Water LIFE May 2015

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

WWWWaaaatttteeeerrrr LIFEThe Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

May 2015

Now Itʼs ON!Now Itʼs ON!Tarpon in the Harbor Tarpon in the Harbor

Great Flats Fishing Too!Great Flats Fishing Too!page 16page 16

Huge CuberaHuge Cuberapage 5page 5

Melony Ennis Walkerʼs snookMelony Ennis Walkerʼs snookFishing ReportFishing Reportpage 22-23page 22-23

Kids Summer Programs Kids Summer Programs Spring Series PhotosSpring Series Photos

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Water LIFE [email protected]

Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180217 Bangsberg Rd.

Port Charlotte, FL 33952Independant - Not affiliated with

any other publicationVol XIV No 5 © 2015

No part of this publication (printed or electronic) maybe copied or reproduced without specific written

permission from the publishers.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoRiver and Shore: Fishinʼ Frank

Charlotte Harbor: Capt. Billy BartonFamily Fishing: Capt. Bart Marx

Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck EichnerVenice: Glen Ballinger

Estero: Capt. Joe AngiusKayaking: WRITER WANTED

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerOffshore: Capt. Dan Cambern

Fly Fishing: Capt. Scott SichlingBeach Fishing: Mallory Herzog

Circulation: Robert CohnOffice Dog Molly Brown : in memorium

on the COVER: First tarpon to the boatthis spring. Mark Lee had this tarpon tothe boat by 9:30am. Page 10


Send letters and photos to: [email protected]

AINʼT BIG SUGGARDear EditorThe politicians want this as they donot want you to dig into how theareas of St.Petersburg and Day-tona and Orlando and DisneyWorld eventually drain throughmany miles of canals into and outof Lake Okeechobee. So easy forthe politicians to convenientlymove you away from the real prob-lem. Go online & read the ArthurMarshall collection on the Kissim-mee Okeechobee Basin whenReuben Askew was Governor in

1972 and it will enlighten you. Allagriculture is a problem when youare talking about agriculture runoffin drinking water supply but pleaseread the article online and you willsee it 'AINT' all BIG SUGAR.Richard Ibsen

Editor replies* I donʼt disagree, BigSugar is not the cause of the prob-lem. But I think they may have ananswer.

Give us your opinion:[email protected]

Charlotte CountyRust In the Drinking Water

I had to change a tub seal in mywashing machine. It wore out pre-maturely, probably due to all therust in the Charlotte County drink-ing water system. Pictured to the right is the bottomof my washer tub, not the stain-less liner you see looking into itbut the actual watertight tub. Thebottom was filled with rusty sedi-ment. The line is where I draggedmy finger through it.If you are a lawyer, call me. Iʼmready to take action! M. Heller – publisher

STATEMENT To Water LIFEI Steven King of arcadia caught this guitar fish off Bocagrande pier on a Tuesday night, last month.

By Michael HellerWater Life editor

April 2015: “FWC Investigator Cooke was assignedto the tarpon detail in Boca Grande Pass. For the monthsof April, May and June, Boca Grande Pass is a highlyregulated tarpon fishing area. Investigator Cooke ob-served a fishing vessel which appeared to be live-bait-fishing for tarpon. Investigator Cooke initiated a stopand upon inspection observed both fishing poles wererigged with breakaway fishing gear (the lead sinkers). Itwas also determined they were on a charter with sevenpeople on the boat and the Captain only had a 4 pack(State) fishing license. The Captain was cited for boththe fishing license ticket and the breakaway gear.”Welcome to tarpon season - one of the coolest fish-

eries we have which is stalked by some of the most ruth-less and arrogant fishermen I know of. To me it’sarrogant when you break the law intentionally.Now before you get all your lines in a knot, I am not

talking about all tarpon anglers. I’m just talking about asmall group of arrogant asses.Way back when, like 20 years ago, I thought the live

bait drift fishermen were a dying breed, a cultural way oflife that should be historically placqued and eternally pre-served as living-legends and human artifacts.What did I know? I had come from Santa Fe New

Mexico where old ways were usually better.Here I saw quiet, orderly drift fishermen in cool old

‘pass boats’ fishing an unbelievable fishery. A fellownamed .Jack Harper ran the marina at Boca Grande andhis Catch the King tarpon tournament catered to jig fish-ermen and it changed history.The old time guides fished all the corporate big wigs

from their traditional drift boats, but the upstart kids in

their flats boats had figured out how to bring up waymore tarpon than the old time guides. That made the oldtimers look bad. So the fight was on and it would be 16years before the jig-fishing technique using breakawaygear was classified as snagging and officially banned. But as you can see, people are still doing it. Still keep-

ing the weight below the hook which enables them to pullup hard and snag a fish instead of catching it. Today, the law requires the weight be above the hook

and the gear not break apart intentionally. I know a lot ofyou locals know this already, but there are a lot of peoplereading this online who might need a little background.Back then, in addition to the Catch the King, there was

a live bait tournament called the Worlds Richest TarponTournament. It was run by the Boca Grande Chamber ofCommerce. It was the one big event, comprised of all livebaiters with no jigging allowed. Their weigh in was froma floating barge anchored in the pass. Remember, I still

thought the world of the live baiters back then. I was at that weigh in barge one day when one of the

top live baiters brought in a 200 pound fish. - clearly awinner. I watched and then I noticed. There was no tar-pon tag on the fish - which by law had to be affixed be-fore the fish could be moved to the weigh in dock.‘Where is the Tag’ I shouted out - where is the tag? Overand over I said it until finally the captain said ‘I have ithere in the boat.... it fell off, but it was a zip tie that hadnever been zipped! They only bought one tag for theyear! And still, the fish was allowed to weigh in and win.Right then I knew; the live baiters and the jig fisher-

men were both cheating - cheating the law and cheatingeach other. Not all of them, but some of them, and someof the others fishing with them knew and did nothing. Neither side ever wanted me close enough to get pic-

tures - allegedly because ‘it was too dangerous,’ whichwas baloney. Really it was because I might photographwhat they were doing in too much detail.One year I watched as jigging team, Yamaha, the tour-

nament’s top sponsor, caught and brought a winning fishboatside. I had a perfect view as they took their lip gaffand yanked it through the side of the fish’s head. It wasan accident with a thrashing fish, but those guys weresupposed to be professionals and it was grounds for dis-qualification by the tournament’s own rules. But like thefish with the missing tag, that fish was allowed to win. There are no real winners in this scenario. Tarpon are

here as a spawning fishery - They are fished hard everyday and tournament fished harder every weekend for thenext two months. These fish need room to settle, feedand spawn or this fishery is going to go somewhere else.Most of us are fishing and catching tarpon in the Har-

bor’s deep holes, at Two Pine and in the passes to thesouth. Most recreational anglers I know and most of theguides as well, avoid Boca Grande on the weekends atthis time of year. These are intelligent anglers.


Something to Chew On:Big Fish or Big Money?

A big toothy, cubera snapper caught last month with Capt.Ed Johnson of Fish Factor Charters out of Venice. The fishweighed in at 48.7 pounds, full photo on this monthʼs cover


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE InshoreCatching the great silver king is the ul-

timate in sport fishing so anglers fromaround the world come to southwestFlorida to experience tarpon fishing. Lucky is not the word for us locals, as

we have world class tarpon fishing in ourbackyard. Most associate tarpon fishingwith Boca Grande Pass however I do not.Charlotte Harbor, Pine Island Sound, thePeace River and the Gulf have thousandsof tarpon swimming their waters on anygiven day, all in a peaceful serene envi-ronment. This may seem hard to believebut it is true, but these fish are on themove and they are usually very finicky,presenting the ultimate challenge. Tarpon are extremely intelligent and

travel in packs about the harbor and wa-terways in search of food. The tarpon isvery selective in what they like to eat. InMay they prefer large threadfin herringand crabs. Later in the year they will likeladyfish, however, on any given day, therecould be another food source they prefermore, such as glass minnows – tarpon canbe observed gulping down thousands at atime. Throw a cast net in the harbor andyour net will have a dozen different

species and sometimes that is a big menu!The first step in tarpon fishing is like

any other fishing; finding the fish. Tarponroam around the harbor going into therivers and out into the Gulf constantly.In essence I think of tarpon fishing as

both a hunting and fishing trip. The firstpart of the trip is the hunt, essentially rid-ing in the boat until you see them. Theysometimes roll, or you may just see the tipof a fin come out. Wind and wave actioncan make it hard to pick them out. Onceyou locate fish you must be very cautiouswith boat noise. Set your boat upwind ofthe fish and drift in their direction withyour motor off.

For rigging, 5-to 7 feet of 50-to 80pound test leader is preferred with a 6/0 to10/0 hook on the business end. The hooksize depends on your bait size. Ladyfishfished whole require the big hook. Yourrunning line is normally 50-to 65 poundtest braid however monofilament is lessvisible which can be an advantage. Tarponhave huge eyes and they see and feel likeno other fish. Other variables in presenta-tion include using a float and/or addingweight to your line to get your bait deeper.Patience is the keyword for the great

silver king. Just seeing the fish does notmean you will catch them. Persistence anddedication will lead to a rod jolting strike

with 200 yards of line burning off yourreel before you know it. Silver Kingsjump wildly and frequently with splash-downs that sometimes spray water into theboat! Our average tarpon is over 100pounds so angler-stamina is a must. Ajumping tarpon requires you to drop yourrod giving them slack as they fall - a tightline often results in a broken line. Dropping the rod on a jump is known

as bowing to the tarpon. As one mightbow to a king or queen, the tarpon will in-spire the same respect!

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

Tarponit’s what’s for excitement!

Big tarpon like these need to be left in the water for measuring or photographing.The one to the left might have its tail still in the water. The one above, caught last month byTommy Ali (right) with Capt. Edward Giorioso of Wicked Hooks Fishing - 941-258-8289

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


By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE HarborThe diversity that Charlotte Harbor has

to offer is endless. If you follow my arti-cles it is no big surprise that I live to catchsnook. I have built my clientele aroundtargeting and catching big snook. Thebiggest problem with that is the snook

don’t always cooperate. I have found my-self on charters where I have been on bigschools of fish and they just didn’t want tofeed. On many occasions the tide was not in

my favor or we had a big blue sky and nota breeze could be found to break up thesurface unless I leaned over the boat andblew on thewater. Snookcan be toughto get to biteat times likethat – andwhen I say‘bite’ I meanputting myclients on 30to 40 fish on ahalf day trip. Luckily, on

the days thatthe bite istough, we have many options. We haveendless miles of lush grass flats that havesome of the best trout fishing the state hasto offer. Also during the Summer months the

mangrove snapper move into the Harbor.These little guys are great fish to target.Not only can you catch a lot of them, theyalso put up a good fight.

As summer moves into South WestFlorida, mangrove snapper invade theshallow flats. Mangroves can be located inmany different areas; anywhere fromdocks to the shallow potholes on the flats.These guys are also, in my opinion, someof the tastiest fish in the water. Then, after bending rods on some of

the harbor’sother fish,maybe yougo back towhat you in-tended totarget. On many

charters Ihavechanged upmy gameplan andlater wentback to it be-

cause on some days things just might notbe working right then. Let the tide change,or maybe the wind might start blowing alittle bit. Sometimes just little changeswill turn fish on. If what you are doing is not working,

don’t be afraid to do something differentfor a little while. Switch species and thenswitch back. It just might be the difference

between a good day of fishing and a greatday of catching.

If you would like to experience some ofCharlotte Harbors best fishing give me a callor send me an email. All of our charters areprivate and customized to fit you and your par-ties needs. Capt. Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com 941-916-5769

Switch Species then maybe Switch Back

CANVAS &UPHOLSTERY

On The Line By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffToday’s question is: Where can you

anchor your boat?The answer is simple; you tie it up at

the dock at your house or at the very least,you leave it at a well maintained marina. But not everyone has a house on the

water or can afford the price of a stay at amarina, even if they can find an open slip. What do you do if you are just passing

through and need to get some rest; orheaven forbid, your boat is your home.What are you supposed to do ?I wonder, does the average boater

know:What is the difference between a moor-

ing field and a Safe Harbor Area? Not too hard? OK, try another one.What is the difference between a Tran-

sient, an Abandoned and a Derelict ves-sel? Now try my personal favorite.What is the difference between an Un-

attended Stored Vessel, an AttendedStored Vessel and a Occasionally At-tended Stored Vessel? If you're confused, don't feel bad so is

everyone else. This is just a small example of the

terms used in the over 300 separate lawsput on the books by City, County andState officials. The trouble with laws isthat they tell you what you can't do; but

they don't tell you what you can or shoulddo.I was watching the Florida Channel the

other day and came across a house com-mittee meeting where they were votingon future bills to be sent to the senate for

review. One of the measures caught my at-tention. It seems that the owner of a Mini-Mansion on the water woke up one morn-ing and looked out his window and saw aless than pristine boat anchored about 51feet from his seawall. On the boat was aguy sitting on a lawn-chair drinking a beer

watching his laundry dry on the mast. The homeowner took offense to this

and called his city officials demandingthat they make the boat move. He was toldthat because the water was controlled bythe State there was nothing they could do.

He then called his county officials andwas told that the county has a mooringfield near by: but couldn’t force anyone touse it. He wouldn't give up, so he called the

Florida DEP to complain and was told thatif he saw someone peeing off the boat, to

call them back and they would send some-one to test the water for pollution. He then tried the FWC and was told

they saw no problem as long as the boatwas not anchored with in 100 ft of a navi-gable channel and they used their safetylights at night. In desperation he contacted his state

legislator and convinced him to introducea bill that would change the local bufferzone (where you are not allowed to anchornext to shore) from 50 to 150 feet. Fortu-nately a local cruising boat club pointedout that this would conflict with the 100 ftnavigable channel rule and would make itillegal to anchor anywhere in the local wa-ters. The committee took that under ad-visement and tabled the bill.This is an example of how screwed up

and confusing the boating laws have be-come in Florida waters. The State recog-nized this problem back in 2006 and thelegislature passed a bill that requires thatall local government regulations regardingboating restricted areas, must first be ap-proved by the FWC. That law didn't seemto solve the problems so the State is tak-ing another shot at trying to simplify theregulations. If you want more informationclick the online link below or go to theFWC website and click on boating, thenclick on anchoring and mooring and youwill find the latest information.http://myfwc.com/boating/anchoring-mooring

The Trouble With The LawMAY 2015 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 9

Some serious boaters settle into their boats more than others


By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE FishingWow is this year flying by - it’s May

already! May is the month when springfades and summer arrives, and along withthat the blazing Florida heat I've come tolove arrives too. It’s a warmth and humid-ity that wrap you up like a warm dampblanket as you leave for work in the morn-ing. Most people complain about this, butI grew up in Cleveland. I will never takeour beautiful weather for granted. The fish seem to be enjoying spring

time as much as I am. Bait has arrived ontime, if not early this year. White bait andthread-fins have been plentiful. The bigfish are here too and Ihave seen some of thecraziest things in thelast few weeks whileon the water with Captain Andrew. Just last week we

were fishing for shark,waiting on the tide tochange and the bite toreally pick up. Finallyas the tide started toslack we got a bite. Realizing pretty

quickly it was asmaller shark, whileAndrew is reeling thisfish in on the frontdeck, he screams to methat ‘something ate it.’ Well duh dear, your

reeling it in. No hescreams "Somethingbigger ate it!" As hesays this, a 6-foot spin-ner shark jets out ofthe water like I havenever seen. It wasspinning like a footballthrown by a profes-sional quarterback andit was headed directlyat me with a baby

shark in its mouth. It comes inches fromhitting me and landing in the boat. Biggershark never got hooked! We stood therein awe for a moment. It’s WILD out here! Our near shore reefs have been wild as

well, with barracuda as far as you can see.These are one of the most fun fish tohook. We use a ‘cuda tube, which is justa bright colored piece of surgical tubingwith a wire leader and treble hook on theend. They can’t resist it. I try to throwpast the school and reel it in fast. I loveseeing them hit it on top, right next to theboat. I caught a 47- inch ‘cuda on a 4000reel. The tubes also work if you troll be-hind the boat.

We came across a surprisingsight near shore last week – per-mit - hundreds of permit, rang-ing from 5-to 30 pounds. Theywere tailing for what lookedlike miles, mixed in with thebarracuda. Just off the reef,Andrew's client got to hook anice one, later that week, duringa guided trip. These fish aren'tgreat to eat, but they are an in-tense fight. Permit favor smallcrab and shrimp. They also re-

spond well to a fly.The last few

weekends in Aprilwe were filmingwith Gus Congemi(shown at left) forhis TV show Livethe Wild Life, fea-tured on the PursuitChannel in the America andthe WILD channel in Canada.I can’t wait to see him ourSWFL waters, bow fishing forsting rays to use for bait andthen targeting some tag andrelease sharks. I am excited to see what

happened out there, what kindof footage we captured with

the camera always rolling. The Gulf is anamazing place because you just neverknow what you will catch next and theabundance of fish in our area right now isvery impressive. Tarpon, sharks, snookand redfish. If you put a line in the wateryou’re sure to come out with a nice catch.

You can contact Big Bully Outdoors Char-ters for a trip with mallory’s husband CaptainAndrew. Call 661-9880 or go to BigBullyOut-doors.com

Fish Enjoying Spring


Catching in Estero Bay By Captain Joe AngiusWater LIFE Estero Bay Spring weather is in full swing which

means warmer water temperatures andeven hotter afternoons. Needless to say,the fishing has been fantastic in EsteroBay with the occasional juvenile tarpon,large snook and slot sized redfish beingcaught. As temperatures continue to in-crease, there will be an expected increasein rainfall. Freshwater plays an integral

role in the activity and lethargy of the in-shore game fish we all want to catch. Thekeys to success with finding and catchingthese fish will include quality bait, theright location and tide, and precise tackleand gear. Bait has been scarce throughout Estero

Bay, but I’ve had great success on shallowgrass flats and at the local bridges. Nowthe bait is much larger so the only net I’llthrow will be an 8-foot 3/8-inch mesh net.This will filter out all of the tiny glassminnows and retain the quality bait thatis needed to catch large fish. The top three baits I use include mud

minnows, crabs, and threadfins. Mudminnows and crabs can be found onshallow mud and sand flats, whereas thethreadfins can be caught under thebridges. If bait is too difficult to findthere are countless artificial baits thatwill get the job done. The two artificiallures that I have my clients use are theFlats HQ Flats Walker, a topwater in

bone color and the Flats HQFlats Swimmer in white or root-beer gold. Using the flats walkeraround oyster bars early in themorning has produced a greatsnook and redfish bite, while theflats swimmer on a 1/8 oz jig-head is my go-to lure for sightcasting to redfish. Location and tide are ex-

tremely important, especiallynow that boaters must abide bythe “Slow Speed (Apr 1 – Nov15) 25 MPH Remainder of

Year,” Lee CountyManatee Protec-tion Zones. Thismeans it may take20 or 30 minutesto reach a fishingspot that may notproduce. My advice is to

choose a fishingdestination wiselyby understandingthe tide movementand water quality.Find an area thathas clean andclear water. If youare fishing brack-ish water, remem-ber that theoutgoing tidepushes freshwaterinto the bay andthe incomingbrings in waterwith a high salin-ity. Low salinity inbrackish water willmake the fish lethargic; though they mightbe there, they may not want to eat. Oysterbars are always a great go-to fishing areaand many of them can be found close tothe channel. Mangrove edges have beenproductive as well, but to save time I al-ways chum the mangrove area to makesure there are active fish. Tackle should always be kept clean and

simple. A 7-foot or 7-foot 6-inch medium

action rod with a 3000 size reel should besufficient for landing the fish in the back-waters. My favorite braided line to use is15-pound Spiderwire Invisibraid with along 30-pound Seagar fluorocarbonleader. When the water is gin clear and thefish aren’t reacting to the baits beingthrown, it is safe to drop down to 25-pound or even 20-pound fluorocarbonleader to get the bite. A 2/0 and 3/0 Ownerhook will keep the baits swimming natu-rally while allowing the hook to sit perfectin the corner of a large fish mouth. Fishing is supposed to be fun and en-

joyable, so don’t forget to experienceeverything that Estero Bay has to offer.From the beautiful waterways, biodiver-sity of species and habitats, to the histori-cal and ecological sites, Estero Bay is oneof a kind and should be appreciated withcare and respect.

Captain Joe Angius (727) 234-3171Speakeasyfishing.com FlatsHQ.com

[email protected]

Jenni Orcutt with a keeper speckled sea trout caught on Gulp! shrimp.


AAQQUU AATTIICCAA

By Capt. Betty StauglerWater LIFE Sea Grant

Black drum, spottedseatrout and mangrove snapper par-tition the resource. What in the worlddoes that mean? Well, resource par-titioning describes how differentplants and animals use an environ-mental resource but use it differently.Resource partitioning is one of theways the natural environment maxi-mizes the number of organisms thatcan occupy a given space.

Resource partitioning is also whywe almost always see red man-groves closest to shore with blackand white mangroves further back.By having slightly different salinityand depth tolerances the mangrovespartition themselves in a fashion thatallows all three to exist in the land-scape.

Even barnacles partition the re-source. We have a few differentspecies of barnacles that occur lo-cally. The different species linethemselves up on pilings and sea-walls based on their tolerances to air

exposure. However, offshore, wheretides are less of a factor, resourcepartitioning gives way to survival ofthe fittest.

If you ask a Florida Master Natu-ralist about resource partitioningthey will likely tell you all about itsince resource partitioning is one ofmany key concepts they learn in theFlorida Master Naturalist Programcourse. Florida Master Naturaliststudents learn a lot of other cool stufftoo, like how major currents andtides transport nutrients, eggs andlarvae. They also learn about fishform and function, and some of thecool reproductive strategies differentfish species use. For instance, didyou know that Gulf killifish lay theireggs in the sediment at the waterʼsedge on a spring tide? After thewater recedes, the eggs incubate inthe mud until the next spring tide atwhich time they hatch. This is notonly pretty cool stuff but itʼs also agreat survival strategy.

The Florida Master Naturalist Pro-grams covers a lot of stuff. In the

Coastal Systems MasterNaturalist course wecover general ecology,marine and estuarineenvironments, coastalupland habitats, fishes,invertebrates, reptilesand amphibians, mam-mals, birds, interpreta-tion and ethics.

So who can takethese cool courses?Well, pretty much any-one 18 or older. A lot ofstudents are new to thearea and want to know

more about their new environment.Some students just recently retiredand take the course because theyenjoy nature and just want to knowmore. We also see a host of work-ing professionals. Teachers take thecourse to bring new ideas back totheir classrooms. They can also re-ceive continuing education units forcompleting each course. Chartercaptains and guides take the courseto add an element of ecotourism totheir charter businesses. And weregularly have ecotour operators inour classes. In fact two Englewoodpaddleboard businesses regularlyput their guides through the FloridaMaster Naturalist Program.

The Florida Master Naturalist Pro-gram is not just classroom lectures.We get out in the field too. Each 40hour course has at least three fieldtrips designed to reinforce conceptslearned in the classroom. And ofcourse field trips are fun too. TheFlorida Master Naturalist Programoffers courses in Coastal Systems,

Freshwater Wetlands, and UplandHabitats. Participants can completeone course or all three. At the end ofeach course, students receive a cer-tificate from the University of Floridawhich allows them to call them-selves a Master Naturalist in thesubject area completed. Additionally,four additional short courses arealso offered in some locations.

If you think you might be inter-ested in becoming a Florida MasterNaturalist, our next Coastal Systemsclass is being offered on Tuesdayand Thursday evenings at LaishleyMarina and half a day Saturdays forfield trips beginning June 2nd andrunning through June 23th. Formore information or to registervisit:http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/fmnp/coastal.htm

Capt. Betty StauglerFlorida Sea Grant AgentUF/IFAS Extension Charlotte County(941) 764-4346http://charlotte.ifas.ufl.eduwww.flseagrant.org

MasteringNature

Under the Mangroves - on one of last yaerʼs Master Naturalist field trips


By Capt. Dan CambernWater LIFE Offshore

I hope your April fishing adven-tures were as fast and furious asours were. No doubt about it, be-tween the exceptional weatherand fantastic bite, we were trulyblessed to be living in this beauti-ful part of the world and to befishing. It's no wonder the watertemps are as warm as they areright now between the longer,hotter days and the hot fishingaction and I think it's fairly safe tosay that May should be just asgood, if not better.

Here are some possibilitiesyou have to get hooked up withthis month.

The grouper bite has been onfor a couple of months now andshould continue to stay that way.The red grouper limit is going tobe reduced from 4 fish per personto 2 starting May 7th. I can under-stand why some people are nothappy with this announcement,but I think that it is probably agood move so that the seasoncan remain open year round with-out any more unnecessary clo-sures. I've talked to just about allof my customers in sort of an in-formal survey and they agree that2 red grouper along with all of theother species of fish we haveavailable on our trips is accept-able. Also, once gag grouper sea-son re opens with a limit of 2 perperson we will be back to a 4grouper per person limit. Blackgrouper and scamp are a coupleof other species that are includedin the 4 fish limit.

Now, I have also heard thatonce the gag season opens upwe might get a longer seasonthan in the past and maybe evenhave a year round open season

on gags again. So I think keepingreds and gags at 2 fish per per-son for a total 4 grouper aggre-gate, with no season closure,would give us a best case sce-nario.

Along with the grouper wehave been catching mangrove,lane, yellow tail, and vermilionsnapper, porgies, grunts andquite a few nice sea bass.

The kingfish bite is still goodand there have been quite a fewnice black fin tuna caught lately. Ihad a couple of nice mahi-mahibehind the boat the other day, butthey werenʼt interested in any-thing I had to offer them.

Cobia and amber jack are stillbeing caught off of the localwrecks and reefs also. So g o get'em!

Capt Dan Cambern runs Ham-merhead Charters LLC out of theFishery boat docks in Placida, Fl.Call 941-380-6226 or 941-625-6226 to book your next trip of alifetime. Also look at our dailyposts on Faceb ook @ Hammer-head Charters LLC. Like us andleave a comment. We'd love tohear from you!

Happens All the TimeRed Grouper: The old 4 is now 2

Glen Ballinger wrote: This time of year Gold Finches stop in for a breather. We were 30 miles offshorewhen this guy stopped by. It stayed on and around the boat for about 30 minutes.


Visibility is good offshore now. I'm surewe will be doing more diving now that(hopefully) the winds will be laying down.Bottom temps are still in the upper 60s to70 degrees out in 100 feet. We still have towear neoprene. I will be focusing on pho-tography this summer. I don't really shootfish much anymore (I can't believe I'm

saying that!) so I will be showing youwhatever photos I get. At the Mohawk, I was shell collecting andtaking photos, Eric and Anthony bothpopped amberjack. They came and foundme in the engine room to tell me thingswere getting out of control and they werebailing on the dive. We had about 6

medium sized bull sharks harass us allthe way back to the ladder. My real closeup photos were very blurry with lots ofbubbles! I was poking sharks away withmy pole spear that I carry just for theheck of it. It is only 4 feet long. Here's tohoping this isn't an indication of how thesummer diving is going to be.

MYAKKA Here's a shot of a spotted eagle ray that followed us around for a bittoday on the south side of the Myakka, southeast of El Jobean. I thought it waspretty cool!

Diving with Adam Wilson – Report from the Mohawk


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE BaitshopAhh the cool days of

Spring time. What? Wait aminute! Here, we went from a beautifulwarm winter right into Summer. One dayI walk out of the house at 5 am and it waschilly and the next day it was hot andhumid. Wow what a change. The watertemperatures are what they should be inJune, the Gulf is in the mid 80s and partsof the Harbor are reaching 90 degrees. Sowhat's all this mean? Well good news! Shark and tarpon, even cobia, are all

here and biting in full-out eat-somethingmode. But the flats is a different story. Asthe water warms up you will need to startslowing down. Much the same as whenthe water gets below 70 degrees in thewinter, the main difference is the lack ofoxygen. Hot water will not hold oxygenso the fish slow down just as you dowhen it is hot. A neat trick I use in thewinter and summer months is to use avery small reel, instead of using a 4000or 40 size reel. I switch to a 1000 or 2000size. Even though when you turn the han-dle it spins at the same speed, like a 50 to1 ratio, the spool size is much smaller soyou bring in less line per turn of the han-dle when retrieving a lure, allowing thefish time to see it, hear it and make up itsmind.Now the middle of the Harbor is

deeper, and deeper water takes longer toheat up, so the fishing there continues tobe good. The tarpon who may breath ei-

ther under water or breathe air fromabove don’t care what the oxygen in thewater is. They are hanging out in thedeep holes of the Harbor where fish likewhiting, cat fish or thread fins are hidingfrom the heat. While seeing rolling tar-pon is always better I would say whetheryou see tarpon rolling or not, stop overthe deep hole - either the middle hole orthe 20 foot hole - and on one rod put outa live thread fin free lined, and on theother rod a cut bait under a float. The cutbait should be about 5-to 6-feet belowyour bobber or float and the size of yourfist. Now, this is not written in stone. You

may place the live thread fin under thefloat and let the cut bait free line, but if

you do this I would take off the fluoro-carbon leader and replace it with theAFW knot-able steel leader. With thisnew leader from AFW, you do not needcrimp tools or a lighter to melt it. Youjust tie it the same way you would tie onyour fluorocarbon leader including a lineto line knot. Then just tie on your hook.Any knot will hold, but a uniknot worksbest. Keep in mind, when tying a uni-to-uni from your braid line to the leader,pull slowly and when tying on yourhooks pull the knot down to the hook, notthe leader through the eye of the hook, orthe leader can get curly on you. This newsteel leader, we have tested it on tarpon,sharks, snook, red fish, will get a fewmore hits than while using fluorocarbonleader, but if you are dragging a cut baitfree lined while tarpon fishing, you willlose a lot of leader to the sharks. So ifyou switch to the AFW tie-able steel youwill hook up and land not only the tarponbut the sharks as well, and that is cool! The one thing is, if the water is very

clear, as it is along the beach, the tarponwill see that steel more so than in thedarker waters of the Harbor. There is notthe shark problem along the beaches, soalong the beaches I would stay with the60-pound fluorocarbon leader – but in theHarbor I would switch it when you arefree lining. After all, a hook up with ashark or a hook up with a tarpon are bothfun. [email protected] 625-3888

Sharks are Here Big Time from Glen Ballinger

Gary Myers with a blackfin tuna off Venice

Alex Timmons with a fat grouper

This is Gary H. from Rochester NY, afterfishing with me offshore for Amberjacks,with Capt. Joe Miller, offshore galore, Venice

Big Sharks Everywhere! photo by Adam Wilson. More on facing page


By Capt. Billy BartonWater LIFE InshoreApril and May are two of the fishiest

and most productive months on the waterhere in Southwest Florida. Not only canyou put your focus on the grass flats tar-geting snook and redfish, but the openwater is loaded with fish to target as well. The tarpon are here in full swing.

Large packs of hungry bull sharks, black-tips, and hammerheads have already madetheir presence known. Big cobia are onthe move. The list goes on and on. It'spretty cool when you set out for a day offishing and nail over a dozen species!During the last month I saw my cus-

tomers boat several memorable fish. In-cluding a snook that went over 46 inches,bull sharks over 300 pounds, and hammer-heads up to 10 feet in length. Howeverone day of fishing sticks out in my mind,my day out with a great friend and loyalcustomer, Mark Lee. Last year I fished Mark during the

month of April. We had set out at daybreak, just him on the boat with me. Hewas lucky enough on that trip to go onefor one and land his first tarpon over 150pounds by 9 am. After he landed that fish,we hit three other fishing holes in searchof his back country grand slam. (Weneeded a good sized snook, redfish, andtrout.) I had to work hard for them, but hecompleted his slam that day and I wrote astory about it last May.What was so cool about that day, was

him landing his tarpon so early in the tripand going out on a new mission and com-pleting that mission as well. Mark actu-ally sent the records of his catches thatday to the state of Florida FWC and he re-ceived a pretty awesome plaque for doingso. I didn't even know you could do that!So now it's all recorded with the state,which is pretty cool, if you ask me!This year Mark hired me again to take

him out. I could tell when I had him onthe phone that he had the grass flats on his

mind, but I wanted to go tarpon fishingagain and I made that known! With a small amount of persuasion,

Mark was a go and we set out early. Wecaught bait for the flats and I had someperfect tarpon crabs waiting in the livewell. By 8 am we were on a school ofhappily rolling tarpon and I had that fishyfeeling so I let Mark know. He justlooked at me with a grin and chuckled! After 30 minutes or so of waiting for

the tide to change, Mark hooked up! Itwas a great fish! He played it perfectly asit leaped over and over through the airgoing absolutely ballistic! This fish putup one heck of a battle! However, 30minutes later, and almost one year to thedate, Mark did it again. He went 1 for 1on a silver king, and this fish also wentwell over a hundred pounds! (it’s thecover photo this month). The shear joyand excitement of boating these fish is un-speakable and almost breath taking. Youjust have to experience it to understand.

To go one for one, two years in a rowthat's lucky! And it gives him the right tobrag as well! After he landed his fish thisyear, I asked him if he wanted to go atthem again. "Nah Billy let’s go to theflats," he said as the beads of sweat rolledoff his forehead. Now I chuckled as Ifired up the boat. "The flats it is!"We set out in search of another slam,

but were side tracked by a massive schoolof snook that kept us busy for the next 3hours and I don't think there was a 10minute period of that time that the tarpondidn't come up in conversation. That fishmade his day, and it made mine. I havehad folks hook up a dozen tarpon beforethey actually got one all the way to theboat. Going two for two, two years in arow is a true statement of how lucky MarkLee just might be! I'd rather be lucky andgood! That's all I can say!!

Capt. Billy Barton owns and operatesScales-n-Tails Fishing Charters.

http://www.puntagordafishingcharter.comCall him at: 941- 979-6140

iʼd rather be lucky AND good!


$2 off any haircut!

A note from the publisherThis month, while editing Capt.

Billy’s fish pictures, I saw two men withnice fish, holding them in a ‘specialway’ for the camera. One man had a fishgrip that I’ve never seen in any of Capt.Billy’s pictures before. In another imagethere was a new net and in a third, theguy is holding his Penn rod with hispinkie, so it’s perfectly aligned under hisfish, that picture caught my eye realquick - what’s up here, I rememberthinking.Then later Capt. Billy told

me these men were Scott Mar-shall and Paul Paruda, seniordirectors of sales at Pure Fish-ing. Of course! The gear theyare holding are all Pure Fish-ing products. I know the Pure Fishing

name because I buy theShakespeare rods and reelsand the Berkley floating ply-ers for our Don Ball School ofFishing kids from Pure Fish-ing. “Do they know you teacha Don Ball School class,” Iasked Capt. Billy. “Do they know we buy their stuff ?”

“I don’t remember if I told them,” Capt. Billy said and inmy brain I frowned. It seemed like we might have missed anopportunity. So now they will know, someone will show thisto them.... and then maybe they will wind up helping our kidsjust a little more. Just maybe. – Michael Heller

Ashley Demarais,CHEC

The fol-lowing isfrom our re-search fieldstaff:

“Overthe courseof 9 days inMarch 2015 (March 19th-March 27th) there were five watercraftmortalities near the Burnt Store Marina. Two were reported neareach other on the same day, less than three miles north of themarina. One was less than two miles south of the marina. Andthere was a watercraft-related rescue and a mortality reportedwithin the marina on the same day. All of the watercraft mortali-ties have been acute and the rescue that died will be consideredchronic since it died several days after rescue but the woundssustained near the time of rescue were very fresh and stronglysuggest it had been struck recently. “

There are no waterway speed zones in the area.We could use some help with suggestions and education in the

community. Obviously, these are very scary numbers. Bonnie andI have since spoken regarding the incident and what CHEC coulddo to help. I explained that ideally we would like to include infor-mation during our boat tours, offer a manatee outreach (kinda likewe've been doing with the reptile program and a bit like the mana-tee program we've done in the past), and that I'd also try to incor-porate manatees into our wading trip curriculum. I stressed that Iwould like to develop interactive programs with tons of visualsand manipulative for the children and to hand out information toall interested adults during other programs.

Editor notes* The FWC website only shows 3 watercraftdeaths for Charlotte County all year. Lee County has 10.

Manatee Deaths Near Burnt StoreCould This Be Used To Bring Speed Zones?.... or are we smart enough to fix this ourselves?

Pure Fishing onCharlotte Harbor


By Capt Bart MarxWater LIFE InshoreOne Friday last month I had a

couple that contacted me to gofishing from Port CharlotteBeach. They were here to re-search waterfront property to pur-chase for vacation now and laterto retire. They are from Pennsyl-vania and have a dairy up there. We met at the ramp at 10 am

to start our adventure. It was avery nice day; a little overcastwith a nice breeze- partly cloudy, youmight say. We left the beach complexwatching the marine contractors withsome heavy equipment replacing the fish-ing pier there. We headed for the MyakkaCutoff where we anchored up and tossedsome of those fine Fishin’ Franks liveshrimp up close to the mangroves. The couple, I will call them the Adam

family - a nice couple, lost a few shrimpto the bait thiefs, the little snapper andpinfish, but we were patient and finallythere was a different bite and suddenlyMrs. Adam had something trying to ripthe pole out of her hands. They are experienced fisher- people,

she had a firm grip and was gaining lineand then the fish bolted away from the

boat. It was a goodbattle - she wouldreel and get someline back and thenthe fish would stripsome more line off thereel and she would get it back. After a fewof these runs and take backs the fish wasgetting tired. She got it up close enough tosee it was a nice red fish. I got the net andcoached her to net the fish. It was a nice22 inches and in the slot to harvest. The tackle we were using was a Quan-

tum 50 Boca reel with 20-pound Suffixperformance braid with 20-pound leader5- feet long, with a quarter-ounce eggweight and a 1/0 VMC circle hook on aRedbone 20- to 30-poundl 7-foot rod. Thisis what is called a knocker rig and it has

been very produc-tive for me inshoreon snook, reds, andsnapper. Also, thisis what we use off-shore for snapper,just with a heavieregg-weight.

Getting back to the fishing, we traveledthrough the cutoff behind Hog Island andwent down the Cape Haze shoreline anddrifted the grass flats and caught sometrout and lady-fish to close out our fishingadventure. Then we returned to the dockand cleaned the red and the trout. Thatwas plenty for a fresh fish dinner for two. Then I went home to see how my wife

was doing with our grand children - twoboys and a baby girl that she was watch-ing. They were fine. I was wanting to test

a prop so I asked the boys ifthey wanted to go with me, onesaid yes. So we left, but therewere still some shrimp alive.

I had put two rods in theboat, one for him and one forhis brother - small Penn reelswith 10-pound line. So wetested the prop - it worked justfine - so we tried fishing just afew spots with no takers. Then the phone yelped, you

guessed it, it was grandma:‘What time are you coming home?’ WhileI was on the phone, reeling in the lines togo home, I got bit.

I handed it to my grandson for him toreel it in. He was ready to go, but therewas a fish pulling the line off the reel. Thefish went up to the mangroves and cameback out and went around the boat andback and forth behind the boat. My grand-son said ‘help me!’ But I told him he wasdoing a great job and to just hold onto thatpole! I got the net and landed a 22 and ahalf inch redfish. My grandson was veryexcited. ‘Can we eat it?’ he asked. Yes, Isaid and your mom will be very happy!

Capt. Bart Marx call 941-979-6517 or e-mail; [email protected] drags and tight lines make me smile.

Family Stuff: Two at 22

New decking on the pier at the Beach Complex


Hey ya - all I hope you havebeen getting out and doing somefishing lately. The weather hasbeen super, the water temperaturehas been about 83 degrees. It gotwarm quick, so everything is outthere right now.Last week I got with a buddy of

mine, Mark Aberham, to go fish'nfor 4 or 5 hours and see what we couldcatch. Mark went out about 11 to 14 milestargeting king mackerel and snapper. Inour photos for this month is a friend ofMark’s, Jim Moorman, who came downfrom Marquette Michigan. He ended upsaving the day by catching a big kingmackerel that put a big smile on his face.All together, we caught over 100 redgrouper and snapper, but out of all themno keeper groupers and only a few snap-pers was kept. Mark said let’s head on in, and all of a

sudden Jim hooked this nice king mack-erel that gave him a good battle on a snap-per rig. The king was caught on 15-poundmono with a No. 2 circle hook. Everyonewas waiting for the king to just bitethrough the mono, figuring that would bethat, but Jim had luck on his side.I talked with a few fisherman that went

out 28 to 34 miles and they had done realgood. They was fishing around Pegasusand Charlie (reefs). They got a nice 30

pound amberjack and 6 nice red grouperand had almost their limit on lane andmango snapper.I was fishing with another friend of

mine and we went out to some way-pointsI had, but before we got there we markedabout 12 deep holes in the Gulf’s floor.Some was 10 to 12 foot deep. We took thenumbers and we kept going to our 48 milespot to see what was there. So I havn't had a chance to get back

out there to work those holes over, but we are going back this month.I talked with some other fishermen and

they was still getting triple tail out on thecrab trap markers and they said the daybefore they caught 2 nice size cobia offthe shipping channel markers in BocaGrande. That's all I have, now it’s time toget out of here so if you want to book anoffshore charter with us give me a call at(941) 473 - 2150

AND REMEMBER, GET OUT AND SNORTSOME OF THAT CLEAN SALT AIR, C U Z

IT’S GOOD FER YA ! ! !

The OlʼFishin HoleCapt. Jim OʼBrien


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SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

Officers worked a boating accidentin Bay County which involved a Navyhovercraft that ran over a kayaker. Thekayaker was fishing in the St. AndrewsPass when the hovercraft, which was re-turning from offshore, struck the kayak inthe fog. The impact resulted in head andleg injuries to the kayaker.

Officers partnered with FloridaWildlife Research Institute biologistsand Lee Countyʼs Department of NaturalResources Waterway Management staffto attempt to rescue a juvenile male man-atee that was found suffering from in-juries related to a boat strike. The teamfound this particular young manatee to bequick and full of energy, despite its needfor medical attention. The young mana-tee evaded capture several times, seem-ingly toying with the team. Eventually, theteam worked together to capture themanatee, which was transported to theLowry Park Zoo.

How many tournaments can wesustain? Evidently not all of them. Wejust saw that the Action Craft OwnersTournament was cancelled.

FWC officers worked a single ves-sel boating accident around 11:30 PMon the Peace River. The operator wasusing a GPS unit to navigate and ran intothe shoreline of mangroves. The operatorwas cited for improper lookout.

While on water patrol in the BocaGrande Pass area, Officers Morrisonand Cohl perform a safety check on avessel that was tied up to the PhosphateDocks. During the inspection a spear gunwas noticed on the deck. In the coolerwere two snook that had puncture holes.

The operator did not have a fishing li-cense or snook stamp.Heʼs screwed!.

Officers observed a truck and twoindividuals selling shrimp at a busy in-tersection in Lehigh. Officers approachedthe individuals to conduct a retail licenseinspection. When asked for a retail li-cense, inspection revealed that they onlyhad an application for a permit from the

Department Of Agriculture.Officers observed three people

fishing along a mangrove shoreline inEstero Bay. They were carrying a cooler

which appeared to contain fish. Officersobserved the people return to shore andload up some fish in the back of a van.As the people began to drive away, Offi-cers then stopped the van to conduct amarine fisheries inspection. When askedabout the fish, the driver said they hadsome snapper and sheepshead. Theman showed Officer McColgin the fishand inside the cooler were several under-sized sheepshead and snapper. Whenasked for his identification, the man saidhe did not have a valid driverʼs license.The appropriate misdemeanor citationswere issued.

Officers investigated a destructionof Gopher Tortoise Burrows incident onPalm Island. It appears that the suspectused the lot with the Gopher TortoiseBurrows in order to access the lot he wastrying to clear. The suspect was given anotice to appear in court.

Officers were in Bull Bay when theynoticed a small vessel traveling along themangrove line in shallow water. Uponcontact, the operator made mention ofonly having a trout, however once it wasapparent the Officers were going to do aninspection of the vessel the operator ad-mitted to also having a snook. When thesnook was measured it was found to beundersized by three inches. Appropriatepaperwork was issued.

Work continues on the new bridges andthe widening of the Placida road.

NOAA has recognized four collaborativelandscape partnerships across the countrywhere Federal agencies will focus effortswith partners to conserve and restore im-portant lands and waters and make themmore resilient to a changing climate. SWFlorida is one of the targeted areas.


Youth Sailingfor summer By Peter WelchWater LIFE Sailing

Remember how your confi-dence and view of your “neigh-borhood” and freedom expandedwhen you learned to ride a bicy-cle? You learned to respectboundaries and how to care forthe bike. For most, this facili-tated plans of further accom-plishments. Learning to sail doesthe same thing, but it adds ana-lytical elements – the use of windpower and route planning wherethere are no roads. Confidenceand “can do” attitude jumps to ahigher leve, and sailing is a recre-ation that can be enjoyed at lowcost into your 80th year.Charlotte Harbor is blessed

with great sailing waters andthree nonprofit organizations thatteach youth sailing (one alsoteaches adults). The curriculumand standards for adult and youthsail training is maintained by USSailing, and the instructor shouldhave US Sailing certification.Other competent sailors may as-

sist, but the assessment of stu-dent skill level should come froma certified instructor. Students must be able to re-

main calm in deep water whilewearing a PFD (life jacket). Thishelps instructors return a studentto a boat in the rare case of cap-size. Younger students learn in Op-

timist prams that are very capsizeresistant. Students are trained torig the boats for sailing, learn themost useful knots and sailingterms that the instructor will usein coaching. Training takes place in

groups, so students must be ableto listen and participate for peri-ods of 30 minutes. Student sizeand strength is usually not anissue. Students usually sail solowith instructor supervision. Oneteaching provider makes sailingaccessible to all physical abili-ties. Parents are not excludedfrom observation of training, butnot required to be there after be-ginning orientation.

Learning the sailing basics isthe beginning. Two of the teach-ing providers have the equipmentand skills to support a progres-sion of skills that could get thestudent on a collegiate sailingteam. Girls and boys have equalopportunity. There are roles forparents and grandparents (if de-sired) in this progression. So getstarted, interview the providers,audit some of their current activ-ity and give a child a chance tohave a fun and maturing oppor-tunity.

The training providers listedare all in close proximity to thebridge over the Peace River.Contact them to set a time to seetheir instructors and boats.Charlotte Harbor CommunitySailing Center www.thesailingcenter.org941-456-8542Charlotte Youth Sailingwww.chysailing.com941-204-0885 Learn to Sail at Bayfrontwww.learntosailswf.com 941-999-1102

In going through some files from mysailing days with the Wet Henswomen's sailing group in Hawaii,with whom I taught sailing, I foundthis poem I wrote in my early days, when I was still prone to seasick-ness. (Thank goodness THAT getsbetter over the years!) It remindedme of that awful malady new sailorsso often suffer (along with fear ofwater, or fish, or of falling over-board). I thought maybe this mightbe something amusing.

A Would-Be Sailor's Lament

I just adore the sport of yachting,It has everything I admire;I'll tell you what, just the thoughtof a yachtJust sets my heart on fire.

I love the jazzy yachting clothes --The reds, the whites, the blues,The blazers, the caps, the crispwhite slacks,The nautical shirts and shoes.

I love the dockside parties,With those fancy wines andcheeses,And watching the evening sun godownCooled off by tropical breezes.

I love the sunset cruisesWhen we go out under motorAnd tool around in the HarborPretending we're rich boaters.

I love talking boats and throwingaroundThose clever nautical phrases,I love big boats and small boatsand not-quite-so-tall boats,And even those darn tippyLasers.

I love Opening Days and cham-pagne brunches,And cocktail parties and yachts-men's lunches.I love dinghies and class boatsAnd in-hock-to-your-ass boats;

I love ketches and schooners,And yachts with ballooners;I love Optimists and FlippersAnd even their skippers;

I love sloops and yawlsAnd fund-raising balls;I love after-race cocktails and tro-phy dinnersAnd hanging around with thehappy winners;

Lots of great sailing magazinesAdorn my coffee table,I even read the boating newsAs often as I'm able.

The sport of yachting's reallygreatIt's Number One on my scale,If only one could take part init...[sigh]...Without actually having to SAIL!

Jo Mogle, Punta Gorda

The Optimist sailing program for young sailors is a great start for kids.

In the Adult Sailing world, here is someSpring Sailing Series action from last month.

Water LIFE Sailing photos by Fran Burstein

Charlotte HarborFrank at Fishin’ Franks941- 625-3888We got a bunch of fish and the thing a

lot of people are doing for entertainmentis fishing for small sharks, south, in theHarbor. The warm harbor temperatures arekeeping fish close to the Gulf. Fish themiddle hole, the Pirate Harbor hole and atthe reef. The sharks are blacktips, blacknose, sharp nose, and now the hammer-heads have moved in - smaller hammersin the 3-to 5 foot range and some lemonstoo – it’s pretty cool.Tarpon are moving into the pass and

are starting to congregate there along with

big hammers and bull sharks in the 10-foot-plus range. If you don’t see the tar-pon, try the passes to the south: Captivaand Redfish Passes – some days you stillhave to go south to find them. Maybethere is more bait going through downthere. The fish have been coming back upand then they swing back south. As thismonth progresses, the pass will get moreconsistent. Maybe the current is differentbecause the sand is moving around. Thetarpon are looking for certain water flows,so that can be interrupting whats going on.Grouper fishermen have reported see-

ing tarpon coming in across the Gulf, 20-to 30 miles out. Once you spot the tarponand see which way they are going, youcan set your compass to Boca Grande.When tarpon travel across the deep waterit’s like you would picture dolphin; theyliterally porpoise across the surface asthey travel. It’s an amazing sight.If you are not pass fishing, in front of

Jug Creek and over to Two Pine has hadsome of the better tarpon fishing. The 20-foot hole is good too. Put baits out anddrift. Our sabiki sales are through the roofbecause people look for the big

threadfins for tarpon. Put the threadies onsteel leader because there are so manysharks out there. Ladyfish schools are cruising Harbor

from Ponce to Alligator Creek. Troll a 14Bomber, a Storm Twitch or a bucktail jigat 2.5 mph for ladyfish. Catfish are alsoworking as bait, chunked up, for tarpon.


Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremes

May May –– Predictions and SuggestionsPredictions and Suggestions

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

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

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

941-473-2150

Matt, Izzy Rogner, Riley and Jesse, backfrom a 30 mile overnight trip. They limitedout on yellow and mangrove snapper andthey will eat them all!

Big dolphin in the Keys. This one at Bud nʼMaryʼs

The flats are doing pretty good. There hasbeen enough rain to push snook to the barrierislands. May and June is the spawn time forsnook so this is the time for a snook of a life-time along the beaches. Use ladyfish for baitand a 7-0 hook in 3-feet of water right off thebeach. It’s a sit-and-wait game. Leader is impor-tant here. The fish are aggressive when they arespawning so they do a heavy head-shake be-cause they can’t jump. That’s why you needheavy leader, just like you would use if youwere tarpon fishing. We still have under-slot toslot snook on the West side to Bull and TurtleBay. Whitebait is the best day bait for themright now, but as it gets dark a shrimp under afloat works better. There are redfish in the Pine Island Sound,

at Bull and Turtle and on the tailing flats in

Gasparilla Sound. I am hearing cut bait reportsfor success as the water continues to warm.Mullet, white bait and ladyfish all work on themas long as it’s the right size.In the Gulf on the near-shore reefs, you have

snapper, grunts, and lots of beautiful trigger-fish this year, but they are closed for harvest therest of the year. Grouper are still a 60-foot-of-water-thing. There is a good amberjack popu-lation on the reefs, and beautiful schools ofpermit on both the reefs and wrecks. Plus a fewkings and some Spanish are out there, but it’sslowing up as the water continues to warm, sonow they are moving north.Cobia are still pretty good around the Har-

bor, but the warm is slowing them down a bit.The -41-Bridge and Bayshore Pier have hadsome cobia caught on cut pieces of whitingtossed out with a sinker but don’t be surprisedwhen shark or tarpon pick that bait up. And forweirdness, there are still some tripletail around.Up on the Peace and Myakka Rivers we have

some catfish and there is quite a bit of sea troutaround Hog Island.

Lemon Bay Jim at Fishermen’s Edge 697-7595Fishing has been reasonably good. Tarpon

seem to be taking a lot of people’s attentionaway from the back country. They are in theHarbor and the passes but catching tarpon onthe beach is tough because of the dirty wateralong the bach. Squirrel fish, threadfins, shrimpat night or crabs those are the primary baits theyuse this time of year.Lots of guys offshore are having success

with red grouper, scamp up to 17-inches, yel-lowtail and mangrove snapper plus a lot ofAJs - up to 50 pounds. With a pinfish or bluerunner it’s pretty much game on. Guys are alsocatching blackfin tuna and a number of guyscaught African pompano and cobia - youname it, a lot of fish are migrating to the areanow.Snook have been really good. I can’t tell you

how many in the over slot, 38-to 40 inch rangehave been caught. Guys are catching snook inLemon Bay and redfish too. Trout are just ok,the tides are high and with the push of that SWwind they are in deeper water. And finally,there are still some Spanish and kings aroundclose in, and permit are showing up in bignumbers too. Good fishing everywhere!

SNOOK Closed to HarvestMay 1, catch and release only

REDFISH Big fish on bothsides of the harbor

PERMIT Showing up in goodnumbers and feeding

TARPON Coming up fromthe south

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚

The BIG-4The BIG-4 Fish to expect in Fish to expect in MayMayMAY 2015 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 23

Gulf Gulf TempsTemps

are low 80sare low 80sThe Harbor isThe Harbor is

3- or 4-degrees3- or 4-degreeswarmerwarmer

Capt. Joe Angius with a beautiful redfish caught ona live threadfin in Estero Bay.Andrew Stansell with a tarpon estimated around175 pounds, guided by Captain Joe Angius.

Ray Leach and friend Joe Bigus en-joying a fishing day last month, eventhough Ray did most of the catching.Ray's snook was 36 1/2 inches longand 10 3/4 pounds. The fish wasreleased immediately after the photo.

A fun day of fishing produced this nice 9.8-poundsheepshead caught of the trestel in Lemon Bay.Typically Jerry Gerrior enjoys sheephead as tablefare, but he decided to release this egg filledbeauty.

WE ONLY SERVE FRESH FISH HEREJared Mason sent us this nice 28 in red grouper hecaught off Englewood last month. We asked Jared,like we ask everyone else submitting photos, Pleasedo not send a picture to us that you send to any otherpublication. So Thanks Jared and thanks everyone,for keeping our fish pictures the FRESHEST around.

FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:Excellent!Excellent!

Rachel Nicole

WARNINGVery HOT - Very EARLY


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