Water LIFE May 2006

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay FloridaCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay Florida

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A HANDFULA HANDFULOF HELP WITHOF HELP WITH

REDFISHREDFISH

5 Redfish Lures5 Redfish LuresPagePage 1313

R e b u i l d i n g :This New House

Page 25

Kids CupKids CupOh Boy! ObertoOh Boy! ObertoRedfish CupRedfish CupSpecialSpecialSectionSectionInsideInside

Keeping BoatersKeeping Boatersandand Fishermen InformedFishermen Informed

May 2006May 2006

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W a t e rW a t e r L I F EL I F E

Here! May 11-13

May 6 TournamentMay 6 Tournament

Page 31

P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E M a y 2 0 0 6

M a y 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3

Itʼs time for the Visitorʼs Bureau to get with the programBy Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorWhat’s up with Charlotte

County? In particular, what’s upwith the County visitor’s bureau?This publication independentlyproduces the Kids Cup tournament.It’s the third year for our event.Each year has been bigger than thelast. On May 5th we will have asmall intimate dinner for over 350people. If you are driving past theBest Western that night, take alook at the parking lot. We’reattracting a lot of people.It’s not only warm bodies we

are bringing here, but cold hardcash as well. We have anglers com-ing from around the state andbeyond. Miami, Orlando,Jacksonville, Georgia, Texas,Alabama. And we’re also gettingsome of the Oh Boy! ObertoRedfish Cup Tournament anglersto come in early to fish - theirevent is the following week. We’vegot sponsors coming to help withthe Kids Cup from as far away asMichigan. ‘Heads on beds’ as theysay in the tourism industry.Those people translate into

meals and drinks for local restau-rantuers, room-nights for hotel-liers, and a slew of trickle downdollars for everyone from bait and

tackle shops to gas stations andapparel stores around the county.Fishing and prefishing will eas-

ily account for $15,000 in fuelsales. Many of the boats them-selves, often in the $40,000 range,came from boat dealers in this area.Add in what we raise for the

event, and what we spend on theevent and then total up all themoney we have moving around inCharlotte County thanks to theKids Cup. A creative mathemati-cian could probably show the KidsCup brings $150,000 into thelocal economy.Did we get a call? Did we get

one little ring from the visitor’sbureau asking if they could help?Do they even return a call? No.The visitor’s bureau seems to

be fixated with the ‘heads on beds’concept, which is OK if you are ina county that has something tooffer, but the fact-of-the-matter is,Charlotte County offers nothingbut fishing and boating...unlessyou count the ‘heads on beds’ inthe nursing facilities we have here.We have long advocated the vis-

itor’s bureau focus on attractingpeople to Charlotte County fromnear-by areas, places where peoplecan come spend a night and gohome. We are not Orlando, we are

not a destination location.Charlotte County is more of a onenight stand.But instead of focusing on the

resource we have for fishing andboating, the visitor’s bureaurecently used their resources to pro-mote a privately owned ferry serv-ice to Don Pedro Island, and thismonth they are firmly behind theirown kayak festival, which selec-tively invites some local kayakmerchants while excluding (alsoselectively) others. This year theyalready have a controversy brewingabout their kayak captain’s meet-ing. Controversy is not whatbrings people here.Early last month there was a

‘poker run.’An excuse for ocean-racer power boaters to spend theday on the water. Nearly 50 one-hundred-thousand-plus dollar powerboats came up Charlotte Harbor toFishermen’s Village for lunch.These were people with big moneydriving very expensive machines –the kind of people you would thinkthe Visitor’s Bureau would want tohave come back – people whocould spend a night or two andopen their wallets here. Did ourvisionary Visitor’s Bureauapproach those boaters? Do theycultivate yachting or sailing or

other watersports that could bringdollars here? I think not.There are apparently a few peo-

ple in this county who think powerboating is bad and that the envi-ronment is to be looked at, but notfished; that fast boats are obsceneand that fishing is cruel. It’s asmall clique who are sitting ininfluential public positions, work-ing on their own private agendas.A disturbing pattern may be

emerging in Charlotte County. Wehave seen it develop first with thecounty’s Parks and Recreationdepartment, an agency that justdrags its feet when it comes to pro-viding services and access forboaters, but then runs headlong to

help its own touchy-feely types.I’m beginning to think we are nowseeing that same approach from theVisitor’s Bureau.Don’t let anyone tell you they

are promoting the Oh Boy! ObertoRedfish Cup, I’ve heard they’drather not have ‘the cup’ here at all.We need a County Visitor’s Bureauthat is committed to promotingand supporting boating and fishingyear round. The county’s variousagencies need to be staffed withpeople who are committed to thefact that the harbor is our mostvaluable resource and boating andfishing is a major contributor toour local economy.

Nearly 50 high powered and high priced ocean racers came toFishermenʼs Village for lunch as part of a poker run event last month.

POPPER X-TREME The titaniumtuff Paradise Popper X-TREMErigged with a soft plastic or livebait will hold up to thetoughest of inshore species.When popped along the sur-face the clatter and splashresemble feeding fish. TheParadise Popper comes inthree shapes: oval, cigarand popper – and twofluorescent colors for easyvisibility- orange and yellow.

Best Bet!


Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

with any newspaper or otherpublication

© 2006 Vol V No. 5 Water LIFENo part of this publication may becopied or reproduced without the

written permission of the publishersContributing Editors:

Fishing / Environment: Capt. Ron BlagoCharlotte Harbor: Capt. Robert Moore

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonTechnical Advisor: Mike Panetti

Sailing Advisor: Bill DixonKayaks: David Allen

Local: Capt. Andrew MedinaTournament Report: Capt Jerry Cleffi

Sea Grant: Betty Staugler

on the COVER:Redfish are the focus of fishing this month.Capt Robert Moore holds a nice specimen

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

Tide Graphs: For local watersWeather: Links to all of our favorite sites.Back editions: Pages of previous editionsArtificial Reefs: Lat. and Long local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original plan tocreate sanctuaries and refuges, as spelledout by the United Nations in 1984Links to Realtors: Connect with our realestate advertisers

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No one wants to think about it, but if you fish long enough this could very well happento you. Hereʼs how to get a hook out from under your skin:

1: Make a loop from fishing line and wrap it around your wrist. 2: Put the loop over theshank end of the imbedded hook and push down on the shank. Hold pressure down onthe shank, which will free the barb, and use the loop to pull the hook free.

Fish Hook RemovalImprove your oddsof a Live Release.

By Fishin' Frankn If you keep your fish in the livewell,

drive back up harbor at 20 m.p.h. or less. Thiswill give the fish time to adjust to the waterchanges.n Chemicals to rejuvenate fish work well,

but in an open system, the stuff washes out thedrain. Chemicals only work well in closed sys-tems.IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CLOSED

SYSTEM IT’S NOT HARD TO MAKEONE: Start with an ice chest – the insideshould be at least 27 inches or larger so the fishcan stretch out and be comfortable – You’ll alsoneed 2 one-litre bottles of frozen water, a bilgepump or a heavy duty 12 volt air pump.

Place the frozen bottles in the ice chestearly. Do not add water yet. Wait until youcatch your keeper, tournament winning, red.

Then put the fish in the regular live well onyour boat until you are ready to go to theweigh-in. At that time put water in the ice chestand add the two jugs of ice.It is important to use the water from where

you caught your fish. Add the chemical treat-ment, mix well, then put in the redfish beforethe water cools too much. Ice cold will put thefish into shock. Have the pumps running fromthe start. The ice in the jugs will melt quickly,cooling the water. Remove the water bottlesbefore you transport the fish. This should helpget that redfish if not happy, at least healthy,back to the weigh-in.

T h e y ʼ r e B a a a c k !T h e y ʼ r e B a a a c k !

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By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Pirate Harbor Editor

Each angler has his own approach fortournament preparation and tournamentstrategies. Here are a few tactics that thiscaptain has used over the past 23 years ofsuccessful competitive fishing.Tournament Pre-fishingBasically, your trying to figure out

where to fish on tournament day. Sincethis article is about redfishing in CharlotteHarbor, the most important thing next toweather is tides. Step 1 would be to knowthe tides on tournament day and try andlocate active fish on tides that are close tothat day. You may have to do your home-work a week or two in advance to under-stand how fish are relating to flats, pot-holes, grassbeds and bars on low, medium,high tides similar to tournament day.Incoming and outgoing water will changewhere the fish will be.My philosophy is to have as many low

and high tide spots as possible. The rea-son is that if you have a stiff breeze ontournament day blowing on your onehotspot, the fish might get turned off.Dirty water, loose grass or just a bad atti-tude can occur. So then you run to acalmer spot to hopefully find active fish.Many tournament anglers will fish their

spots a day or two before the tournament

just to be sure the fish are there. This canbe good and bad. If you make a few castsand hook a couple of fish, they might notbe in an eating mood the next day. If thefishing is hot, you don’t want to get car-ried away and burn up your spot. Somesavvy competitors will fish their baitswith the barbs turned down so as not tohook the fish on the take.

Redfish can be moody and changetheir preference on different days. The triedand true gold spoon is no secret and isgreat for covering lots of water and locat-ing active fish. You will have to figureout the type and retrieve if this is yourapproach. Soft plastics are good producersand you have to experiment with colors,smells and styles not to mention retrieveson a given day. Fishing a lure with confi-dence may play more of a role then yourselection.Tournament StrategiesRun & Gun- Some anglers like to

fish a lot of spots. They will fish a pre-determined spot giving it 20 minutes toproduce and if doesn’t happen then on tothe next one. Some guys will fish 15 ormore spots in a day. Sometimes this is agood strategy, but it’s not really my style.Your lure spends a lot of time out of thewater on the way to the next fishing hole.

The Milk Run- Select your top 4-6spots, picking them out strategically for agiven tide and time of day and fish themslowly and methodically. Give each spotand hour or so and depending on the fishactivity, move to the next at a pre-deter-mined time. Obviously, if your on fishyou will probably fish them until youthink it’s time to move or they quit bit-ing, so the ‘milk-run’ will vary on a givenday. You may be on redfish that are toobig hoping to finally get that right onethat meets the limit and fish many hoursin the process. Sometimes the right fishnever comes along and it’s time to re-thinkwhere to fish.Stake & Wait- This is really the

confidence method. You fished or ‘tested’this spot a couple of days before the tour-nament and you know the fish are there.This approach is about fishing a knowngood area and waiting them out. You canlive and die with this type of fishing. Ifthe fish show up, you’re doing high fives,but if you have sat for 2-3 hours with noaction it is tough to keep up the confi-dence. You will be keeping your line inthe water pretty much for the whole tour-nament and there is a lot to be said forthat. This technique has produced a lot ofwinning stringers in the bass fishing cir-cuit.

Tournament PreparationThe best tournament fishermen I have

ever known were meticulous about detail.In fact, with any type of fishing 10-per-cent of the fisherman catch 90-percent ofthe fish and I strongly believe it is theattention to detail that makes the differ-ence.Your rods, reels and tackle should be in

perfect condition with fresh line. Yourlures, leaders, etc. should be carefullyselected, hooks sharpened and quick lurechanges are made easy so no time is wast-ed fumbling or looking for that right lurewhile in the tournament. Pick your top 5favorite baits and place them at the readyfor a quick switch and be sure to haveback-ups. Tie your lures on the nightbefore when your wide awake and youradrenaline isn’t fired up. A bad knot tiedin the early morning darkness of a tourna-ment will bring Murphy’s Law out of thewoodwork when that nice redfish eats yourlure.The boat should be gassed up and com-

pletely ready to go the day before. Thelast thing you need is a dead battery or findyou forgot your outboard oil the morningof the tournament.The final , but absolutely the

most important thing, for tourna-ment success is confidence. Yourattitude will make or break you. If youhaven’t boated a fish in the first 5 hoursyou have to keep your mental edge andconfidence high that your next cast willproduce a winning fish. Some anglersbelieve in the ‘Zen’ method of mentallyvisualizing your success prior to the tour-nament and the ‘karma’ from this willcarry from the spiritual world to the realworld. Hey, whatever works for you.Make lots of casts, fish each cast as if thewinning fish was going to strike and neverbreak stride – we’ll see you in the win-ner’s circle!

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action FlatsBackcountry Charters and can be found

Preparing for a TournamentTournament Pre-Fishing and Strategies

The Top-5 boats head out to fish during last yearʼs Kids Cup. Much planning by all the anglers and captains preceeded this final day of fishing.



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S taffReportOne of the unique characteristics of the red

drum is its “tailing” behavior. Tailing is afeeding mode which can be observed in shal-low water when the fish roots along the bot-tom for crustaceans and shrimp and its tailprotrudes above the surface.Redfish are a migratory species. When

young, these fish like brackish water and tol-erate fresh water, so it is common to findthem far up the Myakka and Peace Rivers andwithin Shell Creek. As the fish approachmaturity, about 34 inches in length, theybegin to school and ultimately move to theGulf, returning when they are mature tospawn near the passes in the late summer andfall.A broad variety of artificial lures work

with this fish, including soft plastics, surfacelures, jigs and flies. Gold and silver spoons

are also very popular. Weedless spoons in thegrass beds can make fishing easier. Soft plas-tic lures such as Sluggo, D.O.A. and OldBayside in red and white, chartreuse or silverare often good.Surface lures like the Bomber Rip Shad in

black and chrome or red and white or theDevil’s Horse, a lure that resembles a needlefish, will attract reds. Artificials or soft plas-tics fished under a float in shallow water canbe affective.Fly patterns that resemble shrimp, small

crabs or greenbacks and swim with the hookin an up position are also good choices.When fishing the flats, 8- to 12-pound test

line is adequate, but fishermen should be suretheir drag is not set too tight.

In shallow water, reds make long runswhen hooked. In deeper water they tend todive to the bottom.During low tides they move toward sand-

bars, points and potholes.

More about RedfishMore about Redfish

By Capt. Betty S tauglerSea Grant / Water LIFEA tournament caught fish is stressed.

It has just engaged in a struggle for itslife. Dissolved oxygen is the most criticalfactor affecting the survival of stressedfish. Fish need to be kept in oxygenatedwater to revive them and to help them sur-vive. On a boat, this means holding fishin a recirculating or aerated livewell that isoperated continuously with a flow ofreplacement water coming through thelivewell pump.A resuscitation tank at the tournament

weigh station provides oxygenated waterby directly misting oxygen into the waterthrough a ceramic oxygen diffuser. (Note:the typical air stone used in an aquariumwill not work. It will not provide smallenough bubbles and will not provide suffi-cient oxygen diffusion. In fact, the largebubble from an aquarium tank apparatuscan be harmful to fish.)A ceramic oxygen diffuser provides a

faint, grayish looking mist cloud of oxy-gen bubbles in the resuscitation tankwater. (Note again: too much oxygen canbe harmful. A large cloud of oxygen istoo much.) The optimal dissolved oxygenlevel for fish is 6 to 10 parts per million(ppm). Dissolved oxygen levels greaterthan 12 ppm, can cause the bends in fish.This is because extra dissolved oxygenwill naturally want to come out of solu-tion. As it does, oxygen in the form ofgas becomes trapped in the fish’s tissue

and bloodstream. A fish with the bends,just like a diver with the bends, can gohours before symptoms appear. The bendsleft untreated, will most certainly lead todeath.Salinity is another important factor in

maintaining resuscitation tank water and incontributing to fish health. The flow-through systems used with onboardlivewells continuously replenish water inthe tank. However, salinity levels varyconsiderably from open ocean to baywaters, and are altered by any recent rain-fall and runoff into bay waters. Sincefresh water is more buoyant than seawater,it remains in the surface zone where it ispumped through the in-hull fittings thatsupply water to the onboard livewells.Resuscitation tanks are seldom set up

as a flow through system. A resuscitationtank recycles the same water over and over.This allows control over salinity, whichcan be regulated with a commerciallivewell additive or salt. (Note: rock salt,ice cream salt or sea salt are acceptable,but not table salt or iodized salt, as thesecontain iodine, which is toxic to fish.)Conversely, salinity can be reduced byadding fresh, de-chlorinated water. Tapwater or even bottled water are not normal-ly suitable without treatment.Temperature is also critical as it affects

the amount of dissolved oxygen, and themetabolism of the fish. A resuscitationtank should be shaded and out of directsunlight. As temperature increases, the

solubility of oxygen in water actuallydecreases. Experienced anglers know thatit is much more difficult to keep bait aliveand successfully release fish in the hotsummer months. Monitoring the tempera-ture of the resuscitation tank during warmweather is essential. Water should be coolto lower fish metabolism and reduce oxy-gen consumption.Under extreme conditions, it may be

necessary to lower the water temperature.Placing recycled milk jugs containingfrozen water in the tank is one way tolower water temperature, placing bags ofice in airtight containers is another.(Note: FWC regulations prohibit lower-ing the resuscitation tank water tempera-ture by more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit asthis can result in excessive stress on fish.)Proper handling is of equal importance

to reduce physical damage to fish. Wetbare hands will cause the least damage.Towels and gloves – even when wet – areabrasive and result in lost scales andmucous coating that protect the fish.Boga grips are commonly used in han-

dling fish, but are not always used proper-ly. Maintain a good hold on the fish’slower jaw with the tool in one hand, andcradle the belly of the fish with your otherhand. This maintains control of the fishand keeps it in a horizontal position.(Note: Using the grips to hold a fish ver-tically damages mouth cartilage and causesthe fish’s internal organs to pile up onthemselves in an unnatural position thatmay harm the fish.)

Source: Sea Grant publication in rev iew,by Bob Wasno, Lee County SG, BettyStaugler, Charlotte County SG, and JohnStevely, Manatee County SG.

Resuscitating Your Tournament Caught Fish

Betty Staugler (right) handles a redfish in the resuscitation tank in last yearʼs Kids Cup


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By Betty S tauglerWater LIFE / Sea GrantRedfish, or red drum (Sciaenops ocella-

tus), are one of Florida’s most popularsport fish. The common name red drumcomes from the drumming sound theymake during spawning or when taken fromthe water.Redfish spawn inshore close to tidal

inlets through which the young are trans-ported into estuaries. Spawning occurs inlate summer and fall. Redfish have anelaborate courtship ritual. Males, some-times many, follow females for hours at atime, drumming loudly and butting them.Male color intensifies during courtship andclimaxes just after dark when eggs andsperm are released. Females may shed amillion eggs at a time. Tiny larval fishhatch in 20 to 30 hours. Larval redfishfeed mostly on microscopic plankton,which is their main food while floatinginto the estuarine nursery areas. The lar-val stage ends in about 2 1/2 weeks andsalinity tolerance starts to be acquired.Inside the estuary, juveniles settle along

the edges of seagrass beds and other vege-tation. This habitat protects the small fishuntil their fins develop enough to avoidpredators. At approximately one inchlong, redfish school. They are now grow-ing at a rate of one inch or more a month,and reaching 13-14 inches by the end ofthe first year. Redfish continue to increaselength throughout their lives. However,after 3-feet-long they add little length andlots of girth as they age. Redfish maturearound 2 to 4 years in age and live for 25to 35 years.Young-of-the-year juveniles move in

and out of backwater channels and canalsas they develop and may remain in theestuary for up to four years. As adults, red-fish move out of the estuaries and moveinto inshore areas to spawn. Thus, repeat-ing the cycle of redfish life.Data recovered from tagged redfish on

the Gulf Coast, indicates that these fish donot travel far from their birth area as 50–to 85-percent of tagged fish were recapturedwithin six miles of their original release

site.The fol lowing are some of the

redfish research activi ties that haveoccurred local ly: Mote MarineLaboratory (MML): Dr. Aaron Adamshas evaluated the fisheries within fourmangrove creeks along the eastern shore ofCharlotte Harbor. Two creeks are alteredand two are natural. Aaron is evaluatingfisheries as a measure of restoration suc-cess.

Fish & Wildl i fe ResearchInsti tute (FWRI): According to Dr. PhilStevens and Gregg Poulakis, fishery biolo-gists from FWRI monitor fish densities inthe harbor in order to evaluate wildstockpopulations.Gregg Poulakis (FWRI) and Dr. Aaron

Adams (MML), have combined efforts anddata collected in their individual research inorder to better understand the habitatrequirements of redfish within CharlotteHarbor. According to Gregg, redfish about1 inch in size tend to settle out in therivers and tributaries, around Turtle Bay &and Matlacha Pass from late October toJanuary. 3-5 inch redfish seem to preferthe Peace & Myakka rivers and are foundthere between December and March. At 5-8 inches they begin to move down the eastand west wall of the harbor. When redfishare 8-12 inches they show up in Bull andTurtle bays and all over the grass flats.And by the time they reach lengths ofgreater than 12 inches, approximately oneyear old, they are found all over the harbor.Aaron indicated that densities are signifi-cantly higher in natural creeks versusaltered creeks indicating a preferred habitatand water quality. Aaron also said thatthe densities in the natural creeks arealmost equal to the densities in the estuarynear the Myakka mouth. Aaron’s nextstep will be to identify how many of theestuary redfish came from the creeks. Thiswill involve identifying chemical markerswithin the ear stones.

Sanibel Captiva ConservationFoundation (SCCF) Marine Lab: Areinvolved in a 3 year study to evaluate pre-ferred fisheries habitat and how water man-

agement decisions effect fisheryutilization in these habitats.

The Sea Grant Redstartgrowout faci l i ty located onSanibel Island at the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Ding Darling Preservereleased 2,800 fish into TarponBay and lower Pine Island Soundin its first year. All of the released fishwere tagged with wire coated tags and willbe studied by the SCCF. According to Dr.Steve Bortone, SCCFs research effortsfocus on characterizing the genetic diversi-ty and preferred habitat of wild stock; anddetermining the survivability and preferredhabitat of hatchery-reared Redstart fish thathave been released into the Estuary.SCCF have been sampling 200 sites peryear in an effort to identify micro habitatfeatures that juvenile redfish may be look-ing for. Based on this informationRedstart fish were released in three loca-tions of prime habitat. Released fish,

which were 4-6 inches in length, werereleased in three split samples, each aweek apart. Half of the released fish wereput directly into the wild while the otherhalf were put in a pen for three days inorder to better acclimate them to their sur-roundings. Another 200 tagged fish werekept at Redstart to be evaluated for tagdecay and survivability based on taggingand handling techniques. Last month, forunknown reasons, all the penned fish atthe Redstart site died and since the statehatchery has now closed the project, unfor-tunately, may now be abandoned.Betty Staugler can be reached forSea Grant or marine extension information

Redfish Life Cycle and other Facts

Above: Redfish stocking has beenaccomplished through state runhatchery programs. These kidswere working with the grow-out

facility at Sanibel.Right: A tiny redfish is checked

after a surgical implantation of athin wire tag that, if the fish is

caught later and scanned with anelectronic device, can be used to

track the fishʼs life cycle.


Dick Erdman,with his crew of Sam, Todd, Fred, and Brian witha fulllimit of lane, yellowtail, and grey snapper.

Fishing The Kids Cup Tide

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By Capt Robert MooreWater LIFE Senior GuideIt’s hard to believe that a

year has passed and my sonRyan and I are preparingfor another Kids Cup. Rodsare looked over to makesure no eyes are cracked orbroken. Reels are beingtaken down to the localtackle shop for new line.Tackle is being inspected.Folks, this is serious busi-ness for the 11 year old Ireside with. With a devilishsmile he advised me lastweek while on the wayhome from school that he’snot messing around and itwas time to take the glovesoff. So we sat down andstarted laying out a gameplan. If there is one thing Iwant to pass down to him,whether your fishing atournament or just goingout for a day of fishing, isyou need to make a gameplan.First thing is reviewing

the tides. On May 6th,high tide for Charlotte

Harbor is around 1pm. Theheight of the tide that daywill be 1.2 feet. Then thetide will slightly fall untilaround 5pm that afternoon.I use the Charlotte Harbortide location for any areasaround Punta Gorda, theeast and west walls ofCharlotte Harbor up toPirate Harbor. For theTurtle Bay, Bull Bay,Gasparilla Sound, BurntStore area the tide will beabout 90 minutes earlier.The height of 1.2 feet is

the highest the tide will geton tournament day but iscertainly high enough totarget redfish along themangrove bushes dependingon the shoreline you pick.My son’s casting is prettygood in open water. Hisaccuracy is not when cast-ing up along the mangrovebushes. If you have thesame predicament withyour child, just rememberthat if you choose to useshrimp the bait does nothave to skip 10 feet up

under the bushes to catchfish. If you get the baitwithin a couple of feet andlet it sit, a redfish is boundto sniff it out and find it. Ifyou decide to throw artifi-cial baits try and get yourchild up close to the shoreand have them cast alongthe shore rather than to it.Second part of our game

plan was what tackle wewere going to use. Myfavorite rig that I havepassed down to Ryan is ashrimp threaded onto a1/4oz jig head. This appli-cation is best for under themangrove bushes and alongshorelines with no or littlegrass. The trick here is tomake the cast and let theredfish do the rest. Thenthere is a shrimp under apopping cork such as theParadise Popper. Not onlydoes the cork give the visu-al effect when you get astrike, with the beads andweights, it also produces aclacking sound whenpopped along the surfacethat simulates feedingactivity. This method isbest used in 3-5 feet ofwater. I usually start pop-ping the cork every 10 sec-onds and then work differ-ent time frames until I findwhat works. Trust mewhen I tell you these corksnot only work for trout.

Redfish respond very wellto them. For those of youplanning on using shrimpdon’t be fooled that liveshrimp is the only way togo. I have had many suc-cessful days on the watercatching Redfish withfrozen shrimp.The 1/2 oz gold spoon

is Ryan’s favorite artificialbait. With the simplicity ofusing an artificial bait thatrequires just a steadyretrieval is the turn on forhim, not to mention theresults he gets when usingone. For my simplicity Igo to the weedless spoonversus a spoon with a tre-ble hook. It allows Ryanto make a cast in everycondition no matter whatthe bottom structure is.Spoons with treble hooks

work great but if the bot-tom is grassy you spendmore time removing grassfrom the hooks than youdo catching fish.The third aspect of our

game plan is where to fish.Although I am sworn byRyan to secrecy on wherewe are fishing I will revealthis. Moving water iswhere the fish will feed thebest. The tides start earlierthe further south you go soour game plan is to pick 4-5 spots from Fisherman’sVillage (tournament site).The furthest spot will getfished first and then wewill work our way back tothe dock with the tide. Ifone spot produces well wewill stay as long as neededmaybe eliminating a spotalong the way.

One quick suggestionthat I have from ampleexperience is to make surethe fishing rod is not toolong for the angler’s size. Ipersonally use 8 foot medi-um action rods. Try watch-ing an 11 year old make acast with one. It is veryawkward for them, somatch the rod length to theangler. Also, don’t forget alanding net. I can’t tell youhow many times I haveheard anglers tell storiesthey had a large redfish andlost it as they tried to landthe fish without a landingnet. Most importantly ifyou are fishing the KidsCup this year, have fun!We’re looking forward

to seeing everyone at theweigh in. Tight lines andgood luck!

Placida Deep Sea Fishing

There is a good incoming tide for the Kids CTide chart provided by Zihua software, Rockport Maine. Tide charts and graphs for any

can be created for your personal computer or webside. www.zihuasoftwar


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Redfish - Those Tricky Little Bottom Grubbers

By Fishin FrankPort Charlotte StaffRedfish, those tricky little bottom

grubbing, shrimp eating sons-of-a-gun.Redfish seem to be getting more and

more difficult to catch. One of the reasonsis that this time of year the tides change.Now the tides get higher and we havemore water, on the average, than just amonth ago.When the tides are low, redfish like to

hide in the deeper pockets of grass out onthe flats. When the tides are up highenough they move up under the trees.The best way to fish them under the

trees is to tail hook the shrimp – put thehook into the shrimp just in front of theflipper part of the tail, going from theunderside out the top. This will keep theshrimp from tumbling in the air when youcast it and the shrimp will skip under thebushes better.To fish under the bushes, ya’ skip the

bait like you do with a flat rock on alake. By holding the rod tip close to the

water and making a fast short cast withoutlifting the tip of the rod, if all goes well,which it does occasionally, the shrimpwill disappear under the mangroves.Often it is necessary to skip four, five

or even six feet back up under the trees toget where the fish are. Then, don’t be in ahurry to retrieve the shrimp. It usuallytakes a minute or two to get a hit.When you get the strike, do not lift

your rod up to fight the fish. This willtake the line into the branches of the man-groves, and usually you will lose the fish.Instead, keep the rod tip low and keep itclear of the overhanging branches, even ifit means putting the rod tip under thewater, which often is the only way to keepclear. Since you can’t lift your rod, oftenyou’ll have to move quickly to the back ofthe boat to drag the fish out from underthe trees.Once the fish is clear of the branches

lift your rod tip to the 11 o’clock fightingposition and reel him in.

Whenever I fish reds in creeks, I movein looking for deeper places. Most bendsare deeper on the outside of the turn andthe current is stronger there as well. Thatcurrent washes bait around the bend, kindof disoriented in the current, making themeasier prey. Bigger fish wait for suchopportunities.

Throw the shrimp to the high side ofthe current letting it slowly drift throughthe bend. Unlike fishing under the trees,here you want to hook the shrimp in thehead – in one side and out the other.If you get hit in one spot put on a

small sinker and throw to that spot. Thesinker will keep the bait in the strikezone.Rocky creek, or Trout creek are two

creeks that produce good size reds alongtheir bends. The Myakka cut off has alsoheld some nice reds in its bends lately.Good Luck

Fishin’Frank can be reached for charters

When you recusitate a redfish itʼs the for-ward motion that moves water across itsgills that is important. Back-and-forth motionmay do more harm than good.

Cast Net roadside“Help us with a little public-

ity about cast nets and howlocal guys make good,”Charles Moore asked us, andwe said sure...

Here, Fishin Frank showsa potential cast net customerhow to throw a net along theside of US 41.The photoshows just how a cast netunfurls during the toss.

With the influx of live baitthis spring, cast nets areincreasingly popular andamong the newest on thelocal market are the Excaliburnets which come from a localcompany partially owned byKids Cup announcer CharlesMoore. Fishinʼ Franks sellsthe Excalibur nets. as doesLaishley Marine

M a y 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E P a g e 1 3

Capt Robʼs Top-5 Redfish Artificial BaitsCapt. Robert MooreWater LIFE Senior Guide

One of the most frequently asked questions to me is what isyour favorite artificial bait for redfish? I can honestly say that Ihave probably used just about every artificial bait known to manat least once. With the increasing number of artificial baits avail-able today, a trip down to the local tackle shop can be a timeconsuming event when shopping for a lure. Even with the hun-dreds of different lures on the market I have become confidentwith a small number of artificial baits. Confidence is the key toproductive fishing with any artificial bait. Confidence comes withcatching fish. The more fish you catch on certain lures the moreconfident you will become. Here is my top five list of favorite arti-ficial baits for redfish.

Gold Spoon (a.k.a ʻold reliableʼ) – This artificial bait wasbeen around long before me and will be around long after I amgone. In competitive fishing for redfish I have won more moneyfrom fishing with a gold spoon than any other artificial bait. Theymainly come in two styles, with a treble hook and weedless.Weedless 1/4 ounce is my preference. I fish 1/4 ounce in waterless than three feet and 1/2 ounce in water deeper than threefeet. I have also come to love the smaller 1/8 ounce weedlessspoon but have had a hard time finding a spoon in that size witha reliable hook that will not straighten out or break. There arenumerous manufactures, my favorite being Johnson & Bagley. Agood swivel is a must when using a spoon or your line will twistbeyond repair. With a medium to fast retrieve this is a great baitto work lots of water in less time.

Old Bay Side Saltwater Shadlyn – The Saltwater Shadlyncomes in 4-inch and 5-inch. For redfish I prefer the 4-inch. Whenrigged weedless they are very productive in the 1-3 ft. range. Myfavorite method in fishing these split tailed baits is with a 1/8ounce jig head. My success comes when I work them side-to-side. With my rod pointing down towards the water I will twitchthe bait using my rod tip and only reeling enough to take in the

slack line. I basically let the rod tip do all the work. These baitsimitate an injured shiner. A slow to medium retrieve works wellwhen worked along grassy bottoms or underneath mangroveshorelines. Top colors for the Saltwater Shadlyn is Tuxedo,Avacado Gold & Closing Night. Web Site - ww.oldbayside.com

Mirrolure Top Dog – My absolute favorite way to fish forRedfish or any other fish for that matter. This ʻwalk the dogʼ topwater plug is not only very productive but lots of fun to use. Thesteel ball rattle inside in the Top Dog versus other top water baitseems to draw more strikes for me than any other I have used.Patience is a must when using any top water plug. The phraseʻwalk the dogʼ means retrieving the plug back and forth along thesurface. This bait is also one that must be worked with the rodand not by retrieving your line alone. A medium retrieve seemsto draw more strikes. The biggest tip I can pass on when usingany top water plug is when you get a strike wait until you feelthe weight of the fish before setting the hook. If the fish missesthe bait do not stop your retrieve, continue to work the bait thesame speed as before. More times than none the fish will followup with another strike. Top colors are red head/whitebody,orange belly/gold and black back.

Yo-Zuri 3D Fingerling – This suspending bait is a littlepricey but well worth it in the right conditions. Best results arewhen used in 3-5 feet of water with a medium jerk/twitchretrieve. Any shallower and the plug will grab the bottom andgrass. The 3D Fingerling is one of the closest artificial bait thatresembles a live shiner that I have found. With dual treblehooks the water must be free of floating grass. The hooks thatcome packaged with this plug are its only draw back. They willstraighten out on just about every fish you catch thereforerequiring you to replace them with 3x strong hooks or betterbefore you even use it. Top colors are Ghost and Gold/Black.

Mirrolure 19MR – This artificial bait is relatively new to themarket but has made a big splash among the competitive worldof redfish tournaments. Along with the Yo-Zuri 3D Fingerling the

19MR is a suspending twitch bait that mimics a glass minnow orshiner. The plus with the 19MR is that it is a little heavier andcast much further. Twitched at a slower pace this plug will fallonly several inches under the water allowing you to work it inrelatively shallow water. Top colors are #18 – green back, whitebelly, silver luminescence and #808 black back, orange belly, sil-ver luminescence.

Gold Spoon

Top Dog

19 MR

3-D Fingerling

Old Bayside


M a y 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 5

NaplesMay 15 thru May 25

Cape CoralMay 1 thru May 11

Cape Coral (7 Day)May 15 thru May 23

By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE StaffSurprisingly, fishing for the small black

tip or bull sharks that inhabit the upper har-bor with light spinning tackle, 10 poundtest line - is very popular. These fish putthe angler’s skills to the test. From start tofinish it’s usually 15 minutes of hard fight-ing.Black tips do not jump, but are one of

the fastest running fish I have ever seen.Atlantic sharp nose and spinners, often mis-taken for black tips, are the ones to giveyou an aerial display, while bull sharks dowhat their name implies, they pull hard andlong.If you’re going shark fishing with your

boat you’ll need some frozen chum, a bagof Eagle Claw 4/0, 420nw, nyla-wire steelsnelled hooks, and some frozen sardines. Ifyou don’t already have them, get a couple ofbobbers.Sharks are very shy creatures, so during

the day look in deeper water for them. Thereis a 20 foot hole 1 and 1/2 miles southsouth-west of Marker No. 1 that holdssharks. Lately, the tarpon guys have beenfishing there so I fish the 14 foot hole at themouth of the Myakka River or the watersjust south of the Alligator Creek Reef.Another good spot is the new reef just offCape Haze.

In any event, find a spot you like anddrop the anchor, a good rule is to not tie theanchor line hard to the boat, instead put anoversize crab float on the line then tie aloop and place the loop over a cleat. Thatway, when you get a fish too big too stop,you simply throw the anchor line over, andchase that som-bit down. If you wait tobring in the anchor, by that time, the fish,your line and your chance at the really bigone will all be gone.After you have the anchor down, put in

the chum bag. You want to tie it off theback of the boat just so the top of the bagis out of the water, that will allow it to dis-pense properly and it won’t tangle in yourline when bringing in a shark.The first line out should be one with a

bobber. That will tell you which way thechum is going and where to set the nextline. After letting out a lot of line for thebobber I toss the next out free-line, withjust a sardine and no weight or bobber. Last,I throw a line off the side of the boat. Tokeep it from drifting into the others, I use asinker, the weight of the sinker is deter-mined by the current. More current morelead.Now relax and enjoy the calm before the

storm. A watched pot never boils, an oldsaying goes, but it’s often true. Just whenyou are getting a drink or even worse, get-ting rid of one: FISH ON !Team work is important now. If the fish

is to big to control, the other person startsto reel in the other lines. If the fish is toobig too stop at all, and you are about to bespooled, throw the anchor line. The boatwill start to drift and this will give you pre-cious seconds to get the other lines in andstart the boat to begin the chase. The personwith the fish should go to the bow, keep therod tip up and the line tight. That way theperson running the boat knows which wayto turn. Communication is key.If you are running the boat, be careful

with the throttle. Go slow and easy with ashark on the line, you don’t want to powerdown and toss your buddy out of the boat.It is better to meet the shark while you arestill in the boat. Get the gaff ready if youare going for dinner.If you are going to catch and release

sharks, the biggest problem you have toovercome is your own fear. O.K. that’s rea-sonable, but fear makes handling sharksmore dangerous than it already is. Yourmovements when grabbing a shark need tobe quick, sure and firm. When you get theshark next to the boat, grab the leader andlift the shark out of the water, if you can lifthim with one hand, then proceed to the nextsteps, if not and the shark is too heavy itmay be best to cut the leader close as youcan and let him go.If you can handle it, grab the shark

behind the head. With your thumb on oneside of the gill and your middle finger on theother. By holding him by the gills it isunlikely that the shark can slip out of yourgrip. Use a pair of long needle nose pliersto remove the hook, then place him back in

the water. If the shark has been out for awhile do not toss it back. Hold the shark upright in the water easing the grip on hisgills let it get orientated then let go. I donot recommend holding it by the tail whenreleasing it unless you have too many fin-gers and need to lose one or two extras.For most of us a two or three foot shark

is the best size for eating. Larger sharks justhave too much meat and it will go badbefore it is eaten.OK, now you have a two foot shark on

the gaff which you gaffed through the gills– trying to belly gaff a shark will end youup with a bent gaff. Once he is on the gaffand settles down, celebrate a few mandatoryhigh fives. Wise cracks and maybe an adultbeverage are now appropriate.It is important to gut the shark immedi-

ately. This will stop the transfer of fluidfrom the liver into the meat. That is whatgives some sharks that nasty taste instead ofthe mild tasty treat they really are. Once theshark is gutted, put it in the ice chest, orpack it with ice.Back at the dock, to clean the shark start

by cutting off the fins. Start from the backand cut to the front. Then cut off the tailwhere it joins the body. Now you have twochoices: Either cut the shark into steaks

about 3/4 of an inch thick or fillet it.Remember there are no bones in a sharkjust the back bone which is really heavycartilage.To fillet the shark, start the first cut right

after the nose and continue along the mid-dle of the back bone down to the tail end.Then work the meat off the back bone andfillet the meat off the skin, same as anyother fish. Cut it into pieces and cook on awell greased grill. Shark meat is very mildin flavor so do not over spice it.Shark fishing is dangerous and should

not be done alone. It is against the law toshoot a shark – that make it harder too killthe larger ones, but not as dangerous as itwas when bullets where skipping across thewater while some drunk was trying to kill ashark 50 feet out from his boat.It’s hard to believe, I know, but I remem-

ber one night when three guys got an 8 footshark in their boat and one of them decidedto shoot it in the head before it thrashed theboat or bit one of them. He shot it in thehead and the bullet went through the head,through the deck through the stringer andthrough the hull.I hope you get some shark stories of

your own this month.

New Yorker Robert Linville had his first taste of shark fishing off Cape Haze last month andhe loved it. Fishing ten pound test with fluorocarbon leader under a poppin cork the blacktips and bonnetheads came a-callng when we put out the chum. This black tip took a frozensardine and ran with it, much to Mr. Linvilleʼs pleasure.

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PROVIDED BY: Dave & Marlene HoferRE/MAXHarbor Realty (941) [email protected] [email protected] AREA NEWS ITEMS:1. Murdock Village is inching closer to real-ity. Four major developers are still in therunning for the awarding of developmentrights. Stock Development appears to havethe inside track to get the nod later thismonth. While controversy surrounds theappropriateness of the County's use of pub-lic tax dollars to clean up a private develop-ers mess, it appears that all of the proposalsshould generate enough revenues to recoupthe County's $82 Million investment.2. Punta Gorda Public Works wants toreplace its buildings now, too. They arelooking at spending $8-$9Million toreplace storm damaged buildings on HenryStreet. Insurance coverage is $2.7Million.Their proposed solution? Buy less valuableland elsewhere and sell the existing site to adeveloper to make up the difference. 'couplaflaws in that theory: They aren't planningto move the wastewater treatment plant, sothey need to find a developer that could mar-ket $1Million condos on that site as "water-front" .. . I doubt that even "The Donald"would be up to that challenge!3. Deep Creek owners are faced with a pro-posed new assessment of $473/yr for thenext 10 years to repave roads and improvestormwater systems and install new side-walks.4. Charlotte County is trying to buy the 65acre Buck Creek plot in Cape Haze to setaside as conservation land. Since it is zonedfor 120 housing units, they figure that adeveloper would be interested in purchasingthose rights from the County to allow devel-opment of land not currently zoned for resi-dential development. They'll need to get$55K per unit of entitlement to swing thedeal, though.5. GSR Capital Group lost round one of itsplea to turn Rotonda's Wildflower Golf Clubinto a 327 unit housing project on its 79acres. Since it has been designated as recre-ational open land in the County MasterPlan, the conflict might become grounds fora test of the County's legal ability to enforceTHEIR vision on private property owners.

6.Punta Gorda Public Housing Authority isseeking multi use developers for its primeEast Marion Street eyesore. Following theHUD guideline, they will be attempting tofind a developer to provide public housingthat doesn't look like public housing on thisriverview building site. I'm not sure if theywill be able to stack FEMAtrailers on thesite high enough to justify using this sitefor public housing!7. Beall's lost its suit with CityMarketplace over its lease cancellation. Ithas appealed the case, so it looks like thatkey development will be on hold for a whilelonger.8. The City of Punta Gorda has rekindled itsinterest in purchasing the, now vacant, lotat the Southeast Corner of Olympia andUS41. They had come close to purchasingthe former "bail bonds property" beforeHurricane Charley for considerably moremoney than it can be purchased for now.Though still not economically viable, ourcommunity needs to control this landmarklocation!9. Now realizing that the 700 condos underconstruction on the way to Ponce deLeonPark will create additional traffic issues, PGCity Council is considering variousimprovements to West Marion Street.Councilwoman Smith-Mooney sees a trafficlight at Colony Point as being a cost effec-tive safety measure. Though 1,000 timesmore expensive than speed bumps, the old".. . if it saves just one life.. ." line was usedin lieu of common sense.10. Councilman Tom Poole reinforced hiscontempt for fellow councilmembers andstaff employees alike with yet another taste-less public meeting outburst. Hopefully,this November's election will bring us amore mature governing body.Sales Statistics:Vacant lot sales slipped further into deepfreeze. Only fourteen of North Port/PortCharlotte's 6300 listings went under con-tract last month. At that pace we have a 400year supply of lots to sell (assuming no newlistings). With more than 1,000 new list-ings in that area, median prices declinedsomewhat but new listing pricing is stillwell above pre-insanity levels (2003). TheBurnt Store region has stopped altogether

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For Fishing or Real Estate: Just Ask The CaptainFor Fishing or Real Estate: Just Ask The Captain

S taff ReportAccording to Capt. Wayne Kerry, Director of Xtreme Redfish Series, the first event,held from the dock at Harpoon Harry’s at Fishermen’s Village, got off to a good start. “The winds were high that day, but that didn’t stop the Anglers,” Kerry said. JerryCleffi and Mark Miller (below) came in first with 10.19 lbs for their two redfish.Jason Renoso and Jason Dill (bottom) came in second, while one of the father sonteams, Jim and Austin Taylor, came in third. Austin, who is 11 said he had a goodtime ... “but it was rough out there.”

This is a nice new tour-nament series conceivedaround low entry fees andfun. Kerry stresses:“bring your wife, yourdaughter or your son outfor a day of fishing andyou too could win firstplace.” Check the tour-nament web site out atxtremeredfish.com formore information.

First Go-Round for Xtreme Redfish Series

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Fish XS PDF

A l p h a b e t S o u p : C B C A n o w C D B I AF i r s t To u r n a m e n t a n u n e v e n t f u l s u c c e s s

By Capt Dan CambernWater LIFE OffshoreI hope you got to go fish-

ing last month because it wasone of the best months foroff-shore fishing in a while.Sure, the weather got warmand on some days downrighthot, but the fishing was justas hot. The action should onlyget hotter in May.It seems like as soon as we

turned the clocks ahead fordaylight savings time the fishreally got with the programand did just what they’re sup-posed to do.I have always loved fishing

in April/May because it iswhat I call a transition period.It’s a time when fish are mov-ing from their winter loca-tions and are making themove to spring and summerareas to fatten up and head outto their spawning grounds.

The bait has been thick inthe harbor and close to shore

which is bringing in thepelagic species that we like tochase. The king mackerel,Spanish mackerel, bonita,ladyfish, and some bluefishhave been tearing up the baitaround Boca Grande pass andnear shore waters for justabout the entire month and ithasn’t been a problem to catcha full limit of kings (two perperson) for everyone on theboat on a half day trip.Although the limit is two, Itry to keep it at one per per-son as there is enough meaton an average king to feedfour to five people easily andthey are not a good fish forfreezing. Add to that somenice size Spanish mackereland you’ve got plenty of filetsfor a few days.Tarpon have started to

move into the harbor now andseveral have already beencaught on large threadfins andsardines. They should be in

full swing in the passes andbeaches by the first week ofMay.Further off shore the action

is just as hot. Amberjack, bar-racuda, cobia, and hundreds ofhuge jack crevalle are stackedup on most wrecks and reefsin the 80 to 140 foot range.Snapper fishing is still realgood too, but it doesn’t takelong before something biggerand badder is willing to take itfrom you if you are not quickenough to get it to the boat.The goliath grouper are get-ting more aggressive as thereare more than ever of themand they have to competewith each other for food. Wehad a 30 pound amberjackrobbed from us right under theboat by a 400 to 500 poundgoliath last week.The season opened in feder-

al waters for red snapper onApril 21st and it sure wasnice to finally be able to ice

down our first full limit theother day as well as some bigred grouper up to 20 poundson our last 50 mile trip. Youstill have to run pretty far forgood sized grouper but hope-fully by mid May to earlyJune the red grouper willmove in to shallower waters(80 -90 feet). The big gagsand black grouper are movingway out now.Some wahoo and blackfin

tuna are being caught as wellas a few sailfish out in theclear blue water from 80 feeton out to as far as you wantto go.Unfortunately, just as the

off shore fishing is heating upthe fuel prices are going inthe same direction. I guesswe’ll just have to pay morefor the cost of living in para-dise.

Captain Dan Cambern runsHammerhead Charters out of thePlacida Fishery boat docks andcan be reached at 941-625-6226/ 941-380-6226 or

Hot Weather-Hot Offshore Action!

Nice Fish! Wood Wester of Lake Suzy, with a 12-pound red snapper caught in April.

Water LIFE S taff ReportThis tournament used to be knownlocally as the CBCA - CharlotteBuilders and Contractors Associationtournament, but that group has bandedwith DeSoto county and is now offi-cially the Charlotte DeSoto BuildingIndustry Association, CDBIA forshort. As part of the organizationalchange the once popular, rowdy andrough inshore and offshore tourna-ment the old CBCA used to hold isnow run by Flatsmaster tournamentorganizer Jerry Cleffi and is aninshore only event. Known officially as the CharlotteHarbor Challenge; gone are the vari-ous species – this is a redfish, snookand sea-trout event and the first run-ning of the new format was a greatsuccess.

In mid April the scales opened atnoon for the 2006 Charlotte HarborChallenge and a few teams opted toweigh in early to ensure a live releasefor their catch. Team HartlandOutdoors, consisting of Ryan Rowanand Wayne Nichol had their 3 fishearly and weighed in an impressive19.50 pounds. As the weigh-in con-tinued team after team had either a bigsnook or a big red, but none couldput together a quality 3-fish GrandSlam. Once the last boat weighed in,the prizes were awarded to the win-ners. Over $17,500 in cash prizeswere given out and in the end teamHartland Outdoors hung on to the leadall day. Their total weight wasenough to give them the first prize of$5,000!There were plenty of big snook brought in at the CDBIA

event which was a live bait tournament held in mid April.


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Water LIFE S taff ReportLittle white butter-

flies showed up onCharlotte Harbor onApril 20th and somelocals say the tarpon atBoca Grande won’t befar behind. Old timerswill tell you that oncethey start seeing the yel-lowish white butterfliesalong the flats, tarponare near. Already, severallocal guides havejumped tarpon in theharbor near the deep holeand south towards CapeHaze. One guide reportedjumping 14 fish on aone day trip. No one isexactly sure why the butter-flies signal the arrival of thetarpon, maybe it’s temperaturerelated, but it has, in the past,been a harbinger of big fish tocome. Tarpon migrate into our

area as early as April, it alldepends on the water tempera-ture. Usually, when the watertemperature holds above 70degrees, you will start to seetarpon, (it’s already near 80)but when the wind is blowingit makes it very difficult tofind tarpon.

IF YOU AREDETERMINED TOCATCH TARPON,BELOW ARE FIVEDEPENDABLEAREAS TO SEARCH.

Between Ft. MyersBeach and SanibelThis area is well known for

its early tarpon. School afterschool of tarpon run throughthis area. Usually in about 25feet and 1-2 miles offshorelook for fish either rolling orexploding on bait. Bait ofchoice is large threadfin her-ring.

Pine Island SoundInside Captiva and Redfish

Pass you will find tarponalong both sides of theIntracoastal Waterway. Foryou fly fisherman this wouldbe your best bet. Try to pickcalmer days for they will bevery hard to find in rough

water. Bait of choice would bedead bait soaked on the bot-tom, preferably large threadfinherring.

Two PinesFrom the northeast tip of

Bokeelia to Burnt StoreMarina along the sand bar youcan find small scatteredschools. Look for fish rollingor exploding on bait. Usuallythe bite will only last untillate morning. Bait of choice iseither dead bait on the bottomor live bait under a cork(about three feet), preferablylarge threadfin herring.

Charlotte HarborUsually at the mouth of

the rivers near Marker No. 1.The tarpon you find here areusually fish that are migratingout of the Myakka and PeaceRiver. The U.S. 41 bridge thatcrosses over the Peace Riverand the El Jobean Bridge thatcrosses over the MyakkaRiver will also hold tarpon.Bait of choice is smaller livesardines (whitebait).

Cayo Costa BeachesThe beaches along Caya

Costa will hold good numbersof tarpon. Early morning isyour best time to target thisarea. Bait of choice is smallcrab or large live threadfin her-ring under a cork. This isanother great area to fly fishon calm mornings.

Success in all theseareas will depend on the tide,so pick your fishing time inaccordance with moving water.

Capt. Derrick Jacobsen had his clienton a big tarpon when it jumped closeto the boat last season.

White Butterflies andSilver Kings


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LEUKEMIA CUP REGATTABy Mike SavinoSpecial to Water LIFE

The 3rd AnnualLeukemia Cup Regattaconducted by the IslesYacht Club and thePunta Gorda SailingClub was heldSaturday and Sunday,April 22-23. Thetwo day, three race regatta is a Charlotte HarborBoat of the Year racing event. The boats werebroken up into four fleets being Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, Cruising and Multi-Hull Fleets. Race # 1 went off as scheduled about a half

mile south of Marker One in Charlotte Harbor atfive minute intervals starting at 11:00 a.m. in abrisk southerly breeze of up to 15 knots.

The Spinnaker and Multi-Hull fleets hadwindward and leeward legs in their race coursewhile the Non-Spinnaker and Cruising Fleetssailed two laps around a triangle course. Allfleets used the same turning marks at the sametime which made for some interesting port vs.starboard crossings. The crews had to keep asharp look out for other boats to avoid colli-sions. Two boats did collide during the race with one

boat, a SR Max, sustaining serious damage andtaking on water. The crew of the damaged boatshifted all their weight to the rail on one side ofthe boat to keep the damaged side out of thewater saving the boat from sinking. The crewmanaged to get the boat to her port under powerand up onto a lift.After the last boat of the first race crossed the

finish line the race course was changed for theNon-Spinnaker and Cruising fleets to a modifiedOlympic Triangle which included windward andleeward legs. The southerly winds had increasedwith gusts to 20 knots and moved to the Southwest. The mark setting committee had to resetthe turning marks as well as the start/finish line.After all the marks were set in place the racecommittee began the starting sequence in thesame order as the first race. On Sunday morning there was no wind at the

11:00 a.m. start time of the 3rd race of the

Regatta. The wind gods failed to show up.Maybe they all were in church. The fleets waitedit out, drifting around in the starting area. Afterwaiting well over an hour a southerly breeze offive knots kicked in. The race committee set twoshort courses and the 3rd race went off flawlesslyin flat seas albeit at much lower speeds thanSaturdayís two races. The overall winner of the Leukemia Cup went

to the crew of Rooster Tail from the spinnakerfleet an S-2, 7.9 meter boat skippered by DavidFlechsig. Dave gives the credit of winning tohis crew members Paul Alessandroni, JohnHouse, Scott Endicott, Kande Blubaugh and FredHannon.

Fleet winners for the Leukemia CupRegatta Spinnaker Fleet, Rooster TailNon-Spinnaker Fleet, Fancy Free, Skipper

Jerry Poquette on a Soveral 39Cruising Fleet, Skipper Don Levy, on a Swan40Multi-Hull Fleet, Bahama Hunter, Skipper Tom

Dave Flechsig, holdingtrophy and Commodore

Chuck Taylor

CONQUISTADORCUP

In last monthʼsConquistador Cup itwas Bahama Hunter

who took the win.

Our apologies, butunfortunately the

editor of this publi-cation lost the storyand pictures of this,

the yearʼs biggestevent,

...twice!

ScuttleButtSometimes Unsubstanciated ...

but often true!

X-Tools The little mom and popcompany that had a good idea withfloating pliers but couldnʼt makethem cut braided line and then soldout to another company that refinedthe product and added a wholebunch of other floating fishing prod-ucts to their inventory has now beenpurchased by Shakespeare, whichmeans all that green floaty stuff thatactually does cut braided line willprobably be available in the big dis-count stores before long and whoknows what will happen to it then.

ZEBCO The big fishing equip-ment consortium started as a manu-facturing company during the secondworld war. Zebco originally had noth-ing to do with fishing equipment. Intime that changed, but the companyname from the second world war erastuck. ZEBCO: Zero Hour BombCompany. Now you know the rest ofthe story.

Oxygen Generator A new oxy-gen system is being introduced fortournament boats. Rumored to be inthe $1,000 range the system createsoxygen from the air using electricalpower and oxygenates a livewellwithout the need for an oxygen bot-tle. Ingman Marine in Port Charlotteis supposedly going to be a dealerfor the device.

Parking Fee Revenue at BoatRamps Below Estimate At arecent meeting of the Charlotte CoMarine Advisory Commission a rep-resentative of the Parks and Recdepartment revealed to MAC mem-bers that the revenue from parkingfees at the county boat ramps was$126,000 last year ; considerablybelow the $250,000 estimated yearlyrevenue figure given to the county

commissioners when they approvedthe parking fees. The cost of collect-ing the money was $20,000 twice ashigh as the original estimate.Considering that the county spent$90,000 to install the ticket machinesand the cost figure does not includethe money spent to fund the parkingenforcement department ( those nicefolks that give you the parking tick-ets) , it is highly probable that thecounty is losing money on the park-ing plan.

Kids Cup Team Joey Lara couldhave picked any number of anglersto fish with him in the high pressureESPN Redfish Cup, but he chose his15 year old daughter Samantha(Sam) Lara. Ask her and SamanthaLara will tell you straight out that sheprefers to be called Sam - notSamantha. Petite as she is SamLara showed her stuff in 2004 asshe made the top 5 in the KidsPunta Gorda Redfish cup. The teamof Joey and Sam will be back inPunta Gorda this month to fish in theOh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup.

The Envelope Please FWCOfficer Scott Kirsch was on waterpatrol when he observed a vesselviolate a manatee zone departingDon Pedro State Park. A warrantcheck revealed an outstanding war-rant for violation of probation for petittheft. A search incident to arrestrevealed the subject had attemptedto conceal 13 opened park entry feeenvelopes, which had been removedfrom the iron ranger, in the crotch ofhis pants. He was also in posses-sion of 30 one dollar bills. The sub-ject was arrested for the outstandingwarrant and additionally chargedwith petit theft.

By David Al lenWater LIFE Kayak ContributorAbout once a year, I give readers a short

list of good kayaking trips, trying to high-light the best, nearest, and most accessi-ble. With so many new kayakers (andwould-be kayakers) coming into the area, aquestion that I get all the time is; ‘Whereare some good paddles in this area?’ Forwhatever reason, newcomers seem to thinkthat there are only a couple of good placesto go for a paddle. Nothing could be fur-ther from the truth. Our kayak club, thePort Charlotte Kayakers, has about thirtyor more launch sites where we begin ourpaddles so we can add some variety to ouroutings. And that’s just in this immediatearea; paddling the Keys or the spring-fedrivers in northern Florida, opens up anentirely new area for exploration. For now,I’ll start by describing just a few of thelocal rivers and creeks that are beautiful tosee, and are not too challenging for newpaddlers. But in addition to the close-increeks, there are many, many great paddlesin the gulf, or along the Sounds andinlets. However, paddles in the Gulf andenvirons are mostly in open water, oftenin rough, windy conditions, and these pad-dles require at least an intermediate skilllevel. Lets begin close to home at one of the

most easily accessible launch sites in thecounty.

Port Charlotte Beach Park offersall kayakers, but particularly beginners, anideal spot to gain some experience, and yetexplore a variety of routes with differentscenery for each. The kayak beach, alongthe northwest edge of the park, is a greatplace to launch your kayak, with a well-protected sandy beach that slopes gentlyinto the water. The beach is well protectedfrom wind and powerboat wakes, and tidelevels don't affect the launch. The park iseasily reached by following Harbor Blvd.to the end, about a mile and a half south-west of Highway 41. From the beachlaunch point, you can go in any directionyou choose. South-southwest will takeyou into Muddy Bay and the entrance chan-nel to the Manchester Waterway. There isalso a mangrove-lined waterway, withoutpowerboat traffic, that will also lead youto the Manchester. Once into theManchester Waterway, you can paddleabout a mile to the entrance to the TripleLakes, and follow that channel to theMyakka Cutoff. For a shorter, more pro-tected paddle, head east along the parkbeaches toward Grassey Point. There aresome nice mangroves on the south edge ofthe point to explore, but the entrance isvery shallow, so do this one at middle tideor better. Or you may want to paddle northto East or West Spring Lake. Here youwill pass under Edgewater Dr. bridge, andcan continue north, past waterfront homes,all the way to Highway 41. .

Shel l Creek, north of Punta Gorda, is

undoubtedly one of the most beautiful pad-dling locations in Charlotte County. And,one of the best launch sites is at HathawayPark on Washington Loop Road. TakeHighway 17 north about 6.5 miles fromPunta Gorda and turn right ontoWashington Loop road. Three miles easton the Loop will take you to HathawayPark on the left. Pay and Park costs$.50/hr. From the concrete ramp, you canpaddle northeast, upstream, through beauti-ful wooded areas with few signs of civi-lization. The Creek gradually narrows asyou paddle upstream, but you can paddlefor an hour or so, particularly during therainy season when the water is higher.There is always a sandy beach along theroute so you can stop for a break. Or youcan head downstream and take Shell Creekall the way to the dam, about 3-4 miles.Paddling downstream, the creek opens upto wide vistas and wildlife is seen through-out the lower Creek.

Lettuce Lake is one of our club’sfavorite paddles launches from LettuceLake on the east edge of the Peace River.Lettuce Lake is an excellent launch sitewith a sandy beach, a concrete ramp, andadequate parking. Unfortunately, there areno rest room facilities at the Park. To getto Lettuce Lake, take Kings Highwaynorth for about 10 miles to the intersec-tion with Highway 761. Turn right andgo 1.5 miles to Lettuce Lake Ave. Turnright again and go about 500 yards, take aright turn onto Reese St. and follow ReeseSt. to the ramp.As with most of these launch sites, you

have a choice of routes to paddle, and theyare often very different. From LettuceLake, you can head north, where the chan-nel quickly turns into a twisty, narrowlead, often blocked by fallen trees or largebranches. Several times a year, our clubcleans out the branches that block thenorthern stream; Bill Mango usually leadsthis effort. The channel north leads intothe Peace River after a mile or so, andfrom there you have many routes tochoose from, all of them interesting. The lake route is entirely different when

compared with the northern route. Hereyou can paddle through open mangrovechannels, past low banks often occupiedby a sleepy alligator taking the sun. It’seasy to get lost in here, with many falseleads off the main channel. A couple ofrelatively easy miles will take you to moreopen water, and then you can continue eastto the remains of the old Liverpool Docks.These docks, just barely visible now, wereused at the turn of the century to loadphosphate boat for the trip to Boca. AtBoca the phosphate would be loaded ontooceangoing freighters for shipment world-wide.There are several nice sandy beaches in

the Liverpool area for a break and some-thing to eat. A little further to the west,in the Peace River, there is a very active (

at this time of year) rookery where manyspecies of birds build their nests and raisetheir young. The return paddle to LettuceLake, back up the Peace River, is about 3miles against the current.The three paddles I’ve covered here will

hopefully give you an idea of the range ofinland paddles available in this area. Manymore great paddles are just waiting forkayakers along the shore and furtherinland. Each week at our club meetings,we decide where we will paddle on thecoming weekend. Typically, we’ll have

one paddle in the creeks and one in theopen water. New paddlers, or those new tothe area, are always welcome to join ourgroup to learn more about paddling and thebest local launch sites.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday at 5:30 PM at Port CharlotteBeach Park . For more information on theclub call Dave Allen at 941-235-2588 oremail to [email protected].


Great Kayaking in the Port Charlotte Area Ever Ready Angel

Capt. Angel Torres poses with a bull shark caught off Boca Grande in April. ʻNotice myfeet, ̓Angel pointed out. ʻI was ready to jump back if he moved an inch, ̓Angel said. Theshark was released alive. Angel went home alive too!


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By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editor

Luck, it is said, is a finite quantity. We eachcome into this world at birth with our givenallotment and through events and happeningsin our lives we draw on that reservoir of luck,depleting it until one day something happensand people then say “well his luck just ranout.” During one tournament last year, MattAnderson and Eric White made a significantwithdrawal from their luck account.

Things started out normal enough with din-ner and the captain’s meeting. The boys weredressed in their team shirts and Matt’s 18-footActionCraft sat fueled up at the dock, its 200horsepower Yamaha HPDI ready for the task.The boys left Gasparilla Marina shortly afterthe 8p.m. shotgun start and headed south inthe Gasparilla Sound. They are both seasonedfishermen and experienced tournament anglers.They are also both 16 years old. “We fished alittle, and boated three reds right away,” Mattsaid. Then they headed into Whidden Creek tolook for more fish. They were now running theshallows, in the shadows, just before dark.

Matt describes what happened next: “Wecame up out of a hole and headed to CatfishCreek, we had it (the motor) trimmed up high,we were throwing a big rooster tail, but thereis this big ‘S curve’ bend,” Matt says, show-ing the shape of the curve by using his fore-arm and cupped hand while tracing the boat’spath.

“We started to make the turn and then thesteering quit,” Matt said. “I saw a little oil leakin it before,” he added.

Motor trimmed way up? Big rooster tail?Sharp turn? “I bet the steering came backwhen you finally got the boat back on thewater,” I said, and Matt answered, “Yeah ...actually, it did.”

Of course, in actuality, there wasn’t enoughprop and skeg in the water to make the boatturn, but they weren’t thinking about mechan-ics at the time, they were looking for fish andthe big prize. Later, at the weigh-in, the boysrealized the problem, but the night before thetwo boys only knew they wanted the boat togo left and it was going straight.

“It was like a dream,” Eric said. He was theone at the controls. “I didn’t even have time toget off the throttle. We just ducked behind theconsole and crashed.”

The boat penetrated the mangroves so farthat the stern was 20 feet into the trees. “Itlooked like a duck in a nest,” Eric said. “Wewere almost thrown out.” The boys estimatedthey were going 45 mph at the time they lostcontrol. The boat is capable of 60. “It scaredthe crap out of both of us,” Matt said.

Stuck in the trees, night falling, the windpicking up, they got on the phone. “I calledthe Coast Guard, I called Sea Tow, I calledeverybody,” Matt said, but it was my UncleJeff, he was the one who finally came and gotus.

Jeff Anderson said the boys called himaround 9 p.m. “Come and get us,” Matt said.“We’re screwed!”

Jeff managed to get to the boys, but bythen the tide was going out quick. The nextmorning he used a come-along to pull the boatback far enough for another boat to drag themout.

“I was up all night worrying,” Matt’smother Rebecca said, adding that both boyshad passed the Coast Guard’s safe boatingcourse.

So this story ends happily. The boys didn’thave a scratch. The boat’s OK and they evenmanaged to get a redfish the following morn-ing and bring it to the weigh–in.

This tale speaks volumes to the strength ofthe ActionCraft product and to the allotment of

A SignificantWithdrawal

The morning after, Eric White reports onthe extraction progress by phone whileMatt Anderson looks through the water forany lost or overlooked equipment. Thetwo 16-year olds, fishing in the 2005CBCA tournament, ran into the man-groves off Catfish Creek in the dwindlingtwilight of the night before.

Editor Notes; This story first ran last year in May. Today Matt and Eric areresponsible boaters and anglers. We donʼt want to single them out again, we justwant other young anglers to learn the potential danger in boating and know howvery careful they must be, at all times, when operating any powerful machine.

M a y 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 2 5T h i s N e w H o u s e P a r t 1 2A Cementuous Coating ... we get stuccoed and broken into

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editor“There’s a bunch of seedy looking guys

in a black truck parked in your yard. Areyou expecting anyone?” It was my neigh-bor Ronnie calling at just before 7 am onemorning and it was a fair question, consid-ering our new house had been broken intoearlier that week. Is there any stuff outside?I asked, thinking what next of mine couldbe missing. I slid my 45 clip holster intomy pants and grabbed my car keys. Thehouse we are renting is only a minute awayfrom our new house. “Looks like wire,”Ronnie said. “Flat sheets of wire lath,” headded. I slowed down and took a breath.“Don’t run them off,” I told Ronnie,emphatically. “Those guys are probably mystucco crew!”We’ve been a little jittery since someone

kicked in our kitchen door and made offwith a nail gun. Then, the very next night,they came back, tried to unscrew the sidedoor to my garage and when that didn’twork broke through a 10-inch window andtook a new sawzall and a $230 right-angledrill. “There is so much of this going onaround here,’ the sheriff investigating theburglary later said, “that we just can’t keepup with it.” Two other houses on our blockand one across the canal were also burglar-ized that week. Up the block, my neighborLance’s house, like ours, was hit twice.“Be real careful when you get your air

condition compressors and your appliancesdelivered,” the deputy had warned us.“They’ll take that stuff the day it arrives.”I topped off my coffee and cruised over

to the jobsite to meet the stucco crew. PaulHart is the stucco ‘sub’ we are workingwith – a long time local contractor whocame highly recommended through a friend.I wasn’t sure when Paul’s guys would start,but any day was fine with me, even if I

wasn’t totally ready.We had passed our framing inspection

without a problem the week before and Icalled Paul at that time to tell him I wasready for stucco. I figured it would be acouple of weeks before he got to my job.But he did me a favor by sending his guysover right away. One thing you have toknow about working with contractorsthese days is when they show up, younever send them away, so I dropped what Iwas doing and went right to work gettingthe last few things ready.The ‘few things’ had to do with electri-

cal boxes that needed to be set around theexterior. I had drilled the holes through thesolid concrete walls a week earlier, butnow I needed a chipping hammer to getthe outside ready and then tap-con theboxes into the wall. I’m an old fashionedkind of guy and I like metal electricalboxes, inside and out. I like them outsidebecause they hold a fixture better and Ilike them inside because you can yank alamp cord from across the room withoutfear of ripping a plastic box apart. But Ineeded just the right depth boxes. Theinch-and-a-half ones were too deep, inchand a quarter would be just right, but I onlyhad inch-and-a half ones.Graybar electric is in Whidden Industrial

Park, just across US 41 from our house. Iwent over and met the supervisor, JoshBoyd, who just happens to be a fishermenand who knows a slew of fishermen Iknow. Bingo! I was wearing my Kids Cupshirt so we talked about the Kids Cup andthen about electric and in the end Josh setme up, gave me the boxes I needed andsigned on as a Kids Cup sponsor. You’ll behearing more about Graybar and our electri-cal progress next month.We’ve been busy with the Kids tourna-

ment so having the stucco crew workingon the house was a blessing since I didn’thave the time to do much else. It was acurse too, since I wasn’t able to be there,but that in turn was probably a blessing forthe stucco crew ... because I wasn’t there,so it all worked out.The crew spent two and a half full days

stapling wire and attaching corner beadunder the overhangs and around the houseand setting up scaffolding. In the meantime my carpenter-helper Bob Schick hus-tled to get the brick moulding up aroundthe exterior doors. Then my friendAndyMedina and his brother Greg took time offfrom pre-fishing for the Oberto Cup andnailed up the runners and ‘j’ channel for thesoffit using the stucco crews scaffolding.The scaffolding was a god-send because ourroof is so FEMA high it would otherwisehave taken a fire truck with an extensionladder to get up to it.The stucco crew started with a skim-coat

on the east canal side. The stuccoersworked their way down the long 75 footwall on the north and around to the west

facing front during the next two days andthen started on the back side and garage,hauling heavy 5-gallon buckets of mud upthe walls with a rope and pulley. Little bylittle the blocky look of our house changedto a textured grey ‘cementuous coating’(that’s what they call stucco now) that willsomeday get painted.Earlier in the month, before the stucco

crew, before the soffit, before the electricalboxes, I had a chance to get our mainunderground electrical conduit burried; run-ning it from our existing meter on theunattached garage over to the new house.That took a two foot deep trench and abunch of other electrical supplies. Thoseparts came from City Electric inOkeechobee, through another fishing con-nection I had made in Sebring. Fishingreally is helping to build this house.Walter Groggins and the City Electric

guys in Okeechobee were involved with akids bass tournament fundraiser. One thinglead to another and, well you know, fisher-men helping fishermen... so I drove toOkeechobee, went over the plans withWalter and came back with a truckload ofboxes, conduit, the breaker panel and exte-rior disconnect; everything I needed to getthe power from the meter to the new houseand more. But the best part came when Icalled the county for an inspection of theunderground work.The inspector showed up and told me he

had been reading about our house and wasglad that he finally had a chance to see itfor himself. “You are reading about this inthe building department?” I asked. “I hopethat’s a good thing,” I added, and he assuredme it was. “If you have any questionsabout electrical work just call me,” he saidand he gave me his card. ‘Senior ElectricalInspector, Charlotte County,’ the card read.All the Charlotte county inspectors have

been accommodating and professional andwilling to help us with the owner-builderbuilding process beyond my expectations. Itold Jim appreciated that. “We’d do thesame for anyone,” he said.So next month we’ll hang some lights

on the outside, wire the inside, insulate itand drywall one room. Then when that’sdone, we’re camping out. I’m not countingon the sheriff to watch our stuff any more.

Top Left: Bob trims a piece of brickmold, on thestairs, for the front door. Above: Stucco scaffolding,facia and new concrete steps to the kitchen. Below:The canal side of our new house. The house nextdoor has been boarded up since Charley.

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ON THE LINEFishing with Capt. Ron Blago

How To Pinch A SnookWhen I first arrived in Florida back in

the late 70's, I got bit by the snook bugreally bad. I would work during the day andfish the old New Pass bridge at night. Lifewas a lot simpler back then. You catchsnook-you eat snook. After all, the sizelimit was 18 inches and the bag limit was4 fish a day... and of course there was noclosed season. I may not have caught mylimit every time, but it was a bad nightindeed when you didn't catch at least onekeeper.Among the local snook fishermen on

the bridge one favorite topic of conversa-tion was always, why was the snook fish-ing so much better in the old days then itis now? Here it is 30 years later and we arestill having the same conversation.A lot has changed over the years, partic-

ularly snook regulations. Snook fishing isnow closed six an a half months a yearwith a size limit of 26-34 inches long, anda bag limit of only one a day on the westcoast. Even with all these regulations, therecord keepers at the Florida Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission haveestimated that 2,651,111 snook werecaught in Florida last year. The good newsis that over 77-percent of all those snookwere caught right here on the west coast ofFlorida. The bad news is that 96-percent ofall those snook had to be released becausethey were not the right size. In other wordsthere is only a 4-percent chance that thesnook you catch is coming home with youfor dinner.Even with those odds against you, it

didn't stop 225,000 people from buying asnook stamp last year with Lee County(12,828), Hillsborough County (11,342),and Pinellas County (10,385) having themost optimistic fishermen. But things

never stay calm for long in snook fishingand already, a new crisis is on the horizon.On July 1, the regulations concerning

how you measure a snook are going tochange and this has caused another heateddiscussion on what affect this will have onsnook fishing. Right now you measure asnook from the tip of its mouth to thefork of its tail – come July 1, the statesays you will pinch the tail together andtake your measurement (by the way,remember that snook season is closed onJuly 1).Now one of the obvious results in this

change is that the 25 inch snook youcaught is going to miraculously grow to26 inches. This has some people veryupset. State scientists have estimated thatthis new rule will increase the number oflegal snook taken by 22-percent. Thatseems like a high number until you realizethat out of the 2.6 million snook caughtonly 4-percent are now legal and increasingthat number by 22-percent you wind upwith less than 5-percent of the snookcaught being legal under the new rule.Your odds got better, but you still proba-bly won't be bringing a snook home fordinner.There might be a few advantages to this

rule change that could actually help. I haveto admit that there are a lot of 25 inchsnook out there and thinning out the cropsounds like a good idea to me. Rememberyou can only keep one fish a day so if youchoose to keep the new and improved 26inch snook you are done for the day. Theother thing to consider is whatever you doto one end of the scale, you change theother. So remember that the 34 inch legalsnook now becomes a miraculous 35 inch-er and must be thrown back. I can hear thecries now.


Snook are plentiful around the harbor right now. This one was caught in late April on acharter with Capt. Angel Torres



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By Don CessnaWater LIFE Englewood

Redfish like any game fish have habitsthat help insure their survival. They are avoracious predator and an adept forager.They feed on both live foods and carrion.They are a schooling fish and yet finding asingle fish here and there is just as likely. Itis a challenge to find them and a challengeto catch them. Redfish are very spookytypes, often one mistake will send them offin a swirl.Fishing redfish is a practice of knowing

where to look for them and figuring outwhen they should be there. We all knowabout looking for tailing fish and may haveseen this activity. They look much like abird-dog working an area hunting food, notvery subtle, but it can be difficult toapproach close enough to them to make acast. Even when one is stealthy enough to

get close it is not unusual for a low flyingpelican to spook them and ruin your stalk.Though there are spots that hold redfish

fairly consistently, most of the time thesefish frequent certain spots at certain times,in certain conditions. It is likely they can befound on a flat in the early morning thencruising a shoreline or oyster bar for a fewhours, then loafing under a dock or man-grove tree line later in the day.Redfishing is not the same as fishing for

seatrout – just about anyone with a fishingrod can catch a bunch of sea trout in shortorder. Redfish are a very challenging game-fish and are a test of skill, especially in atournament forum.Those who enjoy fishing for reds each

have their own preferences of what consti-tutes the best conditions to locate somefish. The enduring wisdom is that fishingthe oyster bars and flats on a high tide is the

best time and place to catch these fish. Thelogic is that the higher water level floodsareas where oysters, crabs and other crusta-cions live andmakes them easier for the red-fish to access, however I have always donebetter on a low tide, sometimes an extreme-ly low tide. Fishing quiet shorelines out ofthe wind and any creeks and canals wherethere is a run of deeper water close by worksfor me. Mornings seem to be far better, thefishing slows as it gets later in the day.Another location which will likely hold red-fish is the docks. Docks can hold active fishlater through the day. I can not rememberever catching a red after dark, though cer-tainly others do. The docks have been real-ly hot lately. The problem however whenfishing docks is if you do hook a fish thenwhat? How do you figure on getting thefish out of there, especially, a fish as strongas a redfish?Mangrove shorelines are always one of

the favorite spots to fish. The best man-groves are overhanging which means youneed to cast way back underneath where thefish are. Bring plenty of extra bait and tack-le as the magnetic mangroves will catch abunch of tackle in the process.Most anglers will fish for redfish with

live shrimp since they are easy to obtain,very versatile and can be used in most tacti-cal situations. Shrimp can be bounced underdocks and mangroves or tossed up on anoyster bar.With artificial baits the old standby has

always been gold spoons. Jigs with eitherbuck tails or plastic tails are also a goodchoice. Jigs can also be tipped withshrimp, but my personal favorite is a topwater plug.Maybe I have a mean streak, but I just

really get a kick out of teasing redfish. Redshave a mouth oriented downward for bottomfeeding so it is more difficult for them toget a hold of that Top Dog and often it takesseveral strikes before they get stuck.Sometimes they attack the plug three orfour times during a single retrieve. I alwayssay that if the fish won’t hit my top waterplug I didn’t want them anyway. Poppersand walk the dog type top water plugs workvery well and also get struck viciously.Twitch baits and bait fish imitations offer amore quiet and stealthy approach. There arealso manufactured combinations of plug andlive bait rigs that have been around foryears. Ah, maybe the best of both worlds.Chumming works well for redfish.

Chumming can bring fish out from underthe bushes, closer often than one is able tostalk. Here however arises a questionabletactic. Some anglers have taken to seedingan area, dumping bait where they will returnto fish later. This is not fishing. Thismonth, with the Kids Cup especially, adultsshould set an example with the spirit ofs p o r t s m a n s h i p .Winning is never as important as justbeing there to compete. It will surely beexciting. GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE

Redfishing is not the same as fishing forSeatrout – just about anyone with a fishingrod can catch a bunch of sea trout

One of a few tailing redfish strikes at a soft plastic bait.


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By Adam WilsonWater LIFE Contributor

My friend Ralph Bellon and I have made good friendswith Capt. George McElveen out of Bud Nʼ Marys Marina inthe Keys. He runs the charter boat " Reel McCoy". We havebeen wanting to make a run to the Cay Sal bank for over ayear now and have been blown out on two different occa-sions, but last month we had a go with winds out of thesouth east at 10-15 knots and seas hovering in the 3 - 5 footrange. We started fishing the drop off from 1,500 feet to 100feet within sight of Dog Rock at 7 a.m. and within minuteshad a real nice 30 pound wahoo in the boat. The day contin-ued with similar results. The grand total was 8 wahoo up to55 pounds a king mac roughly 20 pounds and some smaller

cero mackeral. But the biggest surprise of all was the lastfish of the day, an estimated 12 foot, 500 - 600 pound bluemarlin.

The marlin crashed a black and purple lure and ran withthe intensity of a freight train. She greyhounded south forabout 100 to150 yards pulling off 80 pound test set with 35pounds of drag like it wasn't there. The power of this fishwas nothing short of incredible. It really did give you the feel-ing of not being able to do anything but hang on and watch.After about 25 minutes of back and forth, with the captainbacking down, the mate was close enough to grab the leadermaking it a legal catch and eased the tired fish alongside thegunnel and grabbed the dorsal fin.

We tried to get some shots but the fish caught a secondwind fast and she was gone as quick as she appeared.Capt. George and the mate Geoffrey were both pretty excit-ed. A blue marlin is a pretty rare catch out of the Keys, letalone a 500 pounder. I think Geoffrey summed up the excite-ment best " Oh My God, I touched It, I touched It !!"

Blue Marlin Gets AwayWahoo comes aboard

With multiple tournaments thereare going to be a lot of sore-lipped,disoriented redfish this month. Forboaters, Pine Island sound and theIntracoastal all the way up to LemonBay should be the redfish habitat tofish. The baits of choice, as far as livebait goes, are shrimp, whitebait andpinfish. They are all working becausethe redfish are going from winter tosummer feeding patterns and startingto gorge themselves. With the lack ofrain, the water is very clear all theway into the harbor, so fluorocarbonleader is a must to improve your bite.Experiment with bait colors like pearlwhite and salt-and-pepper. Some ofthe more not-so-normal color lureshave been working too. This is agreat month for top-water action inthe early morning and early evening.This is the time to look for the verylarge bull redfish moving into thepasses and down along the beaches.Snook are getting ready to spawn

and are a catch and release speciesstarting May 1. If you are snook fish-ing, be really gentle with them anduse circle hooks.Tarpon fishing is getting better

every day throughout this wholemonth. The fish are already in the

Harbor and in the Intracoastal, but notin the pass yet, probably because it’sso unusually dry and because there isso much bait in the Harbor. Thiscould be an exceptional year for tar-pon. They should be in the pass atBoca Grande any day and will staythere through late June. Livethreadfins are the best tarpon baitright now. Catching threadfins ismore productive on a sabiki rig thancast netting them. Sabiki caughtthreadfins seem to be more frisky. Forartificial tarpon bait, the D.O.A. BaitBuster and MirroLure are the top twochoices.Sharks follow the tarpon and so

the bigger bulls, lemons, sandbarsharks and hammerheads will be inthe passes and in the Intracoastalwaterway this month. Because it’s sodry and because the salinity is so highin the harbor there are reports ofnumerous large sharks being caughtup in the Harbor. The most unusualspecies of sharks being caught noware the sandbar sharks in the harbor.The unusual part is that by now thosefish should be in 60 to 100 feet ofwater so it makes me wonder whatkind of changes are going on. Thoseare 6 to 8 foot sandbar sharks caughtin the harbor.Spanish mackerel are all over

the harbor and they will be here

throughout the entire month. If weget a lot of rain then they will moveout of the harbor and be caught alongthe beaches and in the passes. Withno rain, they should stay right here.Cobia and small sharks will move

way up into the Harbor this monthmaking them a good target for theshore fishermen. Offshore fishing willslow down significantly this monthunless you are willing to travel 50miles or more or to stay out all nightto do your fishing.All in all this should be a great

month for fishing.

Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595There is so much bait, guys are

talking about scooping it up with adip net or a sandflea scoop.On the flooding incoming tides

there have been a lot of fish aroundthe piers. Inshore, a lot of snook,and trout have been around. As far asredfish, guys have had good luckwith the Exude DART lures whichput a lot of scent in the water. Somespoons like the Hobo have been reallyproductive. The Hobo is a backwardsspoon with the fat end on the front soit has a whole different action. Gulpand Exude crabs are working on red-fish too because now there are a lot of

natural crabs here.It was a pretty good shrimp run

we just had. Bait shrimp has beena little hard to get lately, but I’vestill been getting shrimp for baitevery day.There are quite a bit of Tarpon

in the Pine Island Sound and in theharbor by Matlachea. The fish arecoming and going, but not thatmany have fallen into the regularroutine and dropped into the pass.When I hear all the peeper frogs

in the morning I know the temper-ature is right for tarpon in the passand I’m hearing them now so itshould start happening in the Passreal soon. We’ve got nice blue-crabs and pinfish in the shop andeveryone is ready.There have been some cobia

around and some permit on theinshore wrecks that are just off thebeaches. Lately we’ve had quite abit of activity with Spanishmackerel , kings and bonita.A mile to 5 miles out fishing hasbeen good. In fact, there have beensome keeper gags still beingcaught further out in 75 feet ofwater.There are some pompano

on the beach and whitingalong the shoreline. Baiteverywhere and snook are

n May 4 Learning FlyFishing 6:30 p.m. WestMarine, Venice 408-8288.n May 6: Water LIFEKids Cup Tournament atPunta Gorda, in conjunc-tion with the ESPN OhBoy! Oberto Redfish Cup766-8180n May 6-7: Kayak &Wildlife Festival PortCharlotte Beach Complex.Kayak fishing tournamentSunday at 7:30 a.m.n USCG AUX Punta

Gorda, AmericaʼsBoating Classes ABCTuesday and Thursdays 7p.m starting May 9th(941) 505-1290.n May 11-13: Oh Boy!Oberto Redfish CupTournament at PuntaGorda, Big Air Dogs andKids Cup Top-5 weigh inat 1 p.m. See detailedschedule at leftn June 1: Hurricane-proofing Your Boat Tipsand techniques WestMarine in Venice.

408-8288.n June 3: Peace RiverClean Up 10 a.m. fromNavAGator DesotoMarina 627-3474n July 23 FlatsmastersRed Plug ChallengePunta Gorda, 637-5953n August 12-13: RedfishNation Tournament,Jacksonville, Florida888-698-2591 orwww.redfishcup.comn October 7: RichestRedfish Challenge, ben-


BIG-4BIG-4 Mayʼs Target SpeciesMayʼs Target Species

TARPON are in the Passand in the harbor

REDFISH are under a lot ofpressure this month

SNOOK are all ovet theplace and eating well

SHARKS are in the area andthey are lively

C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T SPowered by

Sendusyoureventcalendarinformationviae-mail:[email protected]

MayMayFishingFishingReportReport

FishingRIGHT NOW:

GREAT!

Charlotte HarborRobert at Fi shin' FranksPort Charl o tte: 625 -3888

SCHEDULESCHEDULEThursday May 11Thursday May 11Weigh in 5 p.m.

Friday May 12Friday May 12Big Air Dogs 3 p.m.Weigh In 5 p.m.

Saturday May 13Saturday May 13Cardboard Boat Race 10 a.m.Big Air Dogs 11 a.m.Kids Cup Top-5 weigh In 1 p.m.Final Redfish Cup weigh in 3 p.m.

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Water LIFE May 2006