An amazing tale

Angler Bill Homan, 30, from Texas, was fishing under the Sunshine Skyway south pier less than two weeks ago and landed a 30-pound tarpon.

Sounds normal, right?

Well, Homan was injured in Iraq years ago, resulting in many injuries, including a missing right eye. He was a member of the Armed Forces.

Homan always had wanted to catch tarpon, and he caught this first one 10-minutes in with local Capt. Jason Ramsey.

And guess what? The tarpon was missing its right eye as well.

Look for the story, with a photo to prove it, in this Sunday's Bradenton Herald.

Dave Heil of the Fishing Rights Alliance filed suit over grouper rules in Jacksonville today in federal court against National Marine Fisheries Service.

Claiming, in part, a fallacy on the position of the NMFS on grouper stocks, the Fishing Rights Alliance is hoping for relief from certain measures of the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act.

For complete deatils on the suit, visit www.thefra.org/FRA%2016%20Complaint.htm

Giant hermit crab found

Here's a real doozy of a crab found off Bradenton Beach, and possibly one of the rarest found in the United States.

On July 22, Capt. Joey Sweet found this hermit crab near the boat ramp at Bradenton Beach. Sweet said the crab appeared to have gotten his home entangled as the tide went out.

Sweet brought the crab to MOTE Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. Sweet said a senior biologist said he hadn't seen a hermit crab of such size in the 25-plus years he has lived in this area. The biologists are studying the crab to determine, among other things, how it got so big.

More to come in an upcoming column.

Vacation

I will be on vacation from Thursday until July 13 in Colorado.

It has been a while, and anyone who read my column today knows that I have some stories to tell them "yankees." (I say with a wink and smile.)

Hopefully, I can get some fishing in. Trout aren't the same as tarpon. But what kind of outdoors writer would I be if I didn't try to hook a few rainbows?

Until then, I wish you all tight lines and burning drag.