Most people are totally unaware that a wonderful secret is hidden behind the ball park on State Road 776 in Port Charlotte. Venice Area Birdin…

Last week, one of my clients was having difficulty shooting any line and extending his casts. I kept watching to figure out the problem. But h…

This is the time of year that I notice the west wall coming alive. The water over there is finally starting to clear up. The water temps are s…

Bass are moving off the beds. The males are very aggressive right now and the females, once recovered from the spawn and all the troubles they…

Hooked fish of different species fight differently. Some tend to burst completely out of the water and launch into wild, splashy somersaults. …

Thousands of miles of mangroves border the bays and estuaries of Southwest Florida. The roots of the red mangrove create a safe haven for juve…

For a couple years now, my editor has been suggesting I do a column about mackerel. Last week’s Radio WaterLine show was almost all about mack…

Perhaps you thought it was a skinny dandelion. Its little bright yellow flowers are growing around your house or in your lawn if you’ve put of…

Question: What color is a yellow daisy? If this seems like a trick question, it is — but not the way you might initially think. The answer: It…

I love my life! In an alternate reality, I am sitting in a prison cell somewhere for doing the exact same things I get away with here.

If you’re reading this, you probably enjoy the outdoors. You probably like exploring and learning about all the wonderful things in our enviro…

Today is the day: We finally get the backyard measured for a car port that we can keep the new bass boat and the RV under. I’ve been wanting t…

Our inside fishing was hurt by past fish kills in many places. Fishing in the upper half of the Harbor was not affected by fish kills this pas…

The natural world is full of cycles. Not unicycles or bicycles or tricycles — cycles as in patterns that repeat over and over.

I like food. A lot. This is not shocking. A casual glance at my body shape will provide you with that information.

I hate snow and cold. The Arizona desert where I grew up is covered in snow right now, which almost never happens in Phoenix. They can keep it.

Traveling and exploring new places is an adventure — but adventures always come with unforeseen risks. Whether traveling alone or with childre…

OK, I’m confused. It’s February — the dead of winter — and we are having record heat here in Southwest Florida (last year, the same thing in F…

It’s great to be healthy again and enjoying such beautiful warm weather. It’s hard to believe it’s still February. I had the opportunity to sh…

From the outside, it might seem like fishing guides are just raking in the dough. With the average inshore charter running $350 to $400 for fo…

I don’t care what your calendar is trying to get you to believe — spring is in the air. You can tell by all the pollen and love bugs. Ugh. Her…

Ollie’s Pond Park is a small but treasured birding site off Wintergarden Avenue in Charlotte County. The park is about 40 acres and features a…

Shrimp are on the bottom of the food chain — everything eats shrimp. I love shrimp and eat them all the time, and so do all of our gamefish. T…

The bass fishing right now is probably at its peak time. We’ve had a stretch of warm weather that should have the bass moving up on the beds. …

There is no reason a new kayak angler should feel they have to run out and buy anything special to go kayak fishing. Almost any medium-duty sp…

If you read the fishing reports, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of them mention fishing with soft plastics. If you’ve never used them befo…

Here at WaterLine, we have a long history of advising you, the angling public, when there are new regulations that will affect your fishing. O…

Opinions on food are very subjective and are the subject of much debate. Some of us relish a pink-centered ribeye steak. Others shudder at the…

In last week’s column, I got started with a question-and-answer session that covers a lot of the things people ask every day in the tackle sho…

The mission of the Peace River Wildlife Center is to contribute to the survival of native Florida wildlife through rescue, rehabilitation and …

Last Saturday morning I was listening to Radio WaterLine and the boys were talking about all the snappers that were being caught. I thought I’…

Well, another frigid Southwest Florida winter has come and gone. What a tough couple weeks it was. But we survived, and spring is around the c…

Like many of you folks, I have been around firearms most of my life. My early life was almost idyllic as far as I was concerned, almost like T…

If you read this column, you’re probably fascinated with wild things. You probably want to surround yourself with them whenever possible. Love…

Our weather is changing. There may be more cool spells ahead, but this week has been warm and humid. I’ve already observed white pelicans migr…

There is always something to be maintained. And, according to the service people, there are varying opinions on how to do that. Recently my fr…

Throughout the month of March, coastal communities across Florida will observe Seagrass Awareness Month as a means of bringing attention to th…

Does it sound like a trick question? Whatever in the world could an extremely large saltwater fish have in common with a small upland game bir…

At its February meeting in Gainesville this week, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) set the popular and economically…

In case you missed the ridiculously commercialized attempt to lure your hard-earned dollars into the pockets of jewelry stores or candy and fl…

Just mention flyfishing and all sorts of mental images appear. Everyone has a different one. Some may imagine a pristine shallow sand flat wit…

Now that we have finally had some warmer weather, the bass should be finding their way to the spawning beds. Locating bass on spawning beds is…

I’ve been working at the tackle shop for 20 years now. In that time, I’ve been asked tens of thousands of fishing questions. I always take the…

One of the easiest and most productive ways to fish an area in a kayak is by drifting with the wind, tides or currents. Since paddling and cas…