Water LIFE Nov 2008

Charlotte Harbor & Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor & Lemon Bay

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L I F EL I F EP r o d u c e r s o f t h e K I D S C U P T o u r n a m e n t

NovemberNovember20082008

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N O W G E T WAT E R L I F E M A G A Z I N E F R E E N O W G E T WAT E R L I F E M A G A Z I N E F R E E O N L I N EO N L I N E AT:AT:W W W. WAT E R L I F E M A G A Z I N E . C O MW W W. WAT E R L I F E M A G A Z I N E . C O M

Water LIFECharlotte Harbor

MagazineMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliatedwith any other publication

Vol VII No11 © 2008 Water LIFENo part of this publication may becopied or reproduced without the

written permission of both publishers

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Capt Andy Medina

Commercial Fishing: Kelly Beal RealReal Estate: Dave Hofer

Sailing: Bill DixonKayaks: David Allen

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerDiving: Adam Wilson

on the COVER:Kayaks in Evolution? The 14-foot FreedomHawk with its swing out pontoons andstand up stability bar, piloted by BenTurpin of Big Kid Kayaks, Punta Gorda.

on our WEBSITE:WWW.waterlifemagazine.com

This Monthʼs Edition: Send a link to afriendRealEstate Whatʼs happening NOW!Fishing Resource Guide: Everythingyou ever wanted to know – almostDon Ball School: Classes in sessionArtificial Reefs: Projects and progress-lat/long for local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original planto create sanctuaries and refuges, asspelled out by the United Nations in 1984Kids Cup Updates, Fish Tracking andTournament Information.

WRITE US!e-mail (preferred)

[email protected] Regular MAIL:

217 Bangsberg Rd. Port Charlotte, FL 33952

LETTERS TO WATER LIFE Magazine

Water LIFE and our new Fishing Resource Guide are now available on line for FREEWe are sorry, but we no longer accept

mail in subscriptionswww.waterlifemagazine.com

Some Thoughtsfrom Capt. RickDear Water LIFERE: No Feeding Pel icans. Whywould they ever think that rule up?Pelicans are already protected. In the win-ter months you can’t swing a dead catwithout hitting a pelican. Please tell mewhat FWC officer is going to arrest a kidfor throwing dead bait to a pelican.RE: Circle Hooks. The new law saysin part that you must use a circle hookwhen harvesting snapper. I have read stud-ies showing circle hooks work well caus-ing fewer gut hooked fish. I guess FWCread these articles too, but did they do anyhomework? Did they ask the guides? Idon’t think so. Circle hooks don’t workwell for redfish, snook or trout but theywork very well for tarpon.I fish in the back bays and shallow watersof Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River.We fish primarily for snook, redfish,trout, tarpon, cobia and mangrove snap-per. No one can control what fish bitesyour hook. Who wants to release a big fatmangrove snapper just because you didn’tuse a circle hook? Personally, I like to setthe hook, that does not work well withcircle hooks. I like to feel the surge of thefish when I set the hook. If you don’t set

the hook the fish will be back in themangroves (or the reef) and tangled upbefore you know it and you are going toend up with a break off. Circle hooks justdon’t work well in shallow water. Circlehooks are not fool proof; you will stillgut hook fish using circle hooks. TheFWC wants the public to be educated inthe use of circle hooks but really theFWC should be educated that circle hooksonly work well in deep water and not onthe flats of Charlotte Harbor. I hope theFWC will tweak these silly laws a littleso they can do what they are intended todo in the first place and do it well. Thereis a much better hook for all around use.It’s called a Kahle hook. Try it! You’lllike it.

RE: Venting Tools. This is a hypo-dermic needle and really shouldn’t be usedby the average person. Sooner or latersomebody will ‘vent’ themselves by acci-dent. Venting tools and circle hooksmaybe a good idea for offshore charterboats, but certainly not on inshore boats. These laws have good intentions but arepoorly written and should not includeinshore fishing.RE: Catch and ReleaseMore than 50-percent of my clients prac-tice catch and release techniques. Otherslike to take home enough fish for a meal.I am against and discourage the “fill thecooler” attitude of the past that some peo-ple still have. If you want to fill yourfreezer with fish then go to the fish mar-ket – it will be a lot cheaper in the longrun. RE: De-Hooking Tools. De-Hookingtools go back 50 years or so. It’s nice tosee that the FWC has ‘re-discovered’ themand ARC has reinvented an old tried andtrue tool.Be kind out there, slow down and smellthe fish.Capt. Rick KelleyEditor notes** If you have a response ora comment for Capt Rick please send it [email protected] and we’ll pass italong to him. Capt Rick doesn’t have anemail account.

Capt Rick with client and a 25-inch redfishcaught on a Kahle Hook

Now avai lable: St Croix Rods!Now avai lable: St Croix Rods!

BY Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorI’m convinced that sometimes the plan-

ets spin backwards. It’s been that way alot for me lately. First, my davits weresqueaky and my boat was getting hard toswing around. I decided to grease the pul-leys and pivots and all went well until Iclimbed up the ladder and un-did the boltthat secures the top pulley. I slid the boltout and replaced it with the shaft of myscrewdriver to hold it temporarily, but thescrewdriver slipped out and the pulleydropped free. It rolled, straight as an arrowright down the entire 8 foot length of thedavit arm and launched itself into thecanal. I couldn't have rolled it that straightif I tried, but there it went, kerplunk,right into the canal. I needed the boat nextmorning so I had to get it. I strippeddown to my shorts and jumped into thecanal. With a big magnet it took me 45minutes, but finally I stumbled on thepulley, embedded in the thick black bot-tom mud. OK, at least I was back ontrack. A week later my progress again went

retrograde. My boat was running like crap.I had changed my fuel filter and I'd beenadding stuff to the fuel to counteract theethanol problems. But my boat’s topspeed had dropped from 63 to 55, themotor wasn’t pulling any ‘Rs,’ so I tookoff the fuel line and siphoned out thetank. There was water in it, maybe aquart. Then I decided I needed to get more

than just what I could suck outfrom the pick-up hose so I triedto unscrew the fitting on thetank. That fitting was installedwhen the boat was built. It wasaccessible, but to put a wrenchon it I'd now need a twistedwrench, one not even in my odd-ball-tools drawer. So the simplelittle job of unscrewing a fittingbecame an exercise in acetylenetorch wrench bending. In the end,the bent-wrench worked like acharm, but the project wound uptaking the better part of a day. Itmust have had something to dowith the moon, I reasoned.The next big step backward

came a few days later. I had leftthe boat in the water overnightand late that afternoon I pulled itout. It was already getting darkbut I wanted to flush the motorand let it dry out. I grabbed thegarden hose and screwed it intothe flush port. Then I turned onthe water and started the motor, but therewas no water pressure on the gauge. Ilooked back and nothing was coming outof any of the water ports. I shut her downand went back to the hose and upped thepressure. Kablooey! Something inside themotor blew and all sorts of water camerushing out of the cowling. I pulled thecowl. The problem was the ‘s’ shapedhose between the cowl and the block. Igot a screwdriver and in the almost-dark-ness I loosened the blown hose. I feltsomething funny, something fuzzy. I

pulled the hose off and with it came asoggy clump of fiber. I got a flashlightand looked better. It was grass. The nipplecoming out of the block was packed withgrass too, stuffed in from the water pres-sure of the flush hose. I thought back. Earlier that week I had

asked lawn guy to weed-wack the area inthe vacant lot behind my boat. What I fig-ured out must have happened was theweed-waked grass pieces must have gotwacked right into the open end of the hoseI use to flush the motor. It took me onetrip to Punta Gorda and two trips to the

auto parts store to jury rig a temporaryhose that would work until a new hosecame in from Mercury. When I was all done I fired up the

motor. Water was running out the peehole, but the water pressure gauge stilldidn’t move. What's up with that? I rappedthe pressure gauge with my finger. Thegauge jumped up to the normal 12 psi. Iremoved the gauge. It was full of water. Ithad been sticky before the grass incidentbut now it was dead. Were the incidentsrelated? I don’t know, I got my car keysand headed for the parts store.


Going in Circles

In an aerial photo we made last month, a blue-crabber circled one of his traps outside of AlligatorCreek. They make the turn to hook the crab-trap-float which helps to pick up the trap.


By Capt Robert MooreWater LIFE S taff

Fall fishing is now upon us. The bestpart about fall fishing is the diversity thatcomes with the cooler weather. Not only isthe inshore scene very productive, the off-shore fishing will buzz with life as well.

Inshore fishing for snook shouldcapitalize most of everyone’s attention thismonth. As soon as Mr. Snook feels thewater temperature drop he will begin his

migration inshore. Along with that migra-tion will come a very hearty appetite.

Without a doubt using live bait such asshiners will produce the most action withsnook, but if there was ever a time of yearto target snook on artificial’s this would beit. The snook’s aggression towards anythingthat moves comes from his desire to fattenup before the lower winter water tempera-

tures effect his metabolism. Redfish and trout fishing will be

very productive as well. The cooler watertemperature seems to help bring in largernumbers of trout on the flats looking forthat sure thing meal. The best part about

trout fishing is you don’t need to spend pre-cious time looking for bait to have a pro-

ductive day. Artificial baits work great and ifyou desire live fresh shrimp bought fromyour local tackle shop will produce great

catches as well. Offshore fishing will offer some

great action when the winds will let you getout. The fall king mackerel run may be

over, but make no mistake about it, therewill be plenty of schoolie kings out therefor the taking. Light tackle fishing is at its

best when catching 5-12-pound kings.Chumming with live bait over structure inup to 50 feet seems to produce plenty ofaction. Spanish mackerel and bonita will

also offer some great action as large schoolstarget pods of bait just off the beaches.

Trolling with diving plugs will also pro-duce some great action and allow you to

cover a lot of area at the same time. Bottom fishing offshore will start

to produce some good action closer in and

will only get better as the water temperaturefalls. Red, gag and black grouper will

migrate closer to shore during the wintermonths making it easier to find slot fish

without venturing out to far. One word of caution is that the regula-

tions on grouper have changed so make sureyou are familiar with them. Go To:

http://marinefisheries.org/grouper/index.htmfor more information.

And no matter what your desire is, fallfishing should have it for you. Good luck

and tight lines!

Capt. Robert Moore can be reached to booka trip of for fishing information at:

624-5710 or at www.captrobertmoore.com

Fall Fishing Forecast

Roger Stacy sent us this picture of a Bonefish caught in Stump Pass.The fish was caught by his son-in-law Todd Ellis who lives in WestUnion Ohio. He caught it on a red jig head and shrimp on Sept 25. “I knew what it was as soon as I saw it in the water but I could notbelieve we found one this far North,” Stacey said

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Len Shireyand ScottEason with30 lb. Cobiacaught offof Bocawith Capt.RickFrancois

Bob Prior caught this kingfish on a live bluerunner 5 miles out Boca Grande, at the endof October, fishing with Capt. Robert Moore



By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte Harbor

On this particular day we were at theright place at the right time and on thisparticular day we used every rod on theboat for a huge variety of species.When we finished catching bait the

livewell was chock full of nice whitebaitand pinfish with hundreds of baits tochum with. Little did we know we would-n’t need most of it. We exited BocaGrande Pass and a southwest wind builtwaves to 3 feet. A mile out I canceled ouroffshore plans because I thought it wasgoing to be worse 10-or 20- miles out.The chatter of happy anglers came to asilence. What now!? We set up near the mouth of the pass

to take advantage of an outgoing tide.Snook and redfish should be millingaround and we have plenty of bait toattract them. Presenting weighted baitsinto the current required confidencebecause this is not a place we normallyfish. We were fishing about 1 ounce oflead with 3 feet of 40# leader with eitherpinfish or whitebait attached to a 2/0hook. Before our first cast a school ofjacks crashed around the boat and assuredus we would get our arms yanked off ifwe cast to them. Instead, we fished linesthat sometimes bounced bottom in therolling tide. I banged a couple of nicesnapper in the 12 inch range and then anoversize redfish. Gene Kingery hooked upat least 3 times with big reds and lostthem. Meanwhile Shawn Swiontek satback and watched the action before mak-ing his first cast. To say the least, Plan Bfishing was good but then the tide wentslack. Before the tide began running toohard Gene yanked a couple of veryrespectable flounder aboard and they wentinto the cooler for dinner. A few encoun-ters with jack crevalles that were pounc-ing bait led to a tangle or two, but thebest was yet to come. Unexpectedly, the wind calmed down

and we decided to pick up our original off-shore plans. Two miles offshore we spot-ted a huge school of large threadfins get-ting mashed. In just about any directionyou could see whitewater spray at least 2feet above the surface with large fishcrashing acres of bait. Hoping for king-fish we raced to the fish and shut down.With beautiful water visibility kingfishcould be seen slashing through the baitright under the boat! Spanish mackerelwere also spearing their share, sharkswere everywhere and they were sizable inthe 4 to 7 foot range... and this was onlythe beginning.None of us had steel leaders on. Gene

flicked out with 40-pound mono and gotnailed immediately. After stinging runs a10 pound kingfish came aboard. I made 3casts and got bite off three times. Finally,with wire leaders attached Gene and I castand got railed immediately. Kingfish outthe wazoo! This was fishing at its finest!You could cast in any direction at anytime and get nailed and this went on forhours! After several fish a rest was inorder. It is hard to say how many fish wehooked, boated or landed this day but itwas nothing short of phenomenal. Thehard part to our challenge eventuallybecame picking out the right fish. Aschool of arm breakers (aka- bonito)decided to join the fracas and the sharksbecame very aggressive. The bonitoseemed to blast the bait and the kingsslashed at the bait. As for the sharks, theywould charge through the bait. Eitherway, we tried to avoid the sharks and thebonito but without avail. Most of thesharks ran 50 to 70 pounds and wouldwear you out on the tackle we had. The“trail” left on the chartplotter told thestory: the baitfish never moved out of a½ mile radius – obviously the intensepressure from predator species was keep-ing them in one place. Three hours laterwe still had these fish to ourselves. Witha livewell full of bait still and a fish on

literally every cast withoutchumming, we decided tolet some bait go and seewhat happened. Handfuls ofpilchards were releasedrepeatedly and a hugeschool of very large jacksshowed up. Perhaps 15pounders or more and noneof us were willing tothrow a line at them. Thena pair of 30 pound cobiashowed up just longenough for us to grab a bait to cast tothem before disappearing. The jacks cameand went and the bonitos blasted within10 yards of the boat. For each blast amarauder pack of 5-6 foot sharks wouldrace over to the blast- aggressive was notthe word for these sharks and they weren’tleaving the boat. Peering into the dis-tance, Shawn spots “jaws” approachingfrom about 50 yards out. A massive shad-ow with a head that was nearly 3 feetacross! As the shark approached the sternthe smaller 6 foot sharks ran for coverexcept for one. The massive shark gave achilling appearance on the port side wherewe were all standing and chased anothershark lurking nearby. We got one morelook at this creature before it disappeared.Our day grew long we were now spendingquiet a bit of time on the front deck with-

out a rod in hand. I made one final castand was instantly hit. Turning the reelhandle became too much of a chore and Istuck the rod in a holder. Shawn gracious-ly took over and landed a nice kingfish tofinish up the day. With fish still blastingbait skyward and birds diving we weredone. No one wanted to reel in anotherfish. This kind of offshore tango occurs alot this time of year but it is all in thetiming. The following week we went outto the same area under spectacular condi-tions and didn’t catch a fish! It’s all aboutbeing in the right place at the right time.

Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local chartercaptain. For information or to book a guidedfishing trip call 941-505-0003 or go to hiswebsite: www.backcountry-charters.com

Offshore Adventure

S taff ReportOn Saturday most anglers agreed that redfish were the hard ones to find but the top-5teams still posted extremely respectable two fish scores.Team Cape Tool & Tackle: 6.44, 12.12 = 18.56Team Andros Boats: 5.42, 12.23 = 17.65Team Minn Koda: 5.95, 11.56 = 17.51Team Mo Fishin: 5.66, 10.68 = 16.24Team Franz Masonary: 7.12, 8.59 = 17.51The wind blew hard Sunday morning with a front dipping down into the area, but byafternoon the wind petered out and the sun shone brightly. “I like fishing better whenit’s blowing and overcast,” one angler noted. But Team Minn Koda liked the weatherjust fine on Sunday, for them it smelled like victory. Team Minn Koda weighed inwith a 10.52 snook and a 6.66 pound red for the win. No other team had a snook!


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By Capt. Andrew MedinaWater LIFE Charlotte HarborIt really has cooled down in the morn-

ing and the run across the harbor hasbecome a little less enjoyable. It’s winter,north winds are creeping up on us and thetides are falling away – there were a cou-ple days when you could have driven atruck from Ponce Inlet to Alligator Creek. What I do, as part of my normal prac-

tice, is watch where the mullet are run-ning. This will tell you where predatoryfish like snook and redfish are. Most ofthe fish we have found have been outsidethe bar, following the large mulletschools on their journeys. Redfish actionhas been hot and the bite has been on cutpinfish. Large breeders are running togeth-er in schools. We are talking fish over the20-pound range. These fish have beenoutside the Turtle Bay bar in the 2- to 4-foot range of water. There have also beenfish just down from Burnt Store on theeast side of the harbor. These fish are apretty easy catch if you bring the righttackle. I’m using my normal inshoretackle with 20-pound Power Pro and a 30-pound leader since outside the bar thereare no mangroves to get broke-off on.

The main way you get broke off will be adrag setting error. Late in October we found some fish

that ran so fast we had to pull the PowerPole and actually chase them. These fishranged in size from slot fish up to 42inches, great photo’s for our clients. Onething I would like to mention aboutcatching these fish is the size of the hookyou use. Everyone knows the importanceof a circle hook. This is by far the bestchoice for this task, as long as the hookis large enough so the fish is unable toswallow it. We have stepped up hook sizefrom our normal 2/0 size to a size 3/0 oreven 4/0 circle hooks. Snook fishing has also been doing

well. With many keepers moving up intothe tidal creeks and canal systems. Withall the bait readily available, the snookare fat. Many 10-pound slot size fish havebeen caught this season. I found some ofthe best fish I have caught have beentaken on a free-lined greenie under thedocks. Try fishing inside Colony Point,or around the Alligator Creek area. PonceInlet is also a good bet for snook on afast moving tide – it really doesn’t matterwhether it is incoming or outgoing, as

long as you have water movement thefish will eat. Trout are still chewing; drift the grass

flats around Pirate harbor, just inside thebar or near the channels– a shrimp under apopping cork is always great. Tarpon arestill in are harbor in the 20-foot holes.Plenty of large threadfin herring havebeen around and are great bait for late sea-son tarpon. You may have to try driftingthe bait several different ways such asunder a cork or free lined. It won’t take

long for you to discover how they wantthe bait presented to them. The rewardsare great for late season tarpon anglers,with some of these fish weighing close to100-pounds. Stay warm, dry, and fish through it.

We only have about 5 months left ofthese conditions.

Capt. Andrew can be reached for Charterinfo at 456-1540 or on the web atwww.FishFloridaTarpon.com

Temperatures Cool Down, Fishing Heats UpP a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8

171 ̓Deep Sailboat Harbor Views

Javier Vina caught this 20-plus pound redfish while fishing with Capt. Andrew Medina


PROVIDED BY: Dave & Marlene Hofer RE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected] www.harborparadise.com

Recent area news i tems1. The Florida Supreme Court reversed itsearlier ruling which had required TaxIncrement Financing Districts to conformto the state constitution in regards to voterapproval for major new investments. Thereare more than 178 CommunityRedevelopment Agencies throughoutFlorida which now have the green light tospend nearly limitless borrowed money onits pet projects without taxpayer approval.2. Three bidders have emerged with pro-posals to develop Murdock Village. LeeCounty developer, Pelican Bay develop-ment has submitted a formal offer. Twoothers have been received but not dis-closed.3. In an effort to rebalance the budget,Punta Gorda City Council resolved toreturn personnel levels to 2004 levels.With a smaller population and less build-ing activity, this seems to be a reasonablesolution.4. Charlotte County will spend 1% lessthan last year, forcing the millage levy up25% to compensate for plummeting mar-ket values.5. Charlotte County reallocated $30Million from future projects to pay downon the Bank of America loan used toacquire the 1132 acre site.6. US News and World Reports votedPunta Gorda one of the Ten Best HealthyPlaces to retire in its Sept 29 issue.7. Sarasota will lay out almost $5 mil-lion to acquire a 2 acre site adjacent toPayne Park. The enormous bribe to lure

the Red Sox to Sarasota for spring train-ing will be hard to recoup from additionalvisitors during the already busy spring sea-son.8. Reflecting the icy real estate market,Syd Kitson will be returning $42.5Million in tax free bond money received toinstall infrastructure improvements atBabcock Ranch.9. The much heralded Farmers Marketopened on Saturdays this month at thenewly refurbished courthouse on TaylorStreet in Downtown Punta Gorda. Withprices approaching 50-percent more thanthose at the long standing market at theVFW, it will be interesting to see if itsurvives the initial novelty.10. Calusa Bank broke ground on its newbank building at the corner of U.S. 41 andAqui Esta.Sales S tatistics:Nationally: Inventories of foreclosedhomes are being sold as a result of SheriffAuctions. Modest recognition is appear-ing about the impact of these sales onlocal tax revenues, condominium associa-tion budgets and maintenance blight fromneglected properties. The Troubled AssetRelief Program is glacially movingtowards a solution to the enormous mort-gage backed securities market. The onlytangible benefit from this program tohomeowners appears to be a writedownand refinance of existing mortgages.Unfortunately, this is, for now, a volun-tary program on the part of the lendersholding mortgages. The TreasuryDepartment will have to walk the fine lineof offering enough cash to buy thosemortgages and not so much as to put tax-payers at extreme investment risk. Locally: Sales volume continued at a firmpace, but product mix continued to declineto lower valued houses. Lot sales havebeen confined to speculators at pre 2004pricingPlease visit us at www.harborparadise.com toview any available properties from Venice toBurnt Store Marina

Real Real Estate Estate NewsNews

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By Betty S tauglerSea Grant / Water LIFEBay Scallops

Having a Great Year2008 has been a very good year for bay

scallops in southwest Florida. In August2008, 62 Sarasota Bay Watch volunteerslogged 947 scallops from Longboat Passin Manatee County to Big Pass inSarasota County. Reports of scallopsightings have been made throughoutsouthwest Florida, all the way down toFlorida Bay. Bay scallops were once plentiful

enough to support a commercial fisheryin southwest Florida. But that was 30 to40 years ago. Scientists believe poorwater quality is responsible for the col-lapse of this fishery. Today, harvest of bayscallops for commercial sale is illegal inFlorida water. Recreational harvest for per-sonal consumption is only allowednorth of the Suwannee River andonly between July 1 and September10 of each year. Bay scallops are extremely sensi-

tive to fluctuations in temperatureand salinity. They are also very vul-nerable to changes in water quality.A scallop can close its shell to pro-tect its gills from murky water, butonly for about two hours. So what is causing the increase in bay

scallops? No one knows for sure, mostlikely a combination of factors. Waterquality in many southwest Florida estuar-ies has improved considerably since the1960s and 70s. This is particularly truefor Tampa and Sarasota Bays. Also, overthe last several years, scientists have beenattempting to jump start populations byrearing scallops in laboratories and thenreleasing the juveniles into selected estu-aries where water quality is deemedhealthy enough to support bay scallops.These factors, combined with two years ofdrought and very minimal red tide occur-rences may well be the recipe for a bay

scallop recovery. Is this the real deal? It’s far too early

to tell what the future holds for bay scal-lops in southwest Florida. Bay scallopsonly live 12-18 months, so one bad yearcould spell disaster. Bay scallops spawnin the fall. To increase their reproductivesuccess, a bay scallop has the ability toproduce both eggs and sperm, although adelay occurs between the release of eggsand sperm to prevent inbreeding. About36 hours after fertilization a tiny scallopegg becomes floating larvae. Two weekslater the larvae becomes ‘spat’ and attach-es itself to the base of seagrass blades.The spat will eventually move up the

blade to avoid predation from bottomdwellers. In spring to early summer, thescallops fall off of the seagrass blade andonto the bottom where they will spendthe rest of their lives as free swimmers.Although a single scallop is capable ofproducing millions of eggs at once, onlyone egg out of the millions may surviveto adulthood.Over the last several years, researchers

have been evaluating scallop populationsin Tampa Bay and Pine Island Sound.Earlier this year monitoring began inSarasota Bay and upper Lemon Baythrough a collaboration of SarasotaCounty and the Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission - FWRI(FWC-FWRI). In October, we extendedthe monitoring into Charlotte County(Lemon Bay and Gasparilla Sound)through a collaboration of FWC-FWRIand Florida Sea Grant/Charlotte County.Our efforts involve placing spat collection

traps in seagrass areas. The traps willserve a substrate for the spat to attach to.Monthly, one trap will be pulled andanother deployed. Each trap pulled will beanalyzed by FWC-FWRI to determine ifbay scallop spat are present. If spat ispresent then we will look at additionalmonitoring techniques to see how manyare making it to adulthood and/or whetherthese areas may be suitable for restorationefforts. Also helping us is the FDEP Charlotte

Harbor Aquatic Preserves who are lookingfor scallops while conducting their annualseagrass surveys (Oct.-Dec. each year).The Aquatic Preserve staff have alreadymade one scallop observation report forthe southern end of Lemon Bay.

Betty Staugler is the Sea Grant Agentfor Charlotte County. She can be reachedat 941-764-4346.

Sea Grant News

A scallop trap...ready to be deployed. Theidea is that the scallop spat will attachitself to the orange mesh bag the sameway it would attach itself to a seagrassblade.Below: Sea Scallops

TransmitterRecovered

It was found in a snook's stom-ach while filleting a 29 inch fish onOctober 17. The fish weighed 6.75-pounds and was caught, south ofAlligator Creek, by Greg Deminik.

Betty Staugler of Sea Granttells us: The pill like object thatGreg Deminik found in his snookis a PIT tag (Passive IntegratedTransponder). PIT tags are smallmicrochips that are injected into a fishusing a hand-held applicator gun.Researchers use hand-held scanners todetect PIT tags in fish. The scanner readsthe tag's electromagnetic code and dis-plays the tag's number. A number of dif-ferent species have had pit tags implant-ed in them. You may recall that we scanall of the redfish that are weighed in atKids Cup. This is because all of thehatchery reared redfish receive PIT tagsupon release and we want to know if anyof the Kids Cup fish are hatchery fish.

This particular PIT tag most likelybelongs to Dr. Aaron Adams of MoteMarine Laboratory. When I spoke to him,he was pretty sure it was his. Aaron hasbeen using PIT tags in his research oftidal creeks along the east wall for manyyears. Specifically Aaron has been look-ing at whether habitat alterations (mostlydue to mosquito ditching activities of the1960s and 70s) affect the habitat utiliza-

tion preferences of juvenile snook. Aaronhas been comparing impacted creeks toun-impacted creeks, looking at a varietyof factors including fish species diversity,growth rates, and most recently diet. Oneof Aaronʼs goals is to be able to evaluatehabitat restoration success based on itsutilization by key indicator species, inthis case, juvenile snook.

Aaron has used a combination ofseining and PIT tagging in his approach.The PIT tags work well because they arevery small, relatively inexpensive, andsince there is no internal battery, can lastfor many years. If my hunch is correct,and the fish Greg caught came from thistagging effort, the fish would havereceived its tag when it was about 7-10inches in length.

Aaron is out of town until midNovember. Once he returns he will scanthe tag and provide us with a history ofthe fish.

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By Adam WilsonWater LIFE DivingAfter a year of training, practic-

ing and planning, my dive buddyCarl and I were finally off on thecharter boat Ultimate Getaway to dive on some seldomvisited deep wrecks northwest of Fort Jefferson in theTortugas. It felt as though all of the deeper diving wehad done this year had been leading us up to this onetrip, and we were ready.Most of the 150 mile run to our first location from

Ft. Myers Beach was done while we slept that Thursdaynight. A 450 foot German freighter resting in 250 feetwas our first wreck to explore. She had been caught car-rying supplies to Germany from Mexico and was shelledby the British Navy early in WWII. After Jim Josephfrom Fantasea scuba and Captain Rick Pitts finishedtying our grapple into the wreck, we got the signal frombelow to gear up and jump in. I wasn't concerned aboutthem spooking any fish. They were both on closed cir-cuit re-breathers that don't produce any bubbles, and likethe majority of the 10 other divers on this trip they werenot shooting fish, but artifact hunting.Our bottom time was going to be a strict 20 minutes.

That's means 20 minutes from the time you jump offthe boat you had better be back at the grapple and work-ing your way up through your de-co stops. I dropped asfast as I could, kicking my fins and pulling along thedescent line, trying not to waste any precious time.Arriving at the grapple and the wreck I glanced at mybottom timer just as it clicked over 2 minutes, great,still 18 minutes to hunt.Divers rarely visit these spots in the Gulf and it

shows. Although most of the larger black groupers atthis spot were a little spooky, the huge scamp grouperwere just as curious as their shallow water little broth-ers. Even though our dives on the first wreck didn't pro-duce any huge black grouper, it is hard to complainabout stringers loaded with 10 to 15 pound scamps andschool bus sized amberjacks.Day two brought us further south and to a wooden

sailing ship built in the 1860s. In 1903 she collidedwith another ship and sank in 220 feet. Carl and I wereto drop first on this wreck and tie the grapple in.Confidence was not high as the previous ship was sup-posed to have been the better hunting spot.Upon reaching our boats grapple my heart began

pounding out of my chest. We had landed in the sand offthe portside of the wreck. To say it was fishy would bethe understatement of the year. Black grouper up to andover 100 pounds began pouring out of the wreck likerats off a sinking ship. Higher in the water columndozens of African pompano circled, blindingly reflecting

the sun on us. To my left and around the bow a schoolof 12 cubera snappers, easily distinguished from thegoliath grouper by their massive fangs and saucer sizedscales. Easily pushing 80 to 100 pounds, or maybe big-ger, they sheepishly would peek around the bow to catcha glimpse of us. Not even my wildest dreams have everconjured up such an incredible scene. I really never imag-ined so many big fish would be in one place at onetime. With my underwater camera only being rated toabout 185 feet, it unfortunately was securely fastened uphigher on our ascent line.

The closest fish to me at the grapple was a large, 60plus pound black. He swam very slowly past and belowme, giving me the perfect shot angle. A pull of the trig-ger and he never flinched, just turned white, rolled andnosed into the sand. The other fish were still notspooked and I noticed Carl inside the wreck at this pointbattling his own monster grouper that wasn't comingquite as easy. I began to ease toward the cubera snappers,but they instantly matched my pace and abandoned thewreck for the safety of the vast sand desert. Cruising thestarboard side I looked for whatever fish were close. Anice 35 pounder was hiding under the forward mast.Click, and lights out.

Heading back to the grapple the huge blacks werestill just off the wreck over the sand and not at allspooked. I pulled the trigger on the closest one that wastwice the size of the first one I shot. He stopped andbegan to roll. I was thinking how lucky can I get when

he started swimming slowly toward the wreck. I plantedshaft number two firmly in his head and then he decidedto hole up inside the ship. With bottom time and gasrunning dangerously low there was no time for lettingthe silt settle. Shaft number three launches and he shootsout of the wreck and along the ship like a greyhound. Iam sure this big fish held up further down along the shipjust out of sight, but it had been time for me to be head-ing back to the grapple a long time ago.

I hated to leave him there to die, but weather forcedus off the wreck and kept us from our last dive to searchfor him. When the inevitable happens and a fish is lostwe always tell each other that nothing in the ocean evergoes to waste....except maybe for our $40 freeshafts.

Local diving is looking great for November. Stonecrabbing has been good, not great, but good. Big amber-jacks are already showing up at about the 70 foot con-tour and we are still shooting huge mangrove snappersup to 25 inches in 60 feet. Water temps are just nowbeginning to dip below 80 degrees so it's time to startbringing along the wetsuit.

If your looking for a great charter trip at a low pricethe Getaway is top notch. They also offer shallow reefdiving in the Tortugas for beginners and can be reached atwww.ultimategetaway.net or call Capt. Rick at 1-866-474-2069. Jim Joseph of Fantasea scuba is puttingtogether a reef trip in early December at a discountedrate. Stop in his shop and check it out.

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DivingDiving

By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

It was a pretty short meeting as government meetingsgo – actually it was more like a wake for a dead friend. Ithink most people who were in attendance had made uptheir minds months ago, but they were willing to haveone last meeting to at least reflect everyone concerned hada chance to have their say. The subject of the meetingwas the ending of the over-two-year-long experiment con-cerning the geo tubes placed on the north side of StumpPass. The State DEP had ordered Charlotte County toremove the tubes some time ago and had it not been for afew nesting shore birds, the tubes would have been gonealready. Over the last year I have talk to everyone I couldfind who had an opinion on the success or failure of theexperiment and people’s opinions varied, mostly depend-ing on where they lived or who was paying them.Tommy Brock, a well known local fisherman, boater

and Manasota Key resident, had arranged a small gettogether with Robert Ballard, the Director of the StateParks of Florida and Michael Barnett the Bureau Chief ofBeaches and Coastal Systems for the State DEP. I wasasked to tag along because of my local knowledge andinvolvement with Stump Pass dredging issues. The firstthing accomplished was a boat ride to let these guys seethe geo tubes for themselves. Up until know, I got theopinion that they had only seen pictures of the area inquestion. With that done we all sat down to discuss thepurpose and the results of the geo tube project.Like most people, I was lead to believe that the reason

the geo tubes were installed was to slow down the migra-tion of sand drifting into Stump Pass, thus lengtheningthe period between maintenance dredgings. This has pro-vided a substantial cost saving for the people of CharlotteCounty. Everyone seemed to agree that at the presenttime, Stump Pass was stable and adequate for marine nav-igation. People also agreed that sand had accumulatedaround the tubes, which resulted in approximately 5 acresof new beach on the north side of the pass. The problem was the undeniable erosion of a portion

of the very south end of the State Park. Aerial photos ofthe park were passed out that showed the extent of theerosion. It was there for all to see. The question to beanswered was – were the geo tubes responsible for theerosion and if they were removed, would the erosionstop? When in doubt, bring in the consultants; and everyone

had one that agreed with their own personal opinion.Three different engineering firms had studied the matterand none of them had reached a common conclusion. Inmy opinion they were all pretty much useless.Then Bob Ballard, the biggest honcho at the meeting,

dropped the big bomb. He said that way back, whenCharlotte County first asked for a permit to dredge StumpPass, they were told that they could have the permit tokeep the pass open “As long as there were no detrimentaleffects on the State Park.” The erosion on the south endof the Park was a detrimental problem, so the tubes hadto go. One of the members of the meeting asked thequestion – What was more important; the pass and thehealth of Lemon Bay or the State Park? Without missing

a beat, Ballard answered that he was responsible for theState Park and the pass was not his problem - the GeoTubes had got to go.The irony of this statement amazed me because before

Stump Pass was opened, the southern end of the park did-n’t exist. It was the dredging of the pass that resulted inthe land that the State is trying now, so hard, to protect. The only thing left to discuss was what is going to

happen when the tubes are removed. Will the 5 new acresof sand around the tubes migrate south and fill in thepass? Probably. Will this cause Charlotte County addi-tional expense for more frequent dredging? Definitely!Already, county officials are talking about moving thenext scheduled dredging up to 2009. Will the removal ofthe tubes eliminate the erosion of the south end of theState Park? We’re are apparently going to find that out.


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Be the Fish

Kids Cup Tournament Date Set for April 25, 2009Applications go online 12:01 am Jan 1.

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE PublisherDon Ball School DirectorWe are halfway through our eight week Don Ball

School of Fishing program for 7th graders. Part of theprogram coming up will be a slide show where Sea Grantagent Betty Staugler and I will show the kids pictures ofmangrove restoration, a Kids Cup video, a section on sea-grasses and a presentation of “Think Like a Fish - or asthey prefer to call it down at Fishin Franks, “Be theFish”. That segment uses aerial photographs from around

Charlotte Harbor to help the kids visualize the bottomstructure and water flow in some of the popular fishingareas. The idea is, if kids can visualize where a fish wouldwait for ‘the groceries” (as Don Ball School Capt MikeMannis likes to call them) to swim by, then they willhave a better idea of where to put their bait. Aerial photographs are particularly suited for this

because on the right day, with the right exposure and theright adjustments on the photo, the water can be madealmost invisable, showing many more bottom contoursthan you can see from any boat. And knowing the bottomis also the best way to stay out of trouble.

S taff ReportThe Kids Cup Tournament raises money to pay for the The Don Ball Schoolof Fishing. The school sylabus blends fishing skills with environmentalunderstanding. We have local captains teaching the courses and staffers fromthe Sea Grant and the FWC visiting each class to explain what they do tohelp the fishery. Last week these kids in Punta Gorda were impressed with thepictures and information about the ongoing fish sampling the FWC does andthe shark jaws were a big hit.

A boat makes its way to the Harbor through the narrow channel in Pirate Harbor

Top: Capt Danny Latham helps with knots at Punta Gorda Middle School, Left: Ericson from the FWC shows a sharks jaw,Above: Fishin Frank works with Harbor charts. Right: Feeling how much drag you can use with 15 pound line.


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By Bi l l DixonWater LIFE SailingThe 15 boats in the October Moonlight

regatta got off to a slow start, the race gotshortened, but turned out ok. Everyone washome before the sun came up. Winners were: Spinnaker, Dieter

Lehmann on Great Mistake his Hunter 37.Non spin winner was Bill Curtis’s Morgan24 “Morgan”. True Cruising was won byRudy Gottschlich‘s Diva Gorda a Jeanneau36. The fall series (32 boats, spinnaker, no

spinnnaker and cruising boats, no multi-hulls) continues for November with raceson the 9th and 23rd. Early December willsee the Holiday Regatta on December 6 and7, an open Charlotte Harbor Boat of TheYear event. Two buoy races are planned for

Saturday and a reverse start longer coursefor Sunday, like the Conquistador Cup.Entry is available for all races or just theSunday reverse start. Sunday’s reverse startwould be a good thing for you novice racersto try: you will get your own individualstart time based on your handicap. Thestarting line will be long and private. A raft up will be held on Saturday night

December 6 to watch the lighted boatparade from a safe spot off the path of thelighted boats. Awards will be SundayDecember 7 at 5 p.m. at the PGI Civicassociation pavilion. Hot dogs, chips,beans and beverages will be provided.Notice of Race and entry are posted on thePunta Gorda Sailing Club web site atpgscweb.com.

Bill Dixon can be reached at:[email protected]

By Capt. Frank CiurcaSpecial to Water LIFESeveral weeks ago I decided to begin

looking at dissolved oxygen (DO) levelsin Charlotte Harbor and the canals ofBurnt Store Isles. Eventually I want tocorrelate DO to the quality of fishing inthe harbor. I began by starting in Bulland Turtle Bays. I was greeted almostinstantly by a seriousamount of baitfish, themost I’ve seen sinceearly 2004 when Ibegan fishing the area. It seemed that most

of the guides and fish-ermen already knew ofthe onslaught of bait-fish as evidenced byliterally scores ofboats all over the area. The oxygen levels

were good as I expect-ed, given the largeschools of bait. Weenjoyed several hours ofgood catching, mainlytrout, ladyfish, jacks,and an occasional red-fish, while fishing around the pods ofbait.After a while we moved the boat into

Turtle Bay and again found large schoolsof baitfish. The incoming tide gave us achance to explore some of the backcreeks there. Again we found excellentoxygen levels, as well as bait, and somenice trout, and redfish. My fly rod got agood work out that day as trout, ladyfish,and reds are always willing to take a nicematch-the-hatch baitfish pattern, especial-ly with baitfish the main meal for ourtarget species. The redfish were keying inon a small yozuri plug that day, as myfriend Bob seemed to catch red after red.Last week, Bob and I decided to take

the Gheenoe on a shallow water expedi-tion along the east wall. So we headedout of Ponce de Leon Park and proceededsouth along the wall in 2 ft of water.Almost immediately I hooked up on a

nice slot 7 pound red caught on a smallSebile suspending plug. We found sometailing reds in the grass a mile south anddecided to vacate the boat and target thereds on foot. While wading we managedto catch several more slot reds and somenice trout, on both Sebiles and smallgold spoons. Eventually, I did take somemore good dissolved oxygen readings onmy meter, and all were greater then 5PPM, a benchmark of good oxygen lev-els. The other thing that Bob and I notedwas great grass growth on the inside ofthe wall, and a nice baitfish populationin the grass beds. Reds were running thruthe grass chasing bait, one actuallybumped into my leg. All in all, I hadgood time collecting the samples, how-ever, the great red fishing was a pleasantsurprise.

Capt Frank Ciurca can be reached [email protected].

Dissolved Oxygen Content

Disolved Oxygen Measurments:9/23/08: BSI canal - Bottom- 1.5 PPM at 6 ft, Top- 3.52 PPM

9/27/08: Bull Bay - Bottom in 3 ft of water- 6.18 PPM 9/27/08: Turtle Bay - Bottom 3-4 ft of water- 7.20 PPM

This is the Fall Series Race # 3, tacking, on October 19, in a 14 knot wind. The first leg of asailboat race is almost always into the wind.


By David Al lenWater LIFE KayakingWeeki Wachee, Florida is known world wide, (well

maybe Florida–wide) for its crystalline springs and itsMermaids. Over the years, we (the Port CharlotteKayakers) had heard many stories from fellow kayakerswho had paddled the Weeki Wachee River and some ofwhom had seen the Mermaids. It wasn’t evenclose…paddling won out 4 to 1 over the Mermaids. So,several weeks ago, a number of our club members decid-ed to see if the Weeki Wachee River, the wildlife, includ-ing manatees, and the local restaurants would live up totheir reputation.Weeki Wachee is located in Hernando County, about

50 miles north of Tampa. The town is one of the small-est communities in Florida, and according to the 2000census, there are just 12 people, and 5 households resid-ing in this city which has an area of 1 square mile. TheWeeki Wachee River, fed by the spring, flows 12 mileswestward from its source to the Gulf of Mexico. Thespring, which is the outlet of a very large undergroundriver, is the deepest naturally occurring spring in theUnited States and flows at a fairly constant rate of 170million gallons per day, and at a constant temperature of74 degrees Fahrenheit. We arrived at noon on Wednesday for a mid-week pad-

dle to avoid the boat traffic on the weekend. After check-ing into the motel, we drove about 6 miles southwest toRogers Park which has several launch ramps and easyaccess into the River. Rogers Park is about half waybetween the springhead and the Gulf, about 6 mileseither way.We decided to paddle west toward the Gulf and save

the trip upstream for Thursday. Rogers Park is in a mod-erately built-up residential area, but as we paddled west,the homes quickly disappeared and the landscape becamemore open savannah with small, treed hummocks. Theriver west of Rogers Park becomes a little murkier as itstarts to blend with the Gulf of Mexico. There was agentle current pushing us westward, and we soon enteredthe Mud River at Baypoint Park. Baypoint Park is at the junction of the Weeki Wachee

River and the Mud River. About ¾ mile beyond the Parkthe combined rivers enter the Gulf. The Gulf’s saltywaters bring in its own mix of wildlife and schools offish become more abundant. Kayakers who had paddled

the Weeki Wachee River had told us that it was the mostbeautiful river in Florida. So early Thursday morning weall launched again from Rogers Park, but this time weturned upstream, and entered an entirely different world.Almost from the start, the water became more pristineand translucent. And on either side, the river was linedwith native cypress, bush and scrub oak. Following the river through its bends, we eventually

passed through a residential area, the shores now linedwith homes, some modest, some grand. All seemed tocall for a casual water-side lifestyle. As we moved furtherupstream, we saw more and more fish darting throughthe crystalline water. Rounding a bend, a young manateeappeared, lazily swimming upstream, hugging the bot-tom to avoid as much current as possible. The currenthad dug out a deep trench in the sandy bottom aroundeach bend and in these trenches, six to twelve feet deep,we saw more and more fish. It was as though you werelooking into an aquarium.At the springhead in Weeki Wachee Park, there is a

canoe and kayak rental operation, so kayakers canleisurely drift or paddle down-river to be picked up by therental operator. By mid-morning, there were a number of

kayaks drifting down-river while we were paddling up-river. A recipe for trouble. As the current becamestronger and stronger near the spring-head, it becamemore and more difficult for those coming downstream tocontrol their kayaks. Finally, one of our party, huggingthe left bank of the river, was struck hard by a kayakcoming downstream. The other kayak capsized and thepaddler and all his gear began floating downstream withthe current. While his friends were helping him retrievehis gear and get him back in his kayak, a second kayakcoming down ramed into our party again. No one cap-sized this time, but several of our group decided to turnback downstream to Rogers Park. The strong currentmade the trip back to the ramp a sleigh ride, with just apaddle dipped into the water to steer.Even with the mishap near the spring-head, we all

agreed that the Weeki Wachee was a beautiful pad-dle…one of the best.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet each Wednesdayevening at Port Charlotte Beach Park at 5:30 PM. All arewelcome. For more information, contact me at 941-235-2588 or email to: [email protected]. You can check out ourupcoming paddles and events at: pckayakers.org Then comejoin us!

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By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffThey say we have no change of sea-

sons here in Florida. Well I beg to differ:we went from wet season to dry seasonand hot to cold in two days. We are goingthrough our first cold snap of the seasonright now and it’s still October as I writethis. If the weatherman is right, tomor-row Oct.29 could be the coldest Octoberday in 100 years. Al Gore - we need yourglobal warming right now! This drastictemperature drop really reeks havoc withthe fishing. Fish just tend to stop eatinguntil they adjust to their new environ-ment. It could be as long as a weekbefore they start moving again. When the weather starts to cool off, I

start thinking about grouper fishing.What really got me started was a lunch ofgrouper fingers I had at a local restaurant.The fish tasted great, but it was five ofthe smallest pieces of fish I have everseen on a plate. I’ve used bigger pieces ofmeat as bait to catch grouper. I guess theprice and availability of commerciallycaught grouper has really put the fish inthe luxury category. The guy I was hav-ing lunch with is an old fishing buddy of

mine from Sarasota. Years ago he had a22 foot Hydra-Sport with twin 225hpoutboards. This boat was one of thefastest I had ever been on. One day hewas going so fast he blew the sunglassesright off my face.

Well, he had a grouper spot that wasonly about seven miles out side of BigPass that he guarded like it was FortKnox. He was so protective of the placethat he would only take one person at atime there and he would make you turnaround and cover your eyes while he putthe numbers into his Loran C. For addedsecurity he would cover his compass andelectronics with a piece of black cloth soyou would not be tempted to sneak apeak. He said that he had found the spoton an old geographic survey map fromthe 60s. I can only tell you that it wassome type of submerged old metal struc-ture that had something to do withresearch testing. As we approached thesite, if there was another boat withinview he would just keep on going; hewould not even slow down to use thefish finder for fear that some other boatwould be curious and come over to seewhat he was doing.But if the coast was clear we’d slowly

drift over the area with live pinfish. Thespot was only about the size of three cars;but as soon as you passed over it, one ofus would hook up with the most perfect 7to 11-pound gag grouper I had ever seen.

They were light tan colored, whichmeans that it was a sandy bottom. Therule was you could only fish there for nolonger than one hour and you could onlykeep one fish per person. In all the timeshe took me there I don’t remember theplace ever letting us down nor do Iremember ever catching anything butgrouper there. A grouper that size pro-duces a lot of meat and our freezers werealways full. So here I am, paying $10for pieces of fish so small that I couldput them in my shirt pocket and still

have room for my sunglasses.I’m going grouper fishing and I’m not

going to go too far. Either my fish willbe from Boca Grande Pass or the docksaround the canals in Boca Grande. It mayeven come from one of the sunken boatsoff the ICW in Lemon Bay or from oneof the many rock piles within three milesof Stump Pass. As God is my witness: Iwill catch a 7-pound grouper and I willeat him. And I suggest you do the same.Capt Ron can be reached for questions or charters at 941-474-3474

On The Line F i s h i n g w i t hC a p t . R o n

A Ghenoe with a polling platform, swivel seats, a trolling motor, a bait slinger, a livewell, aradio, and Suzuki four stroke. It blurrs the line between boat and canoe. The only thingmissing on this vessel is a Power Pole!


CommercialPerspectiveBy Kel ly Beal , Water LIFE, Peace River Seafood It's a long standing joke that the first

man to eat an oyster was very brave. Weare all glad he did because the oysters ofFlorida are definitely one of the treasures ofour coast. Apalachicola Bay produces 90-percent of the oysters in Florida and 10-percent of the oysters in the nation. Thissustainable industry is mostly harvested byhand. No other area in the United Statesoffers the wild harvest oysters of the topquality that Apalachicola does. There are7000 acres of beds in the 210 square milesof the bay dedicated to oyster harvesting. Apalachicola Bay is designated a Class

II Shellfish Harvesting Area, one of thehighest standards for water quality in thestate. These waters are constantly tested forharmful bacteria by numerous agenciesincluding the Florida Department ofEnvironmental Protection, NOAA andDepartment of Agriculture. This industryis the most highly regulated food industryin the US. This bay is so pristine andundoubtedly the oysters have much to dowith that. Oysters are filter feeders. Oneoyster can filter up to 24 liters of watereach day! Unfortunately the bountiful area of

Apalachicola is under fire by the USArmy Corps of Engineers. TheApalachicola River which feeds thebay is the focus of this hot disputebetween Florida and Georgia. Atlantagets its water from Lake Lanierwhich is drained by theChattahoochee - Flint- Apalachicolariver system. Now the US ArmyCorp of Engineers has introduced aplan to reduce minium freshwaterflow even more to allow more waterfor the heavy populated Atlanta area.Florida has in turn sued the corpssaying the plan would endanger some pro-tected brackish water species in theApalachicola Estuary system. TheOystermen worry that the increased salini-ty levels in the bay could destroy oysterbars. In a discussion I had with DavidBarber owner of Barbers Seafood in EastPoint he states "It's just another hit to theindustry - we need the perfect mix of freshand salt to have any kind of oyster. Ourlocal economy depends on the health of ourbay, not just the oysterman, crabbers andshrimpers but also the delivery drivers,restaurant workers and the many business-es our resource depends on. The entire statewill be affected. The seafood industry can'tafford to take another beating," he said.The oyster of Apalachicola is unique.

Mark Kurlansky who wrote "The BigOyster" stated in his book that oysters arelike wine grapes. The oysters of theEastern part of the states (fromChesapeake, Louisiana, Florida) are all

biologically the same, but it is factorssuch as salinity, temperature, even speed ofcurrent that affects the flavor. There is something magical about the

mix of salt and fresh water withinApalachicola Bay because they are by farthe best tasting oysters I have ever had!Many chefs across the US prefer them.They hold their flavor after cooking and areprized for their plump, meaty texture, mel-low flavor and balanced salt content. I saykeep them coming!! Last year’s harvest was an incredible

year at 2.9 million pounds worth 6.6 mil-lion dollars. This was the best year since1987 according to preliminary data fromthe state and the NMFS. Hurricane Dennismade landfall in 2005 producing a stormsurge that nearly wiped out East Pointswaterfront but they came back strong. Sothe time is now for oysters. The months without R's myth was

started by William Butler in 1599 even

though the theory supposedly dated back tothe Romans whose months don't have R'sin them anyway! It was thought youshouldn't eat oysters while they werespawning in the summer because the tex-ture would be compromised. Romans were the first to plant oysters.

They were a huge part of their culture andwere considered an aphrodisiac! The word"Aphrodisiac" was born when Aphrodite,the Greek goddess of love sprang forthfrom the sea on an oyster shell and prompt-ly gave birth to Eros.

So come stop by Peace River Seafoodand enjoy the magic of Apalachicola oysters- they are so rich and magnificent - just asthe energy they inspire within you!!!

Fla Oysters

Charlotte Countyʼs CompleteSwimming Pool SupplysPool Repair and MaintenanceStore

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“Green Pool” “Green Pool” Clean Up & MaintenanceClean Up & Maintenance

Port Charlotte 4265 Tamiami Trail(941) 625-2700

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Englewood 1720 S. McCall Rd(941) 473-2070

The Mother of Invention: When the 100 mph powerboats cameto Fishermenʼs Village in Punta Gorda last month many occu-pants were sporting what looked like diving masks, but somewere wearing lighter, tinted, snow skiing masks.More Problems With Ethanol Gas? One station owner saidthat the guy who delivers his gas told him that for the last two

months (Sept and Oct) Shell had been adding 20-percentethanol to their gas by mistake. Impaled: Officer Jason Cooke responded to a boating accidentat the Palm Island Marina on the Peace River. Sometimeovernight, a vessel struck a marker and the marker was impaledapproximately four feet into the boat. The two subjects responsi-ble were later located and treated at a hospital for minorinjuries. The operator of the vessel was charged with leavingthe scene of an accident and failure to report an accident.Gotta ʻHand ̓it To Them: A promotion at this monthʼs FortMyers Boat Show has a 18-foot Angler center console with a115 Suzuki, T-Top and trailer going to the person who wonʼt letgo. Eight selected contestants will each put a hand on the boatand the last one touching takes it home. There will be 15 minutepotty breaks every 3 hours. No cell phones or reading allowed.You must sign up by November 8 at www.FortMyersBoatShow.com The boat was donated by Boaterʼs Warehouse. Release Boat Dolphin have been hounding tournament livereleases so Flatsmasters tournament director Jerry Cleffi is look-ing for an 10 to 20-foot pontoon boat to use as a release boat.

Cleffi said the boat would be available for all tournaments to use.If you want to donate your boat call us at 766-8180 GatorBait Officers were using a decoy alligator in a pond. Theyexpected someone to shoot the decoy however a subject walkedup and grabbed the decoyʼs tail, then let go. His companionsaid, “Itʼs dead.” The subject replied “It isnʼt dead. I can see itbreathing.” Then he grabbed the alligatorʼs tail a second timeand was issued a citation for attempting to take alligator withouta permit.Hotel in the Tortugas? A floating hotel will be moored outsidethe park boundaries this coming June and July


The Deadly Dozen : Charlotte HarborThe Deadly Dozen : Charlotte Harbor FISHING GUIDESFISHING GUIDES

Capt. Bart Marx, USCG Licensed & Insured Light Tackle Fishing Charlotte Harbor & SW Florida

(941) 255-3551 www.alphaomegacharters.com

email:[email protected] Day & Full Day trips.

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

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

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

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

Bus: 941-475-5538 Res: 941-473-2150

This space available$40/mocall 941-766-8180

Whatʼs This? Seen in the ICW at Venice

CaptainRobertMooreWhen you absoloutely positivelywant to catch fish

(941) 624-5710www.captRobertMoore.com

offshore/backcountry

F i s h i n gF i s h i n gR e p o r tR e p o r tCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888This is a good month to have a mixture of bait. Cut

ladyfish, whitebait, pinfish or shrimp this is the timeyou will have to experiment and you want to havesome options.Fish are moving in and out. It’s also agreat time of year to get started with artificials. Oncold mornings work them slow. Top water plugs canreally turn fish on now.If it stays warm, redfi s h should stick around a cou-

ple more weeks, they should stay schooled up, but willbe scattered by the end of them month. If it stays coldthey will scatter instantly and more little ones willshow up because the big ones will be headed off shoreto migrate. Shrimp will be the bait of choice, and pin-fish will also be very good since there is an abundanceof them and they are of ‘castable’ size. The weather should get the snook moving around

more. They will be feeding real heavy to build up fatfor the winter. Start looking for fish moving into therivers now. The salinity will rise with the decline inrain. The 41 bridge and the pier at ElJobean will pickup steadily with more fish every day. The back side ofTurtle Bay and Whidden Creek will have fish movingin, fish that are looking for the deeper holes to staywarm in. Night fishing will be the best for the shoreguys. The evening bite until midnight is real goodbecause the fish had all day to warm up. The morning

bite comes laterbecause the fishneed time towarm up in themorning. Slowthe presentationdown on alllures and baitsbecause the fishare less aggres-sive at thistime.Trout is

closed, the fishare delicate. Itwould be betternot to targettrout.Sheepsheadon the otherhand are start-ing to show alittle and theyare fair game.They will be real heavy along the beaches atPlacida and at the near shore reefs: Novak,Trembly and Mary’s, those reefs stack up withthe sheepies first. Later the fish migrate andcome inside. By the end of the monthsheepshead should be in full swing. Fiddlercrabs are the sheepshead bait of choice.Baitshops should have them soon. The meatfrom crushed barnacles, frozen shrimp pieces,and sand fleas are also high on their favoritesmenu.

Another fish tolok for is fl oun-der. Last monthwas a good monthfor flounder andNovember shouldbe the same. Tocatch flounder, draga small white baitor a strip of squid ora white gulp aroundthe outside edges ofany of the reefs.Flounder could alsocome as by-catch while fish-ing for reds and snook in the

harbor. There are flounder here. There should still beSpani sh mackerel and King mackerel scatteredoffshore and they should stay here all winter long.

N o v e m b e rN o v e m b e rP a g e 2 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8

ADVERTISE HEREWater LIFEʼs 1/8 page ad (this size)

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October Kingfish caught nearVenice Inlet

Darrell from Fishin ̓Franks with a nice snook and an oversize red.

Bruce Stephens caught this upper slot redfish on a recent fishingtrip with his son Capt. Dave Stephens and friend Capt. Marc Miller.The fish was released after the photo.

F i s h i n gF i s h i n gR e p o r tR e p o r tc o n t i n u e dc o n t i n u e d

The Spanish will thenmove inside and we shouldhave them in the harbor fora while. Mangrove snap-per and grouperwill move into the passesas the salinity rises and the temperaturedrops. Whi ti ng will start to move out alongthe beaches, tarpon will scatter and move upinto the rivers. Fish are moving around now.Lemon Bay:Jim at Fishermen’s Edge,Englewood:697-7595The fishing is good but there’s not a whole

lot going on. The inshore guys tore up thesnook last week, before it got cold, there werequite a few keepers. You know the fishing isgood when guys call in from the water wantingto know what the legal lengths are. There have been fish on the beach, but now

with the cold and the super low tides it willchase the majority of fish inside. Snook fishinghas been good in the pass and into the bay.There have been fish at the trestle in Oyster Bayand Godfrey Creek, the water temperature isdropping and it gets really frigid. Live bait,pilchards, are the thing for snook, but someguides are starting to use shrimp, pinfish andwhitebait. There have been Cobia in Gasparilla Pass

that are following the rays. If you were in theright spot at the bayou at Boca Grande you’dhave caught some tripletai l and sheepshead.There are all kinds of fish around. In the last two weeks the mackerel fishing

has been good: 5-to 6-pound Spanish and 15- to30-pound kings have been here. Trout is closedin Nov. but there were bigger trout on shrimpand jigs and plenty on topwaters right beforethe cold. Some permit and pompano arearound and whiting is starting to be caught inthe surf. Redfishing has been really good. I’mhearing stories of big bull reds out in front ofTurtle Bay. I’ve seen pictures, a lot of pictures

this month of big redfish. Fish are starting totail in the shallows around the GasparillaSound, Whidden Creek area. Back in those shal-low waters the kayak guys should be able to getright in on them. I’m seeing more and moreguys with kayaks, lately.

� Nov. 4: Rick Roberts from the Snook Foundationspeaking, Gulf Cove Fishing Club 7:30 pm. Open to thePublic, 941-270-6065� Nov 7- 8, Caloosa Grand Championship PinkShell Resort, $350 / angler. 239-850-1707� Nov 8: North Port High Red & SnookShootout Fishermen’s Village� Nov 13-16: Fort Myers Boat Show� Nov 15-16: Darkside, Night Snook Tournament,Flatsmasters, 941-637-5953� Dec 6: Lighted Boat Parade, Punta Gorda� Jan 24: Flatsmasters Qualifier tournament, Harpoon Harry’s 637-5953� April 25: Water LIFE Kids Cup Tournament, Punta Gorda 766-8180� May 3-5 Oh Boy Oberto Redfish Cup, Punta GordaSend your event calendar information to: [email protected]

BIG-4 BIG-4 Novemberʼs Target Species Novemberʼs Target Species

SPANISH MACKEREL aremoving into the harbor

SHEEPSHEAD out close to thebeach and moving in

REDFISH are schooling andmoving to the beaches

SNOOK are coming in fromthe beaches

FishingFishingRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

Stellar!Stellar!

C a l e n d a r C a l e n d a r o f E v e n t so f E v e n t s


20092009KIds CupKIds CupApril 25.April 25.

ApplicationsApplicationsonline Jan 1online Jan 1

Above: Deni Hansen of Port Charlotte. Sheʼs not sayingwhere the fat redfish came from.

LEFT 3: Various weather last month and various fishfrom three trips with Capt. Angel Torrez

2008 Route2008 RouteLighted Boat ParadeLighted Boat Parade


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Water LIFE Nov 2008