Water LIFE Sept 2007

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KIDS CUPKIDS CUPFISHFISHSURVIVALSURVIVAL PA G E 5PA G E 5

September 2007September 2007

OUTBOARDOUTBOARDOverhaulOverhaulPage 20Page 20

Still Plenty of RedsStill Plenty of RedsFishing Report Page 26Fishing Report Page 26

BigBigThingsThings

OffshoreOffshorePage 12Page 12

Keeping Boaters and Fishermen InformedKeeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed

Capt. RonʼsCapt. RonʼsKids FishingKids FishingCampCamp PPage 14age 14

LIKESHOOTINGFISH IN ABARRELthe St. PeteOpenPage 10-11

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Water LIFECharlotteHarbor

MagazineMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliatedwith any other publication© 2007 Vol VI No. 9 Water LIFE

No part of this publication may becopied or reproduced without the writ-

ten permission of both publishersContributing Editors:

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Capt Andy MedinaOffshore: Capt. Steve Skevington

Real Estate: Dave HoferSailing Advisor: Bill Dixon

Kayaks: David AllenSea Grant: Betty Staugler

Diving: Adam Wilson

on the COVER:Capt. Steve Skevington brought us

this August offshore picture of a bigtoothy kingfish and a happy angler.

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

Realtors: Links to advertisersTide 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 1984Kids Cup Updates, Fish Tracking andTournament Information.

WRITE US!e-mail (preferred)

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217 Bangsberg Rd.Port Charlotte, FL 33952

You can print out this form online at: www.Charlotteharbormagazine.com

Hi Michael,I just read a copyof the AugustWater LIFE mag-azine. The crabin the photo isknown as asponge crab.The sponge iscarried on itsback by the hindlegs whichappear over the sides of the back. This onehas lost its sponge. I don't know the species,but I believe it belongs in the FamilyDromiidae. This family and a few others are among the mostprimitive crab living today. Their fossils can be found as far backas the Jurassic Period.Good photo.Thomas H. Fraser,PhDAdjunct ScientistMote MarineLaboratory

To Water LIFETom Dix and I havegiven a tentative identi-fication of the crab asCryptodromiopsis antillensis (Stimpson, 1858) common name"Hairy Sponge Crab". This species was originally called Dromidiaantillensis. The specimen in the pictures are of an ovigerousfemale (carrying eggs). We can not be 100% positive of the iden-tification without the specimen. If we can obtain a specimen wecan give a positive identification. To find out more about this crabgo to:www.gsmfc.org/seamap/picture_guide/Crabs/cryptodromiopsis%2

0antillensis.pdf>http://www.gsmfc.org/seamap/picture_guide/Crabs/cryptodromiopsis%20antillensis.pdfSandra FarringtonInvertebrate Collection ManagerFish and Wildlife Research InstituteSt. Petersburg

MORE CRABS – Crab Island – From the FWCʼs Police Notes:On August 19, Lieutenant Jeff Hahr was contacted by a fatherwho was worried about his missing 20-year-old son. The mansaid that he last saw his son mingling in the crowd at Crab Islandand confirmed that he knew the son had been drinking. He hadgotten a telephone message from his son that evening that saidthe dad should come get him right away. He called back over anhour later. He spoke to the telephone's owner several times andcame away very worried because the man told him that his sonhad last been seen diving overboard from the man's vessel torecover a beer bong. The man had looked for several hours andfeared that his son had drowned. Lieutenant Jeff Hahr and fiveother FWC officers began a water search of Crab Island, whichturned up nothing. The son was eventually located alive by the

ABOVE: The unusual crab brought into Fishin Franks was missing its sponge.BELOW: The sponge crab is usually seen with a small sponge on its back.

LETTERS TO WATER LIFE


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE Editor

If you catch a lot of fish around here you know whena fish has been hooked before. Ripped lips are commonin Charlotte County. But are tournament fish surviving?In a word, yes.

To date we now have five reports of fish we taggedduring our Water LIFE Kids Cup Tournament that havebeen re-caught. One of those fish, originally caught byZack Shaver, was re-caught twice after Zack released it –first, over by the Punta Gorda Boat Club east ofFishermen's Village about a month after being released,then the same fish was caught a second time on thenorth shore of the Peace River near Grassy Point a fewweeks ago. Zack originally caught that fish near HogIsland, so it may have been swimming back there. Thatwould be cool to find out.

But what about the fish that we implanted with sonictags at the Kids Cup? Why haven’t we seen any of themre-caught? Those fish were also externally tagged, so anangler wouldn’t miss them. We tracked the Kids Cupimplanted fish for almost a month after we releasedthem, but then they all disappeared. We have heard noth-ing from the implanted transmitters since June. Maybethose fish all swam out to the middle of the harborwhere they couldn’t be picked up by the listeningdevices... they’d have to come within 300 feet of a lis-tening device to be ‘heard’. Next year we’ll have morelistening devices and stronger transmitters, but whatcould have happened to this years sonic-tag-implantedfish?

Maybe the transmitters all quit after a month; a man-

ufacturing defect, we can't rule that out, but it’s not like-ly.

Since 20 out of the total 60 fish caught were implant-ed, then one in three of the re-caught fish should havehad an implant. But we haven’t seen even one.

Before the Kids Cup, scientists monitored the survivalof tag-implanted fish after surgery. “We held juvenile reddrum with acoustic transmitters in the hatchery to testtag performance and survival for seven months and had100 percent survival.” Carole Neidig of Mote Marinewrote me last week. “We also implanted 98 red drumfrom sub-adult to adults and heard many of them evenafter being in Biscayne Bay over a year. In Tampa Baywe also had a high success rate of locating our implantedred drum over two years,” Carole added.

But those weren’t tournament fish. Maybe we need tostudy what happens to fish that were first caught on ahook, then transported in a boat for a good distance –through varying salinity and temperatures – and thenwere subjected to surgery. Maybe the compounded stressfactors, all in a row, affected the fish more than weknow. Maybe it would have been better if we held thefish in a pond and let them settle down for a couple ofdays before we did the surgery. And maybe then theyneeded more recuperation time as well.

These are all things we are going to look at in the2008 Kids Cup. Mote Marine and our University ofFlorida Sea Grant office in Charlotte County are bothgoing to be involved with the Water LIFE Kids Cup tag-ging program again in 2008. Learn by doing that’s thelesson we are trying to teach our kids.

The fish we released this year survived for at least a

month so the dolphins didn’t get them, at least not rightaway. But what if the sonic transmitters actually sent outa signal the dolphins could 'hear' ..... dolphins are verysmart animals, they could have heard the tags and zonedright in on our sonic tagged fish like a dinner-bell. Then,when the tag passed through the dolphin’s digestive sys-tem, it would have fallen to the harbor floor – never tobe heard from again.

Some of our Subjects are Missing

Tournament fish are exposed to stress at least three times:Once on the hook, then in the livewell, and finally in the bagand on the scale at the weigh-in. The question is: Doesadding surgery to that combination make it fatal?


BeautifulC O U R T -Y A R Dheated pool homewith water fall on 2corner lots. Youdon‚t want to missthis 2,896 sq ftunder 3 A/C‚s with 4 bedrooms and 2 ∏ baths, 2 plus car garage.Sunken living room, fireplace, 2 water heaters, great landscap-ing, and the list goes on. Priced below market at $399,900 CallEllen at 628-6954

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This brandnew 2 storyhome in Cul-de-sac. 2,934sq ft with 4bedrms, 2 ∏

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What a deal!!Brand new1,306 sq ft villain HERITAGELAKES. Over$10,000 inupgrades, all

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2 STORY LAKEheated poolhome withcountry living atits best. Sellerleaving rowboatfor fishing. Lawn/tractor with cart also left for new owner. This 3 bedrm,2 ∏ bath 2 car gar. Wood balcony off 2nd floor and loft,new tile floors, roof, A/C, well pump, and the list goeson. Priced at $249,900 call Ellen 628-6954

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By Capt. Robert MooreWater LIFE staff

I was eating breakfast ata local restaurant with goodfriends and fellow guidesMike Mahan and BobBoudreau. Talk turned toMike’s fishing trip down tothe Florida Keys, lastmonth. Mike told us enthu-siastically about severalsuccessful night time snap-per trips. The conversationwent on to the fact that Boband I had never done a nightsnapper fishing trip, here onour coast.

Mike showed us that‘grin’, the one he giveswhen he knows aboutsomething you don’t. So Isaid to him ‘don’t tell us,just show us!’ And a dateand time was set for twodays later.

All three of us met atthe dock in Placida at7p.m., ready to go nightsnapper fishing. Our targetspecies was the grey snap-per, also know as mangrovesnapper. During the summermonths these very tasty fishcongregate along the gulfcoast on near and offshorereefs in preparation for theirspawning cycle. Spawningbegins as early as April andwill last well into lateOctober, influenced by thelunar cycle. The mangrovesnapper will spawn inaggregations during thetimes surrounding the fullmoon. July andAugustseems to be the bestmonths for SouthwestFlorida.

We headed to a reef aboutthree miles out in the gulfand anchored up to get bait.

Mike began chummingwith his top secret home-made chum. Within tenminutes it looked like itwas raining behind the boatwith fish dimpling every-where. After several throwsof the net we had severalhundred 3– to 5–inchpilchards in the livewell.We took a few minutes toadmire the sunset, liftedanchor and began the 30minute drive out to the reefwhich is in about 50 feet ofwater. The almost fullmoon made the ride effort-less.

On arrival weanchored oversome structureand began chum-ming with thepilchards we hadcaught. The rou-tine was to cutup about 10pilchards andthrow them over-board. The bitewas slow at firstuntil we devel-oped a good chumslick, which tookabout an hour orso. Mike’smethod was pret-ty easy. Chum heavy atfirst then keep a stream ofcut up fresh bait goingoverboard every 8-10 min-utes. Meanwhile, he had usall trying different rigs tosee what worked best.

Amazingly, the best rigwas pretty simple as well.A 20–pound shock leaderabout 36–to 40–inches longwith a 1/2 ounce jig headon the end. If your bait wasalive and kicking, the bite

came much faster.Our best method for get-

ting strikes was hookingthe bait through the middleand dropping it all the wayto the bottom. Then slowlyjig your bait about 10 inch-es off the bottom. Almostevery hit came when thebait was falling. Once thebite began, it was prettymuch non-stop action.

All of us were usinglight tackle, the same rodswe use on the flats for red-fish or snook. This made itvery challenging whensomething other than a

snapper came by and tookyour bait.

Between the three of us,I think we had about a halfdozen ‘fish that got away’stories. That’s not countingthe hits that ended about thesame time they started.

Bob seemed to have theluck with the grouper.Several were caught, but allbelow the legal limit.

In no time we had ourlimit of fish and began the

ride home. Many thanks toCapt. Mike for once againsharing his wealth ofknowledge with me. Ialways know when I seethat ‘grin’ I am in foranother great time.

One last thing, if youhappen to run across MikeMahan or Bob Boudreau,please what ever you do, donot ask them who caughtthe most snapper that night.Capt. Robert Moore can bereached for questions or to

Nighttime Snapper Fishing

TOP: Capt. Bob Boudreau with a nice snapper.LEFT: How to rig a jig for the bottom.RIGHT: Plenty of pilchards for bait.


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Screaming ReelsBy Capt. Andrew MedinaWater LIFE Staff

As our waterfront community continuesto grow, we are seeing a lot more largedocks being built. In reality, this alsomeans a lot more vessels on the harbor. Alot of people might say this has a negativeimpact on our fishing, but here’s the truthabout this situation, or at least my opinion:Big docks? boats that hardly ever move? –Bring ‘em on! I look at all the new docksand stationary boats as structure and I’dmuch rather fish ‘structure oriented fish’than those spooky fish on a flat.

You will hear people say it takes yearsfor fish to start collecting at a new dock.Wrong! It just takes a little while for theheavy chemicals to wash off the wood sur-face, then the first fish will soon showthemselves. The first fish will be the baitfish like minnows and finger mullet. Thiswill start the ‘wheel’ spinning out of con-trol. Fish like snook, redfish, sheepsheadand snapper will start seeing the area as aproductive food source within days. Themore baitfish that collect at the new dock,the more productive it will be. The structurefish will all find their ‘hang outs’ or‘ambush points’ and will feel safe just likethe bait fish.

Fish that live around structure are lessspooky for several reasons. First, there is

more water above them and they will not beaware of your presence as easily as thosesame fish feeding on a grass flat – fish thatare always getting run over and havingevery lure known to man thrown at them.

Second, deeper water around a dock iscooler than water on a grass flat. . .cooler byfar. This helps settle their nerves.

But the most important thing is that thepilings provide little hiding places and allthat structure can be a blessing to an angler.

But having fish that will eat practicallyright under the boat can also be a curse. I ama firm believer that we don’t give fishenough credit in the smarts department.Fish knowwhere they are and they alsoknow how to get out of a tight situation. Ihave fished many docks and bridges and

have also caught a lot of snook and redsfrom under docks. I have watched as theones I did not catch made a fool out of me.

Here’s how it goes down. You throw yourbait under the structure, a nice fish eats itand automatically starts doing laps around apiling and goes out the other side. Then youjust sit there as you are retying your rig,wondering what you did wrong? There is asimple answer for that question:You wentthere with ‘flats tackle’ instead of ‘structuretackle.’

Bigger rods and reels, heavier line,stronger leader and no drag on the reel.Period. That’s how you land these kind offish in structure. Youman-handle them.

Bait choice is pretty much simple. Baitfish such as finger mullet and thread fins

will just about always get eaten. A free linedshrimp is also a good bet. Artificial choicesget a little tougher. I prefer to throw largerplugs and heavier jigs. Yozuri and bombersin the 5–to 7–inch range seems to workwell. Color choice is always trial and error.I throw a lot of red and whites and blue andsilvers. The way I select a plug or a jig, islook what kind of bait is around the struc-ture you intend to fish. Match the hatch.

For the jig angler, try Riptide/Culpritsnew Curtailer in green back. This bait hasbeen hot when fished on a 3/8 jig head. Thecasting part of it is easy once you get thehang of it. Skip the baits under the dock andretrieve them out. Try not to bang intomoored boats and always go get your lineand tackle if it becomes hung up.

Structure

NEW DOCK EAST OF THE 41 BRIDGE: Not since the old Phosphate Dock at Boca Grande have so many pilings stood together in one place.

IntentionallyBlank

P a g e 1 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 7

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorWe still need more rain if fire and

drought isn’t going to be a real problemin the dry season this winter. The runoffon the Peace River in Charlotte Countywasn’t moving much at all until lateAugust, but in DeSoto County the riverwas slightly better.

We wanted to have a look at the waterlevel for ourselves, so we drove out to theend of King’s Highway, turned right on72 and left on 70 to get to the PeaceRiver Canoe Outpost, located outsideArcadia. From their base camp, they run

shuttle busses up river where you launcha canoe or a kayak and paddle back to theoutpost. It took us 3 hours and 35 min-utes to cover the 10 mile stretch. Theyalso have a 16 mile run. Paddlers can driftslowly, stop on a riverbank and screen forfossils, or fish or have lunch. You’re onyour own and as long as you’re backbefore they close, they don’t care. It costs$40 to rent a canoe, kayaks are the same.The first part of the paddle was past

green riverbanks dotted with docks andhouses. Judging from the docks and theirheight above water, it seems like the riveris at least three feet below where it would

normally be. Tall, thick, multi-bladedriver brush has sprung up on the sandyshorelines along the river, presenting analmost endless green curtain for most ofour route. With the river this low, ledgesof exposed limestone jut out into thewater or rise up like walls of Swisscheese alongside.The day before, there were three large-

group out on the water for the mid daytrip, but on the Sunday morning we pad-dled, we were alone, paddling (not alwaysin perfect synchronism) but paddlingnever the less, and enjoying the quiet.Except for the few residential stretches

where voices and music drifted down fromthe hillsides above the river our trip waspleasantly still. We were far enough fromthe road not to hear the traffic and whatsounds we did hear were birds or croakinggators trying to stay cool.About halfway down the 10 mile

stretch we began to see blue CanoeOutpost signs on the upper banks. Signsdenote camping and rest spots, but moreimportantly they denote ‘about half way.’Along the banks and in some of the

shallow water on the inside of some ofthe river bends, fossil hunters scooped andsifted through the river bottom lookingfor jet black or rich brown sharks teeth orother paleo-tific finds.In all, we encountered two motorized

boats, one a small river outboard whichidled by us politely and the other a fish-ing skiff that was working the shorelineon it’s trolling motor, throwing topwatersto the bass along the weeds.It wasn’t the white water thrill ride

that the Peace River can be with enoughrain upstream, but it was still the river.

I prefer the breeze of a fast powerboat– but this slow day on the water was stilla great break from an otherwise land-locked and hot summer routine.

Whatʼs Up,Up River?

By Betty S tauglerSea Grant / Water LIFELast month I mentioned that a com-

munity based mangrove restoration granthad been recommended for funding. Iobtained the contract for that project fromFish America Foundation (FAF) onAugust 23rd. The contract has beensigned and without any unforeseen hurdleswe should be able to begin this monthThe goal of the project is to

restore the cri tical red mangroveshorel ine sport fish habitatdestroyed by Hurricane Charley in2004 , particularly along corridors impor-tant for seasonal fish movements (eastand west walls of Charlotte Harbor). Thisproject aims to use propagule plantingand enhancement to increase the numberof recruiting mangroves in the two loca-tions where there was almost100% mortality of the fringingred mangrove forest. The pro-posed locations, three years afterthe hurricane, show red man-grove propagule are several kilo-meters away from healthy man-grove forests, limiting the num-ber of propagates naturally mov-ing onto the damaged shorelines.A propagule is a long, pencil-

shaped structure that resembles aseed pod. A propagule howeveris not a seed, but rather an embryo thatwhen released from the tree becomes anew young mangrove tree. Mangrovesform the basis of the food chain and pro-vide important fish habitat.Field studies in northern Charlotte

Harbor in 2005 and 2006 have estimatedshoreline mangrove losses of more than80-percent mortality over 600 ha of man-grove forests. The total wind damagedarea extends several hundred meters inlandalong both shores of the northern Harborand almost doubles the affected area to1100 ha.When mangroves die on a large scale,

the decomposition of the root systemscan lead to dramatic losses of elevation.As elevation is lost the ability for redmangrove propagates to successfully takeroot is diminished. In the damaged areasof Charlotte Harbor, propagule productionis virtually non-existent, and the nearesthealthy stand of propagule producing treesmay be several kilometers away.Therefore, in areas where natural rootingis not occurring, restoration may be vitalto sustaining the mangrove forests andmaintaining quality fish habitat.Because the area affected is so great it

is important to focus efforts on thoseareas that are most susceptible to eleva-tion loss, where recruitment is most lack-ing, and where fish habitat is most criti-

cal.In order to conduct our restoration

project, a permit application had to besubmitted and approved by the FloridaDepartment of Environmental Protection,Preserve State Park. We have obtainedthat approval. The permit covers allaspects of our project from propagule col-lection to restoration and follow-up moni-toring activities. However, the permitcovers only the work described in theFish America Foundation project and cov-ers only those individuals working on ourproject who are working in the presenceof a permit holder. At this point, if weadd to or change the project in any way,we will have to re-submit our permit formodifications, which may or may not bea lengthy process.We are now setting up our propagule

collection and restoration sites. If you seeflagging along the mangrove shoreline,think of it as a sign of progress. Rogerand I have begun talking to the groupswho have committed to the project. Assoon as the sites are set up, we will havea training session for our volunteers.Soon thereafter, we will have a plantingevent in which students from Florida GulfCoast University will help us plant thepropagules into the sediments, by climb-ing in amongst the dead woody debris andplanting at an elevation that will allowfor optimal success. This project will

provide a lot of benefit to ourcoastal community. In additionto the environmental benefits asdescribed above, the project will

allow for collaboration amongst scien-tists, resource managers, boaters, anglers,and students. It will also form the basisfor my graduate thesis at FGCU. I can't

think of a more worthy project to do athesis on.

Betty Staugler is the Sea Grant Agentfor Charlotte County. She can be reachedfor questions or information at 764-4346.

Check the KIDS CUP Fi shCheck the KIDS CUP Fi shon the Interneton the Internet

http://charlotte.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/kidscup.htm

ABOVE: In April, 50 mangroves were planted from propagules that were sproutedin a greenhouse. The planting location was a worst case location, an island thatwas entirely covered in packed shells and that was submerged in the high tide.Today 4 of the 50 seedlings are still alive and thriving.INSETS: Alligator Creek before and after Charley.

S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 7

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By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte HarborJig fishing is nearly as old as fishing

itself. From cold waters to warmwaters, fresh to salt, the jig would clear-ly be my number one choice if I onlyhad one lure to choose. The term jigencompasses a variety of styles andshapes designed for various waterdepths, fish species and fishing tech-niques to make fish strike.The simple jig is a lead headed hook.

You’ll see them hanging in every tackleshop in the United States. When youattach a plastic tail to this plain jig itcan imitate anything from a fish to acrustacean. Many jigs come with afeathered or hackle tail made of bucktail,synthetic materials or a combination ofboth. Jigs have countless nicknameslike the Pompano Jig, Bucktail, StriperSwiper, Dart, Smiley Face, Maribou Jigand countless others. Modern jigsalready have the plastic body of a bait-fish, shrimp or crab molded around it.These are fishy looking baits with highdetail that look very realistic and are abit expensive. They look so real youwouldn’t think the fish would stand achance. Generally I don’t find theycatch more fish than more basicjig/plastic trailer combinations. Butthere are times when they are a greatmatch to what the fish are feeding onand if your confidence is higher yourgonna catch more fish.

I have narrowed down a variety ofselect jigs to catch just about everythingthat swims in Charlotte Harbor. Youcan also fish live and cut bait on a jigin addition to plastic lures. Here is arun down of my favorites.Basic Jigheads- Generally I use a

1/8 to 1/4 ounce ballhead, cone or flatheaded jig for most fishing applications.

Different jig head shapesproduce slightly differentactions. I find theseactions are more criticalwhen a slow retrieve isrequired. The warmerwaters of our area drive meto fish faster generallyspeaking. Good jig headcolors are red, white, char-treuse, pink and sometimesa plain unpainted leadheadis best. Experiment withcolors because it can bevery critical. I have evenseen ladyfish be highlyselective over jigheadcolor. A simple productivefishing technique is toslide on a plastic tail andfish fast with short pauses. Just abouteverything that swims will eat this.Plastic shrimp, flat & curly tailed grubsand plastic stick baits like the ZoomSuper Fluke and Mister Twister Exudeare a few of my favorites. When livebait fishing I will hang a half of liveshrimp, pinfish, whitebait or a strip ofcut bait on the bare hook. This is a go-to bait for me year around. The weightof the jig allows you to pitch a lightpiece of bait around the bushes or to apothole in a flat. You can cast andretrieve it covering lots of water. Inopen water situations you can blind castin every direction using the boat to driftwith the tide and wind. This is a greatopen water tactic for cruising schools ofjacks and macks and tarpon definitelyshow a fondness for jigs as well. Indeeper water situations, I will use heav-ier jigs tipped with bait and bottombounce. This is a great canal and off-shore tactic for snappers and grouper.Pompano Jigs- This is a compact

heavy weight jig with stiff hackle. It

casts like a bullet and when reeled infast it imitates a fleeing baitfish. Thisis a reaction bait displaying little actionother than what you impart. It willcatch snook, jacks, bluefish, ladyfishand spanish mackerel. Believe or not itactually works on pompano but I use aslower up and down retrieve makingrepeated contact with the bottom.Bucktai l - This is a weighted jig

that has bucktail material tied to thehook. It is typically real tail hair froma deer that is often dyed in various col-ors. As long as you are fishing whiteor a combination of white/green,white/blue or white/purple then you areimitating something fish eat daily.Chartreuse, yellow, brown and pink canalso be good. These are great luresaround a strong current flow such aspasses and rivers. Offshore I often whipout a bucktail and fan cast an area beforebaitfishing. Cobia love these things asdoes bonito, barracudas, mackerel andkingfish. The bucktail holds up well tothe toothy fish which is an added bonus.You may sometimes want to hang aplastic twister tail on the back for moreaction. The bucktail material is stiffbut has a subtle action that fish reallylike. This is perhaps the original jig ofthem all and has stood the test of time.Dart & Maribou Jig- The dart

has a flat head with a small lead profileand small hackle. As it name implies itis best fished with a darting action usu-ally imitating a small baitfish which isperfect this time of year. The harbor isfull of fry from the early seasonspawns. Our gamefish are tuned intofeeding on the very small baits and veryfew other lures are small enough tomatch the hatch. The marabou jig is abrightly colored leadhead with a fiberbody and marabou feathered tail.

Generally thought to be a freshwaterlure, the action of the marabou cannotbe duplicated by any other man madematerial that I am aware of. These areabsolutely murder on speckled trout.Fish a 1/8 oz. marabou jig under a floatusing a pull-pull-pop and stop cadenceand you will have a ball. These areinexpensive baits and have a fine wirehook. This works for trout but a red-fish or snook will straighten out thehook in a hurry. Ladyfish slurp it uplike candy. This is the perfect rig totake a kid fishing with. I guarantee youwill have plenty of action fishing a dartor marabou jig 1-3 feet under a float!The big kids might enjoy the fast actionas well!Pre-rigged Custom Jigs- These

are those fantastic looking plastic baitsselling for over a buck a piece that looklike the real thing. Shrimp imitations,baitfish of countless varieties and evencrab imitations come pre-rigged with thelead head jig/hook combo buried inside.I have a selection of these that wouldmake a tackle shop envious. I can’tresist paying $5-$7 a pack because theylook so real. Interestingly, they don’tcatch any more fish for me than the lesspricey jigs. They do have a tendency togive you more confidence which willultimately make you fish it more dili-gently and likely catch more fish.Hang on a jig for any fish in any sit-

uation. They are simple, have theweight built in, quick & easy to tie onand are relatively inexpensive. Mostimportantly, the fish love em’.

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates ActionFlats Backcountry Charters and can bereached at 941-505-0003 or online atwww.backcountry-charters.com.


Dancing a Jig

By David AllenWater LIFE KayakingLettuce Lake is one of the more inter-

esting areas that the Port CharlotteKayakers paddle during the year. Locatedjust off State Highway 761, about 10miles north of Port Charlotte, LettuceLake is situated just east of the PeaceRiver, and there are several open channelsthat lead directly to the larger river.The area surrounding Lettuce Lake has

a diversity of channels and mangrove tun-nels; some so narrow and closed in that akayak can barely navigate through the tan-gled branches and fallen trees. There arealso broad areas of open water with spec-tacular views of huge trees, many vinecovered, with birds of all description fill-ing the air. There is an abandoned phos-phate dock located about 4 miles south ofLettuce Lake at Liverpool. You can stillsee the large limestone blocks that oncemade up the seawall and support for theloading dock. There is also a boat rampat Liverpool. A rookery island, just westof Liverpool, in the middle of the PeaceRiver, is home to huge flocks of woodstorks, herons, and many other species ofbirds. During the mating season, theisland is almost completely covered withnesting birds, each nurturing their youngoffspring.A few miles south and west of Lettuce

Lake is a public ramp adjacent to theNav-A-Gator Grill. This ramp is locatedoff Kings Highway on Peace RiverStreet. This ramp also provides access tokayaking in this section of the PeaceRiver, and you can get a good sandwichand a beer after the paddle.Several Sundays ago, the Port

Charlotte Kayakers decided to launch fromLettuce Lake and paddle through the nar-row mangroves to the area just west ofSunny Breeze Golf Course. This is basi-cally a one-way paddle as there is no openchannel either through or around the golfcourse.Sixteen kayaks launched from the

beach at Lettuce Lake early to avoid theheat later in the morning, and headedsouth toward the Peace River. It was aperfect morning for a paddle; relativelycool, with little wind or current to hamperthe paddlers. About 1 mile down-stream,before we reached the Peace River, weturned left into the beginning of the man-grove channels.Immediately, we were in the shade of

the surrounding trees, and found the chan-nel increasingly narrow and twisted.There were many small trees and branchesblocking our kayaks, and many fallentrees. With some of the trees just underthe surface of the water, we had to‘schooch’ and paddle to get over the water-soaked logs.As we paddled further south and east,

the trail became still more difficult. Therewas one area with several fallen trees, anda very narrow channel, with thick vineshanging in exactly the area we needed topaddle through. We went through onekayak at a time, ‘schooching’ over thelogs, paddling hard to pull the kayaksover, pulling the vines aside, and finallybreaking through into more open water.A very tough spot to get through.We finally reached the western edge of

the golf course and we could see a bridgeand the trees surrounding the course. Wetook a brief rest, ate an energy bar, took a

drink of Gatorade, and headed backthrough the tangle of vines and branches.By the time we were back in the main

channel, the temperature was soaring, andthe wind, out of the north and directly inour faces, had picked up. Three hoursafter we had launched, we were back atthe Lettuce Lake beach. It was a veryinteresting paddle, and we decided to takethe north route through the mangroveson the next outing.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday evening at 5:30, at Port CharlotteBeach Park . All newcomers are welcome.Contact Dave Allen at 941-235-2588 [email protected] for more information.


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KAYAKING: A SundayPaddle at Lettuce Lake


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorIt was one of those mornings when

you walk outside at 6 a.m. and it’salready hot. Muggy, sticky, heavy, humidhot. ‘Africa Hot’ my friend Capt. Robcalls it. It’s August in Florida.I poured yesterday’s coffee over a glass

of ice and went back upstairs to dig out along sleeved shirt. I found one fromKevin’s Bait and Tackle, from back whenKevin ran the bait shack in the parkinglot at the Ainger Creek boat ramp inEnglewood. I had been saving that shirtfor some important occasion, it was acollector’s item, but it was also the light-est weight long sleeved shirt I could find.So on it went.I put on an old pair of long jeans,

socks and sneakers and headed down toScott Steffe’s All Fiberglass Repair’sshop in Punta Gorda to do some boatwork. Scott had agreed to help fix myboat if I did the nasty work and this wasone of those days for grinding and sand-ing.It was already hot in the all metal

building. Scott opened the bay doorsaround us while I took some maskingtape and taped my sleeves tight aroundmy wrists. Hat on, mask in place I slungthe air hose into the boat and lay downon in the boat to reach the grinder as farforward as possible in the port side lock-er, grinding away the gel coat so newfiberglass would stick. We were puttingin a couple of stiffeners.“Usually I hire the kid down the block

to do that kind of work,” Scott teased as Igot down to business.There is nothing fun about grinding

fiberglass. When you’re done, no matterhow you scrub and wash, the dusty,scratchy, itchy work stays with you forseveral days, gnawing at your skin frominside your pores. Scott said an old pairof lady’s panty hose soaped up real goodare the best for washing off fiberglassdust. Myself, I like hot water, a good stiff

brush and a cold beer.In an hour and a half I was

done. “The kid would have takenall day,” Scott said.Then we made a cardboard

template and cut a tapered rib outof 3/4 inch marine plywood.Scott mixed up some resin andlaid out a mat of glass. Then hebrushed it with the resin and laidit in place. The new ribs (one oneach side) stiffen the area of thebottom ahead of the midshipbulkhead where the hull goesfrom foam filled solid to hollow.Scott lay the rib on the mat of

wet glass and then laid a heavylength of wet ‘fat mat’ atop it andglassed that down.Then we went around the stern and

drilled some holes for the motor wellscuppers and one for the overflow out ofthe aft livewell. We gooped the inside ofthe new holes with 5200 sealer, cut brasstubes to length, slid them into place andflared the ends.That pretty much took care of the

glass work at the shop so that afternoon Itowed the boat home and put it in frontof my garage. It was time to start puttingthe guts and hoses back into the hull.New oil and fuel lines went in, I

cleaned and repainted the fuel filter hous-ing, installed a new filter and reattachedthe sending unit for the FlowScan fuelflow and totalizer. I replumbed the aftlivewell with new hose. Then bothlivewell pumps came out for a check.Then it all went back together.Earlier I had noticed the motor mounts

were getting sloppy so I ordered up somenew parts and when they came in I towedthe boat down to John Flowers at JCDryDock Marine in Punta Gorda to havethe mounts put in. John’s shop hasbecome ‘repair central’ for the seriouslocal fishing guys and now I know why.By that afternoon I had my boat back.Across town, in the motor shop, the

block had been pulled apart, bored andhoned. The new parts were gathered andchecked. Heads were cleaned, the thermo-stat housing surfaces were refaced, a newoil pump gear was installed, the carbswere rebuilt and by the time you read thisthe motor should be all back together.The theory on what went wrong is

still developing. The bottom piston gothot. An air leak in the bottom carb couldhave been a contributing factor but myvote is for some oil pressure issue. Stay

Motor Overhaul& Boat Refurbish

BOATThe motor well on the transom duringreconstruction and after it was done. Itlooks ʻfactoryʼ but is three times asstrong. Masking tape still has to beremoved.Above: Inside the aft port side lockershowing the stringer extended up to thetop of the transom. The electrical deviceis the measuring unit for the FlowScanfuel totalizer, a must-have device.

MOTORTOP: The block has been bored, honedand is now assembled. Notice how cleanthe water jackets are – we routinelyflush the motor with Salt-Away.ABOVE: the red arrow points to a spotwhere a carb gasket might have beenleaking air. This could have led to a leanmixture in the corresponding cylinderand caused the piston to run hot leadingto failure.LEFT: With the powerhead off, it waseasy to replace the motor mounts. Easyuntil the parts bill came. Each of therubber filled aluminum sleeves in thisphoto cost $80. In this photo the splinedshaft at the center is the driveshaft. Thesplines slip into the crankshaft in thepowerhead to transmit power to the pro-peller.

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SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

6-Pack Scrutiny Coast Guard officers from FortMyers were poking around the docks at Fishermen’sVillage asking questions about captains who run morethen 6 people on their 6-pack licensed boats. “We’vehad a lot of complaints so we are looking into this,”one of the Coasties said.Hammerhead at Hog IslandWe were told that a 5-foot hammerhead was caught off Hog Island in midAugust. The influx of salt water and the lack of rainhave kept fish that would normally be way offshore bynow inshore and feeding. Spanish mackerel have beenin the Harbor all summer for the same reason.Florida LeadsNation in BoatingFatal i ties - That wasthe headline in a localdaily paper last month.The paper could haveput that in a better per-spective by mentioningthat we have more regis-tered boats than anyother state in the nationand that we have more‘boating days’ than anyother state in the nation.There is no excuse forpoor seamanship andmore exposure meansmore problems since inboating, like in flying,pilot error is the over-whelming cause of acci-dents. Unfortunately,when problems are pre-sented out of perspective, they are often used by thosewho would curtail our boating and fishing freedom.Diver Down Officer David Dipre investigated a boat-ing accident near Friend Key after a thirty-nine footmotor operated sailing vessel struck a diver.The operator heard and felt an object strike the hull ofhis vessel and was shocked to see a diver surface behindhis vessel. Though the diver suffered injuries fromstriking the prop, he was treated and released. The diverreceived a written warning for the violation after wit-nesses stated they saw the diver over 250 yards from hisdive flag.Red Tide there haven't been any sightings of red tidehere on the west coast in quite a while. Due to thedrought conditions on Lake O they haven’t been send-ing any water out of the Caloosahatchee for some timenow. Is there a correlation? And as for the ‘dead zone’ inthe Gulf, off the coast of Texas; isn’t that where all theTexas rain drains back into the Gulf?Circle This One new proposed federal regulationseeks to make circle hooks the only acceptable hook forfishing in federal waters.Tip Em’ Guides work on tips. If they do good, it is

By Bil l DixonWater LIFE SailingIt’s been a long time since I wrote

about the Community Sailing Center.Recently George Guttschalk, Vice Chairof the new Punta Gorda City WaterfrontDevelopment Advisory Committee askedto have a presentation by Dennis Peck,President of the Community SailingCenter. I enjoyed hearing the update fromDennis, as I have been busy elsewhereand was not current on the activities.Sailing classes are being run almost

continuously for the public, Boy ScoutOrganizations, the YMCA summer campprogram, churches and other interestedgroups. Seventy eight students have beentaught to sail so far this year in eightclasses. Two things are holding back thegrowth of the program. One is volunteerUS Sailing Certified instructors, the otheris location.Dennis teaches as often as he can, and

Gary Trimmer and a couple of others helpwhen they can, but there are other instruc-tors and safety boat operators out there. I

know this because I hosted a US Sailingtraining class graduation banquet a coupleof years ago. Contact Dennis at: [email protected] or 627-6650 tovolunteer.On the exposed south shore of the

Peace River at the Bayfront Center, manytraining days are lost to north or strongwest winds, other days are lost to lowtides. Even Sunfish need a couple of feetof water for the rudder to steer. Use ofthe Martin 16 disabled boats is severelyrestricted as they must be launched atLaishley Park and Towed down river tothe Sailing Center, and then moored offshore. Much more novice sailing could

happen if the Community Sailing Centerhad access to a basin or was in an areaprotected by a breakwater.Dennis’s organization, The

Community Sailing Center, in partner-ship with the Punta Gorda Sailing Clubare putting on a small boat regatta thisfall as a fund raiser for the CharlotteCounty YMCA. The small boat regattawill be held at Charlotte Beach Park atthe foot of Harbor Blvd. Sunfish fromacross the state and some from the northare expected. Martin 16’s from out of thecounty are also expected, as are Lasers,maybe Optimist Prams and other boats.The regatta opens with registration Fridaynight October 12 at 7 p.m. at the

Charlotte Beach Complex. Racing willbe in the harbor off Alligator Bay on bothSaturday and Sunday. Notices of Raceand entry forms are available on the PuntaGorda Sailing Club Web site atwww.pgscweb.com. There will also be abig boat PHRF regatta November 3,4.That notice of race and entry will be upon the PGSC web site shortly.Both regattas are being run as fund

raisers for local Y programs. 100-percentof all donations will go to the Y. If thereis a loss in either regatta, PGSC willmake it up. To donate cash, goods, orservices contact Wendy Filler at: [email protected] or by phone at:904-613-2802.


The Dog Days of Summer didnʼt keep this Community Sailing Center class from getting out on the water. Photo: Dennis Peck

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By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

It’s unbearably hot rightnow. Temperatures are in thehigh 90’s by noon. So hotyou can do yourself someserious damage if you are notcareful. The other day I wentfishing with my friend DickZrudskey ‘The Rod Guy.’ We are both old guides –

Dick, in the Keys and me onthe West Coast, so we shouldknow our way around aFlorida summer. We went outto get a few redfish that I hadlocated the day before. It wasabout 9 in the morning and already it wastoo hot; but the fish were biting justenough to keep us interested. We had caught a few nice bay sized

snappers and had released a few smallreds, when Dick hooked the big one.Fortunately the fish ran out from under adock into the open water, so it was just amatter of holding on until the fish gaveup. I netted the fish and he measured 26inches, a perfectly sized red. I looked atDick and he had turned pure white and Iwasn’t feeling so good myself, so back tomy dock we went. Total time on thewater, less than 3 hours. I know we areboth getting old, but that heat and sun hitus both really hard. I started to think-both Dick and I are taking heart medicinefor high blood pressure and sure enoughthe instruction sheets on our medicinewarns about high temperatures and expo-sure to sunlight. So check with your doc-tor about any medications you are takingto see if there is a problem with beingout on the really hot days. For you nor-mal people- cover up as much of yourbody as you can, wear a wide bream hat

and sunglasses and drink a lot of water.Save the alcohol for when you’re back atthe dock.It’s time to catch redfish. They tend to

start eating right now just before theyspawn. The fish are at their most aggres-sive stage right now. They hit hard andthey fight harder. They will hit anything– jigs, spoons, plugs, whitebait, smallpinfish and particularly shrimp – dead oralive. The fish will be schooling up andstarting to move towards the passes.Early mornings you will see these fish inlarge schools chasing bait on the edges ofthe grass flats. This is when they are theeasiest to catch. As the sun gets higherthe schools scatter and fishing gets harder.This is when I head for a nice shady dock.Remember you are only allowed one red aday so don’t try to hook a lot of fish inone location. Get the one you want andmove on to other types of fish. That waythose reds will stay in the same generallocation for a few days.Capt. Ron can be reached at: cap-

[email protected] for fishing informationor to book a guided fishing trip.

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

Capt Ron. getting wet with some of his kids at the Kids Fishing Camp. More on page 14

Johnny Kartheiser moved to Charlotte County from Chicagotwo months ago. This is his first snook. Nice!


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By Bucky KetterSpecial to Water LIFEAfter a decent day of fishing, my wife Jasmine and I

headed back to the boat ramp. When we got there, wequickly discovered that we weren’t the only ones ready toescape the water and head home. After realizing that wewere going to be waiting around a while, we decided todrop anchor across from the ramp and wait till the crowdof boats had thinned out. My wife is a very anxiousangler. If she has an opportunity to throw a line, she willand she did. It was only a matter of minutes then,WHAM! Her line was stretched tight and as it cut throughthe water we could see the fish was heading to an islandof mangroves. She pulled her rod in the opposite directiontrying to forcefully change his mind. After gaining some

line back and some top water thrashing, he took off again.Only this time he was peeling line from her reel and hewas pulling hard. Her eyes got big, real big. I could seethat she was worried, but not ready to give up. By thistime I had glanced to my left toward the boat ramp andsmall fishing pier. She had a crowd of spectators watchinganxiously on the edge of their seats. I heard more thrash-ing and by the time I had looked back to the commotion,he was high tailing it desperately back to the bush. The

fish knew this was his last chance and he wasn’t going togive up without a fight. I looked at Jasmine and thoughtto my self ‘If she can hold him here, the battle will be

won.’ At this time I could see that she was palming herline and was going to give him all she had. A couple ofminutes later after some head shaking and thrashing shewas gently holding up a fat redfish. The crowd was cheer-ing and just as I had expected the words left her mouth,“Silly boys fishing is for girls!” It made a great ending toa good day. On our next venture out I quickly threw a lure in the

area Jasmine had stumped her redfish. On my secondretrieve my plug was engulfed and the fight was on. Ileaped out of the boat and began to wade quickly in theopposite direction of the bushes he was heading for. Iquickly realized that it was a snook, a big snook. He wasjumping frantically and he was striping line from mydrag. After a good fifteen minute fight the battle was overand I was having my picture taken with a 35 inch snook.The moral of these stories is to take a few minutes out ofyour day to explore the area around the ramp you launchfrom. You’re there anyway, and the payoff could be great.Besides, what better way to start or end a fishing trip.Staycool and fish hard.

Fishinʼ Close to the Boat RampS taff Report

On Wednesday September 19 at the Clarion Hotel,12635 S. Cleveland Ave., Ft. Myers at 6 p.m. TheGulf Council will be looking for public input onAmendment 30A, a plan containing managementmeasures for greater amberjack that could reduce limitsto 1 fish per 2 people. How do you catch half a fish?Amberjack and triggerfish, not that important to

you? When does it become important? When theCouncil eliminates recreational harvest of grouper?The meeting for amendment 29 is coming soon.Amendment 29 could close all grouper harvest fromFeb.15th to May 15th and reduce gag and blackgrouper bag limits from 5/person to 1, just like redgrouper, when in season.

The Gulf Council is doing the job handed down tothem from NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service)to reduce over-fishing in a timely manner. There areorganizations like the Ocean Conservancy that helpfund scientific research for the Council that wouldlove to make the entire Gulf of Mexico a MPZ(Marine Protection Zone). We need to let the councilknow that reducing or eliminating recreational limitsis not acceptable. Huge turnouts at the meetings makea difference in the council’s decisions.

If you can't make the meeting and still want tovoice an opinion you can email the Council at:[email protected]. Form letters andmore information on what's happening with the GulfCouncil and other hot topics for rec fisherman can befound at thefra.org. The FRA (Fishing RightsAlliance) is one of the hardest working organizationsout there fighting for the little guy. They seem to bethe only group to have representatives at every meet-ing.

Gulf Council Still Wants More


S e p t e m b e rS e p t e m b e rF i s h i n g R e p o r tF i s h i n g R e p o r t

Charlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888Snook season opened on the first of this month and

the important thing to remember is the change in sizelimit. The new snook slot is 28 to 33 inches. Theplaces to go for snook are definitely along the beachesat Englewood and Boca Grande. The Placida Trestle isalso always a good hot-spot for the fall snook season. If you’re fishing from a boat, focus your efforts

closer to the Intracoastal. Pinfish are by far the veryfirst choice as far as snook bait goes, since right nowsnook are trying to build up their fat deposits for thecoming winter. Artificials will work as well, but you’llneed a slower presentation in the daytime. Soft plasticjigs on a 1/4 oz jig head will work on snook too.Tarpon are finally around in the Harbor and

September is traditionally the month when they willstart feeding heavily on ladyfish. Catch a ladyfish andput it on your bigger pole, then throw it back outthere. The bigger the bait the better, because the catfishwill just eat you alive right now if you’re fishing inthe middle of the harbor. For tarpon, artificials like theDOA bait buster are still king for the silver king.September is the month when redfish start moving

around a lot and the schools start to build up. Theystart showing around the Intracoastal and the WhiddenCreek area, but good fishing depends on how hot thewater is. Pinfish are the first choice for redfish bait –

cut bait (shrimp, ladyfish or sardines) arethe second choice. Reds won’t get aggres-sive on artificials until the end of themonth. Then they will hit just about anybait.There are still plenty of small sharks

around and they will stay around until thefirst cold snap around the end of October.Cobia and triple tai l should start

moving around this month too. Towardsthe end of this month we could start see-ing Spanish mackerel moving backinto the passes and onto the inshore reefs.Out along the beaches, whiting and

pompano are still in the surf. Other than that, it’s going to be pretty

‘iffy’ on everything. Then towards the endof the month it should really kick off.That’s my prediction.Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595Fishing is really good, maybe because there is no

boating traffic. In the bay, guys are catching a lot ofredfish and some snook that are really tackle busters.Quite a few guys have told me they are starting to seesome sea trout come around above the bridge byDeerborn and at Godfrey Creek. There are bigger reds,fish in the 12 to 13 pound range at the top part ofWhidden Creek, and at Cape Haze point ... I’ve hadreports of big fish ganging up there.Generally, things are looking up. There has been

quite a bit of pompano around. The guys are catchingthem on Doc’s jigs (like a heavy banana-shaped spoon)

or on shrimp – that or a fly-trailer with a jig in thefront – seem to be popular for pompano.The snapper fishery has really been doing well late-

ly. Guys are catching lots of keeper sized mangrovesnapper, up to 18 inches, in Gasparilla Pass ... not justone fish, but there have been a bunch of big snappercaught in Gasparilla and at Boca Grande.There are also some cobia around and the tarpon

fishery is still going well with no pressure and a lot offish in the pass. Reports from tarpon anglers are of fiveor six fish in an hour, fish in the 100–pound range. Afriend from up the road took some out-of-towners out

Capt Dwayne French provided this August picture of one of his anglerswith a sizeable redfish. “We were on these fish all morning...big ones!”

continued on facing page

in the pass and they caught fivetarpon on five drifts. Now thoseguys want to move down here!I like to blind cast for tarpon

in the harbor near El Jobean,below the bridge. I like throwingbait busters and we’ve caughtquite a few fish like that. And there are still a lot of sharks around;

BIG-4 BIG-4 Septemberʼs Target Species Septemberʼs Target Species

SNOOK are on the beachesmoving in.

SHARKS small sharks arestill all over

REDFISH could startschooling up soon

TARPON are now up inCharlotte Harbor

FishingRIGHT NOW:

Early Morning andLate Afternoon –

Very GOOD!

n September 4th, 6th, 11th, 13th & 18th.USCG Flotilla 98, Punta Gorda, ABC SafeBoating Program,Punta Gorda CivicAssociation, 2001 Shreve St., Punta Gorda 7PM , $30.00/ person or $40.00 / couple, contactFred Counter at 941-505-1290n September 7-9 Tampa Bay Boat Show,

convention centern October 1 USCG Flotilla 87, Englewood,Boating Ski l l s and Seamanship Mondayand Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 PM atLemon Bay Park in Englewood. $40 /individualand $50 / couple 697-9435 or 475-0127 n October 6: Riches t Redfi sh Chal l enge ,

Punta Gorda. A benefit for the Good ShepherdSchool, sign up at Laishley Marine, 639-3868n October 13 & 14: Flatsmas tersChampionship, Punta Gordan December 8th, Lighted Boat Parade, pre-sented by the Punta Gorda Chamber ofCommerce 941 639-3720

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

THE ALL NEW 2008 F-450 KING RANCH SUPER DUTYTHE ALL NEW 2008 F-450 KING RANCH SUPER DUTY

October 6,

Capt. Angel Torres with a boatload of ʻcudas andcobia and some happy anglers.

Continued from facing page




St aff Rep o rtMy God it’s hot! That was

the consensus during this 96degree day, August 11,event. There was also some-thing to be said for thehealthy redfish population.This tournament that had 18boats entered saw the major-ity of fish weighed-in in the5.5 to 6-pound range. “Allthose little rat reds we had afew years ago are now com-ing into their own,” tourna-ment director Andy Medinaobserved.1 s t pl ace. . . . . Paul Lambert and Donald

Lambert to tal wt. 1 2 . 11 pri ze $9152nd pl ace. . . . Curt Harrel l and Mark

Pedro to tal wt. 11 . 99 pri ze $3803rd pl ace. . . .Mike Mahan and Bob

Boudreau to tal wt. 11 . 68 $145 plus theygo t bi g fi s h. . . . wt. 6 . 6 3 $180 to tal win-ning s . . . . fo r them. . . . $ 325 . 00There were 18 teams in thi s l eg o f the

tournament, there were a to tal o f 25 fi s hwei ghed in. . . . ( 2 dead). . . .The next Xtreme tournament is Sept 15, at the

All the fish weighed in were released alive, except for one, whichwent home for dinner in the cooler box of a grey and red uphol-stered bass boat.

XTREME Redfish Tournament


By Adam WilsonWater LIfe Diving

The ‘World's Largest SpearfishingTournament,’ the 42nd annual St. PeteOpen, was held on August 18th. It is the‘can't miss’ tournament of the year puton by the St. Pete Underwater Club. Itattracts hundreds of ‘shooters’. There areentry categories for almost all fish includ-ing lobsters and special divisions forwomen, juniors, and freedivers. The prizetable total is in the tens of thousands ofdollars, giving every shooter that enters afish a chance to pick something from thetable. The Open is known throughout thesoutheast to be a ‘big fish’ tournamentwith record breaking fish hitting theweigh-in scales almost every year.Contestants are allowed to shoot any-where they want, so long as they are inthe weigh-in line by 7:30 p.m.

With grouper being deep this time ofyear we opted for a more relaxed, easyday of shallow diving, hunting for bar-racuda, snapper, hogfish and lobsters rightout of Stump Pass. Judging by the end-less line of tournament flats boats behindus at 5:45 am that day at Indian Mounds,it was a good thing we decided to leaveearly.

Team WreckReation's first stop:Bayronto. Just a quick splash and dash forCarl and I to lay some steel down onsome cudas' and maybe luck into a cobia.Right now, the water from the surfacedown to the top of the wreck is just

amazingly clear. From the wreck down tothe sand, visibility drops to about 20 feet.We were immediately greeted by a hugeschool of rainbow runners and underwaterthey really live up to their name – bril-liantly colored long stripes, shaped likelittle missiles, and incredibly fast. Thesefish are more commonly associated withmuch deeper water, but for some reasonlately there have been some unusualsightings, like early in August we sawschools of wahoo out in the 100 footdepths.

Dropping to the top of the wreck weeach locked on to our targets' and quicklyput our first entries on the board, a coupleof 3 foot cudas'.

Our next three dives were spent onhard bottom or ledges hunting for snap-pers, lobsters and whatever else swam infront of us.

Throughout the day, one commontheme seemed to follow us on every dive:jellyfish. They are everywhere in the gulfright now. From just outside the passesto 150 feet, these are the huge moon jel-lies, some the size of a basketball. Theyare easy to avoid on the descent, but a lit-tle trickier on your way up. We havefound if you stick with a good slow 30ft./minute ascent, your bubbles tend toblow the jellies up and out of your way.With three more dives now under ourbelts we had a couple of nice lobsters,one about 3 pounds, some medium sizedsnappers up to 4 pounds, and a couple ofsmall hogfish. Definitely no trophies, buta great day on the water easily achieving

our original goal of just having fun!That's really what the St. Pete Open

is all about. Having fun, meeting newpeople, making friends and enjoying thecompany of people who love the waterand fishing as much as you do.

Our team did just fine, with our bestplacing coming from our 3 pound lobstertaking 12th and various placings withcuda, snapper and lobster back to 34th.Our prize haul was great including fins, aflashlight, gear bags, charts, spear shafts,pliers and a deluxe marine bean bag chair!

One of the most notable momentsfrom the award ceremony came when ayoung woman from Gulfport FL, JulieGallus, won a speargun being raffled forthe benefit of the Jeff Steele memorialreef. The gun had already drawn in $1000

when Julie won the raffle. She went tocollect her prize and there were a fewmoments of discussion between her andthe event emcee. It turned out, she hadonly bought a ticket to help support thereef fund. She returned the gun to the clubto be auctioned off on the spot! It raisedalmost another $400 for the reef. Ihave to give a very big ‘Thank You’ toConstruction Supply of SouthwestFlorida inc. as they were kind enough tosponsor us in this year’s tournament.Next years Open is guaranteed to be evenbigger and better and should be on everydivers calendar.

Adam Wilson can be reached for com-ments or div ing information at (941) 766-1661 or v ia e-mail at: [email protected]

St. PeteOpen

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Underwater Report There is nothing like a spearfishing tournament to show the surface angler whatʼs lurking below. Big amberjack, grouper, dolphin and hogfish


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Don Ball Teacher TakesTop Students FishingS taff Report

When Capt.Dwayne French stoodup during the firstnight of the Don BallSchool of Fishing lastschool year, one of thefirst things he told hisclass was that the toptwo students would getto go out on a fishingtrip with him. Lastmonth, after a lot ofschedule shifting andplanning, Capt Dwayne took LindsayKelly and Blake Hines out to make goodon his promise. “We fished in the BullBay and Turtle Bay area,” Capt. Dwaynetold us. “It was a half day trip and one ofeach of the kids parents got to go along,but the parents didn’t get to fish, this wasthe kids day,” Capt. Dwayne said. “It wasthe same as in the Kids Cup tourna-ment.” Adults got to tie lines and helpland the fish, the kids did everything else.“They must have caught 30 fish thatmorning,” Capt. Dwayne said, notingthat everyone, including the parents, had

a good time. The program that Capt.Dwayne taught was part of the Don BallSchool of fishing, a program for 7thgraders in six area middle schools.Lindsay and Blake are both 11 year old7th graders at Northport Middle School.

The program is funded by the WaterLIFE Kids Cup Tournament.

The Don Ball program is available ona first come first served basis for 25 stu-dents in each of the following schools:Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Englewood,Murdock and Northport. Contact theschool’s administration office for registra-tion details.


ComingComingOctober 6October 6

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a benefit for the

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Sign up in Punta Gorda atThe Good Shepherd Day School 941-575-2139,

Laishley Marine 941-639-3868or at Laishley Park Marina 941-575-0930.

By Capt. Stev e Skev ing tonWater LIFE Offshore

This last month has been a lot of funfishing. In August we put almost everyspecies of fish you can name on the otherend of a line.

There's been nighttime snapper tripsthat have seen limits of four and fivepound mangrove snapper and yellowtail.

Half day shark trips that have releasedover fifty blacktips, some of them goingeighty pounds or better.

Cobia and permit chewing the bottomof the boat out, on area wrecks and reefs.With the action almost as hot as theweather, I don't see it slowing down atall for September.

As most everyone knows, snook sea-son opens up Sept 1. What does this dofor offshore fishing? It gives a bit moreelbow room for those guys trying to fishthe nearshore wrecks and reefs.

Those spots should start to be coveredwith the first Spanish mackerel schoolsof the fall season soon. Those fish are theearly birds and they’re going to be hungry.

Look for them to be busting the baitright on the surface, first thing in themorning and again right before sunset.

Tossing almost anything they can fit inthere mouth will get a strike, but I like theheavier jigs and plugs as they throw a lotfarther.

A bit further offshore, we can expect tosee more cobia and fewer permit on thewrecks that are about 60 feet deep.

A big variety of tackle will put cobia inyour boat this month, but nothing willcatch as many as circle hooks and simplybeing patient. This is something that'shard to do for most offshore guys, but inthe case of cobia, it can really pay off big.

Red grouper have been dependable allsummer long, but the next two months

should be the best of the year.Fishing the hard bottom spots 80 feet

deep or more should bring a lot of big redsboat side.

Look for lane snapper and vermillion tobe all over those same spots. These snap-per have no problem biting all day longand can fill up a fish box in a hurry.Frozen shrimp and strips of squid workreally well on a 1/0 hook.

The small mahi-mahi that we see everysummer are still out there so don't forgetyour light tackle. And a little piece ofsomething on the surface out behind theboat while fishing those grouper holesalmost always gets hit.

Good Luck!

Capt. Steve can be reached to book a tripor for offshore information at 575-FLAT or at276-0565

Offshore Report

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PROVIDED BY:Dave & Marlene HoferRE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected] area news items:Recent area news items:1. A new retail center has started

construction next to the Home Depot onCochran Blvd in Port Charlotte. The cen-ter will be anchored with a 96,000 SFKohl's Department Store and a 20,000 SFPetsmart. An additional 33,000 SF willbe available for retail shops.

2. Punta Gorda City council cameto terms with the Marina Park Partners tobuild a seafood restaurant on the groundsof Laishley Park. Lease terms are 99years starting at $72K per year with annu-al cost of living increases.

3. County and City tax agencieshave been proudly implying tax decreasesof about 1–percent this year. Actually,expenditures will rise from $383 Millionto $395 million and will be funded byraising taxable valuations for homestead-ers in spite of declining property values.While the unfairness gap will narrowbetween homesteaded and non homestead-ed property, it will not close as quickly asit should. The assessor will raise valua-tions by only 2.5–percent rather than the3–percent maximum that is indicated bythe SOH amendment.

4. North Port will build its 5th ele-mentary school at Huntsville & Atwateron city owned lots. The school willhouse 970 students in 2009. A middle

school is planned forPanacea and the SnoverWaterway.

5. Sarasota Hospitalhas purchased 32 acres for$7.2Mil at the corner ofSumter and I-75 for afuture hospital.

6. Charlotte CountySchool District willimplement impact fees of$3,200 for new schoolfunding.

7. Charlotte Countyis leaning towards spend-ing $12.2 million for anew library in WestCounty. They will likelyclose one in PortCharlotte, cut down onhours available and cut100 jobs to help pay forthis ponderous decision.Did we really have 100people on the payroll thatwe could do without?

8. Although, redevel-oping their existing siteon Henry Street or tradingit for another site by theairport appear to be reason-able, the City of PuntaGorda is shopping for abetter deal than either of its two alterna-tives to rebuild its public works facilities.

9. Dean's South of the BorderRestaurant finished their restoration andexpansion on Tamiami. Earthwork hasbegun on the construction of the newevent center. Foundations are beinginstalled for the Weyvern Hotel next toDean's. The City Hall parking lotexpansion was started this month, aswell.

10. In an effort to stimulate com-mercial development downtown, the Cityof Punta Gorda is pressing ahead with itsplans to build a parking garage to house300 cars. In fact, they are evaluating the

purchase of the Olympia/41 corner toenlarge this project. To compete withThe Sunloft which will open next year,the City Marketplace which will not, andany other retailers that have not yet beenable to justify new construction, the newgarage will likely include retail shopsalong US41. Rather than waiting untilthe need materializes, the City is proac-tively betting more than $7 million oftax collections to make things happen!Sales Statistics:Lot sales suffered another 7–percent

drop during the month. Volume fell to atrickle. House prices edged up modestlyreflecting a little better demand for higher

priced homes. The shakeout of investordriven activity has subsided only to bereplaced by hesitation of would-be buyersunable to sell other properties because ofthe so called "sub prime" lending fiasco.

These statistics are intended to assist inanalyzing trends in supply and demand andnot to indicate specific market values.Ending inventory is not always beginninginventory plus listings minus sales sincemany pending listings are held over frommonth to month, some listings expire andare withdrawn and, therefore, do not appearas sales and new listings includes pricechanges.Please v isit us atwww.harborparadise.com to v iew any avail-able properties from Venice to Burnt Store

RealRealEstateEstateNewsNews

By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

The Englewood Sports Complex has a certain rou-tine it follows when it opens for the morning. Usuallythere is a group of old timers trying to be the first onesin the fitness room to get on the treadmills or startwalking around the large, air conditioned gym. But thisday was different - today was the first day of fish camp,and mixed in with the regulars were a bunch of littlekids dragging large tackle boxes and carrying fishingrods twice as big as they were. I got all the kids andtheir parents corralled in a section of the hall and gavethem the same "Welcome to Camp " speech that I giveevery year. This gives the parents an opportunity toassure themselves that they are not putting their pre-cious darlings in the hands of a mad man. Each parentwant to tell me something special about their kid. Thisone is shy, this one is nervous, this one need to eat hissnack at 10 am sharp - I’ve heard it all before. One par-ent was even concerned about flesh eating bacteria. Itold her to stop reading the paper and that driving herkids to camp is probably the most dangerous thing herkids will experience all week.

After the parents left, I marched the kids outside toour picnic shelter were I tell them what we are going todo for the next week and what is expected of them. Theyare there to have fun, be safe and catch fish. No fighting,no cursing and no being mean - basic rules a kid canrelate to. We are fortunate that the Englewood SportsComplex has several ponds, each with a good number offish in them. I gathered up my crew and headed to thefurthest pond and turned them loose. Ten minutes laterthe first fish was caught; a whopping 3 inch tilapiacaught by 10 year old Cody Pappas, a repeat customerfrom last year.

Cody had learned his lessons well - the first fish offish camp made him an instant expert. His secret was asmall hook baited with a little piece of hot dog. A fewmore tilapia and a couple of bluegills and the three hourswere up.

The next day we got down to serious saltwater fishingwith a wading trip to Indian Mounds Park. I picked upthe bait at Fisherman’s Edge on Placida Road inEnglewood. Jim, the owner, always makes sure that thekids have live shrimp to use as bait. By 8 a.m. we werein the water catching fish. I guess if you have 15 hooksin the water someone has to catch something, and itwasn’t long before the fish started to bite. First it waspinfish then a few redfish and finally a couple of snook.Throw in a few ladyfish, catfish, jacks and snappers andyou had a bunch of happy kids. The weather was lookingpretty bad when it started to rain. I told the kid’s that we

fish in the rain but we stopif there is lightening , andwhen the first bolt hitacross the bay we all gotout of the water and up tothe picnic shelter. The kidslooked like a box of wetkittens; but they were allin good spirits. When therain slowed down we tooka vote and the majorityrules, so back in the waterwe went. By the time theirparents picked them upthey were waterlogged buthappy.

The next day we meet at Englewood Beach for somesurf fishing. The bad news was that the wind was prettystrong from the west which gave us 2 to 3 foot wavescrashing the shore. The good news was we had the wholeplace to ourselves. Everyone’s first cast brought in aboutfive pounds of seaweed so fishing was out of the ques-tion. Everyone put down their rods and hit the water. Ispent the rest of the time playing lifeguard making sureeveryone was safe. What we all learned was that somedays you can’t catch fish no matter how good you are;and there is no such thing as a bad day at the beach.

The Tom Adams fishing pier has always been an acein the hole for me. You always catch fish there; and thisyear was no different. For economy and safety reasons Ibait all hooks and take all fish off the hook for the kidsso I was pretty busy. I never saw people go through so

many shrimp in my life. Fortunately I had all theshrimp we didn’t use at the beach. That turned out to bea life saver because by the end of the day I was breakingthe shrimp into thirds- these kids were catching toomany fish; they just wore me out.

The last day was the big fishing trip on Lemon Bay.It’s also the day I’m the most nervous about because Ihave to count on the kindness of strangers. This year itseemed like everyone I knew was out of town, hadanother commitment or their boat just broke. Capt. JerryGillespie of Punta Gorda and Englewood’s own Capt.Van Hubbard volunteered their services for the day. I wasexpecting two more boats to show up, but it turned outone had a family emergency and the other had their boatvandalized. At the dock, I was pretty much a basket case,but both Capt. Van and Capt. Jerry said we could get thejob done so we divided the kids and went fishing. Say


Kids Fishing Camp 2007

what you want about fishingguides, but when it comes to help-ing out the community they arealways the first ones to volunteer.

I’m sure everyone who wentfishing that day has a story to tellbut I can only tell you mine. Therewas one kid that hadn’t caught afish all week and that was 10 yearold Alyssa Bruno, so I asked her tocome on my boat; she agreed aslong as she could bring along herfishing buddy 10 year, JamieMcCollum. I loaded up two of theboys, Chris and Gary and headed tosome localdocks. Within90 minuteseveryone hadcaught at leastone fish- Somissionaccomplished.We got to seemanatees, dol-phins, birdscrashing bait;all the neatstuff we see onthe watereveryday butare all-new tothese youngeyes. To killtime I driftedthe edge of agrass flat nearthe boat rampand we startedto catch morefish. Trout,ladyfish andcatfish- everyone was having fun. ThenAlyssa’s drag started to sing and she washolding on for dear life. I had no idea whatshe hooked but I was guessing it was astingray. Alysaa, who is all of 65-pounds,dripping wet, was giving the fish a fightwhen it came to the surface and we all saw itwas a shark. I figured the shark would bitethrough the leader and get off, but Alyssakept fighting. She had a small portable cam-era, so I grabbed it and started to take pic-

tures because Iwas sure the sharkwas going to winthis battle.

Alyssa was fad-ing fast so I decid-ed to help her outby lifting the rodas she reeled.As the fishcame closerto the boat Irealized wehad a chanceto get thisbad boy. Itold one of

the other kids to get my landing net inthe front hatch - big mistake. While Iwas helping Alyssa and taking picturesthe other kids were taking all my lifepreservers out of the hatch and spreadingthem on my deck; looking for a net thatwas right in front of there noses. There Iwas trying to work my way throughfour screaming kids and a deck full oflife preservers; but we got our shark.

So whenyou see the picture, what you are looking atis one worn out old captain - one tired littlegirl and one aggravated shark.Cap. Ron can be reached for comments ,

information or to book a guided fishing tripat 941-474-3474

Editor’s CommentWe just received word thatCapt. Ron’s annual KidsFishing Camp and hisAdult Fishing College sem-inar series have both beencancelled by the SarasotaCounty RecreationDepartment. The reasongiven was ‘budget cuts’.This is a real shame. CaptRon has worked at theSports Complex for thelast 7 years. He has gradu-ated over 500 adults fromhis Fishing College and200 kids in the 7 years ofthe Kids Fishing Camp.His programs were the onlyones at the complex tomake money for the county($30 a head), but nowCapt. Ron has been laid offand the programs havebeen scrapped.We encourage SarasotaCounty to reevaluate theirdecision. Look at the k idson these pages. This iswhat county prioritiesshould be focused on.Budget cuts need to trimthe fat by eliminating do-nothing employees, notthe ones who contribute tothe public good.


LEARN TO FISHLEARN TO FISHS.W. FLORIDA!S.W. FLORIDA!

Fishing seminar seriestaught by Capt. Steve Skevington

of Paradise Fishing Charters

Tues., September 18th (6-8 pm)INSHORE‚ FISHING TECHNIQUESINSHORE‚ FISHING TECHNIQUES

Tues., November 27th (6-8 pm)OFFSHORE‚ FISHING TECHNIQUESOFFSHORE‚ FISHING TECHNIQUES

Suncoast Auditorium – Located behindEnglewood Community Hospital –

700 Medical Blvd, Englewood

Cost $35pp per seminarKids under 14 are $10

(Tax deductible/ Seating is limited)

Register Online atwww.englewoodrotary.org

or call J.J. at941-697-8277

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Water LIFE Sept 2007