Village Academy Fishing Trip 12/13/10

After being in a classroom learning about fishing for the last 10 weeks, Village Academy finally earned their fishing trip.  Capt Rich and I met the students at Caloosa Park so the students could try and practice everything they had learned.  They were able to fish thanks to FISH FLORIDA who donated the fishing rods and tackle boxes to the students.  Sadly, due to the extreme cold the fish were not biting.  However, everyone had a wonderful time and I strongly believe we have a new group of ethical anglers in south Florida.

Boynton Holiday Boat Parade and Saturday Fishing 12/11/10

                                                              Ray and his Barracuda

This past Friday night the Florida Fishing Academy was entered into the Boynton Beach and Delray Beach Holiday Boat Parade.  Everyone on board had a magical time spreading festive cheer, and our boat won 3rd place in our division.

This past Saturday was another great day of fishing.  I met Ray, Kevin and a few more students at the classroom and we headed down to the boat ramp.  Using greenies and squid we caught 3 big barracudas, some large mangrove snappers, and lost a snook at the dock.  Around lunch time we went over to Intracoastal Park and caught some sheephead and ocean perch using shrimp.  This Saturday was another very successful and exciting day for me and the students who came out and fished and learned with me.  Along with all the fish caught, the students were lucky enough to see manatees swimming around the park all day trying to find some warmer water.

Saturday Fishing Class 12/4/10

This past Saturday was the most exciting and most enjoyable Saturday for me and the students since we began the classes.  Most of the students arrived early around 8am and the remaining students arrived at 11am, and we all fished together till 5pm.  By the time I arrived at the Boat Ramp, Ray and his brother had already caught an Amberjack, a blue-ruuner, and a Spanish Mackeral.  We continued to catch Spanish Mackeral, Blue-runners, snappers, grunts, and even a Sea-Robbin.  We caught all our fish on either frozen squid, frozen mullet, or live bait some of the students were catching after learning how to throw the cast-net.  We even had a family of manatee come right up to us to see how we were doing fishing!

Saturday Fishing Class 11/28/10

This past Saturday the students showed up early again to the classroom to start fishing.  The fishing was hot right off the bat.  The students were using live shrimp, frozen squid, and dead mullet and caught a number of different species of fish.  The caught a ton of spanish mackerel, jacks, snappers, grunts, and even landed 3 barracudas.  Along with fishing so of the students painted their fishing rods and attempted to tie some jigs.

Boca Raton Housing Authority Fishing Trip 11/25/10

After many weeks of sitting in class and learning about fishing and conservation the BRHA group earned their fishing trip.  They are an amazing group of students who were always wanting to learn more and more about fishing, and finally they had the opportunity to go fishing and practice what they have been learning about.  We all met at the Boca Raton Boat Ramp off Palmetto Road to try see if they could take what they have learned and catch a fish.  The fish were biting right from the start, and the students caught grunts, snappers, and blue-runners.  Everyone had an amazing time including Robert and Jeff, from the Sims Center, who were there to help me.

GUY SNELL IS DONE!!!!

We all at the Florida Fishing Academy would like to thank Guy Snell, his family, and the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation for all their hard work on the mural for our classroom.  After many hours of painting and driving up from the Keys, Guy has finished his mural.  We encourage everyone to come by the Boynton Beach Boat Ramp and see his incredible work.

Guy Snell is almost done!!! 11/13/10

Guy Snell came up twice this week to try finish his mural on our classroom at the Boynton Beach Boat Ramp; however sadly he still has one more day of work to go.  Guy spent Saturday working on his amazing marlin on the east wall.  We are all amazed by his mural, including the students who managed to distract him from his painting with all their questions!

Saturday Fishing Class 11/13/10

This past Saturday the students showed up at the classroom 5 hours early for class at 8:00am and started fishing and did continued till around 4:30pm.  Ray and Tim were the first to arrive and they grabbed the cast net and headed down to the intracoastal to catch bait for the day.  They caught enough "greenies" for everyone to use for about 5 hours.  Most of the students headed down to start fishing once they arrived and a few stayed behind and helped me paint and repair some fishing rods.  The students fishing caught jacks, bluerunners, mangrove snappers, yellowtail snappers, grunts, barracudas, and even a couple of crabs.  The students had a wonderful day fishing and absolutely enjoyed the amazing weather we had on Saturday.

All of the above photos were taken by Kevens, one of our students, who has taken an interest in photography and spent the day taking photos

Guy Snell continues to put his finishing touches on his mural

Guy Snell continues to amaze us all with every brush stroke

Saturday Fishing Class 23 October 2010

Saturday Fishing Class went extremely well this last weekend.  I met all the students at the classroom at 9:00am where Guy Snell was already there continuing to paint his amazing mural.  Some of the students set up there fishing rods, grabbed the bait and cast net and headed down to the intracoastal.  We were using cut mullet and greenies we caught, along with some frozen shrimp.  The students caught all types of fish including a boxfish, ceros, a spanish makeral, lane snappers, mangrove snappers and grunts.  Some of the students also learned how to use the cast net so we will never run out of bait.  When some of the students started getting hot and needed a break we went back to the classroom and they learned how to replace the eyes on some of the fishing rods.  We are always extremely impressed that they are always wanting to learn new things.

Next Saturday we are going to be painting some more fishing rods.  Some students still need to paint their own fishing rods, and some students want to paint some rods for us. 

Guy Snell: Budding artist follows in footsteps of famed underwater and sea life artists Guy Harvey and Robert Wyland - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Guy Snell: Budding artist follows in footsteps of famed underwater and sea life artists Guy Harvey and Robert Wyland - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Promoting youth fishing through the Florida Youth Fishing Program Summit | fishing, florida, youth - Sports - ChipleyPaper.com

Promoting youth fishing through the Florida Youth Fishing Program Summit fishing, florida, youth - Sports - ChipleyPaper.com

Saturday Fishing Class 16 October 2010

Last Saturday was amazing and there was a lot happening around our classroom.  I picked the students up a little before 9am and we headed down to the classroom.  When we arrived Guy Snell was already there and had started painting his mural again.  Some of the students grabbed their fishing rods and headed down to start fishing, while a few students hung out with me in the classroom and helped me replace eyes on the fishing rods and paint a few rods too.  The students all caught a ton of fish like the usual snappers, grunts, pinfish, and mullet.  They even hooked a snook with a mullet, but sadly the line popped before they were able to bring the snook in.

Guy Snell continues to amaze us with his incredible mural.  The classroom mural is looking more and more amazing every time we turn around.

Artist Guy Snell starts to paint our building

The Florida Keys artist Guy Snell started painting his mural on the side of our classroom at Boat Club Park, in Boynton Beach this weekend.  We would like to thank Guy and his father for their time and the amazing start to the mural, we can not wait to see how it come together.

Watch the news segment from WPTV about Guy Snell and his mural
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/sports/recreation_sports/boating_blog1/artist's-apprentice-creates-mural-of-marine-life

Saturday Fishing Class 9 October 2010

                                                               Timothy and his fish

                                                               Timothy helping Jasper

                                                                  Timothy and Jasper
Saturday Fishing Club 9 October 2010

This past Saturday I picked up the students at the Sims Center and met the remaining students at the Boynton Beach Boat Ramp.  The some of the students set up their fishing rods and headed down to the water to start fishing, while a few stayed behind to paint their fishing rods.  The students all caught a ton of fish on Saturday including snappers, grunts, pinfish, and houndfish.

I would like to thank Timothy for being such an amazing help the last few weeks.  When he first started with us he would argue with us and the other students, but now he is always wanting to help me and the new students.  He has come a long way from where he started and is now one of our best students