Bill Text: FL S1764 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Captain Bill Smith

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-01 - Adopted, companion bill(s) passed, see HR 9101 (Adopted) [S1764 Detail]

Download: Florida-2014-S1764-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2014                            (NP)    SR 1764
       
       
        
       By Senator Latvala
       
       
       
       
       
       20-04856-14                                           20141764__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution commending Captain Bill Smith for being
    3         the first to catch a bonefish (albula vulpes) on an
    4         artificial fly 75 years ago.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, the species albula vulpes, or “grey ghost,” is a
    7  gorgeous fish, being generally the color of burnished silver
    8  with a slightly bluish olive back, fading to almost white below,
    9  and is referred to with reverence throughout the Florida Keys as
   10  the bonefish, and
   11         WHEREAS, in addition to its beauty, the majestic bonefish
   12  is a wily adversary when hunted and a prodigious fighter when
   13  engaged, with estimates of its speed ranging from 25 to 40 miles
   14  per hour, which allows this speedy fish to cover the length of a
   15  football field in a matter of seconds, and
   16         WHEREAS, the elusive bonefish was never known to have been
   17  intentionally taken on an artificial fly until one sunny
   18  afternoon in the summer of 1939 when, after having considered
   19  the problem for many months, Captain Bill Smith fastened an
   20  artificial fly of his own devising to the end of a leader
   21  attached to a tapered Ashaway GAF line wound on a Shakespeare
   22  #1891 single-action Russell reel, and
   23         WHEREAS, among the mud flats near the Islamorada Little
   24  Basin, a deeply forked tail waving gently above the water
   25  revealed the presence of an 8-pound bonefish, and, under a
   26  bright blue sky with fleecy white clouds overhead, Captain Bill
   27  Smith used a 9 1/2-foot Orvis Battenkill rod to present the
   28  handmade fly to the fish, and
   29         WHEREAS, some minutes later, that noble bonefish made
   30  history as the first of the species albula vulpes to be caught
   31  on an artificial fly, and
   32         WHEREAS, the accomplishment of Captain Bill Smith in taking
   33  this historic fish in such a manner initiated what many claim to
   34  be the most exciting form of sportfishing, pound for pound, on
   35  the face of the globe and founded a multimillion-dollar
   36  industry: fly fishing for bonefish, NOW, THEREFORE,
   37  
   38  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   39  
   40         That on the 75th anniversary of the unprecedented feat of
   41  catching a bonefish on an artificial fly, Captain Bill Smith is
   42  recognized and commended for contributing greatly to the name
   43  and reputation of Islamorada and the Florida Keys as a
   44  fisherman’s paradise.