The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) made it easier for both visitors and residents of Florida to complete the boating safety exam required for recreational boaters born on or after January 1st, 1988. Online providers are permitted to offer the temporary certificate exam 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and it can be accessed by tablet, laptops, and even smartphones.

Prior to this change, paper exams were the only option, and had to be completed and passed on the spot by rental vessel operators, while boat rental facilities had to purchase, administer, and mail in the valid hard copies. The newer convenient method can be completed online before a vacation or a trip to rent a boat.

The $3 online exam is 25 questions…

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On September 1st, the much awaited recreational snook season reopens in Palm Beach County for the duration of September, October, November, and midway through December.

South Florida snook is one of the most prized and most regulated fish due to a few good reasons. Snook not only puts up a powerful fight, but its mildly-firm white meat has an excellent flavor due to its diet of crustaceans and other small fish. Because of this, if snook fishing was left unmanaged, they would surely be a rare sight.

Buying or selling a snook in the state of Florida is illegal, so if you’re dying to feast on this sly silver fish, you’ll just have to catch it yourself!

The bag limit for harvesting snook is ONE per harvester per day, your catch must be between…

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Sheltered from the Jupiter sun by colorful paint and tin roof is a chow shack right out of an old Gidget movie.  Dune Dog, 775 North Alternate A1A,  just north of Indiantown Road, is an after boating or being at the beach spot. It’s perfect for cooling down and filling you up. It’s a tropical, beach-inspired snack shack café you are going to fall in “Love at First Bite” with the award-winning food.

Dune Dog has been a favorite of locals and visitors alike since 1994.  The crowd-pleasing menu options and laid back “happy island” atmosphere has catapulted the little fresh-air cafe to become a landmark destination, like the Historic Jupiter Lighthouse,  in the Town of Jupiter. This is the spot where you can wear your flip-flops and your bathing suit,…

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This weekend nothing in particular seems to be running through our waters, but in the spirit of fishing we encourage you to be optimistic, get out there and prove us wrong! Make sure to tag any good catches you post with #WaterfrontProperties for a chance to be featured! Here's this weekend's fishing report:

If you’re looking for dolphin, the bite has been pretty slow, but as usual it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Weed lines have been barren, but if you find any floating debris on the larger side, you may be able to conjure some luck trolling with bonita strips or ballyhoo. Anyone who has caught mahi worth keeping lately has been around 1100 feet or deeper. Shallower than that and you’ll be forever cleaning weed from…

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Blue crabs have a sweet mild meat, and they're on the tastier side of the crustacean family, not to mention abundant in Florida waters. My father taught me how to catch blue crabs, and I highly recommend it as a fun family activity, especially if you live on the water! What sounds more fun- paying $20 for crab cakes at a restaurant, or spending quality time teaching your kids something new on your own dock? Here’s how to catch these delicious bottom-dwellers:

First off- while blue crab season is usually all-year-round in Florida, in an effort to retrieve lost and abandoned crab traps, there are seasonal closures every other year for 10 days. Currently, blue crab season is closed in Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie Counties, but scheduled to open…

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On August 25th, 2018, Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse will be hosting a moonrise tour to view the full moon from the top of the lighthouse.

On this day, the moon will be in “Waxing Gibbous” phase, meaning it is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a full moon, with the complete full moon actually happening at 7:56 am the next morning.  However, the moon will be high in the eastern sky around sunset, and will be 99% illuminated, providing for an all-around picturesque view.

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the August full moon is called the Sturgeon Moon because sturgeon (a type of northern fish) are more easily caught in August during this moon. Hopefully, in true South Florida style, the stars will align and lucky fisherman will be calling this…

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 Pictured: REEL DECISIONS captain and son with their "King of Kings"

This past weekend at Rybovich Superyacht Marina, over 85 boats from all over Palm Beach County showed up to support the much-needed research and awareness of prostate cancer by fishing in the Anglers For The Cure KDW Tournament.

The day of fishing proved sparse for most competitors, with kingfish being the only species that seemed to truly be showing up. Although most teams tried zig-zagging for wahoo at first light, the only wahoo caught was reeled in around 2 pm. At 22.9 pounds, it weighed in and won 1st place wahoo (and only wahoo on the board) in the Mark Gerretson Memorial Fishing Tournament in Delray Beach, as well as number one and only in the Anglers For The Cure…

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Pictured: Snook caught by North Palm Beach angler Jessica Bright

If you’re looking to have some fun but don’t care about putting food on the table, catch and release snook have been the main event this week inshore, at the Juno Pier, along the beach, and Palm Beach Inlet has been pretty solid. Live croaker should get the job done during the day, and if you’re looking to do some night fishing, Juno Bait Shop should be able to help you out with some flair hawk jigs. Snook season starts September 1st, so hold off on harvesting them until then!

Not much action has been seen offshore this week. There are plenty of patches of seaweed, but it seems like they’re true nurseries right now, only inhabited with crustaceans and schools of peanut mahi. It’s…

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Florida recreational divers have a little over three weeks left to cash in on rewards ranging from $500 to $5,000 for harvesting FWC-tagged lionfish.

The statewide Lionfish Challenge began on Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day (May 19, 2018) and runs through Labor Day (Sept. 3, 2018). FWC tagged lionfish with external dart tags at 50 randomly-selected non-disclosed artificial reef sites between the depths of 80’ and 120’.

To participate, you must complete a registration form, and find and harvest an FWC-tagged lionfish, then submit a clear photo of the lionfish and tag including documentation of the harvester name, tag ID#, GPS coordinates of harvest location and date harvested to Lionfish@MyFWC.com.

Cash rewards ranging from $500 to $5,000…

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Divers and Snorkelers will now have a new artificial reef to explore in Palm Beach County off the shores of Boca Raton. The county dropped Boca’s third artificial reef last week made of 530 tons of limestone just near the Boca Raton Inlet.

The reef was funded by the Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission grant. The structure sits at about 35 feet deep and is manmade. The reef is meant to create a new habitat for Marinelife coming from the intracoastal waterways to the shores of Boca Raton. The reefs are meant to enhance the habitat for reef organisms while attracting fish and other organisms that live in the ocean.

The county started placing these manmade reefs off the shores of Red Reef Park in 1988. Since then, the park has been named a…

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