water life feb 2012

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay

F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2

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Capt. Ron:Capt. Ron:My Take onMy Take on

Red TideRed TidePage 6Page 6

G o o d O f f s h o r eG o o d O f f s h o r eP a g e 1 6P a g e 1 6

... But there are... But there areQUALITY FISHQUALITY FISH aroundaround

3Page 13

Canʼt always getCanʼt always getthethe BIG ONESBIG ONES......Page 11Page 11

The official publication of the Charlotte Harbor Reef Association

LIFEKeeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997Keeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997

WWWWaaaatttteeeerrrr

P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E @ c o m c a s t . n e t F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2

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F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m P a g e 3

Dear Water LIFEHi my name is Dom Castro. I moved here 8years ago and since then itʼs been a bit of ahope of mine to be on the front cover ofWater LIFE magazine. Iʼll be moving out ofstate at the end of this month so I see it asmy last chance to make this happen. Iʼvebeen fishing all over Englewood latelyalmost every day and take pictures of whatmight be cover worthy. I have attached mymost recent and plan to send many more,fishing every day until the end of January.Please consider my pictures. Iʼll be keepinga hopeful eye on the magazine as always.Also, any tips on what you look for whenselecting cover pic-tures would beappreciated. ThankYou! Dom Castro

Photo Tips:First, try to keep yourthumb out of the pic-ture! And watch thebackground – like forthe palm tree behind this fisherman. – MH


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Not affiliated with any other publicationVol XI No 2 © 2012

www.WaterLIFEmagazine.comNo part of this publication (printed or electronic) may be

copied or reproduced without specific written permission fromthe publisher.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoCharter Fishing: Capt. Bart MarxPort Charlotte: Capt. Billy Barton

Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck EichnerCommercial Fishing: Kelly Beall

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerReal Estate: Dave Hofer

Inshore: Fishinʼ FrankOffshore: Capt Jim OʼBrien

Diving: Tommy DavisKayaks: David Allen

Sailing: Bill DixonOffice Dog: Molly Brown

on the COVER: Greg Whaley assumes theʻprofessional pose ̓with a tiny snap-

per caught on a tiny hook while stalk-ing spadefish. See this monthʼs

Fishin ̓Frank on page 7

Letters to [email protected]

Charlotte Harbor Reef Association

Inshore & Offshore HeadquartersInshore & Offshore Headquarters

Dear Water LIFEMy 8 year old grandson Isaac Dunson enjoyed pretty much everything

about Florida life thistime of year during a oneweek visit over Jan. 1.This shows him at sunseton Palm Island and "hang-ing ten" on a skim boardin the surf. His otherfavorite activities werecatching blue crabs withchicken parts in a pull-uptrap in abrackishpond, andsqueezingragged seahares to getthem torelease theirblue ink.

Bil lDunson

Dear Water LIFEJust a quick note to let you know I will not be reading your paper any longer

due to your perverted horrendous article (December) promoting beastiality. ButI'm sure it's ok since after all we are just a higher form of animals anyway right?The man obviously has problems and yet you endorse his book and give himplace in your nature magazine. It's a shame that you have no better upliftinginformative stories to report on. Typical media, reporting on the most outrageouspiece of trash out there. Please leave that to the inquirers.Capt. Brian

Editor notes* Yes it was sick, but it was just... how shall I say it? ... tongue-in-cheek.

TURN THE PAGESEVERY MONTH: Back IssuesPhotographyKids ChartersKids ClassesTidesWeatherSailingKayakingDiving

How the manateebecame famous

“Likea

goodday

on thewater”

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editorThe following was part of a January

press release from NOAA Fisheries:As we begin 2012 and a new leg of

this journey, I invite you to reflect on theimportance of our collective accomplish-ment and the strength it provides us tomove forward and tackle other issues stillin front of us. Some current challengesinclude working to further refine our man-agement approaches to better meet theneeds of fishermen and coastal communi-ties, building on our world class scienceto better understand trends in fish popula-tions and ecosystem considerations, andtaking stronger steps to preserve protectedresources like endangered species andmarine mammals. The words preserve resources always

get my attention, especially when theycome from a big government agency likeNOAA. Preserve ecosystems was the crywe heard from the Feds about manatees. What we have come to find out is pre-

serving usually comes down to preservingthe jobs of the people doing the research.And that in turn always leads to flawedscience.

I had been working on our own web-site before reading the NOAA Fisheries

press release. I was updating our manateepages. We have a section entitled: Howthe Manatee Became Famous. One focus on our website comes from

the United Nations CaribbeanEnvironmental Program in 1995. That’swhat started the manatee on its journey tofame and fundraising fortune.The UN report counseled:

"Programmes of environmental educationare an integral portion of a conservationprogramme and should be immediatelyimplemented in areas where manateesoccur.

By stimulating appreciation and prideon the species, it may be possible toinduce the development of a conservationphilosophy and achieve the goal ofresource preservation.

By being a high-profile species, themanatee may function as a catalyst inbringing together interested governmentaland non-governmental agencies to elabo-rate comprehensive conservation plans.

Manatees may be instrumental as wellin the establishment of sanctuaries andattainment of the overall goal of preserva-tion of coastal ecosystems with all theirassociated species."Such contrived sociological manipula-

tion still makes my skin crawl.

Right after the UN suggested: stimu-lating appreciation and pride on thespecies, the Save the Manatee Club wasformed to carry out their plan.The manatee issue and NOAA’s fishery

regulations share the same approach, onethat employs sympathy, emotion, com-passion and a significant lack of data.

... populations – preservation ofcoastal ecosystems – protecting resources– endangered species – appreciation andpride – collective accomplishment – longterm benefits..... those are all catch phras-es designed to tug on your unsuspecting

heart strings. There is no choice here. The UN’s

Caribbean Environmental program wasthe first call for ‘sanctuaries’ and nowhave a manatee sanctuary in Turtle Bay.NOAA wants more regulations and exclu-sion zones so they just write them. Thefact that the science is outdated and theprocess is overly complex does not matterany more to NOAA than it did to the UN.These are all people who will tell you:“Trust us we know what’s best for you.”And if you resist, they tell you: “Do whatwe say or we will put you in prison.”


Who Knows WhatʼsBest for You and Me?

HE KNEW WHATʼS BEST - This looks bad but itʼs really not. One of the sailors in lastmonthʼs Disabled Regatta waits for a tow before slipping under the US 41 bridge and outinto the open river for the races. More sailing on page 14

On the LineRegional Red Tide summaries1/27/2012 – Karenia Brevis wasnot detected in water samplesanalyzed this week along shoreof the Pinallas,H i l l s b o r o u g h ,Manatee, Sarasota,Charlotte and Leecounties or along-shore of the FloridaKeys – FWC websiteBy Capt. Ron Blago Water LIFE Senior StaffI've always felt that it's

always best to talk about redtide when there wasn't anyof it around. I rememberback in 2002 and 2003when we had a major outbreak of red tide and peoplewent nuts.Dead fish were all over

the beaches, manatees weredieing, people were going to the emer-gency room with breathing problems andthere wasn't a tourist to be found for sixmonths. People demanded action so localand state politicians threw millions of taxdollars into research and non profit organi-zations were formed and wouldn't youknow it; as fast as the red tide came, itwent away and with it went the financingand the interest in red tide.In my Top 10 Stories of 2011, last

month, I mentioned that we did not havea major outbreak again that year. I recent-ly received an e-mail from Dr. Bill Dunson(see right) reminding me of a red tide eventaround Palm Island in Oct. 2011. Dr. Billis a retired college professor fromPennsylvania who now lives in the LemonBay area. He has done a lot of good envi-ronmental work in our area so when some-one that smart reads my article and takesthe time to comment; I really am flatteredand go back to double check my research.There are many organizations that test

for red tide; the Florida Marine ResearchInstitute, Mote Marine, the StateAquaculture Dept and even our own ParksDept checks for red tide on the beaches.They measure red tide in cells/liter.

There is always at least 1000 cells/liter inthe water that is considered a backgroundlevel. The Department of Agriculture clos-es shellfish beds at a 5000 cells/liter leveland at 40,000 cell/liter fish die and people

cough. The FWC which had the job of col-lecting all the data says that a high level isconsidered to be 1,000,000 or morecells/liter.I went back and looked at the FWC

records for Oct. 2011 and found that onOct. 7th in our area there was no trace ofred tide, and on Oct.14th there was no

trace; but between Oct.10th-13th there wasone positive sample that showed a highcell/liter count. This may be the cause ofthe event that Dr. Bill mentioned. If it wasred tide, it came quick and left even quick-er. That's the trouble with using dead fishon the beach as a red tide indicator. Youcan't tell where they died or what killedthem. I prefer to use the dead manateemethod as an indicator of red tide out-breaks.Manatees have a real problem with red

tide. When Karenia Brevis blooms it givesoff a toxin that is heavier than air and stayswithin a foot or two of the surface of thewater. When a manatee comes to the sur-face to breath, they take in a large amountof toxic gas that kills them. I remember aMote Marine scientist telling me that in1996 they found 151 manatees that diedfrom red tide in the Charlotte Harbor areain a six week period. When they cut themopen he said their lungs looked like ‘friedliver.’ In 2003 we had 100 die ; in 2005 there

were 93. In 2010 there were no manateedeaths due to red tide; but don't celebrateyet; 2010 was the year that 244 manateesdied from cold stress.So what are the facts;Red tide is always there: the FWC has

found red tide in our area every Oct.,Nov.,Dec., Jan. and Feb. from 1995-2010.No one knows how red starts or what

can make it stop. They are pretty sure thatpollution has nothing to do with it.Every time someone shouts red tide and

shows pictures of died fish on the beach;hotels, restaurants, fishing guides, boatrentals and a lot of other people, all losemoney.

We all know that another red tide out-break is coming just like we know anoth-er hurricane will hit us again. I'm justgoing to sit back an enjoy myself and letmother nature run the show.You can Reach Capt Ron Blago at:

[email protected]


My Spin on Red Tide

Hi Ron- I must take some exception to your listing of "No major red tide outbreaks in

2011" in Water LIFE.Although one may quibble about the

meaning of "major," we had a very devastat-ing fish kill due to red tide along the beachesfrom Manasota Key south in mid to lateOctober. There are still huge dried redfish(see photo) lying on the beaches of themany thousands that were killed, apparentlyfrom spawning aggregations. Many otherfish were also killed. There was not theextreme effect on humans as has happened inthe past, but I would consider this a majoroutbreak.

Ask anyone who was on the beaches onPalm/Knight, Don Pedro and LittleGasparilla Islands at that time and they willtell you of a massive fish kill, a horriblestench from the dead fish, and a lot of workput into burying dead fish. The remarkablething unfortunately was that all of the redfish were adults.Rather than minimizing the effects of such fish kills by red tide, I would hope

in the future you could call for some sort of county organization to document andkeep records of the fish kills to provide an unbiased estimate of the effects. I sup-pose the tourism officials would rather sweep the whole thing under the rug in atype of cover-up, but our only hope of eventually figuring out the causes is toaccurately document what is happening.By the way there has been recently a huge amount of dead mullet on the beach-

es of Little Gasparilla to Cayo Costa which we suspect is due to dumping bycommercial mullet fishermen who have been working the beaches quite heavily.No other dead fish are present so the coincidence with the presence of the netters isquite suspicious. The technique is to pin the mullet against the beach and use sev-eral boats to encircle the mullet. Maybe the technique is legal, but the waste offish seems unfortunate, not to mention the mess on tourist beaches.Bil l Dunson

Berkley Gulp has changed its packaging. The new package has a plastic tray thatholds the soft sented baits in place. “The tails were bending in the old package andthe baits would swim ʻfunny ̓ a 13-year old at Fishin Franks, pointed out.


By Fishin’ Frank Water LIFE Baitshop Think 1970s songs ...

Spade fish UUhh! what are theygood for? ...whoa hum, hey hey,Absolutely eating! The answer which most people think

of is ‘No’ spadefish are no good to eat.But: Wrong! Spadefish are an eating fisheverywhere but Florida. No, I do notknow why, but in Southwest Floridamany people either never heard of them orconsider them a trash fish. And that is sosad.These are tough little fish which

inhabit our local reefs and they can befound from New England all the way toBrazil. Often called Angel fish as the dorsal

and anal fins protrude far back beyond thetail, giving the spade fish the appearanceof the angel fish people have in theiraquariums. Spade fish are considered a game fish

in the Carolina’s and many other places.One thing is, that spadefish here locallyare not usually too big, maybe 2- to 3-pounds or smaller, but they can reach 10pounds. It is common to catch small hand-size

spade fish in cast nets when looking forbait. I do not know of anyone who evercaught fish using spade fish as bait, but itshould be possible. The reef off Alligator Creek, is as good

a place as any to look for spade fish,although you can find them in many ofthe local canals or even right up by themangroves in the harbor. Spadefish are not a common catch in

the canals or on the flats for the simplereason that they have a very small mouth,which makes them great bait stealers.Often people blame pin fish for nibblingtheir shrimp to pieces when it could havebeen a swarm of spade fish. Yes, spadefish travel in schools and

will swarm a food source. I have watcheda school of spade fish attack a floating red

fish carcass. You would have thought itwas a school of piranha the way they kepthitting it tearing off tiny little pieces. Butyou do not have to worry, you can swimsafely; even if they would attack a person,which they would not do, they have suchsmall mouths it would tickle or maybepull some hair, but biting you is not pos-sible. Keep the mouth of the spade fish in

mind when you choose your hook. Tocatch them you are going to need a #6 or#8 hook, I use 15 pound fluorocarbonleader, not really for the spade fish, butfor the other fish which might also hit,fish like mangrove snappers, orsheepshead. The best bait for spadefish is clams.

Just cut up small chunks of clam and tryto make sure it covers the whole hook.For spadefish your rod and reel should belight to very light. If you were a crappieguy up north this would be a great use ofyour old crappie rods. Rigging for spadefish you can free line your piece of clamor use it under a bobber, sinkers are notreally for fishin spade fish. Spadefish arenot great bottom feeders, they are moreapt to bite in the water column than offthe bottom. We do carry clams in thestore frozen, but if you see spadefish andyou are clam-less, take a shrimp break offthe tail and peel the shell from the tail,thread the soft tail meat over your hookand when you feel the bite set it firmly. The other way I like to rig for spade

fish is to use a crappie jig, buck tail orcurly tail, the small #6 hook on the 1/16once jig head gives it a nice slowdrop/fall when you place a piece of peeledshrimp meat sliced with a knife not torn

from the tail of a shrimp. If you tear thetail it is too mushy to stay on the hook. Stuff the piece of shrimp onto the

point of the hook. When you cast it outif you are in 10 feet of water count to 8before you start reeling it in, then reelslowly with a slight jigging action to therod when you are reeling. Don’t get in ahurry, give them time to figure out thereis meat there. Once you start catchingthem it should be nonstop for quite awhile. Spade fish respond to chum very, very

well. Get your boat anchored, put outyour chum bag; then get started settingthe rods up. Always get the chum in firstwhile you are rigging so the chum hastime to start working to bring in the fish.Spadefish are omnivores they will eatanything, animal or plant. One weird partof their diet is they eat the common clearjelly fish which clog up the Harbor everysummer. Hoo-Ray for the spade fish! Eatall you can little buddies. Sea turtles arethe only other thing I know which eatsthose jelly fish. Cleaning a spadefish is a pretty stan-

dard fillet, cut slabs from each side, butthat can be tough with their leathery skin

and heavy bones, so I get a cut startedalong the back and then slowly work themeat off each side of the fish leaving theribs intact. It takes a little extra time, butis actually easier. You will have a grayishlooking fillet, but surprise, it will turnnice white and flakey when you cook it.Again, how strange is that? Here is a recipe for you to try.

Mako's spadefish recipe: After skinningand cleaning fish, rinse them in coldwater, then put spade fillets in large plas-tic pan of lemon juice, seafood marinade(most any type bought at store) and gin-ger spice. Soak overnight. Take steaksout, but keep them in baste. Make a mix-ture of corn meal, small amount of Cajunseasoning, rosemary leaves and garlic salt.Heat a pan with olive oil to cookingtemp. Cover meat side of fillets withmixture then put into pan (no need toremove skin from fillets) and cook untilgolden brown. Well, you have fun out there, enjoy

your day, there are so many weird strangefish to play with you should be able tostay busy for a long time. Fishin Frank Frank can be reached at

625-3888 or at [email protected]

A small crappie jig and a piece of cut peeled shrimp are the ticket for small mouthed fishlike spadefish. When you knife cut the shrimp (as opposed to tearing it apart by hand) itdoesnʼt come apart on the hook.

ʻIf you were a crappie guyup north this would be a greatuse of your old crappie rodsʼ

Spade Fish


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Punta GordaGrabbing the last bit of gear from my

garage for a fishing trip I heard my friendMickey holler from the dock, thenmoments later he let out another yelp as Iwatched him release his second smallsnook caught on a lure. We bothacknowledged this was a good sign for theday and away we went. Our plan was to cast to shallow water

redfish on the flats north of Burnt StoreMarina. With 2 hours of outgoing tideleft we were “playing with fire” in thepossibility of getting stuck as we castblindly into sandy patches. Immediately we came across several

redfish that were spooked by our presenceas we cast whole fresh shrimp riggedweedlessly. Two hours later we gave upthe search after repeatedly getting stuckand never having a bite. I commented toMick that this was sure hard work just tocatch a few redfish so I suggested we runinto some canals and catch some easy fishlike sheepshead and trout. With no worries of getting stuck we

eased our way down a canal and studiedsome shadows ahead located on a shallowlip before the drop on a canal bend. Thelonger we studied these ghostly figures we

noticed movement only to see monstersnook laid up and lots of them. Theywere sunning themselves and appearedcomfortable with our distance. On our way in we had passed a school

of finger mullet and returned back to themto gather big snook bait. Six mullet laterwe were anchored with lines pitched out. We watched snook up to 30 pounds

gaze at our free-swimming baits but withno interest. Then suddenly out ofnowhere a bald eagle dives to the water tosnatch up a bait but with keen eyes itdropped the mullet realizing there was ahook in it…..thank goodness for that. That was also the end of our snook

party as a swooping large eagle will defi-nitely send the fish deep. Back to easyfishing with shrimp on a jighead and aslow low tide... but even the sheepsheadwere not interested.

Plan C was to fish for pompano onthe outside of the east side bar. Withnearly every cast resulting in a ladyfish Ihad the hot lure….a pink scooped pom-pano spoon with trailer. Mickey on theother hand could not buy a bite on a tan-dem jig rig which normally works – eventhe ladyfish were picky. The interestingthing about this lure is that the ladyfishfought differently pulling on the top, notjumping and thumping much like a pom-pano. There is something special aboutthis jig which I don’t understand. Nonethe less, no pompano were caught.Ten ladyfish later, spirits elevated and 4

in the well for cut bait we ran to fishwith cut bait for redfish in a reliable spotnorth of Pirate Harbor. We first tried casting shrimp to man-

groves on the higher tide and Mick added2 baby redfish and one small trout to hiscredit. Of course, he reminded me he had abackcountry slam while I was still wait-ing for my first bite. Since bottom fish-ing cut ladyfish was ignored by the red-fish it seemed to make sense to fish theflats where we started and had seen fish. Casting live shrimp on the higher tide

phase produced no bites, but once againwe had seen redfish swimming in thearea. Did all the fish other than ladieshave lockjaw this day, we wondered? Itwas a perfect incoming tide now, lowboat traffic and 70 degrees.

Our bottom-fished cut ladyfish pro-duced nothing so now we ran back to thecanals hoping for anything. I quickly added a hardhead catfish to

my list and then a good thump on ashrimp-tipped jig brought up a pompano.What a great surprise and two others fol-lowed. They would not hit the pompanojig, but took an ordinary red jighead.So the captain this day had to deal

with his sum total of 2 pompano and acatfish. Mickey’s catch was only slightlybetter, but nature gave us plenty to behappy about. A bald eagle swoopingdown to the water to snatch our bait,shots at huge snook, sight fishing for red-fish. I think I will be happy with whatnature gave to me this day.

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates ActionFlats Backcountry Charters and can bereached at 941-628-8040 orwww.backcountry-charters.com

Be Thankful For WhatNature Gives You

Seahawk with a mullet was photographed atColony Point by Claudia Schmidt


By Betty S tauglerWater LIFE / Sea GrantNew Boating & Angl ing Guide

to Charlotte Harbor Website – TheBoating and Angling Guide to CharlotteHarbor (CHBAG) has consistently beenone of my most requested publications.First developed in 1994, this guide pro-vides readers with information pertinentto boaters and fishers. Boating andAngling Guides are developed by FWC-FWRI and most often in partnershipwith a local organization, here SeaGrant. Our newest guide includes botha printed guide and a website. Theprinted guide which is completely refor-

matted from previous versions will beavailable by the end of February. The website is available now at

http://ocean.floridamarine.org/boating_guides/charlotte_harbor/index.html Thewebsite providesusers with all of theinformation includedin the print guideAND a lot more.Users can pan maps interactively, printmap subsets, and hyperlink to additionalinformation. Previous guides did notinclude information about fishing piers,but they are included in this newest ver-sion. What is particularly nice aboutthe web version is its ability to beupdated when things change or newinformation becomes available. Visitorscan even register their email address toreceive notice when changes are made.As we move towards greater emphasisof the CHBAG website we are alsomoving away from what in the past wasa mass production of paper guides. Alimited amount of paper guides however,will still be available upon request. Third Year of Bay Scal lop Cage

Gardening Program Underway – Inmid-January I delivered bay scallops to

twelve volunteers participating in aunder dock research program aimed atevaluating growth rates and restorationpotential in select areas of Lemon Bayand Gasparilla Sound. Volunteers willmonitor scallops monthly and recorddata. The scallops delivered werebetween a quarter to half inch in size.Volunteers will grow them out to adultsize. In the late summer early fall weanticipate the bay scallops will spawn.This is a cooperative project of FloridaSea Grant and the FWC-FWRI.

Florida Sea Grant ConductingRecompression Field Trials -Florida Sea Grant recently funded a pro-gram development project to initiatefield trials of a variety of new devicesdesigned to recompress fish experiencingbarotrauma. We don't see venting goingaway, the idea is to provide anglers withmore options or "another tool in thetoolbox." It is hoped that such prac-tices can increase the survival of fishcaught and released in deep water. Amajor goal of the project is to involveextension agents and anglers throughoutFlorida in evaluating the practicality ofusing these devices in Gulf and South

Atlantic fisheries. Gear has been pur-chased and distributed to Florida SeaGrant extension agents, and field trialshave begun. During the past twomonths a total of four field trials havebeen conducted. Valuable experience hasbeen gained in using these devices withmore than 125 fish successfully released.Betty StauglerFlorida Sea Grant AgentUniversity of Florida IFAS ExtensionCharlotte County(941) 764-4346

Assorted Updates

P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E @ c o m c a s t . n e t F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2

By Bobby Vital is JrSpecial to Water LIFESnook are a lot of fun to catch. They

give a good fight. This snook weighed inaround 10-pounds and was 30 incheslong. It was caught at Thom Adam’sbridge in Englewood. The Snook has amost distinctive body shape, with largefins and most of all has a prominentblack stripe running the full length ofthe lateral line. However, snook fishingis out of season, so you have to throwthem back in the water. We have tried it over and over again

and the best time we caught these fishwas at the incoming tide in the morning. To find these fish, you need to look

around docks, under bridges, around themangroves and around pilings. The bestlive bait I suggest you use is pilchards(green backs). Snook also love eating live or dead

shrimp as well. With this bait, you canfish with a bobber, or you can free line ifyou want, or use a weight. These meth-ods are all very productive. The artificiallures I use are the DOA C.A.L. jerk bait,color is green back with a 3/8 oz.C.A.L. white jig head, and GOT-CHAlures size 7/8 oz. to 1 oz., with a colorchartruse head, silver body with red treblehooks. When using a jerk bait I putPRO-CURE bait scent on it. I use themullet or shrimp scent which is most

productive. I have used this scent overand over and it does catch me more fish.When putting the scent on you don’thave to soak it, just put enough, everycouple of casts (which I had the best ofluck with). So if you want to catchsnook try this method.

Pelicans, shore birds and ducks wereall congregating in clusters together outon the harbor. The object of their atten-tion has been the kelp like weeds float-ing and the smaller bait fish congregat-ing below it. The ducks seemed to reallylike eating the vegatation.

Seaweed, Birds & Bait

TThhee FFuunn FFiisshh


By Capt. Bart MarxWater LIFE FishingIf you are reading this you already

survived January and you know the fish-ing has been good. Valentines Day isthis month guys, don't forget to takecare of your sweetheart.

Let’s get to the fishin; this time ofyear we get lots of families that like tohire a charter guide to go fishing.Moms, Dads, sons and daughters theycome to Florida, the fishing capital ofthe world, and want to catch the big one. People ask if they could catch a tar-

pon or a shark when the water is below65 degrees. I tell them there are tarponaround, but it is almost impossible tofind one that is hungry. And there aresharks that are around, like some bonnet-heads on the flats, but they are a littlesluggish and hard to get to feed too. Next they want to know about catch-

ing Goliath grouper, all they know is‘big’. Most guides can get prepared forbig fish if it is the right time of the yearand if you ask before you get on thewater. But January is pretty tough. On the flats most guides use light

tackle to fish for species like reds, trout,snapper, and snook. When you want tocatch big game fish there is some prepara-tion that needs to happen. Just like tryingto drive a nail with a screwdriver, it does-n't work. So talk with your guide beforeyour trip and ask about big fish if that’swhat you want. This time of year thereare Goliath on some of the near shorereefs and they can be caught.

We have several father and son teamsthat like to fish when they come toFlorida and start some friendly familycompetition. Recently we were able totake a customer and his three sons out.These guys were very good anglers. It wasMike, the dad’s birthday and his three sonswere treating dad to a fishing trip. They were from Minnesota and they all

fish a lot so they were all good casters.As they caught fish there was an on goingcount of how many and who caught what. These guys we pretty tough on dad.

They all were catching and letting himknow that he was not on the board yet. Finally after several reds, and trout dad

was able to hook into a very nice pom-pano that was the only one of that species

caught on their trip. We also caught some small flounder

and ended up with four keeper trout, onesheepshead, and a keeper flounder. The weather was windy and we had a

front approaching – that could have beengood or bad depending how you looked atit. These guys originally wanted to go off-shore to fish, but the winds were 15-20knots out of the northwest, ... not goodfor offshore but still there were some fam-ily memories made that day. Another father son trip last month

was with Todd and Kyler his son who is10 years old and just learning to fish. Starting up in Placida going offshore

we were catching some white grunts andsome small flounder. Venturing furtheroffshore, we hit another spot that was alittle deeper but the waves were a littlebigger too. Some fish started biting andthen Todd said ‘I think we need to go backinto the harbor,’ he was not feeling sogood. We went back into the harbor and hunt-

ed for some reds and sheepshead in time tosave face for Todd inn front of his son. Inthe end they both had a great time andKyler caught some nice fish. These arethe type of trips I enjoy; taking theyounger crowd and getting them hooked

on fishing. Take a kid fishing! We like to think

that we are family friendly. When yourfamily or friends come to Florida give usa call and book your next adventure. CallCapt. Bart at 941-979-6517 or email

cap [email protected]

You cantʼ alwayscatch the big ones


By Capt. David StephensSpecial to Water LIFE

On countless occasions I hear people complaining about the low winter tides. Well maybe I can help you toturn something negative into a positive. This is a great time of year to do some scouting, not so much for fish,but to learn the slight contour changes of Charlotte harbor. There are numerous small cuts and troughs on ourlocal flats and in or near the Mangrove shorelines. When the water is low fish will use these areas like highwaysto move from one location to another. These are also great locations to find actively feeding fish.

February is a month filled with great opportunities for you to take advantage of these extreme low tides. Ifyouʼre like me and have a hard time remembering what the wife cooked for dinner the night before, then I highlyrecommend bringing a note pad. Also, it is a good idea to do your scouting on the incoming tide, unless youwant to spend some time stuck high and dry.

Charlotte Harbor is a very shallow body of water with countless grass flats and sandbars. Everyone knows that one angler who seems to have that edge over most otheranglers; well the chances are that person has done their homework. So after youhave gone out and done some scouting and you have a note pad full of prospects,now it is time to see if your hard work will reward you. I recommend trying yournew (soon to be) honey holes on different tides to see when the fish are usingthese areas. Donʼt let the winter low-tide blues keep you down. Above are some pic-tures of some nice fish that my clients have caught on recent shallow water charters madepossible because I did my homework ... or you could say my Harbor-work.

Capt. Dave can be reached at: 941-916-5769

LLLLoooowwww TTTTiiiiddddeeee ccccoooouuuulllldddd bbbbeeee aaaa lllleeeeaaaarrrrnnnniiiinnnngggg ooooppppppppoooorrrr ttttuuuunnnniiii ttttyyyy

Ponce Inlet

The mosquito-borne disease surveil-lance program is made up of four parts.The first part is the sentinel chicken sur-veillance. This portion uses the appear-ance of mosquito-borne disease in chick-ens to monitor the transmission of dis-ease among the disease’s reservoir host,birds. The second part of the program isspecialized adult mosquito trapping.This trapping is performed with CDC

light traps to monitor the level of vectormosquito, culex nigripalpus. The thirdpart is the analysis of the collected vec-tor mosquito for the presence of viralRNA. This data indicates the presence ofinfected or potentially infected mosqui-toes. The final part is human investiga-tion. Human case investigation involvesdetermining when and where a diseasewas contracted. The disease contractioncould be outside the neighborhood of thevictim or outside the country.

Sentinel Chickens

FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE This sentinel chicken cage is in eastern Lee county. Countyworkers feed the chickens and sample them regularly for mosquito borne disease.

F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 2 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m P a g e 1 3

By Capt. Bi l ly BartonWater LIFE / Charlotte HarborThe boat ramps have been packed late-

ly. Highs in the 80s all week? Seriously?I'm not complaining I'm just saying.Three years ago we had one of the coldestand harshest freezes I've seen here. What'sgoing on? No consistency that's for sureand I'm wondering how it's going to affectthings later on in the year. Time will tell.With the water temperature now mak-

ing it back up into the 70s the fish aregoing bonkers! I have still been makingmy morning run into Fishin’ Franks topick up some live shrimp. Live shrimpare by far the most effective bait you canuse this time of year. I've had severaltrips this last month with well over 100fish brought to the boat. But if the water temperature continues

to come up at all, we might start seeingwhitebait reappear on the flats soon and itmight be time to break out the cast nets -a little earlier than usual. Some of youmay or may not know, but a significantamount of whitebait is still here, it's justout in the deepest parts of the harbor.Lately there has been quite a bit aroundthe Alligator Creek Reef. And as soon asit starts to show up on the grass flats andthe fish start seeing it on a regular basis,it becomes a very effective bait. Typicallyaround the end of March is when this fluc-tuation tends to happen so we will see ifit happens early this year. The red fishing has just been out of

control. Both sides of the Harbor alongwith Bull Bay, Turtle Bay, and Whiddenand Catfish creeks have all been producingredfish in excellent numbers. Most ofthese fish have at least been borderlinelegal, with a few oversize fish in the mixthey are ranging anywhere from 17 to 32inches. They are mixed in size and they'reall full of all sorts of crabs! Like I said,I've been using live shrimp, but if you aregoing out to target some redfish it mightbe a good idea to bring some crabs withyou – blue crabs would be preferable. When I fish with blue crabs I like to

either cut them in half or quarter them

depending on the size of the crab. If youhave a small crab that you want to usewhole, put him on the hook and just trybreaking a little corner off of his shellbefore you make your cast. When youopen the crab up like that you'll get thatscent going in the water a lot better. Redfish are all about scents. They literallyhave a face full of nostrils and they lovesomething nice and stinky!The trout fishing has been on fire as

well. These fish for the most part are alllaying up together in the deeper potholeson the grass flats. Let me give you agood example: If you are on a grass flatthat's on average lets say one to two feetof water, what you want to do is driftwith the wind or move along on yourtrolling motor until you find some spottybottom. Bottom that has constant fluctu-ations in water depth and color is what Ilike to fish. You want to make your long casts into

the lighter colored sand holes, and cover alot of ground until you catch a fish. Ifyou catch a fish, position yourself thereand make another cast to that same sandhole. The fish are all schooled up so ifyou catch one there's a good chance of abunch more being down there.

The best possible search tool andmethod for finding these fish and coveringa lot of ground is by far the poppingcork. The better trout all seem to be inanywhere from four to six foot of water.Rig that popping cork about 18 to 24inches up from your live shrimp andmake your casts as long as possible.When you pop that cork in the water andMr. Speckled Trout comes up to seewhat's going on, he's gonna see your poordefenseless shrimp flipping away on thehook. That's what makes them so produc-tive and that's why you don't want to keepyour bait and cork further than 24 inchesapart.A few other fish come to my mind

with things being as warm as they are.The snook are starting to poke out of thewarmer water in the creeks. Some ofthese fish are enormous, and I'm seeing

them all over the place... along withcatching a few of them here and there. Our local tarpon should be making

their way out of the rivers as well. Theymight be tough to hook up as they'refeeding on mouth fulls of glass minnows,but who knows, there might be one downthere hungry enough for a nice live ladyfish, mullet, or a catfish tail! Ah yes! One more fish you might see

around is a cobia. I've heard severalinshore cobia stories this month. Ihaven't had the pleasure of seeing or boat-ing one yet, but it's nice to know Ishould at least keep my eyes peeled forthat four foot long, dark shadow as I'mrunning across the grass flats! Well that should cover it! I'm looking

forward to seeing what this next monthbrings. Life is short. Fish hard!

Capt. Billy Barton runs Scales N TailsCharters. For information, or to book a fish-ing trip, Capt. Billy can be reached at 979-6140 or at: [email protected]

Itʼs Happening Early This Year

The golden light suggests that some of these fish came later in the afternoon


The actual Regatta was conductedover 7 days and was comprised of 22races including a practice race. Manyof the volunteers also provided hous-ing and transportation for the numer-ous Race Officials and Jury memberswho had arrived from all around theWorld.

THEY MADE IT HAPPENMany of the sailors had

personal support boats (right)that tracked their every move.In the morning the sailorswere towed from the dock atthe city marina out into theupper part of the Harbor forthe races. Support staff wouldthen keep constant track of the wind and the progress of theirteams.

Dennis Peck (right) has been heavily involved in smallboat racing for over 30 years. He is the first and only presidentof the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center and is thedriving force in local small boat sailing. His love for sailing brought this race here.

All the sailors were disabled and all the boats were very high tech. The two person ʻscud ̓boats (below) were equiped withspecial controls for the aft crewman who operated the rudder either with push-pull handles (below left) or with special paddlesthat let the sailor work the rudder by pushing with a shoulder (below right). The outside air temperature this day was in the 30s.

The IFDS, for handicap sailors, was much moreinvolved on the water than the casual observer might

imagine. Three classes competed on three different racecourses. This in itself would not be that difficult, except

for the course designed for the “Scud” class. This uniquecourse, called a Trapezoid Course comprised of four

legs, each set at precise distance and angles to the other.As local sailors had no previous knowledge of this course,extensive training was required of 25 personnel, including

5 boat drivers to maintain this course.

There were tight turns around the mark (above)and even some NASCAR style bumping and shov-

ing in the Harbor (below)

IFDS Disabled Sailorʼs Regatta


Conquistador Cup Regatta March 3-4Visit: www.pgscweb.com or call 941 505-4583.

Twenty nine boats competed in the 30th annual Golden Conch regatta out of thePlatinum Point Yacht Club at Burnt Stpre. Winds were adequite on the first day butfor Sundayʼs finals the wind was MIA for the morning.

RESULTS:Multihull

Speedster Philip Styne Corsar Sprint 750

SpinnakerBama SlammerBob Knowles S2-7.9

Non SpinnakerFancy Free Jerry Poquelte,Sovera 39

True Cruising AJolly MonNumann,David.4d Islander 36

True Cruising BWicked Wicked WaysRoger HortonMod. Seward 24

$50 full entry$15 entry Sunday Only

FREE to come out and boat along!

Biggest Sailing Event of the Year!

Golden Conch Regatta


By David Al lenWater LIFE KayakingThe waters off Placida offer kayakers

some of the most diverse and delightfulpaddling in Charlotte County. Paddlingthrough the beautiful, open stretches ofwater will lead you to clean, sandybeaches for a picnic lunch or to finding aunique shell the waves have washedashore. As you paddle between the lowislands that populate the southern end ofLemon Bay and Gasparilla Sound, it'snot uncommon to spot a family of dol-phins or an occasional manatee. Ospreynests can be seen on high poles, withanxious parents feeding their newbornhatchlings. Add a short winding tripthrough the cool shady passages of theWolverton Mangrove Trail and you havea delicious menu of paddling choicesfrom which to pick. Combine the lure ofthese great paddling choices with theopportunity to help a friend and fellowkayaker and you have an unbeatable com-bination for a wonderful Sunday morn-ing.Such an event occurred in late January,

when Grande Tours, owned and operatedby Captain Marian Schneider, organized apaddle for the benefit of Rick Storesberg.Several month ago, Rick was diagnosedwith pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive,untreatable disease that eventually makesit impossible to breathe. A lung trans-plant, a very expensive operation, is theonly option.Rick has been a local park ranger for

many years and is noted for his friendlyapproach to all, his paddling skills andhis deep knowledge of marine biology.On more than one occasion, Rick hastaken the Port Charlotte Kayakers on apaddling trip around Gasparilla Sound,describing in detail the various marine

life we encountered. In addition to beinga friend to all paddlers, Rick has givendemonstrations of paddling skills at theCharlotte County Kayak Festival and theCalusa Blueways Festival.So it was fitting, that on this recent

Sunday, paddlers from all over SouthwestFlorida met at Grande Tours to showtheir affection for Rick and to donate tothis most charitable cause.An a huge event it was. Attendance

exceeded all expectations. Paddlersshowed up as early as 8 AM to paddle,with experienced and novice paddlers leav-ing at later hours. Grande Tours providedkayaks and PFD's free of charge for allpaddlers and many took advantage of it. I led a small group under the aban-

doned train trestle, past Bird Key, to thebroad, sandy beach at the south end ofLittle Gasparilla Island. Along the waywe spotted several small groups of dol-phins playing in the lower sound. Therewere relatively few power boats on thewater at that hour and we made the cross-

ing quickly and safely.The shelling on the beach was excel-

lent and we collected several small bagsof unbroken shells. A quick drink ofwater, a bite of an energy bar, and wewere headed back to Grande Tours.A picnic lunch was provided by

Grande Tours, followed by a drawing anda raffle. All told, it was a great day forRick and all his friends, and the generousdonations will help his medical expenses.Donations can still be made for Rick's

benefit. Make your check out to TheNational Transplant Assistance Fund, andwrite Rick Storesberg on the memo line.Captain Marian at Grande Tours, 12575Placida Rd, Placida, FL 33946 will seethat the checks get forwarded to NTAS.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday evening at 5:30 PM at PortCharlotte Beach Park . All are welcome. Formore information contact Dave Allen at941-235-2588

KAYAKSBenefit Paddle

at Placida

Florida State Park Ranger andlifelong paddler Rick Storsberg,63, is an accomplished Greenland-style paddler and rolling instructor,longtime Calusa Blueway PaddlingFestival volunteer, a FloridaPaddling Trails Association trail-keeper and founder of the SarasotaCounty Kayak Festival andGreenland-Style Rolling competi-tion.

Storsberg was diagnosed withIdopathic pulmonary Fibrosis arare and untreatable auto-immunedisease. His doctors told him hehad anywhere between a couplemonths to a couple years to live.He would need a lung trans-

plant, but although Storsberg’sinsurance will cover 80% of boththe $125,000 pre-transplant testingfees and the roughly $150,000 to$200,000 transplant surgery itself,he’ll still need help footing therest of the bill, along with theroughly $6,000 a month he’ll needto pay for the immune suppressantmedications that he will have totake for the rest of his life.

Rick Storesberg


With Capt. Jim O'BrienWater LIFE Englewood Hey - all The guides I have talked to

says the fish'n has been good.TROUT fish'n has been good just

off the bars on the east and west walls.Shrimp is the bait.

SPANISH MACKEREL have beenin Boca Grande pass and up in the harbor,and also off the beaches.

JACK CREVALLE AND BLACKDRUM are in the canals in Punta GordaIsles, the jacks are pretty good size

RED FISH are in the back country,Bull Bay, Turtle Bay and the east and westwalls. Best bait is live shrimp under apopping cork. A 1/2 oz. Johnson Spritespoon works good too.

TRIPPLE TAIL were starting tochew good when the water temperature wasgetting down in the low to mid 60s. Youcan start looking around the crab trapbuoys if it cools off again. If you don't geta hit in 10 to 15 minutes go to the nextone. Sooner or later you will find some.When it’s nice and calm, with a good set

of polarized glasses you can see them justoff of the rope under the buoy. Keep astout rod ready with an artificial black andsilver eel on it ‘cause you just might see acobia with the triple tail.

MANGROVE SNAPPER are onthe inshore and offshore reefs. The biggerones were still on the offshore reefs from20 to 30 miles out last month.

PORGIES and KEY WESTGRUNTS are all over the inshore reefs:NOVACK, TREMBLY, MARYS REEF,M-13, AND M-14 are just some of theHOT ONES

AMBERJACK the BIG - UNS arefrom 20 to 30 miles out. HOT SPOTS areBAYRONTO, PEGASUS, CHARLIE andTWIN BARGES. All these places areholding big AJs. The box cars out ofStump Pass, about 18 miles out, is like alight switch; it’s either on or off. The AJsare there or they’re not. I give it about anhour, then if no hits I go deeper.

The story I have for you thismonth was one of our last charters out. Inthe picture Connie, Judy Benton, ChuckEdmonston, Patrick, Wayne Moser, andStan Benton. On this day we could do nowrong. It was a perfect day. We filled a162 quart cooler to the top. We caught 16big red grouper, we threw back some biggags, we also got some big mangrovesnapper, the biggest at 23 inches ( now Iam A - TELLING - YOU - THATS -A -NICE - A - MANG ) We also caughtscamp, triggerfish, and some nice porgies.Stan Bentons wife Judy caught somethingthat pulled her right out of her seat up inthe bow. I had just baited her up and shesent it down to the bottom and BAM ! Ilooked around when I heard her let out alittle scream and what ever it was pulledher out of her seat. We have caught somebig cobia in these same spots. I think itwas a big cobia or a big king mackerel,but we’ll never know. It broke off after afew minutes battle. I think that fish tookJudy by surprise. We had a couple morehits like that later in the day. Everyonesaid they had a good time. Stan Bentontold me at the end of the day that he waspooped. That made me feel like I had donemy job. The next day our charter only filled a

little over half the cooler. Not a bad day,but not the excellent day Stan and his crewhad.Well its time to get out of here again . If you have any questions or if you have a

good ol' fishin’ story or a recipe for cook ingfish that I can share with our readers give mea call. To book an offshore charter with us -aboard the Predator II call (941) 473-2150

AND BE SURE TO SNORT SOME OF THAT SALT AIR CUZ IT’S GOOD FER YA!

OFFSHORE REPORT The Olʼ Fishʼn Hole

941-627-577723269 Bayshore Rd

Charlotte Harbor

Consignment Boats Wanted

2004 RangerCayman, 19' with 2008Evinrude Etec w/new lower unit.poling platform,great shape. - $19,900

2000Pathfi nder2200V -

150hp Yamaha,jack plate, live

wells, Tandem trlrinc. $19,990

2003Maxum250SE -220hp MPIMercruiser,A.C., sleeps 4,dual bimini,one owner. -$31,990

2004 PalmBeach 2100WAC, Mercury150 Opti, porta-potti. electronics,

$15,900

See all our boats [email protected]

GROUPER CLOSED GROUPER CLOSED –– Feb. 1 -Feb. 1 -March 31 in Gulf waters. Applies to theMarch 31 in Gulf waters. Applies to thefollowing grouper species: Red, Black,following grouper species: Red, Black,Gag, Yellowfin, Yellowmouth, Rock Hind,Gag, Yellowfin, Yellowmouth, Rock Hind,Red Hind and Scamp.Red Hind and Scamp.


SSttoonneeCCrraabbss iinn SSeeaassoonnNNOOWW!!

Proposed Work: Create two sand traps in the region of Venice Inlet for periodicdredging, and to use sand for beach restoration south of Venice Inlet, to restoreeroded areas on Snake Island. The design includes the construction of three stabi-lization structures around Snake Island as depicted in the project drawings.

Venice Inlet

Snake I.

ICW

StabilityforSnake Island

Trip to Africa = Expensive, Fishing in an exoitic fly-in spot in Zambia = Significant,Still catching catfish = PRICELESS! Harbour Heights fisherman Lester Kuhn at theintersection of the Lafupa & Kafue Rivers in Zambia with an African butter catfish in Jan.


Fabricat ion • Spot Repairs • Major Structural Fabricat ion • Spot Repairs • Major Structural Custom work is our Special tyCustom work is our Special ty

Professional Qual i ty Professional Qual i ty Awl Grip Finishes Awl Grip Finishes

Gel Coat • FreeGel Coat • FreeEst imates Mobi le ServiceEst imates Mobi le Service

In-house In-house UpholsteryUpholstery

ShopShop

1 7 2 6 S t e a d l e y Av e . P u n t a G o r d a 1 7 2 6 S t e a d l e y Av e . P u n t a G o r d a S h o p 9 4 1 - 5 7 5 - 8 9 1 4 H o m e 2 3 5 - 2 2 4 3S h o p 9 4 1 - 5 7 5 - 8 9 1 4 H o m e 2 3 5 - 2 2 4 3CustomCustom

FiberglassFiberglassKAYAKS!KAYAKS!

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated,

But Often True

Water ResourcesUnder AttackIf you enjoy the use of Florida's abun-

dant water resources two new Florida billsmay interest you. The House and Senate bills are identical

with the same purpose. Their effect wouldbe to privatize tens of thousands of acres ofsubmerged lands in Florida. The two billsare SB 1362, sponsored by Senator Haysand HB 1103 sponsored by RepresentativeGoodson. Outdoor related organizations, such as

Florida Airboat Association and Audubon ofFlorida, are very concerned and asking theirconstituents to strongly oppose the bills. The bills aim to change the legal defini-

tion of "Ordinary High Water." If enactednew surveys would set the "Ordinary HighWater Line" at a lower elevation thanallowed under current case law. The result isto cause the line which differentiatesbetween public and private lands to movefurther out in the water. A statement on the Audubon of Florida

website states, "If you are a kayaker, air-boater, fisherman, duck hunter or birdwatcher who maneuvers your means of con-veyance around in shallow marshy waterthis means that someday, headed into yourfavorite place, you are going to encounter afence, barbed wire, and no trespassing signsblocking your way. And, one day a littlelater in the future, you will see rooftops andstrip malls where the ducks, deer, and wad-ing birds used to be." Anyone opposed to the bill should con-

tact Senator Hays and RepresentativeGoodson, as well as the members of theHouse Agriculture & Natural ResourcesSubcommittee and urged them to drop thesespecial-interest bills to prevent blockingpublic use of lands that were currently pub-lic access. The Audubon site concludes, "This is

privatization of Florida's public lands inrivers and lakes, pure and simple."

Boat Manufacturers EconomicIndicators:Charlotte County Dealers report

strong sales of used boats so far thisyear. Nationally here are the latest num-

bers: WHOLESALE SALESThrough October, wholesale ship-

ments were up 14% and correspondingdollars were up 23% for NationalMarine Manufacturers Association'scontrol group of manufacturers. Dataindicates trends will continue throughNovember.RETAIL SALESNew powerboat registrations were

down 2.5% on a rolling 12-monthbasis through September, compared toa year ago. Advance estimates indicatesales of bellwether states will be up4.7% on a rolling twelve-month basisthrough November. TRADERecreational boat and marine engine

export volumes were up 13% in thethird quarter of 2011, while dollarswere up 3% from a year ago.Corresponding import volumes wereup 4%; dollars were up 0.8%.

Charlotte FWC Officersstopped a vessel to conduct a boatingsafety and fisheries inspection. Theindividuals initially insisted there wereno fish onboard, but later admitted tobeing in possession of some “legalsize grouper.” An officer boarded thevessel and located two hidden coolersfull of fish. The two subjects were inpossession of 64 red grouper, 61 ofwhich were undersized, two undersizedand out of season gag grouper, eightundersized and out of season trout, andone undersized redfish. Their GPS wasseized and a search warrant will beattained to possibly acquire further

information from the GPS to pursuefederal charges. Both individuals werebooked into the Charlotte County Jail.

Flatsmaster’s Tournament hasbeen mandated by the state of Floridato charge state sales tax on all entryfees, which brings the total cost perevent to $300.

Charlotte FWC Officersresponded to a complaint regarding anindividual shooting egrets. The offi-cers spoke with two witnesses and asheriff’s deputy and observed a deadSnowy Egret, Great Blue Herron, and aGreat Egret, all with bullet wounds tothe chest and head. The officers spokewith the suspect, who stated he fired ashot in the air to scare the birds,because they were making a mess ofhis boat. The individual showed theofficers a .22 caliber rifle that he usedto scare the birds. Witness statementswere obtained and charges will be filedwith the State Attorney’s Office.

Lee county FWC officersresponded to a complaint regarding adead manatee.When the officersarrived on scenethey realized themanatee wasalive, but insevere shock dueto red tide. Theofficers securedthe manatee andtransported it to abiologist, whowas standing byat a nearby boatramp. Because ofthis rescue, whichdemonstrated a

good group effort, the manatee isexpected to make a full recovery.

Editor Asks * What, exactly, did thebiologist do?

On A Triton Boat, in Germany?from Thomas Geyer:

Das isch emal es hechtli!!:)))wooowww!! eso es un Alligator-Pike deEE.UU.

You get the idea, even though youdonʼt speak any German. Wooowww!

from Ken Golub's FAcebook page:Former Costa Concordia Cruise Captain

Francesco Schettino to fish the FLW Bass tour in2012 ... ASA1000.comASA1000.com

photographyphotography


Cooks Sportland

4419 So. Tamiami TrailS. Venice493-0025

Water LIFE Distributorʼs ClubWater LIFE Distributorʼs ClubYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locationsYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locations

Water LIFE Distributorʼs ClubWater LIFE Distributorʼs ClubYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locationsYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locations


PROVIDED to Water LIFE BY: Dave Ho fer RE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected] Recent area news i tems:1. CORRECTION OF LASTMONTH'S NEWSLETTER: PuntaGorda has budgeted $1,222,000 for a20' walkway from west end of GilchristPark for 1900 feet to the Best WesternHotel, not $960K for a cantileveredwalk way around the Best WesternHotel - that is still in the planning. In addition to the 40,000 sf of concreteto be laid along the existing seawall,much of the remaining open space willbe reconfigured as dry retention areas,presumably displacing most of theexisting trees. I think the communitywould have been better served if myoriginal statement had been true. A costbenefit analysis might have been timewell spent in this case. Speaking of ill conceived City proj-

ects, I was encouraged to see a boat tiedup to one of the 42 mooring balls atLaishley Park last month. I had erro-neously assumed that the field had notyet opened.

2. Phosphate giant, Mosaic recog-nized a bargain when they saw it. ThePeaceful Horse Ranch along the PeaceRiver at Horse Creek changed hands atthe peak of the real estate boom in

2005 at $29 Million. Mosaic was thehigh bidder last month for the 4,414parcel for just under $10 Mil. Theyhaven't developed any specific plans forthe environmentally sensitive propertyas of yet.

3. Commissioners Deutsch and Starrexhibited some common sense as theyrevealed the rare knowledge of suchbusiness terms as "risk to reward" and"return on investment" when discussingthe proposed Ripken baseball complex.The hall of fame baseball star has hisname on two successful complexes inMaryland and would like to haveCharlotte County taxpayers provide athird one for him in Murdock Villageacross El Jobean Road from the exist-ing stadium. Although it was, itshouldn't have been a surprise that thisgroup planned to manage the complexfor the County, rather than invest the$10 mil cost of the facility.Go ahead will undoubtedly be

deferred until evidence that the hoped-for water park, music complex andhotels begin to materialize.

4. The Federal Income Tax exclusionof forgiveness of debt income is set toexpire at the end of this year. Beforethe housing slump, if mortgagees dis-counted their loan balances to allowdistressed sellers to unload their proper-ty, that discount was ... and may be

again... taxable income to the borrower.

5. The Cocoplum shopping centeron Tamiami in North Port receivedapproval to finish a 43,000 sf buildingto house a new Sports Authority and 9other tenants. The center is anchoredby a recently built 40,000 sf PublixGrocery.

In other news: Air traffic at the PuntaGorda airport increased more than 57%for the year 2011 over 2010 with287,000 passenger debark or embark. New restaurants to try: Spazzi's

at 111 W. Olympia in Punta Gorda isno longer with us. Sandra's with aGerman menu has taken its place -great food. Boca Lupo's Coal OvenPizza has opened at 1900 TamiamiTrail in Port Charlotte.

Sales S tatistics: Charlotte Countyforeclosure filings rose to 147 from 94that commenced last year. Inventorycontinues to decline as more homeown-ers have given up trying to sell and dis-tressed properties are being snapped upby rehabbers.

RealEstateNews

A Charlotte County employee notes in an email that accompanied the above photo:ʻObserved while working on the Charlotte County marine siting project in ArcGIS withBing aerial imagery ̓ Thatʼs Tarpon Way and Palm Drive in Punta Gorda in a s atellite viewwith an airliner (on approach to Punta Gorda?) between the satellite and the ground.

Charlotte Harbor: Frank at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888There are redfish, ladyfish and

whiting in the Peace River above theI-75 bridge. Down around the 41bridgesthe whiting is a little better. There aresome really nice other fish there too.Some might be a school of big blackdrum or a school of gol iath grouperor something. A number of people havecome into the store and told us all aboutgetting railed at the bridge. Whatever itis, that’s pretty cool!Ladyfish are scattered all around the

harbor. Some of the resident tarponhave moved out of the river and canalsand into the center of the Harbor. It’sabout a month and a half early, but wehave had decent tarpon reports fromPlacida and the sound on up into theHarbor, these were 40-to 60-pound fish.Guys are starting to catch the 30- to 60pounders already. Most have beenhooked while reeling in a small lady-fish. No one is targeting them yet, butI’d think with whitebait you can proba-bly get them.The canals are loaded with snook,

Port Charlotte, Boca Grande, PGI, if

there is a canal there issnook in it now. Troll anX-Wrap XR or Rapalla#6 or the std #08 inblack and silver or greenand silver (a dark backwith a light belly) that isthe snook lure. Out inthe Gulf snapper, trig-gerfish and bonita areoffshore. The triggers are15 miles out with thegrunts, porgys andsnapper. Triggers aretough to clean, butthey are tasty buggersto eat. There have been big schools of

spadefish around Alligator Creek andon the deeper side off the flats - go fig-ure? The Cape Haze Reef, the PonceChannel, they all have spadefish.There have been a bunch of sand

brim around at the locks, over atElJobean, at West Spring Lake, thereare tons of sand brim. The trick forthem is to use a little hook and a peeledpiece of shrimp. Try a gold #6 coveredin peeled shrimp meat. The by-catch issugar trout on the sand brim and thereare a ton of them too. Here’s another

weird one: whiting is the bait right nowfor snook.The redfish are bunching up and

schooling in big and small pods on theeast side, on the open flats betweenAlligator Creek and Pirate Harbor.There are some reds around Cape Hazeand Turtle Bay. There are some reds, butnot a whole lot, on the west side. Bull Bay has tons of trout in it

right now. Fish in the middle of BullBay just drifting with a poppin cork andyou are going to catch some nice trout.The trout in Turtle Bay are not as bigright now.

Fishing Report continued on facing page


F e b r u a r y F e b r u a r y F i s h i n g F o r e c a s t F i s h i n g F o r e c a s t

ChartersOffshore Fishing Trips: 1/2 day • 8hr • 10 hr • 12 hr

We help put your charters togetherShark, Tarpon, Grouper, Snapper, Kingfish, and MORE!

Nighttime Trips AvailableCapt. Jim OʼBrien USCG 50 ton license since 1985

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8th Annual Capt. John Breuggeman Memorial Grouper Tournament

WINNERS Biggest Fish 21 pounds Tim Shaw, CANINE JACK

Best 3 Fish 1st place 48.5 pounds, OUTCAST

Capt. Glen Ballinger 2nd place 46.75 pounds, PELAGIC

Capt. Travis Ormond 3rd place 45.25 pounds, FEEDING FRENZY

Capt. Kevin Deiter To Benefit: Scholarship Fund for seniors at Lemon Bay

High School for college expenses. A special thanks to Cape Haze Marina for their full

support of the tournament.

Onespace

Guides Only$40/month766-8180

Dave Taylor with a seatrout on a trip with Capt. Robin Leach

Captainʼs Corner Got a Story? send us your pictures: [email protected]

This was Bob Lawrenceʼs first trip offshorein the Gulf of Mexico. Bob lives in Canada andcomes down to Venice for the winter. What agreat day it was! The highlight for him was the25-pound Amberjack caught on a spinning rod.It fought for over 20 minutes. The 31-inch gagwas caught in 100-feet of water using a live pinfish. The gag was vented then released, again afirst for Bob.

Not sure who has the hook in their mouththe fish or Bob? He wants to go again reel soon.

In all we caught 18 red grouper, 5 gaggrouper (thrown back), 3 amberjacks andnumerous lane and mangrove snapper. Greatweather even made it better.

Capt. Glen Ballinger, Outcast - Venice FL

continued from facing pageKingfi sh should be

around but I’m not hearingmany reports of them. It mayjust be that guys aren’t get-ting out because of the wind.I’d say, in 40 feet of water, I’dbe trolling fo kings now.There is whitebait in the

harbor. If you want snookthrow baitfish, but the redsstill want select hand picked shrimp. Liveshrimp for trout are doing real good too. This isgetting to be the time to supplement the shrimpwith some fresh caught bait fish. It’s right in themiddle: one day they want shrimp the next daythey want sardines.The best lures are still tandem for the school-

ing fish. The XR8 or the Shallow Slash, fromRapala. The new broken glass Mirrolures justhaven’t shipped yet so right now it’s RapalaRapala, Rapala.Cobia are around, guys are seeing them but

I don’t know many people hooking them yet.The cobia seem to still be closer to the gulf.Bonita and Spanish mackerels are thickright off Boca Grande right now, straight outfrom the Pass. If the bonita are there, when theyapproach it’s going to look like a submarinecoming up.Pompano are up by Venice down to

Gasparilla Pass, Flounder should still be goodbut I haven’t heard much. Mostly it’s the guysdrifting lines behind the boat looking for otherfish that are getting flounder. Along the ICW inside the barrier islands there

are sheepshead, also at Placida, and ElJo andeven up against the mangroves. Big sheepsheadhave been another by catch for reds. Any of thecanals that have bridges have some nice bigsheepshead in them now.Bass is way down around rotonda since they

did the weed killing treatment in the water. Herein the Port Charlotte and Northport canals, green

and brown are the colors andwatermelon-red and watermel-on-candy are doing really goodright now too. Crappie is get-ting a little slower. TryHillsboro or Prairie Creek. Finda big pepper tree and fish forcrappie in the shadow.

Lemon Bay:Jim at Fishermens

Edge, Englewood: 697-7595Sheepshead are good

down in Placida around the tres-tle and along the boat docks. The swing-bridgeon the trestle has been good early, before theboat traffic gets going. Sheepshead are also goodup by the Tom Adams Bridge Pier. Some guyshave been catching pompano in the samespots; small pompano... 12-13 maybe 14 inch-es. They are using small jigs that are almostlike a walleye jig – pink, yellow, white, someguys use a bucktail flared hair jig. A big varietyof them work on pompano. A sand flea or ashrimp in the surf or a spec-rig. Fish around theislands.There have been flounder out in the surf up

to 14 inches along with redfish and seatroutup in Lemon Bay. All of a sudden I am hearing about

whiting . Maybe because a lot of people get outand more guys mean more stuff being caught.Some guys had seen pods of whitebait off-

shore and now maybe some of it came in theharbor. There are all kinds of nice trout aroundin the sound down around Cayo Pelau, atWhidden or over at the top of Bull Bay. Liveshrimp, topwaters or the scented Mirrolure baitshave been working really well. Offshore redgrouper has been pretty good and snapper hasbeen really good along with porgys and KeyWest grunts. All the reef fish have been good. There has been some tarpon caught. Guys

hooked one in Stump Pass and a bunch of fishhave been in Boca Grande. Other guys caughtcobia at Bayronto , substantial fish to 60 lbs.

The BIG-4 The BIG-4 Fish to expect in Fish to expect in FebruaryFebruary

SPANISH MACKEREL In thepasses and in the Harbor

SHEEPSHEAD At thecanal system bridges

CREVALLE JACKS are inthe PGI and Port C. Canals

POMPANO in the passesand south in the Harbor


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Fishing Fishingright now:right now:

Good! Good!

Capt Billy Barton gave these folks some memories and a fish dinner

water life feb 2012

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