Florida saltwater fishing-doers who disdain nosodium waters must hardly know what they’re missing, so they must be told about Michael Canero, Jake and Tony Nardo and Miguel Navarro. They’re all young amateurs who caught humongous largemouth bass in suburban waters of Miami-Dade and Broward County.

Theirs were just the biggest local catches, well short of the state’s top class of five 13-plus-pounders caught upstate and entered in the second annual Trophy Catch semi-tournament’s Hall of Fame category.

A 14-pound, 9-ounce Hall of Famer caught and released by Joe Morrell on Kingsley Lake in Clay County is the probable state champion, pending verification of late entries.

Trophy Catch competition follows the state’s fiscal calendar. It started Oct. 1, 2013 and ended last Sept. 30, with a late-entry deadline of Oct. 15.

The biggest down here was Canero’s 11-pound, 1-ounce bass, caught on a canal running through residential neighborhoods of Miami-Dade. The official records don’t specify which canal.

You wouldn’t tell either, would you? There’s little chance anyone will recognize it in the photo of fishing buddies Canero and Jake Nardo showing off the fish together.

Those two also fish Bluebird Lake, a borrow pit cornered off Galloway Road and Southwest 48th Street. It’s surrounded by 33 houses and one heavily-fenced vacant lot. Canero and the Nardos apparently don’t live there but have access.

Canero and Jake Nardo both caught and released 10-pound, 2-ounce bass on Bluebird Lake. They couldn’t have been the same fish because Nardo’s, taken on April 10, had slightly larger length and girth measurements than Canero’s catch on May 26.

Those were among 229 statewide that were entered in the Trophy Club category. Tony Nardo caught an 8-pound, 2-ounce bass on an unspecified canal.

Joe Caplano caught a bigger one — eight pounds, 13 ounces — on the well-known and popular L-67 canal, somewhere between Tamiami Trail and Alligator Alley. The eight-pounders qualified for prizes in the Lunker Club category. Statewide, there were 758 entries in that group alone.

Broward County’s biggest bass was Miguel Navarro’s 10-pound, 4-ouncer, caught Dec. 11 in C.B. Smith Park beside busy Flamingo Road in Pembroke Pines. The park is mobbed on weekends; Navarro was there on a Thursday.

Four months later Michael Slipy caught a 9-pounder somewhere in the Everglades of Broward.

All those are exceptional fish and indicate that bass grow bigger, and in bigger numbers, in this part of Florida than a lot of people realized.

The Trophy Catch promotion, meant to re-establish Florida as a bass fishing capital, apparently is working with pretty good prizes as well as recognition.

“Year two produced five times as many winners as the first year,” said Trophy Catch director K.P. Clements. “We know there are many more trophy bass that were caught and released but not documented because anglers did not have the necessary tools to verify the weight or didn’t yet know about the program.”

Now that you know about it, learn how to participate by visiting www.TrophyCatchFlorida.com. Don’t overlook the excellent search app that lets you look up winners by angler’s name, county, water body or date.

Stone crab time

We know a man who doesn’t like stone crabs. Is that bad? No, that’s good because he won’t be out there competing with the rest of us between now and the end of the catching season on May 15.

Of course there are rules: Take only the larger claw and it had better be at least 2-3/4 inches long from elbow to tip. It will grow back, but if you take both claws the crab won’t be able to defend itself against predators.

Don’t bother egg-bearing females. You’ll know them by the so-called sponge — a mass of orange or brown eggs resembling a sponge on the underside. Turn the crab over to check, but other than that it’s hands off.

You can set as many as five traps. You can’t use spears, hooks or anything else that can puncture, crush or otherwise injure the crabs.

The legal daily limit is one gallon of claws per person, or two gallons per boat no matter how many people are aboard. If you’re planning to set traps, know that there are restrictions on sizes and other details. Find that here: myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/stone-crabs.

If you’re planning to sell your catch, you’ll need a license. There’s another web page for commercial harvesters. Here’s a video demonstrating how to remove a claw: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTgXTS8gLjU.

Wanted: Croc agent

Who wouldn’t want to be a crocodile response agent in the Florida Keys? It’s a part time job, not a career, but oh so tempting.

If you qualify, you’ll be on call and directed by the state crocodile response coordinator when there’s a croc problem. Driving your own truck, you’ll check out crocodile reports and recover carcasses if they’re dead. If alive, you’ll get to capture nuisance crocs and relocate them unless they capture you first. In that event, no truck needed.

Applicants should live in or near the Keys. Previous croc experience (including customer service) earns preference, though training is provided.

Send an email to SNAP@MyFWC.com to ask questions and request an application. Say “Crocodile Response Agent” in your message’s subject line.

Don’t know much about crocs? Learn more online at MyFWC.com/Crocodile. And be careful out there, please.

FWC Commission meetings

November presents a seldom-found chance for southeast Floridians to attend an FWC commission meeting, to meet the commissioners and staff members and to sound off about fish and wildlife concerns.

The dates are Thursday and Friday, Nov. 20-21, the Hilton Key Largo Resort, 97000 Overseas Highway. With a schedule of only five regional meetings a year, that’s about as local as it gets. See myfwc.com/about/commission/commission-meetings for more info.

Near the end of each day’s session, there’s a spot for public comment about matters not on the agenda. As of mid-October, here’s what was on it:

Staff will report on pending actions by the Gulf of Mexico (red snapper) and South Atlantic (snapper, grouper, dolphin, wahoo, mackerel) Fishery Management Councils. There will be other reports on commercial lobster diving, barracuda management options and whether it’s still a good idea to bar spearfishing with mixed gas rebreathers.

Also scheduled are presentations on involving the public in lionfish control and the problem of human interaction with crocodiles. The second day’s agenda is concerned mainly with upland wildlife.

Advisory panel seeks applicants

Want to help make government fishing policy? The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council needs applicants to fill Florida-specific vacancies on three advisory panels and general (open) spots on two others:

The coral advisory panel needs a coral scientist. The dolphin-wahoo panel needs two Florida recreation and one charter fisherman. The habitat panel needs one Florida commercial fisherman, one recreational and one at-large research member.

The mackerel panel needs two recreational members, one charter fishing member, and someone from a non-government organization (NGO). Knowing how to spell mackerel correctly is desirable but not required.

The snapper-grouper advisory panel has one open NGO seat, any state.

For more info, email Kim.Iverson@safmc.net or call the Council office at its toll-free phone, 843-571-4366. Also see the “advisory panel” page at www.safmc.net.