Water LIFE July 2005

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Wa t e rWa t e r L I F EL I F EKeeping Boaters andKeeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed July 2005Fishermen Informed July 2005

Kids RedfishKids RedfishTournamentTournamentJuly 16-17July 16-17Fishermenʼs Vi l lageFishermenʼs Vi l lage

Itʼs Happening OffshoreItʼs Happening OffshorePage 24Page 24

Couplesʼ DayCouplesʼ Day Page 14Page 14

Page 18Page 18

P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J u l y 2 0 0 5

J u l y 2 0 0 5 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE Editor

“Wouldn’t it be fun to show the weigh-invideos from last year’s Kids Cup at thisyear’s captain’s meeting,” my wife suggest-ed. I could immediately envision the bigscreen on stage. It was a nice idea. “Maybewe can get the guys at ESPN2 to mix thetape and put some fishing music to it,” mywife added. This was starting to sound verygood.

Fishin’ Frank and Terri had spent theentire day at last year’s Kids Cup tournamentvideo taping the weigh-in. They had a mixerand a caption writer on the dock and they puteverything up on the big screen at HarpoonHarrys. It was an eight hour documentary inthe making. Or at least it could have been.

Then Hurricane Charley blew in to townand all that video went away. Frank lost hishouse, we lost our house and lots of the stillpictures we had turned to mush. It was anoth-er sorry reminder that we’re still findingthings we are missing, but there is always agood side to fishing.

Luckily, our photographer friend LesterKuhn who photographed the Kids Cup on theweigh-in dock last year, had put his still pho-tos on a couple of CDs and we did find thoseintact. They are the pictures on this page.

If you look at Lester’s photos you canalmost feel the action and hear the excite-ment. Not exactly a movie, but laughtermixed with suspense, it’s the stuff

tournaments are made of. Andwhen it was allover, every kid had tasted the recipe and comeaway with a fishing story of his own.

Last year, just when I thought I’d heardit all, one Kids Cup angler toldme; “We werechumming with live shrimp ... I was usinga sling-shot to shoot them under the bushes!”Innovation and resourcefulness, that’s whatfishing stories are all about.

The Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup took aliking to our Kids Cup tournament last yearand made us a part of their ESPN2 TV show.Now, this year, when the 2005 Redfish Cupfinals are held at Biloxi Mississippi, ourKids Cup winner will be there. But there maybe even more to that fishing story.

Last week, the Mississippi Gulf CoastConvention and Visitor’s Bureau called totalk with us about a Kids Cup tournamentin Biloxi to go along with this year’s RedfishCup finals. Just think, if that happens, andit’s still a big ‘if’, there might be a chance –just a chance - that our 2005 Kids Cup win-ner from Punta Gorda will be able to fish inthe Biloxi Kids Cup. Wouldn’t that be a coolfishing story? We’ll keep you posted.

Our Kids Cup Tournament takes place inPunta Gorda on July 16 at Fishermen’sVillage. The tournament is not about money,it’s about fun fishing, with kids on the waterand no stress at all. Every kid will want tocatch that one big winning redfish, a fish thatfuture fish stories will be told about, but

only one kid will catch theone biggest fish.

That’s ok, because some-times a plane old little fish isall it takes to bring on a mem-

orable fish story.So let me tell you about the smallestfish I ever caught on a hook and line:

I was fishing with my friend Capt. ChuckEichner, we were doing OK, having caughtsome snook and trout and a couple of niceredfish. We were anchored off a flat behindGasparilla Pass. The tide was running outand there were a bunch of fish movingthrough the area. It was a no-pressure, fun-day fishing.

Capt. Chuck has a nose for fish. He’sgood at finding them and catching them. Hewas, at one time in his life, a professionalbass fisherman and he even travelled the basstournament circuit for a while.

If you know anything about bass fisher-men, you know they have a style and tech-nique all their own. To me, the thing thatsets a bass fishermen apart from otheranglers is his aggressive hook-set. When abass angler sets the hook, he really sets thehook hard and fast. Even though Chuck hasbeen here for four or five years, he still some-times has that snap-yank bass fishermen’shook set that rocks the boat.

We were having fun, fishing with white-bait, and talking about fishing when I had abite. I mimicked Chuck’s hook-set, pullingmy elbows up and whipping my rod tip back– high, hard and fast.

But I missed the fish all together. It was agood thing the water was calm that day or Imight have thrown myself overboard. Welaughed and then I reeled in my line to checkmy bait. When I got the hook up to my handthe bait was still attached, but there wassomething else on it as well. I had caught a

fish – a tiny little file fish was

caught on the very tip of my laser pointedhook.

Of course, what must have happened wasthe little file fish was just swimming around,maybe checking out my bait or maybe justpassing by at the very moment I jerked theline. The file fish was impaled on my hook,caught unaware, as if he was smacked with asucker punch.

I reached over and gently plucked himfrom the hook-tip, and placed him in thewater in my cupped hands. He wiggled a lit-tle, I opened my hands and he swam away.

A live release! Sometimes fishing memo-ries and fish stories are made of weird stufflike that. It’s what keeps us all coming back

for more. We wishgood luck to all

Fish Stories and Other Stuff

To my surprise a tiny file fish was on my hook,right next to the big sardine I had for bait.

2004 Kids Cup Pho t o s b y Les t er Kuhn


Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

with any newspaper or otherpublication

© 2005 Vol V No. 7 Water LIFENo part of this publication may be

copied or reproduced without the writ-ten permission of the publishers

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonTechnical Advisor: Mike Panetti

Sailing Advisor: Bill DixonLemon Bay: Don Cessna

Kayaks: David AllenLocal: Capt. Andrew Medina

on the COVER:2004 Kids Cup winner, Tommy Davis

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

Tide Graphs: For Punta Gorda, ShellPoint, El Jobean, Pine Island, Matlacha,Redfish Pass, and Lemon Bay.Weather: Links to all of our favorite weath-er and radar web-sites.Back editions: Pages of previous editionsArtificial Reefs: Lat. and Long. for 24 localartificial reefsManatee Myths: Read the original plan tocreate sanctuaries and refuges, as spelledout by the United Nations in 1984Links to Realtors: Connect with our realestate advertisers

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Jig Angler Responds – A Letter to Water LIFEDear Mr. Heller,

I read with interest your observations ofthe recent Professional Tarpon TournamentSeries (PTTS) event in Boca Grande Pass. Ialso read with equal interest, the observa-tions of Fishin' Frank on the very sameevent. Remarkable the differences in perspec-tive on the same event. Both educatedobservers and conclusions at opposite endsof the pole.

2005 marks our team's first participationin the PTTS production. I have previouslybeen active in several Pass tarpon events,professional fishing tournaments and in ProRedfish series. There are similarities and dif-ferences in the others and PTTS. The mostglaring difference is that all competition inPTTS is done at minimum wake speed and allother events are either wide open throttle orengine off. The fact seems to be that saltwaterangling has gone mass media "Big Time."

Your printed differences in observationson the same event are interesting and are con-sistent with many other facets of life. Plentylove auto racing and plenty do not.Thousands cherish their Florida airboats andothers see these same machines as the Devil'sown chariot. ATVs offer many families theopportunity to experience natural Florida as agroup, but, others see them only as destruc-

tive devices.You'll get no argument here that tradition-

al pass tarpon angling techniques are steepedin tradition and deserve respect, honor andtheir fair share of time in the Pass. Listeningto any of the live bait masters reveals a deepknowledge of the Pass and habits of the tar-pon that migrate here each year.

Other anglers have chosen anothermethod of catching tarpon in that same hole.This group has been maligned, attacked,accused, slandered and persecuted for theirchoice to utilize their preference of artificialtarpon fishing baits. Hundreds of thousandsof Florida taxpayer dollars have been invest-ed to study their methods and the results ontarpon of angling in the Pass with artificiallures. The conclusions are clear. They aresimilar or better than other angling activitiestargeting other species with artificial lures.

Back to the PTTS. I was present at thesame event you describe in the July 2005issue. I heard no competitor anger directed atany participant or recreational angler duringthe competition. Was there adrenaline, youbet. Was there high excitement and "deal withit NOW'" situations, for sure. Do multiplehookups of giant tarpon in close proximityto others call for split second decisions andclose cooperation between competitor teams

-- no doubt. Tarpon are dangerous game evenwhen boats are not close to each other -- and,the sharks that regularly eat them are evenmore dangerous.

Could this be the finest example of closequarter boat control ever practiced? I am con-vinced that is the case. I am amazed at howthe team captains maneuver to avoid physicalcontact with other boats and with how dedi-cated they are to not costing any other passangler a hooked fish. You'll not see that hap-pen in many concentrated effort fishingplaces. A perfect art -- no. A practice of con-cern and courtesy -- yes.

Did I see one instance of any competitordisrespect to any other pass angler during theevent? No. Has the promoter been required todeal with any such outbursts? Yep. Has hedone so with effectiveness and balance? Ibelieve so.

Thank you for expressing your opinionon this event and for publishing a complete-ly different conclusion -- by Fishin' Frank -on the same occurrence. America is built onthe premise of differing opinions and thefreedom to express them.

Meanwhile, let all of us raise or hands insalute to Capt. Ken Hyatt and Fish Hog crewfor catching the largest (216-pound) tarponever entered in any Boca Grande tarpon tour-

Do You Get This Publication in the mail AND NOT KNOW WHY?Starting last month we began to mail an extra 1,000 copies of Water LIfe to selected waterfronthomeowners in the Gulf Cove and Port Charlotte area. If you like what you see here, please considerbecoming a regular subscriber. This is a limited time mailing.

Next Shark Tournament: August 6-7

Author UnknownOne of the best things about fishing is that it’s a bit

like yoga. If you get really good at yoga, you no longerhave to contort yourself into silly positions because youcan do it in your head. If you work hard enough at fish-ing, the same thing becomes possible, although people inthe early stages won’t believe you.

We all know that in the early stages, the only possibleway to extract pleasure from fishing is to camp for weekson end in an inadequate tent, eating from cans and livingon three quid a day, but when you reach the higher levels,

you don’t actually have to do that any more. Fishing and‘self’ become so indivisible that to be is to fish. Which iswhy I don’t mind working on the lawnmower so muchany more.

There are, I think, seven stages in the life of a fisher-men. In the first stage, you want to catch a fish: any fishwill do, just as long as it is a fish. This stage is a rite ofpassage and if you don’t go through it, you won’tprogress at all, let alone reach to the higher levels. Thewanting is the thing; I have seen many people catch fishwithout wanting to do so and none of them has everbecome a fisherman.

In the second stage, you want to catch lots of fish –this one goes without saying, really.

In the third stage, you want to catch big fish. Morethan a few of us get stuck in the third stage, the anglingequivalent of anal retention, or bloody good fun, depend-ing on whether you are of that stage or not.

In the fourth stage, you need to catch difficult fish; inthe fifth stage, you travel to catch distant fish; in thesixth, you spend more time talking about fishing thandoing it.

And in the seventh stage, you just think about fishing,which accounts for my beatific smile as I realize what theproblem is: I visualize flipping the fuel cock to the ‘on’position, pulling the starter, throwing out a bait and feel-ing that reel scream as I strike and my quarry surgesacross the water.


By Capt. Robert MooreWater LIFE Staff

This month I will be fishing the KidsCup with my 10 year old son Ryan. forthe last thirty days, almost semi-daily, hewill ask me logistical questions on howwe are going to fish the Kids Cup.

“Which rods will I be using?”“What kind of bait will I be using?”

“What area will we be fishing?”“How big of a redfish will I have to

catch to win?”The questions go on and on and it

seems every answer I give him leads toanother question.

Then he asked me “Do we have a goodtide that day?”

At 10 years old he might not com-pletely understand tides and how or whythey affect the fishing, but he does knowthat a good tide means good fishing. Iguess from all the years we have beenfishing together and hearing me blame badfishing days on a ‘terrible tide,’ it’s onething he knew we wanted to have right.

I have completely dissected the tides forJuly 16th. It’s a great early high water tidethat should produce lots of redfish for allthe junior anglers.

Here is my strategyFor Fishing the Kids Cup:

The high tide for Charlotte Harbor isright at 10:17 a.m. The height of the tide

that day will be 2.0 feet. Then around11am the tide will begin to fall and contin-ue out until around 7pm that night.

I use the Charlotte Harbor tide locationfor any areas around Punta Gorda, the eastand west walls of Charlotte Harbor up toPirate Harbor. For the Turtle Bay, BullBay, Gasparilla Sound, and the Burnt Storearea the tide will be about 90 minutes ear-lier.

The tide height of 2.0 means highenough water to fish under the mangroves

in the morning. There is no better place tostart than up along the mangrove busheswhen the tide is high.

My son’s casting is pretty good in openwater, but he’s not that accurate when cast-ing up along the mangrove bushes. If youhave the same predicament with your jun-ior angler, just remember: if you fish withshrimp, the bait does not have to skip 10feet up under the bushes to catch fish. Ifyou get the bait within a couple of feetand let it sit, a redfish is bound to find it.

If you decide to throw artificial baits tryand get your child up close to the shoreand have them cast along the shore linerather than to it.

With the earlier tide in the Bull &Turtle Bay, I will start our day there. Asthe tide begins to fall I will follow thehigher water up into Charlotte Harbor. Ifigure we have until about 1pm before thetide is too low to fish along the man-groves. My strategy after that is to simplyback off the mangrove shorelines and haveRyan either throw artificial baits or castshrimp to sand holes.

One other suggestion I have is to makesure the fishing rod is not too long for theangler's size. I personally use 8-foot medi-um action rods. Try watching a 10 year oldmake a cast with one. It is very awkwardfor them, so match the rod length to theangler. And don’t forget a landing net.

I can’t tell you how many times I haveheard anglers tell stories about a large red-fish they had and how they lost it as theytried to land the fish without a landing net.

Most importantly if you are fishing inthis year’s Kids Cup, have fun!

I hope to see everyone at the Captain’smeetinag and then at the weigh-in.

You can reach Capt. Robert Moore forfishing information or to book a charter fish-ing trip at (941) 637-5710 or (941) 628-2650 or v ia e-mail at [email protected]

Analyzing the Kids Cup Tide

Tide Chart Courtesy of Zihua Software, offering Harbor Master Tides and Currents through an online subscription service attheir website,www.zihuasoftware.com or on CD for Macintosh or Windows.

26ß56.0? N 82ß04.0? W Punta Gorda, Gulf

16Sunrise 6:45 AMSunset 8:24 PM

Moonrise 3:46 PMMoonset 1:54 AM

Seven Stages of a Fishermanʼs Life


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editor

Tommy Davis was the win-ner of last year’s Water LIFEKids Cup Tournament. Thisyear Tommy won’t be fishing atthe Kids Cup because he will befishing in the IGFA’s JuniorAngler World Championships atKey West that same week.

Curious what CharlotteHarbor’s top junior angler hadlearned since the Kids Cup, wehooked up with Tommy on anice Saturday morning and spentthe day on the water, bummingaround, catching fish and gener-ally having a good time. Here’swhat we found out.

If Tommy was serious aboutfishing last year, he’s super seri-ous now. This kids evolved intoa real fisherman.

We idled down the Myakkafrom Tommy’s house andstopped at one of the markers forbait. Tommy drives the boatwith a smoothness unusual forsomeone his age. He’s a livebait fisherman and he isn’t afraidto throw a cast net from the pol-ing platform ... and he prefers afull spinning release that isalmost a ballet and usually openand on target.

After we had the bait

chummed up it was only a fewthrows and the livewell wasfull. Next we were off fishing.

Tommy likes the GPS andhas a Garmin on his boat thathas about a gazillion waypointsstored in it. Waypoints withnames like Gas Island (I ran outof gas here once) and 4th of JulyCreek (the snook were poppinglike firecrackers) and so on.

We idled into one area andTommy laid out the topographyfor me. “It bends around to theright, there is a deep hole overthere and a little creek flows infrom behind the bushes overthere. Tommy knew his spots,with or without the GPS, and inno time we were on fish.

Redfish are still Tommy’sfavorite, but he has no com-punction about grabbing asnook whenever the opportunitypresents itself. He is instinc-tively quiet, anchoring, closingthe baitwell hatch and movingabout the boat with a physicalquietness that is balanced by hisnon-stop enthusiastic chatter.

We worked our way down thewest side and back into TurtleBay. Tommy had a few spots inmind and they all proved to beproductive with some fat snookand a few tournament size red-

fish. By the time we got to theback of the Bay we had both set-tled down, him nervous withfishing with me and me notwanting to get outfished.

If Tommy fishes well fromthe boat he appears most athome in the water, wading. Hehas an excellent eye for a bot-tom that promises fish and seesfish with the sharp eyes I onlywish I still had.

When it comes to gettingaround, Tommy prefers histrolling motor to the push pole.“I like to have fun fishing, notwork” Tommy explained.

We hang at the back of thebay and share a sandwichanchored behind an island “Foodjust tastes better on the water,”Tommy says, then he’s off wad-ing again moving from spot tospot flipping bait under theoverhangs and pulling fish outfrom under the bushes while Icast in vain from the boat.

Tommy likes to explore andis constantly looking under andventuring back into the bushes .Inquisitive youth learning aboutfish. I hear a few ‘wows’ and‘look at those fish’ and ‘Oh MyGod!’ calls. This is good.

By mid afternoon we areheaded back up the harbor. We

stop at a spot I fished the daybefore and Tommy promptlypulls a nice redfish out. “I’llremember this spot,” Tommysays, reaching for the GPS.

Last stop is a creek mouthon the west side near halfwaypoint. We anchored the boat andTommy is in the water in notime. Wading with a dip net fullof shiners between his legs hestands at the mouth trying tocoax some small snook out of ahole behind the dead trees. He issuccessful. In time he is back atthe boat for another net full ofbait and then another.

The sun is low in the lateafternoon sky and Tommy isstill fishing and catching fish.

“We gotta' get going soon,” Isay and for a moment the littlekid in him breaks through “CanI have just one more net (full ofbait), ....Pleeeease!

Tommy Davis graduated firstin his class at the Don BallSchool of Fishing program and isan A student planning to go tocollege. We are proud to haveTommy Dav is representingCharlotte County in the JuniorAngler World Championships atKey West this month.

Port Manatee Redfish HatcheryTo Cut Back On Releases

S taff ReportAccording to William Halstead, chief

biologist for the Florida Fish andWildlifeCommission’s redfish hatchery at PortManatee, things are about to change at thefacility’s 54 acre location on the shore ofTampa Bay. Citing the current expansionof the port, Halstead explained that theleased land the hatchery’s ‘grow-out’ pondsare located on is needed for the port’sexpansion. “They want the land backnow,” Halstead said, noting that the facili-ty will continue to use their indoorresearch lab and will continue to use theindoor tanks currently in operation.

“The FWC is looking at this as anopportunity to build a new state of the arthatchery,” Halstead said, explaining that‘new technology’ involves using tankswith a recirculating water system insteadof outdoor grow-out ponds. “We will becatching up with what is going on aroundthe rest of the world,” he said.

The port is offering to lease the hatch-ery another site to the south and couldeven help with earthwork for constructionthere. “We are in the process of designinga new facility and looking at ways to fundit through State, Federal and privateavenues,” Halstead said.

“We are not going to release any morefish this summer, “ Halstead said. We aregoing to pause for a couple of years. Wewill stay inside our current building forthree to five years, but we will no longerbe releasing 1,000,000 fish a year.”

This announcement has come suddenly,but it could be an opportunity forCharlotte Harbor. Satellite facilities, onesthat only release a few thousand fish ayear, like the redfish hatchery at Sanibel,will continue to get fish from the PortManatee site, grow them out and releasethem. Halstead said it was not out of thequestion that the Port Manatee site cut-backs could move the timetable ahead forestablishing a redfish hatchery somewherein Charlotte Harbor.

“You would need to raise $500,000,you’d need the land and a bunch of volun-teers,” Halstead said.

Last Yearʼs Kids Cup winnerTommy Davis with a snook on theline and a redfish on the scale.Thatʼs the X-Tools digital scale hereceived at the Kids Cup too!

FFISHINGISHING WITHWITHTTOMMYOMMY DDAVISAVIS


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Inshore Editor

Some of the most sought after salt andfreshwater fish species are the most chal-lenging to catch. Largemouth bass andwalleye offer enough challenge that a wholehost of television shows have come from it.If these fish weren’t tough to catch thenwhat fun would it be? It’s not all about thefight either because walleye aren’t reallythat tough. On the saltwater scene variousbillfish, kingfish and in more recent timesthe redfish lead the way in challenging fish-ing and tv shows. All of the saltwaterspecies are extreme fighters adding to theexcitement and the bullish redfish is onetough hombre.

Redfishing takes on a different color inthe heat of the summer. There are more vari-ables to decipher in catching them in Julyand August then perhaps any other month.You can break it down into 2 broad cate-gories habitat and food source. Let’s take alook at each one in detail.

Habitat- By the time summer arrivesthe redfish’s saltwater environment hasevolved into a complex ecosystem. First,the heavy rains of June have now blackenedthe water with tannic stain from the man-grove lined river systems. With a fewexceptions, sight fishing is gone. The watertakes on a mysterious darkness that makespicking out potholes and good spots nearlyimpossible. Secondly, the submerged aquat-ic grasses are very heavy now. There aremany different types of vegetation and someare even floating. Grass is everywhere in theshallows. Also, with the influx of freshwa-ter with the afternoon showers comingalmost daily the redfish seem to expandtheir range even beyond the backcountry andout to the beaches where the salinity levelsare lower then normal, but at times perhapsmore to the liking of the reds. This samefreshwater influx seems to keep them on themove in the shallows as they seek out theircomfort zone, whatever that might be. Ontop of that water temperatures are reachingfor the upper 80s and that makes the fish a

little lethargic.

Food Source- Just about every-thing that can possibly grow or swim intoCharlotte Harbor is here now. Multitudes ofspawning cycles of migratory and non-migratory baitfish have created a populationexplosion of baby fish. Various shrimpspecies and perhaps a dozen crab species arenestled in the grasses. Plus, there are plen-ty of other goodies that reds will eat. Afriend of mine cleaned a red and once foundthe belly jammed with small eels.Something you don’t normally think aboutbut that led him to experiment with artifi-cials that imitate eels and guess what- hecaught fish! Redfish will and do eat justabout anything!

So the big picture is the fish are roam-ing just about anywhere in the harbor andthey have more on the menu then everbefore. As anglers what is most in our favoris these fish are hungry. Higher water tem-peratures mean reds just become eatingmachines.

Catching Reds on Bait- To besure this is the easiest way to catch redfishin the summer. Tops on the list would bepinfish, scaled sardines, threadfin shad,crabs, shrimp and other cut bait such asSpanish sardines and ladyfish. Redfish areset up perfectly for feeding on the bottom.Their mouths don’t open all that wide andcompare to the freshwater bottom feedingcarp in some respects. In my opinion, theirfavorite summertime food are crabs. Blueclaw are the easiest to get and can be brokeninto pieces and fished on a lightly weightedrig. Cutbait can be fished the same way. Tofish live shrimp place it under a cork or rigit Texas style with a small split shot andcast to fishy haunts. Live shiners under acork work, but often the reds are too lazy tochase down a bait. Injuring your bait tomake it an easy catch may improve yournumber of bites.

Catching Reds on Artificials-The great thing about redfish is that they areaggressive. They attack lures readily and

make for great sport. But like the large-mouth bass, they can be finicky about whatthey’ll take. Experimentation is the key butthe go-to lures the redfish touring pro’s fallinto 2 categories. Spoons and soft plastics.A lot of spoon fishing is personal prefer-ence. There is the tried and true JohnsonSilver Minnow and a host of others thatwiggle in different ways. Gold and silvercolors are what most of us use. Variousfreshwater in-line spinners and safety-pinstyle spinner baits are also productive.When it comes to soft plastics, the stickbaits such as the Bass Assasin type imitatesa 4_ to 6-inch baitfish and are used by lotsof great fisherman. Basically, you are tryingto imitate a baitfish or crustacaean.Experiment with color because it does makea difference. Rootbeer is always popular butwith dark water brighter colors can makethem chew. One alternative to spoons andplastics is to fish a Zara Spook topwaterplug walking the dog covering lots ofwater. Reds have a tough time inhaling theplug because of their mouth shape.However, it is a great search bait for findingwhere their located and once you have astrike throw back immediately with a softplastic and it’s gonna get munched!

Knowing what baits to throw is half thebattle andwhere to find em’ is the other. Myapproach to summer fishing is to cover lots

of water. With artificials I will use atrolling motor to fish mangroves on highwater and potholes on lower tides.Constantly changing locations and trying todiscover pods of fish. When fishing baityou can often chum with cutbait to attractthe fish to you or mash up a crab and chumwith the pieces. This requires more patiencebut the fish will follow a scent trail in thewater. My rule is 30 minutes of baitfishingin one spot without a bite. Catfish andstingrays don’t count and they will maketheir presence known. No reds in 30 min-utes and it’s time to move.

I like to fish areas that have good currentflow. The more current the more oxygen andin the summer this can position fish wheretheir most comfortable. Remember, there isforage for redfish just about everywhere, sofinding where there most comfortablewhether it be more oxygenated water, high-er salinity, shade from the mangroves, deep-er water, cooler water or whatever will makethe difference. So there are lots of variablesbut fish survive by instinct. Using yourinstincts and cut to the basics and youshould end the day with a cajun’ blackenedfish fry!

Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local chartercaptain. For information or to book a guid-ed fishing trip call 941-505-0003 or go to

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S taff ReportWhat bait works best? It’s a

question asked often and in manydifferent ways. Any angler worthhis salt will come up with apatented reply, something like,“Well, it kind of depends on whenand where you're fishing.”Another good answer might be,“Different baits work better at dif-ferent times.” This of course istrue, but in our opinion, the sin-gle best bait to use whether you'refishing in the bay or out on theGulf is shrimp, the kind you canbuy dead or alive at most bait andtackle shops. Live shrimp isprobably more often favored overfrozen or dead shrimp, but the factof the matter is, shrimp is theuniversal bait around here.

Everything likes shrimp: red-fish, bluefish, ladyfish, dogfish,lizardfish, snakefish, snook, tar-pon, whiting, sheepshead, silvertrout, speckled sea-trout, sail-cats,hard-head catfish, jack crevelle, redgrouper, gag grouper, blackgrouper, scamp, mangrove snap-per, lane snapper, yellow-tailsnapper, vermilion snapper,porgy, sharks, little tunny, black-fin tuna, cobia, greater amberjack,

banded rudderfish, flounder, per-mit, pompano, king mackerel,Spanish mackerel, black drum,strawberry grouper, Goliathgrouper, hog snapper, skip jack,and mahi-mahi ... will all takeyour shrimp. The bigger fish, ofcourse, like the bigger handpicked select shrimp.

Which brings us to the nextpart, the guy doing the hand pick-in’ down at the local bait and tack-le shop.

It's a good idea to build afriendly rapport with the folkswho make their living countingshrimp. Some bait shops offerregular size shrimp or ‘hand pick-s’ so depending on your fishing,be ready to make a decision onwhat size is best for your targetedspecies. Don’t talk to the mancounting the shrimp once he getsstarted. This task takes 100-per-cent concentration. A sign atFishin’ Franks reads; “If you talkwhile we count you might not getthe right amount,” believe it!And never, ever, re-count theshrimp in front of the shrimp dip-per. Two dozen regular sizedshrimp doesn't look like much inthe bottom of a bucket anyway.

So now that you've got theshrimp what’s the best way topresent it?

Answer: First, be careful. Liveshrimp can be frisky little crittersand the ‘horn’ at the front of thehead can easily stick you whenyou reach in the bait bucket tograb one.

When shrimp move about inthe water, especially when theyare fleeing from a fish, they movebackwards quickly – tail first,head end following. That looksnatural to a fish, and because ofthis, some anglers prefer to hooktheir shrimp through the tail andretrieve them with slow littlejerks, mimicking the way theshrimp would flee. Of courseshrimp move forward on the bot-

tom or float stationary in the tide,as well, so anglers also hook theirshrimp through the head–‘between the vein and thebrain,’– as the saying goes.

Some anglers like to free linethe shrimp on the surface, otherswill use a split shot on the leaderto keep them on the bottom. Deadshrimp on a jig head are a greatattractant for fish picking alongthe bottom... redfish like thispresentation a lot. And if you’refishing the middle of the watercolumn try suspending yourshrimp under a poppin’ cork let-ting it dangle down a few feetbelow the surface on invisible flu-orocarbon leader.

With shrimp as a bait you canhardly ever go wrong.


Shrimpis always in fashion

A shrimp hooked in the ʻheadʼ is a common live bait presentation

Improve your oddsof a Live Release.

By Fishin' Frankn If you keep your fish in the livewell,

drive back up harbor at 20 M.P.H. or less. Thiswill give the fish time to adjust to the waterchanges.n Chemicals to rejuvenate fish work well,

but in an open system, the stuff washes out thedrain. Chemicals only work well in closed sys-tems.IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CLOSED

SYSTEM IT’S NOT HARD TO MAKEONE: Start with an ice chest – the insideshould be at least 27 inches or larger so the fishcan stretch out and be comfortable – You’ll alsoneed 2 one-litre frozen bottles of water, a bilgepump or a heavy duty 12 volt air pump.

Place the frozen bottles in the ice chestearly. Do not add water yet. Wait until youcatch your keeper, tournament winning, red.

Then put the fish in the regular live well onyour boat until you are ready to go to the weighin. At that time put water in the ice chest andadd the two jugs of ice.

It is important to use the water from whereyou caught your fish. Add the chemical treat-ment, mix well, then put in the redfish beforethe water cools too much. Ice cold will put thefish into shock. Have the pumps running fromthe start. The ice in the jugs will melt quickly,cooling the water. Remove the water bottlesbefore you transport the fish. This should helpget that redfish if not happy, at least healthy,


On the Line Fishing with Capt. Ron Blago

The next boat show I go to, I'm going to get a price on an ark.By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffJust before Memorial Day I was think-

ing the yard was looking a little dry andwe could use a little rain. Well be carefulwhat you wish for because the next day itstarted to rain and now it just won’t stop.I'm not talking about the normal sum-mertime thunder showers, I'm talkingabout torrential, frog drowning downpours. It's rained 21 out of the last 24days. Another inch or two and we willhave the wettest June on record since1947. The next boat show I go to I'mgoing to get a price on an ark.Fishing in the rain is a personal matter

and I personally don't like to do it. If I'mgoing to be hit by lightening I prefer it bewhen I'm sitting at home rather than inthe middle of Lemon Bay with a graphiterod in my hand.All this fresh water has turned the bay

into a dark tea-colored soup which hasmade fishing somewhat of a challenge.The fish are still there, but they are a lit-tle harder to find. Most of the trout I'vebeen catching north of the Tom Adamsbridge have been that nice gold color youfind in the more brackish water like in theback of Turtle Bay.Live whitebait is the key to successful

fishing right now. Schools of redfish areforming up on the grass flats of LemonBay and chumming with white bait willget them coming in your direction.Beach tarpon fishing has been slower

than normal from Sarasota south toEnglewood Beach. Plenty of fish havebeen seen, but getting them to bite isanother matter. There are large schools ofthreadfins just off shore and some of theguides feel that the tarpon have too muchto eat so they are turning their noses atanything we fishermen offer them. BocaGrande Pass on the other hand is havinga better than average tarpon year, with alot of big fish being caught.Stump Pass is still in the news and it

looks like the long awaited geo-tubes willbe installed on the north side of the passthis month. Hopefully this will help slowdown the migration of sand into the passchannel.Normally I don't pay much interest to

the local papers, but a recent letter to theeditor really caught my attention. The let-ter was entitled “Speeding boats hurtStump Pass.” It appears the lady whowrote the letter is a curator of a museumin Baton Rouge and was down here for alittle vacation. It seems this lady thinksthat we can save millions of dollars indredging and renourishment costs by justhaving boats slow down as they gothrough the pass. Of course she had tothrow in that this would also help theendangered manatee – they always throwin the manatee; I guess they feel it gives

their argument more credibility.This lady is entitled to her opinion and

after 20 years of working on the StumpPass issue, I've seen crazier things inprint. I guess she has never come fromoffshore into a strong outgoing tide witha high west wind coming up your butt.You better go fast or you're not going tomake it. Of course being from out ofstate she probably hasn't heard that thepopulation of manatees has tripled in thelast 20 years, or that now 32-percent of allthe inshore waters of Florida are ManateeZones, and she's not going to find outfrom the local papers that so far this yearthere has not been a single manatee killedby a boat in all of Charlotte County.What got my attention most was that

she seems to be spending her time count-ing the number of boats going throughthe pass. One Friday morning she said shecounted 59 boats in about 90 minutes.Granted, you can spend your vacation anyway you want – we appreciate you com-ing here and hopefully you're spendinglots of money while you're here – butbelieve me there are a lot better things todo here in Englewood.In the mean time I’m saving my

money so I can come up to Baton Rougeon vacation. I'm just sure there are manyproblems there I can help you peoplesolve.Don't thank me, it will be my pleas-

ure.

Capt. Ron Blago can be reached forfishing information or to book a charter

Snook have been feeding aggressivelyand Capt Pete Zambuto was into the bigsnook last month, as seen here.

P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J u l y 2 0 0 5

30' Cruisers Inc. 2000 Twin 220HP Volvo 5.0GLwith only 78 hours. Exceptionally cleanexpress cruiser Asking $99,000

23' Grady White Gulfstream 1990. Twin 150Mercury Blackmax. Solid riding and veryroomy fishing boat. Asking $19,900

46' Post Convertible 1992. Twin 550HP DetroitDiesels 6V92 1993. Beautiful boat - New watermaker & new bottom 2005. Asking $330,000

40' Sea Ray Sedan Bridge, 1997. Twin 3116upgraded Diesels with bronze risers. Equipped& professionally maintained. Asking $228,000

30' Grady White Marlin 300 2001. Twin gasYamahas. Dry stored and pro. maintained, nicecondition throughout Asking $115,000.

43' Sea Ray 430 Convertible 1988. Twin 370HPdiesel engines. This boat has all the amenitiesof home! Asking $169,900

38' Chris-Craft 381 Catalina. Twin 330HP gasPleasurecraft engines. Great boat for entertain-ing, cruising or liveaboard. Asking $82,000.

26' Chaparral SSI 260, 2001. Outstanding condi-tion, looks like new. Lift kept and never bottompainted. New engine May ʻ04, Asking $39,999

25' World Class Cat 1999 Twin 115HP Yamaha4-strokes 2004. Five year warranty on engines,great boat & ready to fish. Asking $49,900

25' Proline 25 Sport CC 2002. Single 225HPMercury Optimax 2002. Only 50 hours! Trailerincluded. Reduced to $45,000

33" Cruisers 3372 Express 2002. Twin 320HPMercruiser VD's. Beautiful boat, lift stored.Asking $149,500

33' Carver Mariner 1995 Twin 250HP Crusader.Very spacious boat- reduced to $69,900

33' Sea Ray 330 Sundancer, 1992. Twin gasengines. Maintained in excellent conditionthroughout, lift stored. Reduced to $44,500

28' Bertram FBSF 1971. Engines replaced ʻ91,Bottom paint April 05, This classic vessel is invery nice condition! Asking $29,900

23' Boston Whaler Conquest 23 1999 twin135HP Mercury Optimax. Very clean, lift stored,lightly used bluewater boat Asking $45,000

Moonlight PaddleBy David AllenWater LIFE Kayaking ContributorThe evening was perfect for a moon-

light paddle. The moon, almost full, waswell up into the southeastern sky, andwhite puffy clouds were colored brightgold by the setting sun. The temperaturewas pleasant and the breeze was light. Itwas about 7 P.M. at Port Charlotte BeachPark and the Port Charlotte Kayakers wereunloading kayaks and gear well before sun-set. There were still a lot of powerboaters launching and loading their boatsat the nearby ramp. Beach goers were stillwading along the shoreline and enjoyingthe last few minutes of sun time fromtheir beach chairs.And so the paddle began; a group of

thirteen paddlers, heading west toward theEast Spring Lake canals. The goal was topaddle through the mangroves opposite thebeach, pass under the Edgewater Drivebridge, paddle the east branch, then thewest, and return to the beach. If yourthing is fast, long paddles, don’t botherwith a moonlight run, as the slow paceand short distance will disappoint you. Aswe headed west, the sun was still well

above the horizon and there was a lightwest wind.Soon we were in the mangroves and

paddling single file through the narrowchannels that lead from one cove to thenext. The coves here are only about ahundred yards or so long, and half as wide.There wasn't a ghost of a breeze here; stilland quiet. We drifted across the water withjust an easy paddle stoke, not wanting todisturb the peace. A blue heron, along themangrove roots on shore, was stalking alate meal at the water’s edge.We passed out of the mangroves, took a

right turn under the bridge, and passed intothe east channel. This branch is onlyabout a half mile long, with homes anddocks on both sides. We chatted brieflywith some of the homeowners who wereenjoying a quiet time at their docks. Aswe paddled by, we saw that quite a few ofthe homes and docks were still showingthe effects of Hurricane Charley; still someblue roofs to be seen.We reached the turn-around point and

took a short break for a drink, then headedback down the main channel. The sun wasjust sinking beneath the horizon - the wind

continued on facing page

had dropped to a whisper. The moon wasrising in front of us, bright in the easternsky. The beach was about 2 miles furtheron, a slight current was in our favor. Idealpaddling and good company to boot.As we moved out of the mangrove

channel toward the beach, the lights of therecreation area became a beacon to guide usin. A few boats were being loaded at theramp, but otherwise, all was quiet.Several of us decided to extend the

evening’s paddle by heading over to GrassyPoint. The beach was deserted as we pad-dled under the fishing pier and along the

sandy shore. It was fully dark now and thelights of Punta Gorda were bright andclear. We reached the beach off GrassyPoint, stopped and talked, deciding what todo. No one wanted the paddle to end, butit was getting late, so we reluctantlyturned back to the launch area.Kayaks were loaded, gear was back in

the cars and we were headed for home,thinking how lucky we were to live andpaddle in such a beautiful area.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meetWednesdays at Port Charlotte Beach at5:30 PM. Visitors are welcome. For infor-mation contact Dave Allen at 941-235-2588 or via e-mail to:[email protected]


With a beautiful big-block powered ski boat in the foreground at the Port Charlotte BeachComplex, the Port Charlotte Kayakers club heads out on their moonlight paddle trip.

PADDLE continued

Southwest Florida has seen its share ofrain this last month. The coastal watersare now stained and water visibility isvery poor. For best results with soft plas-tics in stained water conditions, usedarker colors with a chartreuse tail. OldBay Side has an assortment of dark col-ors with a chartreuse tail in the Shrimp,Skeleton Shad and Mud Mino.

A selection of Old Baysideʼs bait and new Paradise Poppers are now available at Laishley Marine and at Fishinʼ Franks

Shrimp

Skeleton Shad


By Capt Rick Kel lyWater LIFEToadfish, I like to call them

Mother-in-Law fish, butwhat’s in a name? Themother-in-law fish whichis not only ugly, italso has a bigmouth and thereare lots of them.It defys my imag-ination todescribe themmore. If they arebig enough theyare fun to catch,but you don’t want totouch them.As a matter of fact, Iwould just as sooncut the line out offear that I might haveto touch one!Some ugly fish

have pretty names,i.e., Sea Robin.Some pretty fishhave funny names,i.e., squirrelfish orpigfish. It makesme wonder who gotthe job of naming allthe fish?Catfish, now there is a name that I guess

makes sense. After all, they do havewhiskers. Well they look like whiskers, but

actually are barbells, which resemble a cat’swhiskers. Some people eat the gaff-topsail

catfish, but not me. I don’t wantto touch them either. I

guess I am a bigsissy. If youever caught oneyou probablynoticed theslime on theline, yuk!Ever heardof the cru-

cifix shell?It is suppose to

be in the head of acatfish. I’ll have totake their word onthat one.

The air-pufferfish is one thatkids especiallylike. It’s fun toscratch his tummyand watch himblow up. Whenyou throw himback in the water,he spins around fora few seconds untilthe air escapes and

then he swims away.Yes, there are lots of beautiful fish out

there, but everyone loves the pretty fish. Iguess if you were a fish it would pay to beugly, because then you too would be a

Throw Back That Mother In Law

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The oyster cracking toad fish

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Trade-inWith a New Boat Dealer

Many boaters use a new boat dealerto trade in their old boat against the pur-chase of a new boat. The benefits of tradingin your boat are the speed and ease of thetransaction; generally youʼll have little, ifany, downtime, which is especially critical inthe boating season. Not all dealers take alltrade-ins – it depends on what you are trad-ing in and what you are buying. There can betax advantages to a trade-in; check with meand I will help make the trade easy andworthwhile!

Boat Buying Tips

NaplesJuly 11 thru 21

Cape CoralJuly 5 thru 15

SarasotaJuly 205 thru Aug 4

J u l y 2 0 0 5 Wa t e r L I F E P a g e 1 3


Couples TournamentDraws 110 to Burnt Store

Charlotte Harbor’s most popular boat and motor from the #1 Action Craft and Yamaha dealerCome by for your piece of the ‘Action’

3300 Palm Beach Blvd. (Exit 25) Ft. Myers • (239) 334-3424

S taff ReportThe rules were simple. Two

snapper, one redfish. No wading,no dead fish. There were 110 cou-ples entered. It was windy in themorning with whitecaps on theharbor, but by the 3 pm weigh-intime all that mattered was theheat. “The water temperature is 87degrees in the harbor,” Capt.Darrel Carter noted as his wifeGladys got off the boat when theyhit the dock and headed for thepool.We got our first big fish at

6:30 a.m. and then the one we

weighed in came at 8, Carter said.“We had to keep that fish alive allday.” He added, “It wasn’t easy.”“We ARE coming in,” another

wife said when the weighmasterasked at 2 pm if they were goingback out for another fish. It washot for everyone.Many anglers reported tough

redfishing but plenty of out-of-season snook. “We waded throughthe snook all afternoon, but theredfish were hard to come by,”Miles Merridith said. Anglers whocaught bait close to the passreported losing it when they cameup the harbor to the east side.“The water temperature over

here is just shocking them,” Eric

Castensen said as he and his wifeCristin weighed in a nice redfish.It was the little things that set

this tournament apart. A bigsocial party and dinner, lipstickand jewelry worn aboard a flatsboat, cute sandals and more than

one female anglerwho looked like she fixed her haira little before coming back to themarina. The big redfish came inwith Bing and Jackie Blackburn, a

9.2 pound monster. Rick andDebbie Hysell brought back thebig 1.44 pound snapper.At the captain’s meeting the

night before, tournament DirectorDon Thompson made a point ofsaying everyone had to be on theboat when a team came to thedock for the weigh-in, but therewere several boats manned by menalone.“We had two menopausal

women on board that were makingour lives miserable. We needed toget them off the boat ... and outof the sun. I’d rather deal withDon Thompson than those galsany time,” one angler (whosename we shall sympatheticaly notmention) said. It was hot.Above: Eric and Cristin Castensen

Left: Howard and Sharon Jones

Above: Ann Haber and Rhett MorrisRight: Linda and Lindsay Blackburn

Bing and Jackie Blackburn with their 9.52 pound redfish Debbie Hysell with the winning 1.44 pound snapper

J u l y 2 0 0 5 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 5

By Betty S tauglerWater LIFE / Sea GrantRedfish, or red drum (Sciaenops ocella-

tus), are one of Florida’s most popularsport fish. The common name red drumcomes from the drumming sound theymake during spawning or when taken fromthe water.Redfish spawn inshore close to tidal

inlets through which the young are trans-ported into estuaries. Spawning occurs inlate summer and fall. Redfish have anelaborate courtship ritual. Males, some-times many, follow females for hours at atime, drumming loudly and butting them.Male color intensifies during courtship andclimaxes just after dark when eggs andsperm are released. Females may shed amillion eggs at a time. Tiny larval fishhatch in 20 to 30 hours. Larval redfishfeed mostly on microscopic plankton,which is their main food while floatinginto the estuarine nursery areas. The lar-val stage ends in about 2 1/2 weeks andsalinity tolerance starts to be acquired.Inside the estuary, juveniles settle along

the edges of seagrass beds and other vege-tation. This habitat protects the small fishuntil their fins develop enough to avoidpredators. At approximately one inchlong, redfish school. They are now grow-ing at a rate of one inch or more a month,and reaching 13-14 inches by the end ofthe first year. Redfish continue to increaselength throughout their lives. However,after 3-feet-long they add little length andlots of girth as they age. Redfish maturearound 2 to 4 years in age and live for 25to 35 years.Young-of-the-year juveniles move in

and out of backwater channels and canalsas they develop and may remain in theestuary for up to four years. As adults, red-fish move out of the estuaries and moveinto inshore areas to spawn. Thus, repeat-ing the cycle of redfish life.Data recovered from tagged redfish on

the Gulf Coast, indicates that these fish donot travel far from their birth area as 50–to 85-percent of tagged fish were recaptured

within six miles of their original releasesite.The fol lowing is some of the

redfish research activi ties occurringlocal ly:Mote Marine Laboratory (MML):

Dr. Aaron Adams is evaluating the fish-eries within four mangrove creeks alongthe eastern shore of Charlotte Harbor.Two creeks are altered and two are natural.Aaron is evaluating fisheries as a measureof restoration success.Fish & Wildl i fe Research

Insti tute (FWRI): According to Dr. PhilStevens and Gregg Poulakis, fishery biolo-gists from FWRI monitor fish densities inthe harbor in order to evaluate wildstockpopulations.Gregg Poulakis & (FWRI) & Dr. Aaron

Adams (MML), have combined efforts anddata collected in their individual research inorder to better understand the habitatrequirements of redfish within CharlotteHarbor. According to Gregg, redfish about1 inch in size tend to settle out in therivers and tributaries, around Turtle Bay &and Matlacha Pass from late October toJanuary. 3-5 inch redfish seem to preferthe Peace & Myakka rivers and are foundthere between December and March. At 5-8 inches they begin to move down the eastand west wall of the harbor. When redfishare 8-12 inches they show up in Bull andTurtle bays and all over the grass flats.And by the time they reach lengths ofgreater than 12 inches, approximately oneyear old, they are found all over the harbor.Aaron indicated that densities are signifi-cantly higher in natural creeks versusaltered creeks indicating a preferred habitatand water quality. Aaron also said thatthe densities in the natural creeks arealmost equal to the densities in the estuarynear the Myakka mouth. Aaron’s nextstep will be to identify how many of theestuary redfish came from the creeks. Thiswill involve identifying chemical markerwithin the ear stones.Sanibel Captiva Conservation

Foundation (SCCF) Marine Lab: Are

involved in a 3 year study to evaluate pre-ferred fisheries habitat and how water man-agement decisions effect fishery utilizationin these habitats.The Sea Grant Redstart growout

faci l i ty located on Sanibel Island at theU.S. Fish & Wildlife Ding DarlingPreserve released 2,800 fish into TarponBay and lower Pine Island Sound in May.All of the released fish were tagged withwire coated tags and will be studied by theSCCF. According to Dr. Steve Bortone,SCCFs research efforts focus on character-izing the genetic diversity and preferredhabitat of wild stock; and determining thesurvivability and preferred habitat of hatch-ery-reared Redstart fish that have beenreleased into the Estuary. SCCF have

been sampling 200 sites per year in aneffort to identify micro habitat features thatjuvenile redfish may be looking for. Basedon this information Redstart fish werereleased in three locations of prime habitat.Released fish, which were 4-6 inches inlength, were released in three split sam-ples, each a week apart. Half of thereleased fish were put directly into the wildwhile the other half were put in a pen forthree days in order to better acclimate themto their surroundings. Another 200 taggedfish remain at Redstart and will be evaluat-ed for tag decay and survivability based ontagging and handling techniques.

Betty Staugler can be reached forSea Grant or marine extension information

Understanding the Life of a Redfish

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Staff ReportTropical Storm Arlene had just passed by.

Winds were 15 to 20, seas 4 to 7 feet, aSmall Craft Advisory had been issued. Whatperfect weather for Fishin Frank’s annualshark, stingray and sailcat tournament. Itwouldn’t be a shark tournament if the weath-er was good, Frank commented.Registrations started at 3 pm Saturday. Atfirst there were only 50 people who signedup. The weather didn’t look that bad. Theafternoon forecasts were for 3 to 5 feet bymidnight and some more people trickled in.Registrations went to 70 then 100. Wordspread. You going? Yeah, how about you...well...yeah, sure. Registrations went to100 then 150. Big hooks , stout leader,frozen mullet, bonita and jacks started tosell. The registration line got longer; 200people and finally 259 brave souls, no makethat avid shark fishermen wound up goingout.This tournament starts on Saturday night

and finishes up on Sunday morning. 259went out and 259 came back. Good newsalready.Stories varied among the 50 or so anglers

who brought back their catch to the weighin. Some reports were of a lot of smallsharks, but the 7 and 8 footers sprawled outon the pavement in front of the store and thebig stingrays and the abundance of catfishsaid this was another great event, if you’reinto this sort of thing.The tide was going out, the wind was

blowing in the opposite direction and theboat just lay sideways and rolled. It was thefirst time I almost got sick on a flats boat,

one angler commented. The closest we gotto Johnson’s shoal was thinking aboutgoing out the pass. It was nasty, he added.Johnson’s shoal is the sandy south side

of Boca Grande Pass where big sharks liketo hang and shark anglers usually put outtheir bait. Not a lot of boats out there lastnight another angler noted, but there weresome.George Schwatrz and Ritchie LeRoy -

team Superior Roofing - were two. Wefished the south side. I lost a biggerHammer at about 7:30 when the tide wasrunning and then we got a good sized lemonat 8:30 that took us an hour to land. Afterthat we moved inside to Placida and then ElJobean to look for catfish. The Superiorlemon shark was in fact superior for a while,at least until Larry McLean andWayneNichols pulled up curbside and dragged abigger lemon out of the back of their truck.The crowd speculated among themselves fora moment whether that shark was bigger andteam Superior Roofing held their breath... atleast until Larry andWayne dragged out theirbig gun, a fat bull shark that was clearlybigger. And team Superior went passed sec-ond to third.“Caught it outside Boca Grande,” Larry

said, using a live 15 pound jack for bait onan $8 16-0 Moo-2 welded eye hook. Wefished for a while before it got started. Wejust let all our bait lay in the livewell, liveand dead all together, all bloody. We’d switchon the livewell pump every now and thenfor a while and let that stuff ooze out. Not

S h a r k To u r n a m e n tIn spite of the weather,

anglers flock to ʻeverymanʼsʼ event

SAILING: PGSC @ WFLA PHRFBy Bi l l Di xonWater LIFE Sailing

On June 18 I went to the West FloridaPHRF annual meeting with Jerry Haller andChuck Taylor from the PGSC board. I waselected to the rating committee along withJerry Haller, PGSC's '05 Race Committeechair. Charlotte Harbor was poorly repre-sented and we need to do better in the future.PGSC regular club series races are largerthan everyone but Davis Island. TheConquistador Cup, the Leukemia Cup andthe Golden Conch are as big as anybody'smajor regattas. In season, PPYC has anactive fleet, and both PGBC and IYC stagesome "fun" races with PHRF sized boats.We need to be better represented on theRating Committee and also the WFPHRFboard. Step up and volunteer, it is impor-tant.It wasn't much of a business meeting,

but I did learn that there is a rating appealprocedure, two in fact. You can appeal yourown handicap as too strict and also you canappeal someone else's handicap as to

lenient. I can tellyou that whining tomembers of theRating Committeemay be counter pro-ductive. File anappeal or live withit.

Member win-ners of CharlotteHarbor Boat of theyear awards includ-ed: Spinnaker 1stPeter New, CrimeScene; 2nd DaveFlechsig, RoosterTail; 3rd Bob Knowles, Bamma Slammer.Mul ti hul l 1st Tom Bragaw, BahamaHunter; 2nd Robert Libbey, Anhinga. Nonspinnaker 2nd George Buckingham,Learning to Fly , Crui s i ng 1st RogerRommel, Desert Fox ; 2nd RudyGottschlich, Diva Gorda; 3rd Chuck Taylor,Ironic Breeze.

June Summer Series Race

continued on facing page


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224 Colony Point Rd - Great waterfronthome on a fabulous lot in a very desir-able part of PGI, within walking distanceof historic Ponce De Leon Park. This2/2/2 is Florida living at its finest. Withonly minutes to the harbor, this deal willnot last long. Call today for more details.$649,000. MLS# 472799

447 Japura St - Greatlarge family home, onone of best lots withfresh water canal.Home is in the quietDeep Creek neighbor-hood. Home has anew roof, new carpet,new tile, and all bed-rooms have walk inclosets. Call today thisdeal will not last long.$239,000MLS# 471952

SHARK continued from facing page

In this tournament there are no live releases but the shark meat goes to the dinner table andresearchers from FMRI sample the skin bone and tissue of the animals for ongoing research.

on the line, right at dusk, for a short while, but couldn’tland it. The bull came just after 10 pm. He fought for awhile but once I put the flying gaf in em’ it was overLarry said.Their lemon shark came later. “We had him and then

he was off, I was reeling in my line and I had the leaderall over the deck. The bait was four feet behind the boatand that lemon hit it again.”The big bull measured 84 1/8 inches and the lemon

measured 82 3/4. good enough for a first and sec-ond. In all there were 14 sharks brought in, threerays, the biggest of which was almost 4-feetacross and caught by James Jones and a whop-ping 37 catfish.“Catfishing was the best we’ve seen in a

while,” Frank commented as he awarded his ownfather the $1,00 first place prize for his 4.35pound catch. “He earned it,” Frank said, andFrannk’s fishin’ father knodded in agreement.

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Carnoustie- Golf course home on a lake in a gated com-munity with 2 courses. It was built in 1988 with 3BD/2BAand 2,445 sq ft. On June 1 of this year it sold for$10,000 over its asking price of $429,900. Prior to that itsold in June of 2003 for $282,500.

Tortuga - This secluded piece of property overlooking abayou and wild life preserve was purchased in 2001 asvacant land for $215,000. With a 1500 square foothouse to store the kayaks behind, it sold in 3 short daysfor the full asking price of $364,900.

Hemingway - Almost ten years old this lake front housein Venice has 1,542 square feet of living, 3 bedroomsand 2 baths. Fresh water lake is good for fishing, canoe-ing, both at once or separately. In June 2003 it sold for$175,000, 2 years later for $275,000.

Myakka - Built in 1959 and typical in style of many ofthe early Florida summer homes with angle in slant tothe rear windows and now enclosed Fl room. Double lotwith Myakka river and harbor access it sold in 1987 forjust $78,000 and in May '05 for $367,000.

Scherer - Newer home built in 2003, it has 4 bed-rooms, 3 baths and 2300 square feet of space. Thishome is on a private pond with wilderness area aroundin Osprey near Venice. It sold new in 2003 for$354,000 and was pending, and sold, in 10 days, thisMay, for $538,900.

Garland - This Nokomis home was built in 1977 on acanal with two bridges (no sailboats) out to the intra-coastal waterway for gulf access. Twenty one yearsafter it was built, it sold for $118,000 and more recentlyin '05 for $383,000 almost $66,000 less than askingprice.

Lakeside - Beautiful three bedroom, pool home with adock on a fresh water lake. Almost 25 years old thishome was built in 1976 with 1,770 square feet and 3bedrooms 2 baths. In June 2000 it sold for $155,000 andmore recently in 2005 for $275,000.

Area Real Estate Trends

Whatʼs Selling NOWThis is NOT an Ad

Factual Information compiled by Ellen Heller, Water LIFE publisher and a licensed realtor, using records fromthe Charlotte County Association of Realtors MLS database. Call 941-766-8180 for additional information.

This month we look at recent transactions in the Nokomis / Venice /Osprey area.

By Capt. Andrew MedinaWater LIFE Tournament GuideAs July begins, you should start notic-

ing the water in most of the harbor aswell as in the back country has turneddark. This is due to the push of freshwater we have been blessed with in thelast couple of weeks. The CharlotteHarbor estuary is more than used to thiscondition, but anglers may not be.Redfish and snook will both adapt to

these conditions easily. The fish deal withthis every year during rainy season. If thefish can adapt, so can the anglers, butright now it may take a little more think-ing to find and catch the fish you are tar-geting.Here are a few tips, that have proven to

work for me. First remember where youfound, or saw redfish and snook last. Justbecause the water is darker that doesn’tmean the fish are not there. You just can’tsee them.Try throwing top water baits first thing

in the morning, such as Chug Bugs, orthe Super Spook juniors. Fish hunt onnoise and vibration, and nothing stirs upthe water like a top water plug beingretrieved in a walk-the-dog fashion.The biggest mistake anglers make

while using a top water plug comes whena fish actually takes the lure. Mostanglers will try to set the hook when theysee the fish boil on the lure. What thisdoes is pull the lure out of the fishesmouth and in some cases out of the strikezone, so he may not take another crack atit.When the fish boils, keep working the

lure until you feel the weight of the fishon the line. Then drive it home. This wayyou know the fish has the bait.Another good method of attracting fish

in dark water is to use a popping cork.Popping corks work basically the same astop water baits, but instead of mimickinga bait fish the popping cork imitates thesound of another fish striking a bait. That,in turn, attracts other fish in search of ameal.There are many different floats on the

market. Cajun’s Thunder, Old Bayside’sParadise Popper, and some made byD.O.A. If you ask me which ones arebest, I would say the Paradise Popper isbuilt strongest of all of them. Try throw-ing a popping cork with a Rip TideRealistic Nite Shrimp on about 24-inchesof fluorocarbon leader. This same poppingcork can be used with a live shrimp andmakes it much easier for a predatory fish,such as trout or redfish, to find a bait indarker water. And does color matter?Orange, yellow, green?? I haven’t evernoticed a difference in deeper water, usingthis kind of set up.Concentrate on out-flows or creeks

where the water is coming out, on afalling tide, this is where water collectedover a water shed will wash small grassshrimp and crabs towards the Harbor.Where it empties you will find small pred-ator fish such as pinfish and some biggerfish feeding on the pinfish, and so on.There is still plenty of white bait at the

markers and it’s not hard to net. Threadiesand greenbacks are the live bait of choicesince they are the natural food source ofreds and snook during the summer. It’sgoing to be hard to beat the shimmeringflash of a hardy green back and a 1⁄4 oncejig head will keep the bait where you wantit until that big red wants to eat. So getout and give these techniques a try. Be safeon the water and just have fun.

Cap t Andrew Medi na can b e reached

Capt. Andy Medina took CodyBollinger out to fish last month.Cody was a Top 5 finisher in last yearʼs Kids Cup. On the way back to the ramp they spenttime removing old lines and lures from the bushes across from Ponce Park. “ʻIt takes a boatto get this stuff,” Capt Medina said, noting that other boaters should feel free to help.

Fish Hook Removal

1. Form a loop using some extra line.2. Put the loop over the shank of the embedded hook3. Push down on the skin and pull the hook out using the loop

ScreamingReels


LightTackle

Half orFull

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By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE StaffCan you remember the first fish you ever caught?

That question came up the other day and it made mesearch my own rusty memory to a time when I was 8years old, spending two weeks at old Camp Wing inDuxsbury Massachusetts. One day we went down to thedock at the small pond next to the camp to take out therow boats that were there for the campers. Unfortunatelysomeone discovererd I had not passed the required swimtest to be on the lake so I was grounded at the dockwhile the others headed out on the pond. A real traumafor an 8 year old.

A short time later one of the counselors came by andwanted to know what I was doing all by myself and Itold him my tale of woe. We both agreed it was a toughbreak, but rules are rules and he suggested that I fish offthe dock. I said it sounded ok to me, but I didn't knowhow to fish. He said no problem, he would help me getstarted.He took an old fishing rod that was by the boathouse

and gave it to me along with a few slices of white bread.He showed me how to take a small piece of bread androll it between my fingers into a small ball and place itjust on the tip of the hook. He helped me lower it intothe water and told me to be very still until I felt a littletap, then raise the rod; not too hard and not too fast. Ifollowed his advice and in about a minute up came afish. He grabbed the line and took the fish off and held itin his hand to show me. It was about 4 inches longwith big eyes, a red belly and a green body. That was abluegill he said and he told me if I could fish I wouldnever go hungry.

Here it is 50 years latter and I still remember whatthat guy told me and the joy I felt catching that littlebluegill. A few minutes of his time turned out to be oneof the most precious gifts I ever received.When it comes to kids you never know how one

small act of kindness will effect their lives. Here we areat the second Kids Cup Tournament where some of thebest junior anglers will be trying their luck for fame andglory. Each one of them has probably been fishing ahundred times already in their young careers, coached andtutored by family and friends to become skillful fishingcompetitors. But what about the other kids that may nothave all that help, shouldn't they get a chance to feel thejoy of fishing ?

Of course they should. That's why six years ago westarted the Kids Fishing Camp in Englewood. Onceagain this year camp starts on Monday, July 25 and runsthrough Friday, July 29. We will be taking about adozen kids fishing at various locations around the

Englewood area. We do a little wading and some beachand pier fishing so the kids can have a good time and seeif fishing is something they might enjoy. If you knowof any kids that might enjoy the camp I think there are afew spaces still available. The cost is $30 for the weekand you can get information and register at theEnglewood Sports Complex at 1300 S. River Road orcall 861-1980.

Usually the big finale of fish camp is a trip offshoreon the "Fish Finder" out of the Englewood Bait House.Capt Jack Pearson is always great with the kids andalways helps us out financially. We definitely run thingson a shoestring budget, but as luck would have it weath-er has caused us to cancel the trip three years in a row.So I'm going to try something different this year. I’ll tryto get a few friends to volunteer their time and theirboats to take the kids fishing for a few hours in LemonBay. If you have a boat (it doesn't have to be a fancyboat) and you are willing to donate a few hours of yourtime on the morning of Friday July, 29th to take a fewkids fishing, give me a call at 474-3474. Here is yourchance to be a hero and pass on that joy of fishing tothe future generation.

Capt. Ron can be reached at 474-3474 for fishing infor-

Shallow water wade fishing is one of the fun subjects covered in the annual Englewood Kids Fishing Camp.

Kids Fishing Camp in Englewood

(941) 624-3774

Above: Teach me to fish and Iʼll never go hungry

Below: The Kids Fishing Camp anglers


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Grouper Changes The NMFS plansnew restrictions on the recreationalfishing for red grouper. The proposedactions are to lower the aggregategrouper bag limit to 3 grouper andonly one can be a red grouper. Alsoprohibiting the recreational take of allred grouper for 4 months. CCA Floridahas requested that the Florida WildlifeCommission become actively involvedin this issue to prevent the virtual elim-ination of recreational fishing for redgrouper. CCA has urged FWC torequest public hearings in Floridabefore taking any action determine theeconomic impact on the recreationalfishery.

Bureaucracy at Work DoingNothing The Charlotte HarborHurricane Charley Clean Up TaskForce Group, met for the first time onJune 15, almost 10 months to theday after the storm, and officiallydecided to form a sub committee todecide what the purpose of the com-mittee is.

A Few Can Spoil it for Us AllThese anglers (above) walking to theBass Inlet Bridge werenʼt the prob-lem, but some other anglers havebeen leaving trash all over the areaand thatʼs just what it will take for thecity to close off fishing in this area forus all.

All Ramped Up Charlotte Countyhas agreed to pay $3.5 million to buya 2.9 acre site for another new boat

ramp... but has neglected to approvethe $2.0 million to actually develop it!

Beer Sales Soaring Word hasleaked out from those deeplyinvolved in the reconstruction of thelocal Budwieser plant that the facilitywill be back up and running late thismonth or in early August. In spite of(because of?) the hurricane inducedproblems, beer sales in this countyare at a record level. Blame that onall the contractors here to help fix thehurricane damage.

Big O in Danger Lake Okeechobeeis choked with runoff and in danger ofbecoming chemically imbalanced.ʻWe could lose the entire lake thisyear, if something isnʼt done,ʼ one BigO guide commented in late June.

Redfish Cup The date is not set instone, but it looks like the Oh Boy!Oberto Redfish Cup will be comingback to Punta Gorda in September of2006.

ScuttleButtSometimes Unsubstanciated ... but often true!

By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Senior GuideIt is happening now. Fish are being caught that weigh

hundreds of pounds. What are you doing that even comesclose to that kind of adrenaline rush?

You hear people talk about the tarpon and sharks, andsome day you want that exotic vacation of a lifetime...well it is right here in your back yard right now. I’m talk-ing about blood pumping pulse pounding fishing. This year I saw a shark in the pass that gave me night-

mares. No kidding it was that big. If he bit my boat, hecould sink it in seconds and the really scary part was hewas so quiet – no growling, no splashing, just swish. Itstill gives me the Willies. You would think a shark thatbig would have it's own theme music playing when itarrived...like in the movies. His appearance plays like aslow motion movie in my mind. Rising from the waterlike a U-Boat, this shark was old and battle scarred. Acouple of years ago a boat rammed a similar giant shark.The shark turned grabbed the stainless steel propeller on a200 H.P. outboard, which was in gear and running atabout 1200 R.P.M. The shark bit the prop, stalled themotor and bent two of the three blades. After getting ridof the noise maker he went over and took a 120 poundtarpon for a snack, then he sank back in to the depthsagain – black silent death from below. How unbelievableand how cool is that? These things actually happen here!

Now lets switch to the fish that we can eat, instead ofthe other way around. Talk about good eating. Shell crack-ers, blue gills, and panfish of all kinds are being caughtin almost every local freshwater pond, canal and lake.This is fishing at its purest: a pole, some line a hook anda worm. Kick back let the world spin by while you relax.Lake Betty has had good shell cracker action as do thecanals along midway, and the bridges on WashingtonLoop. They are all hot.

Our Shark Sailcat and Sting Ray tournament wasalmost held up this year. I always said the only way we

would not have the tournament was if a Category 1 hurri-cane hit. Well, it almost came by that Friday night. Wedid not officially give the tourney a ‘go’ until noon onSaturday but there were still 269 people in for the annualFishin’ Franks Severe Weather Challenge. Larry Mac fromMurdock Rental picked up $1,130 for his bull shark at 843/8"inches to the fork and about 400 pounds. The bigsting ray paid $800 and was 44 inches across. And the4.33 pound sailcat got $1,130, not bad for a catfish. Eachcategory paid back four places and there was no shortageof big fish.

During the tournament we found the law is very poor-ly written concerning daily bag limits. In order to be ableto have more than one daily bag limit of a fish on yourboat, you must have been out for more than 24 hours andhave at least two licensed captains on board. If you leaveat 10 p.m. and keep your bag limit just because the clocksays 12:01 a.m. the next day, the extra fish could get you

a ticket, but how do you prove when you left the dock soyou can prove that more than 24 hours has elapsed? Some good places to catch sharks from shore are the

Placida trestle, Shark's pier in Venice, and the Bayshorepier in Charlotte Harbor.

Redfish have been at at the 41 bridges and the northend was in the ‘wow’ mode before all the run off arrived.Dead shrimp are number one bait – hard to believe but itis true for redfish in summer. During this time of theyear, dead – maybe even a little rotten – shrimp is thebest redfish bait.The Peace River should be getting its annual dose of

lady fish, jacks, rat reds, sail cats, and tarpon, but thatisn’t the case because there is still too much run off.Some of the Johnny-come-lately local fishing writers

have been talking about problems with not enough fish.Well they can kiss my mushroom-anchor and then theyought to read a little. Yes, in 1993 and 1994 we did havedepleted stocks of fish. Redfish were just recovering fromthe blackened cooking craze that almost wiped them out,but today we have many times the amount of fish that wehad just ten years ago. We’ve had too much rain and toomany red tides that all take their toll, but fish do not haveanchors in their butts. They move around; one day here,over there the next, to stay ahead of problems.You decide, go out and look at what splendor the har-

bor is. Spend some time on the water, you'll see dozensof boats catching fish and using good release practices. Weare smarter and better informed anglers today than theworld has ever seen. Come out enjoy the waters of Charlotte County it is

truly an angler's paradise,Fishin’ Frank can be reached for information or to

schedule a guided fishing trip at 625-3888

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Jessie Daughtery landed this 14-pound redfish and releasedit at Pirate Harbor. Jessie will be fishing in the Kids Cup.


By Capt. Stev eSkev ing tonWater LIFE Offshore The Kingfisher Fleet

The month of June hasbeen some of the bestgrouper fishing I’ve seenin a great while. Depthsof 80-100 feet are holdingsome absolutely huge redgrouper. Drift-fishingwith both live and deadbait works wonders onthese fish. Terminal tacklewould include leaders of80-pound fluorocarbonand at least a 5/0 hook. Keep a sharp eye peeled

this month and next formahi mahi if your fishingany deeper than 70 feet.These little speedsterswill show up right underyour boat – so have somelighter tackle ready andwaiting. Last month we saw a

lot of large permit on thenear shore wrecks. Theseguys should hang aroundfor about another month.Live jumbo shrimp andsmall crabs are the ticket.Terminal tackle includes fluo-rocarbon leader and a very fullspool of 20-30-pound line, sobe ready for long, fast runs. One fish you can count on

all month long is the great bar-racuda. Here’s a fish that justrefuses to let a flashy lure goby. On a flat, calm day, a cudastrike on the surface is nothing

less than spectacular, followedby big jumps and super fastruns. For the most strikes, trytrolling the artificial reefs andwrecks.

If you in the mood for a realback breaking fish, try drop-ping down a big blue runner orother large fish on one of thesesame wrecks for a goliath

grouper. Terminal Tack le forthem is at least 100-pound lineand 9/0 hook. I like to fishthese guys in no more than 60feet of water, bringing them upin shallower water makes themeasier to release, and there’ssomething satisfying aboutreleasing fish that big.Have a lot of fun this

Offshore Repor t

Karl Bhenke brought this 62 pound gag grouper up from the depths100 miles offshore, fishing from Ray Smithʼs 38-foot Fountain withScott Davis and Steve Lambart aboard in June. Squid was the bait.

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3408 Peace River Dr.-Rarely available riverfrontlot with absolutely stun-ning view and the mostglorious sunrises imagina-ble! Oversized (approxi-mately 80' x 170') andlushly landscaped. On oneof the very nicest streets inHarbour Heights wheremost of the properties areoversized. Concrete sea-wall, dock, and 8,000-pound boatlift already in place. Deep water right at the dock and sailboat accessis only limited by the US41 and I75 bridges - both 45'. No deed restrictions and no scrub jays. [Photowas not enhanced - this is a real sunrise picture.] MLS# 471217 Offered at $700,000

e-mail: [email protected]

Bob & JohanneWallace

941-625-4240888-391-4240

Looking for Sai lboatWater?

3413 De Soto Dr.- A home that helped establish the Rutenberg builderʼsreputation on a lot with 150ʼ of concrete seawall. Please come take a lookat this charming 2/2 with a sunroom, 352 sq ft garage, huge laundry &storage room, and large lanai. It's on a 15,000 sq ft lot

in wonderful Harbour Heights and just 1500 ft to the Peace River. The only bridgesbetween it and the Gulf of Mexico are US41 and I75, both 45' tall. MLS # 479479Offered at $400,000.


Beautiful Deep Creek pool home, 4/2/2, built in 2002, located on quiet cul-de-sac in beautiful garden-like setting. Living and family room, ceramic tilein all rooms and Berber carpet in bedrooms. Plant shelves, eight ceilingfans, French doors from master to lanai, deep well for water irrigation.Shows like a model! MLS #477487, $369,900. Call Ellen today!

Ready for new owner. 3/2/2, 1831 sq.ft., built in 1987, liv. & fam rm, cathe-dral ceilings, breakfast bar & nook,security system, lots of storage, newroof, 2 skylights, beautiful new stain-less steel range, refrigerator & dish-washer, 4 walk-in closets, kitchenw/pass-thru to lanai, 2 pantries, insidelaundry. 1. MLS #466586. $279,900Call Ellen Today!

DEEP CREEKPOOL HOME

HARBOR ACCESSSaltwater canal with concrete seawalland 10x20 dock new as of 2002. Cleared lot ready to build on. View of island behind home for privacy andit is only 15 minutes to the harbor. You don't want to miss this one, best price in area. MLS# 473223.$369,900 Call Ellen Today!

Meticulously maintained Deep Creek heated poolhome on quiet cul-de-sac. 3/2/2, 2064 sq. ft, built in2002. This truly beautiful home has a list of extrasa mile long, which include lighted plant shelves,double French doors from dining room to kitchen,and from master bedroom to lanai. Oversizedgarage with single doors, security system, child-safe pool, well and irrigation system, 7 ceiling fans,3 bay windows, whole-house water filtration system,automatic pool cleaner system…..and the list goeson! MLS # 469141 $369,900 Call Ellen Today!

L a k e s i d ePlantation 3/2/2home in gatedcommunity, builtin 2003, 1906sq. ft. , living,family, and officecould be 4th bed-room. Beautifulhardwood floors

in foyer, hallway and family room. Tile in kitchen, nook,baths and laundry. volume ceilings. Cherry wood cabinets,corian countertops, volume ceilings, deluxe lighting pack-age, beautiful view of lake. Nothing to do to this one, justmove in! MLS #477099, $349,900. Call Ellen today!S h a r a m e r eWoods 2/2Villa, 1047 sq.ft. , completelyremodeled withbrand newmaple woodcabinets, gran-ite countertops,and ceramic tilefloors throughout. Washer, dryer and range are all new.Community pool, fishing andboating nearby and conven-ient to I-75. MLS #477251, $159,900. Call Ellen today!

Sale Pending


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NEW TECHNOLOGY: Geo Tubes could slow sand build up at Stump PassS taff Report

As you read this, works is underway on a 1-milliondollar first of its kind beach erosion control system atStump Pass. Sponsored by Charlotte County, the FloridaDepartment of Environmental Protection and FloridaParks and Recreation, the goal of the project is to reducethe amount of sand moving into the pass channel and tostabilize the beach in and around the project area.

Last year scientists acquired detailed information onwater flow at the proposed site through placement ofmonitoring instruments as well as a detailed beach survey.

According to the engineers, the result was the design

of a low profile stabilization system utilizing geo-textiletechnology. Geo textile technology is fancy talk for bigplastic bags filled with sand.

The system consists of 6 ‘tubes’ varying in circumfer-ence, spacing and length. The system is being overlaid onan area of about 700 feet approximately 2,000 feet fromthe inlet on the north side.

Post project surveys will be completed to help estab-lish a baseline from which progress will be measured overthe next 3 years. Careful consideration will be given toenvironmental concerns including monitoring for turtlenesting and shorebird activity.

Additional expenses arebeing expended to closelymatch the native sand bywrapping the geo-textiletube with an external high-strength color-correct fabric.

What effect boaters whoanchor in the area will haveon the material is not yetclear, nor is the snaggingfactor posed by fish hooks. A Geo Tube on dry land


This story begins in late Septemberof 1998. I had come back from lunchone day to find a thick, brown manilaenvelope on my desk. The return addresson it was from the DeSoto MiddleSchool. Inside were 21 letters from thesixth-grade class there.

I read each and every letter and twophrases stood out from every one.“Please don’t take down the speed limitsigns,” “Please don’t kill the manatees”the letters all said. So, I headed over toArcadia to talk with Sue McElroy, theteacher at DeSoto Middle School whoaddressed the envelope with 21 letters init from her 6th grade class.

I checked in at the principal’s office.On the wall hung a big bronze and woodplaque: “Sue McElroy: Teacher of theyear.” it said. This wasn’t going to beeasy.

I explained the situation and showedthe envelope full of letters to the princi-pal. He frowned, and then lead me downthe hall to Mrs McElroy’s classroom.

There were no kids in the room, butMrs. McElroy was at her desk. She wasbright, educated and polite lady – sheappeared to be just the kind of personyou’d want teaching kids.

Mrs McElroy’s homeroom class hadpictures of manatees and eagles and dol-

phins pasted on the walls above theblackboards. Local animals in a localclassroom. Good stuff, for sure. No?

But, when I asked her about the let-ters she stammered and sidestepped andsaid she had put a story I had writtenpreviously on the class bulletin board.She said the kids read my story andcame to that conclusion on their own.That didn’t sound right to me.

I pressed the issue a little further.The story I wrote was entitled ManateeMisinformation. It was about the‘bunk’ the Manatee Club was puttingout at the time. I had the very editionshe was talking about in my truck out-side.

I’ll be right back, I said.When I produced the story in print

and asked her to show me exactlywhere I said those things Mrs.McElroy admitted it was she, who hadtold the kids what to write. “But that’swhat you meant,” she said adamantly.

It was the classic case of a sincereeducated environmentalist makingthings worse by trying to help.

Actually, we were on the same page,Mrs. McElroy and I; neither of uswanted to see any harm come to themanatee. The only difference was, I wasdriven by facts and the idea that morescience was needed to help the manateewhile Mrs. McElroy simply assumed

what she had learned from the ManateeClub was right. Bad assumption.

At the time the manatee club wasrunning a state subsidized ‘education’program in which they put out theirversion of the facts for the academiccommunity which in turn spread itthrough the school system. I don’tthink you could graduate from middleschool in Sarasota County if you didn’tgo see the manatee Snooty at theParker Aquarium at least once. Andpoor Snooty, I found out, had been heldthere as an isolated captive for 40years, contained in a stark concretepool with no greenery or naturalfoliage what-so-ever. And he’s stillthere today.

That day became a turning point forme. Mrs McElroy taught me that if weare going to have our kids grow up onthe water and really learn to protect andrespect all the creatures around then webetter have experienced teachers toshow them how to do it right

How do you spot a manatee on thewater? How do you release a fish aftercatching it? How do you untangle abird from someone else’s left over fish-ing line? Who knows the right answersto those questions?

Fishing guides know, that’s who.As it turns out my realization was

not unique. At the very same time I

was pondering that question, a man bythe name of Jerry Jensen was puttingtogether a program to have local fish-ing guides teach an 8-week courseabout local fishing to 7th grade kids inthe Charlotte County middle schoolsystem.

Jerry’s idea was for a fishing classwhere kids could learn about local fish-ing from local guides, and if they hadquestions about manatees or dolphinsor eagles or other creatures, they couldask someone who saw those creaturesand interacted with them on a dailybasis.

It just made sense.Jerry and I became friends through

the old Charlotte Coastal ConservationAssociation and today we are workingtogether on the Don Ball School ofFishing program. Jerry sets up theclasses and the guides who teach them,and our publication provides the finan-cial resources through the Kids CupTournament. No one profits from thisexcept the kids.

Local guides teaching local kids inlocal schools about the local environ-ment. It doesn’t get any better then thatand when those kids grow up they willbe prepared to protect our resourcesbased on their own experiences. That’swhat learning is all about.

Learning About Manatees: For Kids, it Depends on the Teacherʼs Perspective

Serving Lunch & Dinner


For FishingFor Fishingor Real Estate:or Real Estate:

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and direct quick access to the Gulf. Appximately162 feet of waterfrontage with 180 degrees of

waterview! Combine with the adjacent lot alsoavailable (MLS # 476415) for a total of appx. 262 feet

of waterfront. Convenient location in Punta Gorda andin an area of beautiful homes. Each lot priced at

$699,000 or make offer on both! MLS #416390



You’d think it would be easy: Get someone to draw upsome plans, take them down to the building department,pay a fee and get your building permit. If you were BobVilla maybe it would work that way, but if you’re Joe Blowyou’d be dead wrong. First of all, in a county where thereare 18,000 homes and businesses being demolished nothingcomes easy, or fast. Architects are backed up for months. Ifengineering is a nightmare then getting concrete is likefinding gold. The story we were hearing in May was thatAugust was the soonest most people would be able to evenget a builder to talk to them about drawing up new plans.Now, with all the rain in June, (19 inches in PortCharlotte) things have slowed down even more and com-plaints about new roofs leaking are tying up the lines evenmore.

“In general, everything is running seven weeks late,”one contractor told us, blaming the problem on shortages inmaterials, the rain and the fact that motivated by greedmany sub contractors have taken on an unreasonable load ofwork and are now trying to divide their time between toomany jobs. ‘Many builders are doing a little work in a lotof places and nothing gets finished on time’ was the per-spective we heard most often.

Add to that the fact that the work force of laborers isstretched thin, and that contractors are pirating laborers fromeach other and you have the recipe for seven week delays ifnot more.

The biggest holdup in the building process right now isconcrete. Blocks are available, but concrete in a truck is adelicacy. Only a few big customers are able to put cementon order and have it delivered on time, and even the biggestusers of concrete have to plan ahead. If you are workingwith a small time builder, two months could easily be thewaiting time for a delivery of cement. Our neighbors acrossthe street waited a month for a 10-yard concrete order fortheir driveway. Then it started raining and their order wasrescheduled for a month later.

Part of the problem is that three months ago CMEX theMexican giant in the cement industry took over the concreteplant in Punta Gorda. With that sale a lot of the local good-ole-boy concrete connections went away. The result is a lotof builders are pouring concrete whenever they can get it.With the rain, it takes a lot longer to finish off the surfaceso on some nights we have seen concrete laborers workingunder the headlights of their cars.

Another stumbling block in the construction process isthe flood plane elevation. Many houses being rebuilt haveto be built on elevated foundations.

On our own house we spent $1,600 for an engineeringsurvey of our property. For that we got a detailed report onsub surface investigation and how to build on our lot.

The primary caveat was: scrape the lot down to the natu-ral surface elevation, then dig the footers at least 18 inchesbelow the surface. When adding fill to raise the elevation do

so in 10 inch to 1-foot ‘lifts’ with compaction between eachlift to a density of 95-percent. That all takes more time andmaterial. Unfortunately, what we are seeing around townnow are builders who are piling dirt up three or four feethigh and pouring a slab on top of it. We think this leads tosettlement cracks and problems down the road.

Our plans went to the building department on June 17,almost 10 months to the day after the hurricane hit. We’rein the system now, but the zoning department we were toldonly has one examiner today, and some of their other staffare on vacation. We’re waiting again.

Permit applications are not just looked at and stamped.Permits go through numerous different departments in thecounty before they are approved, and you need more thanjust a simple set of plans to build your house.

First you need a survey, then you need engineered draw-ings of the structure. Then you need engineered drawings ofthe roof trusses you plan to use. If you are building a twostory, like we are, you need engineered drawings of theupstairs flooring system as well. You need a list of the sub-contractors signed by each and every one of them, you needwindow attachment schedules and you need energy calcula-tions.

Energy calculations were new to me, and luckily myfriend Bob Wills of Dolphin Air sat down with me atHooters one day last month and explained the procedure.

The plans are examined for material, type of constructionand exposure to the sun. All the data is fed into a computerprogram and the efficiency of the house is determined. Thatnumber is then correlated to the size air conditioning unityour plans will have to specify. There are supply and returnair ducts required and depending on the square footage of thehouse and the distance the air has to travel from the air han-dler, the ducts must be correctly sized. “Insulating yourhouse well is extremely important,” Bob said, suggesting itwas a good idea to over insulate the sunny west side of ourhouse and install a reflective barrier beneath the roof in theattic, to keep the attic cool. The less hot air you havearound your living space the less the AC has to work. We

are using solar shielded double glazed glass on the west sideof our house and double insulation in the west side walls.When we got our energy calcs back they ran 26 pages,itemizing each room and space within our new house, andall those calculations have to be submitted with your planswhen you go to the building department. “Get four sets ofthese copied,” he advised “and save a set for yourself forlater,” he said.

Also included with our plan submittal are two new sur-veys, a fire hydrant affidavit, tree preservation forms,drainage plans, site plans, window and garage door specifi-cations, and a summary sheet showing flood zone and windexposure (velocity) zone. Of course there is the applicationform itself and a $150 pre application fee. The actual per-mit fee will be calculated when our plans are reviewed.

Then a notice of commencement will have to be filedbefore we can start construction.

When we dropped our plans off they told us the waitwould be four to eight weeks. What’s another couple of

BUILDING This New House Part 2: PAPERWORK AND PERMITTING

You can follow any permit application through thecounty examiners at: www.charlottecountyfl.com

Meanwhile, at our rental house, the seawall has collapsed.Seawalls in the area are old and many are in need of repair.This one was made of corregated pannels which some say areasbestos based. Record setting rains in June (over 18 inchesin a couple of weeks) have now taken their toll.

It takes this much paper to apply for a building permit

By Don CessnaWater LIFE Englewood

Now that July has arrived it’s time fortournament fishing. Many hours of pre-fishing and scouting are the order for thenext few weeks. Preparation and time spentnow can make all the difference later.

Of the three main inshore game fish,snook, trout, and redfish, I feel the redfishare the most difficult to target. Where tofind them, how to approach them, and whatbait to use is sometimes a choice thatdetermines success or an empty creel.

Redfish are strong fighters so goodequipment and tackle are important. Stronghooks, leader, and knots are top of the listwhen it comes to terminal tackle which cankeep one from being humbled.

Most fish are lost to a failure of a knotor the line or leader breaking, most of thetime simply due to being in poor condi-tion. A minute curl at the end of a brokenline is a dead give away of a knot failure.They are caused by a knot which hadstretched, then cut the line.

I have a simple demonstration: try tyinga overhand knot in a line and pulling. Theline crossed over itself will cut the otherpart of the line with half or less force thanit would take for the line to break withoutthe knot. Often the fight with a redfish willrequire finessing or wrestling the fish outof mangroves, pilings with barnacles onthem, or even in some cases over a shallowoyster bar. A good fish fight could wellinvolve all three and you want your line tobe up to the task.

The array of redfish baits vary. Onemight choose live baits such as shrimp or

even peeled frozen shrimp tails. Pin fish,green backs or best of all menhaden aregreat baitfish for reds. These can be fishedunder a float using a popping cork or evenbetter a rattling type float, or a clear bubblefloat which you can add water to for morecontrol. Rigging a slip weight using anegg sinker above the leader is also good –it serves to hold the bait in a smaller areaor keeps it in place in a current. Often adrift or cast will be a better method of get-ting the bait to the fish. The most realisticpresentation is when only the weight of thebait is needed to cast the distance asstealthy as possible.

I have always preferred artificials and ofthese, jigs and tails are probably the mostprevalent. Odd color combinations for redscan pay off. The ghost glitter, white, goldglitter, or shrimp color are the choice formost situations. Spoons are a staple of any

redfisherman’s tackle box, standard colorwould be gold, but silver is about equal inreality. Baitfish imitations with rattles arealso a favorite – again, sometimes the colorthey like will be surprising, but the mostrealistic will be black back with silver orgold sides, with maybe some red added onthe body.

Most of the kids fishing the Kids Cupwill be fishing the Charlotte Harbor area,however the length of Lemon Bay is also alarge area for fishing. From south of Veniceall the way down to the harbor there aremany likely places to get real nice redfishin the slot size limit. The key most oftenis fishing creeks and bays that are quietareas where redfish like to be. Some of thegood spots which come to mind are thebays north of the Manasota Key Bridge andnear the old ferry dock. Also the shorelinein the area of Manasota Bridge on both

sides are good for reds.Forked Creek is another of my favorite

spots. Then you have Lemon Bay Park, afairly large bay with a lot of shoreline tofish and some visible oyster bars at thenorth end.

And Indian Mounds Park the south shoreline and all along the east side of LemonBay has been good for reds too. The mainthing here in Lemon Bay is to fish thequiet out of the way places. The fish hereseem to hang along the shore lines and thebest spots have either mangroves or sand.

Contrary to the standard ‘fish the hightide’ rule, I usually only catch redfish on alow or out going tide. Don’t forget the areawe call Rag Alley near Stump Pass acrossfrom Ski Alley. The west shoreline isexcellent for reds. This is the place I learneda tactic which I don’t do any more becauseI don’t feel it’s fair. I used to run my boatalong the shoreline and herd the fish downthe mangroves and out onto the flat. Nowthey didn’t like it out there in the hot sunand they wanted to come back as soon asthey could, and that was when I could catchthem as they were sneaking back past me.If the wind was right, I could pull theanchor and let the boat drift, herding themthe other way to a hole right along side adock where they would hang, and I couldcatch another one.

Please come to Fishermen’s Village forthe day on July 16 and support the kids inthe Kids Cup. They are our next generationof sportsmen.Don Cessna is the former owner of

Ray’s Bait & Tackle in Englewood anda regular Water LIFE contributor.


BringEmʼ Back Alive


Julyʼs Fishing ForecastCharlotte HarborRobert at Fi shin' FranksPort Charl o tte: 625 -3888

July is still another great month for tarpon,the nice thing is, the fish will be moving out ofthe pass and into the harbor and along the beach-es. All this rain might keep the fish in the passa little longer in the mornings which could havehelped the Worlds Richest tournament, if theywere not fishing from 3 till 8 in the afternoon.Redfish will be the second choice this

month. The key is to pretend it’s August.

Because of all the rain, use a much slower pres-entation. Dead shrimp or cut-up sardines on a jighead under the bushes are producing fish andshould continue to do so this month. The fishare on the flats in the early morning and movingto 3 or 4 feet of water as the sun gets higher andit warms up. There are a lot of fish in schools ofup to 100 down around Three Sisters, BocaBayou, Useppa and Pineland areas. Those willbe good places to look for reds early in the day.Also look for fish along the beaches in the surf.There will be more fish along the east con-

22-pound PermitWe were 13 miles off-shore fishing over asunken barge. Myfriend Jim hadarranged for us to fishwith Travis Ormondwith Pelagic Chartersout of Stump PassMarina. We were usingcrabs for the permitand live bait, greeniesand cigar minnows, forthe grouper and snap-per. Had a great timeexcept the goliathgrouper were killing us.

Ken OʼLeary

and west walls of the harbor,every little green tuft of busheshas at least one fish under it.There are also reds at the new areaat Stump Pass and down by thelighthouse rocks at Boca Grande.Some could be way over the slot-limit there. One nice thing aboutthese dark water conditions is thatyou’ll catch a lot of nice snookas by-catch when you are redfish-ing.

From shore, there is a lot ofnice day-fishing for snook alongEnglewood and Boca Grande. Ifyou are looking for the biggersnook, they are more likely tochew at night.

One thing I want to emphasizeis PLEASE take the time torevive your fish. It’s so hot rightnow you really have to get thefish back to as healthy as they canbe before you release them. I can’temphasize that enough right now.Cobia are around, but still

scattered. The US 41 bridge,Bayshore and El Jobean have allbeen good, but because of the rainit may take until the end of themonth before cobia show up inbig numbers.Shark fishing is still very

good right now. If you are lookingfor food-fish there are plenty ofblacktips and spinners atMarker No. 1 and Marker No. 2and over towards Port CharlotteBeach. Larger sharks are stillcruising the passes and there havebeen some reports of fairly bigbul l sharks following theschools of threadfins in the south-ern part of the harbor.

Offshore fishing has still beendecent for permit as long as youhave a calm enough day. TheNovak Reef will still be holdingfish for most of this month. Thisis a good time for AJs and‘Cudas as well, especially on thereefs that are a little further out.

Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595

The water is a little brown, butthat’s just messing it up where thebait is. Right now, mostly theincoming tides are better for thebite. Catch and release snookfishing has been good. The fishare at the passes and on the beachand also at the docks at Gasparilla.There are plenty of fish around tocatch.

With redfish finding the onein the right slot-size will be thetough thing. There are a lot of 30and 32 inch fish around. As longas you find one redfish you knowthere is good water which will beholding other fish.

There are cobia swimmingaround in the harbor. Guys tarponfishing are catching cobia in the30 to 40 inch range. Try the phos-phate dock area.Permit fishing is still good

now, a lot of guys are having funwith them on Mary’s and Helen’s

reefs.And a lot of snapper are

showing up at the passes. Smallpinfish will get good 15-inchkeeper fish.Tarpon are still fairly decent

but you have to pick where to gobecause the fish are movingaround this time of year.

Finally, we’ve got mackereland a few reports of blackfintuna 20 mile offshore and plentyof sharks as evidenced by all thereports in the news. That wade-fisherman losing his leg was awake up call, for sure.

Stump Pass & the GulfBen Piercy at S tump PassMarina 697-2206

Inshore it’s been tough. Snookis the big thing with big breedingfish in the pass on the outgoingtide. Trout is the second mostconsistent bite. Offshore, a lot ofpermit have been caught.Barracuda has been hot as hasshark fishing and grouper fish-ing starting at about 60 feet.

Beach fishing for tarpon hasbeen pretty good. Most guys areheading south and catching themdown at the little Gasparilla area.A.J. s have been awesome recentlytoo. In redfishing it’s been hardto find slot sized fish in theLemon Bay area but we have a lot

Editorʼs NoteWe received a few letters about the

ʻTarpon Fishing Insanityʼ story I wrote. Livebaiters who once hated me for pointing outthey weighed in a fish without a tarpon taghave forgotten that and are now my friendswhile jiggers, who I have always coveredand gotten along with, are now sending mehate mail. I guess as long as they are bothwriting and calling weʼre doing our job asfair and balanced journalists.

But just to clarify this whole issue onemore time let me be clear: I donʼt care howyou catch your tarpon, I donʼt care if youcatch them with a rake. My only concern isthat tarpon in our area are a spawning fish-ery and to that extent I would like to seethe fish less pressured. This is a popula-tion problem - a human population prob-lem. It seems to me that we simply havetoo many anglers on the fish at one time.– MH

n July 6-8: WorldʼsRichest TarponTournament, Boca GrandePass & Beach, Chamber ofCommerce (941) 964-0568n July 9: Kids Cup, KidsSeminar Laishley Marine,4:30 - 6 p.m. A Flats Classpro staff presentation, Free!639-3868n July 9: RedfishRoundup Tournament,Benefit for Charlotte HighAthletic Dept.at HarpoonHarrys, 629-9948n July 14: DredgingMeeting, Murdock Adm.Bld. 5 p.m. Proposal is for600% increase in assess-ment fee for waterfront

residentsn July 15: Water LIFE KidsCup, Mandatory CaptainʼsMeeting at the GoodShepherd Church on HenrySt. in Punta Gorda at 5 p.m.766-8180n July 16-17: Water LIFEKids Cup, FishingTournament Weigh-in at2:30 at Harpoon Harryʼs inFishermenʼs Village. Thepublic is encouraged toattend! 766-8180n July 18-19: IGFA JuniorAngler WorldChampionships, KeyWest.n Aug 6-7: SharkTournament, Fishinʼ Franks

625-3888n Aug 13: Pirate RedfishTournament, benefit forCharlotte High SchoolAthletic Department629-9948n Aug 19-20: SummerSlam, South SeasPlantationn Aug 20: Steve LoweFamily Redfish Rodeo628-2669n Sept 17: FlatsmasterRed Snook Challenge,Harpoon Harrys, PuntaGorda, 628-0702n Sept 30: Ranger RedfishTour Tournament, PortCharlotte (407) 865-5915


BIG-4BIG-4 Julyʼs Target SpeciesJulyʼs Target Species

SHARKS are still eatingvoraciously

TARPON are movingaround the area

REDFISH are under the bush-es when it gets hot

SNOOK throughout the areabut catch and release only

CALENDAR OF EVENTSPowered by

Send us your event calendar information via e-mail: [email protected]

Fishing ReportContinued from facing page

FishingRIGHT NOW:

HOT!

Pirate RedfishTournament

On the first Anniversary ofHurricane Charley,

August 13A benefit to replace football

equipment lost atCharlotte High Schoolin the storm.First Place: 2005 Hewes

Tailfisher Tunnel Hullboat with 60 hp Yamaha

valued at $20,000

2nd place: $2,5003rd Place $1,800

4th - 10th place have cash payoutsMost spots: $300

Grand Prize Guaranteedother prizes based onminimum 50 boat field

629-9948

Tarpon Issues

Documents

Water LIFE July 2005