water life aug 2014

August 2014August 2014

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LIFEThe Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay & the GulfCharlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay & the Gulf

Gags BringSmiles From

Offshore9

Historyat BigMoundKeyPage 12-13

TheSke

ptical

Environmen

talist

Page 10 WWWWaaaatttteeeerrrr

Lovinʼ those Beach Snook

Page 7

Same olʼ, same olʼPage 5

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Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers(941) 766-8180

217 Bangsberg Rd. Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Independant - Not affiliated with any other publication

Vol XIII No 8 © 2014 No part of this publication (printed or electronic) maybe copied or reproduced without specific written per-

mission from the publishers.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoRiver and Shore: Fishinʼ Frank

Charlotte Harbor: Capt. Billy BartonFamily Fishing: Capt. Bart Marx

Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck EichnerVenice: Glen BallingerKayaking: David Allen

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerOffshore: Capt. Jim OʼBrien

Gulf Fishing: Capt. Steve SkevingtonGasparilla: Capt. Orion WholeanBeach Fishing: Mallory Herzog

Circulation: Robert CohnOffice Dog: Molly Brown

on the COVER: Everyone is happy gaggrouper are coming home for dinner again.This pair came from Capt. Joe Millerʼs Off-shore Galore out of Venice. More: page 19

PAGE 4 EMAIL: W [email protected] AUGUST 2014

Send letters and photos to: [email protected]

Dear Water LIFEWe are having problems here with poachers and people stealing the crabs outof the crab traps , also killing Gators out of season and just taking the tails. T -hought you may know someone to get in contact with and also some materialfor a story... thanks Allen Grant

We forwarded Allen Grantʼs email along to Detective Hardgrove at CCSO

Mr. Heller,I was able to make contact with Mr. Grant who stated that he and his friendsʼrecreational crab traps have been emptied and tampered with by a local com-mercial trapper, but Mr. Grant didnʼt know his name and Mr. Grantsʼ friend (re-fused name) knew the individual but was very apprehensive about relaying anyinformation to law enforcement. The only thing Iʼm really able to do at this pointis provide extra patrols in the area of the Interceptor Lagoon in South Gulf Covein reference to the gator and trap issues. If any further information comes out onyour end please contact me. DFC Rob Hardgrove 221,

CCSO Marine Unit, 941-628-8115

FRESHWATER TOO! Thirteen year old LaurenArringtonʼs original ex-periment sought to de-termine how low of asalinity level lionfishcould stand. As a nativeFloridian who grew upfishing, swimming, andsnorkeling, she wit-nessed the growth of thelionfish population inFlorida waters firsthand. Laurenʼs father encouraged her to work on ascience project involving the fish, and the two captured specimensfrom the Indian River Lagoon for testing. One party of lionfish was keptin saltwater as a control group while another was kept in a separatetank where Arrington slowly introduced freshwater. Her father, whoholds a degree in fish ecology, estimated that the lionfish would toler-ate no less than a salinity of 13 parts per 1,000. For comparison,ocean water has a salinity of 35 parts per 1,000.Researchers went further and found that lionfish could survive a mini-mum salinity of five parts per 1,000. The fish used in the study couldeven tolerate pulses of freshwater. Experts say this adds a new, con-cerning wrinkle to the problem of lionfish management, as the speciescan access estuaries and even parts of rivers.

To Water LIFE - FYI: The Florida FWCannounced changes that were made bythe Florida Legislature and approved bythe governor to divers-down flag require-ments. Effective July 1, when in the water,divers may display a buoy with a series ofdivers-down symbols as an alternative tothe traditional divers-down flag.The buoy can be three or four-sided and must have a divers-downsymbol of at least 12-by-12-inches displayed on each of the flat sides.Divers-down symbols displayed onboard a boat must still be a flag atleast 20-by-24-inches and displayed at a high point where it is visiblefrom any direction. FWC


By Michael HellerWater LIFE Editor

This is the third installment of what has spon-taneously turned out to be athree part series. It startedwhen I ran a picture ofAlan Ogle with what I saidwere the jaws of his IGFAall tackle record hammer-head shark. The followingmonth I got a letter from areader who said the jawswere from a tiger shark. Ithen asked if anyone was incontact with Alan Ogle toplease ask him to call me.

No sooner than lastmonth’s edition hit thestreets Fishin’ Frank toldme that yes, in fact thejaws in my picture were thejaws of a tiger shark andthat he (Fr ank) had thejaws of the record hammer-head that Alan caught.

“When he closed up hisshop in Punta Gorda Alan gave me the tigershark jaws and the hammerhead jaws,” Franksaid. Why Frank didi not tell me that a monthearlier I did not ask.

I went to Colorado for a week to visit withmy daughter and when I got home there was amessage on my answering machine “Hi Mike,It’s Alan Ogle!” I called him immediately.

“When that article came out I heard from alot of people I haven’t heard from in a while,”Alan told me. And then he explained what hap-

pened. “The tiger shark jaws were from a mid 80’s

tournament I fished in Tampa. There were threeclasses; heavy, medium andlight. My tiger shark took sec-ond place in the heavy cate-gory,” Alan said.

The all tackle record ham-mer Alan caught was 991pounds the tiger weighed 420.“Tigers have really bigmouths,” Alan explained. “Ithink I might have been show-ing you how big the tigershark’s jaws were compered tothe hammerhead.”

“What happened to the ham-merhead jaws,” I asked Alan.

“We mounted them on awood pannel and they were pre-served,” Billy Pierson hadthem,” he said and some timeafter that Frank evidently se-cured them.

Frank told me the jaws weretoo valuable to keep at the bait

shop so he took them home. Can I come by andget a picture ? I asked. Of course Frank said yes.

There on the wall in the downstairs bathroomin Fishin Frank’s Harbour Heights home hungthe jaws of the world record fish.

At first glance it may not appear to be a fit-ting tribute for such a majestic animal that wasonce granted IGFA Recordbook status, but Frankwill tell you different. The all-concrete down-stairs bathroom is his safe room. “It’s the safestplace I have in the house,” Frank told me.

CommentaryBy Michael Heller

On Monday morning July 28 I got anemail from my friend Capt. Ralph Allen. “Byany chance did you attend the FlatsmasterTournament weigh-in Saturday? (AnotherCaptainʼs name withheld because he does-nʼt yet have enough guts to speak up) saidthat it was ʻsad to see so many dead red-fish floating around in the marina basin thatafternoon.ʼ Capt. Ralph noted: “Must betough on the fish right now, catching themin Pine Island Sound or wherever, then releasing them here with very hot,low salinity water.” Of course Ralph was exactly right. Shock kills them.

This is nothing new and certainly not news to Bruce Laishleyʼs Flats-masterʼs Tournament staff. Mr. Laishley and his Flatsmasterʼs TournamentDirector Capt. Jerry Cleffi are both native sons, they know what happensto tournament fish brought up here for a show. They have killed fish intheir tournaments this same way before. There is no excuse for this hap-pening yet again. We live on an Aquatic Preserve.

Capt. Cayle Wills posted photos on facebook: “Really getting tired ofseeing Laishley Marina full of dead redfish the day after a tournament.This was only a few of the dozen dead redfish that were there. Hope itʼsworth the money.” Kudos to Capt. Cayle for speaking up. If this is going tobe stopped, more Captains need to speak up. You need to speak up!

The FWC knows about this. The culling waiver the FWC issues for red-fish tournaments requires fish be released alive. By ignoring Flatsmasterʼscontinuous and flagrant disrespect for the estuary, the creatures in it andthe intent of the law, the FWC is ignoring its own job. This must changetoo or the FWC will be challenged.

Flatsmasters is a For Profit Kill Tournament by choice. Itʼs angler pay-outs are small, the eventʼs main function is to boost its own restaurant andbar sales. Now the Flatsmasters Tournament needs to stop promoting it-self as a catch and release event. Let anglers take their fish home and eatthem. Donʼt waste them. You own a restaurant.... get creative. Tournamentanglers know better and those of you who attend or sponsor this eventand then look the other way know better too. We had calls about deadFlatsmasters trout this spring. It keeps happening. I reported on this and Iwas accused of being too negative and I was barred from future events.

But now, like the dead redfish floating in the Laishley Marina basin lastweek, the problem has resurfaced again. Will THIS be the last time?

Flatsmasters: A Continuing Disregard for the Fish

The Search for Jawʼs Jaws


NIGHT LIFE Charlotte County StyleBy Capt. David StephensWater LIFE Charlotte Harbor

Welcome to sunny South West Floridaand yes it’s sunny. I’m sure everyone hasnoticed we are in the middle of the DogDays of Summer here on Charlotte Har-bor. During this time of year we have justa little time before lunch that you can justabout stand to get out and do some seriousfishing. Then after lunch it gets so hot youare just about melting. And as soon as youthink it might begin to cool down, thoseblack clouds with lightening and heavyrains begin to roll in, messing up what youhoped was going to be a great day of

bending rods and screaming drags. Well fellow anglers my grandma once

told me there is more than one way to skina cat. Just please don’t tell my kitty!

During the summer months generallyafter mother nature gets done pouringdown our much needed rain, things arenice and cool. Evening fishing trips duringthe hottest months of the year can be someof the best fishing Charlotte Harbor has tooffer. Some of my favorite times to fishare around 5-to 6 p.m., after the eveningthunder storms have moved inland, thewinds calmed and the water has beencooled off by the rains.

When the sunbegins to set outover the Gulf ofMexico some ofthe predatorsthat I love tochase the mostare beginning toget ready fortheir late nightsnack. I like toput a hook in thesnack I'm serv-ing.

On these late

evening trips normallysnook and tarpon are themain attraction. They areknown for their twilightfeeding habits whichmakes them the numberone target. But don’tcount out some of Char-lotte Harbors other gamefish either. On nightcharters I have caughtjust about any fish thatyou would catch duringthe day.

I often hear people ask when I talkabout night fishing. So your fishing theunderwater lights in Punta Gorda Isles?Well no, not on my boat. How ever yes Ido fish a lot of structure. I stick mostly toshadow lines and I do often fish docks.

When you get ready to set out for anight of fishing don’t make the same mis-take I made when I first decided to dosome night fishing. BRING PLENTY OFFLASH LIGHTS! I also recommend theLED lights that snap on your hat brim.Yes I know you can tie a knot, bBut getinto a dark area and give it a try. Alsobring a variety of rods. I have found my-self in situations when something a little

bigger was necessary although normallyyour flats gear will get the job done.

Beating the heat and having a great dayof fishing can be done, it’s just sometimesyou have to look outside the box. If youwant to try to do some night fishing andjust are not comfortable I recommend get-ting a guide or having a GPS that is up todate and will show you the markers, butno, they will not show you the crab traps!

If you would like to get out and experiencesome of South West Florida’s finest fishing dayor night give me a call or send me an email.Capt. Dave Stephens 941-916-5769

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By Capt. Orion WholeanWater LIFE Gasparilla

Recently, offshore conditions havebeen amazing, low winds and minimalwaves have made the run to the 30-plusmile mark a breeze. Getting out in underan hour has been typical throughout themonths of June and July. Bait has beenevery where, before heading out check thebeaches and grab a cast net or two full ofwhite bait. Then bring your Sabiki so youare ready when you hit about 30 or 40 feetin clear water and you see pods of threadfins, butterfish and cigar minnows whichare the best for those 20-pound jacks.

After you get to about 15 miles out youwill see ‘breaking water’ every where andthe schools of bonita. Run and gun tothese schools with a small jig head, castinto the schools and hold on. If you cancatch a few large bonita they are great foryour chum slick or bait.

Once you get to your fishing spot just

send down a reefmarker so youcan properly an-chor up. Usuallythe second I getset up I put mychum in thewater.

If your in agood spot withina half hour or sothe snapper andother good reeffish should showup. Send down awhitebait on a 2 or 3/0 hook and the sec-ond you get that bite reel quickly to get uppast the monster Goliaths and schools ofamberjack below you.

After catching your edibles, if youwant to mix it up, send down a freshbonita or jack - in half or whole - with theproper tackle attached. You can hook up toone of those Goliaths, a shark or maybeeven a monster barracuda.

Recently I've been using a handline toa leader and a 24\0 circle hook. Send thatdown and seriously hold on! Wear glovesand get ready for the tug of war of yourlife. I can average three 400-pound fish inan hour using my hand line set up! Again,wear gloves because the rope can get dan-gerous for you, but it is safest this way forthe fish. You can pull one of these mon-sters up in three minutes if you are goodand that allows for a healthy release.

Heading in throw a few king rigs outand troll. Around 4 to 6 miles an hour willensure big ‘cuda, bonita, and kings. Goodluck, be safe and take your proper precau-

tions when running that far out. If you want to catch the fish of a life time

call me up and book a charter with GasparillaBig Game! 239-249-0177

OffshoreMadness

Capt Orion helping a Goliath grouper back onto its ʻfeetʼ “Recently I've been using a handline a lot,” he said


By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

I've come a long way since I first thought ofmyself as an environmentalist back in the late60's. As a young engineer working at a chemicaland plastics plant in upstate New York, it waspretty obvious that environmental pollution wasnot considered a major problem. I remember oneof my bosses telling me that the solution to pollu-tion is dilution. You put a drop of waste in a glassyou have a problem; you empty the glass in theHudson River the problem goes away.

I also remember when I became an environ-mental skeptic. It was back in the early 80's whenI was a new resident of Florida. I was an activemember of the Sierra Club when Midnight Passwas closed. I remember giving a passionatespeech on why the Pass should be opened. I evenarranged for the members to go to the Pass andsee for themselves what the closing of the Passwas doing to the inland waters.

I was pretty proud of myself when the mem-bership voted to recommend the re-opening of thepass. But a funny thing happened right after thatvote, the then Mayor of the City of Sarasota wasappointed to the Board of Directors of the localchapter of the Sierra Club and at their first meet-ing they voted to reverse their stand on the Passissue and recommended that the Pass remainclosed. They said their decision was to protect the

environment. Ever since then, I have been fasci-nated by the interaction of science, politics, envi-ronmentalist and the media.

It appears that I am not the only one who hasgone through the process of re-examining theirenvironmental beliefs. Take Tom Lyons, therenowned columnist for the Sarasota Herald Trib-une for example. In his article in the Sunday July20 edition titled “Manatees are faring fairly well,actually.” (a must read for anyone who is inter-ested in manatees) he comes to the conclusionthat “ I repeat; Manatees are not fading into ex-tinction. They are hanging in there. They aredoing surprisingly well.”

Of course his recollection of history is somewhat fuzzy when he recalls the manatee hysteriaof 20 years ago and he writes. “So the worry wasjustified. And, because the alarm was soundedback then, we saved a lot manatees. We did itmainly with boat speed regulations that advocatespushed Florida lawmakers to adopt.”

I applaud Tom Lyons for having the courage toadmit that the manatee is not on the verge of ex-tinction but is really doing ok. I'm sure he's get-ting a few comments from the Save the ManateeClub members.

There will always be those who do not acceptthe fact that extinction is a natural process. I re-cently read that 90-percent of all the species thatever lived on earth are now extinct. Extinction isnatures was of replacing the obsolete with thenew and improved species and there is nothingwe can do about it.

The Skeptical Environmentalist On The Line

Staff ReportA new study from England,

suggests fish form friendshipsand guide each other to food,

Scientists found sticklebackrecognize other fish they havepreviously been housed withand spend more time with themthan unfamiliar ones.

Researchers from the Uni-versity of St Andrews monitored 80stickleback as they were split intodifferent groups over six weeks.

Dr Mike Webster said: "You seelittle cliques develop between thefish."

The study, conducted with AngliaRuskin University and McMaster

University in Canada, found fishwere more likely to spot hidden foodif a familiar fish had recently found it.

Dr Webster said: "We think thefish prefer to shoal with familiar indi-viduals and interact more with them.

"They tend to follow each otherso if one fish finds food it's more

likely that the one following it isgoing to be familiar and willfind the food."

It is also thought fish mayprefer to interact with thosethat have a similar smell tothem.

Experts believe the findingscould reveal how new behav-iors spread through animal

populations, allowing them to re-spond and adapt to changes in theenvironment.

Dr Webster said: " "It could alsoallow us to track or predict thespread of diseases, and to changethe way that we manage populationsof livestock or wild animals."

Fish Friendships Help Locate Food

stickleback


By Capt. Betty StauglerWater LIFE EnvironmentGREAT BAY SCALLOP SEARCH

The sixth annual GreatBay Scallop Search took placeon July 26 from Gasparilla Ma-rina. Approximately 140 vol-unteers participated this year.Our search got off to a stormystart with a storm cell movingonshore just as we were finish-ing up our orientation. Therewas a 20 minutes to an hourdelay (depending on wherethey were headed).

At the end of the day 4 scal-lops were found. Actually atleast one other scallop wasrecorded but we only countwhat is found within our nar-rowly defined search footprintso that every site and everyyear is uniform in how data iscollected allowing for year to year and siteto site comparisons.

The results this year although low werenot surprising. Late 2012 and early 2013red tide hit us particularly hard and it willtake time, good water quality and someyears to recover from that event. Whatabout seeding the bay? Well I’m doingsome of that too. During late 2013 andearly 2014 about 11 million bay scalloplarvae were released into CharlotteCounty waters along with about 30,000juvenile scallops. It sounds like a lot, buta single scallop can produce millions ofeggs, only one of which will survive toadulthood.

The restoration scallops used in Char-lotte County were the result of twospawns of approximately 20 adult individ-uals that were collected from CrystalRiver. In late May I did a 6-month surveyof the restoration sites and did find some -percent of the sites surveyed.

It’s important to note that when I did

my restoration surveywe surveyed directly atthe release sites. Scal-lop search volunteersconduct random sur-veys; many were assigned to grids whererestoration occurred but they did not get“x marks the spot” coordinates. This isimportant as we want to know what is inthe bay at large and not just what may beat the restoration sites.

Hopefully if a few restoration scallopssurvive and spawn their offspring will ex-pand in range, but we will have to waituntil next year’s scallop search to see. CAPTAIN’S FISHING WORKSHOPThis next item is for all the fishing guidesand charter captains out there. On Sep-tember 9 Florida Sea Grant is offering theFor-Hire Workshop geared specifically foryour industry. This workshop is modeledoff the hugely popular Ohio Charter Fish-ing Conference which is organized byOhio Sea Grant which will host its 33rd

annual one day confer-ence in 2014. Virginia,Delaware and Mary-land Sea Grant pro-grams also organize one day programs.

Organizing anything in Florida is a bittrickier than in many other states. Wehave far too much coastline resulting infar too many differences in issues or needsexperienced by the for-hire industry to dojust one big conference to cover every-thing, so we are hoping regional work-shops with more specific localized topicswill be of greater interest.

The workshop topics being offered area combination of business managementand fisheries updates. We will cover thosetopics that were identified as of high inter-est through a local telephone needs assess-

ment conducted with SWFL captains inDecember 2013. The For-Hire workshopon September 9 is the first regional work-shop offered in Florida. A second work-shop is in the works for the Miami-Daderegion. We hope this workshop will pro-vide well-timed educational informationto captains and also provide a venue fornetworking and direct feedback to speak-ers. If you are a fishing captain, pleasejoin us and help us develop this worth-while program for your industry. For more information about the work-

shop please see the facing page or call:Capt. Betty Staugler Florida Sea Grant AgentUF/IFAS Extension (941) 764-4346

Scallop Search Results:5 is Good.... considering

Dave Hansen snorkels the entrance to Bull Bay looking for scallops. He found none. Some places the water was clearothers it was turbid. Left: A transect line lies in rich manatee grass. Below: Heading out ahead of the weather


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Florida Keys

Sometimes the stars line up just rightfor that incredible fishing trip. Generally,it comes when you least expect it - after avery challenging spring I was certainlyover due. The dynamics of the CharlotteHarbor fishery change constantly and thisspring a curve ball was thrown to every-one with the absence of easy to catch bait-fish. But that has all changed now as ablind man can throw a cast net and catchpilchards just about anywhere in the Har-bor.

A visit from my life-long friend Capt.Tim Reichenburg came in mid July nor-mally when the fishing is tapering off. Hejust finished two months of Bahama’s bill-fishing on a 61’ Viking and Charlotte Har-bor was his respite from work.

Leaving the dock at day break westopped on a spot on the east side to catchladyfish. Just a couple days earlier theywere hard to find but today we madeabout 18 casts and put 8 ladyfish in thewell….a pretty good catch-rate.

With that we ran to a place I had seentarpon a week earlier and with the sun ris-ing we studied the mirror calm waters

with no sign of fish, but decided tofish anyway.

With the engine running we eachdeployed a lip hooked ladyfish andfed line behind the boat getting thefish away from the stern. This littletrick prevents you from hurting thebait during casting and gets the bait along way out.

Next, the trolling motor was de-ployed and we tooled along lookingfor signs while covering some ground.Fifteen minutes later the morning si-lence was broken with a hot singingdrag and Capt. T was bowed up!

Spectacular leaps and fine workwith the rod and he boated a 100-plus- pound fish in 20 minutes.

With a clear case of tarpon feversetting in, we dropped lively ladyfishin the drink and proceeded to steamahead with the trolling motor towardrolling fish about 200 yards away.

Moments later a 100 pound tarponshot across the water in pursuit of myladyfish but missed it only to have an-other tarpon pounce on it, miss it and yetanother tarpon mashed it coming sky-ward!

Exciting is not the word for this kind offishing and I leaned hard on this silverking! Every tarpon has a little differentpersonality and mine was a leaper with 6-or 7 nice jumps. Bringing the fish boat-side we marveled at our luck and it wasonly 10:00 a.m. Most other boats werejust coming out.

We both agreed that going 2-for-2 ispretty darn lucky so we shifted gears andheaded to some diving pelicans where wefound a bunch of nice bait.

With two live wells full we headeddown below Burnt Store and began run-ning the trolling motor looking for fish.

We covered a lot of water before pick-ing out a few fish silhouettes in the sand,then we anchored and live chummed. Thenext 3 hours could only be described asepic as we literally could have caught 100snook! We easily boated 50-to 60 withouttrying and eventually I was hand feedingthem as they surrounded the boat “drunk”and carefree on the buffet we were serv-ing.

Then to top it off a school of redfishswam by and yanked our lines! If you canimagine, we tired of the easy sport and sowe ran northward stopping near PirateHarbor on an island that was boiling withbaitfish.

My first thought was to move as anyfish here had way to much food to eat, butinstead we cast our lines out and caughtsnook 360 degrees around the boat! Theywere everywhere, but you would havenever known it until you put your line inthe water! The easy to catch pilchards ona hook were picked out amongst thou-sands swimming by. Clearly a lesson tobe learned here!

Our count this remarkable day was300. That is, two 100 pound tarpon and100 snook all in the same day. That isworld class fishing and it’s right out yourback door!Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action FlatsBackcountry Charters and can be reached at941-628-8040 or go to www.backcountry-charters.com

OUR COUNT WAS 300

Capt. Tim Reichenburg with a nice Charlotte Harbor snook and a flock of birds in the backround.


By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE Beach Fishing

August means the end of summer for alot of people. Kids head back to schooland the temperatures start to fall, but notfor us here in Florida. We feel the heatwell into the fall and winter months. Thiscan be good and badfor fishing depend-ing on our watertemps!

This year thefishing is only heat-ing up along ourGulf beaches in ourhottest summermonths. Bait, espe-cially green backs,are plentiful makingpredatory fish veryexcited!

We have beenspending a lot oftime on our localbeaches mainly inthe Englewood areaat Manasota Key. It’s great to bring yourwhole family along to enjoy a day in thesun.

I like to arrive in the early morninghours, right after sunrise. Beaches aren'ttoo crowded, temps are cool and the fishare just waking up for breakfast!

You can catch a variety of great fishright along our coast line. If you aren't fa-miliar with the area: flounder, snook,snapper, mackerel, jacks and even the oc-casional tarpon are all swimming with incasting distance of the shore.

Top waters are always a blast to fish asthe sun is rising. Recently we have been

targeting snook and theyhave been loving the livebait.

We bring a cast net toget some greenbacks forbait. Shrimp is also agreat live bait along the

beaches butcan be diffi-cult to getpast thewhitingwaiting along the bottomfor a quick snack.

Recently, I've been try-ing to get my son Aidenand his friends moreevolved in their fishing. Iknew these fun juvenilesnook along the beachwould be just the ticket toget him hooked!

Right away he got abite and reeled in his firstone. Then he had a fish onthat could pull drag and

you could see his eyes light up as it was achallenge to reel in. It’s always a greatday at the beach when you can get the en-tire family involved.

These snook traveling along ourbeaches right now range from juvenile toadult size. They usually swim in the shal-lows right in the very first drop off fromthe shoreline so that’s exactly where youwant yo throw your bait!

We’re using light tackle and free liningthe bait live. We use a 3/0 - 4/0 sized hookdepending on the bait size, the right sizeseems to keep the bait swimming thelongest. Were also using 30-pound fluoro-

carbon leader to 15-pound braided main-line.

The fish, big and small put on such anamazing show once hooked, pulling lotsof drag and leaping out of the water, withlots of splashing action. The largest Gulfsnook I have seen this year, measuringabout 34 inches, while fishing off thebeach, jumped out of the water and re-sembled a tarpon with her impressive size.This fish cleared the beach, kindly peopleleft the water and moved out of the way soChris(right)couldchase thisimpressivefish! Allour snookcaught arequickly re-leasedafter aphoto op!Nothingputs asmile onyour facelike a greatcatch!

Snook fromthe Beach


By Michael HellerWater LIFE editor

Even with todayʼs intense fishing pressure, theBullʼs Bay / Turtle Bay area is still a productive fish-ing spot, but can you imagine what it was like 2,000years ago?

Our friend Adam Wilson wrote: “I went out to BigMound Key. It is extremely cool. You have to go outthere and walk around. It is mind blowing that it is a30 foot tall island made of shells piled up by hu-mans.” Adam got me started reading.

Big Mound Key was at the heart of the Indianfishing area, a year round settlement and fishcamp.

Located at theend of the CapeHaze mainland,between CatfishCreek and BullʼsBay, it looks likeyou could hike toBig Mound Keyfrom the end of theundeveloped Ro-tunda Trace subdi-vision but youcanʼt, the underbrush is unpenetrable. However, onthe right tide, in the right boat, you might get thereby water like the Indians did.

According to the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Na-tive American Mounds & Earthworks, the archaeo-logical site on Big Mound Key covers 13.5 acresand includes four tall mounds arranged in a rectan-gle with linear ridges and evidence of interiorcanals.

The mounds and ridges consist primarily ofconch shells. Radio-carbon dating to 2000 yearshas been obtained from near the base of onemound, although most radio-carbon dates and ce-ramics in the area trace to the more recent WeedenIsland Indian culture period of about 400 to 900 AD.

People have been fishing around Big Mound Keyfor a long time. The mound was the site of a vil-lage, which some archaeologists indicate may havebeen the seat of a local ʻchiefdomʼ and served asan intermediate trade point between the Manasota

peoples of theTampa Bayarea to thenorth and theCalusa peoplesto the south.

Archaeolo-gists theorizethere were hutsconstructed onthe low fingerlike fan founda-tions that ap-pear on bothsides of themain mound .They think thechief may havelived at the top ofone of themounds.

The Big Mound Key area was purchased as anarcheological site by the State of Florida in 1978but little was done to protect it until 1981 when loot-ers used a bulldozer to open up one mound insearch of Spanish gold. No gold was found but aperiod of intense scientific research began at thesite and scientists later used the illegal excavationto obtain material for carbon dating.

Halfway up Turtle Bay, on the land backing up toCharlotte Harbor, lies another mound complex, thebeetle shaped site known as John Quiet; one largemound approxi-mately nine feet tallwith steep sidesand a flattened top- perhaps 20 feetby 60 feet. Like BigMound Key it alsohas a series of lowsemicircular ridgesand it is probablethat structureswere constructedatop these ridgesas well. A hand-dug canal ran from Turtle Bay to the

base of the largest mound here. Perhaps this iswhere shells were brought in? Several smallermounds with flattened tops near by were probablythe locations of other structures. Unlike Big Moundthere were some human burials at John Quiet.

Floridaʼs Indians had a long history of manufacturingand trading shell beads. Archaeologists theorize theJohn Quiet Mounds and Big Mound Key were bothlikely sources for such trade. If canals existed withinthe sites they would have allowed trading canoes topull in very close to the huts.

Indians speared and netted their fish. Near FortMyers, the Horrʼs Island Mounds site, establishedbetween 3000 – 2800 B.C. was one of the first vil-lages to be occupied permanently year round.Thousands of tiny fish bones (including hardheadcatfish, pinfish and threadfin herring) and shells ofall kinds were unearthed and examined from thatsite to determine what season they were collectedin . The seasonality of the bones and shells indi-cated that people lived on Horrʼs Island year-round,gathering scallops in the summer, quahogs in thewinter or spring, and catching catfish, pinfish andthreadfin herring mainly in the fall.

AQU ATICABig Mound & John Quiet

History Where We Fish

Part of a 1980s boardwalk still exists at Big Mound Key todayphotos by Adam Wilson


AAQQUU AATTIICCAA

( Above) Mound Key This is a different mound, in the bay just south of Fort Myers Beach

Prehistoric Native Americans created this island's complex of mounds out of seashells, fish bones,and pottery. This Mound Key is believed to have been the ceremonial center of the Calusa Indians atthe time the Spaniards first attempted to take over Southwest Florida. As a symbol of defiance to the

Indians, in 1566 the Spanish governor of Florida established a settlement on the island, and built afort and the first Jesuit mission in the Spanish New World there. The settlement was abandoned three

years later after relentless violent clashes with the Indians. The only access to the island today is byboat; there are no facilities.

(Below) Infrared satellite image showingshell construction at Big Mound Key(Right) Big Mound

Key at Cape Haze It ispossible that this sitewas a sort of half-waypoint between the terri-tory of the Calusa peo-ple to the south andthe Manasota peopleto the north.

Scientists tell usrounded thatched hutswere built on the ʻfingerlikeʼ foundations.

Notice the similarity ofthe two differentmounds shown here.Both are situated on adefined ʻnotch,ʼ in thelandmass, perhaps aprotected anchorage, afish weir or maybeeven an early boatramp.

Indians travelled from Big Mound to John Quiet Mound through the same cuts ofWhidden Creek, Bullʼs and Turtle Bay that we still run and fish in today.

(Above and Right) The view from the topand and the shells in the earth and under

foot at Big Mound Key

Of Similar Construction


By Capt Billy BartonWater LIFE INSHORE

Break out the sunscreen folks theydon't call this the Sunshine State fornothin’! Summer is making its pres-ence known this year there is no doubtabout that! The heat and the daily raincan have some positive and negativeimpacts on the fishing here and onCharlotte Harbor as a whole so it's im-perative to understand what these fishare feeling and adapt with a fewchanges if you want continued successwith your fishing out there.

There are two major factors thatimpact our fishing in the summer.First off and the most obvious is theheat. Charlotte Harbor is dark in colorand relatively shallow with the deepesthole being 23-feet. The Harbor retainsa good amount of the heat from thesun and typically is several degreeswarmer than waters closer to our Gulf.On top of the heat we have an influxof fresh water pumping into CharlotteHarbor from all over. And when I sayall over I mean all over!

The Peace and Myakka Rivers feedinto the north end of the Harbor andboth flow from up into the state ofFlorida. With a good amount of rainhappening this brings the water levelin the rivers up and all of that riverwater has to come out through ourHarbor. We also have fresh watercoming from the Caloosahatchee Riveron a daily basis as well. These riversbring our salinity in Charlotte Harbordown drastically this time of year.What salt water does come in from theGulf on our incoming tides is really nocomparison to what is coming out ofthe rivers on a daily basis, all the time.

The fish are going to do the same

exact thing we're trying to do herefolks - adapt! Some will have themeans and energy to move a bit closerto the Gulf in search of cooler, saltierwater. Some of our fish that don'twant or need to leave will just findareas that they are comfortable in.They could be under a mangrove bushor a dock, or they might just findthemselves a cool white sand hole torelax in. A lot of your larger redfishand snook will go deep as this offersthem cooler water with a little highersalinity.

You adapting is simple. Slow down

your technique and offer them an easymeal that they can't refuse! Fishingdeeper, or shadier areas should alsoimprove your success out there.

Fish early, fish late, fish at night,fish when there's good water move-ment, fish closer to the Gulf, fish onthe middle to later part of the incom-ing tides. These are all valid points.Hopefully I was able to positively im-pact someones next fishing venture.Now dress cool, drink lots of fluids,and go make that drag sing!!

Capt. Billy Barton, Scales & TailsFishing Charters 941- 979-6140

ComfortZoneWhat MakesFish Happy


Whether you are looking tolist your home, buy a newhome, or bring friends and

family to join you in Florida,call me to help you find what

you are looking for!Lennore Shubel – RealtorCell: 631-741-4589 Email: [email protected]

THE YANKEE GRIPYou gotta know how to hold ‘em

A small redfish is an unwilling victim ofthe three-fingered Yankee Grip

Yes I have done this before.No, I donʼt need any help.

Pictures on these pages are from some July charter trips with Capt. Billy Barton. Redfishand snook, tarpon and jacks, shark, flounder and gag grouper are all still abundant in ourinshore and near shore waters. Changing salinity keeps many species moving around.


By Capt Bart MarxWater LIFE Keys

What happens in Au-gust in Florida? Lobsterseason opens and boatloads of people head tothe Keys and SouthFlorida for spiney lob-ster.

There are severalplaces to go harvest theselive little rose bushes,you need gloves and afew other pieces ofequipment.

Some like a ticklestick and a dip net, some a special tool with a loopthat slides over the tail and grabs them. Some go outunder the cover of darkness using a special netcalled a bully net. They cruise around with brightlights shining down in the water and you spot theireyes glowing. You put the net over them and theyget tangled up in the net .... and in the boat theycome. This is only in shallow waters and you don'tget in the water, it is at night and you can’t seemuch past your light.

Lobsters can be found swimming from the beachin Ft. Lauderdale, to the south there are reefs only afew yards off the beach that hold lobster. Somepeople snorkel, SCUBA , use floating air compres-sor or just a mask to go after these spiney critters.

These guys have to have a body at least three incheslong measuring them in the water with a measuringdevice and they must be kept in whole condition tillyou are on land. You are allowed 6/person/day.

I like going to the Homestead area when huntingfor lobster. North edge of Pennekamp to Miami youcan pull people looking down on tow lines overmany areas of lobster habitat. Some of us are braveenough to bring a speargun along and sling somesteel at those tasty hog fish that are there too. Theregulations are 12 inches and 5 per person. Nowyou have the main ingredients: fresh hog fish andlobster pasta. Good stuff, fresh seafood for dinner.

If you would like to learn more give Capt. Bart Marx acall at 941-979-6517 or e-mail him at

[email protected]

Foot LongBugs

By Capt Steve SkevingtonWater LIFE Placida Fleet

Well itʼs August again and every-one has gone home. For the mostpart all of the snowbirds are back upnorth, kids are back in school orheading that way, and everythinghere in southwest Florida is quietingdown. The only ones that didnʼt getthe memo about quieting down arethe fish! They are still very much inthe ʻgo modeʼ!

This is exactly the right time ofyear for a staycation. Take a day ortwo off and enjoy all the great fish-ing thatʼs going on around us rightnow.

Red grouper is a local favorite,and these fish are closer to shorethis summer than I have seen inyears.

Just find a piece of hard bottomand drop down some cut baits. Ifthey are there you will know it fast.Then just try and keep him fromfinding his hole.

Lane snapper are out there inforce, look for them schooled up

over hard bottom in 65-70 feet ofwater.

Mahi Mahi are out there nowtoo, they arenʼt too big unless yougo way out, but man are they goodeating!

Barracuda are on all the wrecksand artificial reefs. Trolling withcuda tubes is a fun way to catchʻem. Big jumps and fast runs arewhat cuda fishing is all about.

Permit are still chewing, but youhave to hunt em down, theyʼre notas easy as they were last month.

Kingfish are hit and miss, withjust a few still around. But when weget ʻem they are big, not the littleschoolies youʼd see during a big runbut BIG smokers.

Sharks are of course still are allover the place, just pick a spot andput bloody bait in the water, youʼllsee ʻem soon enough.

Lots of great fishing out thereright now, Good Luck!

Captain Steve. ParadiseOffshore Charters

(941) 575-3528

FFIISSHH BBOOXX

The commercial and recreational lobster seasonstarts Aug. 6 and runs through March 31.


Pier Fishing: SNOOK

By Bobby VitalisWater LIFE Pier Fishing

Snook are a lot of fun to catch becausethey give an awesome fight. This snookwas caught at the Venice Jetty to the southside. The time I caught these snook was inthe early morning hours, till about noon.

The snook has a most distinctive bodyshape, with large fins and have a promi-nent black strip running the full length ofthe lateral line. Unless it changes, snookfishing is out of season in August so youhave to put them back into the water.

I have caught 5 snook there in a threeweek period. To find the bigger snook,fish in between the rocks in deep potholes.

Most of the time I love using artificiallures. Most of the time I cast. I have beentrying this lure for a while and it doesallow me to catch fish. The lure I am usingis the Berkley Gulp saltwater 3-inchshrimp. The color is pearl white, i t comesin a six pack.

The good thing about Berkley Gulp isthat it comes with its own strong scent.When not in use, keep it closed in its bagso it does not dry out. The jig head I amusing for the artificial shrimp is the D.O.AC.A.L short shank 3/8 ounce weight, coloris white. Sometimes, if the water gets re-ally rough, then I would go to a 1/2 ounce

weight, but most of the time, when thewater is calm, I use the 3/8 ounce weight.

For those people who use bait, you canuse shrimp or you can catch bait there atthe Jetty. People are using small meshcasting nets. Note: just watch for rocks inthe water, you don’t want your net to gethung up on them. Sometimes you will seethe bait fish swimming in the water, andsometimes you will not.

When using shrimp, the hook size touse to catch snook is from 2/0, no morethan 3/0 Owner or Gamakatsu octopus cir-cle hooks. When spin casting, I use 30pound test SUFIX ADVANCE SUPERline (BRAIDED), as my main line. For myleader line, I use no less than 3 feet of 25pound test SEAQUAR 100 percent FLU-OROCARBON LEADER line, which isinvisible in the water.

Due to using light tackle, and when Iam fishing at the Jetty on the rocks, and Ihave a big fish on my line, I reel the fishin as fast as I can without breaking the lineoff; otherwise the fish will go down intothe rocks which will also cause the line tobreak. When tying your leader line to yourjig head, I suggest you use the RAPALAknot because it will create more action outof the jig. So, if you want to have funcatching snook, try this method!

$2 off any haircut!


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Baitshop

This year, classeshere at Summer CampPort Charlotte includecourt room law. Last month I was in courtabout the guys who robbed us.

The good news is they were both con-victed and are off to prison for several years.For me, remembering that day, gettingwoken up by a call from the cops at 4:30a.m., them saying the store had been robbed,me getting to the store and seeing all theempty shelves, and then thinking about allof it again in the court room and hearingthem say “Well it is not like we broke into ahome” ...

Horse Hockey! The baitshop; it is asmuch a home to us as our houses are. Ispend more time here at the store (I’m writ-ing this at the store it’s 6:45 a.m.) than I doat my house.

The $64K in merchandise they tookcould have about put us under. It was one ofthose perfect storm screw ups. The alarmcompany called me the night before sincethe system had just quit and they askedcould they come Friday instead of Wednes-day night. I said sure, what’s the difference,but as it turned out it was a big difference!But how to know?

The building was 90 years old, when abuilding turns 90 the insurance companycancels your theft/ break-in, hurricane, andwhat ever other coverage's until you get re-approved with up-to-date alarms and other

inspections. So I had no insurance and thenthis s.o.b. picks the night when all of thosethings created a gap. Son-of-an-old-dog,you have to be kidding me! Murphy struckat me big time.

The good news is we were assignedCCSO officer Baras, who chased down allof the leads. And there were other people in-volved other Charlotte County officers andPunta Gorda police, but the guy I was deal-ing with, while he had his own leads, he wasalso following all of the other leads I wasgetting from facebook and other internetsources as well. The phone rang all day andI texted Baras each and every lead.

The way we got lucky was with a videoof the guy in the store and video of him out-side the store. Getting the picture of his faceand being able to see him before and duringthe break in was key. It is hard to chase aghost without the video. And having a fewthousand friends on the internet and in theircars looking helped a lot too. But while Ihad the perfect storm of bad luck I also hadthe perfect timing of good luck.

The CCSO was on a roll. They hadsolved every case they investigated for theprevious two weeks and that record stayedintact through our break in. After 17 hoursstraight that Detective Baras worked bothguys were in custody. Then with the help ofsome friends most of the stuff was retrievedthe next day. Thank you to all the peoplewho helped us.

I no longer take security lightly. Now ifyou scratch your back side in my store I willsee it. But I promise only I will see it and Ipromise I will only snicker a [email protected] 625-3888

Frankly Iʼm Glad

A wolfpack of small marrauding jack crevalle corners a school of glass minnows against aPort Charlotte canal seawall. If you look closely you can see several fish feeding with theirheads out of the water at the lower right. Should you try and throw a lure into this frenzy thefish will all go down and disappear. A fly might work.


Deeper Means Bigger

Special From Glen BallingerIn July Capt. Joe Miller of Fish Offshore Ga-

lore out of Venice finally got out deep for gaggrouper in 150- to 200-feet of water. Joe sayshe likes overnight trips this time of year sinceanglers get the PM and AM bite and miss all ofthe heat and sun during the middle of the day.

When fishing for gags, Joe likes plenty of livebait such as pin fish and sardines. Then hesearches for ledges .

“If you have never caught a large gag groupergive it a try, but be ready for a serious fight. Forthese large gags you have to be prepared andimmediately fight them off the bottom beforethey get "rocked up," Joe says.

This large bull dolphin was caught out about 60 miles from Venice using light tackle with 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. He tossed his line out with a small weight and immediately thisdolphin grabbed the cut bait, jumped out of the water numerous times and then went deep.Holding the Dolphin is Joe Miller with Bud Carte to his right.

John from Plant City with an AJ

Robert from Osprey with a nice red snapper


The OL’ FISH’N HOLEBy Capt. Jim O'BrienWater LIFE Offshore

Hey ya - all it’s another month gone by forfish'n since gag grouper opened. I hope ya - allhave been munching down on some gag and redgrouper. It’s really on fire 35 to 45 miles out, as faras the red grouper goes, they’re anything from 10to 20 pounders.

Well the story and pictures this month I havefor you is from Matt Aberham and his son Mattworks for Mack Freight Serv. Here in Port Char-lotte Matt and son was fish’n with some friendsout 42 to 45 miles a week ago and caught bigmangs and huge red grouper, some was in the 38-inch range. They limited out on grouper and to-wards the end of the day Matt’s son hooked into abig bonita. It took him all over the boat Matt saidhis sons eyes were the size of silver dollars.

All the guys I have talked to have been catchingsmaller grouper inside the 20 mile range but theysaid if you want the BIG –UNS, and have the boatto get out there, you need to get at least 35 milesout and farther and hang on.

Gag grouper has been doing real good aroundstructure, also at 35 to 45 miles and I might addthe yellow tail and mangrove snapper are bitingreal good too. I have a charter coming up - theyjust want to catch BIG-UNS like Goliath grouper,big AJ's, barracudas, and sharks. AJs re openedAug. 1. We have had a good showing of black fintuna out at 35 to 50 miles, also in a little closer wehave had some mixed in with the bonitas. Lots ofbonita out there Phew! And we have had somesmall peanut dolphin showing up out at 35 to 50miles.

Now let’s see what other anglers are catchingTARPON – are still up in the Harbor and out

off the beaches. Best bait: live crabs early in themorning and late in the eveningSHARKS – are all over the place, still, in the

Harbor, out off the beaches, around the inshorereefs. Black tips and bull sharks are out on most ofthe offshore wrecks, a fish’n buddy of mine wasfish’n out 42 to 45 miles and catching big redgrouper and big mangs but he said the sharks wastaking their share of the fish. My friend Matt saidthey lost a bunch of fish to the sharks.COBIA – are in the deep holes in the Harbor

and the sand bars just outside the front door toBull Bay. Up and down the west wall is producingsome GOOD -UNSBARRACUDA – there are some monsters on

the offshore wrecks. I’m talking 4 to 5 footers. Theguys are using the good ol ‘cuda-tubes in limegreen and hot pink. Also when I was down at BassPro Shop I picked up some hogys in pink, blackand root beer color, they work very well. Also Ilike using the longer ones with 2 hooks in themlike a stinger rig, the black ones work good on thecobias. I get some with the lead head and somewithout. I use the lead heads out in deeper water itlets the bait get down better in the water column.AJs – Open season again and all I can say is

the offshore wrecks are loaded with these big guysMANGROVE SNAPPER YELLOW TAIL

and LANES – all chewing real good on the off-shore reefs and wrecks from 30 miles on out mostare running 18 to 28 inches. Best bait live shrimp,cut bait and real small pinfish, if the pins are toobig cut them in thirds. Use pieces of the pinfish thescent is what you want. Just a ton of lane snapperthis past month and should be this month too!

RED GROUPER – the red grouper are beingcaught in 12 to 20 miles but your big hogs are outat 35 to 60 miles, 10 to 20 plus pounders. Best baitlive squirrelfish, herring and oh yes ol’ Captain’smullet chunks tipped with squid heads with thetentacles

GAG GROUPER – look for rocky areas withledges or look around your offshore wrecks. Theseguys are interested in live baits, big pinfish, croak-ers, and squirrelfish.

Please don't forget our organization FISH’NFOR HEROES WOUNDED WARRIORS INC.We are looking for more donations to get morewounded veterans for a free all day offshore fish-ing experience. If you would like to see some ofthe wounded vets with smiles on their faces after agreat day fish’n go to FISHN FOR HEROES.ORG Without donations we couldn't do this. If youwould like to make a donation or sponsor a trip orwant to know about Fish'n for Heroes WoundedWarriors Inc. call me.

Well gang now I think it’s time for me to getout of here so if you have a good ol fish’n story ora recipe for cooking fish that we can share withour readers or if you want to book an offshorecharter with us aboard the Predator II a 39-footEgg Harbor with ice cold a/c give us a call at (941) 473 - 2150

AND REMEMBERGET OUT AND SNORT SOME OF THATCLEAN SALT AIRC U Z ITS GOOD FER YA! ! !

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated,

But Often True


HAD 2 HAPPEN Citrus County officers re-sponded to a vessel crash where a vessel op-erator was distracted by his cell phone duringwhich time he struck the port stern of the ves-sel in front of him. The vessel at fault sank inthe Crystal River near Shell Island.

DID NOT PASS GO Investigators were work-ing the area of Waltz Key Basin in Key Westwhen they received information that two men

were spear fishing lobster in the area. One ofthe men began to throw wrung lobster tailsoverboard as the skiff made several attemptsto lose the officers. It was not long after thatuntil the skiff came to a stop and the officerswere able to come along side. A subsequentfisheries inspection revealed that the two menwere in possession of 88 wrung lobster tails, amutton snapper, and an undersized gray snap-per. The men were arrested and transported.

NEW CANAL TO PUNTO GORDAA Nicaraguan committee approved a proposedroute last month for a $40 billion shippingchannel across the Central American countrythat would compete with the Panama Canal.The committee of government officials, busi-nessmen and academics approved a 172 mile(278 km) route from the mouth of the Brito riveron the Pacific side to the Punto Gorda river onthe Caribbean that was proposed by execu-tives from the HK Nicaragua Canal Develop-ment Investment Company.The proposed canal would pass through LakeNicaragua, Central America's largest lake andwill be between 230 meters and 520 meters(755 feet to 1,706 feet) wide and 27.6 meters

(90 feet) deep. The proposed route still facesenvironmental and social impact studies thatcould recommend some changes to the plan,but those studies (and the requisite bribes– ed)

should be finished later this year and will allowwork to begin by December. The plan is to fin-ish the canal in 2019 and begin operations in2020. The proposed channel would be morethan three times longer than the 48-mile (77-km) Panama Canal, which took the UnitedStates a decade to build and was at the nar-rowest part of the Central American isthmus.

QUIET PLEASE An autonomous unmannedvessel designed to track quietdiesel-electric submarines span-ning miles of ocean depths formonths at a time with minimalhuman input is now under con-struction and is expected to setsail for testing in 2015.

PIRATES • In the past decade,45 seafarers have been killedand 459 seafarers have beenheld hostage• There is at least one attack perweek on a ship operating in theregion, but up to two thirds of at-tacks are believed to go unre-

ported• In 2013, 60 percent of attacks took place inNigerian territorial waters and there is a trend

for increasing violence within attacks• Around 12 percent of the UKʼs crude oilis imported from Nigeria, and by 2050 the re-gion will hold 25 percent of the worldʼs oil pro-duction• Around 5000 vessels, of all nationalities,call at Nigerian ports every year• Nigerian statistics shows that 300,000barrels of oil are stolen every single day

NOAA SCIENTISTS are testing two types of

unmanned (drone) aircraft this summer to sur-vey a variety of rare and endangered species,monitor remote marine areas, locate marinedebris for removal and study fragile ecologicalfeatures in the vast Papahānaumokuākea Ma-

rine NationalMonument inthe Northwest-ern Hawaiian Is-lands.

DRINK UP A study by researchers at the Loy-ola University Health System found that eatingfish, specifically fish high in omega-3 fattyacids, may prevent damage from alcohol-re-lated dementia. The study was recently pub-lished in the journal PLOS ONE, and detailedhow the compound found in fish oil calledomega-3 docsahexaenoic acid (DHA) can pro-tect against alcohol-induced inflammation andthe death of neuronal cells.

BAD JU JU Researchers have begun explor-ing the wreckage of the Mars, a Swedish war-ship that sank during a naval battle in 1564.The wrecksite is lo-cated 12nauticalmiles south-east of theisland ofOland in theBaltic Sea.Mars, alsoknown asMakalös,was builtbetween 1563 and 1564. It was the leadingship of King Eric XIV of Sweden's fleet, and at48 meters and equipped with 107 guns it wasone of the largest warships of the time, theship caught fire and exploded during the firstbattle of Öland. Mars was rumored to havebeen cursed because many of its 130 cannonswere made from melted church bells.

ENERGY SURVEY COMING The Bureau ofOcean Energy Management (BOEM) issued aRecord of Decision (ROD) establishing thehighest practicable level of mitigation meas-ures and safeguards to reduce or eliminate im-pacts to marine life while setting a path forwardfor appropriate geological and geophysical(G&G) survey activities off the Mid- and SouthAtlantic coast to update 40-year old data onthe regionʼs offshore resources.

YAK WREK While patrolling Charlotte Harbor,an FWC officer heard someone yelling for help.

He quickly located an overturned kayak. Hewas able to bring both occupants, all theirgear, and the kayak on board his vessel andtake them safely to shore. The only thing lostwas their truck keys, but they were able to callfor someone to bring a spare set of keys.

KNUCKLEHEAD Officers responded to thebeach area just south of the Dania Beach Pierin reference to a complaint of a person in pos-session of a tarpon. The officers conductedsurveillance for a short period when they ob-served one individual come on to the beach onhis paddleboard. On the paddleboard was alarge tarpon. The officers made contact withthe subject. He possessed a 72 inch tarponthat he had speared and did not have a tarpontag for. With this information Officer Strader is-sued the individual a criminal notice to appearfor possession of a tarpon without a tag and il-legal method of take of a tarpon. The dead tar-pon was seized as evidence.

FUNNY Lieutenant Arkin was on his way homeheading south on SR-13 when he came acrossa vehicle parked and running in the middle ofthe road on SR-13. Lieutenant Arkin initiallythought the vehicle was disabled. There was asubject sitting in the passenger seat who wasextremely intoxicated. The subject admitted todrinking alcoholic beverages and smokingcannabis. In plain view in the vehicle, Lieu-tenant Arkin observed a clear plastic baggy inthe cup-holder that contained cannabis. Thepassenger at first stated that he was not thedriver, but later admitted that he was too drunkto drive so he just stopped where he was andjumped into the passenger seat. The subjectwas issued a notice to appear for possessionof cannabis under 20 grams and turned over tothe care of his father.

BLUEFIN BAN? the National Marine FisheriesService announced that it will consider a banon commercial and recreational fishing forbluefin tuna. The announcement came afterMexico declared bluefin tuna off-limits to bothcommercial and sport fishermen. The news—which came at the height of the fishing season-caught many American anglers by surprise.

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The CharlotteCounty

Fire/EMS boatwas a big hit at

the Fisher-menʼs VillagePirate Fest In-

vasion lastmonth. The

boat sprayedlots of water

and everyobehad a blast

10 years this month

Charlotte HarborFrank, at Fishin’ Franks941- 625-3888Sharks and tarpon are still the big

story this month. They are hanging inmore so than I thought. On August 13,2004, the morning of Charlie, I was on atarpon trip in front of Alligator Creek. Iremember getting a call from my wifeTerri. “What are you doing, there is a hur-ricane in the gulf,” she said. We had goodtarpon and shark fishing late that year too.

I guess it’s the common pattern: earlymorning daybreak they are at the 41bridges, then the fish move over toFishville. Then in the middle of the daythey are between Alligator Creek and thereef there – that area holds a lot of baitand that attracts the tarpon to it.

The sharks are a little further downHarbor. Get your light tackle snook or red-fish rod and head to the middle hole. Istrongly urge having a chum bag out.Frozen sardines or live threadfins for baitwill work well. Use a 4/0 or a 5/0 hook.There are three to four foot sharks. My

favorite leader is the bleeding leader fromAFW. It’s a 45 pound leader-cable, pre-made rig. There are tons of sharks in themiddle of the harbor. Pinch the barbsdown use a bobber on top and one 3 feetdeeper.

Down at Marker No. 6 there are much larger sharks, 6 to 12 footers, I mean they

are big fish. Whole mulletwith the tail wacked off is the bait forthem. I fish on the bottom for them using100 to 250 pound cable leaders of 6 footwith a 12/0 hook. Upgrade your gear to6500 Bait Runners or better. These are bigfish with lots of pull so you want biggerguns.

There are grouper on Alligator Reef aswell. Try the Mag-15 lure, let it down tothe bottom, bump it and then give it acrank up. Troll for 100 yards or so beforethe reef to get your depth right. If the rodbounces bring the lure up 1 or 2 cranks.Goliath, black drum, gags, there are lotsof fish there now.

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

941-473-2150

PAGE 22 EMAIL: W [email protected] AUGUST 2014

Left: RD Bailey holding a 22-pound 4oz Fire Truck redgrouper. Above: a rare snowy grouper

Photos this page Capt. Joe Miller, Venice.

SEASONAL CONFUSIONThe recreational harvest of

greater amberjack and gray trig-gerfish in Gulf of Mexico State

Waters (shore to 9 nauticalmiles) reopens Aug. 1.

In Gulf Federal Waters, greateramberjack will also open Aug. 1,but gray triggerfish will remain

closed through Dec. 31.

August - Fishing Forecast

Out along the beachesthere are still plenty of snook,a little pompano and a littleSpanish, but snook is still thebig story along the beach.

Out in the Gulf there arebig schools of bonita andgreat lane snapper on all the reefsright now. From Boxcars to Novakit’s big-time-on for lane snapper.

Most of the dolphin are a longride out 30 - 35 miles – a long ridewith the storms this time of year.Keep a cut sardine on a spinningrod, sopradically they will come incloser, but then they are chickendolphin, big enough for a meal butnot big enough to brag about.

Around the mangroves or work-ing the flats, fishing is better earlyin the day and better withwhitebait. If you fish whitebait,don’t wet the chum when you firststart out. Sprinkle a few dry pinchesto see if there is any bait on the flatbefore you start wet-chumming.

Jug creek has better schools ofbait and there is also some by Devil-fish Key. The redfish and snook are

really keying in on thewhitebait right now.

Lemon Bay: Jim, at Fisher-men’s Edge, Engle-wood: 697-7595

Offshore fishing ispretty hot. I had somefriends fishing in 85 feetand tell me they werecatching lots of yellow-tail, red and gag grouper. Thenthey moved out to 90 feet and had50 keeper yellowtail - all on shrimpand cut bait.

There are scattered pods of dol-phin in the Gulf. A significant weedline is starting to develop and quitea few guys are telling me about dol-phin action. There is also lots ofbonita, unbelievable bonita! Oneguy brought 7 in to me. They use

them to catch goliaths in the tag-ging program.

A lot of porgys and all the otherreef fish and the biggest lane snap-per I have ever seen. I also sawsome pictures of permit from thenear shore reefs like Helen’s,Mary’s and Trembly.

The tarpon activity along thebeach is still pretty good, there is alot up in the Harbor and some in thePass but it has got to be on right tide

for the Pass.Still lots of big snook. For snook

fish whole mullet and big threadfinsaround the docks. Try flipping bigbaits at Little Gasparilla on the endand or at Boca Grande on the southend. Big snook there.

Some redfish are starting tocome back into the back countrythrough Gasparilla Pass, these areall fish that are over the slot. I hadsome guys catching jacks last weektoo, the only thing I haven’t heardis trout - they must fall into somepretty deep holes. And finallythere are a a lot of mangrovesnapper inshore, but go to Bocafor the keepers, they will makeyour day.

DOLPHIN (MAHI) In 85 to 90feet, trolling off our shore

GROUPER Lots and lots ofgags on the big reefs

SNOOK Still holding good.Some in PC canals at night

TARPON Up the Harbor,down towards Two Pine

FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

HotHotOffshore!Offshore!

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚

The BIG-4The BIG-4 BigBig Fish to expect in Fish to expect in August August Gulf TempsGulf Temps

are 87are 87The Harbor isThe Harbor is

hotter! Salinity ishotter! Salinity ischanging with thechanging with the

rain. rain.


Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremesFishing Guide

Card Space Available$40/mo

call 766-8180

Above; Dennis Roughton 26 inch redgrouper 1 of 3. Left: KristenRoughton her first time dolphin fish-

This lucky guy caught twogroupers on one hook!

Tasty yellowtail home for dinner


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