Water LIFE July 2010

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July 2010July 2010

FWC FWC Monitoring theMonitoring theFishery Fishery Page 13Page 13

PoolPoolRepairsRepairsPage 14Page 14

CobiaCobiaFish ReportFish Report

Pages 21-22Pages 21-22

Keeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997Keeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997

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

MYAKKA RIVER VIEW – Waterfront living atitʼs best. If you are thinking of a home on theRiver, this one is for you. 2,770 sq. ft. built2006 home with all the upgrades youʼll love.3 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths. 3-car garage.Walkway to dock and boat lift. Master down-stairs with living, dining, family room, kitchenand nook. 2 bedrooms, sitting room andbath upstairs. Breath-taking décor in allrooms, with ceiling fans, trays, molding, light-ing, wood cabinets, corian thru out. This oneis a charm at $574,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

DIRECT 941-235-5648 DIRECT 941-235-5648 TOLL FREE 877-218-6552 TOLL FREE 877-218-6552

SAILBOAT CANAL LOT with concreteseawall in the Charlotte Beach Complexarea. Just minutes to the Harbor and onout to the Gulf by way of Boca GrandePass. Wonderful place to build thatdream home in paradise! Buy nowbefore the price starts going back up.$194,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

WHAT A GREAT LAKE VIEW from thisHeritage Oaks end unit, 2nd floor condonestled in beautiful Oak trees. Volumeceilings give an open spacious feeling.Furnished with Florida style furniture.Huge great/living room with combo diningroom. New A/C in 2008. $10K one-cardetached garage will be deeded withcondo. Don't miss this one at $13 9,900Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

SUCH A TERRIFIC BUY! – Beautiful 3/2/2home on freshwater canal on 1.5 lots.Features of this 2,051sf bargain includenew roof, hurricane shutters and lanaiscreening in 2005 and new A/C in 2009.Master Bedroom suite with walk-in closets,dual sinks and walk-in shower. This onewon't last long! $119,900 Call EllenMcCarthy 235-5648

DEEP CREEK BEAUTY – 3/2/2 withheated pool, tile roof, nice landscapingwith curbing and stones to match paversat front entry and lanai/pool area. Afteryou have seen the rest, see the best. Thishome features great room and large coun-try kitchen open to dining room, with lotsof wood cabinets. And more. Come see it!$158,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

ONE-OF-A-KIND Entertainer SeriesMobile Home in out-of-park Punta Gordaarea. Over 1,400 sf, this 3/2 home is allfenced in with 2 metal sheds, large con-crete patio facing open pasture, insidelaundry, open living area, breakfast bar,glass top range, recessed lighting, built-inentertainment center and much more.$88,900 Call Ellen McCarthy

CUSTOM BUILT HOME only lived inabout 8 months. This spacious 3/2/2 sail-boat water home offers great view, 7 ceil-ing fans, plant shelves, window treat-ments, kitchen with bar, inside laundryroom, large living room and lanai, andbeautiful landscaping. Come see ittoday! $259,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

MARIA MANOR CONDO ALLFURNISHED and ready for new owner.2nd floor unit in great 55+ communitywith clubhouse, 2 heated pools andmore. Nice & clean with newer berbercarpet and inside laundry on back ofFlorida room. Minutes from restaurants,shopping and medical services. One ofbest prices in complex! $41,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

HOME ON LARGE CORNER LOTin Grassy Pointe area with canal view.This 3/2/2 pool home has 2,010 sf underair and features all new tile floors, cherrywood cabinets, granite tops and newpaint. The living and family room areasare great for entertaining. $179,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

Ellen McCarthy Broker AssociateEllen McCarthy Broker Associatewww.portcharlotte-pgi.c www.portcharlotte-pgi.c [email protected]@portcharlotte-pgi.com

19700 Cochran Blvd • Port Charlotte, FL 3394819700 Cochran Blvd • Port Charlotte, FL 33948

SHROEDER CUSTOM-BUILT HOMEshows like a model. Only lived in a fewmonths, this 3/2/2 1,614 sf home built in2007 features 17” tile floors (except in bed-rooms), split bedroom plan, open greatroom, white wood cabinets & Corian coun-tertops $159,900Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

WHAT A MILLION DOLLAR VIEW fromthis Sailboat canal end lot. Sellers willwork with buyer on the price to repair theseawall of this Port Charlotte BeachComplex area lot with sewer and water.Bring all offers! $239,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

ROOM TO SPREAD OUT – This lovely1,842 sf, 3/2/2 home is set on 2 lots withoption to purchase 3rd lot. Open floorplan, large lanai & caged patio, parquetflooring, carpet & tile. Inside laundry,oversized Master Bedroom. Quiet neigh-borhood. Call for a viewing today.$149,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

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

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Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoCharlotte Harbor Tarpon: Capt. Mark Bennett

Port Charlotte: Billy BartonGasparilla: Capt. Chuck Eichner

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonCommercial Fishing: Kelly Beall

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerReal Estate: Dave Hofer

Inshore: Fishinʼ FrankDiving: Adam WilsonKayaks: David Allen

Sailing: Bill DixonOffice Dog: Molly Brown

on the COVER An FWC research team from theCharlotte Harbor Field Laboratory collectfish as part of their ongoing sampling.

www.waterlifemagazine.comwww.kidscuptournament.com

TARPON TARPON FISHINGFISHING HEADQUARTERSHEADQUARTERS

www.waterlifemagazine.com


In Memory OfNina Jean Daughtrey July 10th, 1946- July 19th, 2009

We would like to thankyou for putting out theWater LIFE every month, itis full of great informationand is a fantastic read. In

May I picked up an edition of Water LIFE and at a glance itbrought back so many wonderful memories of my Mom.Mom passed away July 19th 2009. Mom was an avid fisher-woman who fished Port Charlotte waters (fresh and salt) all of herlife. There were no tall tales as far as she was concerned, shealways caught more and never failed set the record for the biggestfish. She shared her love for fishing with her family and friendsteaching us how to tie or set a hook and was on hand to bring afish in with great enthusiasm. Her memory will be in our heartsforever and we know she will be there in spirit whenever we catchour next big fish. Mike and Lynn Daughtrey

BIG CHECKPatti Allen, General Manager of Fishermenʼs Village (center)Jim Branch, Village Harbor Master, and Marina SupervisorRick Chevalier (right) present a check for $882 to MichaelHeller, Director of the Don Ball School of Fishing. In JuneFishermenʼs Village hosted a marine expo and hot dog lunchat the Fishermenʼs Village Marina. The event celebratedNational Marina Day and was held as a benefit for the localDon Ball School of Fishing. Fees totaling $882 from vendordisplays and contributions from the free hot dog lunch weredonated to the Don Ball School of Fishing, a program for 7thgrade students in five of the area middle schools that teachesstudents about local fishing and the local environment.

Everything Eats ShrimpGuided by Capt. Alberto Bartoli and using shrimp for bait,Roberto Godi of Arcole Veroma, Italy landed a potential IGFA All-Tackle record after catching a wels (Silurus glanis) that weighed113.5 kg (250 lb 3 oz) on Italyʼs River Po. The fish was weighed (on the green tarp) , photographed andreleased alive.

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editorI came across some Tar Off

Towelettes in an old beach bag stashedin the garage since way before Charley.I hope it was not an omen. I grew upwith tar on the beach. If you hung outon Miami Beach like I did in the 50sand 60s you would remember the bottlesof solvent and oil-covered rags thatbathers used to clean their feet beforethey left the sandy beach and headedhome. All the big hotels had tarremoval stations as well. The tar camefrom the shipping lanes and the Port ofMiami. It was hard, dark brown andoily, thankfully there wasn’t a lot of it. I got up this morning and put on my

old jean shorts. Outside it will be 93and humid. We have no oil or tar aroundhere and I am going to be in the waterearly. While I have coffee I wonder whatBPs oil will do to our waterfront realestate value.The heat seems hotter now. We just

got back from Colorado where it was in

the 50s at night and 80s with no humid-ity during the days. Our temperature tol-erance requirement went from beingcomfortable before we left with the airin the house at 80, to now needing theair set at 76 and still being hot andsweaty all the time. In Denver it wascool ... and no one talked about oil.All those years in the sun take a toll.

The skin doctor told me to wear sun-screen, long pants, a long sleeved shirtand one of those silly Little-Bo-Peephats. ‘Boating or wade fishing are badbecause of the reflections,’ he said.I found a hat with an oversize brim

and a drape that covered the back of myneck. Problem was, the bill had littleflaps on the side and they limited myperipheral vision so that I was bumpinginto things. The big brim also caughtthe wind hard on the boat. So I gotsome shears from the garage and modi-fied it. After that the hat was much bet-ter for my vision, but when I wore itfor the first time in front of my wife,she said I looked like Rocky the Flying

Squirrel. So that hat is now history.Next I found a nice white Columbia,

round-brimmed, hat. Twenty two bucksat Bass Pro and I brought it home. ‘Thanks,’ my wife said and she has

taken to wearing it. She needed sun pro-tection too and it looks so good on herso I won’t ask for it back. I'm convinc-ing myself it was a ladies’ hat anyway.I looked for a hat while we were in

Denver. At REI, the mountain outfittersstore, they had some really nice summerhats, but they were too hot for Florida.At Schepler’s Western wear I found agreat straw summer cowboy hat that fitperfectly, but when I looked at myselfin the mirror and envisioned walkinginto Fishin’ Franks I put it right back.Maybe I’ll just get one of those

Gilligan's Island hats with brass eyeletsand a little rope through it. At least thatwill cover my ears. And as far as the TarOff Towele ttes go, I hope we don’t needthem. I think the ones I found may havedried out over the last 20 years.


Tar removel packets like these were popularbeach-bag accessories on Floridaʼs southeastcoast 2 0 years ago.

Biologists have little experience with undersea oil plumes. “This is going to be groundbreaking science,” said Roger Helm, chief of the environ-

mental quality division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Microbes that customarily feedon oil seeping from the seabed are expected to consume most of this oil, but that createsits own problems. The bugs use up oxygen needed by other sea creatures, potentially cre-ating dead zones devoid of animal life, says Frank Muller-Karger, professor of biologicaloceanography at the University of South Florida.

Stony Brookʼs William Fisher says that the spill might promote bacteria that convertinorganic mercury into toxic methylmercury, which is then taken up in the flesh of fish andother seafood .

Potential Consequences of Oil Oil spill outline as of June 25

Summer ProtectionSummer Protection

Capt. S teve SkevingtonWater LIFE OffshoreLet’s start off talking about the great

kingfish bite that's been going on for amonth.These fish are hitting early in the morn-

ing offshore, just watch for bait on yourfishfinder and troll the hardware through. Wewere only 15 miles from the dock yesterdayand these fish were all around the boat. Wehave been pulling fish left and right.We managed to load up a livewell full of

large threadfin's that we put out on 50-pound leaders and 5/0 circle hooks. Thesealmost immediately were gobbled up bysmall blacktip sharks. The permit are still on the chew. Once

you find them, flatline out the crabs, thepermit will not be far behind.I haven't done a whole lot of grouper

fishing in the last few trips, but what we

have done has been great with limits of redgrouper, and a lot of nice gag grouper aswell.Snapper are a nighttime fish right now.

If you can pull yourself away from thosefull moon tarpon long enough you shouldget your limit of mangrove snapper prettyquick.Offshore the blackfin tuna are still blast-

ing the ceder plugs and the deeper wrecks arestill holding some respectable amberjackand ‘cudas. All in all, there's a lot of great fishing

going on right now.

Capt. Steve operates out of PinelandMarina. He can be reached for fishing informa-tion or to book a charter trip call Capt. Steveat: 941-575-3528 His website is: paradise-fishingcharters.com


Plenty of Fishand thankfully NO OILOFFSHORE with Capt. Steve

Offshore, big smoker kingfish like this brute were still on the prowl in late June.

By Bi l ly BartonSpecial to Water LIFE‘Sup guys? My name is Billy Barton, I

was born in Port Charlotte and raised bymy dad to be a fishaholic. Thanks dad! Iguess there’s worse things I could be. Ilove being a Floridian! I wouldn’t give itup for the world. I love this weather, I lovethe sun, I love the beaches, I love theCharlotte Harbor, I love the Gulf ofMexico, and I love fishing. Fishing to meis more of an obsession. I know quite afew of you readers are in the sameboat. Well if you guys are reading this,then you probably love fishing too. And ifyou love fishing as much as me (which isdoubtful) then you know last month wasjust one heck of a month to be out on thewater. The month of June always seems to

produce. I only got out on one good off-shore mission in June, but we caught fishand we saw some crazy stuff out there. We spent the daytime hours trolling

stretch 25s and 30s. We caught a couplelegal size kings and some bonitas about 5-to 8-miles out of Boca Grande. Then weran offshore and trolled around the sink-hole where we caught a few decent sizeamberjacks. We stopped and threw sometube-baits on some big ‘cudas. You know they say you never know

what you’re going to see out there. Wellthis was defiantly one of those trips. Outthere at that sinkhole there was a granddaddy loggerhead sea turtle. I mean hewas BIG. Over 500 pounds (probably)with barnacles all over his back – thewhole nine yards. He surfaced right nextto the boat and right behind him was what

was really so amazing. About a 15 foottiger shark. Gray with white stripes prob-ably a thousand pound fish surfaced anddid two full circles around the turtle thenwent back down. We almost saw one heckof a national geographic moment rightnext to the boat! This was pretty amaz-ing. I was just seconds too late with thecamera. Oh well, my mind won’t forgetthat one, that’s for sure. We ran inshore as the sun set and post-

ed up on one of our favorite snapper holesfor the full moon about 25 miles out andbegan chumming. By about 2 a.m. we hadenough. We caught three keeper gaggrouper all 6 to 10 pounds and 7 nicemangrove in the 4 to 8 pound range. Wealso caught several big amberjacks and gothorsed by some goliath groupers. That’s arecipe for not getting out of bed the nextday. I’m talking about IB pro-fen forbreakfast!That brings me to inshore. Yes - aha -

inshore. Not quite as painful on the backand still lots and lots of fun. There’s stillsome big Spanish mackerel around themarkers in the harbor and out towards thepass. Look for the schools of threadfinsand you should find the macks. We hadsome good fun in like 6 foot of water outin front of Burnt Store on the flats. I threwthe net on some thread fins, we anchoredup, I cut some of em up and chummed alittle bit. We fished for probably two hoursand caught about 15 small black tips onlight tackle. This was a lot of fun and thedrags were singing – that’s the mainobjective. Also the cobia bite was prettygood last month. I think we got 7 to theboat one week. Only one of em was a

keeper, still a heck of a lot of fun. Thatreminds me I need to give a shout out tomy little brother Matt Barton on thatone. He is only 14 years old and he wasalso raised to be a fisha-holic. Congratulations Matt on your firstCobia (photo right) and your first keeperCobia to boot. Matt caught the only keep-er of the week and he did it on light tack-le. Matt fishes with a 8 to 17 pound classAll Star spinning rod with a QuantumCatalyst 20. He landed his 34 inch, 10pound cobia on 15 pound braid with a 25pound fluorocarbon leader after a 15minute battle. Good job Matt!Truthfully my heart is probably on the

flats and under the bushes. The whitebaitis just all over the place. The east wall near

Pirate Harbor has had some nice bait andJug Creek Shoal also. The reds andsnook are feeding on it heavily so it’s realimportant that you get enough to chumwith. These chummers will get the fishgoing under the bushes and let em knowit’s time to eat. The high summertime tides

can make it hard to catch the fish whenthey are way up under the bushes. I willthrow the bait up in the bushes and ifthere’s fish under there it will get em mov-ing around a little bit. If you wanna’ gotare up some big summertime reds andsnook guess what!? It’s summer now! I want to end with my feelings on the

oil. I know everybody probably has aboutthe same feelings about the situation in theGulf. Matter of fact you’re all probablysick of it period. But I’m going to say itanyways. Man this sucks! This is such aserious problem and I never in my wildestnightmares ever pictured anything like thishappening in my lifetime. It really givesme a sick feeling in my stomach when Ithink about it. My heart goes out to the people whose

lives have been ruined by this catastrophe.I don’t know what I would do if I was inyour shoes. I am sorry. I am sorry for usall. I am sorry for everyone who loves thewater and lives the salt life. And I’m sorrya ll we can do now is hope and pray.


Lifeʼs Short: Fish Hard


PROVIDED BY: Dave Hofer RE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected] www.harborparadise.com Recent area news i tems:1. Charlotte County taxing agen-

cies are struggling with the volatilityof property values. Total property valu-ations have fallen to $15.5 billion,down 8.2% from last year and some36% from their high point of $24.3billion in 2006. Total taxable valuesare now below levels reached in 2004.Sarasota has fared even worse, down17.1% from last year.2. State Farm has discontinued

administrative services for the NationalFlood Insurance Program. Its 800,000customers will have to find coveragedirectly with the Federal Agency if noother insurer steps into the gap.3. New foreclosure filings lev-

eled off last month in SW Florida.New filings were up 0.5% over lastMay but down 3% from April. 4. Air traffic fell 4.3% at RSW

airport in Ft. Myers vs April, '09.Traffic at Charlotte County Airportincreased 41% as our two commercialcarriers continued to gain momentumin just their 16th month of operation.5. Charlotte County unemploymentdropped 0.6% to 12% vs. 11% inMay2009. 6. A $2.4 Mil award was made to

a single homeowner in Coral Gables asa result of his suit against BannerSupply Company. Banner supplieddefective Chinese drywall to thousandsof residences in Florida, and other gulfstates. The Chinese subsidiary of themanufacturer, Knauf, notified Bannerthat the drywall was defective in 2006.The implications of the award couldbroaden into a bankruptcy induced bynumerous class action lawsuits.7. In an effort to close the budget

gap, Charlotte County Commissionerslaid off its only supervisor of the skatepark. The newly opened park was thebeneficiary of more than $600K of illspent tax dollars. Now Commissionerswill get to compare the cost of vandal-ism vs. salary dollars. Not to be leftbehind, the North Charlotte RegionalPark wants to add $1.2 million formore baseball diamonds to help attractmore participants in the spring tourna-ment. Where the need, or the pay-back, for this expenditure comes fromis still a mystery. 8. Despite a lawsuit from a tax

watchdog organization, Sarasota is con-tinuing its $31 mil renovation to EdSmith Stadium. In order to pay forthis extravagance, the bed tax will beraised once more. Interest alone onthe renovation costs will run morethan $1.5 million/year ... about $15for every ticket sold during the monthlong season.9. Armed with some adjustment to

the proposed lease terms, the CharlotteCounty CRA reversed its prior decisionand voted to permit a Subway shop tooccupy a portion of the vacant PuntaGorda Parking Garage.

10. The Shoppes at North Portlearned that using conventional financ-ing is not as much fun as using tax-payer dollars for retail speculation.Bank of America foreclosed on its $6.3Million center at the Northeast cornerof Toledo Blade & Price. It's only twotenants, Fastnet and Little Caesar'swill vacate the property.11. Cape Coral's developer, Ted

Stout wants to trade 563 acres ofindustrial property near the Lee Countyline for Murdock Village. Stout claimsthat the property will make a moreviable intermodal industrial centerbecause of its capacity for a greaternumber of businesses ... and theemployment that they promise.Mr. Stout has been one of the fewvocal opponents to the proposed

changes in the County's comprehensiveplan, Smart Charlotte 2050. The planwill now distinguish land uses betweenhigh and low density, potentially reduc-ing the value of many areas thatbecome classified as low density.The spokesman for the state mandatedcommission claims that "...speculatorsare coming out of the woodwork."...that might be an exaggeration. Theywill review the proposed changes onJuly 6.

Sales S tatistics: Inventories con-tinue to decline and prices have stabi-lized. Short sales continue to domi-nate the Port Charlotte and North Portmarkets. Our other areas have notexperienced much activity since thewinter season ended.

Real Real Estate Estate NewsNews

People move here for the fishing. We have numerous species in our waters, like thisluvar, found by Jerry Montour who is a turtle watch volunteer on Manasota Beach.“The fish was fresh dead and full of eggs when it washed up,” Jerry said after he cut itopen. “and it was full of jellyfish,” he added. Luvar eat jellyfish and grow to 350pounds. You have seen a luvar before, right?


On the LineBy Capt Ron Blago, Water LIFE Senior StaffOne of my least favorite jobs is to

write letters, and as Chairman of theCharlotte County Marine Advisory Board,I was asked to write a letter to theCharlotte Legislative Delegation. The del-egation is made up of all the Federal andState elected lawmakers that representCharlotte County. The MAC memberswanted me to let these people know howdisappointed they are with the delay inthe maintenance dredging of Stump Pass. As my friends have reminded me many

times; I told everyone that the dredgingwould be finished in Nov 09. Well, I waswrong. This thing has dragged on forover two years now and no one can tellme when the project will begin.Stump Pass has been around since at

least 1900. It’s moved north and southover the years, but there has always beena pass connecting Lemon Bay to the Gulfof Mexico. The modern era of StumpPass begins in 1980 when the pass wasdredged for the first time. In all the Statedocuments you see that they always referto the 1980 alignment. The pass stayed stable for a few years

and then started to fill in and migrate tothe south and became a problem forboaters for at least 10 years. During thatperiod the State took over management ofthe property on the north side of the pass.That property formally known as PortCharlotte Beach State Recreation Area,was deeded in 1971 to the State by theGeneral Development Corp. The State re-named the place Stump Pass Beach StatePark, and took over active managementof the property in 1997. That’s whenthings started turning bad for the Pass.Because the pass kept moving south

the new park produced a 1,600 ft. sandbar which extended right through the1980 alignment where Stump Pass tradi-tionally had been. The State immediatelydeclared their new land a bird sanctuary. The battle lines were quickly drawn

between the bird folks and the boaters.Around that same time (July 1, 1999)The Florida Fish and WildlifeCommission was formed which took oversome of the responsibilities of the

Florida DEP, including management ofprotected species (manatees, shore birdsetc.) The FWC, being more boater friend-ly, helped Charlotte County gainapproval to dredge Stump Pass back tothe 1980 alignment, right through thebird sanctuary. Charlotte County alsoreceived a special 10-year permit thatallowed them to do an additional three“channel maintenance” dredges during thatperiod. This permit expires on March 5,2013.Stump Pass was returned to the 1980

alignment in March 2003; But there wasa little problem. Right before the projectwas to begin, the State found a nest of aWilson’s Plover a protected species. TheState required that the project be movedslightly to the north. This will turn outto be a very unfortunate event. The nextmaintenance dredging was done in 2006and everything looked fine; so fine in factthat the county had put off the last main-tenance dredging until 2012. Around the same time the State put in

a series of sand filled “GEO TUBES” totry to stop beach erosion at their statepark. The tubes helped put four acres ofsand on their beach; but unfortunately theState pulled the plug on the experimentearly and removed the tubes. Those fouracres of new sand moved right in toStump Pass and that’s where we are now.Charlotte County applied to start that

last maintenance dredging in 2009.Everything was set to go: after all we haddone this twice before with no problems. This is where that Wilson’s Plover

nest comes back to bite us in the butt.The State said, remember when youmoved the project slightly to the north toaccommodate that birds nest. When youdid that, technically, you moved out ofthe 1980 alignment so now you are notdoing a “channel maintenance” project,your doing a “channel restoration” projectand of course that will require a new mod-ification to the permit.That was back in November. Most

county officials thought that we couldwork this out and still get the passdredged during the winter. A deal wasmade with the State to put 141,860cubic yards of sand, dredged from StumpPass back on the beach to the north

(where the geo tubes used to be) and wehad our permit. But while Charlotte County was get-

ting bids for the job they were notified bythe Army Corps of Engineers thatbecause we changed the State permit theywould have to take another look at theproject. The clock ran out, and by thetime the ACE approval came in it wasturtle nesting season. We applied for anexemption (which is normally granted)but last month the US Fish and WildlifeService issued an opinion that the project

would be a danger to sea turtles.I have put off the letter to the legisla-

tive delegation for 90 days now with thehope that we would get all the permittingworked out, but now I realize that it willnever be worked out. What I want to tellthe delegation is that we want StumpPass to remain open, we are willing topay our fair share to keep it open but thepermitting system is too complicated –too long – and too expensive. If we don’tget some help here the boaters are goingto wind up high, dry and broke.

A Short History of Stump Pass

In April 2003 this was the state of the alignment dredging. Before the dredging, boats hadto make their way down the sandsprit and through the curved and changing shallows.

Supreme Court Rejects Florida Beach Owners' ClaimThe Supreme Court rejected a property rights claim from some disgruntled own-

ers of beachfront in Destin Florida, upholding instead the state's authority to pumpnew sand onto an eroded shoreline without paying compensation. In something ofsurprise, all the justices, with one abstention, ruled for the state, concluding thatunder Florida law, the state owns the sand it has added to the beaches. Justices ruledthat Florida law trumps property rights in a case in which the state added sand to aneroding beach. This rul ing could discourage property rights claims frombeing fi led in Gulf Coast states in response to the oi l spi l l .

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

By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE InshoreThe ladyfish is quite likely the most

under rated fish in southwest Florida.Largely ignored as a gamefish there areno size or bag limits, but the ladyfishhas saved many a day for me with puredrag pulling, reckless jumping and at thesame time being easy to catch around theentire harbor. In late summer and fallyou will see massive schools of ladyfishboiling on small baitfish. Most anglerswill ride right past the schools as I havedone for years. In more recent times, I have come to

recognize ladyfish as the easiest path tohard pulling sharks, bluefish, jackcrevalle and a host of occasional visitorssuch as cobia and tarpon. For the hotsummer months on many trips I preferto sit under the shade with friends withlines out waiting for a rip using ladyfishfor bait. All of the previously mentionedfish love to dine on or dine with the lady-fish. Rarely, do they give sign that theyare sharing the same waters until youintentionally fish for them. Step one to this program is to find a

school of ladyfish. The easiest way is tocast jigheads with a plastic swim tail-white and chartreuse are hard to beat. Anyof the bars that run parallel to the shores

will have ladyfish. Drift and cast until aschool is located. The east or west bar,Bookelia bar, Cape Haze and the bars infront of Bull and Turtle Bay will haveladyfish.

Once the school is located pitch theladies as you catch them into a ice coldcooler packed with ice and a bit of seawa-ter. Anchor your boat in the vicinity ofwhere you caught the fish, preferably inthe 5-6 foot range. For rigging, I put together about 6

rigs before heading out because most ofthese fish including sharks travel in smallschools and they all have teeth that candestroy the rig. To make the rig attach a treble hook

(size 2 or 4) or circle hook (size 3/0-4/0)to 18-inches of 30-50# wire. Use a tighthaywire twist and leave a ¼” tag endwhen clipping. Slide an egg sinker ontothe wire and the tag end will act as a stopto keep the sinker off the hook. On theline end attach a small swivel. Cut a 1-2-inch slice of ladyfish and place on thehook and cast out. With 2 or 3 rods inthe rod holders you are now ready tochum. Using a super sharp knife dice andslice up the ladyfish and sprinkle into thewater occasionally. If the fish are travel-ing the area you will be hooked up withina half hour. Stronger tides produce betterbites as the ladyfish oil and chum trailcarries further.The exciting thing about this type of

fish is you never know what will bitenext! A shark one cast, a bluefish thenext and sometimes you will hook fishthat you cannot stop. This is easiest

fishing on Charlotte Harbor and mostdays will result in a burning drag and afish dinner!Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action

Flats Backcountry Charters and can be con-tacted for charters at 941-505-0003 or v isitwww.backcountry-charters.com

Sharks, jacks, bluefish and the ladies: itʼs Summer!

The end twist of the leader at the hook is left long to stop the sliding weight. These are my nieces, Kaitlin and Lindsey.Kaitlin is in the orange and black.

Water LIFE St aff Repo rtIt was a muggy hot sunny

Sunday morning in June when Iarrived at Fishin Franks at 7 a.m.There was already one shark laid outon the pavement and a lone angler,presumably part of the team thatbrought in the animal, wasstretched out on the pavementsleeping near the shark. That’s theway it goes, fish all night and thenshow up dead tired and sunburned inthe morning. By 9 am it’s all over.Two years ago there was a guy witha pine-tree air freshener like yousee in a car, hung around his neck.It didn’t help. By 8:30 it can beodiforous at the shark tournament.If the old white collar Oberto

Redfish Cup was the high end oflocal fishing tournaments thenFranks Shark Tournament is theblue collar parallel and Frank’sevent is still going. This is Frank’s26th year. Entries were down slightly this year, down to 342 from a record near 600 a fewyears back. Those who fished had the customary good time. The stingrays (10) were big,the sharks (9) were about average (5-6 feet) and the catfish, all but the winning 6.78pound monster, were mostly around 4 pounds. Scientists took bone and tissue samples ofthe sharks and some of the shark meat was donated for human consumption.


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By Betty S taugler Water LIFE / Sea Grant On June 2nd and 3rd

trained divers from across southwestFlorida participated in the Great GoliathGrouper Count (GGGC). The GGGC isa Florida Sea Grant pilot project designedto provide a regional snapshot of goliathgrouper size distribution and minimumabundance values for designated nearshoreand offshore artificial reefs in SouthwestFlorida. Project partners sampled approxi-mately 60 sites between Collier andPinellas Counties. Although the data is still coming in

from the various counties, preliminaryresults from 45 surveyed sites reportingso far show a total of 213 goliathgroupers counted. Four boat teams (thir-teen volunteers/divers) participated fromCharlotte County covering thirteen artifi-cial reef sites. These reefs included TheCapt. Jeff Steele, Tremblay, Novak, M14,Stump Pass, Mary’s, Phosphate Dock,Charlotte Harbor Reef, Boxcars, Pegasus,Charlie’s Twin Barges & 88 Steel andCulverts. The greatest goliath groupercounts reported by the Charlotte teamscame from the Twin Barges, Boxcars andPhosphate Dock.Survey participants included local gov-

ernment staff, charter captains and volun-teer divers. All of the participants attendeda required training session on surveymethods prior to conducting the survey.

This was important in ensuring that datacollected across the region was done so ina uniform way. The data collected duringour survey will be analyzed by the FloridaFish and Wildlife ConservationCommission. Results are expected in midAugust. Survey participants collected data on

goliath grouper abundance and size distri-bution at each location as well as infor-mation on site conditions (i.e. reef mate-rials, reef size, maximum relief, depth,visibility and temperature). Documentingsite conditions will assist managers indetermining how habitat characteristicsmay affect goliath grouper distribution.Management of the goliath grouper,

the largest member of the seabass family,has become an intensively debated issuein recent years. Historically, goliathgrouper was relatively common and high-ly conspicuous in portions of its range.However, it proved to be vulnerable tofishing pressure and due to significantdeclines in abundance through the 1960s-80s, taking of goliath grouper was pro-hibited in U.S waters in 1990. In 1994,goliath grouper was listed as criticallyendangered on the IUCN WorldConservation Union’s Red List ofThreatened Species. The species has sincebeen protected in Brazil (2002), PuertoRico (2004) and the US Virgin Islands(2004). Following the granting of protected

species status, abundance has appeared toincrease over the past decade, but theextent of the recovery is not clearly under-stood. Information on historical abun-dance is limited and not precise.Likewise, information on perceivedincrease in abundance over the past decadeis limited and it is difficult for fisheriesmanagers to truly understand the extent towhich it has recovered throughout its geo-graphic range.The most recent stock assessment

(2004) indicated that goliath grouper inFlorida waters were recovering, but thatthe population may not experience fullrecovery until 2020 or later. Because theharvest of goliath grouper is prohibited,the conclusions of the stock assessmentwere made in the absence of certain typesof biological information that is typicallyavailable for other species through the

examination of harvested individuals. Plans for future stock assessment: The

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commissionwill conduct a statewide assessment in2010 and the National Marine FisheriesService will conduct a more comprehen-sive assessment in 2014. The GGGC was an opportunity to pro-

vide resource managers with data that canbe used in the 2010 stock assessment aswell as stock assessments planned in thefuture. While our pilot project wasregional in scope, it is hoped that theGGGC will eventually be implemented asa statewide project that will incorporate awide participant base.

Betty Staugler is the Florida Sea GrantAgent for Charlotte Countyunty. She can bereached at 941.764.4346. Sea Grant is aUniversity of Florida IFAS program.

Great Goliath Grouper Count

Water LIFE S taff ReportLast month we spent a morning with

the FEC Charlotte Harbor FieldLaboratory staff while they did samplingat Catfish Creek. John Hadden led thetrip. The crew was Chrystal Murray, DaveShultz, and John Halvorsen (volunteer;Lemon Bay resident)Below are the answers to a few ques-

tions we had for Philip Stevens, PhD,from the Florida Fish & WildlifeConservation Commission, Fish &Wildlife Research Institute, CharlotteHarbor Field Laboratory.Is everything you are seeing

right now in the net pretty muchnormal? Yes, the fish community is pretty typ-

ical for this time of year. I can't think ofanything too unusual. Is i t accurate to say that sam-

pl ing is one of the tools used forfish stock assessment?Yes, the fisheries-independent monitor-

ing provides critical pieces of data forstock assessments (for example, red drum,snook, trout, mullet). The critical piecesof information are relative abundance andage. The importance of the relative abun-dance measures are pretty obvious (arethere decreasing or increasing trends inabundance). The ages of the fish are deter-

mined from counting the annual rings onthe otoliths (ear bones). The stock assess-ments rely heavily on our estimates ofthe age and length structures of the popu-lation. Increasing fishing pressure onlarge fish, for example, can result in pop-ulations that are more greatly representedby fish that grow up to smaller sizes andmature early. This is not a good thing fora recreational fishery where anglers preferlarger, older fish. The effects of manage-ment actions, such as size restrictions(slots), on length and age structure of thefish populations come mostly from thefisheries-independent monitoring.

What other purposes does sam-pl ing serve?All species of fish that are collected in

the gear are measured and counted. Theapproach of the fisheries-independentmonitoring has always been ecosystembased. Changes in fish community struc-ture are a useful way of understandingimpacts to the coastal environment. Wecan't always predict what the next fisherywill be or what stochastic event willaffect the estuary, so it's critical that weare looking at all aspects of the fish com-munity. Some recent examples of sto-

chastic events include Hurricane Charleyin Charlotte Harbor and red tide in TampaBay. We have several articles that wereproduced related to these events. In thenear future, we'll be looking at these datato track changes in snook abundance afterthe freeze and heaven forbid any oilimpacts (keep in mind that we have fieldlabs that monitor the panhandle).Multiyear time series of data allow us totease out the effects of varying freshwaterinflow on fish communities for watermanagers, which continues to be a bigissue in Florida.

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

FWC Fish SamplingQ&A


Swim Pool Makeover

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorAfter 13 years there were settlement cracks in the pool deck

and the tile had come off in several spots around the pool. Thefilter leaked and the leaking filter ultimately rusted and shortedout the pump. It was time for maintenance.Although I am told this is standard procedure, the biggest

problem was the way the pool was constructed in the first place.When they built the pool they shot the pool shell with a highpressure concrete mix, then they filled in dirt around the pool andpoured the concrete deck so that it overlapped the top of the poolshell. With time, flooding and several hurricanes the fill began tosettle at the outside edge of the deck. This raised the inside edgeof the deck that was on top of the pool shell. When it moved acrack developed. The crack ran behind the pool tile so the tilepopped off and the pool began to leak water. I rented a concrete saw and since my back was in a bad way

my friend Charlie Knuttles of Knuttles Concrete sawed the deckall around the pool. When the dust

cleared I calledRalph Bellon ofBellon Pools toinstall a new skim-mer and reroute oneof the return linesto make a therapyjet for my back.Ralph is a friend ofour diving writerAdam Wilson.“Anything wrongwith a pool, Ralphcan fix it,” Adamsaid. He was right.After the skim-

mer was in Charlieand I started on anew concrete cap on

top of the old pool shell. This was not an easy job. It requiredthree weeks of work and numerous trips to the dump and theDepot. Charlie drilled over 200 holes in the concrete top of thepool shell so we could epoxy steel rods into it and anchor newreinforcements. His son Chaz, who also drives an Ambulance,cruised by the house one day to check on our progress. TheAmbulance got the neighbors interested real quick.

Our pool is curvey so we soaked plywoodin the pool for several days to get it softenough to bend forms around the outsideradiuses. For the inside forms we usedmasonite. After it was all formed we pumpedit with 5000 pound concrete with fiberglassstrands added for strength. It came out great.The pool was a tan-brown from the years

of age and discolored Charlotte County water.Ralph came back to help put up the new tile.“You ought to acid wash this pool,” Ralphsaid. Acid washing mostly involves using a

sprinkler can filled with diluted muriatic acidand walking around the top of the emptypool sprinkling the mixture down the sides.The trick is, you also have to know when tohose it off. Ralph used a submersible pump to pump

the slurry of acid out of the bottom of thepool and back onto the walls andsteps again. Then the pool was rinseddown and pumped out. The result was the clean bright sur-

face the pool had when it was new!The down side of acid washing is theacid eats up a little of the finish so itshortens the time you have until youhave to refinish the entire pool.While we were at it we installed a

new filter. IMHO the Hayward DE(dimateacous earth) is the ONLY wayto go. I am a firm believer in dimatea-cous earth. It’s easy, it’s cheap and thewater is sooooo crystal clear.We also put in a new pump. As far

as pumps go I learned that all the new stuff is basically crap.Right now, if you get a couple of years out of the new Chinesemade motors you are doing good. That is the word on the street. We found a NOS (New Old Stock) pump in the back of a

warehouse in Tampa. It is a Sta Rite Max E Glass II pump.Those are great pumps but you can’t get them any more.Hopefully this one will last another 13 years.Now the pool is back up and running. The water circulation

is better than ever and the new therapy jet feels great on myback. This was maintenance money well spent.

Before and after the acid wash. The pool walls went from yellow to blue white

Above: Ralph doing acid wash. You can see the new cap.Below: Chaz helping with the form work


By Capt. Jim O'BrienWater LIFE Englewood Hey y'all how about this weather

we’re having – 95 to 97 degrees – manthat’s hot, and it's been brutal on thewater. I know, I have been taking morewater with me. The water temperature isup to 98 degrees. The offshore fish'n hasbeen real good. My captain friends tellme the tarpon fish'n has been real goodin the pass and on the beaches. I don'tknow about this week, but last weekthere were some big sharks roaming in40 to 50 feet of water.

Nice size redfish have been takenjust outside Catfish Creek, and also atDevilfish Key, and Sandfly Island.Spanish mackerel and bonita are just offthe beaches. Just look for the birds.

One of my last charters I had out,we took Mike Rhoden owner of Do AllDockside Marine Service in Englewood,and his friends Glen Vowell, ChuckParrott, Luke Barns and Frank Benz. Alla bunch of great guys and a real hoot tofish with. We went out to a couple ofspots caught a few then we headed about14 mile's south, got on this nice wreckand proceeded to fill a 162 quart cooler

with fish. I mean to tell ya, Mike startedoff catching a nice AJ. Then the guyssarted loading up on big mangrove snap-per. Our smallest one was 20 inches andour biggest one was 27 inches (that’s anice a mang!) We also limited out yel-low tail snapper 18 to 22 inchs. Wefished from 12 o’clock to about 4 pm.and filled that big Igloo cooler.The guys sarted catchin’ big mangs on

fluorescent lime green jig head's – 1/4ounce – baited with live shrimp, cut sar-dines or pieces of squid. We were using15 pound fluorocarbon leader. We lost afew rigs so when I opened my jig headbox I had some hot pink flutter jigheads. I put a couple of them on and sentthem out on the starboard side and lowand behold theguys using hotpink jig headswere catch'n bigyellow tail snap-per that was run-ning 18 to 22inchs long. Thistotally baffledme. The yellowtails wouldn't hit

the lime green jig heads, and the bigmang's wouldn't hit the hot pink jigheads. GO FIGURE.You have to really chum heavy, but

in about 15 minutes you can see themangs and yellow tail come right up toabout 10 ft. under the surface. I tell yawhat, it don't get any better than that.Everyone had a great time. When we gotback to dock it took an hour-and-a-half tofillet all the fish!

Remember: Get out and snortsome of that good clean sal t aircuz - i t's good fer ya!

If you have any questions or if youhave a good ol' fishin’ story or a recipefor cooking fish that I can share with ourreaders give me a call. To book an off-shore charter with us aboard the PredatorII call (941) 473-2150

Charlotte HarborCharlotte HarborFISHINGFISHINGGUIDESGUIDES

ChartersOffshore Fishing Trips: 1/2 day • 8hr • 10 hr • 12 hr

We help put your charters togetherShark, Tarpon, Grouper, Snapper, Kingfish, and MORE!

Nighttime Trips AvailableCapt. Jim OʼBrien USCG 50 ton license since 1985

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Winner by a nose! Mike and one of the AJs

Editor Notes:This is ass backwards becauseThe SPINNER SHARKhas all back fin-tips.

and The BLACKTIP SHARK (shown below)has all but one black fin-tip.It does NOT have a black tip on its anal fin.


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By Kel ly Beal lWater LIFE Commercial FishingThe Florida Fish and Wildlife

Conservation Commission (FWC) hasissued an executive order to waive fourpreviously scheduled 10 day blue crabtrap harvest closures in July and Augustthis year. The FWC is taking this actionto help relieve possible economic hard-ships on fishing communities that mayoccur due to the BP Deepwater Horizonoil spill.Once a year we have a 10 day blue

crab trap harvest closure. Our area closuregoes from July 10th to the 19th. Duringthis time the crabbers take all their trapsout of the water to allow for derelict trapremovals. Last year the crabbers of ourarea hosted two trap removal programs.The crabbers volunteered their time toremove the traps that may pose as a navi-gational hazard and to be good stewardsof the waters they crab. This year because the oil spill may

affect our harvest later on, the FWC haswaived this closure. It's hard to saywhen the spill will affect our harvest, butwe are certainly glad to have it waived atthis time. There is also talk of making

stonecrab season one month earlier aswell. Last month they opened the oysterseason 11 days earlier just in case thoseoysterman lose precious days of harvest-ing. Let's all hope we aren't going tolose any days anytime soon. But it isn't a question of if, but when.

Some may think we are jumping thegun, but this spill is affecting us locallyas we speak. It's not just the waters thatare closed. The seafood industry is feelingit right now. It's hard to say what is fromthe bad economy and what is from thespill. For example, there is plenty of

product that is safe to consume and safeto harvest, but many of the shrimpers,oystermen and fisherman are beingemployed by the clean-up instead ofworking in the seafood industry. They aremaking money and they're doing whatthey need to do to get the Gulf clean. Because of this many trucks that once

came down the west coast of Florida topick up oysters and then headed back upthe east coast are now only going to theeast coast. Lack of fisherman equals lackof product to transport. This affects thecrab sales because often it was the sametruck and now they can't justify their tripfor just crabs and no oysters. It's hard tounderstand unless you're in the business,but believe me those trucks that comefrom the north to buy our excess productkeep our fishermen in business.Another way the spill affects us indi-

rectly is perception. Even if it happenssubconsciously, having a view of the oilspewing into the Gulf every day does notput anyone in the mood for seafood. Wehave inadvertently lost our branding of"wild Gulf caught seafood". What once attracted buyers to our

product has created second thoughts. Wewent from being the top healthy choiceto - uncertainity, for lack of a betterexplanation. Even though we are manymiles from the spill it is still tricklingon over. Sometimes those hit by thebands of the storm are worse off thenthose hit directly by the eye. Those whotake a direct hit can be somewhat com-pensated (if that's even possible - on sucha great loss) whereas those affected indi-rectly are shorted. For the time being - we are lucky to bebetter off, but we are still going to needhelp.

Punta Gorda Isles

FWC Issues Order to Help Blue Crab Industry

EXCERPT FROM A LETTER:

Dear Water LIFEI have spoken to numerous guides and

bait shop owners and they say either:a) They are the same.b) A Spinner is a big Black-tip.c) If they are different I can’t tell.

The Commission says in print, “Manysharks are difficult to identify and it is upto anglers to learn how to properlyidentify the sharks they harvest”.

Peter Sanderson

Spinner/Blacktip Confusion Continues


By Adam WilsonWater LIFE DivingWith long summer nights, and pre-

dictable weather patterns, this is thetime of year we love to run far offshoreto hunt big fish. The latest 79,000square mile NOAA fishing closure areadue to the oil spill is a little over 100miles west of our coast, for now. Thatstill leaves plenty of prime underwaterreal estate for fishing and diving.There have been some unusual sight-

ings in the Gulf. I have heard of at leasta dozen whale shark sightings fromClearwater down to Sarasota in the lastmonth. We have also been seeing anincreased number of sharks, even onspots where we typically never seethem. Could we be starting to see amass exodus of fish from the oil spill,or could it be related to the winterfreeze? It would make sense that thelarger fish would begin to show up first.The next few months could tell.Bottom temperatures remain cold and

that seems to have kept a lot of fish inclose. Regardless of how deep you gothere is a cold water layer 20 to 30 feetoff the bottom that is still in the low70s. If you are diving with just abathing suit, that is cold!We ran a trip out to the wreck of the

Roatan Express, 75 miles southwest ofStump Pass and not far from the Gulfclosure zone. The strong smell of oilcovers the wreck site, not from the dis-aster in the Northern Gulf, but from theleaking fuel tanks in the wreck. Beforeleaving the port of Tampa the crew hadtaken on 150,000 gallons of diesel inpreparation for a trip to Honduras andback. The Roatan sank in October of

1992 in less than stormy conditions.The exact cause of her fatal list to portand eventual sinking on a relativelycalm night has never been discovered.Perfectly upright and intact, the bestway to describe the wreck is it looks asif it’s simply sailing south across thebottom, 190 feet below the surface ofthe Gulf of Mexico.

Internal investigation of the ship isbecoming sketchy. Debris hangs fromthe ceilings and all the hallways androoms are filled with flour like silt thatseems to be stirred up just by looking atit. Although there were some big mut-ton snappers over the sand around thewreck, we really didn’t see any huge tro-phy fish usually spotted at this site.Our next stop on the way in was a

natural limestone ledge with a deepundercut in 170 feet. We were still southand due west of Fort Myers in an areathat has been producing monstrous blackgrouper for a couple of years. Waitingfor everyone to get ready I dropped downa fewfeet toget abetterlook atthe redsnappersthat hadcome upto seewhatwasgoingon.Suddenlymymask filled with water. One of the lens-es popped out of the frame. Proper train-ing teaches to always have a spare maskwhen planning a decompression dive.After replacing my mask with the sparefrom my thigh-pouch I continued mydescent. Fifteen feet off the bottom andon the high side of the ledge, I let ashaft fly into a quality scamp grouper,thought by many to be the most deli-cious of all Gulf grouper. The second I pulled the trigger I

noticed a huge black grouper twenty feetin front of me and sitting on top of theledge like the king of the ocean. Nowfocused on the black grouper, he leisure-ly rolled off the ledge and up into a deepcave. I reloaded and out of the corner ofmy eye watched as the scamp fled to asmall hole without being able to disap-pear with 60 inches of steel through hishead. I could come back for him. Lying on top of the ledge I peeked

over and into the cave, but the siltstirred up from the massive grouperreduced the visibility to zero. It wasgoing to be a waiting game for the dustto settle. I knew he was there, but I justcouldn’t see him. As I wait for the smoke to clear from

the cave I am watching my computerclosely. Every minute or so I check thecave with my 24 watt H.I.D. light.(think European sports-car headlight)My computer continues its calculations.I watch my ‘time to surface’ numbergrow longer and into double digits. I seemy decompression stops begin to creep

deeper and deeper. I am rapidly approach-ing the now-or-never point.

One last desperate pass with thelight and I can make out his tail, hishead is facing the rear of the cave, readyto bolt deeper and out of sight forever. Focusing and straining to see, I make

out the tiny sweet spot right behind hiseye. No time for error; no time for awrestling match, no time period.A good deep breath, steady aim and

pull the trigger. No sand flying, nolodged shaft thrashing back and forth, hejust turned white and rolled over. Still

10 feet back in the cave and out ofreach; I string up a line shaft just toextract the giant from his home. A quick yank and a lift bag goes

through his mouth and out his gills, andI’m on my way to my first deco stop at70 feet with no time to spare. I watchbelow me as one of my buddies grabsthe scamp I shot and my shaft. Myascent was spent closely watching mypressure gauge, taking deep and con-trolled breaths and thinking of what theguys in the boat must be saying aftergrabbing my lift bag!

RoatanReport:

Above: Hunting on the Roatan ExpressLeft: Adam Wilson with his “big-ass-black grouper” taken in June

I found a pretty nice rod and reel out in 90 feet last weekend. I would gladly return it to itsrightful owner if they accurately describe the rod and reel and location they lost it.

By David Al lenWater LIFE KayakingPine Island is one of the paddling

treasures of southwest Florida. Slightlyoff the beaten track, certainly one of themore rural of the off-shore islands, PineIsland often escapes the notice of areapaddlers. Situated among a cluster ofislands and Fort Myers, Pine Island ismost noted for its fishing and boating.The commercial palm and fruit tree nurs-eries add to the rural feel of the island. Matlacha, on the east side of the

island and Pineland on the west are thetwo best areas to explore the surround-ings by kayak. On past kayak trips, wehave usually favored launching atPineland, then paddling west to PartKey, Cabbage Key, Useppa Key, andfinally to Cayo Costa, the westernmostof the keys. Cayo Costa has wonderful,almost deserted, beaches, a great place

for a swim before returning to PineIsland. And the restaurant at CabbageKey is always a good place to stop for aquick lunch on the way back.However, this time our club decided

to launch from Matlacha and paddle theeastern side of the island. Matlacha is acolorful little town with art galleries,lots of shops and restaurants, and whatis billed as the “Worlds FishingistBridge”. Matlacha also has a very welldesigned Municipal Park and Rampwhich accommodates powerboats on thewest side and kayaks on the east. Nicesandy beaches with lot of space to drop-off your kayak makes the whole processa lot easier. Lots of parking and manycovered pavilions for picnic make for anenjoyable outing.We launched from the sandy beaches

of the Park into the Matlacha Canal andheaded south along the mangrove islands

that dot Matlacha Pass. The Pass isfairly wide at this point, and we huggedthe western side to avoid the powerboatwakes. Lots of fish jumping all alongthe Pass. Lots of birds fishing in theshallows. Osprey families roosting intheir high nests.We made the turn back north at

McCardle Island, about 3 miles south ofMatlacha and had an easy paddle with thewind at our back. A picnic lunch putthe finishing touches on a interestingpaddle.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meeteach Wednesday evening at 5:30 PM atPort Charlotte Beach Park at the end ofHarbor Blvd. All are welcome to attend.For additional information contact DaveAllen at 941-235-2588 [email protected]


Pine Island PaddleFISHIN ̓ FRANK has reportedly bought a big

Carolina Skiff, with two motors on it and ttaken it toAlabama to work on the oil cleanup. “Yo u need atwin engine boat for the work he will be doing, afriend explained. Frank reportedly said if we do getoil here in Charlotte Harbor he wanted to knowwhat to do.

BOCA GRANDE MARINA, formally MillerʼsMarina, is said to be closing. It is not known if thisis a summer closing or a economic closting. Themarina has sustained several openings and clos-ings over the years.

BOATLIFT COLLISION FWC Uniform PatrolInvestigations and the Palm Beach CountySheriffʼs Officers responded to a boating accidentin the Intracoastal Waterway in Jupiter. A vesselstruck a fixed boatlift. The vessel on the boat liftthen fell onto the striking vessel, seriously injuringthe operator. No photo was available.

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By Bi l l DixonWater LIFE Sailing

I had the opportunity to work on thecommittee boat at the Hibiscus Cup. Ihad a great time and so did the racers.There were Sunfish, Precision 15s andfor the first time Flying Scots. We got off 11 starts (and finishes)

between 10 am and 1 pm. Franticaction. I was on the timer for 33+ min-utes out of 3 hours.

Winners were: Sunfish: Fred Hutchinson.Flying Scot: Martin HollandPrecision 15: Skip Mansfield. Great day, great turnout even if the

city did not have a Hibiscus Festival tosupport the regatta. Thanks for the inset photos

courtesy of Tom Ray.On the 4th of July there will be

a specialty race put on by PuntaGorda Sailing Club. This month there are Summer

Series races July 11 and 25. Thec r u i s et oUseppawill beJ u l y1 7 - 1 8c h e c kthe website at: pgscweb.com.

Lots of sailing classes leftthis summer for children. Dennis

Peck and the Community Sailing Center

are putting on a one week class for kids10 -17 the week of July 12 -16 with as peci ale v e n tr e g a t -t a/openh o u s eon the17th.

Contact Dennis at 941-456-8542.Charlotte Harbor YC is putting on one more class open to

the public for kids 8-12. Classes are scheduled, July 12 -23 Contact Doug Shore at [email protected]


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Pick up a copy of Water LIFE at any of these and 120+ other locations. Water LIFE is not affiliated with any newspaper or other publicationPick up a copy of Water LIFE at any of these and 120+ other locations. Water LIFE is not affiliated with any newspaper or other publicationand is distributed FREE at select locations around the state. These free ads to our loyal distributors rotate on a monthly basis. and is distributed FREE at select locations around the state. These free ads to our loyal distributors rotate on a monthly basis.

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F i s h i n gF i s h i n gR e p o r tR e p o r tCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888Rain makes the July fishing forecast a

little tricky. Tarpon will still be on thetop of the chart, without a doubt. Withsuch a banner tarpon season so far andwith the amount of fish we saw on thelast Hill Tide in June we are likely to seea lot of tarpon moving up into theHarbor. Tarpon could even still be in thepass, in the mornings, all this month.Look for schools of threadfins in theHarbor concentrating around the 20-footand Pirate Harbor holes. Look at themouth of the Myakka River. Livethreadfins are the best tarpon bait rightnow, but crabs will work fairly well too.

As the month goes onD.O.A. Bait Busterswill work better and bet-ter. Remember the wateris really warm so take alot of time to resuscitatethe fish after fishing them – that shouldgo for any fish this time of year.There are a lot of smal l sharks right

now especially black tips and bonnetheads . They are concentrated aroundschools of bait. Anchor with a chum bagaround the edges going into Turtle Bay orout in front of the Burnt Store or PirateHarbor channels. Ladyfish are a goodchoice of bait, but again, threadfins liveor dead will be better right now.Most of the threadfins are out in the

middle of the Harbor dimpling or rainingon the surface. A cast net is the fastestway to get numbers, but you need 5/8 or1/2 inch mesh because you are throwingin deeper water. Threadfins won’t do wellin a crowded livewell for long.Catching them with a No 8 or 10 gold

hook Sabiki is another approach.Inshore and offshore the snapper bite

has been incredible. The June and Julyfull moon is when they spawn. BocaGrande and Captiva Pass are going to begreat for snapper all month. On the off-shore reefs, the further you go out thebetter the chances for big yel lowtai l inaddition to mutton and lane snapperalong with the mangs . If you have a bigenough boat, this is the time forAmerican Reds , big black grouper,scamps , dolphin and sai l fi sh.Redfish will be a little tricky now.

The early morning from sunrise to 10a.m. is the best time for them and thebetter numbers will be on the Intracostaland Lemon Bay boat docks and in the -deeper creeks off Lemon Bay. Frozen

shrimp is a good choice even though it’speewee size now. Pinfish are almost theright size now so they will soon workinstead. Look closely at shaded structurein deeper water for redfish now.Even though they are still catch and

release only, snook are still out on thebeaches and in the passes. If you are intosight fishing or trying a fly, the snook onthe beach are a great fish to target.There are still quite a few cobia

around. It’s been a weird cobia year. Therehas been a fair number of them in the28-33 inch slot with a few larger ones.But most cobia have been small this year.Be ready with a pitch-pole to cast them alive bait, an artificial eel or a white buck-tail.

Fishing Report Continued on following page

Left: Krista Tucker and Alysha Aratari with redfish and snook on Reel Salty Adventures with Capt. George Frantz.Right: One happy camper on a trip with her family and with Capt. Angel Torres.

Left: Dave Walker with his first ever redfish at 18 1/2 inches.Right: Alan Grant from Pool Sharks in Grove City with a 28-inch redfishthat was having to go back.

SHORELINE FISHING LICENSE FREE TORESIDENTS, BEGINNING JULY 1The shoreline fishing license for Florida residents to

catch saltwater fish from shore or a structure affixed toshore cost $9 last year, but this year, it’s free beginningJuly 1.The Florida Legislature repealed the shoreline license fee dur-

ing the past session. However, legislators retained the license requirement to pre-vent a more-costly federal registration fee from taking effect in Florida.Resident anglers who obtain the shoreline license over the phone or Internet

still will have to pay a convenience fee to the vendor. The convenience fee is$2.31 for Internet sales at www.fl.wildlifelicense.com or $3.33 for phone sales at888-FISH FLORIDA (888-347-4356).Only Florida residents qualify for a no-cost shoreline license, and the license

does not cover fishing from a boat or from land or a structure accessible only byboat. That requires a regular saltwater fishing license: $17 for residents; for non-residents the cost is $17 for three days, $30 for seven days or $47 per year.There are some exemptions for license requirements. More information is

available at MyFWC.com/License.

CALENDAR�� July 4 Peace River Swim from the base of theUS 41 Southbound bridge to Fishermenʼs Village�� July 6 On-Board Weather Forecasting seminarby Peace River Sail & Power Squadron from 1:00 to3:00 p.m. Bayfront/YMCA Center, 750 West RettaEsplanade, Punta Gorda. For more information and toregister, leave a message by July 5th at: 941-637-0766. �� July 23-24 David Lee Root Jr, MemorialTournament $50per angler, D&D Matlacha Baitand Tackle http://www.davidleerootmemorial.com

You can send your calendar events to:[email protected]

F i s h i n gF i s h i n gRR e p o r te p o r t .

continued from page 21There are still some

tripletai l around. Lookaround the channel markersin the Harbor or blind cast toa crab trap line. Spanishmackerel have been phe-nomenal with 4-6 pound Spanish and hugekings all spring long and now into summer.The permit are still abundant at the off-

shore reefs with really nice fish, upwards of35 pounds, caught on feelined crabs orshrimp.

Lemon Bay:Jim at Fishermen’s Edge,Englewood: 697-7595Mostly down here guys are still targeting

tarpon Up in the Harbor they are fishingwith D.O.A.s or live threadfins. There hasbeen a lot of action on the moon tides.The snook fishing on the beach, at Stump

Pass and close to the trestle has been good.There are some whiting and some scat-

tered pompano and black drum on thebeach. Those fish are in the spring to sum-mer mode. Some have fallen back to theclose in 2-to 4-mile reefs. Snapper, down by the pass now, should provide a lot ofaction for the next month or two. A lot of guys are using shrimp on a jig head or a wormweight so it doesn’t get hung up so easy. The fishing has been good offshore withgrouper and snapper 5-to 7 miles out and AJ and jack creval le mixed with Spanishmackerel just past tham.Way offshore has been good into the further out haunts of the dolphin and a variety of

other blue water species. It might only get better if more fish are pushed this way.

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

SNAPPER should be thick atCaptiva and Boca Grande

SHARK are in the deeperchannels

SPANISH MACKEREL itʼs abanner year for these guys

TARPON ARE In the deeperholees

FishingFishingRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

Big Fish!Big Fish!


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Tarpon still eat when it is raining.Photo Capt. Angel Torres



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Water LIFE July 2010