water life oct 2015

Always FREE!www.WaterlifeMagazine.com

Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay, Venice, Estero and the Gulf

The Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

October 2015

Offshorepage 16

InshoreFishing Report page 22-23

Oyster BarRestoration -

Will thiswork?page 12

EMAIL: [email protected] OCTOBER 2015

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Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180217 Bangsberg Rd.

Port Charlotte, FL 33952Independant - Not affiliatedwith any other publication

Vol XIV No 10 © 2015 No part of this publication (printed or elec-

tronic) may be copied or reproduced withoutspecific written permission from the publishers.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoBaitshop: Fishinʼ Frank

Peace River: David StephensCharlotte Harbor: Capt. Billy Barton

Diving: Adam WilsonPunta Gorda: Capt. Chuck Eichner

Venice: Glen BallingerEstero: Capt. Joe Angius

Kayaking: Bob FraserSea Grant: Betty Staugler

Offshore: Capt. Jim OʼBrienBeach Fishing: Mallory Herzog

Pier Fishing: Bobby VitalisOffice Dog: Molly Brown (in memorium)

On the Cover: In early September,volunteers from the Nature Conser-

vancy worked on an oyster bar restora-tion. More on page 12

PAGE 4 EMAIL: W [email protected] OCTOBER 2015

Send letters and photos to: [email protected]

To Water LIFEThat little Jon Boat is a great first boat. I had one just like it

when I was younger. From my own personal experience I wouldstrongly suggest against letting him use it in the harbor until he hasgained a decent amount of experience with the boat. Even then, Iwould still be nervous about it. On more than one occasion I wasin the harbor with my little Jon boat and had waves come over theboat. The only thing that kept it from sinking on one occasion wasthe foam under the seats. It is very easy to get distracted fighting afish and not notice you've turned stern to the waves or the wake ofa bigger passing boat.

I would also strongly suggest a handheld, submersible VHF,some sort of bailer or even a bilge pump running off of a lawn-mower battery and a small dry box for anything you don't want wet.Storms can and will pop up fast.

Any boaters courses he can sign up for will be invaluable. David Peterson

To Water LIFEAs an avid reader of boating and fishing journals

and publications and as Flotilla Staff Officer of VesselExams for Flotilla 98 Charlotte Harbor for theUSCGAUX I readily scan the publications howeverdue to my schedule sometimes I get to them later thanI would like so that is the reason for the tardiness in re-sponding to your request for advice. Myself or one ofmy vessel examiners would consider it an honor tomeet Laurie and her son where ever is convenient forthem and go over boating safety and to conduct a free

vessel safety check. They may contact us by calling our office @(941)639-3811 extension 2, this will also ring on my cell so I amable to have direct contact.

Mike Trombetta FSO-VE Flotilla 98 USCGAUX - Semper Paratus

LEONARD AT TOP NOTCH CANVAS“... A LOT MORE CALLS FROM YOUR PUBLICATIONTHAN FROM ... THAT OTHER WATER PUBLICATION”

TOM AT THE BOAT HOUSE“ADVERTISING WITH YOU IS A

NO BRAINER! IT WORKS FOR US”

Last month we published a letterfrom a South Gulf Cove motherwhoʼs son was about to get outin his first boat: I am writing inhopes to find some resources for myson's new 12-foot Sea Nymph,” shewrote, going on to mention howhe wanted to go out in the Har-bor and down to Boca Grandein his new pride and joy. I suggested that might not be such agood idea right off the bat and I asked for readers to comment. Following are two of the letters we received:

Advice to a YoungBoater

Hang 10 and count them when you are done! This is Australia


By Michael HellerWater LIFE EditorYou’ll see our Water LIFE name on a

fishing tournament again for the first timein 5 years. Downtown Bait and Tackle isrunning an all photo release event on Nov7 and some of the proceeds from sponsorrevenue will go to our Don Ball School ofFishing program. Sponsor money will alsosupport AMI Kids in Punta Gorda. I have aligned myself with this tourna-

ment because it is a catch, photo and re-lease format and 100-percent of the entrymoney goes back to the winners. Plus Ibelieve the people putting on the tourna-ment are ethical and responsible. This isthe tackle shop’s first event so I am help-ing any way I can. They will use the IFA’scomputer program and a specialized com-puter technician to make sure there is no‘photoshopping’ of the photos. A realpolygraph test will also be administered.“We have had a lot of customers ask us

to put on a tournament because they aretired of small payouts and big favoritismin another local major tournament,” Bob-bie Leahey, owner of the shop, told me.From what Bobbie has said, I think she

is on the right track - I have heard similarcomplaints myself. “This will be the firstin a series of tournaments we will do,Bobbie said, adding “.... so long as there iscontinuing community support.”

More than a month before the eventBobbie was busy signing up tournamentsponsors. Call her if you are interested.Her concept, to me, is the way a tour-

nament should be run. All the entry feesgo into the purse for the winners and allthe sponsor donations go to cover theevent’s real expenses, like shirts, food andraffel prizes. Then, what’s left of the spon-sor money, all of it, goes to charity.This month the 14th year of our Don

Ball School of Fishing classes begin andunbeknownst to our students, they will re-ceive not one but two fishing rods! Pleasekeep that a secret! They will get the DonBall issue Shakespeare 6.5 foot spinningcombo and they will also get another rodcompliments of the Walmart store inPunta Gorda. Walmart had a sales trainingdemo-display of fishing rods, both off-shore and spinning combos, that theycouldn’t sell after the training, so theygave them to us. Thank you, again, Wal-mart.Our kids classes start at four local mid-

dle schools on Oct 6 or 7 and run for 7weeks. We teach the kids the rules. Wefocus on ethical angling and being envi-ronmentally intelligent in their approachto fishing.... and to life. Last month, while preparing our Don

Ball workbook, I updated the informationon tTarpon to include the new regulation

that calls for tarpon over 40 inches to re-main in the water, even for pictures. This past tarpon season I saw that the

new regulation leaves the door open for anangler to lift a 40+ inch fish up, leavingonly its tail in the water... to technicallycomply with the ‘kept in the water’ rule.So last month, after two months of try-

ing to find the right person, I spoke withAmanda Nally, the FWC person who actu-ally wrote the latest tarpon regulation.Amanda told me the intent of the regula-tion was that tarpon over 40 inches shouldnever be “lifted more than half way out of

the water” for a photo. I think you need toclarify that, I suggested to Amanda and I suggested they require the fish be kept:half in the water AND HELD HORIZON-TALLY. She liked that idea a lot and saidshe would suggest it to the FWC’s rulemaking committee. That is the waychange happens - and I’ll be explainingthat to the kids this month, for sure.If you want to see our kids in action,

come to Ponce Park on Saturday October17, at 9:30 a.m. They will be wadeing,helping the FWC pull a large seine net andexamining its contents. Come watch!

Still All About the Kids

We make a presentation during 6th and 7th grade lunches at Murdock, Punta Gorda, PortCharlotte and L.A. Ainger middle schools and hand out sign up forms. Here, Capt. Billy Bar-ton who teaches the class at Punta Gorda, explains what to expect in the first class.

EMAIL: W [email protected] OCTOBER 2015

By Captain Joe AngiusWater LIFE Estero Bay It’s officially Fall and that means

cooler weather, cleaner water, and a vari-ety of big inshore game fish. As the coolmornings begin, lower water temperaturesand less rainfall will allow salt-densewater from the Gulf of Mexico to flowonto our grass flats. The fishing hasn’tbeen this versatile all summer. Countlessopportunities to catch several differentspecies of gamefish are at our disposaland can be found all day long. Having agood knowledge of Estero’s tide fluctua-tions is important in knowing when andwhere these fish will be staged up, readyto feed. On my fishing charters we arefinding Spanish mackerel, schooling red-fish, large speckled trout, juvenile tarpon,and female snook, all of which are feedingon a variety of live and cut baits.High quality bait can be found on al-

most any flat in Estero Bay and Pine Is-land Sound. Be sure to take your timechumming. There are a lot of smallpilchards on our flats and it can be tempt-ing to start throwing your net after five

minutes of chumming. If you are patientand chum liberally, larger pilchards andpinfish will begin to show up. A 10-foot3/8-inch mesh cast net, (I prefer the netsfrom Lee Fisher International) will get thejob done fast so you can be on your wayto catching fish.The Spanish mack-

erel can be found nearour passes busting onschools of glass min-nows. In order to catchthem I would recom-mend a strong steelleader with a 3/0Owner hook baitedwith a live pilchard. Ifound it easiest to trollthese baits behind theboat around the passes.If a pod of mackerel begin to bust on glassminnows in casting range, throw directlyonto the pod and reel quickly! Large speckled trout are on grass flats

with clean-moving water. Free lined livepilchards and pinfish work great, but it’salways good to have a couple of baits at-tached to popping corks. The trout aren’tleader sensitive, but a two or three footleader of 25-pound fluorocarbon is neededunder the popping cork. If the leader istoo long, the baits tend to drag on the bot-tom and pick up a lot of grass. Be sure toremember that you can keep up to 4 perharvester per day at more than 15-inchesand less than 20-inches with exception ofpossessing one trout over 20 inches. Redfish can be found in large schools

on oyster bars and our grass flats. Fresh

cut bait is most effective because it re-leases a strong scent trail in the water andcreates vibrations that redfish can detect(depending on how the bait is cut). Singlefish can be found in the backwaters onmud flats. These fish are usually looking

for live crabs to feedon, but will hit a vari-ety of artificial luresand flies.Large female snook

can still be found andcaught, but they areexhausted from thissummer’s spawn. Ifyou catch a femalesummer spawner, youwill notice that herfins are all chewed upfrom the male snook

fighting over her. Handle these fish withextra care and appreciate the work they

have done for our future snook fisheries.These large snook will want to feed onlive pilchards, pinfish, and cut mullet.As we’re out fishing for these amazing

game fish, remember how important ourgrass flats truly are. To respect the valueof our fisheries and grass flats, be sure tofollow all of the rules and regulations thatare posted on and off of the water. When Isay off of the water, I mean to research therules and understand why they are put inplace. The most important part of fishingis to respect the boaters around you and tocare for our local fisheries. It’s our localfisheries that fuel our economy and shapethe history, art and culture in SouthwestFlorida.

Captain Joe Angius (727) 234-3171Speakeasyfishing.com [email protected]

Estero Bay: Versatility in Fishing

OCTOBER 2015 BACK ISSUES @ BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 7


By Capt. Billy BartonWater LIFE InshoreFall is in the air folks! It is officially

Red October on Charlotte Harbor and thepumpkins are ripe for the pluckin’ - pump-kins being redfish! Whether you put yourfocus out in the Gulf of Mexico, or spendyour time stalking big redfish and snookin the Harbor this is a time of year thatyou should sure be fishing! Last month I was able to get out and

fish a fun event with my brothers MattBarton and Austin Phelps. The Charlotte

and DeSoto Building Industry Associationheld their Rockin’ & Reelin’ tournament,an offshore and an inshore challenge, outof the Sheraton Hotel in Punta Gorda. It was an overnight tournament, an un-

usual format in comparison to some otherlocal events. Redfish, snook, and tarponweren't involved. We fished the inshoredivision. The goal was to go out and catchtwo black drum, two trout, two flounder,ten mangrove snapper, ten Spanish mack-erel, and a mystery fish which ended upbeing tripletail, all in a 23 hour period.Basically it was a numbers game. You re-ceived a specific amount of points forevery legal fish that you caught. They let all of us go fishing at roughly

4 p.m. on a Friday evening. We had liveblue crabs for black drum bait and somedecent live shrimp and pinfish in the wellfor our snapper.

My firststop was alocal canal,less than amile fromwhere wetook off.Snapperwas the pri-mary target,but, go fig-ure, thesnapper haddisap-peared. We fished for over an hour forsnapper and only had one in the box. ThenI threw a blue crab on one of the largerpoles to see if I could pick up a drum and

within minutes I was fighting a 35-pounddrum! What a battle it was, and in a seri-ous current no less! We landed this fishand we were on the board with a smile! We acted quickly and got another drum

23 HOURS: A Fishing Stress Test

rod out. Another live blue crab was set outexactly where the first drum came from. Again, in a matter of minutes, that rod

folded over and Austin was in for a heckof a battle! Ten minutes later, with awhole lot of sweat, Austin landed hisdrum which was just amazing in size!This 42-pound fish looked just about asbig as Austin in the picture! We were indisbelief of how quick it all happened.But where were the snapper!? We made a move. It was an hour or so

before dark. We were fishing with verylight tackle and 15-pound fluorocarbonleader to try and get as much action aspossible. We were using little pieces ofshrimp on a circle hook. In minutes Matt

and Austin were doubled up with fish thatwere way to big to be a snapper! Theyhad a matching pair of beautiful redfish.Go figure! "We don't want you rightnow!" I said to the fish with a smile. Theboys and I were in disbelief. Cast aftercast and all we could catch was redfishand snook! On the one day that we didn'twant redfish or snook we just couldn't getthrough them to get the snapper ... and onlittle pieces of shrimp no less! I have to give credit to Austin for his

new personal best snook. He landed a 37-inch snook that evening on 15-poundleader, with a little No.1 hook, in swiftcurrent and tight structure. This was aheck of a feat and took great finesse. Iwould have bet against him landing thatfish, but it made the trip for him rightthere. You could see the excitement allover his face. With one snapper in the box at dark,

we opted to run down closer to the Gulf. Ianchored up in the Placida area, where wefinally found some keeper snapper.Granted, it did take us all night to getthem, but we did so by 5 a.m., which gaveus about an hour to pretend to sleep! The mosquitos were incredibly bad that

evening. We were all driven borderlinecrazy by them so I ran us a mile or so off-shore to get away from the bugs. Theywere gone at sunrise though, and it was onto the next phase of our mission! Spanish Mackerel were next on the list,

and we were in the perfect area to get

them. I threw the cast neta few times at sunrise get-ting us some good sizedscaled sardines. We werelucky to find birds workingthe surface early and wefollowed them around for acouple of hours pitchingfree lined (no weight) livebaits to the blitzing fish. Itproved itself very effec-tive, and we were luckyenough to get our mackerel.They seemed to shut downafter it got hot that day.I'm thinking it was defi-nitely a good thing wewere there very earlymorning.We did run the buoy

lines in the Gulf, lookingfor tripletail with no luck. Last on the listof fish to catch was flounder. Floundercan really be hit or miss during thewarmer months of the year, so we savedthis fish for last on purpose. I ended uprunning us to some oyster bars in Char-lotte Harbor that I knew were good areasto find flounder. Flounder like a hardsand bottom with a little bit of shell mix.It was almost high noon and we still had afew hours to fish. None of us were veryconfident with picking up a flounder atthis point, but we still fished our heartsout to the very end.We arrived, half asleep and flounder-

less, at the Sheraton dock shortly beforethe 3 p.m. check in and when the pointswere put up on the board we were actuallyin the lead ... and by a long shot! Thecheck that we received didn’t mean much,but the memories we made and the goodtimes we had on this day - they mean theworld. This was a day of monster drums,a day when we were jokingly upset tocatch so many snook and redfish! Thatdoesn't happen too often. That was a goodday!

Capt. Billy Barton owns and operates Scales-n-Tails Fishing Charters. 941- 979-6140 http://www.puntagordafishingcharter.com


CANVAS &UPHOLSTERY


By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE Charlotte HarborFall has arrived to South West Florida.

Normally I would be writing about howhot it was this summer, however the rainhas got to be the headliner this year. Latesummer had to be one of the wettest sum-mers I can remember. Generally this timeof year the Harbor is starting to somewhatclear up from the rainfall. But at the end oflast month the mouth of the Peace Riverstill had little to no salinity at all, while thesouthern areas still have plenty. The tidalflow plays a big part of where the salt lineis. On a brighter side, most all the gamefish in Charlotte Harbor can tolerate fresh-water. The down side is how it effects ourbait. Sardines and herring require high lev-els of salt in the water, so the more waterthat pushes out of the rivers into the Har-bor, the further the bait pushes south to-ward the Gulf. During the last week of September the

fishing had begun to pick back up, butthen the rain started, again and again.I had the Gamm family out on a charter

last month. Taylor Gamm was celebratinghis 19th birthday and getting ready to headoff to boot camp. He is going to be a little

sore. Tarpon was on his bucket list of fish,and he got a really good one and after anhour long battle we had a fish boat sidethat was over 150lbs, one of the biggest Ilanded this year. Happy Birthday Taylor!After landing his fish, dad wanted a shot atthe silver king and he fought his own fishfor over an hour too! I’m not sure aboutthe weight of his fish, it busted the linenext to the boat, but it was bigger thanTaylor’s and it was so frantic we didn’t geta picture of that one.Arles and Ray spent a week fishing

with me too. I fished these guy’s last yearand we did some evening fishing, so wefigured we would give it a shot. The fish-ing was excellent, but Mother Nature notso much, we spent most of the time dodg-ing thunder storms. Back at the ramp, wedecided maybe the AM was the way to go.We had a great four days of fishing,caught a bunch of nice trout, snook andreds. It seemed like everyday a differentspecies was the headliner. I’m pretty surethey had a great time, they already bookedtheir four days for next year.

Capt. Dave Stephens 941-916-5769 www.backbayxtremes.com

Low Salinity Still a Challenge


On The Line By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffI'm happy to report that the project to

fix Stump Pass is still on schedule andwork should begin by the end of Novem-ber. All permits have now been obtainedand all government agencies are on board.The funding is in place with $2.5 millioncoming from the State . Charlotte Countyis currently reviewing bids and should beawarding the construction contract anyday now. It's taken over 15-years to comethis far, the people working on this projectare now in site of the finish line and noth-ing is going to stop them.This will probably be the biggest proj-

ect in Lemon Bay since the building of theICW back in the late 60s. The job will in-clude not only the dredging of the Pass it-self, but also a major re-nourishmentproject that will put sand on the beachesfrom south Manasota Key in the north toKnights Island and from the south side ofthe Pass all the way down to Don PedroState Park. Most of the sand will comefrom offshore locations that have alreadybeen identified.

I know a lot of skeptics may be askingwhy this dredging project is any differentfrom the half dozen other dredging at-tempts since the 80s that only resulted inthe Pass moving further south and fillingin over time. That is a fair question and Iwill try to answer it. First, Federal, State and local officials

have made the commitment to keepStump Pass open. In the past there was al-ways some squabbling between variousgovernment organizations and localgroups as to whether to keep the Passopen or do nothing and let nature take itscourse. The last few maintenance dredg-ings have shown that when the Pass isopen, water quality in Lemon Bay im-proves greatly, sea grass beds grow andshell fish stocks increase. A free flow of

water through Stump Pass results in ahealthier LemonBay.Second, funding sources are in place.

Federal FEMA money, State budgetedfunds, WCIND appropriations and localMSBU dollars are now available to keepthe pass open.And finally, for the first time in history,

a jetty will be constructed on the northside of the pass. This should stop the sandfrom filling in the pass. It was the omis-sion of a jetty from prior projects thatdoomed them all to failure.There are a few things people should

be aware of before they get their hopes up.This structure is not going to be called ajetty, it's called a terminal groin. What thedifference is, I'm not sure, but its notgoing to be like the Venice Jetty. Therewill be no paved surface to walk on. Thiswill be just a rock wall going out into theGulf. I asked if fishing will be allowedfrom this structure? I was told that youcan access the groin from shore and therewill probably be about 100-feet where youcan fish from.Here is some of the bad news. The

north side of the groin will be back filled

with sand so that side will betoo shallow for any decent fish-ing, but the south side, facingthe pass, should be pretty good. Here is the really bad news. To access

the groin you will have to go throughStump Pass State Park so they will havecontrol over the use of the jetty. Remember that they charge to park and

they lock their gate at sundown. This will

make night fishing a real challenge. There are still a lot of details that have

to be worked out, but I say let’s just buildthe groin first and then we will figure outhow to fish it latter. Fishermen are usuallypretty resourceful when it comes toaccessing fishy spots. [email protected]

COUNTY MATTERS: Details About New Stump Pass Jetty

If youʼve been around these parts for a while you probably remember the PlacidaQueen, which was once the areaʼs top head boat. Out of inspections and out ofmoney and time she now sits in place at Placida, next to the old Seminole Tradershrimp boat. The clock is running out on both of them.


AAQQUU AATTIICCAA

Andrea Graves, Hobe Sound Preserve Director for the NatureConservancy and a project volunteer zip- tie sections together.

Volunteers from Punta Gorda assembling the oyster reef behind the Justice Center, last month.

The weather Gods looked favorably on the project, this site is up-river from the US 41 bridges.

A completed oyster-mat reef at Indian River Lagoon

By Michael HellerWater LIFE Environment

Man made oyster reefs along the south shore of thePeace River, paralleling the Punta Gorda Harborwalk,nine reefs all together, have been in the planning and de-velopment stage for three and a half years. The conser-vation groups Nature Conservancy and the Fort Myersbased National Estuary Project with the help of 1,280local volunteers are making it happen. “The nine reefscost a total of $300,000,” Anne Birch, Marine Conserva-

tion Director for the Florida chapter of the Nature Conservancy said. Each reef measures 12-feet x 36-feet, so the costs compute to $33,333 per reef.

Last month volunteers put their boots in the mud andwaded out into the Peace River to start piecing together16-inch-square plastic mesh sections with oyster shellsattached to them. “This is a pilot project,” Andrea Graves,Project Director for the Conservancy at Hobe Sound,said, adding that the site was “partially selected becauseit would have high public visibility.”

The Conservancy has already completed a similarproject at Indian River. They are hoping oyster larvaefrom oysters on mangrove roots along the shore will floatover and grow on the new reef. The Punta Gorda CityCouncil and the SW Florida Oyster Work Group helpedselect the sites, Graves said, adding that public visibilitywas an important component.

Volunteers had previously worked to cover hundredsof individual 16 inch square mesh mats with oystershells. The shells were drilled and zip-tied to the mats

Oyster Magic!Volunteers wade into the Peace River to turn mats into a bar


Above and Right: Oyster shells zip tied to plastic matsmake up the structure.

Lawn sprinkler donuts are used to weigh the mats down

A large pile of mats, previously assembled in a separate community project, wait for placement

The pristine environment ofthe Charlotte Harbor Aquatic

Preserve is delicately inter-twined in the lives and survival

of a myriad of birds, crittersand fish.

Right: This racoon, probablyfeeding on crabs and small

fish, was spotted south, earlyone morning last month.

Oyster Magic!Volunteers wade into the Peace River to turn mats into a bar

and then delivered to the job sites by a service boat. The effect of local tides, near by pesticide run off,

and a continuing decline in the salinity levels of thePeace River will be the obstacles this project has toovercome. The site will be monitored every six monthsfor two years. We will follow the progress here and ad-vocate that the dying oyster bars at Turtle Bay andthose around Jug Creek and Indian Shoals are next.And we are going to find out why this is so expensive.


By Capt. Betty StauglerWater LIFE/Sea GrantI arranged an offshore

fishing trip with Capt. DanCambern of HammerheadCharters in Placida and I took three addi-tional guides with me to participate insome Sea Grant outreach.My primary goal was to get descending

gear in the hands of (a) Dan, who does90% of his fishing offshore, and (b) thethree guides who are instruc-tors in the Don Ball School ofFishing and who will, in turn,be demonstrating these tools inthe classroom and out on thewater when the kids take theirhead boat trip offshore.What is descending gear and

why is it needed? Deep waterreef fish brought up fromdepth, are particularly suscepti-ble to mortality from baro-trauma, the bloat and internalorgan damage caused by pres-sure change in the swim blad-der. These fish are oftenreferred to as floaters. Signs ofbarotrauma include protrusionof the stomach from the fish'smouth, bulging eyes, bloatedbelly and distended intestines.Different species react differ-ently. The severity of the prob-lem increases with water depth.Problems can begin to occurwith fish coming up from 60-to80 feet. At depths over 100 feet, you willprobably have to intervene if the fish is tosurvive.Descending gear are weighted tools

that rapidly descend fish back down to thebottom. Some are weight lip grips, someare weighted lip hooking tools and someare weighted crates or nets. Each tool isdesigned to descend the fish down towhere expanded gasses will recompressnaturally. Dan put us on a lot of fish fortesting these tools and everyone got theirhands on five different pieces of descend-

ing gear. Another mitigation tool for deep water

reef fish is the venting tool. Up until re-cently, the use of venting tools was re-quired for fish experiencing barotrauma instate and federal waters of the Gulf. Vent-ing tools release swim bladder gassesfrom the abdominal cavity by puncturingit. They are an acceptable means of help-ing fish, but they are not a silver bulletand if venting is not done correctly it can

cause additional injuryto the fish decreasingits chance of survival.Changes in both stateand federal rules nowallow anglers morefreedom in determin-ing which type of gearthey feel most com-fortable using. A recent statewide

survey of fishing li-cense holders, con-ducted by Florida SeaGrant, determined thatapproximately 90-per-cent of all anglers thatintervene to helpfloaters survive useventing tools. Whenasked why anglerswho fished for deepwater reef species didnot use descendinggear, most respondedthat they were not

aware of it or they didn’t know where topurchase them. Of the approximately10% that do use them however, most werequite confident that they were using themcorrectly and that their use of these toolswas increasing fish survival. Hopefully by taking Capt. Dan, Capt.

Billy Barton, Capt. Bart Marx, and Capt.Cayle Wills out to descend fish they willpass on what they learned to their studentsand others. Thanks guys, for a great day!!

For more information about baro-trauma, venting tools or descending gear

visit: www.catchandrelease.orgCapt. Betty Staugler, Florida Sea Grant Agent,UF/IFAS Extension Charlotte Co., (941) 764-4346 http://charlotte.ifas.ufl.edu www.flseagrant.org

Descending Devices

The weighted crate decendingdevice. Simple but effective

RokLees decending device

Modified Fish Grip decending device

Black Tip decending device

SeaQualizer decending device

Capts: Dan, Billy, Bart, Cayle


By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE FishingFall in Florida has all the fishermen

fired up. Coming off of a slower bite andhot water we now start to ease into fallingtemperatures and tides. Bait schools arebecoming more prevalent. The morningshave been cooler and refreshing and sun-sets have been full of rolling juvenile tar-pon. The fish seem to be enjoying fall as

well. Redfish are schooling in varioussizes, some on the Charlotte Harbor flats.These have been slot to under in size andthey are SPOOKY. Trolling motorshaven't been tolerated for some schools.Use your push pole to get close and drifta cut bait in. Quiet feet and voices helptoo. The bite has been

more tidal dependentthan time. Fish travelin and out of feedercreeks along bothsides of the H arborduring tide changes.The beginning to middle of the outgoingtide has been great. On our latest trip thehot bite wasn't until almost noon, but itwas well worth the wait. The bigger over slot breeders are com-

ing in from the Gulf. Look for the bigger"bull reds" in deeper channels and nearthe Gulf passes. When looking for thesefish, especially schooling fish, it’s greatto have an artificial tied on and ready tocast. Aim for the outer edge of the schoolso they are not easily scared away. Cap-tain Andrew has been using a paddle tailsoft plastic with a 1/8-oz weighted swimbait hook size 3/0. (pictured). This is aweedless setup allowing you to movethrough a grassy flat with minimal snags.The paddle tail gives out a vibration to at-tract a hungry fish near by. These baitshave a variety of hook choices. It's important to rig your bait correctly

so it swims properly. If your fishing apass or deeper water you can use a 1/8 jig

Rrockport Rattler. Bounce it off the bot-tom as you reel in. This is a non-weedlessset up. Colors for fall artificials would be a

molting color or my captain's personal fa-vorite, Venice Glow. Tarpon like pearl or

white in theHarbor. Bull-buster 10lbbraid to 30lbfluorocarbonleader will pullthese fish in.Snook sea-

son is in full swing, the Harbor has beenfilled with smaller juvenile snook, theyare really enjoying the rain we've had.The bigger gals are swimming around outthere as well, in the deeper areas of theflats and canals. Live pinfish or ladyfishhave been getting the big girls hooked inthe Harbor. Remember, when fishingnear structure like piers and bridges, up-scale your tackle. 30lb braid to 50lb fluo-rocarbon will aid in landing a big fish intight structure. Fishing off the Gulfbeaches, target the trough along theshoreline. The hours closest to sunriseand sunset have been the best snook bitealong the beaches. White or pearl col-ored artificials are attractive to these fish.Your options are endless,

You can contact Big Bully OutdoorsCharters for a trip with Captain AndrewHerzog. Call 941-661-9880 or BigBully-Outdoors.com

Spooky Redfish for Halloween

We asked FWC: Whatʼs This Fish?David Blewett, Research Associatewith Florida Fish and Wildlife Con-servation Commission in Port Char-lotte said: Weʼve seen a few ofthese over the years ourselves, butthis year they seem to be quite abun-dant. Itʼs probably a spinal deformityon a scaled sardine, but maybe itʼs anew species? Could you get ussome specimens we can have? Upto 10 would be great, but even 1 would work and then we could look into it further. Daveʼs office is at 585 Prineville St., Port Charlotte.

New White Bait?

Last month Capt. Chris Fanelli asked if spots on a redfish can change. Charlotte SeaGrant Agent Capt. Betty Staugler says: Redfish get their spots around 5-6 months (about5-to 6-inches). Prior to that they have blotches but not spots. Once they get their spots wethink they keep whatever they get for life (1, 2 or 20). I did find a blurb online which wascopied several times that said redfish with multiple spots seem to lose them over time butI found nothing in a literature search to support that. Scientists do think tail spots serveas a false eye that aids in predator avoidance. Lots of fish (think four eyed butterfly fish)have tail spots for this reason. Whether or not a fish with multiple spots receives thesame benefit I don't know and also didn't find any studies that looked at that question.

CAN SPOTS CHANGE ON A REDFISH?

caught 1 year apart in the same place


12

3

4

5

6

7

8OFFSHORE GALORE Some of last monthʼs catches from a trip with Capt.Joe Miller out of Venice Inlet. Fish Galore Offshore isthe name of Joeʼs charter business. He is a regularcontributor here.1) C.W. Miller with a 25-pound red grouper caught onMike Carr's boat out of Venice, 2) mangrove snapper,3) yellowtail, 4) mangrove snapper, 5) gag grouper,6) cubera snapper, 7) red snapper, 8) lane snapper


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Baitshop

The basis of a Beetle Spin is an opensafety pin or for you younger people, asideways V shape - with a shiny disc, orblade, rotating on a swivel right over thetop of the jig hook. The thumping andflashing of the blade attracts fish. I firstused beetle spins in salt water as backthen I did not know there was a differencebetween fresh water lures and salt waterlures. I still do not know the difference. Agood lure is a good lure, I know someonetold you there was a difference, but whotold the fish?In 1951 Lloyd Johnson and Henry

Denison introduced the safety pin stylespinner bait with a clip-on jig. In the 60sthe design changed slightly. What was dif-ferent about the new beetle spin was thesideways “V” shape of the safety pin stylespinner arm which allowed the spinner tobe spinning right above the jig body. Spin-ner baits had been in-line before this sothe blade spun around the same line thehook was mounted to. Now the blade wasabove the hook on an arm, with a swivelto allow the round shaped blade to spin.This created a thumping noise in thewater. Later, the round shaped blade wasreplaced by what we call now-a-days aColorado shaped blade that spins easier

and, if anything, creates a better noise.Toady you can get off-set spinner baitswith Colorado, Willow leaf, or Indianastyle blades. Each has its own sound whenpulled through the water. There was ahuge variety of different bodies and tails.Later, stinger hooks were added.Another variation was the addition of a

soft plastic V tail which gave it a distinctnew action. But fish tore up the plastic tailwhen striking the lure, which ruined thebody, but that also made it more prof-itable... selling replacement tails.The fish did bite them and that led to

another problem. Fish much too large forthe small jig hook hit the Beetle Spin sothe entire jig head needed to be replace-able. This is why, to this day, the sameclip is used to attach, quickly remove andreplace, the jig head. Replacement jigheads meant more money.

How do you fish a Beetle Spin? Cast itout and let it sink for a few seconds. Sincethe blade spinning gives the lure lift, itwill want to rise close to the surface of thewater when you retrieve, so I let it go al-most to the bottom and when I start reel-ing, my rod is at 90 degrees to the lure.Holding the rod sideways allows me tofeel the thumping of the blade in the waterand when the lure is working perfectly,you will feel it. Yor rod will vibrate or-pulse with the spinning of the blade.

When you feel that, you know you havethe right speed for your retrieve.Recently Strike King introduced the

Redfish Magic, a slightly larger BeetleSpin. It comes with a paddle tail soft plas-tic body on the jig head. I think that’sthere to catch fishermen as it really doesnot work well with an off-set spinner. Ithink the thumping of the blade and thethumping of the paddle tail was too much. Then my friend David figured out if youreplace the paddle tail with a tube body,

that creates a much more subtle soundwhich works smoothly with the thumpingof the spinner blade. In the picture youcan see both. I have caught fish in fresh water and

saltwater with the small and larger ver-sions of the Beetle Spin. The small ones,1/8 oz and less, are excellent for silverand spotted sea trout, sand bream, man-grove snappers, blue runners and I can’tremember how many other species.

[email protected] 625-3888

Beetle Spins

Season is coming andWater LIFE is

GROWINGwe need more content to

compliment our growing number of ads.Writers, fish photos

delivery and ad sales help wanted

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SPOOFINʼ A radio navigation research teamfrom The University of Texas at Austin wasable to successfully spoof an $80 million pri-vate yacht using the worldʼs first openly ac-knowledged GPS spoofing device. Spoofing isa technique that creates false civil GPS sig-nals to gain control of a vesselʼs GPS re-ceivers. Unlike GPS signal blocking orjamming, spoofing triggers no alarms on theshipʼs navigation equipment. To the shipʼsGPS devices, the teamʼs false signals wereindistinguishable from authentic signals, al-lowing the spoofing attack to happen covertly.

WIND ON THE WATER The U.S. Departmentof Interior (DOI) has approved an offshorewind energy leasing project off the North Car-olina coast. The approval comes after the Bu-reau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)identified a 480-square mile area in the At-lantic Ocean for constructing wind farms that

would pose no significant environmental orsocioeconomic threats to the region.

SSTs are NG Science found that many of theocean buoys used to measure sea surfacetemperatures during the past couple ofdecades gave cooler readings than measure-ments gathered from ships. The NOAA groupsuggested that by correcting the buoy meas-urements, the signs of global warming con-tinue.

MONEY FOR RED TIDENOAA announced lastmonth 12 new researchgrants totalling nearly$2.1 million that will go toorganizations from aroundthe country seeking to ad-dress harmful algalblooms (HABs) and hy-poxia.

BOAT RELATED Due toa significant increase inmanatee related mortalitydeaths for the first half of2015 attributed to boat re-lated causes, a collabo-rated effort was put inmotion to saturate and en-force the manatee protec-tion speed zones in northLee County over the LaborDay weekend. Thirteenstate and federal offi-cers/agents issued 40 fed-eral manatee citations, 3 misdemeanorcitations and filed two drug related charges, 5other citations and 18 warnings were also is-sued. The increased patrols will continuewhen seasonal manatee zones are in effect.

DUMBASS FWC officers did a follow-up in-vestigation into a Lee County blue crab viola-tion and pulled 28 traps of the suspected crabfisherman, finding all 28 traps to be in viola-tion for having the escape rings blocked.Twenty-six of the twenty-eight traps did nothave the required FWC commercial trap tagsattached to them. Afterwards, the officer metup with the commercial fisherman at his busi-ness to speak with him about the violations. Inthe back of his business were stacks of bluecrab traps. All of the traps had the escape

rings blocked. The fisherman admitted thetraps were in violation and said he was im-pressed that the officer caught onto the viola-tions. He was cited for 28 counts ofmisdemeanor escape ring violations, 26counts of trap tag violations, and 4 writtenwarnings for buoy violations.

DUMBASS TOO Officers on water patrol con-ducting fisheries inspections off GasparillaPass approached a 12 foot john boat 10 milesoff-shore to conduct a fisheries and boatingsafety inspection. During the stop, the opera-tor admitted to catching and keeping 3 redgrouper. He said he knew about the recentchange in bag limit and had regulations thatsaid he could keep 3. The officers looked atthe regulations the man had and it clearly

showed the bag limit as 2 written in redletters.

CHANCES ARE The same officers ap-proached another vessel and one of theoccupants told them he had a snapperon board and showed them the fish. Thefish was an 18 inch red grouper. Afterspeaking with the man for a while, headmitted he knew what it was and that itwas undersized. He said he didnʼt thinkhe would get caught, so he took hischances.

IS THIS TRUE? Last month the newsservice Reuters reported the amount offish in the oceans has halved since1970. The world Wildlife Federation wascited as the source of information. Thereport said populations of fish, marinemammals, birds and reptiles had fallen49 percent between 1970 and 2012. Forfish alone, the decline was 50 percent.The report said populations of somecommercial fish stocks, such as tuna,mackerel and bonito, had fallen by al-

most 75 percent, The Zoological Society ofLondon agreed.The analysis said it tracked 5,829 populationsof 1,234 species, such as seals, turtles anddolphins and sharks. It said the ZSL data setswere almost twice as large as past studies.There was no indication of exactly how manyof each species there was.

PHASERS ON STUN The British Ministry ofDefence, in an effort to become more cost-ef-fective in warfare, has revealed plans to equipits warships with laser cannons. The RoyalNavy hopes to demonstrate a functional proto-type of the directed laser weapon on its shipsby 2020. The ministry also aims to develop aland-based laser cannon by next year.


SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

$2 off any haircut!

IN AUGUST the Panama Canal Authority said a crack in one of thenew new lock chambers wouldnʼt delay its April 2016 opening. Thismonth the Panama Canal Authority has backtracked and an-nounced that, well, maybe it could. Two independent external struc-tural engineers have now been hired to conduct an impartialevaluation. Editor notes* Is it just me, or does the concrete in thisphoto look a little shoddy too?

By Peter WelchWater LIFE Sailing In the August issue the subject of race strat-

egy was introduced for a situation where oneside of the course is the overwhelming favoritedue to tidal current. This is a frequent event inupper Charlotte Harbor. In that example, start-ing on port tack may be the best tactic to avoidbeing trapped between boats going the wrongway. The intent was to promote thinking aboutall of nature’s influences on speed toward the

finish line.However most times it not known at the

start that one side of the course is favored.Then the basic strategy illustrated is favored. The wind direction may fluctuate by ten de-

grees or more. Determine the amount and tim-ing of fluctuations about 10 minutes beforeyour start and decide if a port or starboard startis favored. The goal is to always sail in thelifted direction and stay near the middle of thecourse until the last ten percent of the distanceto the turn mark. Keep track of the wind shiftsand don’t go for the turn mark if a shift wouldforce you to tack again in the traffic near themark. Sometimes, the wind will shift morethan 30 degrees (50 degrees in the 2015

Golden Conch!). You must immediately tackto the new wind. But you must sail the wind,not the forecast. Trust me, I made both mis-takes in that race last year!Round the weather mark and relax....

….wrong! All those people you passed willwant to steal your wind by sailing right behindyou and then passing in a wind shift. Yes youmust still steer to keep the wind from beingstalled on the sails….ie: not dead down wind.The wind will shift as it did up wind, so theboat shold be jibed to the new fast course. Usea GPS set for velocity made good to get thebest angles for your boat in a practice session.

In your 10 minute sail to evaluate windshift your sails will likely be trimmed for bestspeed. You need a different trim at the racestart. As you luff others up and get in disturbedair, your sails will be too tight and stalled. As-sure correct twist in the jib: ease the halyard,move the sheet lead aft and ease tension on it.This avoids back winding the main sail. Givethe main a full shape via an eased sheet, out-haul and Cunningham. Move the traveler upwind so the top of the sail twists off. After theboat gains speed return to all your fast settingswhich should be marked on the deck and thesheets.

See also: the writing of Stuart H Walker


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Sailing

Port Charlotte


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte Harbor InshoreRedfish is one of the most talked about

species on CharlotteHarbor and the sur-rounding waters.There are countlesstournaments that targetthis species and thereare dozens of ways tofish for them. With allthe media hype and at-tention the redfish gets,you would think itwould be pretty easy tocatch them. In reality,nothing could be fur-ther from the truth.Years ago they must

have been just abouteverywhere and thatlegend still permeatesour minds. In the 13plus years I have fishedhere, I have seen theirnumbers dwindle significantly. It used tobe when I fished white bait I would catcha mix on any given day of snook and red-fish. Now it is almost always snook. Thelucky tournament guys come to the dockwith two legal redfish. Often half thefield weighs in one or none. The success-ful redfish anglers are generally experts

and focus on this fish constantly and thatis what it takes to catch them consistently.Redfish is a state of mind and you can be-

come obsessedwith them!September

and October areprobably two ofthe best monthsfor redfish. It’sabout the onlytime I focus onthis species as Iam generallyhappy to catchmost any game-fish.

Redfishschool up inpods of 10 to a100 or more de-pending on theschool. It is verytricky to pick outa school of red-

fish because you will also have mulletschools moving about and their surfacedisturbance looks similar to that producedby the reds. Redfish is a fish that requirespatience. You have to scan the surface andsit and wait. Our dark waters make themeven harder to pick out, so you look forthe color orange! You will need to pick

out an area andclosely scan forsurface activityand approachvery quietly.Trolling motoror poling yourboat is best.Two feet ofwater or less isoften wherethey bunch up.For bait I

take the easyroad - ladyfish.I start my day atfirst light beforemany otherboats havelaunched. La-dyfish are oftenworking on the surface, chasing glassminnows on the outside of the bars. Smallwhite birds give clue to their presence. With 10 ladyfish in the well, I go on

the hunt. Anywhere on the east side isgame as is the Cape Haze bar and the PineIsland Sound. Bookellia and the LemonBay area are also candidates. I make agame plan before I leave the dock as towhere I will hunt the redfish. The keyword is hunt! I generally choose sometype of high spot, a sand bar or an oysterbar to target and I ease into the area, sit-ting and watching for single larger fishswirls or a surface push. When I get somevisual clues, I anchor the front and back ofthe boat and cast three rods out with alarge chunk of lady fish on a 5/0 circlehook. Then I stick them in a rod holder.The double anchor keeps the boat fromswinging and keeps your baits laying onthe bottom.A successful day for me is if I find a

school. Often I can see them but can’t getclose because the water is too shallow orthey are too spooky. It’s all about thehunt. On a great day I can have three rodsbuckled at the same time. With a chunkof ladyfish on your hook you will have ac-tion, I promise. Sharks, catfish, snook,

trout and others willjerk your rods violently. The ultimate day is

when you see redfishtailing. That is, nosedown tails up andswishing the top of thewater’s surface as theyeat off the bottom.They will move inpacks as they graze andhustling to positionyour boat for the inter-ception will leave yourheart pounding!Another bonus to a

day-hunting redfish isthe ladyfish catching.Early mornings haveshark and tarpon work-ing together surround-

ing schools of ladyfish. Many times inSeptember I had bull sharks over 8-feetand tarpon in the 150-pound class attack-ing ladyfish at boatside I had reeled... andin only 3 feet of water……In fact, onsome days I was nervous about putting myhands in the water after a ladyfish thatshook off the hook got nailed by a shark!I wish I could tell you that I switchedgears and fished for those monster fish,but on the days I had no heavy gear, andof course, on the days I brought the heavytackle I was just simply catching ladyfishwith no monsters around.

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action FlatsBackcountry Charters and can be reached at941-628-8040

The Hunt For Reds Is On


By Bob Fraser Water LIFE KayakingOne of my charters this month was

with a family that just moved to Sarasotaa few weeks ago. Like most of myclients, they never fished in saltwater orout of a kayak. They picked a perfect dayto go kayak fishing, light winds and norain. My party consisted of a marriedcouple and their three girls, ages eight, tenand nineteen. We started out the day fishing for trout

using live shrimp under a popping cork,which is my standard rig for fishingclients although occasionally I get myclients to try fishing with artificials, ifthey are experienced. We caught severaltrout, mangrove snapper and of courseplenty of pinfish. One thing about takingyoung people fishing is they don’t carewhat they catch as long as it’s a fishpulling on the other end of their line.Everyone caught fish that day. The

eight-year-old took the prize for the mostfish caught that day. Mom and dad had agreat time as well, they both caught sometrout. The mom suggested kayak fishingshould be an everyday occurrence; sheloved being out on the water.On another trip I had this month I took

a man out to fly fish from the kayak. Youcan’t stand up in my kayak, so I told him Ididn’t know how well it would work. He

had no problem using the fly rod from asitting position, and I was surprised thathe caught several trout on his home –made flies. He had the best luck with adark brown slow sinking fly. This was hisfirst time both fly fishing from a kayakand fishing in saltwater.The second week of September I took

my 26-year-old son kayak fishing in Gas-parilla Sound. We found several nicetrout using a Mirrordine and live shrimpunder a Cajun Thunder. We like to use aMirrordine with either the dark green orlight green back; these are our two fa-vorite colors. My favorite topwater plug is the Chug-

bug, especially a silver-gray one. Whenthe trout don’t like the Mirrordine orshrimp, then I switch to a white Z-Mansoft plastic. We also found some ladyfish in about 4

foot of water, along with some tarponfeeding. I have fished Gasparilla Soundprobably 60 times in the last three years,and this was the first time I ever saw a tar-pon. We only had light spinning gear withus - we weren’t expecting to find any tar-pon! Just for the fun of it, we cut a lady-fish in half and put the tail half of it on atrout hook under a cork and let it sit whilewe fished for trout. We just wanted to seeif a tarpon would take it. It only took a few minutes before I

heard my son hollering, I got one! I was

about 40-50 yards away when I saw thetarpon jump. It looked to be 5-to 6-feetlong. I was amazed at how big it was. Itjumped five times before it broke the line.It was an unbelievable sight. I didn’t ex-pect a tarpon that big in 5 feet of water. My son hooked another tarpon, much

smaller than the first one, but it still brokehis line pretty quick. I wish I had broughtmy GoPro that day. We went out the nextweek with the proper gear to engage thetarpon but no luck, we didn’t see any thatday.

Bob Fraser is a southwest Florida kayakfishing guide – He can be reached for com-ments or to book a trip at: 941-916-8303 oremail him at [email protected]

His website is ww.kayakfishingwithbob.com

Kayaking ONE BIG SURPRISE

Charlotte HarborFrank at Fishin’ Franks941- 625-3888The big news is the redfish, reds are

everywhere! There are small fish againstthe mangroves on the east side, on thewest side and in the Peace River. They arepretty much scattered all the way to PuntaRasa. The big reds are out by the sandbarsfrom the outside to just inside. Right nowwe have an amazing display of redfish. Ifyou put a bait in the water you got a bet-ter-than-even shot a redfish will eat it.

Something Inever thought Iwould say, butthey are almostpushing out thecatfish! Wherewere they at thebeginning of theyear? Where didthey comefrom? A redfishcan swim 20miles a day buthow does theHarbor go fromnone to over-full? Where were they?Redfish don’t care about fresh or salt

like a snook doesn’t care. It’s no problemfor them living, but when it come tospawning the eggs won’t survive in thefreshwater. I think in the buoyancy of thesalt they float on the top but they sink anddie in the freshwater.The number two fish, for fishing in the

Harbor is snook. From the PC and PGIcanals on down south, the snook fishing iscrazy and October has all the makings ofbeing the best month of the year forsnook. And that’s saying a lot! Pinfish arethe number one bait. Shrimp and whitebaitare in a very close battle for second. For snook, look back in some of the

The smaller ones are on the edges of thebar, exactly opposite of the redfish. Completing the flats slam is the trout

who have moved in a little. I wouldn’t ex-pect it with all the freshwater, but 18-to20-inch trout have already been caught atBayshore Pier. From Pirate Harbor to JugShoal we are seeing decent trout. Freelineshrimp, or fish shrimp under a poppincork, they will hit anything drifting. Youwant it up in the water column, not down

on the bottom.This month tarpon are still holding

steady, mostly on the east side, just offthe bars. They have been cruising up anddown feasting on ladyfish. Troll whitecurly tail grub or a Storm Twitch, thetrout will hit one or the other. Lookdown the bar and you’ll find the tarponif there are still ladyfish there. Put a ladyunder a big bobber or a balloon. The tar-pon are anywhere from 40- to 120-pounds. A D.O.A. in green or brown,that’s what you will cast if you see themrolling. The new Savage swimming-troutbait is the most life-like lure I have everseen. It has one trebble hook,with the double sticking out thebottom. The thing is, Savagebaits are great for hook-ups, butthey have a lousy landing ratio. There are some snapper and

some sheepshead starting tobite in the Ponce Park area. Getting out into the Gulf,

there have been a bunch ofSpanish mackerel and kings,and the farther out you go, thebetter the grouper gets. Cobiaare pretty thin right now, it’s


Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremes

October October –– Predictions and SuggestionsPredictions and Suggestions

Fish With A Guide! Youʼll catch fish and youʼll learn something new too!

A king mackerel caught in Charlotte Harbor (ofall places) just southwest of Hazard Reef.Trolling a 6" pink big eye plug. We got a sec-ond hit but that king got away right next to theboat. In the picture is Dave Vigne from PirateHarbor Mike Wronski _ I only sent it to youguys because you're the best!

Editor says Thanks!

Chrissy Marie said at Boca Grande, last month, the reds were running!!!

more about luck catching themthan fishing for them. It doesn’tseem like you can target thembut you can sure luck into them,

Pompano are showing up inthe Gulf, and a fewAmberJacks are out there now too, onthe deeper spots. Wrecks arebetter than reefs – Pegasus andBayronto are where to look forthe AJs.

Snappers, grunts and porgys are in good num-bers from three miles out, which is strange, sincethe brown water river runoff was going out 12miles at the end of September. Sardines are still thebest grouper bait. Snapper have been good too butthey like live squid or shrimp. There are a fewdrum at El Jo and some in PGI, but they aremostly done now.

Lemon Bay - PlacidaJim at Fishermen’s Edge 697-7595Fishing has been pretty good with a lot of ac-

tion on the outer edges of the Harbor. From what Iam hearing, it’s pretty good action in Lemon Baytoo, with nice slot redfish and trout over 20-inches. Guys are catching them on the big shrimp. There’s been some mackerel coming in and out

of the Bay. They seem to come in on the incom-ing... and there’s been a lot of snapper around. Some flounder are being reported on the inside

of the passes and around the points. It’s early andit will only get better for flounder. There is quite abit of snook action on the lighted docks. Topwa-ters are working good in the a.m. Late at night, trydrifting shrimp on the docks and piers. The trestleis good at Placida for snook, on the outgoing tide. I don’t have any shrimp stories from the big

moon, but sometimes you don’t hear about fishythings until it’s over with. Offshore is really good for red grouper and

gags. Most everybody wants to drop a big pinfishdown, for a grouper, at the moment.Some kingfish are starting to show. They are

smaller and not in the passes yet. There should besome cobia around here now too. Cobia will bepushing down this way, this month.

Turtle and Bull Bay are still muddybrown. Pine Island Sound is a lot cleanerand the grass flats are holding nice troutmackerel, flounder and mangs. Theway the dirty water flows down there isthe key.I haven’t heard any pompano stories

yet, but they are coming. I’m selling theSilly Willie jigs so the guys must becatching them.Offshore there have been some small

sailfish, 2-to 3-foot. They were so smallthey looked like toys! Bass are doinggood. Look to the green and brownfrog. Fish deeper as the rain subsides.When the rain was falling it was a re-ally good frog bite.

SNOOK are just everywhereand every size

REDFISH starting to congre-gate on the Harbor bars

MACKEREL Kings andSpanish are showing up.

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚


FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

Great!Great!

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

TARPON In the Harbor and thePine Island Sound

Gulf Gulf TempsTemps

are high 70sare high 70sThe Harbor isThe Harbor is

flushing out a lotflushing out a lotof fresh waterof fresh water

Sharon Buchbinder and her husband werewith Capt. Fred of Backdraft Charters whenshe caught this big black drum.

Bob Dekerluneare of Northport shows a beautiful Septemberredfish and a leather hat that just looks hot.

water life oct 2015

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