If you go saltwater fishing in this state, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) researchers want to learn about your experiences and opinions through the new online Florida Saltwater Fishing Panel. Anyone with a valid Florida saltwater fishing license or Persons with Disabilities Resident Hunting and Fishing License, as well as exempt residents age 65 and older, can sign up to take part in the panel, which begins this summer.

Registered panel members will be asked to complete one web-based survey per month for a one-year period. The surveys will each take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. While most of each survey will focus on the angler’s last saltwater fishing trip in Florida during the previous month, surveys may also include questions about current or proposed fishing regulations, licenses, conservation of fish stocks and management effectiveness.

BY MELISSA LATERZA - Michigan is shaped like a mitten and it gives Gary Cross a reason to laugh while describing his home state.

“I miss the hunting season and the change of seasons in the fall. I don’t miss shoveling snow, and being stuck indoors. I like being able to go down to the beach and cool off here when it’s too hot.”

Gary Cross had his first taste of boating and fishing on the eastern shore of Muskegon, Mich., where he and his family of five would spend time camping and hunting. The name Muskegon means “marshy river or swamp,” given by the Ottawa Indians, and the town is also known as the Lumber Queen of the World.

BY MARCY SHORTUSE AND LIZA STROUT - When the Boca Beacon and representatives from the Sun-Herald got together last week, it was to discuss a delicate issue: Tarpon fishing in Boca Grande Pass, and if there is a way to come to a compromise.

This year has been a more controversial year than most. It has stirred up a 20-plus-year argument between catch-and-release, live-bait anglers who use traditional fishing methods, and those who believe that aggressive tournament fishing tactics are not altering the number and behavior of tarpon in the Pass.

BY LIZA STROUT - It was a bittersweet moment for Effie Joiner when the 2012 BoMo Tournament came to a close at noon on Sunday, July 8. She’d been fishing the tournament for many years, and because she is 15 this year would be her last.

Still, a first-place win made the moment a bit sweeter.