Lake Okeechobee fishing - Feb 2013

We have been doing a bunch of fishing out at Lake Okeechobee this month, due to the fact that we have a tournament in Pahokee and in Belle Glade coming up.  Our students at the Belle Glade YEC and at Pahokee High School, have been practicing extremely hard to try figure out how to catch fish around the lake.  They have been experimenting with locations and baits, and I feel like we are finally figuring out the lake and catching fish.

The Belle Glade YEC students will be fishing in the Black Gold Jubilee Kids Tournament on 6 April, and the Pahokee students will be fishing in a tournament at the Pahokee Marina on 16 March.....Stay tuned for the results.....

Marina Day at the Riviera Beach Marina - 2/16/13

                                            Ms. Amy and "Squishy"

We would like to thank everyone who came out to our Marina Day last Saturday, the morning was filled with excitement.  We had our students from Lake Worth High and Santaluces High come out to complete their final test for their lifeguarding license.  Their final test was to preform a water rescue and place the victim on the backboard, and they are did extremely well.  We are so proud of all of them, and know how hard they worked to be able to pass the course.  The course was completely free to the students, and we would like to thank the United Way for funding the course, I know the students really appreciated being able to continue their education.

While the lifeguard students were all passing their test, we had some of our fishing club students trying to catch lunch for the BBQ.  We fished on the academy boat, in the marina, and caught more fish than we could count,; but sadly none were quite big enough for the grill!  Everyone caught fish, including Ms. Amy, who named her fish "Squishy" and then released him back into the water.

After all the excitement of lifeguarding and fishing, everyone came together to relax and have some amazing lunch.  We can not thank everyone involved in the day enough for making our first Marina Day of the year such a success.

Belle Glade YEC Fishing Trips at Lake O

With the Belle Glade kids fishing tournament coming up in April, the students at the Belle Glade YEC have been putting all they have learned in class into practice to prepare.  We have been fishing at the Belle Glade Marina the last few weeks trying to find out where the fish are hanging out, and what they are feeding on.  There have been a few fish caught so far, but I know we can catch more one the group learns that being loud scares the fish away!!!  They have all been extremely dedicated to learning about fishing and improving their skills, and I can not wait to see them take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the tournament.

NBC Nightly News Shoot 2/17/13

The NBC Nightly News crew join Capt Rich and I, with some of our students, last Sunday for a follow up story on the Academy.  We met at the Lantana Marina, and took one of the newly donated boats fishing in the Intracoastal.  The fishing was a little slow last Sunday, but we did manage to catch a few Catfish on squid chunks, and 2 Jacks on lures.  Despite it being a slow fishing day, the students had a blast seeing how the whole taping process works as well as getting to know and talking to the entire crew.  Stay tuned for an update for when the story is going to air, on the NBC Nightly New with Brian Williams