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(941) 766-8180 e-mail [email protected]

Mail: 217 Bangsberg Rd. Port Charlotte, FL 33952

TOTALLY INDEPENDENT

Not affiliated with any other publicationVol XI No 6 © 2012

www.WaterLIFEmagazine.comNo part of this publication (printed or electronic) may be

copied or reproduced without specific written permission fromthe publisher.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoCharter Fishing: Capt. Bart MarxPort Charlotte: Capt. Billy Barton

Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck EichnerCommercial Fishing: Kelly Beall

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerReal Estate: Dave Hofer

Inshore: Fishinʼ FrankOffshore: Capt Jim OʼBrien

Kayaks: David AllenSailing: Bill Dixon (on sabbatical)

Office Dog: Molly Brown on the COVER:

The waves were big at Boca Grande as the PTTSanglers fished for tarpon one day last month. Thispublication supports fishing tourna-ments so long as tournaments giveback to the fishery and ethics are neveroverlooked. See page 11

Letters to [email protected]

Charlotte Harbor Reef Association

Inshore and Offshore HeadquartersInshore and Offshore Headquarters

TURN THE PAGESEVERY MONTH: Back IssuesKids ChartersFishing ClassesTidesWeatherSailingKayakingDiving

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Hey Mike,Just thinking with all the talk about Mote Marine maybe com-

ing to Punta Gorda, why I haven't heard any mention of them build-ing a fish hatchery here? It occurred to me that something of thatnature would be foremost on the fishing communities mind.

The old Punta Gorda Mall property doesn't seem like thebest location to me either, when that parcel east of the court houseis vacant and doesn't the city already own it? It would be an idealspot since its right on the water and the harbor walk.

If you agree, perhaps you could investigate it further andwrite an article about it.

Thanks for all you do for our fishery, Capt. Marc Miller Via Facebook: Taking advantage of the calm condi-tions in a Port Charlotte canal a local dragon boat crewpractices their strokes. Each paddlerʼs inboard paddle-hand grip must stay clear of the paddlers in front andbehind of them on every pull.

Way to Go Ashley!to Whom it may concern;

My name is Chris Burke.Attached is a picture of mydaughter Ashley with the firstsnook she has ever caught.Itʼs a 32" monster she caughton the East Wall Sunday May6. It was one of those daysthat couldnʼt get any betteronce she caught that fish. I'ma carpenter by trade not afisherman, but I enjoy fishing.Ashley and I have been goingout fishing occasionaly overthe last couple of years sincewe got our boat. All I've want-ed to do for several years isto put her on a nice fish and Sunday it happened. I havent stopped grinning yet and I pullout the old cell phone to show it to anyone who will look. So if you guys have room in theWater LIFE that would be awesome! Thank You, Chris Burke, Proud Father

Re Capt. Ron BlagoSawfish article, May

I wanted to say thank you foryour recent article concerning theSmall Tooth Sawfish. I work closelywith most of the marine contractorsin SWFL and our business's are atrisk with the issues we face.

I would like to post this article onour company Face Book page toget out there for more people toread. Please let me know if youwill approve.

Thank you again,Ron PaluckChapter DirectorFlorida Marine Contractors

Association Shoreline Lumber-CEO

Editor replies: Sure! I approve!


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE publisherBrevard County, through the

University of Florida Sea Grant programthere, is cross-training a number ofBrevard fishing guides to become environ-mental guides as well. The thinking inBrevard is there are lots of empty hotelrooms and idle fishing boats so the coun-ty is going to promote eco-tourism andtry to get more families with kids tocome visit Brevard. I wrote about a similar idea in this

space last month: that Charlotte Countyshould promote its unique Estuary andwork to develop more eco-tourism.Betty Staugler, the Charlotte Sea Grant

Agent already has had a number ofCharlotte County captains take herMaster Naturalist program, which shesays is similar to Brevard’s approach.Betty told me the program was becomingvery popular.I like fishing and eco-tourism as ways

to attract visitors to Charlotte County. I was talking to Fishin’ Frank last

month. Frank voiced concern that eco-tourists don’t spend money. It’s a senti-ment I had heard before but I’m not sureit’s accurate. It’s going to take $250 to$300 a day to get a family of four out onthe water for a meaningful CharlotteHarbor environmental experience. But a

family of four $285 just to get intoDisneyland, no food no nothing. They arespending the money, we just have to fig-ure out how to bring those dollars here.The county plans a new website to

attract new Florida visitors for 2013.Florida is a start but it will take more.I have been working on our own

Introduction to Charlotte Harbor Fishingand Eco-tourism website for a couple ofmonths. The start of our site is up andlinked from Waterlifemagazine.com. I believe, wholeheartedly, that the

future of the Charlotte County economyis directly linked to the successful promo-tion of the Charlotte Harbor Estuary. Sowhen I was told the local FlatsmastersTournament Series had taken the giantstep backwards to once again include troutin its targeted-species lineup, I was partic-ularly dismayed. Killing local sport-fishreflects badly on the ability to attractbusiness to our living, breathing, estuary.Flatsmasters had taken trout out of

their tournament line up in 2009 afterthis magazine began publishing picturesof all the dead fish they were responsiblefor. Now, three years later, instead ofcleaning up their act, the tournament justkeeps us away from taking any more pic-tures and has gone back to targeting trout.Talk about tournament ethics.I have never seen a tournament, espe-

cially a warm weather tournament, wherevery many the trout weighed-in actuallysurvived. If Flatsmasters has devised anew way to keep tournament trout alive,I’d love to write about so let me know, otherwise I have to continue to believetrout are especially delicate fish that don’tdo well with a lot of handling. Killing (taking) trout is perfectly

legal. In the tournament the bag limit forevery angler is never be exceeded andanglers can take the trout home to eat.

The only problem is, the tournamentcan no longer claim to be a ‘catch andrelease’ tournament, the tournamentbecomes what I will call a sportfish killtournament. Flatsmasters has to pick a path and

they can’t have it both ways. Personally,I’d suggest they invest in the future. I’dask Flatsmasters to tell the FWC to regu-late trout out of all catch and release tour-naments.

Th ink that’ll happen?

Trout are very delicate and donʼt survive a lot of handling - especially the handling theyget in a tournament. The Flatsmasters tournament still wonʼt let us photograph their eventsbecause we might to come up with a photo like this; of dead tournament trout at a previousFlatsmasters tournament. Flatsmasters removed trout from the targeted species then lastyear trout were quietly brought back for the Couples Tournament after one sponsorallegedly complained.

Brevard Trains Environmental Guides ...Charlotte Goes Back to ʻKill Tournamentsʼ

By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE InshoreThere are many different techniques to fish our local

waters and if you ask 5 people chances are you will get 5different answers. The great thing is probably all 5 willwork under the right conditions. With the summermonths here and the water temperatures rising, the one

technique that I fall back on is cut bait. Water tempera-tures on our flats can exceed the 90 degree mark during thesummer months and like people, fish just want to find ashady area and be lazy. A nice chunk of fresh cut bait can often get the bite

you are looking for. Notice I used the word fresh, frozenbait will work, but I prefer something on the fresher side.The type of bait is a personal preference. One person willswear by mullet and the other will swear by ladyfish.Myself, I like big threadfin herring (shown left). I highly recommend using circle hooks to keep from

gut hooking fish, usually the bite is a lot lighter. Alsobigger hooks 3/0-4/0 to keep the hook point from gettingburied in the bait. A little bit more of a patient approachis also necessary, and I am not known for my patiencewhen it comes to fishing. The great thing is all of ourmajor game species are willing and will take cut bait. I

have caught everything from big snook to cobia in a daysfishing just using fresh cut bait. When targeting snookand reds I recommend fishing mangrove shorelines thathave a lot of nice green shady over hangs. The next timeyou’re out fishing and things are not going like you hadhoped, don’t be afraid to put something dead on the bot-tom.

If you would like to experience some of Charlotte Harbor’sBest fishing give me a call or send me an e-mail and we willcustomize a private charter that best fits you and your party ’sneeds. Capt. David can be reached at backbayx tremes.com


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Cut Bait Works

By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Punta Gorda FishingA phone call to tighten up fishing

plans with Capt. Walt Hill out of WestPalm Beach had me excited. Walt wascoming over to join me for some R&Ron Charlotte Harbor. Normally, anglerscome to Walt as he is renowned aroundthe world for his skills at catching largebluewater pelagic species including everytype of billfish, but after 3 months aboarda private sportfisher he salivated at myreports of huge numbers of snook andtrout. Capt. Tim Richenburg, known asSparky and Walt’s wife Teresa joined usas well. They called on their ride overasking if they needed to pick up shrimp. Itold Walt we were fishing with white baitand he raised concerns that we neededsome back up bait. Walt laughed when Iassured him that now, a blind man couldcatch pilchards and threadfins with only acouple throws of the cast net!A fisherman’s breakfast completed,

boat and cooler stacked and a short rideinto the harbor and we were greeted withdiving pelicans and sheets of bait. Theair was literally “buzzing” with the tightvibrations of baitfish on the surface.Sparky quickly filled the livewell and wesped off to our first spot. I warned every-one that the tide was flat and we needed astrong incoming tide to bring the bite on.So for the first hour I quietly prayed thatthe fish would realize we were releasingdozens of baitfish into their kitchen. Walt has visited me on 4 other occa-

sions in the winter months and thoughtfishing was good. Sparky and I told himhe had yet to see good fishing so I wasfeeling the pressure. Finally, a fish cameup to slurp a bait on the port side, thenthe starboard side. Softly releasing 3”threadfins into the 3 foot depths, we hadfish busting and each of us reared back onbeautiful trout. That was on the port side,towards a mangrove point snook beganplowing our offerings! Sparky announced he had brought an

old grocery store type clicker counter andhe was keeping score this day. Clickafter click. Walt and Teresa could notbelieve what was happening! With somany fish coming aboard Sparky washaving a tough time keeping up and hadmany a fish swallow his hook, bite offhis line and a few poor knots were eventied. I lamented we needed a clicker tocount my $1 hooks that he was mowing

through as we laughedthrough the pandemoni-um fishing event.Simple fishing with ahook tied to a leader youcould cast in any direc-tion and get a bite –quality fish with thetrout running 18 inches,mangrove snapper to 13-and snook up to 25-inch-es. After 3 hours and noreal big fish we ran about

a mile to another honeyhole and managed a cou-ple dozen more snookwith some pushing the30-inch mark. Doubleand triple hook ups werecommon this day. Atday’s end, the clickerread 70 and we estimatedthat we hooked 1 out of3 fish that bit ...andblamed it on the hookstyle. We mused it cer-tainly could not havebeen the anglers! Our day 2 fishing trip started late and

included my wife Joyce. To lighten themood we elected to fish for an hour andrun to the Lazy Flamingo for lunch ataround 1:00pm. With only 5 clicks onthe clicker counter we finished up lunchand headed up the harbor. Heading to theBurnt Store area to fish I peered into thelivewell to see our bait had died at lunch.Approaching 3:00 a little side trip wasnecessary because Walt’s dog Blue wasconfined to his RV back at my house.Back out again by 5:30 we met with astrong west wind and dirty water. Nearblind casting the net in the murky waterSparky filled the well and off we went.Our first spot produced the biggest snookof the trip and a good many bites but theclicker was not impressive. Storm cloudswere piling up and rain was off in the dis-tance as we ran to the next spot.Chumming with frisky threadfins met

with a couple of biting fish as we dis-cussed running for home as the rainbegan pelting the surface. Boat afterboat ran down the east side taking theappropriate decision to not risk theweather. But with a huge low pressure

storm bearing down on us the fishbegan to blast the surface all aroundus as we could hardly see to cast.Redfish, snook, trout and snapper sud-denly began mashing our offeringswhere just minutes before it was hardto tell if there were any fish! Waltwas the redfish king this trip becausehis 5th red was a big one which waseasily over the limit and released. Walt’sbiggest redfish to date! To say we were“lit up” would be an understatement as anoccasional flash of lightening told us itwas time to go. With all our “high 5’s”aside the clicker read 27 fish, not bad for

a couple ofhours.Capt. Walt

and Teresawere nevermoreimpressedwith a fisheryin their life.They havefished as ateam for over25 years inthe mostdesirable fish-

ing locations in the world and concludedthat Charlotte Harbor is as close to para-dise as they have ever been.

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates ActionFlats Backcountry Charters and can bereached at 941-628-8040 or go towww.backcountry-charters.com


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Staff ReportThe Ding Darling Doc Fords Tarpon

tournament last month added two newdimension to tarpon tournament fishing.The tournament which drew 39 Teams

required the top two teams to take a truthverification test which the tournamentsaid is more effective than a polygraph.The test, administered by TVS, Inc. usesa microphone on the subjects to detectchanges in voice patterns and associatedlies. The test is supposedly less stressfuland more accurate than a lie detector test.The tournament also banned lip gaffs

to lessen the impact on the fish. It was a long day of fishing for the

anglers. The tournament started at 7:30 and lasted until4pm. The tournament was all catch and release with atotal of 39 tarpon called in as official catches. The

tournament required photographs of all fish caught. The first catch of the day, at 7:45 was by Team

Windows Plus and aside from a lull between 10 and 11am the fishing was good all day. In all 18 tarpon werelanded and 33 dna mouth-scrubs were taken. Extrapoints were awarded for each scrub.It was neck and neck between Team Doc Ford's and

Team Sand Pebble with each team landing 5 fish andeach doing a DNA scrubs as the clock approached4pm. Team Sand Pebble had caught their first fishbefore the other team, so it looked as if they would bethe winning team. With approximately eight minutes before 4:00

p.m., Team Doc Ford's called in with a hook-up andthey landed that fish at 4:01 p.m., making them thewinning team with 6 official fish.

The tournament supports conservation efforts at“Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge by helpingto balance federal budget shortfalls.

First Place: Team Doc Ford'sPurse: $6,560Captain Nicholas Fischer, John Landry, Joe Harrity, Dennis Florie Second Place: Team Sand PebblePurse: $4,100Captain David Holzhauer; Ken Holzhauer; Gary JenkinsThird Place: Team RushPurse: $3,280Captain Chris Rush; Drew Chicone; James Sublett, Lucas SannerFourth Place: Team R.S. Walsh LandscapingPurse: $1,640Captain Ozzie Lessinger; Justin Walsh; Robert Walsh; Jeremy WalshFifth Place: Team YamahaPurse: $820Captain Ozzie Fischer; Christain Fischer; Adam Bresovits; Bob Rando


Tarpon Tournament requires Voice Poligraph and No Lip Gaffs

90s90s Tarpon & Shark still feedingTarpon & Shark still feeding

90s90s Live bait in baitwell may dieLive bait in baitwell may die

over 80over 80 Cut bait best baitCut bait best bait

80s80s Pattern changes: feeding in shade / nightPattern changes: feeding in shade / night

7575 Tarpon and shark migrateTarpon and shark migrate

75 in Fla Bay75 in Fla Bay Fish start moving north from Fla BayFish start moving north from Fla Bay

72-7672-76 Loop current for April migration patternLoop current for April migration pattern

72 and above72 and above Tripletail and tarpon feed wellTripletail and tarpon feed well

70 to 8070 to 80 Whitebait best baitWhitebait best bait

under 70under 70 Shrimp best baitShrimp best bait

6868 Manatees suffer, Manatees suffer,

6868 Sheepshead thriveSheepshead thrive

6868 Kingfish migrateKingfish migrate

just under 68just under 68 Spanish migrateSpanish migrate

6666 AJ like the cold to feed AJ like the cold to feed

6565 Trout and ladyfish slow, reds still feedingTrout and ladyfish slow, reds still feeding

6262 Gulf winter temp, top to bottom, 20 milesGulf winter temp, top to bottom, 20 miles

mid 60smid 60s Pinfish migrationPinfish migration

mid 60smid 60s Gags and mangs (the big ones) show upGags and mangs (the big ones) show up

low 60slow 60s Brown shrimp come into the harborBrown shrimp come into the harbor

under 60under 60 Not much feeding inshoreNot much feeding inshore

under 60under 60 Catfish and horseshoe crabs in dangerCatfish and horseshoe crabs in danger

upper 50supper 50s Snook could still survive Snook could still survive

under 55under 55 Snook start dieingSnook start dieing

low 50slow 50s Mullet still OKMullet still OK

Influential WaterTemperatures

We talked with local captains in order to compile this table ofwater temperatures that affect our local fishing

By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Baitshop

The biggest argumentabout fishing in the pass it that the guysusing jigs are snagging fish. The thoughtbeing that instead of the tarpon trying toeat them, the tarpon swim by and just getsnagged by the hooks, I doubt this istrue. If it were, there would never be aslow day of fishing tarpon in the pass.Every day the tarpon were there, everyhour it would be Fish On! But the sadtruth is that often there are 100 or moreboats drifting / hovering seeing /markingthousands of tarpon on the fish findersand no fish on. It would be so much easi-er if it were true! I could just tell peoplelook for tarpon on your machine movethe boat over the tarpon snag a fish.Wow, how simple. No need to feel for lit-tle tiny taps on the line, No need to reellike a crazy person trying to catch up tothe fish and get a hook set.Before fish finders boats did what I

would call a long drift. Starting at thehigh side of the pass going all the way tothe other end of the pass. Then with fishfinders the short drift became the thing.Why if you are not marking any fish,would you drift another ¼ mile? No fishon the screen? Fire up and get back to

where the fish are. Now we have thehover drift, which is where the boat staysas long as possible right over the fish. Iam not sure if you would say the fish hasless chance with this method or maybewe should say that the angler has more ofa chance. Either way it is the natural pro-gression of things. Today boats haveevery GPS, sonar, radar, satellite tracker,CIA spy cams you could ever dream of.There could be a reason why many ofthese boats catch a lot of tarpon, withthese electronics they could most likelytell if a fish had hemorrhoids at 1000 feetdown.Up until the jig became popular, tar-

pon fishing was mostly done with livebait, heavy rods with Dacron 50, 60 or80 pound test line on, conventional reels.The boats would drift the lines in the

water. When a rod tip gave the slightestbob the captain would slam the throttle ofthe boat forward, doing what was called ascratch start. This was done because it isvery hard to get the hook to set in themouth of a tarpon. With the power of theboat’s motors the scratch start would drivethe hook into the fish, sometimes thescratch start would also be used to dragthe fish away from the other boats. Once the tarpon was on, it was just a

matter of seconds until the sinker whichwas only attached to the line with lightwire had fallen off, to lay on the bottomof the pass. Scratch starts as well as the“J” hooks used during this time have allbeen banned. Then, break away jiggingwas invented in Louisiana, that's rightnot here. It was first called a coon-droprig, called for the nick name of the peoplefrom Louisiana who used it to fish big-fish in the deep channels at the mouth ofthe Mississippi. The name wasn’t a slur.The hook was tied to the end of the

leader, then the jig head was attached tothe hook with a break away device, whichwas a 30 pound cable tie or zip strip,This light duty cable tie would snap whenthe tarpon bit the jig, knocking lead jigloose from the hook and like the live baitsystem the lead head and tail would endup on the bottom of the pass. This wenton for a couple years until local divers inthe pass noticed all the sinkers, old lead-ers, jig heads, anchors and lots of stuff.They did a Pass clean up, somethingwhich had never been done before. Then agroup petitioned the state to do away withbreak-away gear in the pass. And that’swhere we are today. Frank can be reached at 625-3888 or at

[email protected]


PASS TIME

P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E @ c o m c a s t . n e t J u n e 2 0 1 2

By Capt. Bart MarxWater LIFE FishingHello every one out there in the salt-

water sports-world. Last month a veryclose friend and fellow salt water enthusi-ast drowned. Gerry Green was a sailor,power boater, fisherman, SCUBA diver.He served in the Air Force as a B52 Pilot.He and his son Jeremy were SCUBA div-ing off the coast in Venice in search ofsome trophy sharks teeth and other fos-sils. On the way in Gerry went home tobe with the Lord. The week after the accident Jeremy and

I went diving in the same area looking forhis goody bag and mask that were notreturned after the autopsy. We spent a cou-ple of hours under water searching only tofind nothing. I think it was good for theson to have some closure. Gerry surelywill be missed. Also last month I took out another

friend and his son. This is a totally differ-ent family. The dad’s name is Jeremy andhis son is Jordan. So, Jeremy and Jordanmet me at P.C. Beach Park to start ouradventure, they fish some, so they optedto bring there own rods and reels. As we left the dock we had a prayer

and started rigging their rods and gettingthem ready for our trip. Out into theHarbor we went to find some white bait –and we did.

Right away we used artificial’s tocatch some trout close to where we

caught white bait, south of AlligatorCreek. This was the beginning of an inshore slam that we were trying to accom-plish for Jordan. We then moved a fewmiles to find his next two species – ittook a while to get him a redfish, but itdid happen and then he caught a nicesnook to complete his inshore slam. It was a fun filled day teaching this

young angler some new knots and how tofish. This is one of the things I enjoydoing, spending time with the young up-and-coming anglers. I like anglers willingto listen and learn and apply new informa-tion to their fishing. I learned to fish inCharlotte Harbor and have fished here forover 40 years.

If you want to go out on your own boat ori f you are look ing for a guide with a boat totake you out we can do that too, so give me acall Capt. Bart 941-979-6517 or v isit us atalphaomegacharters.comAnd remember singingdrags and tight lines makeme smile.

GERRY, JEREMY, JEREMY AND JORDAN

Top: Gerry (r) andJeremy.

Right: Jordan hadhis first CharlotteHarbor trout-redfish-snook slam lastmonth. Heʼll be back!


Commentary By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editorLet’s cut to the chase: the PTTS

(Professional Tarpon Tournament Series)doesn’t want me to get close-up picturesat their event because of what the picturesmight show. Ongoing and recentlycharged controversy over whether thetournament snags or cleanly hooks thetarpon is the reason. Last month marine artist Guy Harvey

withdrew his sponsorship for the PTTSciting snagging. I’m not getting in themiddle of that. I know a lot of jiggers.For me the jiggers make better picturesthan the live baiters, although the pic-tures of jumping fish from the live baittournaments are cleaner and easier toframe. The anglers keep calling to get freereprints and the PTTS has 5340 likes onFacebook. So a lot of people are involvedwith the PTTS.I go there to take pictures for you our

readers. The two sides can sort it out thejigging stuff between themselves. If jigswere outlawed tomorrow, the day aftertomorrow the same boats would be outwith the same anglers and they would fig-ure out a new way to reel in tarpon.There would be another tournament, andI’d be there. It’s fishing. Fishermen areresourceful. I like that part of fishing.I am not against tournament fishing

and this story is not about snagging fish.This is about private businesses whichmonopolize the public fishery solely tomake a profit and businesses that thinkthey can take over the public waters.At last month's PTTS tournament at

Boca Grande there were five police boatson station. Some boats had two officersaboard. On land this size event would berequired to pay for the extra police pres-ence. And on land there would be an eventor permit fee. But not here.Taxpayers have been picking the costs

up at Boca Grande for years, but startingthis month, according to FWC CaptainDenis Grealish, the PTTS is going tohave to pay for one off duty FWC officerto be on station in an FWC boat at everyPTTS event. “The FWC officer will belooking at safety issues, he’s not there toenforce tournament regulations,” Capt.Grealish told me, adding “the PTTS mustalso provide insurance.In that same conversation Grealish

also told me that the FWC at the statelevel is now looking at Boca Grande dur-ing tarpon season as a real safety concern.These are steps in the right direction.

The FWC can’t afford to use up its man-power all in one place and the safety issueis very real. Tournaments are big money they need

more financial responsibility to the pub-lic trust they use. Society dictates whenyou use a public resource for private gainthere is a social and moral obligation to

use it fairly and ‘give back’ According to State records a sizeable

local boat dealer is the name behind thePTTS tournament. He should get theOpen to the Public concept. He runs areputable dealership and his service depart-ment has a very good following. He’s inbusiness for the long haul. He supportsthe high school. I like the man, but evenhe can’t take over the pass.Last weekend I was at Boca Grande at

7 am for the start of the PTTS. The tidewas coming in and the wind was blowingout. There were 5-foot rollers rocking thefleet of 75 boats in the pass. The pictureopportunities looked good for me, but thePTTS Pass Crew boats only wanted toget between me and whatever I was shoot-ing. They wanted their pictures and theydidn’t want me there at all. One of mypictures last year, of a tarpon gaffedthrough the side of it’s head, probably hadsomething to do with it, but it was thewinning fish, I wasn’t going to hide that! This year, with the hooking vs. snag-

ging controversy I assumed the PTTSsaw me as another liability for more badpress, but that wasn’t my intention. I waslooking for action. I always like action!Look at the cover this month. Action!The PTTS was shooting their own

video. It was the same old story, Hey! Weare filming a TV show! It was the samestory as 15 years ago, before the PTTScame into existence. The drift fishingguides would yell at me "Hey, I'm tryingto make a living here," Everybody wantsto have their own way in the Pass. Thelive baiters who sometimes didn’t firmlyattached the $50 tarpon tag to every fish(so they could re-use it) they didn’t wantmy camera too close either. People uni-versally tend to hide the stuff they knowis wrong from the camera.But it can’t work that way and that is

exactly why it is so important to have animpartial observer in attendance; to reportwhen one faction wants too much, whenthe law is being broken or when the lawenforcers themselves get confused. If I come up with a picture of a

snagged fish that’s not my doing. If it’sclean hooked I didn’t do that either.The Pass is open to everyone, tourna-

ment fishermen, spectators recreationalanglers and passers by... and the media. Asafe distance between all boats is whatmatters most, then second is that no oneinterferes with anyone else’s fishing.Florida has a statute to ensure that: Flastatute 372-705. It’s vague, but it’s law.

I would have lived with the PTTSguys childlike me-first-in-front-of-youbehavior. The conditions were rough butit wasn’t unsafe. I just worked aroundthem. But when an FWC officer beckonedme over to tell me he had a call from oneof the PTTS tournament boats, complain-ing I was ‘too close to them’... then thatchanged things. That was a lie.When someone pushes me around,

keeps getting in my face, lies about whatI am doing and calls the cops on me I amgoing to refocus my attention, react, andlet you the reader decide. When I talked with the FWC officer I

asked him if he thought I was too closeto anyone. He told me he hadn't seen me,that he was just responding to a VHFradio call from someone - he didn’t knowwho. The officer’s supervisor agreed thenext day. The FWC officer needed to have seen

it for himself before he interacted withme. I’m sure the officer thought he washelping out, but he was wrong.This took place at the weigh-in along

the beach, the entire weigh in crowd sawthe FWC come up to my boat. I am surethey assumed I was being reprimanded fordoing something wrong - that’s why youare reading this and not a winner’s list.There were no winners. I'd have gone to the local newspaper,

but the local paper, the Charlotte Sun,has been compromised as well, withadvertising dollars, their own two tourna-ment boats and with free tournamententry fees. The Sun is no longer theimpartial media. They sold out.

I Love Tournamentsbut......

ABOVE: If safety is an issue then tourna-ment boats are the ones most often tooclose. Hard backing down (like shown hereto block my picture of the ʻline-touchʼ) isthe norm at this event. It looked like thisfish might have been lost because of it.BELOW: Donʼt call the Charlotte Sun tocomplain about tournaments, with two tour-nament boats supplied to them and freeteam entries the Sun can no longer be con-sidered to be impartial.


By Capt. Bi l ly BartonWater LIFE / Charlotte HarborIt's that time of year. Plenty of

fish to keep the avid angler occu-pied. As a full time fishing guide,I can often take my pick ofspecies and go out there and besuccessful. But there's one fishI'm gonna write about this month.It's the fish that's getting all theattention so why not! Peoplecome from all cities and states andeven countries to our area to targetthese fish this time of year. Theyhave no edible value - catchingone and selling it to the fishhouse isn't gonna make you rich.But I think I speak for about 99-percent of fisherman who say ifthere is one fish that we have herethat is the fight of a lifetime it'sthe tarpon, or silver king.These fish can be found any-

where you go in our waters thistime of year. The ICW's, thepasses, the grass flats, the holesin the harbor, and the bridges areall places you can find the silverking. They are here to spawn andI'm going to put my focus on thesurvival rate of these fish. There's so much talk about the

mortality rate of the tarpon. Iknow first hand because I've han-dled so many of these fish thatthey absolutely have so muchheart that they fight themselvesalmost to death by the time theyarrive at the boat. One thing I see all the time

that kills me. DONT EVERBRING A TARPON IN YOURBOAT! There are so many waysthis hurts the fish it's not evenfunny. Their scales, and theirslime are meant to protect themfrom bacteria and diseases thatthey are much more prone to than

human beings. This is most cer-tainly a way to kill the fish.Also try to be weary of picking

the fish up by the underneath ofhis gills. This is how he breathesair. Just pick his head up out ofthe water by his lips, snap a quickphoto, and get him back underwater.

Light tackle fishingfor large tarpon in my opinion isa big no-no. Yes it can be done,and yes it's a blast, but it kills thefish because it takes so muchlonger to land it. I'm not sayinggo out there and fish em on six-ots! But definitely draw the line

in the middle. On my spinningoutfits for large tarpon I put myclients on 50-pound braid to a 60or 80-pound piece of fluorocarbonleader. This is a perfect choice onyour large spinning outfits. Fortyor 50 pound is also a good sizeline to spool on your convention-al outfits as well – monofilamentmay be a better choice on thesereels, however. It tends to work alittle bit better and doesn't dig inunderneath itself under an enor-mous amount of pressure. I have a pretty good rule of

thumb when fishing for theselarger fish inshore. If he's not tothe boat in 45 minutes to an hourat most, he's not coming to theboat period. I'll break him off orbreak his will and get him to theboat myself. It kills the fish.There's no reason in less than 20feet of water you can't land even a150-pound fish if you are usingthe appropriate tackle. For every half hour of fight, it

takes me a good 15 minutes ofrevival on a good size tarpon. Ifyou can't get in the water with thefish to get him revived, the bestway is to just do it boat side. If

On May 13th we went fish-ing with a fantastic 76 year oldgentleman named DominicDeMarco.

He was in the hospital withcongestive heart failure in Decof 2011 (just 5 months ago)and he has always wanted tocatch a tarpon. On MotherʼsDay he finally had his day.

Dominic is an avid inshorefisherman and has loved to fishhis entire life both saltwaterand fresh. He has many storiesand some involved him fallingthrough the ice up north.

We left the Harbor Lightsdock at 6:30 AM and headedout of the Venice Inlet withboth live bait and crabs, insearch of tarpon rolling andfeeding. As we slowly headedsouth we sited a few pods oftarpon. As tarpon fishing goesyou have to position yourself(the boat) and have patience.Waiting for the tarpon to comeyour way or slowly troll towardsthem and then at the right timecast your bait into the "dough-nut" or group of tarpon swirlingon the surface.

We have been taking a fewtrips each Spring for the last 4years in an effort to hook upDominic with his prize tarpon.

We have had bite offs, quickjumps and have gone dayswith no sign of any tarpon atall.

May 13th, 2012 was finallythe right day and Dominic wasready. When we hooked up histarpon the smile acrossDominic's face was huge andcontinuous throughout theentire 35 minute fight. It was adream come true to finally fightand bring to the boat a largetarpon. This tarpon jumpednumerous times and he foughtup to the boat and then swamback away to keep fighting.

Thanks to Jim Cassattafrom Rochester, who's boat wewent out on. Dominic's lifetime goal happened. This 100-pound tarpon was the largestand best fighting fish Dominichad ever caught. Best of all wereleased it back and have thepictures and memories to cher-ish forever. What a great dayto share with a great guy whodeserved the prize of a greatfighting fish- the tarpon!

If you have never taken thetime to try tarpon fishingplease do! You'll never, ever,forget it.

Glen Ballinger(941) 323-5251

Finally a Tarpon forDominic DeMarco

The Most Beautiful Fish In Our Waters . . . Letʼs Handle ʻem Right

J u n e 2 0 1 2 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m P a g e 1 3

The Most Beautiful Fish In Our Waters . . . Letʼs Handle ʻem Right

you keep his head under water and idleyour boat very slowly while slowly mov-ing his head back and forth to get thatwater flowing through his gills, this isthe best way to bring him back. Wait tillhe gives a few shakes, and he acts like hewants to go, then let him swim. I won-der every time I catch one of these fishafter I let him go, if he's gonna make it or

not. Most do swim away, but I still won-der and I still care. One day I want mychildren to be able to experience what Ihave today and I want tarpon to be herestill thriving. They are like nothing elsewe have to offer in our waters. Maybe this article didn't make any

sense to some. Maybe some it madethink twice about the way they've handled

their fish. I don't know the outcome ofwhat I write. All I can do is try, and hopethat someone listens. We all as a team of avid anglers and

partakers of the salt life need to respectour fishery and this beautiful place we livein. I'm done moping about how to handlea tarpon! Y’ all get out there and get ya asilver king if you haven't yet! It'll be afight you'll never forget. Just take care ofhim when you're done with him, and lifeis good. Don't forget to take a kid fishingtoo! Capt. Billy Barton operates Scales N

Tai ls Charters. He can be reached at 979-6140 or : [email protected]

By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffRecently I had the misfortune of

watching the May 24th Charlotte CountyBoard of County Commissioner’s meet-ing on their web site. I was told that theywere going to finally get rid of the elec-tronic pay-meter stations at our localbeaches and boat-ramps. It seems that theold equipment was wearing out and thetime had come to either replace it withnew equipment or go in a new direction. I was told that the county was going

to go to the same system used at the stateparks namely you put a few bucks in anenvelope and drop that in a box.The Beach and Shores, Parks and Rec,

and the Marine Advisory Committee allvoted to give this plan a try, but 4 out ofthe 5 commissioners did not see thingsthe same way.The first question that came up was

how much money do we make in parkingfees. The head of Community Servicestold the board that they bring in abouthalf a million dollars a year. One of thecommissioners said he had a report thatthe figure was less than $300K last year.As a member of MAC, I have been tryingto get an honest accounting on parking

fees for three years. The last report I gotfrom Park and Rec was for the first 9months of fiscal year 2010 which showed$154,885.68 as Total Meter Revenue forBeach Parking and $47,122.50 as TotalMeter Revenue for Boat Ramp Parking.Boy, that's a long way from a half a mil-lion bucks.What amazed me about the discussion

was the lack of information about whatthe cost side of the equation was. Therepair cost on the existing equipment isabout $30K per year. The replacementcost for the equipment is $152K with anestimated life of less than 10 years. Plusthere is the collection cost. Currently thecounty sends two employees in a countyvan everyday to pick up that money. Ihave seen them on rainy days when therewere no boats on the water; picking upthe money. I have seen them on weekendsand holidays picking up the money.Where does that cost fit in to the equa-tion?When it comes to boat ramps the situ-

ation becomes more ludicrous. I heard oneof the commissioners say that she couldsee removing the parking fee at the beach-es but not at boat ramps. After all shesaid, boat ramps are so expensive and the

users should pay. Let me tell you some-thing; boaters just want a ramp and a flatpiece of land to park the truck. On a goodday you spend less than 15 min. at theramp. It was the county officials thatwanted to pave and landscape everythingso now we have parking spots at anaverage cost of $20,000 each. When itcomes to paying our fair share; rememberthat we pay to register our boats and forus Charlotte County residents, we pay anextra fee that is supposed to go to boatramps. We pay to register our trailers andwe pay to register the vehicle that haulsthem both. We pay for our fishing licenseand we pay a special tax for gas we buyon the water. We even pay an extra tax onevery piece of fishing equipment we buy.When does paying your fair share turninto gouging the boater?One of the commissioners said the

problem was that we make it too hard forpeople to pay for parking. He see's a sys-tem where you can use a credit or debit

card even an app for your i-Phone. I'mnot even going to explain the effects onelectronics in a salt water environment orthe probability of computer hacking. It'sa parking lot people, not the space shut-tle. If you want a high tech problem tosolve how about the 11% unemploymentproblem in this county or the hundreds ofproperties that are in foreclosure. Or thethousands of homes that are upside down.Remember, taxpayers already payed forthe land and the facilities on it once; andwe are currently paying the salaries ofthose who maintain that property. Whydo we have to pay to park? That's likepaying off your mortgage and having thebank tell you now you have to pay rent.One of the commissioners made a very

astute observation. He said in Englewoodall the locals just drive to the Sarasotapart of town, that parking is free there.Come on Charlotte County - BringBack the Free Parking!Capt. Ron: [email protected]


How Small Problems HelpBig GovernmentExample # 1: Boat Ramp Parking

Manatee Migrations

Scientists claim there are two species of Manatees: the Florida manatee and theWest Indian manatee. Above the red lines indicate areas scientists agree that mana-tees are present. The white arrows represent what we believe are the directional trav-els of manatees, indicating the potential for interbreeding and the debunking of thetheory there are two different species. One species would need to be counted alltogether. One species would total over 8,000 manatees, too many for the endangeredclassification that brings the funding to the manatee scientists. So the lies go on.

The yellow line is the path of ʻMo ̓a radio tracked animal on its way to cuba fromthe Dry Tortugas. It was captured before it made it to Cuba so no one would know.

Closer to home, this big legal black grouper cameup with Steven Lee on May 25 from 95 feet of water offBoca Grande, very shallow for a fish of this quality.

By Bobby Vital is JrSpecial to Water LIFEBluefish are fun to catch. They give a

good fight. I can catch them at any time ofthe day. I have caught four bluefish in a oneweek period all with nice length. The legallength to keep the bluefish in this area isfrom 12-inches or more from the fork of thetail. Ten per day is the bag.The food value is ok, as long as you cook

it in the same day. I would not recommendfreezing this fish. We do not keep our fish.We catch and release. The best places to catchthese bluefish is at the Tom Adam’s Bridge inEnglewood, Middle Beach in Englewood, orat Sharky’s Pier in Venice. I learned bluefishcome in schools. If you find one, you aregoing to find another. You will find the blue-fish along beaches and in the bay. There are many ways to catch bluefish,

but the best way is to go spinning for thembecause you need the faster retrieve to move alure at a pace that will interest the bluefish. There are many lures you can use. The

best lure I use is the GOT-CHA lures. Thecolor is chartreuse head with silver body andweight is 7/8oz. to 1oz., with red or silver

hooks which will do the job. The other twolures I use is the D.O.A C.A.L 3” shad tailmodel #419 color (green back), or model#351 color (root beer/chartreuse tail). The jighead I am using for the shad tail is theD.O.A C.A.L Short Shank from 3/8oz. to1/2oz. weight. Color is white, or chartreusehead. If I am going shallow, I use a 3/8oz. jig

head. If I am going deep with a current I usea 1/2oz. jig head. Note: Some other peopleare catching bluefish with live or dead frozenshrimp which is productive as well. The presentation using these lures is at a

fast speed. As you’re reeling it in, give itsharp jerks every so often. Now, with theGOT-CHA lures, I also have caught snook,ladyfish, shark, and Spanish mackerel. Withthe root beer/chartruse tail, I have caught red-fish. When using the shad tail, I put PRO-CURE bait scent on it. I use the mulletscent, which is most productive. I have usedthis scent and it does catch me more fish. Allyou have to do is just put enough on theshad tail every couple of casts. For my mainline I am using 30lb. test SUFIX 832ADVANCE SUPER line (BRAIDED). For

my leader line, I am using 3 feet of 25lb. testSEAGUAR FLUOROCARBON LEADERline, which is invisible in the water. Whentying your leader line to your jig head, I sug-gest you use the RAPALA knot because itwill create more action out of the jig. So, if you want to have fun catching blue-

fish, try this method.

BLUEFISH: The Pier Angler

KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -- Last month, divers cele-brated the 10 year anniversary of the sinking of the SpiegelGrove. It was a story that could have been scripted for amajor motion picture, but no writer could have conceivedthe plot that began with the May 17, 2002, prematuresinking of the Spiegel Grove in the Florida Keys NationalMarine Sanctuary.The story of its Spiegel Grove's voyage to the bottom

at a depth of 130 feet is as intriguing as its present-daycoral growths. Designed to carry cargo and craft for amphibious land-

ings, Spiegel Grove was in operation from 1956 until itsdecommissioning in 1989. In June 2001, after more than a decade in the U.S.

Navy's "Mothball Fleet" in Virginia's James River, SpiegelGrove was towed to undergo an elaborate cleaning process.Eleven months later it was moved to Key Largo. Six hours before its intended scuttling, the vessel pre-

maturely sank and unexpectedly rolled over, leaving its

upside-down bow protruding above the surface of the water.Three weeks later, on June 10, 2002, a salvage team

sank the vessel fully and it came to rest on its starboardside. The enormous ship immediately attracted reef fish andmarine growth. It officially opened to divers June 26,2002, luring underwater enthusiasts to the new artificialreef's cliff-like hull sprawled across the sandy bottom. Three years later, the story took another unexpected

twist. July 9, 2005, brought what many call HurricaneDennis' gift to sport diving. The storm skirted the Keys,but when it was east of Cuba it generated powerful currentsthat migrated up the Florida Straits — and turned theSpiegel Grove upright, according to a meteorologist at theKey West National Weather Service Office.Enveloped by delicate corals and invertebrates, Spiegel

Grove's top deck is about 60 feet below the surface of theocean. It currently is residence for more than 200 species offish, marine experts said.The Spiegel Grove has generated an estimated $25 mil-

lion in tourism revenue during the past 10 years accordingto Key Largo Chamber of Commerce officials.

Artifical Reef Turned Over



PROVIDED to Water LIFE BY: Dave Ho fer RE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected]

Recent area news i tems:1. Nationally, "for sale" inventorydeclined to 2.37 million homes from3.03 million in March, 2011. This levelis now 41% below the peak in 2006.Median sales prices have risen 5.3% dur-ing the year, but not consistently frommarket to market. Prices improved in 74of the 146 markets studied. CharlotteCounty posted 186 foreclosures inMarch, down 15% from March, 2011.2. Mote Marine has started activitieshere in Charlotte County. The Sarasotabased organization is garnering significantcommunity support to establish an aquar-ium in Punta Gorda. Their first step isto relocate a 25 ft & 50 ft research boatsat Laishley Marine. City funds willprovide slips for the boats.3. Much to the dismay of many PortCharlotte area residents, 1048 lot ownerswill get a new MSBU to install newsewers. The EPA has long been tryingto force Charlotte County to install theseamenities to limit contamination ofCharlotte Harbor tributaries.4. Punta Gorda statistical survey(SMSA) saw unemployment rate from9% in March and 10.6% last March.

5. Punta Gorda council members,Albers and Wallace, want to extend thenew linear park from Shreve St. east toCarmalita Ave. Goldberg and Freelandwant to complete the planned 20' side-walk from the former Best Western Hotel(the planned cantilevered 20' walkwayaround the hotel property is still on planto be completed later this year) to thewest end of the park rather than complet-ing the paved link to US 41.Determined to eliminate as much recre-ational greenspace as possible from thepark, Goldberg observed that "Its likehaving Burnt Store Road go from fourlanes in one phase to two lanes in anoth-er". Seems to me that, at some point,all "four lane" highways, "go to twolanes...". Council appears to be dead-locked on this decision.In other news: Control of CharlotteCounty Commissioners is up for votersto decide on August 14. CommissionersStarr (dist 1) with two contesters,Skidmore (dist 3) and two contesters andDuffy (dist 5) with one competitor are onthe Republican primary ballot. The sher-iff's spot will be up for grabs amongthree candidates as current sheriffCameron is retiring. Also retiring isFrank Desguin from the county appraiserspot. Paul Polk, has abandoned hisDemocratic affiliation to oppose JohnPerez in an effort to take over the posi-tion that is said to be critical to thehealth of our real estate market. Punta Gorda passed an ordinance tolimit fertilizer use to 4 ounces per yearper home. Enforcement of this restrictiveordinance should be an interesting effort.Sales S tatistics: Generic lot sales inthe North Port & Port Charlotte marketscontinue to stabilize in the $4-$5K area.Canal front lots are trading in the $125-$150K area. Distressed home sales havedeclined dramatically allowing year-over-year median sales prices to rise by 10%in Deep Creek & 20-25% in the PortCharlotte-North Port markets. Medianprices in the waterfront communities arestill stagnant.

RealEstateNews

The Redfish Key condominiums on Lemon Bay in Englewood are undergoing somerepairs. The numbers spray painted all over the exterior represent calculations allegedlyrelative to a stucco delamination problem. Seems like a lot of math for a stucco job.

Statewde Boating Confrence A recap from Stem to Stern

Special to Water LIFEA technology consultancy, has developed and con-

structed a robotic fish that will patrol Spanish harborwaters for pollution. The machine is built of carbonfiber and metal and encapsulates an internal artificialintelligence unit which tells the machine where togo, while a sonar system keeps it from hittingobjects. Chemical sensors are placed inside the“body” of the fish, which allow water to passthrough to detect pollution.

The fish can allegedly work autonomously tohunt down contamination in water and send informa-tion back to scientists onshore. The first trials areunderway now off the coast of northern Spain, inGijón harbor.“The idea is that we want to have real-time mon-

itoring of pollution, so that if someone is dumpingchemicals or something is leaking, we can get to itstraight away, find out what is causing the problemand put a stop to it,” said a senior scientist.

By Betty S tauglerWater LIFE / Sea Grant Last month Florida Sea Grant, the

Florida Fish and Wildlife ConservationCommission, the Florida Department ofEnvironmental Protection and theUniversity of Florida Levin Law Collegehosted from Stem to Stern II, a statewideboating and waterways conference. Beloware some highlights.Trends in Boating – Dusty McCoy,

CEO of Brunswick Corp. gave an excel-lent presentation describing U.S. trends.Take home points – In 2011, outboardboat sales saw a modest recovery.Inboards and stern drives are still on thedecline (source: National MarineManufacturers Association). U.S. boat-ing participation by adults in 2011(34.8% participation) was at its highestlevel since 1997. The average age ofboats are getting older (over 20 years in2011 versus 15 years in 1997). Andboaters are getting older. In 2011, themost frequent age distribution of power-boat owners was 44-54 yrs/old comparedto 1997 when the most frequent age dis-tribution was 40-44 yrs/old. Likewisesailboat owners are also getting older (45-54 yrs/old in 1998 versus 55-64 yrs/oldin 2011). If we look at recreational boat-ing participation (from 2010) roughly athird currently boat (32.4%), a third usedto boat (31.1%) and a third are non-partic-ipants (36.5%). Key to boating participa-tion seems to be exposure as a child.78.1% of current boaters boated as a childwhere as 60.1% of non-boaters today did

not boat as a child. Rule Updates – Shaun Davis, FWC,

presented on FSS 327.46. What is that?Well it’s the rule that governs boatingrestricted areas. 327.46 grants authorityto FWC and local governments to estab-lish ordinances for “any purpose necessaryto protect the safety of the public.”However the rule also says no ordinancemay take effect until FWC has reviewedit and determined that the ordinance isnecessary to protect public safety. Therule created two review levels for boatingrestricted areas. The first, for launchfacilities, bridges, flood control structures,small water bodies and swim areas willrequire limited review (these are easy tojustify). The second, for visual obstruc-tions, congested boating areas, user groupseparation, hazardous currents/water levelsand “other” navigation hazards will requiresubstantial review. It is noteworthy thatthe statute requires “boating-restrictedareas” to be “necessary based on boatingaccidents, visibility, hazardous currents orwater levels, vessel traffic congestion, orother navigational hazards.” Therefore,local ordinance proposals relating to“boating restricted areas” must have somekind of statistical or factual basis to justi-fy why a “boating-restricted area” is nec-essary (Source:http://www.law.ufl.edu/conservation/waterways/waterways/rights.shtml).Pilot Mooring Program – Several

speakers… Here I reference Byron Flynn,The Flagg Firm, P.L. Five communitieswere selected to create local ordinances

which would allow them to restrictanchoring outside of a managed mooringfield (currently prohibited). The pilotprogram will run through 6/2014 atwhich time the pilot ordinances will nolonger be in effect. St. Petersburg,Sarasota, Monroe County, Martin/Stuartand St. Augustine were selected to partici-pate in the pilot program. St. Augustinewas the first to pass its local anchoringordinance (12/11). Its first violation wasin 3/12; the vessel owner is contest-ing…a hearing is set for June 4th. St.Pete had the 1st reading of its ordinanceon May 17th, 2012 and new ordinancelanguage has been proposed for Sarasota.Sources of Information for Boaters –

Bill Sargent, FWC, gave a presentationon a fairly new boat ramp inventory proj-ect FWC is undertaking. The results ofthe inventory are being used to create anonline ramp finder. As of May 1st, 2012,

3,855 ramps have been inventoried.Almost 1,800 of those ramps are avail-able for public use. The ramp inventoryhas two online components. A passwordprotected portal allows local partners (pri-marily county and city governments) toadd ramps to the inventory and edit infor-mation as ramp conditions change. Thepublic side of the inventory is a statewideramp finder which includes all identifiedpublic ramps. Users can query the sitefor ramps by county or proximity usingan address or GPS coordinate. Once auser finds a ramp they will receivedescriptive information, photographs andmaps. See: www.myfwc.com/boatramps

tty StauglerFlorida Sea Grant AgentUniversity of Florida IFAS ExtensionCharlotte County(941) 764-4346

Robotic ʻfishʼ to monotor Spanish pollution

Capt. Richard Moore in the fwcʼs main office is looking at Boca Grande for safety. Underthe new FSS 327.46 statute, in the future, a crowded Boca Grande Pass could be designat-ed a BOATING RESTRICTED AREA to protect the safety of the boating public.



By David Al lenWater LIFE KayakingLettuce Lake is one of the paddles that

our club keeps returning to over and overagain. And yes, it's partially because oneof our charter members likes that paddleparticularly well and suggests it often atour weekly meetings. But Lettuce Lake has much more to

offer than just a single recommendation.One nice feature of paddling Lettuce

Lake is that the Lake is just a short runnorth on Kings Highway to SR 761 andjust a quick jaunt east to Lettuce LakeRd. About 10 miles total from Hwy. 41in Port Charlotte.Upon arriving at the launch site, you'll

find a fairly large, sandy beach alongside aconcrete ramp. There is adequate, no-charge parking and a couple of Porta-Potty's. On a normal Sunday there are rel-atively few power boats using the launchramp so getting the kayaks into the wateris quick and easy from the adjacent beach.The area surrounding Lettuce Lake has

a diversity of channels and mangrove tun-nels; some of the mangroves are so nar-row and closed in that a kayak can barelynavigate through the tangled branches andfallen trees. Farther south, there are broadareas of open water with spectacularviews of huge trees, many vine covered,

with birds of all description filling the air.There is an abandoned phosphate docklocated about 3 miles south of LettuceLake at Liverpool. There is also a boatramp at Liverpool. A Rookery Island, justwest and south of Liverpool, in the eastedge of the Peace River, is home to hugeflocks of wood storks, herons, and manyother species of birds. During the matingseason, the Island is almost completelycovered with nesting birds, each nurturingtheir young offspring.If you take the northern channel from

the launch site, you immediately findyourself in narrow mangrove passages, inthe shade of the surrounding trees, withthe channel increasingly narrow and twist-ed. There are often many small trees andbranches blocking the path and you haveto both paddle and "Schooch" to get overthe water-soaked logs. After paddlingabout 1.25 miles you arrive at an openingto the Peace River just upstream from theSR 761 bridge.

Paddling south from Lettuce Lake willtake you, after about 3 miles on thewater, to the Liverpool Docks. This areahas an interesting history, but littleremains to be seen except small sectionsof the limestone blocks that formed theoriginal dock. Liverpool was the termi-nal point of a phosphate railroad con-structed and owned by John Cross ofLiverpool, England. In the late 1890s,phosphate was loaded onto ships andtransported to Boca Grande for shipmentto other US ports and foreign countries.When the Peace River pebble phosphatedeposits were depleted in the 1920s,Liverpool became a ghost town.Today, Liverpool is a quiet place to

take a relaxing paddle and several goodbeaches to take a break.

The rookery on the lower Peace Riveris just inside Hunter Creek. FromLettuce Lake Hunter Creek is about an 8mile paddle. An easier trip would launchfrom Harbor Heights Park, with HunterCreek about 1+ miles SE of the ramp.And to explore all the options in the

Lettuce Lake area, take note that the Nav-A-Gator Grill is only a mile or so southand west of the Lake. There is a publicramp with excellent parking and rest-rooms, plus a picnic area. The Nav-A-Gator is a good spot to have a sandwichand beer after a long paddle.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday evening at 5:00p.m. at PortCharlotte Beach Park . All are welcome tocome and learn about kayak ing. For moreinformation contact Dave Allen at 941-235-2588 or [email protected].

Paddling Lettuce Lake


With Capt. Jim O'BrienWater LIFE Englewood Hey YA - ALL - Whew, how do you

like this weather? Is it summer or what?The fish feel it, everything is here andhungry. The permit are here, little sharksand big sharks are here, tarpon are all overthe place, snook, red fish and trout allchewing good. The guides and back bayguys I talk to agree the fish'n is great! Snook are in the pass's and white bait

is a good bait to use. Ther’s lot of blackdrum being caught at the El Jobean bridgeand pier, best baits are crab and jumboshrimp fished right on the bottom. Redfish are also being caught in the

passes and on the walls of CharlotteHarbor. Permit are on the near shore reefsall the way out. Early in the morning, incalm water, you can see them finning onthe surface above the wrecks. I like the sil-ver dollar size crabs– I take side cutters andsnip one of the points of the shell off, thislets a lot more scent out, then put the

hook on the opposite side and put a splitshot sinker about 6 to 8 inches above thecrab, and cast it out ahead of the permitjust so he can see it, wait a couple of min-utes and BAM all heck should break loose.arpon are all over the place right now –

they are in Boca Grande Pass they are onthe beachs and up in the Harbor. Best baitsare crabs, hand picked shrimp (BIG - UNS)live thread fins and squirrel fish.Cobia are usually swimming above the

wrecks, some are still being caught onNovak’s reef, Pegasis, Charlie, and theBayronto. I like to cast a Berkley black ansilver scented eel or the pink or blackHOGY soft plastic with a weighted head orthe offshore angler cobia jig in brightorange. The squirt has glitter specks ifthey won't hit that then put a squid headon the hook let the tentacles come outpast the squirt. I mean to tell- ya if thatdon't turn him on then MOVE.The ajs are on the same reefs and

wrecks as the cobia are on and if you cantravel out a little farther the Pipe Wreckand D9 have been catching some BIGBOYS from 40 to 80 pounders. You wantto stop and get some big blue runnersbefore making a long trip like that.The red grouper are chewing good,

small ones on the inshore reefs the BIG-UNS are out at 25 to 35 miles get in 95to 110 feet of water. Best baits live pinfish, squirrel fish, and what I always use is

my IRISH COCKTAIL - you put a slab ofmullet on your hook then put a squid headon – thats yummy for the groupers! I haveused this concoction for 36 years andbelieve me it still works. Kingfish arefrom 15 to 30 miles out, we have caughtand seen big schools recently.

Now I'm going to change up tofresh water snook an bass fish'n on all ofthose windy days we have had. I havefished the ponds and man made lakes inthe Rotonda area for many years they arescattered off SR 771 and I have caughtfresh water snook up to 44-inches and bass

to 8-pounds. In my picture for this monthis my left arm holding a 22 in. fresh watersnook taken on a silver with black stripon the back Rattle-Trap. Over the years thesmall and big snook like that lure. I told my mate Brian Runge about me

fish'n these lakes an ponds. Brian likesbass fish'n so a couple of days later I saidlet’s go! First lake I threw a silver anblack rattle trap an BAM I caught a smalllarge mouth bass but after that nothing soBrian and I drove around to the other sideof the lake. I was casting a Johnny Rattlertop water bait and Brian was using a brandnew black an red buzz bait. Brian threwthe buzz bait abou t 3 times and BAM thisnice 4 to 5 pound bass hit it. I watched hisfish leap out of he water 3 or 4 times,then I heard Brian say oh shucks (thats notreally what he said ) ... HA ! It happenedto be a new $8.00 buzz bait! Well you’regonna win some and you’re gonna losesome, but when the wind is blowing youcan still be fishin’ .

BE SURE TO SNORT SOME OF THAT SALT AIR CUZ IT’S GOOD FER YA!

If you have any questions or if youhave a good ol' fishin’ story or a recipe forcooking fish that I can share with our read-ers give me a call. To book an offshorecharter with us aboard the Predator II -

Call (941) 473-2150

OFFSHOREREPORT The Olʼ Fishʼn Hole


Cooks Sportland

4419 So. Tamiami TrailS. Venice493-0025

Water LIFE Distributorʼs ClubWater LIFE Distributorʼs ClubYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locationsYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locations

Water LIFE Distributorʼs ClubWater LIFE Distributorʼs ClubYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locationsYou can always get a free copy of Water LIFE at these locations


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Wellness and Quality of LifeTony Manabe, owner of Amimoto Japanese

restaurant in Punta Gorda tells us he is collabo-rating on a new specialty Japanese website.

Yuko Morinizu who is 18 years experienced asa Japanese dietician and quality-of-life wellnessexpert is currently the brand development man-ager for the project. "We especially want theAmerican people to experience the best dress-ings and sauces that taste great and can, at thesame time, enhance wellness and quality of life,"Ms. Morinizu said.

The new webiste will have dietary as well ascultural offerings from the island of Japan.Amimoto is the oldest Japanese restaurant inPunta Gorda.

Composite Hurricane WeatherThe Northport Fire Departmentʼs

Hurricane Weather site is one of thebest compilations of weather links wehave seen http://northportfire.com/hurr/

and also linked from our website:WaterLIFEmagazine.com

Jumping the SharkThree anglers were searching for swordfish off the coast of north-

east New Zealand when they accidentally hooked a thresher shark.They tried to release it alive but it died. “It was from a separate trip,

we were taking the shark back out to feed it into the food chain,”Wright said. Then, for some reason, he decided to catch a few waves

on the back of the shark that had been dead for 30 hours. Pictureswent on the internet and his actions prompted an investigation from

the Ministry for Primary Industries which found no breach of theAnimal Welfare Act despite heated complaints.

Record-setting 1950s Ferrari HydroplaneSells for $1.1 Million at Auction

The famous 1950s Ferrari hydroplane fell justshort of predicted sale price during an auction inMonaco, last month although it still drew in animpressive €868,000 ($1,110,606). That is themost any hydroplane has ever sold at auction.

Other countries are not asfortunate NOAA's Fisheries Servicereleased the 15th annual report toCongress on the nation's Status ofStocks. The Status of Stocks reportfor 2011 demonstrates we are activelyturning the corner on ending overfish-ing and rebuilding our nation's fish-eries. A record number of stockswere declared rebuilt in 2011, with adecrease in both categories of over-fishing and overfished determinations.

The Firefly Squid is a bioluminescentsquid growing to a length of only three inches.The squid is equipped with special light-pro-ducing organs called photophores that emit adeep blue light. Large photophores can befound on the tips of the tentacles as well asaround the eyes. Thousands of tiny pho-tophores can be found throughout the squid'sbody, giving it the ability to emit light along itsentire form. In the Toyama Bay, in the centralJapan Sea, the squid are found in fantasticabundance. Normally living at 1200 feet under-water, waves in the Toyama bay pushes thesquid to the surface in massive numbers wherethey are fished by tons from March to June.

Charlotte Harbor: Frank at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888Spanish mackerel would be the

big thing out there right now. I’venever seen so many mackerel anyplace any where in my life. We werefishing the small Mavericks (lure)and had one every cast. With spoonsit was one every three or four casts.That was at Marker No. 1 and No. 2.The tide didn’t matter. Mackerel,mackerel everywhere. At the 41-Bridges, Alligator Reef and CapeHaze; mackerel.People have been asking me about

cobia, the problem is cobia don’tlive anywhere in particular. A likelyplace is south of Mkr No.1 Justanchor up, put a chum bag out andput a live bait fish under a bobber orif you dont have that a frozen sardineunder a float. Put out a second line,freelined with another bait. The cur-rent will help the freeline. I thinkabout 100 yards south of Mkr No. 1is the best spot. Then put out a thirdline, the sneaky line. Cobia love theshade. I figure the draft of the boatand I put a line below the bottom ofthe boat, 2-3 feet down. You’re hope-

ing for a huge fishwithin 2-feet ofyour boat... soloosen the drag!The best place

for small shark ison the straight flatout in front ofBull and TurtleBay. They havebeen hanging outin 8 feet of water.Gallagher’s cut,the whole area out in front of thebays – just start chumming. That isone of the few places we are gettingsmall sharks this year – not so manyso far this year. My best guess whyis there was so much bait in the har-bor they might still be sitting underthe schools of 20,000,000 threadfins.There is so much food for them rightthere they are not having to look fora meal. There is pretty decent snapper

out in the Gulf on the near shorereefs and we are selling quite a fewcrabs for the permit. We had a fewpurse-seine boats go out and theyknocked the hell out of the permit.Small crabs are the number one bait

and there are some really nice fish. The little permit crabs are small

enough they just suck them up.Knocking a point off the crab mightget you more scent.Inside the harbor, it almost seems

like the temperature is in mid July. Alot of people are switching to cutbait now, throwing it up under thetrees. Deadbait for redfish is really agood thing now since the reds aregetting lethargic in the heat.

If you can find some greenbacksyou will have some of the bestsnook fishing of your life. Prettymuch every point of every island hasa few snook on it. Fish the East sideKeys or the Myakka Cut Off.

Continued on facing page


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

J u n e J u n e F i s h i n g F o r e c a s t F i s h i n g F o r e c a s t

Capt. David Stephenʼs clients above and belowLeft: Capt Chuck Eichner and Teresa Hill

continued from facing page

With the splattering ofrain up north and up the riversnook might start movingout soon. Snapper shouldstart spawning soon too,from the canals to the nearshore reefs, the Cape Hazebar, these are all bunching upwith decent snapper. If you are going snapper

fishing there take a big monster rodbecause you are going to have todeal with the 1200- to 600-poundGoliaths that are all over the place.This is the time of year when

people are wondering where the bigsailcats are. In the Myakka theholes are holding nice sailcats.Right now the Peace River has the4 pounders, Stump Pass has the 5and 6-pounders, Placida has 5pounders. I haven’t heard fromdown south, but right now I got ahunch the little bigger edge isgoing to be at Placida in the nextfew weeks. Stingrays are best atGallaghers or Bokeelia. Our shark,stingray, sailcat tournament is thismonth.

Lemon Bay:Jim at Fishermens Edge,Englewood: 697-7595It’s been so rough the offshore

fishing has been stuffy for a week.Hopefully better weather and theopening of red snapper thismonth will make it better.The few guys that have gotten

out say near shore there are man-grove and yel lowtai l , but slimpickin’s. A week ago we had a

bunch of good fish: black-fin and mahi-dolphin with thesouthwest wind pushing cleanwater in. We had flying fish andother pelagics coming in and evensome weeds piling up. But this isnow.Most tarpon have been in the

pass. It’s been too rough on thebeach so there are not a lot of fish,they are on the go.Tarpon are biting early in the

am and late in the dark for the live-bait guys. The jig guys are terror-izing the fish during the day. Thebeaches are vacant, so everybody isforced to go to the pass. When thewind goes away they will bespread out again. Guys from faraway places can’t get out after thetarpon so they are being forced tofish backcountry which hasn’t beenall bad for them. There have been alot of nice redfish above the slotaround Lemon Bay and the lowerHarbor, really nice redfish.Not any beach snook fishing

either. Stump Pass had a lot ofsnook and Ski Alley hundreds offish in it. Get a good spot andhave some good bait and you’ll geta lot of snook.

We had some guys down byDevilfish catching the smallsharks . One guy’s going everyevening and he’s always catchingsome. Some hit or miss mackerel in

the Pass and a bunch of smallpompano in Gasparilla passcookie cutter small ones. Ten or11-inches, all of them.

Above: Recreational anglers mix it up with the tournament fishermen in roughconditions at at Boca Grande.

Right: Signs of Spring at EldredʼsMarina.

Local baitfish are often hard to keepalive unless you are on the water, like

Eldreds.

Captainʼs Corner BOCA GRANDE Got a Story? send us your pictures: [email protected]

The BIG-4 The BIG-4 Fish to expect in Fish to expect in JuneJune

TARPON Are in the Passesand in the Harbor

SNOOK Top of the harbor,some on the beaches

SHARKS coming and going,biggest are closer to the Gulf

MACKEREL All around theHarbor schools of bait


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From Capt. Fishin ̓FrankConsider what is happening today. At first we changed

the features of the pass to fit our needs. It started withthe railroad building a spur line out to the island for ship-ping phosphate, cattle, and other goods from the deepwater port at Boca. Numerous docks and pilings went in.This made Boca Pass a commercial shipping lane, whichis important because all commercial shipping lanes mustbe maintained at a minimum depth.

So starting in 1912 the pass was dredged every 3 to 4years to keep the water to depth. The sand bar on thenorth side of the pass is a spoil bar from a century ofdredging. But that all stopped in 2001 when the last com-mercial deepwater use, the FPL fuel-oil barges, stopped

hauling oil tothe FPLCaloosahatcheeplant.

Over yearsthe fish like tar-pon or Goliathgrouper havelearned to usethis humandeveloped environment of Boca Grande to fit theirspawning needs.

Changing of the Pass contours could be real problemfor the harbor fishery, which no one admits or has even

thought about. From now on, nature is free to change the pass into

the shape it chooses. Boca Grande could resembleCaptiva or Stump pass, with a large sand bar comingfrom the shore out curving slowly to the south filling in lit-tle by little over time.

The Pass I see today is very different than the one Isaw the first time years ago. There is a new island on thesouth side, the spoil bar is starting to curve south. Weneed a call to arms not about the boats or the fisherman,but about getting them to start regular monitoring and ifnecessary regular dredging of Boca Grande Pass. Toomany creatures have learned to depend on what it wasfor the last 100 years.

water life june 2012

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