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Join the Rod & Gun Club for a screening of “Wings Over Water” at the Cultural Center April 18.

Ducks Unlimited Comes to Ocean Reef

Since its inception 87 years ago, Ducks Unlimited has restored or protected nearly 16 million acres of North America wetlands and over a billion acres of Canadian Boreal Forest. The Prairie Pothole Region is at the heart of what was once the largest expanse of grasslands in the world, namely the Great Plains of North America, and is the top priority conservation area for Ducks Unlimited.

At the Cultural Center on Thursday, April 18, the Rod and Gun Club is pleased to host Adam Putnam, CEO of Ducks Unlimited, who will present the screening of DU’s new award-winning documentary, “Wings Over Water,” narrated by Michael Keaton. The 45-minute film will begin at 5 p.m., and following there will be a wine/beer reception, 6-6:30 p.m., hosted by the Rod and Gun Club and to which all Ocean Reef Members are invited.

This film tells the story of the Prairie Pothole Region, seen through the lives of three different species — the Mallard Duck, the Sandhill Crane, and the Yellow Warbler. These birds are dramatically different from each other but all depend on the wetlands for reproduction. The Sandhill Crane is a large bird with a bugling call that lives in open habitats. The Mallard Ducks are familiar sights to many in ponds and even swimming pools, while the Yellow Warblers are the singers of the three, and can be heard in spring and summer, singing in the tops of willows and small trees at water’s edge.

With extraordinary footage of soaring migratory flight, mating and family-raising, “Wings Over Water” brings the fascinating behaviors of each individual species and the challenging journey that they face to survive in the hidden oasis in the heartland of America. Don’t miss this powerful film.

By Christine Patton

How to Cook a Wahoo?

Unlike so many households in Ocean Reef who have anglers bring home dinner, the flats fisherman doesn’t get much practice cooking fish. When we recently had a visitor, who was eager to catch anything with scales, it gave rise to lengthy discussions of not only how to lure and land the fish but also how to prepare and enjoy them. It occurred to me that there are as many ways to cook a fish as there are ways to catch it…

Fresh fish is so good all by itself that you don’t need to do much to make it edible. With a sheet pan and a 400-degree oven, you can handle just about any fish. What varies is the flavoring that you use to primarily keep the fish moist while it’s cooking, but also to give a little extra something to sop up with bread, rice, or potatoes.

One approach is to coat the fish in a creamy coating based on mayonnaise, mixed with a variety of flavorings. Add honey mustard, thyme and red wine vinegar for a Provencal touch. Or add chili sauce, lemon juice, and capers for a spicy taste. Look at those little bottles of condiment that collect in your refrigerator and experiment — barbeque sauce! pickled olives! peach jam? Mix up your concoction and smear it on the skinless side after salt and peppering the fish. Or take an oil-based approach, where the fish is placed in a shallow pool of briny, gingery oil, layered with lemon slices, olives, capers, and grated ginger on top (or anchovies and garlic, or whatever inspires). Alternatively, go in the coconut milk, ginger, turmeric, soy and garlic direction, making a bright-tasting Asian-style marinade.

I know these instructions are vague, but believe me, you can’t go wrong with any mix that has some fat, some acid, sweet, and hot spice flavorings. Throw in a handful of cherry tomatoes, pieces of scallions, or parboiled cauliflower-ettes, or anything that you like that will cook (or finish cooking) in the same time as the fish. 

Bake until barely done — 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cut. Whole fish take longer than those cut into portions. The fish will continue to cook after you take it out of the oven, so err on the underdone side — you can always put it back in the oven for another two minutes! The signs of “doneness” are when the juices leaking out are opaque white, and a touch reveals a solidarity in the flesh.

Don’t forget to garnish your fish after cooking — a sprinkling of fresh herbs, just some parsley or dill, or a mix with mint and chives or anything green — or a crunch of toasted bread crumbs or chopped walnuts will add texture and finish. Serve with the rice or bread that will help soak up those flavorful juices, maybe a green salad and a glass of Sancerre…

Rod & Gun on Land & Sea

By Christine Patton

By now, you’ve heard about the abundance of fish in our waters — with record-setting one-day catches of sailfish, huge schools of bonefish, and pods of tarpon rolling slowly, spring seems to be bursting on land and sea! It’s time to prepare your gear and practice your casting. Fortunately, there is a new, perfect spot for such activity — the Casting Park out on Sunrise Cay. Located just over the bridge on the bayside of Sunrise Cay Drive, it offers plenty of space for back casts, accommodates various wind conditions and has been set up with yardage markers and targets, just right for casting practice. This is where the demonstration of Jude De’Niese’s dogs is set to take place on Monday, March 18 at 3:30 p.m. Don’t miss it! Please arrive in golf carts and park on either side of the Casting Park, on Sunrise or Pelican.

Jude De’Niese, Dog Training Event

Jude is in town for a few days and available for private consultations with dog owners. Reach out to him via text or call 705-241-0196. Better yet, join us for dinner that evening at the Cultural Center and hear Jude speak on the topic of Positive Canine Citizenship. Tickets are available from the Bonefish Bonnies or Rod and Gun (events@rodandgun.org). Act fast, the final headcount is March 15.

“Pick Any Three” Fishing Competition

The Rod and Gun’s fishing competition, Pick Any Three, has ended for January/February but is just getting started for March/April. Participating is simple: email Fishing@RodandGun.org the night before your fishing excursion or even while you’re out on the water, and report your tally at the end of the day to the same address. Three days of your choice, and compete in two categories, Flats and Offshore — with cash prizes!

Congratulations to the winners of the first period: first place, Carmen Sferrazza, followed by Carl Tallardy, and Tom Grote in third. In the FLATS division, there were no entries, but the weather has turned and the prize money has doubled, so competition is expected. For details see our website RodandGun.org and click on Events Calendar.

Rod & Gun Off-Property Trips

Rod and Gun members are on the move — following last week’s sporting clays road trip, the quail hunters are off this week. A fly-fishing trip to the Bahamas is on the docket. It’s amazing how a few days of total immersion can clear your mind, improve your skills, and invigorate you. Join your fellow Members, renew old friendships and make new ones. Contact range@rodandgun.org for shooting or fishing@rodandgun.org for fishing trip opportunities.

Reef Cup!

And last, but not least, it’s Reef Cup time — March 12 to 16 — and by the time you read this, it will be well underway. Don’t miss the chance to watch the boats come it, flags flying, and to salute the victors with a beverage at The Point off Buccaneer Island.

And go practice your Fly Casting at Sunrise Park Casting Field. Markers are set up for testing your accuracy ! Check out Card Sound’s Head Golf Professional David Sandberg.. working on his “game”.

Rod and Gun Road Trip

By Christine Patton

This week a dozen Rod and Gun members went up to Markham Park, a massive 600-acre park near Ft Lauderdale that has an impressive shooting academy, including skeet, trap, and a shooting range, and makes them available for private groups. The sporting clays course, run by Broward County, is more extensive than the 5-stand course at the Card Sound Sporting Range and includes 14 stations spread out through an area of Everglades forest. The Rod and Gun sportsmen traversed the course in golf carts — the favorite mode of travel for all Ocean Reefers — and were able to sample a variety of different shots.

 The visit of Rod and Gun members was organized by Carmen Sferrazza with the assistance of Cory Carr, the range officer at our Card Sound sporting rang. The group traveled the relatively short distance, spending the day at the facility and still getting home early. The experience was very successful and everyone enjoyed themselves — it will be doubtlessly repeated. If you would be interested in joining the next trip, contact range@rodandgun.org and let them know.

If you are not receiving Rod & Gun emails and would like to, please send an email to contactus@rodandgun.org

Good “Carma”
Record-Setting Sailfishing Day

By George Blaha, Member since 2005

The stars had to align for a group of anglers on Wednesday, February 21, and align they did. A boat named “Carma” received good karma, landing 65 sailfish in one day.

The captain, Tucker Ersek, and first mate Andres Landh-Garcia had been preparing for this day for more than a week, as they saw conditions develop for a midweek opportunity to land a lot of sailfish. Those conditions included opposing wind and current, which created the short-wave rhythm that sailfish love called “riding the waves,” resulting in fish on the surface. The son of Members, Tucker has been fishing at Ocean Reef since he was 11 and captaining since he was 18 (now 25). Andres has been fishing since 2019 and has excelled at this sport after giving his tennis racquet a rest.

Being a sought-after captain and crew, they were both booked with different clients on Tuesday and Wednesday and it took some friendly horse trading with those clients to get both days scheduled with Carmen Sferrazza on the Carma, which was equipped with the tower and Seakeeper (a stabilizing gyro) that Tucker and Andres considered critical to the job. It’s a testimonial to the sense of fair play shared by all Ocean Reef Members that the original clients Dave Johnson and George Blaha were both invited Wednesday to fish on the Carma, although the three had never fished together before. This was going to be an interesting day.

On Tuesday, the boat with Carmen and its frequent anglers Angela Basciano and Jodi Zifferer, went out and got 31 sails, so Tucker and Andres were excited for Wednesday like kids on Christmas morning. In preparation, they spent the night before and the morning of catching more bait – pilchers and goggle eyes. Andres had been preparing leaders for months before this day in hopes of it happening.

Lines went in a little after 7:30 a.m. and by 10 a.m., they had landed over 13 and switched from kite fishing to sight fishing – just chasing the fish by sight. This technique worked better as by noon, they had almost 40.

Carmen said the fish were spooling together in packs of up to 10 at times, and as the anglers pitched baits to them, there was an instant bite with many times up to five fish on and only three anglers to reel them all in. It was chaos, but Tucker orchestrated the cockpit calmly and instructed who should go where and do what from his perch up top in the 39’ Sea Vee.

“The Seakeeper and tower were key in stabilizing the boat and letting Tucker see the fish,” said Johnson. “Tucker is a young man with great goals and the discipline to go along with it. He is going to go far in life.”

As the afternoon went on, the fish count kept piling up with Tucker shouting, “Let’s stay ‘til we hit 70!” However, as the sun began to set we thought it was time to get in to find additional sailfish flags, which were gladly provided by friends and family who met the tired, salty fishermen at the dock with libations and celebration. All three anglers were so grateful for the efforts of Tucker and Andres. They are true professionals.

With 65 sails in a day and 96 for two consecutive days, this was one for the record books. Only at Ocean Reef!

Epic Sailfish Days at Ocean Reef

Fish Counts Are Way Up!

By Christine Patton, Rod & Gun Club

In what can only be described as the best week of fishing for sailfish ever seen in Club history, a number of boats from Ocean Reef participated with distinction in posting record numbers of sailfish caught. By my informal survey, the headcount of fish caught midweek, February 20 and 21, ranged from Carl Lindner’s “Seraphim’s” one-day catch of 31 to 37 for Tom Ripley’s “Bad Fish” (who ran out of bait — and flags!), or Benson Ford’s “Sweet Release” taking in 47, again in just one day, or “Double Take’s” 50 or even better, “Jolene’s” 61. Or the amazing record of 96 sails caught by Carmen Sferrazza’s “Carma” over two consecutive days — one day alone catching 65. The previous record was held by Rob Gothier’s “Bar South” with 45, so the record’s been broken by 50 percent! This suggests that fishing in these waters is getting better and better…

What Happened?

An early predictor of last week’s epic fishing was Tucker Ersek, a professional captain who has spent his life in Ocean Reef. His study of weather, current and seasonal aspects led him to conclude early on that this week’s conditions would be ideal, and he acted accordingly, from accumulating extra bait of a specific kind to borrowing more flags. Capt Ersek says it was the combination of springtime, winds and current that set the stage — winds out of the north go against the northbound currents and create huge wave action that the sailfish love to “surf”. Tucker said he had seen free-jumping sailfish earlier and knew the scenario was setting up. What no one had expected was the sheer number of fish. Packs of 6-8 fish fighting each other for the bait and having all lines hooked up, more lines than there were anglers on the boat, was a new experience. Just think of catching 65 in a day as Carma did with three anglers. That works out to a fish every seven minutes for eight hours. I am reminded of the Lucille Ball comedy routine at the cake factory with the conveyor belt bringing a new cake, one after another, whether she was ready or not…

The Record Numbers Don’t Stop With Sailfish

There have been consistent reports of increasing fish populations in the Key Largo waters. Russ Fisher, a devoted bonefish chaser, has tracked his favorite quarry over the decades and, as a Founder of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, has studied the numbers. He has no doubt the bonefish are increasing in the Key Largo area and more significantly, are larger — an important piece of information for scientists studying the species. What I found interesting was that Russ, out in the flats on one of these remarkable days last week, saw massive numbers of bonefish — schools of 100 to 200! — and caught 12. Not a record, for Russ anyway, and he modestly gives all the credit to his guide, Jared Raskob, who he thinks is superlative. But still…you have to admit that the fishing has been better, year after year and that there seem to be more fish of all kinds in our waters.

Is the sailfish population growing too? These big fish are migratory, and their numbers are influenced by a wide range of factors, but last week’s activity argues that the numbers are vastly more than we ever suspected. This bodes well for the Reef Cup, the biggest fishing event of the season, which is coming up March 13 to 16 and will bring out the most competitive fishermen.

Stay In the Know
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By Christine Patton

Reminders for all Rod & Gun Members

Card Sound Range
The Card Sound Range is open for shotgun shooting on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Handgun shooting is also available on Thursdays only. For information and directions, go to rodandgun.org.

Pick Three Days Fishing Tournaments
Remember the Pick Three Days Fishing Tournaments! The first tournament began Monday, January 1 and will run through Thursday, February 29. The second tournament will run from March 1 through April 30, 2024.

The two contests will be as follows: 
Fish any three days of your choosing. Simply send an email to Fishing@RodandGun.org the day before or morning of your fishing day(s). That’s all you have to do to enter!
We have two categories, flats and offshore. 

• For the flats category, the species are bonefish, tarpon, snook and permit (HOWEVER, Permit will be removed starting April 1 – per FWC spawning closure). 300 points are awarded for any caught on fly, and 100 points per fish on spinning rod. 

• For the offshore category, the targets are sailfish, tuna, mahi, wahoo, kingfish, mutton snapper and swordfish. For sailfish, you receive 100 points on spinning tackle and 300 points on fly rod for those adventurous anglers. 200 points are awarded per swordfish and 25 points for all other offshore fish, with a maximum of 3 of each species. 

At the end of the day, simply email your tally to Fishing@RodandGun.org. 

The winner in each category will receive $500, $250 to second place, and $100 to third place!

Hit the water! 

We also have a special joint event with the Bonefish Bonnies coming March 18!
FETCH, STAY & DINE
JOIN US FOR THIS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!
Training Demonstration and Dinner Address
By Jude De’Niese, owner and head trainer at High Tide Retrievers in Ontario, Canada
Thursday, March 18
Demonstration 3 – 4:30p.m.
Cocktails 6:30 p.m.
Dinner 7:30 p.m.
Private consultations available before and after the event. Stay tuned for further details.

Want to Stay Connected?
If you are not receiving Rod & Gun emails and would like to, please reach out to contactus@rodandgun.org and we will add you to our list or update your email address.

Announcing the News with a Bang

By Christine Patton

Gender Reveal Parties are a relatively new phenomenon, but trust the Ocean Reef community of grandparents, both technical and virtual (that’s when we “adopt” the children of siblings and friends), to embrace all the activities associated with impending birth. A Gender Reveal is a celebration to announce the baby’s sex, usually signified by pink or blue, in the form of a special cake, balloons, confetti or the like.

Covering Rod & Gun activities doesn’t usually extend to Gender Reveals, but when Wendy Brainard kindly shared these photos, I had to follow up. In this case, Wendy was inspired by the expectant parents, Whitney and Peter Brittain, their love of shotgun shooting and hunting, and she took advantage of the Rod & Gun’s fine sporting clays facility to stage her surprise — as “Keeper of the Gender” she would be the only one to know the sex before the party. The group of Ocean Reef, Rod & Gun and family members enjoyed the Range with the help of supervisor Corey Carr, including instruction and equipment. As a climactic finale, father-to-be Peter Brittain shattered the telling target, releasing the pink smoke that answered the “Buck or Doe?” question.

After a day at the Range, the party moved to Alabama Jack’s for refreshments, more celebration and then a twilight boat ride home to Ocean Reef. It doesn’t get much better…

Looking Ahead for the Rod & Gun – By Christine Patton

There is much of interest to the Rod and Gun Club, and to sportsmen at The Reef, in the coming months.

“Pick any 3 Days” Tournament

January and February are the first of two rounds of the “Pick any 3 Days” tournament. This is a minimum fuss, no fee, no social event fishing contest. You decide which three days you will count — wait till the last minute and get the perfect weather, best conditions and your favorite colleagues. Simply send an email the night before/or morning of the day you are going out to Fishing@RodandGun.org. There is a Flats category and an Offshore category, and a point scale for fish in each. At the end of the day, simply report your results, again, by email. What could be easier? For details, see the tournament rules at RodandGun.org calendar.

Shoreline Clean-up

February starts off with a February 5 Shoreline Clean-up, in cooperation with the Bonefish Bonnies. Meet at Buccaneer Island and pick up supplies provided by ORC — garbage bags, gloves, etc. — and help to reduce the endless supply of debris that washes up on our shores.

Dinner & Presentation

The month concludes February 23 with a dinner event attended by some guest fishing guides, preceded by a video presentation by the BTT at the Cultural Center. 

Rod & Gun Field Trip

Also coming up in February is a Rod and Gun field trip to shoot sporting clays at the Markham Park Shooting Academy on February 23. Looking for twenty guns to go up to Broward County for an afternoon outing.

Card Sound Range

All throughout January and February, the Range is open and active. Mondays have been for handguns and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are for shotguns, but this schedule is subject to change — check the website (RodandGun.org) events calendar.

Ocean Reef Rod & Gun Club “Holiday Tournament 2023”

Nine teams signed up for our Thursday, December 28^th event.  At the captain’s meeting the evening before, all assumed that while weather was going to move in the next day, we were sure to have at least a nice morning and maybe even a little piece of decent afternoon before things broke loose.   Not the case!

As morning came the front had already staked its claim on top of us.  None-the-less five teams elected to venture out amidst the cold wind & sideways rain.  Just as it was time for lines out the rain stopped, and skies cleared.  At least the ride home had improved.  The day produced five (5) sailfish releases along with a few weighable meat fish.

Rewarded for their efforts….  

First Place Team / 600 points…  “Off Key” with Frank McKee, John Connelly III, Brian Smith (pictured) and Junior angler Lila Hannon (pictured) who caught her first sailfish!  No, she didn’t get tossed in the water to celebrate it. She was already wet enough from the day.

Second Place Team / 400 points…   “White Fence II” with Keith Berend, Jeff Mokris, Jason Hurst.  Pictured are Keith Berend & first mate Darby.

Third Place Team / 160 points…   “Johnny B Good” with April Urbana, George Urbana, James Quinn.  Accepting their awards (pictured) are April Urbana, George Urbana, Demi Isenstadt and Annie Isenstadt.