water life june 2014

June 2014June 2014

Always FREE!Always FREE!www.WaterlifeMagazine.comwww.WaterlifeMagazine.com

LIFEThe Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

CHECKids

Summer

Camp

Page12 WWWWaaaatttteeeerrrr

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

BiggestHammer

Ever Taggedby Mote Page 7

Cuda on ourCuda on ourFLATS?FLATS?Page 8Page 8

Tarpon Have Problems2 Fishin’ ReportFishin’ Report Page 22 Page 22

EMAIL: W [email protected] JUNE 2014

JUNE 2014 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 3

ADVERTISE HERE!Water LIFEʼs 1/8 page ad (this size)

still just $99$99per month!call 941-766-8180 4-4-CCOOLLOORR is alwaysis always FREEFREE

WE areTHE WAY to reach people who love the WATER!

The effective & economicalmonth-long advertising solution

ONE AD PER MONTH that stays out all month long = Cost Effective!!

“Likea

goodday

on thewater”

OOOOuuuurrrr wwwweeeebbbbssssiiii tttteeee iiii ssss EEEEaaaassssyyyy ttttoooonnnnaaaavvvviiiiggggaaaatttteeee &&&& FFFFRRRREEEEEEEEElegant Online:

TURN THE PAGESEVERY MONTHBack Issues to 2004Kids ChartersFishing ClassesTidesWeatherSailingKayakingDiving

One-click Linksfrom the address in your ad to yourwebsite

Water LIFE on your Device too!

YYoouurr aadd llooookkss bbeetttteerr oonn oouurr cclleeaann wwhhiittee ppaappeerr wwiitthh NNOO SSMMEEAARR iinnkkwww.waterlifemagazine.com in print - online - and always FREE

Tune in to the Radio Fishinʼ anytime!talk shows with Fishinʼ Frank @ FishinFranks.com

Water LIFE [email protected]

Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers(941) 766-8180

217 Bangsberg Rd. Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Independant - Not affiliated with any other publication

Vol XIII No 6 © 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: Capt. Bo Johnsonhooked this big hammerhead in BocaGrande and handed it off to the MoteMarine boat that was also there. See page 7.

PAGE 4 EMAIL: W [email protected] JUNE 2014

Dear Michael,It has been about five months now, but at this point I

haven't heard anything from you about when the Seminole isgoing to be scuttled. Please contact me because I am under-standably curious. Sincerely, Thomas Mckeown Editor Notes: Tom, The current owner is struggling withfunds to complete the gutting of the old shrimp boat before itcan be sunk as a reef.

In a show of force, records provided by the Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission indicate Capt. James W. Huddleston, 44, ofPalm Harbor was scheduled to make a June 3 court appearance inFort Myers where he was facing second degree misdemeanorcharges, up to six months in jail and a $500 fine if convicted oncharges of using illegal fishing gear - a bottom weighted hook, shownin the FWC report photo, above. FWC, officers approached Huddlestonʼs charter boat around 8:50 a.m.in Boca Grande Pass on Thursday, May 15. The officers said an ob-server in a nearby boat had tipped them off that Huddleston and hisclients were using a form of bottom weighted “jig” outlawed as a foul-hooking device last year by the commission. Huddlestonʼs clientswere not charged and they were all allowed to continue fishing usingother gear. We had no court report at press time.

First Jig Violation Issued

FFFFrrrroooommmm TTTThhhheeee FFFFWWWWCCCC RRRReeeeppppoooorrrr tttt

BOATERS NEED TO BE ESPECIALLY VIGILANT when runningunder the US 41-Bridge, outside the center marked channel.There have been a lot of fish and a lot of anglers fishing from thesouthbound span of the bridge lately. Snook, cobia and sharksare the main attraction. The problem is the bridge is 98-feet highat the center and landing a good sized fish even from a lower ele-vation takes some doing. A landing net on a long rope is the pre-ferred procedure. Sometimes the net is left dangling.

By Michael HellerWater LIFE editorThe newspaper I call the Daily Disap-

pointment ran a front page story lastmonth about shark fishing from the beach.Apparently someone complained that itwas scary for bathers. I get that, butbathers complaining about fishermenshould not be front page news in a placethat brags about being the ‘Fishing Capi-tol of the World.’ Sharks are here, beachfishermen just make them more visible.Sharks are feeding on tarpon in the Pass.Do your homework.What would have been a better story

for the newspaper is this, from beachshark fisherman Mallory Herzog’s blog.Mallory also writes a regular column forthis publication (see page 7).

I decided we needed to try a new areasince Boca Pass has been SO crowdedwith fishermen and boats making it a bithard to land a fish. Shark guys I can’tstress enough that you must start cleaningup after yourselves!!!! Last time I was inthe pass I gathered up a cooler full ofgarbage from just the spot I was sitting in.Bonita tails all over and at least 4 leadersections and glow sticks laying all overthe sand. We also spoke with a parkranger who was very upset over some latenight vandalism. They are working on in-stalling a security camera at this location.

Land based shark fishing is under intensescrutiny already. We don’t need to addgarbage piles and vandalism to the list ofcomplaints! That is the same, un-remedied, com-

plaint Capt Orion Wholean wrote in hiscolumn here three months ago. The dailynewspaper could have served the commu-nity much better by focusing on the biggerenvironmental problems. Hammerheads, tigers, lemons, short fin

makos and sand sharks are now protected,but bull sharks are not. What do youthink? Should they be? You can’t eat thebigger sharks. “There is nothing wrongwith catching and eating an editableshark, say 4 feet and under,” Mallorywrote “Those can be tasty. But anglerswho go out daily murdering 7-foot-plusbull sharks are simply assholes! I'd loveto sit next to them while they try to chokedown that yummy ammonia-meat,” A nicefit of honesty if ever I heard one!Do bull sharks deserve the same ‘re-

spect’ that the Respect The Tarpon groupadvocates for their species, or are bullsharks simply too bad ass? Maybe thatkind of respect is reserved for game fish?I don’t know, I’m asking. Where is theline to be drawn? Who draws it?At some point all the Ethical Angler

talk has got to comes to fruition. Eitherwe’re going to be walking the walk or

we’re not. It shouldn’t be a hard choice. In 2006 I went to Placida in the middle

of the night to photograph Bucky Dennisbringing in his world record hammerheadshark. What I saw was this fat, grey, dead,pregnant female shark, draped jelly-likeover a boat trailer. It didn’t leave me withthe kind of memory that I wanted to asso-ciate with a World Record.The pressure is on the fish, but the

pressure is greater on the fishermen, pres-sure to do what we teach our kids: To do

the right thing even when no one else islooking. I still find some irony in the ac-colades lauded on anglers by the allegedlyconservation conscious IGFA for killingthe biggest and usually oldest members ofa species. Am I the only one who feelsthis way? Is this The Right Thing?It has been a great spring for sharks

and although shark fishing from the beachmay make the Chamber of Commercecringe, shark fishermen don’t attract thesharks, actually it’s the other way around.

No Problems with Sharks JUNE 2014 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 5

Alan Ogle, in 1997, owner of Billʼs Tackle Shop on Marion Ave at Taylor in Punta Gorda,shows the jaws of his 991-pound, IGFA All-Tackle World Record Hammerhead caught onMay 30 1982 near Sarasota. The jaws hung in his shop window. Alanʼs record stood untilMay 23 2006 when another local shark angler, Bucky Dennis caught a 1280-pound hammer-head outside Gasparilla Pass. Hammerheads are now protected from harvest.

ON THE LINE By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffFor the last few years there has been

an unofficial truce between the sides ofthe great manatee war. Historians maydiffer as to the starting date of the war;some may say 1967 when the manateewas put on the endangered species list;others use 1991 when the first county inFlorida implemented a Manatee Protec-tion Plan. I prefer to use 2000, the yearthe Save the Manatee Club filled a law-suit against the Federal Fish and WildlifeService (FWS) and the Florida Fish andWildlife Service (FWCC). The lawsuitcontended that these government organi-zations were not doing enough to protectthe en dangered manatee. The result wasan un-appealable out of court settlementwhich resulted in more manatee zonesand additional restrictions on boaters andwaterfront property owners. Recently, the peace has been broken

in what I call the Battle of Kings Bay.Kings Bay is a 600 acre area on the Crys-tal river in Citrus County. The area isbest known as the place where a largenumber of manatees winter-over for four

months a year. The manatees have beencoming to this area long before the whiteman showed up and everyone seemed tolive in harmony. Citrus County recog-nized how special this area was whenthey placed it in their Manatee Protectionplan in 1991. Everything was fine until someone

figured out how to make money off thesemanatees. Tours to see the manatees-swim with the manatees-touch the mana-tees. FWS officials became concernedand put more restrictions in place to pro-tect the manatee.Local citizens and county officials be-

came concerned over what they calledthe onerous federal regulations that en-danger the fishing and tourist industry.To fight back they formed their owngroup called Save Crystal River, a con-tingent of citizens, community leadersand business owners. In 2012 they filleda petition with the FWC to have the man-atee de-listed from endangered to threat-ened. Their logic on the matter is prettyconvincing. Back in 2007 the Feds issued a mana-

tee population report that estimated thepopulation to be 3,300 and recommendedthat the manatee be de-listed. The peti-

tion asks the Feds to explain why theyhaven't followed their own recommenda-tions. But for seven years the Feds didnot responded to their petition, citingbudgetary constraints.Save Crystal River has now taken the

next step and filed suit against the Fedsto force them to answer their petition. In order to be successful you need

good legal representation. Along came agroup called The Pacific Legal Founda-tion which has agreed to represent thecause. Before we say “let's kill all thelawyers” remember that this is exactlywhat the Save the Manatee Club didwhen in 2000, they were represented bythe law firm Earth Justice, whose mottowas Because the Earth needs a GoodLawyer. These firms work just like thelawyers you see on the TV commercials.We will represent you, if you lose youowe us nothing; If you win the govern-ment (ie. We the taxpayers) will pay yoursubstantial legal bills. The Pacific Legal Foundation has

some pretty good credentials. They werethe group that went to the Supreme Courtand got the bald eagle removed from theEndangered Species list. The firm saystheir client had to sue because the Fed’s2007 recommendation called for de-list-ing and now in 2014 we have a popula-tion of 4276 manatees so there is evenmore reason to de-list. The firm said:“Litigation has become necessary inorder to make government follow thefinding of science and obey its ownrules.” What's really endangered here is ac-

countability in government and credibil-ity in regulations. Let the battle [email protected]


Manatee Wars Flare Up Again

Store-bought Romaine lettuce is in thebudget to feed the manatees at Crystal River.

Staff ReportThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

and NOAA proposed two rules and anew policy to improve the process ofdesignating areas of “critical habitat”consulting on the effects of federal ac-tions on critical habitat to “ensure thatany actions they authorize, fund orcarry out are not likely to result in thedestruction or adverse modification” ofdesignated critical habitat.”

The new definition of “adverse modi-fication” directs the review of federal ac-tions on how changes would affect thedesignated critical habitat's ability tosupport recovery of the listed species.In other words, how the “conservationvalue” of the critical habitat is being af-fected.

It also sets standards used for desig-nating critical habitat and how the Fedsconsider exclusions from critical habitatdesignations. Under the Act, the gov-ernment can evaluate the economic,national security and other impacts of adesignation and may exclude particularareas if the benefits of doing so aregreater than the benefits ofdesignation. Clarification of the termʻother impactsʼ was not provided.

A new definition of ʻadverse modifi-cationʼ will allegedly lead to greaterclarity as indesignating critical habitatand conducting section 7 consultations,

These regulatory improvements, pro-posed last month, are consistent withExecutive Order 13563, issued by Pres-ident Obama in 2011.

Feds Tweak Endangered Act

JUNE 2014 BACK ISSUES @ BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 7

By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE Beach Fishing

It’s no secret that spring timemeans the big sharks are here in largenumbers. This year more than everthe sport of land based shark fishinghas taken off, partly due to all the at-tention in the media. Kind of ablessing and a curse I suppose! Thebeaches are more crowded withshark fishermen and that is makingresidents and tourists a bit unsettled.Many are concerned the fishermenare drawing the sharks in close towhere they like to spend their afternoonsrelaxing. As a land based sharker myself Istrive to choose day time fishing areas without swimmers! Even if that means walkinga mile while dragging my gear behind me.We must strive to set a positive example forthe up and coming shark fishermen!

This year I was blessed to meet a fewgroups of shark fishermen who are reallydoing right by these fish. Handling themproperly, not over doing it on their hooksections. Just generally being as responsi-ble as they can be. Most are now partici-pating in the NOAA Cooperative SharkTagging Program. The more people taggingsharks the more research NOAA is able togather on these amazing ocean creatures thatare vanishing too quickly. Florida does itspart to protect. Tiger sharks, lemon sharks and hammerheads are now on the NO KILLlist. This year I have seen at least 5- to 10juvenile tiger sharks caught along ourbeaches from Venice to Sanibel. That is awonderful sign that our state's prohibitedspecies ban is working. These young tigersare able to take refuge in our shallows andgrow into amazing large sharks.

The hammerheads are here and in largenumbers also. Captains locally have spotted"packs" of hammers swimming together.Mostly adults 10- to14-feet in length. Ham-

merhead sharks at 14 feet are estimated 30-to 40-years of age. They are known to ap-pear yearly with the tarpon, a food source ahungry hammerhead just can’t resist!

After four years of fishing, my husbandwas lucky enough to land his first hammer-head from shore, an amazing moment andamazing fish. Usually only one a year iscaught, this year however at least a dozenor more 13+foot hammers have been caughtacross the state. Two of which sadly werefatalities. This happens in any kind of fish-ing. There are losses and it’s sad and unfor-tunate.

When fishing for these over sized sharksit’s important to their health and yours to usethe right equipment that is strong enough tohandle the battle. Hammerheads will fight

to the death. Use circle hooks with appro-priate gaps to prevent gut hooking. Keepingyour fish in the water is also key to revival.

Mote Marine was able to tag two ham-mers off of Boca Grande just this pastmonth. Special thanks to Captain Bo John-son of Tenacity Guide Service for handingoff his hammer to Mote for the taggingprocess! This is amazing for research pur-poses locally. Bo and first mate Deidra re-ally gave their clients a show when theyspotted this hammer as they were alreadyhooked up on a bullshark! Captain Bothought fast and threw a bait at this extralarge hammerhead! This hammer hit thebait on top of the water, like you werethrowing a top water plug at snook, but on amuch larger scale! Before he knew it hewas hooked up for the fight of a life time,passing the rod around the boat lettingeveryone feel the power of the amazing ani-

mal. She measured 13.5 feet and was MoteMarine’s‚ largest tagged hammerhead ever!(That makes me even more excited for yearsto come!) My favorite part of fishing in theocean is you never really know what speciesis on the end of your line. I hope for a daywhen we see shark number's and species ofthe 1950s and 60s return and when sandtigers and dusky's are your every day catch.Back then, tiger sharks were as prevalent asbull sharks and blacktip sharks are today.

Hammers and Tigers and Bulls, Oh My!

Left: Dehooking with dehookers and, often, a bolt cutter. Right: Mote Marine tagging theirlargest ever hammerhead. You can see the tag on the dorsal fin. Tag data includes watertemperature, which NOAA will be using to help predict hurricane development.


By Capt Billy BartonWater LIFE INSHORE

May lived up to its extra-fishy reputa-tion this year! From the northern end ofthe Harbor down south to Pine Island andon to Gasparilla and Boca Grande, every-where you turn there's a boat of anglerslooking for that trophy catch! The tarponand sharks are here in full swing. Thereare snook all over the beaches, the cobiaare everywhere and the grass flats are fullof big hungry redfish waiting for an easymeal. That pretty much sums up why Ican't spend my time fishing freshwater. In

salt water the fish are just powerful. Theyhave heart. They get the adrenaline pump-ing. You never know what you're going torun into out there in the salt and you neverknow what could end up at the other endof your line.The daytime produces trophy fish, but

a significant amount of our fish down herewill actually eat at night time as well.Tarpon, sharks, cobia, snook, redfish,trout and big snapper all eat at night.Good areas to target these fish at night areplaces where there is a good amount of ar-tificial light casting shadows on the water,such as the 41 bridges. The bridge lightscall in bait fish from all over at night.They also create shadow lines on the sur-face of the water that run parallel with thebridge itself. In turn, your predators (espe-cially snook and tarpon) will hide in theshadows and ambush their prey into thelight as it flows through with the tide.The full and new moon phases bring usour strongest tides of the month and willusually produce the best night-time feed.I had the pleasure of taking my little

brother Matt out on a night time fishingventure last week. The moon was full andwe had decided on going out to the bridgefor a few hours in search of a night timetarpon. I had a couple dozen shrimp leftfrom my charter earlier that day. Our plan

was to use the shrimp to catch some cat-fish, then to soak some catfish tails on theshadow lines and see what happens. A lot of folks look at me like I'm crazy

when I tell them how much I love catfishtails for bait. Yes I found a use for thosenasty critters! I promise you too, they dowork! The bridge was full of life that night,

the big fish were active and we had it allto ourselves. One reason I love going atnight is things are usually quiet and youtend to have less company. Needless tosay, I don't like admitting this, but we hadchances at over a dozen BIG fish, most ofwhich we never got to see. Things were not going in our favor.

We had jumps from three large tarpon, butdidn't get them to the boat. The highlightof our night however was two back toback 20 and 30 pound cobias which wereboth caught on the same piece of bait. When I caught the first cobia the cat-

fish tail was actually sliding down myfishing line during the battle so the fishnever got it down. After landing that fishI took the samepiece of bait, putit back on thehook, threw itout and it wasn't10 minutes be-fore Matt washooked up onhis fish too. Itwas epic! Weate cobia allweek long(cobia photosthis page) that,

Unpredictable Waters


my friends, is no fish story! Catching two big fish on the same

piece of bait; I'd say you could classifythat in the, "out of the ordinary" section. Several times during day trips last

month we had fish caught that were outof the ordinary. The wheels in my headcontinue to turn about some of them. My client landed a 200 pound Goliath

grouper with a spear tip sticking out ofhis head (photo at right). It came outright between his eyes and had barnaclesgrowing off of it. Of course I preformeda quick boat-side surgery on the fish, re-lieving him of his migraine before lettinghim go. We also had a 3 foot barracuda landed

on the flats (left page, top) while target-ing redfish, a trout that looked like hehadn't eaten in months, (page left) and a

redfish with a HUGE healed up prop scardown his side (left). I also had a gentle-men land a five to six foot spinner sharkon a half of a star rod. The rod literallyexploded in his hands while he was bat-tling the fish! Ahhh yes. Good times...sounds boring doesn't it!?!

You never know what to expect outthere. You never know what you'll runinto and you never know what couldwind up on the other end of your line.Pretty exciting, if you ask me and enoughto keep me coming back! I hope youguys and gals are rippin’ lips like crazy!Tight lines and here's to smellin’ fishy!!Capt. Billy Barton, Scales & Tails Fishing

Charters 941- 979-6140


By Capt. Bart MarxWater LIFE Family Fishing

There were some big fish caught on someof our trips this past month. May was excit-ing. Chuck and his brother Bob kept one redand one trout, enough for a nice fish dinner.George and his wife got some nice mangrovesnapper, they had some yellowtail snappertoo. Another young man flew in from Ohiowhere he said that morning it was 38 de-grees and it was like 84 the afternoon whenhe caught his 40-inch black drum at the US41 bridge. Then, about five minutes later an-other young man caught a 42-inch blackdrum, both on crabs. The crazy thing was Ibought crabs at Fishin’ Franks and they saidthat they were tarpon crabs. I had a few leftover so I went back and cast a crab and about20 minutes later ( on my day off) and I caught

myself a 38-inch black drum. This was justthe beginning and I didn't even know it.

On a Tuesday trip I had 3 anglers and weventured out into the Gulf from Placida. Wewere fishing in 50-feet of water catchingsome snapper and porgies. The temperaturewas rising and we needed a breeze, theywanted to ride along the beach and see sometarpon. We cruised the beach about 1/4 mileoff where there were some boats, we saw afin and thought it was a dolphin so we wentto see it. Wrong! It turned out to be a ham-merhead shark that Capt. Bart estimated tobe around 10-feet long. I tried to get somevideo but no good, sorry, but I have 3 wit-nesses/anglers who can confirm the sighting.Really, yes, Jean, Jenny and Denny were all

there. And there was a birthdaycelebrated on one of our tripstoo, those three ladies couldfish! They were also from thegreat white north. The birthdaygirl caught a 28-inch, 6-poundking mackerel. They werecatching snapper, yellow tailsand mangroves. Then, after a 20minute tug a war, the sisterpulls in a 45-inch 26-poundking, they don't call them smok-ers for nothing. Nine yellowtails, 10 mangroves, 2 kings...they had food for the week andthey had great birthday celebra-tion too. Then I had a chance to take

my son out to cap off the bigfish extravaganza. He got an 8-or 9-foot nurse shark with acloseup shot - too cool. Heplayed about 20 minutes or soand I asked if he needed abreak. He immediately handedme the rod. He was the one toget the photo though. So it is

big fish season for sure!! If you would like to play tug a war with some

of these critters give me a call and we can get youhooked up. C.Bart Marx 941-979-6517 or [email protected] Always remem-

Big-FishSeason

Staff ReportThe Florida Fish and Wildlife

Conservation Commission at itsApril meeting in Tallahassee es-tablished a commercial daily tripand vessel limit of 200 sea cu-cumbers in both state and fed-eral waters. This change wentinto effect June 1. The changewas requested by the existingcommercial fishery as a proac-tive measure.

In Florida, there is currently asmall commercial fishery for seacucumbers for the live aquariumtrade, but sea cucumbers havebeen commonly targeted else-where in the world as a foodproduct due to their high value inAsian markets. Consequently,the rapid, unregulated develop-ment of sea cucumber exportfisheries has led to fishery col-lapses and sea cucumber deple-tions elsewhere in the world.

Sea cucumbers are vulnera-ble to overfishing due to theirsedentary nature. Because oftheir life-history characteristics,such as their late reproductiveage, they need a dense popula-tion in order to successfully re-produce during their long lifespan.

FWC Approves Sea Cucumber Management

AAQQUU AATTIICCAA


GREAT CONCEPT The Hardee County School District has run aprogram called Outdoor Classroom since 1987. The classes, underthe guidance of teacher Kayton Nedza, introduce grades 3 through 8students to the Peace River and the Charlotte Harbor Watershed, withthe hope that educating them now will ultimately help improve waterquality in the future. Shown here on May 23, the 5th Grade EstuaryStudy is in progress on Charlotte Harbor near Marker No. 1. Studentslowered a lead line to measure depth, sampled and recorded salinity,Ph and phosphate and observed plant life. The boat and captain werefrom Kingfisher Fleet at Fishermenʼs Village.

KIDS SUMMER CAMP: Registration is open for the Charlotte HarborEnvironmental Centerʼs (CHEC) Eco-Day Camp from June 2 to 6,camp days are from 8am to noon. CHECʼs Eco-Day Camp involveschildren in a variety of outdoor and environmental activities including:wading, hiking, taking a boat trip and more as they learn about Floridawildlife, habitats and ecology. This week long camp will engage yourchild while they learn about science and the environment. The camp isdesigned for children leaving 2nd grade to entering 8th grade.This camp is held at CHECʼs Alligator Creek Preserve office, 10941Burnt Store Road. The cost to attend is $60. Children attending mustdress for the outdoors—jeans, sneakers (no sandals or open-toedshoes), hat, and t-shirt. They should bring an extra pair of shoes, sunscreen, bug spray, bag lunch and their enthusiasm.For more information, call 941-575-5435 .

Kids ProgramsTARPON : Pressure From Many Directions

CommentaryBy Orion WholeanWater LIFE

As the tarpon season we have allbeen longing for has finally arrived,so have the tournaments and sohave the controversies. There aretwo ways to catch these beautifulfish in Boca Grande pass, there islive bait, and there is the jig which isthe source of controversy. The jig issimply a lead head with a body baitand a hook, basically itʼs just an ar-tificial lure. Both methods are difficultto hook up and land the fish of yourdreams and both take skill like youwouldn't believe.

People say the jig is a snatchingdevice and the live bait is harmlessto these beautiful fish. The truth isthere is more than just a jig problemin the pass.

Problems include attitudes bysome local fishermen, boats drivingover lines with fish on, protestersduring tournaments and worst of all,the sharks.

From my experience in this pastmonth of May I have seen 90% offish caught during the day get eatenby the massive packs of bull sharkswaiting for a snack.

Weather itʼs live bait or a jig, justthe effect of catching the tarponmake it vulnerable to an attack by ashark. The only difference is that livebait kills a fish (being the bait). everytime!

We all need to remember we areoff to catch the fish of a lifetime andthis is supposed to be a fun and ex-citing event. Tarpon are beautifulfish and the source of $110 millioncoming to our economy. It is impor-tant to respect these fish in their nat-ural waters and to be sure toachieve a clean healthy release oftarpon every time.

Capt. OrionGasparilla Big Game Charter

Service941.249.0177

By Capt. Betty StauglerWater LIFE Environment

Last month we releasedapproximately 1,000spawner bay scallops intoLemon Bay as part of SeaGrant's ongoing restorationefforts. The scallops, donated by BayShellfish Co., were the second releasefor 2014. In March Bay Shellfish Co.donated about 2,500 juveniles whichwere released in Gasparilla Sound.

In 2013, roughly 11 million bay scal-lop larvae and 30,000 juveniles werereleased into these estuaries. Althoughthat sounds impressive, it will takemany more years and many more re-leases before we can expect bay scal-lops to gain a foot hold here. This isbecause bay scallops only live about ayear and they are eaten by just abouteverything, so only a small portion re-leased will ever survive to spawn.

I don't really expect to see anygains from 2013's releases until at

least 2015. This is because11 million bay scallop larvae isreally just 20 bay scallops thatspawned two times. We needseveral pockets of a few hun-dred scallops to spawn inorder to start seeing recovery.

That won't happen in a hatchery, but ifwe can get enough survivors in the es-tuary over time it could happen.

Plans are already in the works foranother larval and juvenile release thisfall or winter.

Capt. Betty StauglerFlorida Sea Grant Agent, UF/IFAS

Extension Charlotte County (941) 764-4346

More on Scallops: In Tallahassee,Governor Rick Scott announced thebay scallop season will open threedays early this year. The change isaligned with opening the season on aweekend. The season runs July 1 toSeptember 24.

Scallops11 Million Sounds Like a Lot


Beautiful Swimmers

\.


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte HarborOften anglers measure the success of

their fishing trips by how many fishthey catch or how heavy the cooler is atthe end of the day. Fishing this springreset my thinking on success as this wasthe toughest fishing spring I have everhad and that includes my first year whenI didn’t even know where Turtle Baywas. That is quite a statement and it allrelates to the absence of baitfish.

No one understands what has hap-pened to the migration of baitfish thisyear and to date I have not heard of anyscientists investigating it. I hope thiswas a natural occurrence and if so, Iknow nature has a way of healing itself.Without the ability to hurl numerous

free swimming baitfish as chum, pa-tience prevailed with what little I hadand of course we threw lures to fill inthe gaps. I certainly caught fish on every trip,

but my numbers were way down onsnook, although I believe there are stillplenty of snook around but they followthe baitfish migrations. With a different approach to fishing

the Harbor, patience, which societyseems to have very little of any more,became a rehearsed mantra in my mind

and with that came experiences with na-ture that were more memorable then thefish themselves. On two occasions I found sea turtles

mating in the Harbor. Normally thesecreatures are shy, but with love in the air

they allowed us to photograph them at acomfortable distance. The first matingpair frolicked up and down in the top 3feet of the water column with flippersflapping and heads bobbing with themale and female belly to belly. Theydrifted off of Cape Haze Point for over30 minutes while we observed them.The second group of turtles was a three-some with one turtle stacked on top ofthe other bobbing aimlessly with 3 setsof flippers flapping as they dropped intothe water column and then struggled toget all 3 heads above the water line.Pretty cool stuff and a bit of a comedy

show to saythe least! Crabbing

was a hit ormiss proposi-tion this springas I am arecreationalcrabber butsomehow always had a pot of crabs tosteam while giving my traps extra daysto fill with crabs. Charlotte Harbor offers so much

more than fishing but on the fishingfront I did have remarkable fish come

boatside including multiple 20 poundsnook, 10 pound grouper, 8 pound red-fish and 5 pound trout. Any one ofthese fish on a given trip were enough tocall the day a success! Tarpon fishingwas predictably challenging in shallowwater and there have been plenty

around. When you seem them in 5 feetof water they will test your patience assome days I cast to 50 tarpon without abite but still consider it a success.With summer weather now in full

force I pray for lighter winds, easier baitcatching and will certainly be more pa-tient waiting for the bites.Capt. Chuck Eichner, Action Flats

Backcountry Charters 941-628-8040 orwww.BackcountryCharters.com

This large snook required me to spend 20minutes in the water bringing her back to life

Harbor Patience Pays Off

$2 off any haircut!


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE BaitshopSharks. Right now they

are considered, sort of,well, cute - maybe even cuddly. That is afirst for the human race and I would guessit only applies if you are a dry-land per-son. For the rest of time sharks have beenconsidered the enemy. We were thatwhich moved heavy

goods every where. If you wanted to go tothe New World it was by boat. And whatdo you think was the ever present dangeron those boatjourneys? Sharks. Sharks would

eat the garbagetossed overboard, they werealways hangingaround and whena ship wentdown, well... theywere there. Onlywhen we startedmoving thingsby air, truck, ortrain did thedread of theshark lessen, By the 1970s

no one really paid any attention to them.Not until Jaws. That movie started athing; shark fishing. People had always caught sharks, but

Jaws made it cool to kill them. Now peo-ple were going out to get the bad guys.This type of thinking went on for yearsand along the way people began to figureout how tasty some sharks were and sothe meat hunt was on too. Bringing a live shark onto a boat was

considerd goofey, shooting the sharksalongside the boat, or as they were beingreeled in became common.Shark fishing became more of a coded

phrase for drinking and dumb thingsstarted happening more and more. Storiesof fishermen who would bring a shark on

board their boats and shoot it while it waslaying on the deck were common. The badpart was the bullets would go through theshark, through the deck, and maybe thefuel tank. Bullets skipped or ricochetacross the water. It was very dangerous.About this time, we decided to do an

end of spring tournament; of coursesharks were the target. The problem wasthat shark tournaments were about killingand throwing away the sharks. This wasnot good as 1 shark could make a themain course for a family BBQ. So we de-

cided to do thefirst No-Wasteshark tournamentwhere the sharkswould be broughtin already guttedand iced so themeat would re-main edible. In the summer

of 1985 the firstFishin’ FranksShark Tournamenttook place at theLaishely Park boatramp. Laishleywas still a trailerpark back then and

many of the local fishermen lived there.That format continued for five years untilI decided we would add catfish to thetournament. Catfish were the by-catch ofshark fishing anyway. The tournamentbrought in huge crowds. The nurse sharks were not being eaten,

which is strange since nurse sharks areone of the tastiest sharks of all. Worse yet,the nurse sharks were not being disposedof properly, so they were taken out of thetournament.A few years later in the 90s another by-

catch of shark fishing, the stingray, wasadded to the tournament. At one time weeven discussed adding tarpon to the tour-nament since so many people fishing forsharks at night around the Pass were

catching tarpon, but we never got aroundto the tarpon. By then the attitude was changeing

about sharks and catch and release tourna-ments began popping up. A group of sci-entists had started a research project onsharks and our tournament became asource of shark parts for testing. Theycollected vertebraes, skin, jaws and fins,everything shark. People protested about akill tournament, but it was a productivething. You can not get a vertebre samplefrom a live shark, the shark gets a littleupset with that. Now 29 years have passed since the

first shark tournament. Our average tour-naments were between 500 and 600 en-trants, but in the last couple of years itdropped to a low of 250. For those whoentered, the tournament was still aboutgetting friends or family together andspending the night on the Harbor. Most years it was a tricky thing. We

never had a rain out. Fishin’ Franks’ Se-vere Weather Challenge became the nickname for the tournament. We had light-ning and tornados. One year the anglerswent out in the middle of a tropical storm.It usually rained and blew hard. Anotheryear, 7 boats went down and at least 15

people were pulled from the water. Noone was hurt, but everyone had a greatshark fishing story to tell. Over the years we ran the tournament

really well and really poorly. Some deci-sions we made when it came to judgingwere brilliant and some were really stu-pid. We learned from our success andfrom our failures. So here we are in a place in time where

jumping in the water with a hammerheadto release it and walking it out to deeperwater to make sure it survives is consid-ered the right thing to do. The research isover and the big friends and family BBQsdo not happen. Families once gathered onislands on the river or had parties at thebeach but now open fires are not permit-ted. It is just a different time, so we areending the Shark Tournament. This month will be your last chance to

be part of the orignal event. We do notknow if we will have a catfish/stingraytournament again or not. I am looking forfeedback on what you would like. It hasbeen a 29 year roller coaster ride and Ithank you all for riding the wild rails withus.

You can contact Fishin’ Frank [email protected] 625-3888

End of an Era

Some years there were a lot of sharks, some years there were a few.

Chuck Hepp lands a bullsharknear the Pass dur-ing a past tournament


Pier FishingCut Ladyfish for Shark

By Bobby VitalisWater LIFE Pier FishingThis black tip shark was caught at

Tom Adam’s Bridge Pier, from lowto high tide in the afternoon hours. Ihave caught shark from the begin-ning of the Pier to the end of the Pier.You can catch different types ofshark there. It does not matter if it iscalm or windy, the shark are biting inboth conditions.I am using cut ladyfish bait to

catch shark. I catch ladyfish for baitbuy using R&R Sabiki rigs, model #BR2 hook size 22 with a two ouncepyramid sinker, or GOT-CHA luresin size 7/8 ounce to 1 ounce weightwith color (chartreuse head), and theD.O.A C.A.L jerk bait in the coppercrush color model # 321.Sometimes the ladyfish are there,

and sometimes they are not. Beforeyou place the ladyfish on the hook,

cut it up in two to three inch chunks.When bait casting with cut ladyfish,I use 50 pound test SUFIX AD-VANCE SUPER LINE (BRAID), asmy main line, with a two ounce eggsinker. For my leader line, I use 16 inches

of AFW 7x7 40 pound test SUR-FLON MICRO SUPREME knottablenylon coated stainless steel leadercolor (camo), model # DM49-40-A.You can try many different wirelines, not just this one. Pick out thewire line that is best for you to use. When attaching the hook to the

wire line, I suggest you use any-where from 3/0 to 5/0 OWNER orGAMAKATSU red circle hooks. Thething I like about circle hooks is thatthe hook gets set in the corner of themouth. So, if you want to have funcatching shark, try using cut ladyfishfor bait.

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! COURTSIDE LAND-INGS HOME within sight of the marina. High endtouches, meticulously maintained 3/2/2 with pool,granite/wood. Golf, boating and restaurants withinwalking distance. $259,900

Call the Captain!Call the Captain! Super Nice HomePerfect For Snowbird or Investor! Immacu-late 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1CG With Lanai.'1984', Huge Yard, Tons of Upgrades.

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! TREMENDOUS WA-TERFRONT CUSTOM 3/2.5/2 Pool Home builtin 2005! Designer touches, Movie Star Pool, Gran-ite Kitchen & Baths, 100' Waterfront, No Bridgesand 5 Minutes to Harbor! $549,000

Call the Captain!Call the Captain! DRAMATICLAKEFRONT HOME 4 Car Garage! Cus-tom builder’s own home with Million dollarappointments. over 2600sf Air $449,000

Punta GordaMarina Home20 Min to Gulf

Punta Gorda

$79,900Under Contract

Under ContractUnder Contract

Punta Gorda

Burnt Store Marina

By Capt. Jim O BrienWater LIFE Offshore

Hey ya - all I hope everyone isdoing well I hope ya - all got out andgot some fishing in between the windswe have had. It's just like last month,the winds was blowing 15 to 20 ktswith gusts and now it’s 15 kts withgusts to 20 kts. Wow I don't believe itI tell ya, when Mother Nature givesyou a window of opportunity you bet-ter jump out it!I just fished an offshore fishing

tournament and buddy was it rough.We were bucking 5 to 6 footers com-ing back, head on, we took water overthe top of the fly-bridge and now I’mwriting this article 2 days later and thewinds are 15 to 20 kts still. Whew!There is going to be another fishing

tournament June 14 at Gasparilla Ma-

rina put on by Lemon Bay TouchDown Club with up to $12,000 in payouts for red grouper, snapper, and amystery fish. Inshore red fish, trout, .You can get brochures at Fisherman’sEdge and Gasparilla Marina or contactJohn Redman 941-456-1186. If every-thing goes well I will be fishing it.

Well the fish'n tournament wefished last month was windy andnasty, but we caught some grouper andsnapper. Even at anchor our lines were

out 45 degrees with 8 oz of weighton! Our guys weighed in 2, 8-pound grouper but 2 African pom-panos won - an 11-pounder caughtby John Mcintrye and a 10-poundercaught by Randy Comer. Good jobguys! There were some mangsbrought in along with a variety offish, there were 32 anglers. I thinkJohn said it was their first fishingtournament and everyone had ablast.

Well folks it’s that time again.My lips are on the floor and my

writing hand is cramping so if youhave a good ol fish'n story or a recipefor cooking fish that we can sharewith our readers or if you want tobook an offshore charter with usaboard the Predator II give us a call at(941) 473 - 2150 AND REMEMBER GET OUT ANDSNORT SOME OF THAT GOODCLEAN SALT AIR C U Z IT’SGOOD FER YA! ! !

The Olʼ Fishʼn Hole JUNE 2014 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 17

From Capt. Jim OBrienTARPON -- biting good in Boca GrandePass and out on the beach - best baitslive blue crabs, pass crabs and live mullet.COBIA -- moving all around CharlotteHarbor and some are moving out to theoffshore wrecks and reefs -best bait biglively pin fish or a Berkley scented blackand silver eel. I keep one rigged andready all the time.KING MACKERAL -- still being caught in

40 to 60 feet of water drifting, use chumand free line a live pin fish. Trolling use sil-ver spoons, king spoons is a good choice.SPANISH MACKERAL and BONITA --some of the Spanish mackerel are runningwith the Kings. I was talking with the guy 3docks down from me and on SaturdayMay 17 he caught 1 big King mackereland a nice size Spanish mackerel trollingsilver spoons.SHARKS -- all over the place up in Char-lotte Harbor out on the beaches and on

the inshore and the offshore wrecks andreefs. There have been some nice onescaught off the middle beach at night - bestbaits chunks of mullet and chunk bonita.BARRACUDA -- on most of the offshorewrecks right now 30 miles out they will eatjust about anything that is lively and tryingto get away.MANGROVE SNAPPER and LANES --we caught some nice ones in the 20 to 22inch category 30 miles out -best baits cutsquid and squid heads.

RED GROUPER -- chewing good from100 feet, out deeper we are catchingsome decent ones to 110 feet. Some arein the 24 to 26-inch range, but a lot arefthrow backs, 18 to 19 inches. Somefriends in fast boats I fished with werefish'n 120 to 140 feet of water and limitingout every time -10 to 20 pounders, now Itell YA THATʼS A NICE! We are catching most on stink baits,chunks of mullet and chunks of sardines.

OFFSHORE


By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE InshoreThere have been a lot of sharks; little

blacktips, sharpnose and spinners. Goout and get some chum blocks. Get onany of the holes in the Harbor, flatlinesome cut bait - the frozen threadfins areeven working, if you have a hard timegetting the live ones. The sharks willcome to your slick.I’ve been doing good with snapper

lately. Snapper is just starting to move

into the HarborFish the deepermangrove shore-lines around PGIand it’s docks.With the white-bait missing, I’vebeen doing goodwith quarter-sized pinfish thatI have been castnetting on the bar

on theeast side, south of AlligatorCreek. I chum them with tropi-cal fish food and bread.With pinfish for bait there is

also a good chance your snapperfishing by-catch could be a red-fish.There have been some snook

around. The best bite I’ve hadlately is Bull Bay where there ismoving water, by the entrances.Use bigger threadfins and biggerpinfish. Cut a pinfish in half,snook will eat that too!Tarpon fishing on the beach

is with crabs and herring, up thePeace River I dead -a lot. Uppast Nav-A-Gator I thought I

hooked a tarpon; it made apretty good run, but it neverjumped. When it got to the boatit was a 5 foot bull shark! Prettygood surprise. We haven’t hadany rain yet, then it won’t belong before the freshwater startspushing them out of there.Capt. Dave Stephens 941-916-5769

www.backbayxtremes.com

Lots of Salty WaterLots of Fish

FRESHWATER NOTICE on BASS: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conser-vation Commission (FWC) is in the midst of public meeting to discuss a possiblerule change for largemouth bass. The proposal under consideration is for aSTATEWIDE FIVE-FISH DAILY BAG LIMIT, ONLY ONE OF WHICH COULD BE 16INCHES TOTAL LENGTH OR LONGER. In other words, four of the five largemouthswould have to be less than 16 inches total length.


By Capt. Steve SkevingtonWater LIFEPlacidaKeeping your

shark for the grillor deep fryer maysomeday be athing of the past.Year after year,fishing regula-tions in the Gulfof Mexico getprogressivelytighter. The peo-ple that makethese rules do a great job, most of thetime, in managing our fisheries andmaking sure there are lots of fish outthere for our grand kids to catch.Sharks are one species that have beengetting more protection in recent years.These rules are based on good scienceand lots of accurate research.I like to fish sharks offshore with lots

of chum and wait until they are eatingeverything I put in the water...Once they are all heated up it's just a

matter of putting bait in front of them.We fish with 40-pound line and 108-

pound steal leader with just an 8/0 cir-cle hook.That’s all you need to land even

some of the biggest sharks. Look forbonita and Spanish mackerel crashingbait on the surface, there are alwayssharks nearby. Free lining a bonita-steakwill almost always result in a bite!If your fishing to keep one, have a

plan. Shark that tastes good has beengutted shortly after being landed.You need to have lots of ice handy

and, of course, be careful of all theirteeth. The limit is only one shark perboat, per day.As of this writing, sharks we are still

allowed to keep for the dinner plate

are: bull, black tip, spinner, atlanticsharp nose, black nose, and a hand fullof less popular others. But no lemons,no hammerheads, no short fin makos,no tigers, and no browns, (aka SandBars)...and nothing under 54 incheslong coming from Federal waters. Reg-ulations change, be sure to check theregulations yourself before taking ashark home for dinner. They are greaton the grill or deep fried and there aredefinitely plenty out there to catch.Good luck sharking! If you don't get

any, call me! Capt. Steve Skevington(941) 575-3528

SHARK!...It's What's For Dinner 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 satellite tagged 14ft+ 2,300lbs great whiteshark named Katharine was swimming south-west and offshore of the Marathon FloridaKeys late last month.

Donald Graves used his arm-strength to land this big bull shark with Capt. Steve last month.


By David AllenWater LIFE KayakingCharlotte County is blessed with

some of the best mangrove tunnelkayaking short of the Everglades.First, let’s make sure we all knowwhat we’re talking about: mangrovetunnels are channels cut throughlarge, dense mangrove areas, usuallybordering bodies of open water.Years ago many of them were usedfor mosquito control. These chan-nels are narrow, winding pathwaysthat completely surround you with vegeta-tion, often blocking out the sun. Some areso narrow that you can barely swing apaddle. The water is usually very shallowso traversing at high tide is advisable. It’seasy for “first timers” to lose their senseof direction in the shadows and turningaround in the narrow channel can be achallenge. All said, the tunnels are an in-teresting break from open air kayaking.Our kayak club, the Port Charlotte

Kayakers (PCK), paddles the four mainmangrove areas in Charlotte County sev-eral times a year. In no particular order,the main tunnels are; the Woolverton inPlacida, the Triple Lakes between theManchester Waterway and the MyakkaCutoff, the area south of Ponce De LeonPark in Punta Gorda, and the GrassyPoint mangroves off Edgewater Drive.

The Woolverton Trail is widely knownas one of the best trails in Florida and it isregularly maintained to keep the channelsopen. The area between Ponce Park inPunta Gorda and Alligator Creek is thearea where you will find a series of man-grove tunnels that are easily accessibleand fun to paddle. Our club usually doessome branch and tree removal several

times a year, but you still may occasion-ally find one of the channels blocked.The mangrove route between the Man-

chester Waterway, the Triple Lakes, andthe Myakka Cutoff was discovered fairlyrecently by club member, John Keaveny.who had been exploring the area and withthe help of Google Earth, was able to finda path through west of the Lakes. The ad-jacent map shows this area and the Man-chester Waterway which can be easilyaccessed from the Tippecanoe Park launchsite near the Sports Park .Last, and also least, is the smallish

mangrove area just off Grassy Point,about a mile east of the Port CharlotteBeach Complex. Middle to high tide isessential to getting in and around the man-groves there, but once you’re inside, thechannels are very open. It’s also easy toexplore new routes through narrow open-ings in the main channel, but be careful.It can be difficult to find a way back out.I know from personal experience!Some time ago, the PCK decided to try

the mangroves off the Triple Lakes,launching from Tippecanoe Park. Eventhough it was not high tide, and the TripleLakes and mangroves are shallow in

spots, weelected to trythe Lakesroute and so we wound up dragging ourkayaks over several low spots.

From the put-in, a paddle of roughlytwo and a half mile takes you to the en-trance to the Triple Lakes canal. This seg-ment is fairly wide open and relativelydeep; an easy paddle for most kayakers. We moved easily and quickly through

the three lakes, touching bottom only afew times, emerging into the Myakka Cut-off, with Hog Island directly in front of us. After a short break, we headed north-

west toward the entrance to the tunnels.Near the entrance on the Myakka Cutoff,the mangroves are fairly open and it’seasy to get lulled into a sense of an easyday on the water. But a few yards beyondthe entrance, all thoughts of an easy pad-dle are quickly forgotten. The tunnelsnarrow down very quickly to a width of acouple of yards in the wide spots and eventhough we are experienced in paddlingthrough mangroves, those off the MyakkaCutoff are about the toughest.As we paddled, you could continuously

hear the scraping of paddles on the man-

grove branches even though some of ourgroup had reduced the length of their pad-dles by separating the two halves. Aheavy tree branch had fallen in one spot,and we all waited while each kayak waspartly “scooched” and partly paddled overthe intruding obstacle. At the exit from the tunnels back into

the Manchester, the water became evenshallower, mostly due to a buildup of sedi-ment and shell. We had to get out of ourkayaks and carry them the last 25 yards tothe Manchester. It was good to see openwater again and realize that we only had ashort distance back to the launch site. I suppose many of you are wondering

why anyone would take such a paddle, sodifficult and challenging. Part of the an-swer is because we enjoy kayaking andbeing on the water regardless of the diffi-culty of the paddle. Even the tough onesare enjoyable and good shared fun.The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet each

Wednesday evening at Franz-Ross Park next tothe YMCA at 5:00 PM. All are welcome. Formore information, contact me at 941-235-2588or [email protected]

Kaykaing The Port Charlotte Mangroves

Free Estimates Mobile ServiceFree Estimates Mobile Service Professional Quality Awl Grip Finishes GelCoat RepairsProfessional Quality Awl Grip Finishes GelCoat Repairs

www.allf iberglassrepairs.com www.allf iberglassrepairs.com Scott Steffe Owner Scott Steffe Owner

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

Custom Fiberglass Custom Fiberglass ANYTHING!ANYTHING!

Fabrication • Spot Repairs • Major Structural Fabrication • Spot Repairs • Major Structural Custom work is our SpecialtyCustom work is our Specialty

Deli, General Store Deli, General Store –– and More!and More!

Fast, Fresh Breakfast and LunchFast, Fresh Breakfast and Lunch - Open to the Public Call or text your order: 941-677 - 3137

Open Tuesday - Saturday: 7:30 am - 7:00 pm, Sunday 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated,

But Often True

Located off ofBiscayneBoulevard(US 1) inNorth Miami,Aquafair,opened in1956 andfeatured adiving horse,plunging froma high plat-form into apool of water.The parkclosed in1959. Thehorse wasnever injured.

Southwest Florida counties, municipali-ties and organizations have joined to en-gage and educate citizens on the

responsible use of fertilizer. Their slimemonster symbolizes the effect of over-fertilization and runoff.

FWC officers received information abouta picture of speared goliath grouperbeing posted on facebook. Officers wereable to track down two individuals in-volved in spearing the fish. After inter-viewing the subjects the fish wasretrieved from a nearby dumpster. A war-rant was obtained for the violation.

Texas Parks and Wildlife is researchingweather or not to open a cormorant sea-

son in the near future. South Carolinaopened one up in February and the

hunters killed over 12,000 birds on only2 reservoirs. Highly successful! Most an-glers despise them as they gobble upbait fish and fingerlings of sport fish at analarming rate.

This just-completed boat tipped over at

the bodyworks dock. It is very lucky forthe new owner that it happened beforehe left the dockm someone observed.Top heavy boats have tipped over be-fore. Apparently, there are no "creden-tials" necessary to start building orlaunching boats.

An FWC officer received a call concern-ing a subject cleaning and filleting an un-dersized cobia on the Bay County fishingpier. When the officer arrived he foundthe fisherman talking with Panama CityBeach Police Officers. Apparently, inlanding the undersized cobia, the fisher-man knocked over several other fishersand they had called the police to file acomplaint. The officer found a bag offilets on the individual and he confessedto filleting the fish on the pier. A citationwas issued for failure to land cobia inwhole condition. Police banned the sub-ject from the pier.

The Oyster Bar at Fishville has closedand will reopen as a steak restaurant thisfall.

The old Captain and the Cowboy restau-rant, one of the few failures on theRestaurant Rescue TV show, is now re-opening under new ownership as theSmokinʼ Pit BBQ. Weʼre probably on theway as you read this!


The top 11 counties for boating deaths.Charlotte is not one of them!No Lockout, Operatior Inexperience andCollisions With Other Vessels wererecorded as causes of many accidents.

Charlotte HarborFrank, at Fishin’ Franks941- 625-3888There have been a bunch of big black

drum in the upper Harbor at the mouth ofPGI and at the I-75 and 41 bridges. Some-thing like 10,000 just did a spawn. Itdoesn’t matter day or night they will eateither or.

There are still more snook than thereshould be on the east side. I think a lotmade it to the east side and decided tostop there and spawn. They are all aroundthe islands, some are by the bar, butmostly they are in back. The river is at 1.3feet at Arcadia so there is no fresh watercoming down. It’s all about the salt forspawning snook. In salt, the vast majorityof the eggs survive, in fresh water mosteggs die. That’s why in rainier years allthe fish go out to the Gulf to spawn. Strangely this is the best year on per-

mit in the Harbor we have ever seen. Allthe pictures we see aren’t pompano but arepermit. Alligator Creek to Burnt Store,from the passes and beaches all the way to41 and the Bayshore Pier we are seeingpermit. A few years ago we might havethought they were pompano but they arepermit. The permit don’t have the yellow.

Cobia fishing right now is great andit’s going to continue great through thismonth. The yardstick over the last coupleof months has been stuck on spectacular,the best ever. People think is has sloweddown now, but only compared to the lasttwo fantastic months. Now is still good.

The redfish are in schools on the lowerhalf of the east side and toward IndianFields (at Matlacha above Pine Island).If there is a little shade you probably

have a redfish in it. From Pirate Harbor upto Cormorant Key and from Bunrt Store toIndian Fields there are reds. It’s been bet-ter on the Pine Island side than the main-land side, better west than Two Pine.More strange: If you are out in the Gulf

right now the predominant factor ispollen. There are huge drifts of pollen andI think there are fish eggs and spawn float-ing with the massive amounts of pollen.The pollen is mostly from the AustralianPine trees. There are huge mats of green,it looks like algae but it’s actually treepollen. We don’t know, but two peoplecame in the shop and said they saw baiteating it. Maybe they are eating planktonclose to the surface. We hear of light green

and darker colors too. Could it be pollen istrapping the eggs and bringing on a bigfeed? (see photos to the left)

Triple tail is doing pretty good. I wouldn’t have thought so, but it was

60 degrees in the morning a couple ofweeks ago and they like the cool. Checkthe markers in the Harbor. Out in the Gulfcheck anything floating!As far as tarpon goes, the fish are fi-

nally staying in the Pass and should staythere till the next Hill Tide. Try differentsize tails on a jig. Colors haven’t seemedto make as much difference as changing

the shape of the body. Crabs are the bestlive tarpon bait right now. Work themclose to the bottom. If you are in the cur-rent use a big ball bearing swivel. A 1/4 ozrubber cork or a No 1 split shot will workbut the swivel will stay in longer and takeslonger to come up. Draw a triangle fromthe mouth of Bull Bay to Jug Creek Shoaland over to Boca Grande Pass. That’s yourarea for tarpon with crabs hooked in theside and fished deeper. You can freeline athread fin, but you really want your baitclose to the bottom in 10 to 15 feet ofwater. Deep, that’s the key. This year

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

June Fishing ForecastPAGE 22 EMAIL: W [email protected] JUNE 2014

More bait and pollen scum? I shot this inthe Harbor between Marker No.1 andthe Tire Reef the last week of May. – MH

Top and right from Capt. Billy Barton

Kingfisher Fleet guide Bill Lotito nets threadfins in the early am, for his clientʼs

Grandson Nick Panozzo, 9 years old,caught this 28" black drum while visiting

his grandparents in Punta Gorda Isles fromFt. Wayne, Indiana.

being in front of the fishand putting the bait in theirface seems to be working.Go figure!There are a lot of boats

in the Pass and the fishoften break up into smallerschools. Sometimes thatgives you a better opportu-nity. Guys have beentrolling for tarpon a littlemore this year, from Two Pine toPirate Harbor in 5- to 6-feet. Rattle-traps, Storm swimming mullets andBombers work. Bombers are still isthe best troll for tarpon; it’s hard tokeep the Rattletrap from going toodeep. The Rattletrap has to befished on a short leash and it’s hardto do. Some guys like to bounce itand skip it off the bottom. Maybethat’s getting some attention. Flat-ten the barbs on the hooks or takeoff the treble hooks and replace theback one with the single hook froma butterfly rig with no front hook.

Sharks, I almost forgot our lastshark tournament ! The winner willcome from a couple miles offshore,straight out of the Pass in 20- to 30-

feet of water. At Mary’s, the PowerPole and Novak reefs, lately 20 -30bull sharks have been surroundingthe boats fishing there.For stingray the best bet would

be just south of Cape Hazewhere the bar comes out in 6feet of water. There havebeen some monster rayswith 5- to-6 foot wingspansseen there. From in front ofTurtle Bay down to Bull’sBay, look all along the frontof that bar for rays.The Peace River is hold-

ing tons of sailcats. FromHarbour Heights to the 41bridge. If we don’t have rainEl Jo Bean, the Rim Canal atPGI and the pier at Placidawill produce sailcats that will place.

Lemon Bay: Jim, at Fishermen’s Edge,Englewood: 697-7595Still no whitebait. I think we’ve

taken too many small ones and theycan’t spawn. There is some pretty good fish-

ing right now. There are sharks allover, in the Pass, in the Harbor andin the Gulf, big ones too! There are lots of mangrove

snapper in the passes and on thenearby docks and piers. Good sizefish 14- to 15 inches. There areSpanish mackerel, and whiting onthe beach. A number of snook arecoming from the beaches at Gaspar-illa and Little Gasparilla, fish from

along theshore line. North of the bridge,around Lemon Bay Park, thereare some redfish lurkingaround. Ski and Rag Alley andnorth of Stump Pass on the in-side, around the islands, thereare some nice redfish too.

Tarpon are on the beachnow and it’s starting to pick up.There are quite a few tarpon upin the Harbor feeding onthreadfins but no sardines.This has been a good year

for cobia and they are still bit-ing. Offshore, red grouper arereally good, yellowtail andmangrove snapper are hot andamberjack ... drop a big silver jigor a buck tail, and twitch it onceand you got one. I had a few trout

reports at Pine Island and one ofsome big yellow mouth gator-troutin front of Turtle Bay.

COBIA around the US 41Bridges. Night is best.

SHARKS Everywhere, Bulls,hammers, tigers, you name it.

SNOOK Moving to the salt.Fish the beach or ICW docks.

www.fishingpuntagorda.com

TARPON In the passes, holes,Sound and on the beach too!

FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:HangHangOn!On!

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚

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

are 81are 81and warming. Bigand warming. Big

Fish are stillFish are stillmoving aroundmoving around


Right: Jeffrey Lindawsaid he heard aboutsending pictures inand just wanted to

try it out and see if itgets printed. “The

WaterLIFE magazineis awesome! and h -

elpful to me as afishermen! Here's a

28 inch snook Icaught and releasedusing an x-rap lure!”

he wrote.” Here you go, Jeff!Below: A nice red

grouper from Capt.Joe Miller

Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremes

water life june 2014

Documents

page ad

fishin frankcharlotte

gulfcharlotte harbor

ofpalm harbor

radio fishin

lemon bay

billy bartonfamily fishing

orion wholeanbeach fishing