

Let’s set up the usual scenario: We have a weekly CTA/USTA league match and many of the spouses and coaches are observing the contest. Most of the time, the fans are relaxed and they are able to enjoy the action and cheer for both teams. No doubt, all of the players are heavily invested in their performances and want to win the game and losing a big match can be traumatic for most competitors. Therefore, when one of the teams loses the contest, when is it appropriate to talk about the match? From a coach’s standpoint (years of experience which ... Read More »

Life aboard GRENDEL continued to keep us diligent and aware of our surroundings at sea. We had weather gathering capability, but not like you would have today. At that time, all we had was a SSB single sideband/ham radio. Each morning we would tune in and listen to David Jones in AM and Herb Hilgenberg in the evenings. We would get weather faxes from NOAAH on our SSB. Now with internet, it is possible to get weather as a result of Wi-Fi at a good number of the Caribbean anchorages. Boating has come a long way in such a short ... Read More »

Typically the month of March brings some of the best Speckled Trout fishing our area has to offer.  If you can find areas where you have grass on one side of the boat, and sand on the other, you could certainly get into some fun fishing!  In these areas you can fish the same flats for both Speckled Trout and Pompano.  Try casting out 3/8 oz “Don’s Potbelly jig” tipped with very small fresh shrimp pieces (cut a shrimp into 6-8 pieces).  You can buy them at Everglades Bait and Tackle next to the grocery store in Everglades City. The ... Read More »

I so enjoyed the recent conversation I shared with Everglades Fishing Guide, Becky Campbell. She revealed little pearls of wisdom describing her vast experience “hunting” for fish. Becky speaks of fishing with a gleeful glimmer in her eye and prefers to refer to her experiences as “catching” rather than simply “fishing.” I thought it most appropriate to share my conversation with Captain Becky with other angling enthusiasts because expert tips like these are few and far between. Becky grew up in Clearwater, where she describes the water as being a beautiful crystal clear green. Due to the amazing water clarity, ... Read More »