As a serious bass fisherman and club tournament competitor, Frank Ay of North Lauderdale, has weighed some hefty largemouth. His biggest was a 10-pound, two-ouncer, but that’s merely a minnow compared to the 19-foot, 8-inch 1,750-pounder he caught without rod, reel or bait.

That’s not a bass; it’s a boat — a Phoenix 619 bass boat, plus a 200 horsepower Mercury outboard added to the stern and a MotorGuide trolling motor on the bow. Ay won the $40,000 rig by registering, nothing more, in Florida’s TrophyCatch, a bass fishing recognition and con- servation program now in its second year.

Ay was at Lake Okeechobee with his club, Big Reel Bassmasters of Margate, when the Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) Commission announced that he had won the drawing.

With only 4,000-plus entrants in the contest’s first year, the odds were pretty good.

FWC is investing a lot in TrophyCatch, avoiding the appearance of extravagance by going without the usual space between two words. Sponsors put up the prizes.

The fishing part of the promotion recognizes special bass catches in three weight categories, starting at eight pounds. The grand prize winner for 2012 was Bob Williams of Alloway, N.J. who caught a 13-pound, 14- ounce bass at Rodman Reservoir in February.

You don’t have to catch a big bass, or any bass for that matter, to enter the drawing that Frank Ay won, but you’ll get 10 extra entries for every valid catch you submit.

The promotion’s second season began Oct. 1 and ends next Sept. 30. To register and see all the rules, go to this website: www.worldfishingnetwork.com/florida/tro- phy-catch#.UrPHE_t0lBo.

Frank Ay’s award presentation can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoD1JsYRAG4.

To see Bob Williams’ winning bass, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyAzosH4bkk.

Info collecting buoy

The war against red tide, scourge of Florida’s Gulf coast, escalates with the installation of a biological intel- ligence buoy in Old Tampa Bay, between Clearwater and the Interbay Peninsula.

The buoy continuously collects water quality infor- mation — temperature, salinity, clarity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence, and rainfall and wind data. It transmits the info every five minutes, so researchers can monitor it any time or all the time.

All that, freshly added to monitoring equipment al- ready in other sections of Tampa Bay, is meant to help sci- entists figure out exactly how red tide is started.

Scientists figured out long ago what causes red tide. It’s an alga called Pyrodinium bahamense, but it still isn’t fully understood.

“This buoy fills an important gap in Tampa Bay monitoring efforts,” said Alina Corcoran, who heads harmful algal bloom research at the FWC. “It collects data autonomously, allowing us to gather data without having to go out into the field, and we can communicate to the buoy remotely.

“By using high-resolution data, we will be able to directly link environmental factors like changes in salinity due to rainfall to changes in Pyrodinium ba- hamense abundance.”

You can see real-time reports from that buoy and oth- ers online at the websites www.gcoos.org and www.sec- oora.org. The latter was easier to use when we checked in December.

FWC has an excellent red tide information website at http://myfwc.com/RedTide.

Trips galore

There’s been so much tumult and shouting over fish- ing restrictions and boat moorings in Biscayne National Park’s developing management plans that some of us might forget what a swell national park it is, even with its many problems.

Even though the only commercial concessionaire shut up shop in September, rangers and expert volunteers are leading visitors on an expanded slate of free stuff: guided canoe and kayak trips, Family Fun Fest programs for children, porch talks, walks, fishing and grounding awareness classes, and junior ranger programs.

Biscayne is 95 percent water so most people go by boat, but this winter the land access to the only visitor center is made easy by free weekend rides on the Homestead Trolley, which also runs to Everglades National Park from downtown Homestead.

Some of the best features are the paddling trips along Biscayne’s mangrove shorelines, where you’re li- able to see myriad marine life and migratory birds as

well as the year-round gulls and pelicans. The trips are available to all levels of paddling skill, and there are lessons for beginners.

The monthly Family Fun Fest programs highlight dif- ferent aspects of the park’s diverse resources at five hands- on activity stations for kids and their families. It’s different each month.

Daily ranger talks and walks, from 20 minutes to an hour, feature topics involving park resources and wildlife. Those completing activities in the park’s junior ranger booklet may earn a badge or attend special jun- ior ranger programs just for kids and their families.

For those visiting the park on their own, the work of contemporary artists, inspired by the beauty of the park, is featured in the visitor center auditorium with exhibits changing every three months.

There’s also a Biscayne Birding Trail program, in co- operation with the Tropical Audubon Society. Even for na- ture lovers with only a casual interest in birds, the experience can be stunning.

For details, topics, and a schedule of programs and activities, visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/bisc

and use the “Plan your visit” link there or go directly to www.nps.gov/bisc/planyourvisit/events.htm. You can also phone for details to 305-230-7275, extension 000.

For more information on the Homestead Trolley call 305-224-4457 or visit www.cityofhomestead.com/- index.aspx?nid=357

For more information about the fisheries and grounding awareness classes call 305-230-1144, ex- tension 036.

For regular updates from the park, see its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/biscaynenps, or the Twitter connection at www.twitter.com/biscaynenps.

Freebie days

You have to pay for landside admission to most na- tional parks, although not at Biscayne. Everglades will be a freeby too on nine days this year. Here’s the sched- ule: Jan. 20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Feb. 15-17: Presidents Day weekend; April 19-20: National Park Week’s opening weekend; Aug. 25: National Park Service’s 98th birthday; Sept. 27: National Public Lands Day; Nov. 11: Veterans Day.