Water LI FE
Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay, Venice, Estero, 10,000 Islands and the Gulf June 2019
The Charlotte Harbor Reef Association
Happening Now! The $1Bill Challenge This is Thomas Jurisko with a snapper submitted for the first Fishing Period. The event is monthly through Sept 15. Sign up your kids and take them fishing! First Period ends June 15 See page 9
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Sally Langfang, 30-inch snook, Horse Creek, Aracdia, May 24, released
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Ally Diaz caught this Jack cevalle on light tackle in Boca Grande Pass
Mallory Herzog, kissing the silver king, fishing with Capt. Andrew Herzog
Jesse putting in work ..... and reaping the rewards
Kenny Gardner from Tampa tarpon, Charlotte Harbor
Barb, Charlotte Harbor tarpon
Coulton Bolyard with a nice bass
Bill Hentges "if you hold it out it looks bigger"
Jamie's tarpon, Charlotte Harbor
Granny Wanda, nice Jack from the comfort of her cart
30 inch Snook. Love your Magazine ! John (Snook King) Slattery
Englewood, shark ...ish
JUNE 2019
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SUNSEEKER RESORT PROGRESS REPORT
JUNE 2019
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testing there last July told me, it will still need to be monitored. The DEP is in the process of ʻreviewing the planʼ. In January they Over a year ago I filled in a took water samples but form saying I wanted to buy a the vials were ʻinadvertwo bedroom condo and sent it tently droppedʼ ..... so back to Sunseeker. Yesterday I new samples were got a response from them, an collected. email asking me to take a surThe re-sampling, done vey and receive $20 off on my in January of 2019, next Allegiant flight. They were CHANGING NEIGHBORHOOD Thank you Charlotte showed all petroleum connever serious about that big County for permitting this ugly electronic billboard on taminants in the new macondo project. This was always US-41, across from the Sunseekerʼs site. Real classy. terial to be within going to be hotel style accomlevelsacceptable. No one modations. tionʼs requirements for monitoring the I talked to at the DEP knew if the As far as progress goes; they are site of the old Harbor Chevron station monitoring area should appear on the still in the site prep stage, moving dirt that is now part of Sunseekers approved Charlotte County site plan. and finishing up the seawall. I would That site, facility # 8518982 in the Sunseeker never intended to build imagine they are looking for contracDEPs database, does not appear on a 1000-foot pool or nine, 9-story contors and sub-contractors, but that the county approved site plan. When I dos, that was to get the folks here exmust be hard when there isnʼt a set of asked the County about that last cited. Whether anyone at the County plans to hand out for bids. Plans will month, they suggested I call the DEP was aware of this, has yet to be supposedly be ready by August. So I Did. determined. Last month I mentioned the DeTurns out I was right, the site has – Michael Heller partment of Environmental Protecnot been cleared, just like the guy
Canals Are Not For Your Enjoyment!
Mike & Ellen: I'm sure you remember, I live on a large fresh water canal system in North Port. About two weeks ago they went through our canal system and "nuked" it with herbicide. Now mind you, there were no weeds in the canal when they did this. Bushes along the sides of the canal and people's lawn burnt to death with the blue weed spray they used. I am on vacation this week. My wife and I were fishing Monday and there were two airboats spraying weed killer again in the canals and THERE ARE NO WEEDS in the canals! Tuesday we went bass fishing again and lo and behold two airboats in the same canal spraying hundreds of gallons of weed killer in the water again. I stopped one of them and asked what they were doing again in here and the response was ʻkilling weedsʼ. Apparently we have imaginary weeds that need to be nuked repeatedly. I let him know there were no weeds and they were just killing bushes and lawns. The response was "most people like the canals with no weeds". I'd love to see them quantify "most" with an actual survey.
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Drinking my coffee on the lanai this morning (Wednesday) and they are passing by my house spraying yet again. Three days in a row out spraying the same canal??? I called North Port the first time they sprayed the canal to ask why they were spraying when there were no weeds in the water and told them they were ruining the bass fishery here. I was told verbatim: "The canals are not for my enjoyment there are only a drainage system". Maybe they can reduce my taxes as living on the water is apparently not for my enjoyment. Our local government apparently operates with blinders and can only see one aspect of weed control. They completely overlook aquatic vegetations role as a natural filtering mechanism to remove excess nutrients from the water. They nuked these canals last year too, and when it started raining the nutrients poured out of these canals into the river system and out to the Harbor which "lit up" the red tide and toxic algae. Looks like we are in for round 2 of the red tide and toxic algae this summer. I have lived on this canal system since 2000 and have never seen them so aggressively spray these canals. What the hell is going on??? Bob DeKeulenaere, North Port
Water LIFE inc. waterlife@comcast.net www.WaterlifeMagazine.com Ellen Heller Publisher
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FishPix, text only number 941-457-1316
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Independant - Not affiliated with any other publication! Vol XVIII No 6 © 2019
NO PART of this publication (printed or
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Contributing Editors:
Photography: ASA1000.com
Senior Editor: Capt. Ron Blago Baitshop: Fishinʼ Frank
Upper Harbor: Cameron Parson
Peace River: Capt. Dave Stephens Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck Eichner Venice: Glen Ballinger
Estero: Capt. Joe Angius
Everglades City: Capt. Charlie Phillips
Kayaking: Bob Fraser Sawfish: Tonya Wiley
Pier Fishing: Bobby Vitalis Diving: Adam Wilson
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How Itʼs Going JUNE 2019
By Michael Heller Water LIFE Commentary Last month I read that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new recommendations for swimming in waters it says should be considered dangerous because of exposure to cyanotoxins, the bacteria released by bluegreen algae. The standards apply to two cyanotoxins: microcystins and cylindrospermopsin. The EPA says microcystin levels above 8 micrograms per liter (Parts Per Billion), and cylindrospermopsin above 15 micrograms per liter, can be harmful to people swimming or participating in other activities in or near the water. The EPA said these recommendations are protective for all age groups. I hope they have now told Army Corps of Engineers. Last summer, the Army Corps discharged water to the St. Lucie River that was confirmed to contain 495 parts per billion of the toxin microcystin. So far no data for Lake Okeechobee water released into the Caloosahatchee has been found. And bottom samples from the Lake and both Rivers are still not being collected and analyzed. On a lighter note, last month we put our Be The Fish program students out on the water for a morning of inshore fishing. Capt. Chuck Eichner took his group to get bait and then to catch trout. Capt. Andrew Herzog took his kids over
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to the Phosphate Dock and put them on a Goliath grouper. It took both kids to control the fish, but together they brought it up for a picture. They’ll remember that one! Capt. Cayle Wills had his group on blacktip sharks. That’s what spring fishing is in these parts, and that’s what we did! It was a perfect morning and I want to thank the Captains for giving up a morning at this busy time of the year. Another part of our Be The Fish program is the $1Bill Challenge tournament. The first Fishing Period is under way now. There are four fishing periods ending in mid September so you can still sign your kids up (see page9). You fish when ever and where ever you want.
lotte. Last month I was encouraged to see a fleet of County and contractor trucks descended on the Park, but they stopped in front of the children’s playground. It took them a week of work, with 5- or 6- men, but the playground looks great now. They also dressed up the little beach area and are now fixing the sidewalk and fencing damaged by Irma. What they didn’t do, is anything about the fishing pier, closed now going on three years. So where are fishermen fishing? They are over on the new two-point-something-million-dollar walkway next to the 41-Bridge. It’s a fine pink colored concrete promenade that winds in and out from under the Bridge and it is just
This summer we will devote four extra pages in the magazine to the $1Bill Challenge, so when we are maxed out on pages in print, some of the multiple FISH PIX submissions will overflow into our online edition. I have to do this because we can’t just add one page to the printed publication, we have to add in multiples of four, but no worries, one or two will always make it into print. Moving on, progress is still not progressing on the repairs to the fishing pier at Bayshore Park in Port Char-
above the water. Fishin Frank mentions it in his fishing report this month. It’s getting popular. The County only designated a few spots along the walkway for fishing but, well... fishing happens. The spot in the shade, where the walkway passes under the highway bridge is prime, but once the fish blood and squashed dead shrimp start working into the new pink concrete, things will change. If they fix Bayshore Pier now, that will alleviate some of this in the future.
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Estero Bay: Diversity in the Livewell PAGE
Capt. Joe Angius Water LIFE Estero Bait variety is vast and plentiful now, making it easy to load up the live well. Having different size and type of baits on board allows you to make adjustments that can incite a fish to strike. Obviously, there are specific baits that certain species such as tarpon or snook will be honed in on. My go-to bait for tarpon on the beach would be a crab and large white baits for backwater snook. There will be an instance where I’ll be fishing a mangrove edge or oyster bar where the snook and tarpon would rather want a mullet or live shrimp. Therefore, having a baitdiverse live well can lead anglers to a successful day on the water. Although the outside temperature has increased, the water temperatures have been holding steady at around 80 degrees F. A temperature range such as this promotes a lot of life on, and moving around in, the water. Manatees want to venture to the grass flats and leave the creeks, dolphin seem to be more abundant, and fish are willing to take a variety of offerings. When water temperatures rise above 85 degrees F in some areas anglers will start to see fish species becoming more lethargic and pickier with what they want to eat. Fish are going to want to spend the least amount of energy foraging to gain the most amount of energy back. Getting out earlier or right before dark will help catching these fish.
JUNE 2019
Catch-and-release efforts on redfish, snook, and speckled trout are more important than ever. When anglers fish for these species, it is vital to release these fish back to their natural habitats as unharmed and healthy as possible. Take the extra time to revive each fish until they are strong enough to swim out of your hands. Investing in a dehooker tool can make this process safer and more efficient. Using the tool will also be beneficial toward releasing speckled sea trout, because of their protective slime coat over their skin. By having the proper tools on board, one can avoid mishandling the trout by removing this coating and return it to the water safely. When I think about June in Southwest Florida I think hot and hotter. It’s no surprise that Florida is at the top for the nation’s most dangerous spots for heat and humidity. This will continue to hold true this summer and precautions must be taken. For all anglers on the water it’s extremely important to remain hydrated, especially when you’re out throwing the cast net or patiently stalking fish. I’ll always have ice and water for every angler on board and remind them of how quickly heat exhaustion can come over them. Don’t let the elements wear you out before the fish can, because June has a lot of fishing opportunities to offer and summer is just getting started. Enjoy what Southwest Florida has to offer through fishing and take the extra steps to be a responsible angler.
Capt. Joe Angius (727)-234-3171 www.speakeasyfishing.com speakeasyfishing@gmail.com
Blind Restoration JUNE 2019
Capt. David Stephens Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor This summer has gotten off to a hot start. The fishing over the past week has been off the chain! It’s looking like the snook that live in the north end of the Harbor had a great spawn. Mother Nature kept the salinity levels high, so this could happen. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to beat a dead horse, but we really needed this to happen. I have also noticed that the big trout my clients have been catching looked to be spawned out also. This is great news for our fishery! The past hurricane seasons have put a hurting
on some of our local grass flats, however I have noticed that some of our local flats are again thriving. As a matter of fact, local guide George Frantz and I were talking about the health of these flats. The biggest issue I have, is I still see boaters running these areas without regard. Just because the tide is high and you can run skinny doesn’t mean you should. If the weather is nice, cruise out in the Harbor, enjoy seeing the dolphins. Look
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for pods of deepwater bait. I promise, you are not impressing anyone running over the shorelines. It seems the areas on the north side of the Harbor that have the most habitat loss, are around the creek mouths. I’m guessing this is from the high levels of freshwater run off due to our summer storms. Hopefully these flats will recover. I have also noticed over the past couple years the different types of algae that has formed in our area. I was fortunate enough to fish a husband and wife that are from the Carolina’s. They were both well educated in water quality and erosion. We had a very extensive conversation about our water quality. To make a long story short, if we don’t start fixing things it’s only going to get worse. The algae that is showing up on our flats, and choking out our grass, is due to us feeding it. Until we stop dumping fertilizers, and products full of phosphate
and nitrogen it will not end. Our rainy season is just around the corner. This means that our local waters will return to their summer-time stained tea color. This doesn’t mean that its polluted, or red tide. All it means is that our headwaters are flowing and returning life to our Harbor. At this moment the life blood of our Harbor is under attack. We have large mining corporations that want to strip
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mine the areas that feed our Harbor. These companies have been fined billions in the past for their ecological disasters, but they chalk it up to the cost of doing business. Another cost of doing business with these
corporations is blind restoration. I call it blind restoration because they put money into a small park, and dump pollutants in our water while we tell them thank you. What are we? Blind? Charlotte Harbor is a very fragile estuary that requires a delicate balance of fresh and saltwater. Our freshwaters health that feeds our estuary is as important as our grass flats that we’re trying to save. We have to get this right! All of it!
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FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
Redfish, Rachel Stephens fishing with Capt. Dave Stephens
If you would like to experience some of Charlotte Harbor’s finest fishing, call or send me an email. All of our charters are private and customized to fit your needs. Capt. Dave Stephens, 941-916-5769 ww.bayxtremes.com
Reece Willis caught within the last 30 days
Readerʼs Photos Txt Us Ur Fish Pix see page 4
SHARKS PAGE
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By Capt. John Brossard Water LIFE Shark Fishing The weather is perfect. The snowbirds have left town. The water is warm. Time to go out there and do some sharking! Most of the area beaches and fishing spots are very quiet in June. The temperature is perfect for toothy critters, so it is time to soak some big baits in your favorite spot and you should be rewarded with some good runs. Last month there were television stories of a 14-foot tiger shark caught off Naples, 12-foot hammerheads caught off Sanibel Beach and the beach closed at Nokomis for another hammerhead. There are more and more stories like that on the news. The warmer the water the more there are... and the closer they get to the southwest Florida beaches. Don't forget, the canals and backwaters of the area either. Lots of reports of bull sharks being caught up the Caloosahatchee River and in upper Charlotte Harbor too. The opportunities abound for shark fishing! If you want blacktip shark for dinner, try the beaches near you around dusk or dawn. Remember you can only keep one per person and 2 per day. There have been a few bonus catches while sharking this month; tarpon and saw-fish to name a couple. If you have questions or ideas for my monthly shark write ups, please e-mail or call me. I would love to hear some of what you are catching. Send us your FISH PIX too! Hook um hard !!! Capt John Brossard 239-777-9279 sharkchaserfl@gmail.com sharkchasercharters.com
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This is a great time for sharking in SW Florida
Will from Massachusetts with a big lemon shark caught in Goodland
Brandon from Massachusetts with a black tip shark caught off Naples
Spencer with a lemon shark caught, tagged and released in 4-feet of water in the Everglades
Will from Mass with an eater-size blacktip shark Below: Will from Mass with a eater blacktip shark
Dylon Jacobs with a 8 1/2 foot tiger shark caught off Naples Beach this month.
Tarpon are often a by-catch of shark fishing
catch Ęťem and eat Ęťem
Black Tip Shark Recipe: Always bleed and gut your shark as soon as you catch them and ice it down immediately. I prefer a 2- to 3-foot blacktip to eat. I release 99-percent of the shark I catch. I always filet the shark and take the skin off. To me they taste better without the skin. Marinate the filets in Italian dressing or some kind of your favorite marinading sauce for a day or two. Then either put it on the grill or bake it in your over - however you prefer your fish. It's a good change as long as you do not eat it 5 times a week. Shark is totally safe to eat.
Mangrove Snapper JUNE 2019
Cameron Parson Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor
Mangrove snapper are among some of the best eating fish that thrive in our waters. They're easy to target, put up a great fight on light tackle, are very plentiful and always willing to bite when nothing else will. We all want a little something to bring to the table and since the snook, trout, and redfish closure is in effect, snapper would be the next best choice.
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picked up. They'll even chase and pop live baits on the surface just as small snook and jacks would do if they were chummed with live bait.
If you're fishing over any of the local reefs, whether it be in the Harbor or offshore, bring plenty of chum bags and cut bait. It's nothing unusual to
Mangies can be caught pretty much anywhere there is some good structure and a little bit of current flow. Schools of them can be found on grass flats near troughs and potholes. They are schooled up pretty heavily right now in preparation for their spawn. And they're often ready to take most any bait that is tossed at them which makes for any easy catch for anglers of every caliber. Live shrimp will surely catch them. But small pinfish, mojarras, white bait and strips of ladyfish or mullet will help you call out the bigger snapper. I often use roughly a 4 pound fluorocarbon and a #-1 circle hook as my snapper rig. A small 1/8 or 1/4oz egg weight or a #-3 or #-5 split shot can be utilized to help get your bait in their face.
Deep rock walls and points are great places to search for snapper. You can get the bite fired up by tossing a chum bag over and let them come to you. Drift your baits back with the chum, you'll know when you get
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snapper offshore can be in the 5+pound range, a few even bigger. An angler is allowed to harvest 5 mangrove snapper with the 10 snapper aggregate limit. The fish must measure 10 inches total length in state waters and 12 inches total length in federal waters.
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FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
Be aware of the snapper you're catching. I often times hear of people catching "red snapper" at local piers and in the Harbor and have to correct quite a few people on what they're actually catching. Mangrove snapper and red snapper are different from each other and each have their own distinctive features in size and color. Pick up a copy of the saltwater FWC regulations and fish chart if you have any doubts. They're free and readily available at any bait and tackle shop. There are plenty of recipes for fresh mangrove snapper out there. They make a great ceviche with fresh lemon or lime juice and a touch of your favorite herbs and definitely make some of the best fish tacos you'll ever have. My favorite is just sea salt, pepper, garlic, and a touch of fresh lemon or lime sauteed in olive oil. It's a fish you can cook just about any way you want without much effort.
have the water behind your boat take on that bronze hue if you've found a good pile of fish willing to eat. Drift your baits back as naturally as possible, leaving your bail open. By the time you teach your rod and flip your bail, the fish should hook itself. Some of the
Kids Fishing Tournament
There's still plenty of fish out there to bring home. Snapper is only one of them and they're pretty easy to come by, catch, and cook. Find the structure and you'll find your dinner.
Rio Villa Bait & Tackle in Punta Gorda Cameron Parson works at
941- 639-7166
All Summer!
Port of the Isles, Tony Gutierrez 30-inch snook
Robert Arendts Bucket mouth caught in a golf course pond in Punta Gorda.
Readerʼs Photos Txt Us Ur Fish Pix see page 4
$1Bill Challenge
ages 6 to 16 1. Go to www.waterlifemagazine.com click the link 2. Sign up for $15 with Pay Pal* *be sure to include anglerʼs name and cell phone # 3. We will text you back with your entry number 4. Write that on a $1Bill with a dark marker 5. Take a selfie, text it to us and youʼre ready to fish! Read the complete rules on the sign up page Every month the Longest Fish out of 30 species wins a Shakespeare rod and reel, Great 2nd and 3rd place prizes as well. Winners will be in the magazine Take a 5 question quiz every month and have a chance at winning a boat!
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JUNE 2019
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FISH PIX! W Wa at te er r L L II F FE E m ma ag ga az z ii n ne e
Tommy with a 22-inch 4-pound bowfin in the Everglades
Gayle Vandenbergh, Port Charlotte. 33-inch snook. Sooo exciting !!!!
Jay Adair from TN with a nice large bass and peacock bass with Capt Fred Gowdy
Chicken Dolphin, Grouper and 10 1/2 foot Lemon Shark? Must be summer offshore Boca Grande Pass with Captain John Baines, King Fisher Fleet. Mateo Berlanga age 6 sheep head
Diego Berlanga, age 4, his first fish. sandbreem
A couple of nice Snook on Alligator Creek by Vance Wilson
Keith Scholle with a 34-inch red grouper caught in 110-feet, off of Englewood
Gavin Medina with a nice size bass
JUNE 2019
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Change Can Be Hard To Come By
Hunter Hughes first red fish
Nicholas J with a Gigged Black Armored Catfish Ft. Myers
Terry Parke caught this jack cravelle.
By Fishin’ Frank Water LIFE Baitshop To be or not to be... a catching person or a fishing person? Well it takes change and that is one thing most people don't like. Change your bait and change where you fish. Right now there is little difference between an in-coming or an out-going tide. The water is pretty much the same temperature both ways and the salt content is the same too. Now once the rains start, the incoming tide will be the best. Not high tide as that is when the outgoing tide starts, but get out at low tide and take advantage of the cooler, saltier water coming in from the Gulf. Right now most of the fish will eat any time of the day, but the sun is already starting to cook the water and it will be from daylight to noon when the fish will bite since after that the sun will just be too hot for the fish on the flats and on the surface waters. So right now you can go early or late and you should catch fish, but soon it will be an early morning bite. I want to be off the water before 1p.m. Then I will stay in until 6 o'clock and go back out again as the sun goes down. I like to do things the same way, change can be hard. I fish up in the top of the Harbor all of the cooler/cold months, but now I am going to have to head out to the ICW or the Gasparilla flats or Pine Island Sound. Maybe even Bull or Turtle Bay. But let’s stop on the east side of the Harbor for a minute. The east side is very good fishing
if you are there about an hour after low tide when most of the water that comes in from Boca Grande Pass goes right up the east side. That water is cooler so it perks up the bait and gets the bait moving around. I doubt that it really effects the snook or redfish, but it will and does effect the food they prey on, which makes bigger things start to eat and so on. Shrimp is still working OK and will be an OK choice all year, but as the rains pick up and the water browns, start thinking about stinky dead bait. At this time white bait is the fishcatching-king, but in the next couple weeks it will be time to switch to dead bait and dead-sticking: dead bait really will not move around as much as live bait will, so it is easier for the fish to catch – yes, dead sticking is that simple. There is a new product out which seems to be working really well to increase the number of hits you get on dead bait, be that shrimp, squid or cut up fish. Boca Coast came out with a dead bait rub, You use it like shake and bake – place the bait in the bag and shake it up until the piece of bait is covered. Cast it out and let it sit until wham! Oh, and for you tarpon guys, tarpon eat dead bait. Well they eat it at first light, evening, and all night, be it ladyfish, mullet or silver trout, tarpon do, and always have, eaten dead bait. They may call it the Silver King, but it is still a stinky old dead bait eater... which ain’t so bad, I like my steak kinda dead as well.
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FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
Code Red!!!!!!!! Codebreaker Slim Jim putting some wood to ʻem!
"Red alert"!!!!!!!! Slim Jim, catched n released .... waiting for June!
Have fun!
frank@fishinfranks 941-625-3888
Hal Playa, never fished before. This is a good size snook and was fun for him to catch!
Brittany Cortes, mahi mahi
Captain Freeman and Captain Lawrence from NC with nice tarpon in Boca Grande
Readerʼs Photos Txt Us Ur Fish Pix see page 4
33-inch snook, Peter Casciotta. With Fred OʼDell and Captain Ryun Snyder. Charlotte Harborʼs back waters. Released safely
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JUNE 2019
FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a -
Zachariah Cornish first snook ever 27 inches
Sharon McGee in Turtle Bay. Safely released with skinny water adventures
Al with a rat red caught at the Cheshire Waterway.
Steve Klosterman with a 5 foot blacktip shark that was caught tagged and release off Marco Island
Brothers day on the River. Mother and Daughter each catch their first snook in Charlotte Harbor on Memorial Day. Denise and Jennifer Teunis of Punta Gorda
Angler Greyshark Lake Parrish
Nice trout caught by Joe Sheaffer on Blind Pass Beach (fish seems familiar :!)
Terry Philpot caught this kobia last weekend in Lemon Bay somebody fire up the grill Angler Easton Richard caught in North Port canal
A
JUNE 2019
Another day, another redfish at the Cheshire Waterway. Big Al
Stacie Thompson with her biggest Caloosahatchee River snook ever. 19-pounds on a certified boga grip.
Katie Goodwin with a peacock bass in the Everglades
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Monster redfish I caught today in Charlotte Harbor..so great to see this beauty! It certainly kicked my butt! Such a thrill to catch and release. Lisa McQueen Port Charlotte
Capt. Mike Murry with Peace River Charters running out of Nav A Gator.
Late nighter, My name is Jack Holmes
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Today's Whopper. 30-inch 9-pound snook. Charlotte Harbor..Lisa McQueen...on a roll!!
-Max Riesbeck tarpon on the Diawa BG 2000
My grandson, Joshua Peters (age 9) from West Chester, PA. When he reeled it in, we thought it was a pompano but FWC confirmed it was a juvenile Permit.
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Logan Forfar caught and release about a dozen snappers near Alligator Bay
fPaul Millington, freshwater snook caught in the canal.
Madison Peters (age 11) also from West Chester, PA caught this cat fish off our boat in the canal in BSI
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JUNE 2019
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FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
Taylor and Bentlee with some snook they caught on artificial
Andrew Hubert w/ birthday 50-inch kingfish off Boca Grande beach
37 inch snook. John (Snook King) Slattery Love your Magazine ! One day Iʼll make the Cover ! Bobby B, large mouth bass
Korah Kastor tilapia
Carter Croy, Cape Coral. redfish
“Matt the Brat” with a 35 inch catch and release snook caught offshore of Marco Island
Barb Fickes PGI canal snook caught on shrimp
Tia Lomax
German Mark with a nice cobia caught and released on John Bʼs Shark Hole of Marco Island
Kids Fishing Inshore JUNE 2019
Capt. Chuck Eichner Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor
I received a call asking for a captain to take some kids fishing. Michael Heller had anglers from the Be the Fish program hoping to experience Charlotte Harbor. The easy answer was yes and the following Sunday I rode my boat up and picked up 3 young anglers at 9 a.m. at Ponce Park for some time on the water. After checking to be sure we had life preservers that fit, snacks and drinks we idled out into the Harbor to meet a 15-mph wind right at our bow, out of the south. Michael joined as the photographer and when I told him we were running to Useppa Island to get bait he said, “really? That’s a long way,” in a gasping breath. I didn’t realize why that was a problem at the time. The ride was bumpy but we all enjoyed the wave action and 45 minutes later we were chumming for
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pilchards. I had lots of help, with Jake, Matthew and Mateo helping bring in the net, unload the bait and clean the grass out of the livewell. Bait catching was very good and some interesting sea creatures showed up like
an oversize pipefish. The boys were fascinated with this alien looking fish that we kindly released. When the well looked full Michael cautioned we needed to get moving we were running out of time. Running out of time I asked? Yes, we have to be back at noon! Suddenly I felt quite a bit of pressure as that left very little time to fish and then race back to the dock to meet
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the parents who would be waiting. The night before I rigged all rods and we were ready to go as we ran north towards Bookeelia to fish for speckled trout. The kids watched as I studied the grassbeds for deep sand holes and positioned the boat to use the strong south wind so as to benefit our casting. I baited up a rod, cast it out and before I could hand it to Mateo the float dove below the surface with a 17-inch trout! As quickly as I could bait rods, cast and hand to Jake and Matthew their floats dipped and it was game on! Trout after trout came aboard with quick releases. First mate Joyce (my wife) was helping bait lines, Michael was shooting photos and I was releasing fish. In short order Michael pointed out that we had 45 minutes left to fish which met with much disappointment by all of us. With that I said, then we need to catch 50 trout in 45 minutes and the boys gave it one heck of a try! We were in a good spot and hectic would be the word – the anglers had lots of bites and the excitement was contagious! It was clear to me that these young anglers had fished before as they were very
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good casters and knew how to set the hook and fight fish! So much fun, when there is a lot of action! Many of the fish were of legal size – the biggest pushing 20-inches jumped off at the last second before catching a photo. Of course, the big one always gets away! We had a pleasant ride back on the inside of the bar and to our amazement we docked the boat at exactly 12:00 noon! Thank goodness the fish gods shined on us this day and all went as planned. The Harbor proved it is resilient and provided us with beautiful bait and beautiful fish! Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action Flats Backcountry Charters. He can be reached at 941-628-8040
Blacktip caught with Capt. Cayle Willsʼ group
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FISH PIX! Water LIFE magazine
Barbara Brock, catching some nice black drum off the docks on Gasparilla Island
Charlie Topp near PC Beach
Joe Bedillion and his first Red ever! Catch and release Mark R Stryde from Cape Coral. 27 inch redfish caught throwing jigs on the flats at Ponce de Leon park Punta Gorda
Kyle, red grouper. 30-miles out of Stump Pass
Alex, red grouper, 30-miles out of Stump Pass
While visiting Nokomis from Indonesia to see my folks, my buddies and I chartered a boat in Venice for a run out into the Gulf. We came back very happy after only a few hours with quite a catch of grouper, porgy, kingfish, red, lane and mango snapper. Most surprising was coming across a small school of mahi mahi, four of which eagerly took a lure. Beautiful fish and a beautiful day! Will Woodruff (I'm in blue on the right)
JUNE 2019
Jeremiah Hoyt with one of 2 juvenile goliath groupers caught at El Jobean
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Greyshark. Myakka River
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Commentary by Capt. Ron Blago Water LIFE Senior Staff The FWC has just released their 2018 Boating Accident Report. This annual report contains over 100 pages of statistical date on every reported boating accident in Florida as well as information on non-registered vessels. It's hard to get an accurate estimate of canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, row boats and other non-motorized vessels that use Florida waters, but that segment of the market has exploded in recent years. Registered boats on the other hand are easy to count and tax. Once again Florida leads the Country in the number of registered boats with 950,740 and of course with such a high number of boats and a year round boating season we also have a high number of accidents and fatalities (59 in 2018). I remember when Florida broke the 1 million registered vessel mark just before the housing bubble burst; which also put the breaks on the boating boom. The industry had a few bad years, but since 2013 the number of registered vessels in Florida has steadily increased and I'm sure we will
Jason Miller with a nice snook caught and released in front of the Boca Grande lighthouse
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Drew Glickman with a really healthy 34-inch snook caught in PGI.
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Where are the Boats?
On the Line
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break that 1 million boat mark again in a few years. Charlotte County on the other hand has not followed the state-wide trend. In 2018 Charlotte had 22,974 registered vessels, pretty much the same number (22,613) in 2007. In fact, the number of registered boats in the County has remained flat for over 10 years. That struck me as odd considering Charlotte is one of the top 10 boating counties in Florida; I wanted to know where are the boats and why wasn't the County's boat population at least keeping up with the state average. My first step was to look at boat registration fees. The money you pay for your boat registration depends on the length of your vessel, the bigger your boat the more you pay. Years ago I did a report for the Marine Advisory Committee defining the average boat in Charlotte County. I found the average boat to be 22-feet or less on a trailer, pulled by a pick-up truck. This was important information for designing the pitch of a boat ramp and the size of the parking spaces. I will use this average boat in my analysis of registration fees. The average boat pays $28.75 to the state plus $1.00 to the Save the Manatee Trust Fund and $3.00 as a collection
see page 4
fee. Of that amount. $ 8.85 is returned to the County; that's about 30-percent; that's not much of a return to local counties. In 1996 Charlotte County instituted a new fee called the Local Boater Improvement Fund, which was a 50-percent surtax on your boat registration fee. That brings our average boat registration to $43.17 and (minus fees) that money comes back to the County. Several years the MAC pointed out that there was a loop hole in the Local BIF surtax. If you register your boat in another county, they don't require that you pay the Local BIF surtax. If you have our average boat you save $8.85 plus fees; hardly worth the effort to go to another county to register your vessel. But if you are lucky enough to own a vessel over 40-feet you can save over $63.88 plus fees by going to Arcadia to register your boat. I think I found some of the missing boats. If you have a 12 ft kayak, you pay no boat registration fees; but if you put an electric trolling motor on that kayak you have to register it and pay a fee of $8.25. That's not a lot of money to be on the water and I think it’s time for everyone who uses the waterways, motor or not, to pay their fair share. Captronb@juno.com
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Michael and Carter Kusmierek Offshore Sanibel, mangrove snapper
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Punta Gorda, snook 31-inches, angler is Logan
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Didnʼt Even Make A Dent PAGE
This meaty 17-foot python was captured and killed at Big Cyprus Preserve on April 8, this year.
Water LIFE Report
Burmese Pythons are an invasive species with no natural predators. The state hired hunters to go into swamps and remove them. And now the numbers are in for Floridaʼs Python Elimination Program. After the State tallied up all the inches and pounds hereʼs what they came up with: According to News Channel 4 out of Jacksonville, hunters killed over two miles worth of snakes with a combined weight of approximately 10.4 tons. In total, 1,711 snakes have been captured and killed during the program which is trying to get rid of all the Burmese pythons that continue to do severe damage to the Everglades ecosystem. Hunters were paid $50 a snake and $25 dollar bonus per foot for snakes over 4 feet. So an 8 ft snake would be worth $150 bucks. Also, a snake found guarding a nest with eggs is worth an additional $100.
Pier Fishing for Snook
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Brian Hargrove of Miami captured 235 snakes, the most of any hunter in the program. The largest python ever killed in Florida was a female that measured 18 feet in length and weighed 128 pounds. Jason Leon, 23, was out riding an all terrain vehicle in southeast Miami-Dade County with friends when they saw about three feet of a snake sticking out of some brush. When Leon stopped to pull on the snake, in an effort to see how big it was, he grabbed the neck of the snake, which proceeded to wrap itself around Leon's legs twice. His friend handed him a 9-inch knife, which Leon used to decapitate the snake. Even though 1,711 snakes captured and killed sounds impressive much more killing is needed. Scientist conservatively estimate there are at least 30,000 pythons in Florida while other knowledgeable researchers say that number could be as high as 300,000.
By Bobby Vitalis Water LIFE Pier Fishing One of my most favorite fish to catch is the snook. This snook was caught on the south side of the Venice Jetty. However you can’t keep the snook, you have to put them back in the water. It’s catch and release only. For more info on snook, check your fishing regulations guide. However, snook are a very fun fish to catch. This snook was caught very early in the morning, and was caught from low to high tide. I have been fishing at the Jetty for a long time and the snook can get up to 40-inches in length here. At the Jetty, when the water is clear, sometimes you will see the smaller snook on top of the water swimming around. The snook sometimes are going after the green backs that are swimming on the surface of the water. When fishing at the Jetty, I like using artificial lures most of the time. There are two different lures I use at the Jetty which are effective. Both lures are made by D.O.A lures. The first lure is the D.O.A 4-inch jerk bait model number 308 color glow/holo-flk belly with a color white D.O.A 3/8 ounce jig head. The jerk bait quantity comes in a 12 pack or 50 pack. The other lure is the artificial D.O.A shrimp. Its length is 4-inches; weight is half-ounce, model number 305, color NITE GLOW and comes in a 3 pack. With the jerk bait, bounce it along the bottom. For the artificial shrimp, let it sink all the way to the bottom before giving it a twitch. Now, for the people who just use bait, a good choice of bait to catch snook is live shrimp, live threadfins, live mullet, and live pinfish. That is if you can catch the live threadfins, live mullet, and live pinfish there, to use for bait there. Another good bait there to use is green backs.
JUNE 2019
When putting shrimp on the hook, try hook size 2/0 to 3/0 circle hooks and, use the smallest weight as you can when using the shrimp. For a full size pinfish and threadfins try hook size 4/0 circle hooks. For the mullet, if it is a small (finger mullet), try hook size 2/0 to 3/0 circle hooks. The hook size to use for a full size mullet is a 7/0 circle hook. For the greenbacks, try hook size 1/0 to a 2/0 circle hooks. When using these baitfish, you can try using a weight, or try free lining, which means no bobber or weight. The way to catch threadfins and pinfish
there is to use sabiki rigs which are made by Marathon or R & R. Sabiki rigs come in many different hook sizes and colors. Take your pick!. To catch these green backs and mullet, try using a casting net. The casting net size to use is from a 3- to a 5-foot net. The mesh size for the net to use is from 1/4 to 3/8 inch. But of course, you need the bigger net to catch the mullet. When casting your net look out for rocks in the water. Try not to get your net caught on the rocks. When fishing with artificial lures, for my main line, I used 50pound test Power Pro braided line, color green. And, for my leader line, I use no less than 3-feet of 30-pound test 100-percent fluorocarbon leader line. As the days go by in June (through summer) more bait fish should show up. Last summer there was red tide at the Jetty, I’m hoping the red tide won’t come back this summer. So, have a great time fishing!
10,000 ISLANDS JUNE 2019
By Capt. Charlie Phillips Water LIFE / Everglades City I hope your May on the water was as good as ours was. Inshore and offshore we had a blast the past 30 days and caught a pile of quality fish most every day we got out. Variety was the name of the game and the Everglades and 10,000 Islands never fail to deliver in that regard. Inshore we fished from the Port of the Islands area down to about the Broad River this month in both the deep back country to the front islands and did well in all places. We caught redfish and snook on the bars in the back using soft plastics rigged weedless and worked around the ambush points, which proved very effective. Most of the redfish I have been catching lately have been on the small side, but still love catching ‘em and am excited for the future. The snook have been all over the charts with many slot size and bigger. In these same areas, where the bars fell off to deeper channels, we have been consistent with the speckled trout. Popping corks, suspending baits and jerk baits have all done well when worked slow back to the boat. Often in the back
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Variety has been the Name of the Game
several shark trips, concentrating on the deep channels with good flow on both the incoming as well as outgoing tides. The key to me is just a good tide to move the water. Inshore I prefer to use 400pound flouro leader, crimped to a
this time of year the trout I catch are beat all up, but don’t worry they are just fine if you want to take one home for supper. An old timer told me that this time of year they rub the bottom a lot and he thinks it happens as they spawn. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I can say I see it in the backcountry fish, but not the ones we catch out front consistently. Also, inshore this month, I have run
large barrel swivel and a 10/0 non-stainless hook. Bait of choice is quite often a cut ladyfish, or a humble catfish cut off behind the spines and hooked in place whole. Seldom do I use a weight, I just put it in the current then let out line to get it back and wait. Once I get them coming, it’s usually pretty fast with a half day trip often yielding 15 sharks with many over 7-feet. Lots of fun, and very underappreciated. A good long handled dehooker combined with using that flouro leader that I can hold onto let me remove most hooks. Shark fishing can make a slow day one that’s a lot of fun. Offshore has been great with permit, cobia lots of pretty trout and snook as well as great catches of snapper and a few grouper. Getting out early is key as the good weather brings out company to the known numbers. Y’all be safe out there! Capt. Charlie Phillips President, Florida Guides Association Owner/Captain, Hope Fishing Adventures Everglades City, Florida hopefishing.com 863-517-1829
Pending
SOLD
Burnt Store Isles
SOLD!
Punta Gorda Isles
Call the Captain! Stunningly Beautiful
Quick Access Sailboat Home! Big water views, room for a Catamaran! 3/2/2 Pool Home, built in 1999, 2200sf Air remodeled kitchen. $499,900
Call the Captain! Stunningly Beautiful Designer Home! One of the most beautiful homes in Punta Gorda. Built in 2017, 3/2.5/3 with 2600sfAir, pool and amazing water views! Sold $925,000
Great Bargain
Punta Gorda Isles
Call the Captain! Spacious Pool Home
Overlooking Large Basin! 3/2/2 built in 1969 in excellent condition. Outstanding curb appeal Sold $305,000
Tropical Oasis
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Burnt Store Isles
Call the Captain! 200 Feet Waterfront Amazing Views! Beautiful,updated 3/2/2, 1756sfAir buit in 1981 with dock and lift with the feel of living on a island! List $455,000
Burnt Store Lakes
Call the Captain! Gorgeous Pool Home on Large Parcel! Close to town but very private setting this home was completely renovated. 3/2/2, 1947sfAir, built in 1992. Sold $290,000
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Punta Gorda Isles
Call the Captain! Waterviews Every Room! Oversized house with huge water frontage with short ride to harbor. 3/2.5/2, 2375sfAir, built in 1997. Sold $556,750
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SCUTTLEBUTT
JUNE 2019
Sometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True
HOW WEATHER WORKS Between about 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator, in a region called the horse latitudes, the Earth's rotation causes air to slant toward the equator in a southwesterly direction in the northern hemisphere and in a northwesterly direction in the southern hemisphere. This is called the Coriolis Effect. The Coriolis Effect, in combination with an area of high pressure, causes the prevailing winds—the trade winds—to move from east to west on both sides of the equator across this 60-degree "belt." As the wind blows to about five degrees north and south of the equator, both air and ocean currents come to a halt in a band of hot, dry air. This 10-degree belt around Earth's midsection is called the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, more commonly known as the doldrums. Intense solar heat in the doldrums warms and moistens the trade winds, thrusting air upwards into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon. As the air rises, it cools, causing persistent bands of showers and storms in the tropics and rainforests. The rising air masses move toward the poles, then sink back toward Earth's surface near the horse latitudes. The sinking air triggers the calm trade winds and little precipitation, completing the cycle.
FISH PIX! from Water LIFE magazine
Dr Jeff Taylor first ever tripletail
Little man Jackson Boggs
dock where emergency medical services transported the victim to Lee Memorial Hospital.
GOLDEN The FWC received a complaint regarding possible illegal fishing. The complaint stated that three individuals with fishing equipment purchased 30 goldfish to possibly use for bait. An officer searched the local boat ramps and found a vehicle, a vessel, and three individuals that matched the description in the complaint at Reeves Landing on Lake Miccosukee. When the vessel came back to the ramp, the officer conducted a resource inspection. The occupants denied possessing or using any goldfish for bait. Upon further inspection, a bait bucket was located containing one goldfish. One of the occupants admitted to fishing with them and then dumping them out before they came back to the ramp. He was cited for using goldfish for bait. EYE YIE YIE Officers responded to a spear fishing medical emergency involving a subject that had been shot in the eye area with a spear. The officers located the injured personʼs vessel approximately 4 miles offshore. The officers transported the victim to the Snook Inn
AINT GONNA DO IT Officer Davidson was on land patrol at Fort Hammer Boat Ramp. He noticed a subject trying to back his trailer down the boat ramp so his friend could load their boat. It appeared that the man backing the trailer down the ramp was having some difficulty performing this task. Officer Davidson approached the driver of the vehicle and immediately could tell that he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. The officer attempted to perform sobriety tasks on the operator to determine his level of impairment, but the driver refused to perform any task. You know what happened next. REFUSED Lieutenant Haney saw a vehicle passing dangerously in a no passing zone. He initiated a traffic stop and the driver refused to provide his license or registration. The driver acknowledged the traffic violation but stated that FWC officers did not have authority to enforce traffic violations. The driver called 911 and was instructed by Clay County Sheriffʼs Office (CCSO) to comply with the Lieutenant.
AND AWAY WE GO Officer Bell received an anonymous phone call about a deer being loaded onto a log truck. He discovered that the truck driver had hit an alligator. The driver admitted to loading the alligator on his truck and dumping it in a different location in the woods for his wife to pick up. When the wife came by to transport the alligator, Officer Bell transported her husband to jail.
Readerʼs Photos – Text Us Ur Fish Pix! see page 4
We are all family and close friends who fish together off Marco Bobby Fields, flounder
David Boggs 27.5-inch monster tripletail in Marco
Rob wright tripletail - off Marco
This marine copepod Temora longicornis was the 9th place winner in the Nikon Tiny World photo contest last month.
LIKE A SCENE FROM WATERWORLD With no place to go, homeless folks living on unregistered and/or derelict vessels have become the latest problem in the Bay area and around Santa Monica, California
Dwayne Davidson tripletail
MIchael Kusmierek, red grouper and goliath grouper, Sanibel Island
JUNE 2019
Smalltooth Sawfish
Still an Endangered Species
By Tonya Wiley Water LIFE Environment The population of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in the United States experienced a dramatic decline during the 20th century caused by overfishing, habitat loss, and limited reproductive potential. Given the decline in the population of US sawfish, in 1999 The Ocean Conservancy (then the Center for Marine Conservation) petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) requesting the North American population of smalltooth sawfish be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). On March 10, 2000 NMFS determined the petition presented substantial information indicating listing may be warranted for smalltooth sawfish and initiated a status review for the species, gathering all known public, commercial, and scientific data to consider during the status review process. The status review was completed in 2000 and determined that the population of smalltooth sawfish in US waters was in danger of extinction throughout its range. As a result, NMFS proposed to list the species under the ESA and solicited public comment, then on April 1, 2003 listed the US population of smalltooth sawfish as an endangered species under the ESA. The ultimate goal of the Endangered Species Act listing is to recover the population to the point that it no longer needs the protections of the ESA. Therefore, after the listing, NMFS convened the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Team to develop a plan to recover the US smalltooth sawfish population. The team worked several years to build additional knowledge of the species and to identify the most severe threats to the population. The recovery plan was published in 2009 and recommends specific steps to recover the population, focusing on (1) educating the public to minimize human interactions with sawfish and any associated injury and mortality, (2) protecting and/or restoring important sawfish habitats, and (3) en-
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suring sawfish abundance and distribution increase. After the plan was published NMFS assembled the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Implementation Team, a multiinstitutional panel of experts working to implement the recovery plan—protecting the remaining sawfish population in the US while rebuilding the population. (Sawfish News author Tonya Wiley is an appointed member of the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Implementation Team) Juvenile smalltooth sawfish, like many other marine species, use specific habitats commonly referred to as nurseries and the recovery plan states that protecting nurseries is important to the recovery of the species. In September 2009, NMFS designated two areas as Critical Habitat for juvenile sawfish: the Charlotte Harbor Estuary Unit (~ 221,459 acres) and the Ten Thousand Islands/Everglades Unit (~ 619,013 acres). Two specific habitat features within these areas are essential to the survival and recovery of smalltooth sawfish: (1) red mangroves and (2) shallow euryhaline inshore habitats with water depths less than 3 feet at mean lower low water. These essential features provide safe habitat for juvenile sawfish to use as nurseries, protecting small sawfish from predators and providing ample food for quick, early growth. Under the ESA, NMFS is required to periodically re-examine the listing classification of all threatened or endangered species to ensure accuracy. Similar to the initial status review, these periodic reviews (called 5-year reviews) require NMFS to collect and consider all available public, scientific, and commercial information on the listed species. The reviews consider information from the public, recovery plans, critical habitat designations, previous 5-year reviews, and all scientific literature, reports, and presentations. Since the ESA listing, two 5-year reviews have been published in 2010 and 2018, and both determined smalltooth sawfish remains in danger of extinction throughout its range and continues to meet the ESA definition of endangered. All documents are available at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/smalltooth-sawfish A video looking at smalltooth sawfish con-
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servation and recovery in the United States is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSRWUjVU3e8&t=3s. For more information visit www.SawfishRecovery.org or call 1-844-4SAWFISH. For more information about sawfish visit: http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/fish/sa
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wfish/ or https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/smalltooth-sawfish or call 1-844-4SAWFISH Tonya@havenworth.org 941-201-2685 www.havenworth.org
SAW -FISH PIX! Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
Sawfish are often a by-catch of shark fishing. These pictures of an entangled sawfish are from shark-fishing charter captain, John Brossard, taken last month near Marco. The sawfish was freed and released. That looks like a sliding sinker rig he was using.
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June – Predictions and Suggestions Charlotte Harbor Frank at Fishin’ Franks 941-625-3888
BackBay Xtremes Capt Dave Stephens www.backbayxtremes.com
941-916-5769
Sarah-Marie Smith with a 30 inch keeper snook caught on a shrimp in Naples
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Explore!
Fish with one of our Guides
Youʼll learn something and youʼll catch more fish!
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Robin Sprague with a nice king mackerel caught aboard Capt. Bert's SeaLady
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Name is Christian and the fish is a tilapia
from Water LIFE magazine
from Water LIFE magazine
Tarpon continue to be the main focus for a lot of people. I’m hearing stories of amazement and wonder as the Pass fills up with tarpon and people are standing on the beach watching numerous fish blow out at once. We have tarpon that move up into the Harbor and tarpon up on the hill. Now they are starting to go on the beaches – go about 6 miles offshore, they are out there doing the baby dance. The nearshore reefs have plenty of dinner fish. We have so many reefs so close to shore that if you are in the middle of the Harbor you are further from land than some offshore reefs. Snapper and grunts are closer in. In 60-feet the reefs are loafed with yellowtail snapper. Cobia are on the reefs, and it seems like they show up at the 41-Bridge every few days as if they are doing a drive by. The north end of the new walkway under the Bridge on outgoing tide has been good for cobia and the incoming on the Punta Gorda side - under the northbound side-has seen some nice cobia too. There is also a lot of goliath grouper, some 12-to 14-inch mangrove snapper and possibly still some black drum around there. Snook are still big. We have snook on the beaches, snook in Bull and Turtle Bay, snook in the Pine Island Sound and the Gasparilla Sound is full of too. May and June are when they spawn. Some get it done early, others dawdle around with it all summer. 2 o’clock call at the bar is in August, that’s when the last holdouts get lucky. Redfish are picking up. Lot of scattered reds down south around Pine Island but still small groupings: two or three here and there. Monster reds at Gasparilla Pass and Stump Pass. I think they are coming in. These are 35-plusinch redfish. Not a lot, but a few. We have better trout fishing now than we have had in the last
6 months. It started 5 years ago, trout don’t show up until May any more... and here they are. Bigger fish down by Pine Island Sound as you go south. Also seeing some fish at Tippecanoe most in the 14-inch range and some well into the 20-inch size. Snapper are back in PGI pretty good and in Harbor Heights. English John caught one over 14-inches. Go out along Cape Haze and look in the cuts and holes along the sandbar, there are going to be big mang-snappers there. Freshwater is on fire. Up by the Franklin Lock, Burnt Store, Rotonda, it doesn’t matter. We are selling the most shiners we have ever sold in the history of the store. Bass fishing is hot.
Lemon Bay, Placida, Gasparilla Sound Jim at Fishermen’s Edge 941-697-7595
Guys are doing OK. Offshore is still really good. Some of the guys have been catching dolphin and blackfin tuna... just casting out and letting the bait dangle in the water. A lot of guys went 25 miles. Been a lot of red grouper and a lot of shark. Shark is pretty strong, big sharks – some really good ones. And the snapper and grunts they’re doing really well too. The mates were talking about having so many fish to clean at the end of the day Inshore is OK too. I haven’t had anyone say there is a lot of action in Lemon Bay, but going to Placida and south there have been nice trout, decent redfish, some flounder and the Spanish have been coming in the Pass on the tide. Tarpon tournaments are happening now. There are a lot of tarpon around and there are a lot of sharks in the Pass right now too. I haven’t heard any freshwater stuff, but bass is probably still good. That’s the sum total of my info. No one likes to tell the bait shop owner what’s really going on.
Englewood Bait House live shrimp etc.
Head-Boat Trips Offshore Fishing 941- 475-4511
JUNE 2019
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The BIG-4 SHARK In and near the Pass, following the tarpon
June
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Fish you can expect in
TARPON Here now. In the Passes, Bay and Harbor
SPOTTED SEA TROUT Look south, around Pine Island
SNOOK Big near the ICW Big also in the PGI canals
Text Us Ur Fish Pix! see page 4
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Nearshore water temps are mid 80s many fish and baitfish are around
95˚ 90˚ 85˚ 80˚
75˚ 72˚
$25 WINNER from Water LIFE magazine
Kayla Krabill caught this tarpon on a top water lure out in the canals of swfl.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Junior Lopez, largemouth bass, San Carlos Florida
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Marketa Robinette with a est 175 lb Tarpon caught offshore Marco Island. Mullet was used for bait. It was landed and released
FISH PIX!
68˚
from Water LIFE magazine
50˚ 45˚
$25 WINNER from Water LIFE magazine
Justin Markley, grouper Matlacha, catch and release @artistfisherman
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
In Your Face!!! Craig The Canyon Kid sporting a nice kingfish. SWFL Baby!!!!!!!!
FISHING RIGHT NOW: AWESOME! FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Brogan silent fiah slammer
LAST CAST FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
This is the last picture we received before going to print for this month
Sorry about sending so many at once but would be great if y'all could use a couple of these of Reece Willis. All caught in the last 30 days.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Sunset snook, Capt. John Brossard
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Kayla Krabill This was my other catch a few days ago! My first shark out in Venice.
Ed notes* See my column on page 5. I got this one in print and one on page 7, all the rest are in the June online edition.
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24
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
JUNE 2019