After doing a story on Fantasy Football a couple of weeks ago, I got all pumped and wanted to have my own Fantasy Football team.

We developed a league and have 10 folks join in with their teams. And this past Monday was to be the draft.

Well I had done my homework and picked out several possible players for my team. All that was left was to pick them in the draft.

Thus the problem.

Here I sat at my computer at home at the set hour for the live draft, waiting for something to appear on the home page of our league. Nothing popped up and I clicked on everything I knew to, but nothing happened.

Frustration began to set in and after an hour I just gave up.

About two hours after the draft, I got back online and noticed that somehow, a team had been picked for me. Some are OK, but I would have rather had some of my New Orleans boys on the team, being a Saints fan and all.

But for now, I guess my team will do.

I hope the rest of the Fantasy season, goes a little better.

He was always smiling.

I can testify to that. Every time I saw Jim Rice on the docks he had a smile on his face. It didn’t matter if he was up to his elbows in cleaning fish, unloading fish or just messing around on the boat — the smile was there. He was the white-haired deckhand aboard the Gentle Winds with Capt. Greg Marler.

Anyhow, Jim passed away on Sunday in his home in Destin. I understand he got to do what he loved on the last day of his life — fish — and with his kids.

You know that’s the way to go, doing what you love right up to the last few hours.

And who knows when your hour is coming — so get about doing what you love - with the ones you love.

As for Mr. Jim, your smile will be missed on the docks.

I  can’t believe it’s almost time for the red snapper season to end.

The catches of red snapper have been incredible. It’s hard for me to believe that anyone can think we have a shortage of red snapper.

Almost every boat that has been out in the last month have caught  their limit (two per person) and had to throw back just as many.

But remember Aug. 14 is the last day to keep red snapper.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that rain doesn’t seem to slow fishing down.

The anglers still load up and go, and they come back with plenty of fish. And Monday was no different.

I saw everything from red snapper, king mackerel and grouper on the boards.

But you know, why should the rain slow fishing down — The fish are already wet.

You just never know what you are going to see at the docks.

Yesterday, the Sunrise brought in an unusal little fish. It was bright red with a touch of neon yellow on the tail.

Some thought it was a creol snapper others a hog snapper. If you have any ideas or have caught one of these let me know.

Thanks for the help.

I’m all about competition.

I believe in ball games - there are winners and losers.

But I also believe in “good sportsmanship.”

Well Saturday’s Easter Egg hunt at Morgan Sports Center turned into a race for a “big special egg” that was placed out in the middle of the hunting field. Never mind the other 9,999 eggs that were on the field - they all wanted the “big egg.”

Kids racing for eggs is one thing, but when the parents get involved - it can sometimes get ridiculous. And that’s what I saw on Saturday.

At one point I saw a Dad dragging — and I mean dragging like a blanket  — his 5 year old daughter across the field in an effort to get to the “big egg” before the others. Well they didn’t make it in time, but when the Dad finally stopped running, and his daughter could stand up - I saw her wiping her eyes.

Now what fun is there in that.

I say let the kids hunt the eggs. So what if they didn’t get the “big egg” loaded down with Hot Wheels stuff.

It’s not the end of the world — it’s just an egg hunt. And there will be others.

Besides what are we teaching the kids, when they think Big is better. A lot  of good things come in small packages.

I know we catch a lot of fish around here, but I got this via e-mail and found it very interesting.

So I thought I would share it –

Pompano Beach resident Tim Maddock and his angling crew caught and released 50 sailfish off Key West Thursday, while tuning up for the World Sailfish Championship that begins next Tuesday.

Maddock, who owns the Vitamin Sea Too, a 33-foot Contender, fished with Mike Reisert of Pompano Beach; Chris Zidar of Boca Raton; Jon Kreig, Deerfield Beach, Chris Meek of Pompano; and Mike Dinnen of Fort Lauderdale.

For certain the 50 releases in a single day of fishing is a Florida Keys record, said Mike Weinhofer, World Sailfish Championship director and it could be a state record. The previous Keys record was 37 sailfish releases in one day, achieved in May 2005 by Captain Marty Lewis on the Main Attraction off Marathon.

The International Game Fish Association does not keep records for releases, according to World Record Coordinator Becky Wright. A call to the Billfish Foundation was not returned Friday, perhaps due to the Good Friday holiday.

“The fish were just pouring through,” Maddock said. “We had 60 bites and caught 50 of them.”

Maddock said he ran out of bait three times, borrowing each time from a nearby boat.

Maddock hopes the hot sailfishing continues into next week for the WSC which features three days of fishing and one lay day. Eighty boats are to compete for a cash prize purse of $1.6 million, Weinhofer said.

“The World Sailfish tournament is in its seventh year and it’s never been won with more than 15 fish,” Maddock said. “Timing is everything.”

I was looking around on the Web for cobia information when I ran across this cool video of a school of cobia that someone filmed under water.
Check this out.

A couple of weeks ago when March Madness started with the NCAA basektball tournament, I had interviewed Geoff Brower, a former FWB Viking and FSU Seminole.

At the time he picked North Carolina, Michigan State, UConn and Pittsburg to make it to the Final Four.

Not bad — the only one he missed was Villanova.

Way to go Geoff.

For all you fisherman out there waiting for April 15 to roll around so you can catch a red snapper — hold the rod and reel.

Opening day for red snapper, due to a recent ruling by the federal and state regulators, opening day for recreational fisherman to catch red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico is June 1.

Who is the recreational fisherman? That’s the guy who is booking a trip on one of the many charter boats here in Destin — or it’s the guy, who has his own boat and ventures out into the Gulf to hook up with a snapper.

Don’t do it — you can hook ‘em, but you’ve got to release them — no can keep until June 1.

And yes I know it appears that red snapper are plentiful right now, but the government says no.

So toss them back and target something else. There are more fish in the Gulf than the red snapper — and they are plenty tasty.

The Daybreak with Capt. Eric Thrasher brought in this rack of amberjack, amberine, scamp and triggerfish on a recent trip.