Water LIFE July 2009

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July 2009

Hot Fishing... then Wind and Rain

Tournament Round Up Page 14

Electric Systems for Tarpon Page 12

Banished from Harry始s Page 5

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Water LIFE

MAGAZINE

Water LIFE

July

2009

Magazine inc.

Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180

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Not affiliated with any other publication Vol IIX No7 漏 2009 Water LIFE

No part of this publication (printed or electronic) may be copied or reproduced without specific written permission.

Contributing Editors:

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron Blago Charlotte Harbor: Capt. Mark Bennett Port Charlotte: Capt. Andy Medina Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck Eichner Offshore: Capt. Steve Skevington Commercial Fishing: Kelly Beal Sea Grant: Betty Staugler Real Estate: Dave Hofer Inshore: Fishin始 Frank Diving: Adam Wilson Kayaks: David Allen Sailing: Bill Dixon Office Dog: Molly

on the COVER:

Late afternoon live bait gathering at Marker No.2, at the top of Charlotte Harbor.

on our WEBSITE:

WWW.waterlifemagazine.com

RealEstate: What始s happening NOW!

Fishing Resource Guide: Everything you ever wanted to know Don Ball School: Class Report

Artificial Reefs: Projects and progress lat/long for local reefs

Expires July

Manatee Myths: Read the original plan to create sanctuaries and refuges, as spelled out by the United Nations in 1984 Kids Cup: Tournament Information.

July

2009

Water LIFE

MAGAZINE

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Water LIFE

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July

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2009

SharkTournament #2

TARPON and SHARK Headquarters

July 18

Jigs, Tails, Hooks, Cable, Shark Rigs: LARGEST SELECTION

L e t t e r s t o : Wa t e r L I F E @ c o m c a s t . n e t

Fro m: Mi chael McDo nal d RE: Gaffed Tarpo n Has the picture on the cover of WaterLIFE been "photoshopped"? (Editor replies: NO! Not ever!) The tarpon is supposed to be gaffed thru the lower jaw not between the jaw and the eye. I'm sure it was a mistake and not intentional. I fish in the tournament...I'm glad it wasn't me or my team that did it! I know that Jeff Totten probably didn't know about it. The controversy that the photo is going to create is unreal. First, you guys have Ingman Marine as one of your customers and they own the PTTS. So, they aren't going to be real happy that the photo was released without them proofing it.

Secondly, I believe that fish won week 2 of the PTTS. Which means he won a boat motor and trailer or about 30k worth of stuff and accumulated a bunch of points toward the championship Yamaha team of the year.

Furthermore, there will be some pissed off teams that lost to Jeff Totten’s team Century/poon crazy. We did not weigh a fish that week so it did not cost us any $. The tournament rules state that the fish has to be gaffed in the lower jaw. Your picture proves that it was not. The rules also allow us to protest within 15minutes of the tournament completion if we give them $500. Some guys feel that the judges give the Century{sponsor} or Yamaha{sponsor} teams preferential treatment due to a rules issue last year? Also, if you watch the programs the factory sponsored teams get more

airtime then a team that does not have an paid advertisement with the PTTS. I would not want to be Joe Mercurrio fielding all the heat about this picture. I would be willing to bet that Jeff Totten does not care what anyone thinks. Week 2 of the PTTS 2009 will stand out as the win with the ‘*’ just like Barry Bonds home run record. Sucks to be him.

Fro m: Jo s hua Jo hns to n To : jo emerc@g mai l . co m Cc: waterl i fe@co mcas t. net Hey Joe...i'm a big fan of your tarpon tournaments and show....but I must throw the bullshit flag on Jeff Totten and his team..century/poon crazy. I reference the picture on the cover of the WaterLIFE where clearly it shows the winning tarpon gaffed thru the side of the head. I know that while gaffing a fish it may wiggle or move but in reading your rules it clearly states that the fish must be gaffed thru the lower jaw. I'm sure this is not the only email you have recieved. Not only does this not look good for your tournament or show...its not ethical!! Furthermore, I read that a protest must be filed within 15 minutes after the end of the tournament accompanied by 500 dollars.

I have also heard that protests have been ignored or ruled against in the past so what do you do? Obviously, your tournament is sponsered by Century Boats and Yamaha and Jeff Totten is on the sponsor’s team. Should he be disqualified? Penalized his points or

Capt. Bill the famous local barber sent us this photo from his Punta Gorda barber shop. The ʻTarpon” is coincidentally, holding the magazine the letters to the editor are talking about.

loose his boat? Interesting controversy? If Jeff Totten was nicer to us non-tournament anglers during the non-tournament fishing times maybe I wouldn't have wrote this. Your other anglers are for the most part good guys and help us non-tournament guys when we ask simple questions. During your tournaments I have total respect and don't even fish. It is crazy enough out there during normal fishing times.I hope the tarpon lived!!!! but I doubt it!!!

Thanks Jo s h

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Is Boca Filling In?

By Fi shi n Frank Wat er LIFE C harl ot t e Harbor Many of the tarpon guides are talking about changing depths in Boca Grande Pass. Currents flowing different than in previous years, the new little

Pass Island at Boca Grande

‘Pass Island’ forming on the south side of Boca Pass. One of the captains mentioned that Boca Grande was the deepest pass that had never been dredged.

That is not at all correct. Boca Grande Pass was first dredged in 1912 and was under state mandated maintenance dredging every 2 to 3 years.

The Phostephate ships needed access to the docks at Boca Grande. In the 1950s as Tampa Bay was dredged for more commercial use, many companies switched to the Port of Tampa. All Phosphate is now shipped from Tampa.

But the FPL electric plant in fort Myers still used fuel oil to make electricity, A tanker would land at Boca Grande and offload FPL’s fuel oil to a barge that would run down the Pine Island Sound to the FPL plant on the Callosahatchee.

So the maintenance dredging continued.

But when F.P.L. went to natural gas the last commercial oil shippments ended and so did the maintenance dredging. I am not positive, but pretty sure the last time the channel was dredged was 2001.

We have now missed what should have been two ‘dredging cycles.’ What they do now is take sand from the area in front of the beach and build up the beaches. The concern is that sand put on the beaches will move south and possibly fill in the deep holes in the pass which have made it the tarpon fishing capitol of the world.

One captain has reported depths at the Lighthouse Hole have gone from 74 to 72 feet and from 80 to 76 feet.

Another hole has reportedly gone from 58 to 56 feet.

July

2009

Water LIFE

When all is said and done, Weʼll see who has done what they said

By Mi chael Hel l er Water LIFE Editor If you are reading this looking for more Flatsmasters Tournament issues you can stop soon. I am about through with the whineing crying babies that masquerade as tournament supporters. Quit your bitchin because I showed one blurry frame from a video in print. It was a violation. I couldn’t look the other way. I stick with what I did. Now it should be over.

It was not even a sharp image that appeared in print, it was just a film-camera photo off the TV screen. I didn’t think it needed to be to be too clear. Get it?

Now I’ve been told it was apparently just a small tinsy-weensie itsy-bitsy breaking of the law. The kind that is acceptable in Punta Gorda because it’s good for business. Thank you all for clearing that up for me.

What should have happened is the tournament should have responded officially and immediately and condemed the incident. That would have been End of Story.

Coincidentally, you can take a lesson from Fishin’ Frank’s column this month on page 13. He owned up to a problem in his tournament and fixed it.

But the Flatsmasters Tournament director didn’t even want to see the video. (It’s on our website now). He wouldn’t return my call. He wouldn’t meet with me.

Instead they have BANNED me from Harpoon Harrys whenever there is a fishing tournament going on. I kid you not. So help me God. And to you guys going “yeah, yeah, you go get ‘em” I say: you had your chance too. You’ve done nothing either. You’re all just talk. “I fish therefore I lie.” I bet

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you all have one of those T shirts.

Don’t get excited yet, you haven’t see the last of me.

In fact, now I’m thinking about fishing the Flatsmasters myself.

Next S ubject, Next Probl em:

We ran down the Harbor two weeks ago, my wife Ellen and I for a day swimming in the Gulf, but I smelled gas – it turned out there was a half gallon sloshing around in the bilge. Bad thing! I sopped it up with a towell, we took a quick swim and headed home with everything in the bilge unplugged.

At first I thought it was the float-gauge gasket leaking, but it wasn’t and gas continued to seep out around the bulkhead behind the tank.

When I talked to Stanley at Shoal Marine in Punta Gorda he said it was ‘probably corrosion.’ “Maybe a piece of pressure-treated wood in there,” he said. He was right on. A shim of 3/4 pressure treated plywood was in the foam at each corner of the tank. Put there when the boat was built. Evidently the chemicals in the pressure treated wood combine with salt and other bilge chemicals to make an electronic pathway for corrosion in the aluminium tank. I borrowed a trailer from my friend Scott Steffe at All Fiberglass Repairs in Punta Gorda and four hours later he had the tank out. It was corroded through with pinholes in three places on the bottom.

Thanks Stanley, thanks Scott. Now I need to have a new tank made and get the boat back together. So much for the plans for a quiet summer break.

Kingfish at Fishinʼ Franks?: Fishin is off the charts.

Frank says: It is a good thing fish do not know the rules because most of the fish that are here should be gone with the hot temperatures and all of the water coming off the rivers. But here they are! A 55-inch king mackerel (above) caught at Marker No 1. A 49-pound king at Cape Haze. Spanish are all over, legal grouper on the bridge reef, snappers, and big trout on the west wall.

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July

MAGAZINE

2009

Electric Tarpon Trolling Tricks

By Capt. Mark Bennett Water LIFE Tarpon Although we have had our share of challenging days, tarpon season has been good so far. July is one of my favorite months for tarpon fishing. The crowds start to subside and the fish are usually hungry. There are a lot of tarpon still along the area beaches and passes. I am also seeing more lately along some of the flats to the south of us. Look for areas that hold a lot of baitfish.

Tarpon, especially flats tarpon, will almost always be near an abundant food source.

I thought this month I would take the time to answer a reader’s question about my trolling motor and battery system on my boat. If you don’t use a trolling motor when you are tarpon fishing you need to. You will see your numbers increase dramatically.

Q: I have seen you fishing for tarpon along the beaches since I moved to the area a few years ago. I want to know, how many batteries do you have to run your electric trolling motor? On my flats boat I can barely get a few hours chasing tarpon before my batteries start losing power. Yours seems to run all day long and you are pushing a much bigger boat.

Glenn, Rotonda West

The performance of my electric motor is essential to my style of tarpon fishing. Over the years, I have spent many hours and put a lot of money into finding the “perfect” system. What I have installed on my boat, I believe, is the best the industry has to offer at this time.

It all starts with a 36 volt Motorguide trolling motor that has 109 pounds of thrust. These are the toughest longest lasting trolling motors in the business. I run three group 31 “AGM” batteries to power the motor.

They are a newer type of gel battery that holds peak amperage much longer than normal lead acid batteries. A big plus is, there are no gases released when they are charging. This eliminates dangerous corrosive and flam-

mable fumes being released into your console or hull.

They also will not lose charge from non-use like the lead acid type. They are a little more expensive, but I think the performance is well worth it. For overnight charging, I use a 45 amp 3 bank on-board battery charger made by Dual Pro (www.dualpro.com). This is by far the fastest charger I have ever used. It is a type of “smart” charger so to speak. It reads the present charge on the batteries and charges each battery accordingly. This way the batteries not only are charged quickly and efficiently, but it also extends the life expectancy of the battery. I run

Above: Capt. Mark Bennett gets ready to bring a big tarpon boatside off the beach. Below, a happy client Photos By: Jenni Bennett

extra heavy #2 marine grade wire from the batteries in my center console to power posts on the transom of my boat. My trolling motor is connected directly to the power posts, I don’t use any plugs or splices. This type of direct connection will ensure you are getting every ounce of power your batteries can provide. Last, but not least, I do have a secret weapon. It is called a Stealth 1 DC system (www.stealth1charging.com). When your outboard is running, this system actually senses when your boat’s cranking batteries are fully charged then it uses power from your outboard motor’s charging system to power a 24 or 36 volt 20 amp battery charger. So, when my outboard motor is running, my trolling motor batteries are charging. The Stealth 1 system has to be one of the most innovative products to come along in years. It even has a digital readout so you can monitor the status of the trolling motor batteries. This is how my trolling motor runs all day without any noticeable power loss. I hope this helps you with your boat.

I also wanted to thank the three guys in the white Pathfinder with the Suzuki motor by the lighthouse on June 2nd. I appreciate the space and time on that finicky pod that allowed me to get a hook up for my customer that day. I have not seen a display of proper etiquette like that in years.

Keep the line tight and bow when they jump, Capt. Mark Bennett can be reached to book a trip or for comments or questions at: www.tarponsnook.com or at (941) 474-8900

Water LIFE

Offshore with Capt. Steve

July

2009

Capt S teve S kevington Water LIFE offshore The last few weeks has been just one grouper trip after another.

Big red grouper are normally pretty far off our coast this time of year, thirty miles and further out is the norm for June-July. However this year is proving to be a change, we are finding respectable red's in as little as 45-50 feet of water.

Fishing cut bait right on the bottom is getting the best results, although live bait fished on the bottom and trolling big lipped plugs is pulling its fair share of these fish too.

Now snapper on the other hand seem to be holding a little deeper, with some absolute monster mangrove snapper being taken from 80-100 foot depths. Fishing the wrecks has always been my favorite way to bag a bunch of big snapper.

All of our area wrecks get a lot of fishing pressure, that can make snapper fishing really hard in the daylight hours. What I like to do is sneak out there after the sun goes down, and the crowds clear out. Those fish just turn completely suicidal after dark. They bite so hard, and feed with such gusto after dark that if you get a chance to do this kind of fishing you really have to pull the rein’s in on yourself.

The cooler will fill up so fast with 5- to 9pound fish that if you don't take a step back and count your fish every now and then you could go over your bag limit in no time.

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If you don't want all the frustration that comes with navigating your boat at night, there is still plenty of snapper to be had in the daylight hours. The ledges in 65-70 feet can hold a ton of lane and mangrove snapper right now. No need to chum these fish as they will be concentrated really tight on the high side of the ledge.

Just drop down a live shrimp on a light leader and count to ten, if you don't have a bent rod by the time you count to nine then crank up and put on another shrimp. These fish are hungry, but so are the scads of small Amberjack that occupy these same spots. I haven't found any "Big" amberjack lately, they have all been in the thirty pound range, what I lovingly refer to as "summer size".

The sharks are still all over the place offshore, and from what I hear from my inshore friends there all over the flats as well.

I like to fish these guys in about 20 feet of water. We use bonita chunks fished on wire leader, but almost any fresh cut bait will work.

Just flat-line the baits out behind your boat, turn the clickers on and wait. Sharks are a lot of fun to catch, little ones, big ones, it don't matter they all run hard and fight like they mean it. And the black tips and spinners are even nice enough to jump. With all that being said , the weathers red hot and so is the fishing.

Capt. Stev e can be reached at: 575-3528 for fishing information or to book a charter trip.

A big ʻSummer Sizeʼ AJ looks even bigger when held close to the camera

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Permit Have Been Healthy Page 8

By Capt Bo b DeKeul enaere Water LIFE Fishing Mention permit fishing to most anglers and visions of being poled across tropical sun bathed flats in search of tailing fish in locations like Belize, the Marquesas and the Keys come to mind.

Many do not realize that we have world class permit fishing right here in our own back yard. In Southwest Florida permit can be caught in the surf, along the sandbars of our passes, and around the many wrecks that dot our coastline.

Stalking big, wary permit on the flats is one of the most difficult ways to pursue these fish leaving even the most accomplished anglers contemplating easier quarry on many an occasion. While many permit are taken in shallow water situations, bigger specimens are more easily targeted on deep water reefs and wrecks.

Here permit are less skittish and easier to fool which greatly tips the odds in our favor. Wreck permit in Southwest Florida tend to run in the 10 to 30 pound range and are available well into the mid summer months.

The first order of business is to locate

a school of permit. GPS numbers for our artificial reefs and wrecks are readily available via navigational charts, the internet, and local tackle shops. The best locations start at 10 miles out and receive less fishing pressure than the near shore structures. Once you arrive at your selected destination carefully monitor your depth finder to locate the structure. You can also keep a watchful eye out for packs of cuda that tend to give away the wrecks location by stacking up right on top of them.

Permit may not always hold right over a wreck so a little hunting may be required.

Run a concentric search pattern in the general area of the wreck and watch for permit cruising 5 to 15 feet below the surface in large pods. Once the fish are located it is best to deploy a marker buoy so that you can anchor up tide of these schools or run successive drifts past the schooling fish.

Wreck fishing for permit tends to be best on clear calm days when the fish can be easily sighted and tend to feed more aggressively. Permit tend to vacate the upper water column and seek deeper water once the winds and seas kick up. When

Mercury Inboard / Outboard Service and Repairs WEʼll make it RUN!

w w w. a l l f i b e r g l a s s r e p a i r s . c o m Scott Steffe Owner

1726 Steadly Ave Punta

July

MAGAZINE

this occurs their appetites wane and they can become difficult to locate. Mr. Permit also tends to feed more heavily during strong outgoing tides. During slack and incoming tides schools of permit feed poorly and will often break up into smaller constantly moving pods which become increasingly harder to locate.

The best bait for permit are small live crabs. Pass crabs, sand crabs, and blue crabs with a carapace approximately the size of a half dollar piece will out fish any other lure or bait hands down. When crabs are not available, shrimp tipped jigs, live lined shrimp on small live bait hooks, and even Berkley Gulp shrimp fished on a jig or a 3/0 circle hook will do in a pinch. When fishing with crabs utilize 3/0 circle hooks and either cast to or free line the crab with the current to the waiting permit. When fish are holding in the 10 -15 foot range adding a 1/8 ounce split shot to get the bait down to the fishes eye level will increase your hook up percentage. To get the best fight out of a permit and to fool their excellent eyesight in clear offshore waters it is recommended to utilize medium light tackle

2009

spinning gear filled with 20 pound test Power Pro braided line and 3 to 5 feet of 20 pound fluorocarbon leader. Permit have soft rubbery mouths and pose no threat to light leaders. When an angler does get broken off it is usually due to the permit taking the line down into the wreck or Mister Cuda developing a taste for crab.

Once hooked permit fight hard. They turn their silvery grey, saucer shaped bodies sideways to use the current to their advantage and beat those powerful sickle shaped tails to burn up your drag with long, stubborn, deep circling runs.

Offshore permit fight dirty and will use every trick in the book to cut you off on any available bottom wreckage. When larger specimens approaching the 30 pound range are encountered a step up in line, leader and tackle to avoid repeatedly getting cut off in the depths may be required to stay in the game.

Unfortunately, Mr. Permit may then refuse your offering thanks to his superb vision leaving you talking to yourself while drifting further offshore.

Bob DeKeulenaere can be reached at boblenaere@comcast.net

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July

2009

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Screaming Reels

Page 10

By Capt. Andrew Medi na Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor July is month that gets busy for some, with 4th of July fireworks, long weekends, and outdoor cookouts. The boat ramps, and parks should be buzzing with activities.

And with even warmer water temps, it is a invite to enjoy water sports. All across the harbor this month you will see people swimming, tubing, and enjoying the weather in general. But, while you’re out don’t forget to pack a rod, along with that lunch.

July is a real great month to get a line wet.

Even though, the water temp’s are up around 90 degrees, the fish are still plentiful and willing to eat. An abundance of baits in our harbor, combined with some big tides, have kept fish on the flats and near the bushes. Many snook are being caught along the west wall and into Whidden Creek.

Larger fish pushing the 33-inch mark are hanging close to the bait. When these fish get into the troughs and potholes, it’s hard to beat a free lined threadie or a pinfish. The larger snook can also be caught on topwater or suspending lures first thing in the morning. What I like to do is anchor down the furthest I can from the trough or pothole, and still make an accurate cast. That’s where

Water LIFE

How to Get By In July

it is almost impossible to fish correctly without the use of a power pole. A an anchor with a chain, is way too noisy to make a stealthy approach. With the power pole you simply push a button and line up on the area you want to fish. When you want to move on to the next pothole, one more push of the button and your off. This simple to use accessory has changed the way I approach fish. Free lined baits are sometimes harder to throw, so longer rods and lighter line will help you hit your target. This time of the year, most anglers don’t realize that if you are fishing open flats, it’s a lot like winter time. There is nothing on a open flat that will break you off, like the cover of mangroves. You will have the advantage, by fighting the fish correctly, allowing him to make long runs, not horsing the fish like it’s a bass tourney. I personally throw 15-pound Power Pro, on a 7’6 or an 8’ American Rodsmiths rod. This allows me to make long accurate casts, and still have enough backbone to get a good hook set. Even though snook season will remain closed ‘till September 1, the catch and release action will be hot. Redfish are holding their own in the harbor. There are a lot of fish on the west side of the harbor,

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My name is Cliff Freda and you know me from Franks My family were all fishing off my brother's dock last night and my 10 year old, Sara, caught this beautiful snook by herself on a live shrimp.

Thanks alot Cliff Freda

and up into Englewood. These fish were holding tight to the bushes and as the tides drop these fish will push out on to the flats. Large schools of fish are always fun, and there are a few groups in the Placida area. I like fishing singles or a few fish better.

When the fish are on the shorelines it’s hard to beat a half of blue crab. Redfish are by nature crustacean feeders. They have crushers in the back of their throat to help break up large shells. I get a lot of strange looks when people see me cutting a crab in half, until they see the results. True, the bite is not always “every cast” but I’m looking for larger fish, and have the hopes, that a larger redfish will eat it. Only thing I recommend is the use of a larger circle hook than normal. Sometimes the bites are less than aggressive, and by the time you realize you have a fish he already swallowed the crab, along with the hook. A larger hook will greatly reduce the percentage of the fish gut hooked by dead sticking bait. Also, the big news this month will be tarpon. True, the fish should start leaving the pass soon to continue their voyage to where ever they go, but don’t let that stop you from going tarpon fishing, just because they leave the pass. That does not mean they have left the

July

2009

harbor. There will still be plenty of fish around the bridges up both rivers and in the canals. These fish are sometimes smaller than pass fish so I fish for these fish with the same tackle I fish the flats with. And this time of the year I think DOA has the bait of choice. The ¼ and ½ ounce shrimp in a variety of colors will fool them every time. Also the BaitBuster is a deadly lure when fishing in the harbor for tarpon. For you live baiters tarpon can also be caught on threadfins, just be careful how far up river you bring your bait. With a lower salinity level, and less oxygen in the water, don’t be surprised if you are fishing up river and your bait goes’ belly up.

Trout fishing is also doing well out by the markers, a lot of fish are finding their way to the cooler, deeper water. Also, there is plenty of cobia, and snapper hanging around to make your next trip a success.

Till next time, be safe on the water and just have fun. Remember to take a kid fishing if you can, the memories will last him a lifetime.

Capt. Andrew Medina can be reached at (941)456-1540 or on the web at www.fishfloridatarpon.com, to book a trip or fishing info.

Plan ʻCʼ for Captiva July

2009

By Capt. Chuck Ei chner Water LIFE Inshore The vision of a tarpon jumping just outside the surf from my gulf view room was still ringing in my head a year later.

On a vacation last June to Tween Waters Inn on Captiva Island we watched an angler battle a large tarpon that performed fantastic aerial leaps. We were pumped up for a day of fishing! We managed to catch snook not far from the hotel. In the evening when we were supposed to go out for a nice dinner hungry tarpon changed everything. We lucked into finding free swimming crabs and dipped up several before starting a drift in only 7 feet of water within a ½ mile of our room. We hooked 7 tarpon in 2 evenings and boated 2. Silver Kings in the 120140 pound range are some of the hardest fighting and most spectacular jumping fish I have encountered and in 7 feet of water they really take to the air. One tarpon jumped 7 times before snapping Joyce’s line!

With those memories from last year came expectations and anticipation of doing the same. Well in advance we picked similar tides in June and booked another 3 day stay at Tween Waters Inn. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was marginal as we left our home dock and headed to a bait spot prior to heading south to Captiva. Bait catching was very good and within an hour we had 200 pilchards, 50 pinfish and a dozen large threadfins. Captiva is about 1 to 1 ½ hours from Punta Gorda or Port Charlotte depending on where you launch from.

Arriving at Tween Waters marina we were greeted with ominous weather that was way too threatening to be on a boat.

This is a great place to stay if you haven’t been there. It has old Florida charm with a meandering complex that takes advantage of its location with views of the gulf on one side and Pine Island Sound on the backside. The cabana bar adjacent to a beautiful pool was our entertainment for that day.

The next morning the view from the

Water LIFE

balcony was quite different than the prior year with 3-6 foot waves crashing into the beach. Clearly protected backwater fishing was going to be the course for the day as we readied the boat to head out.

Opening the floating bait pen that had been filled the night before set the tone for the day. I expected to find the majority of bait in good shape and was going to transfer them into my livewell. The only problem was that it was full of hardhead catfish that spent the night feasting on my bait. Fat cats to say the least and with the bait pen top still latched I learned that catfish can snake into thin spaces just like a rat!

Plan B was to cast lures and with a 20 knot southwest wind at our backs we drifted mangrove edges at high speed as we flung lures and plastics. Muddy water was everywhere and my confidence dwindled with darkening clouds on the horizon. As every fisherman knows each day is different and the key to success is adapting to changing conditions.

Plan C was to catch a fish and any kind of fish would help moral. Idling along either side of Redfish Pass we passed miles of submerged grassbeds that were churned up and muddy. I pondered how we could effectively fish for speckled trout and decided to throw a large Cajun Thunder cork with a 1/4oz. jighead with a Gulp plastic shrimp attached. The idea was to make a lot of noise because the water was very choppy and murky and the boat was drifting very fast in the wind.

Fifteen minutes into our first drift and wham! My float dives and a super nice trout is fought to boat-side. Perhaps 23 inches and very stocky. After a few high fives celebrating the good luck we began a serious cadence of pop-pop and stop with our floats and nice trout were thumping our baits as we drifted at high speed. Pressing the chartplotter waypoint marker as we would hit fish along a 1 mile drift, we set up a course to come back and follow. It worked beautifully as bites would occur exactly where we previously got bit. On one cast Joyce missed

MAGAZINE

Capt. Chuck and a Captiva Trout

a strike and her Power Pro broke at an apparent weak spot. Keeping an eye on her popping cork we motored back to retrieve it. Just as we reached down to grab it a fish hit it, hooked itself and took off. Gone and out of sight we could only laugh. On other drifts we spotted the cork in the distance and motored over to retrieve it only to have the fish dive and go out of sight. As the winds picked up to near 30 knots we made our last drift and watched as a 200 pound shark swam

P a g e 11

past our boat. Amazing to see such a monster in 3 feet of water! Moments later a large trout came flying out of the water trailing an orange cork with the shark right behind it. Needless to say, we never saw that cork again!

Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local charter captain. For information or to book a guided fishing trip call 941-505-0003 or go to his website: www.backcountry-charters.com

DIVING

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Water LIFE

July

MAGAZINE

2009

with Adam Wilson

By Adam Wi l son Water LIFE Diving With the warming water temps pushing most quality fish out deeper, we felt it was the perfect time to make a run to the middlegrounds out of Clearwater Pass. It had been almost a year since we made the 250 mile round trip and we were all thinking of shooting some huge hogfish. These fish aren't exactly the most worthy advesaries, actually I think you could coax them onto an opened stringer, but they are delicious and the sight of one over 10 pounds makes my mouth water.

We spent the night working our way out the 100 miles to the edge of this huge 400 square mile tropical like reef, catching our limit of red snapper along the way. Once at the edge of the grounds we anchored into a hard bottom patch loaded with red porgies. Now these small fish are downright boring to catch on hook and line, especially with the kind of gear typically used this far offshore, but red porgies in the Gulf have no size or bag limit and are right next to yellowtail snapper on the tasty scale, so away we went to filling the cooler. I always prefer to hook and line panfish and save the larger grouper and snapper for the spear.

The next morning we dropped on a large elevated hard bottom reef a few hundred feet across. The top of the reef is at about 85 feet and at the edges it is a sheer drop down to almost 130 feet. The middlegrounds is comprised of probably thousands of these small island like sea mounts made of limestone and coral. When sea level was much lower a few thousand years ago, many of these mounts were actual islands inhabited by indians, as evidenced by remains still found there today.

On my descent I noticed a good sized amberjack, about 25 pounds, hovering motionless above a small horseshoe shaped outcropping only a few feet tall.

Looking like a helicopter hovering just before a landing, he slowly began his descent into the landing zone, stopping just a foot off the bottom. Now I have a lot of dives under my belt and have always been entertained by the curious and friendly amberjacks that accompany us on almost every dive, but I have never seen one sitting perfectly motionless. It's just not in their behavior. Like tunas and bonitas these fish are always swimming. Not only was he perfectly still, but not one fin was even so much as waving. It was as if he was magically suspend-

Hogfish at twilight.

ed off the bottom by hidden strings. When we approached within about 20 feet it was apparent he was completely oblivious to us divers. He opened his mouth, flared his gills and then as if on cue, dozens of inch long neon blue fish poured out of the surrounding swiss cheese rock and swarmed over him. In and out of his mouth and gills, along his back and under his belly.

Like a tiny Nascar pit crew these little cleaner fish were racing all around removing microscopic parasites from the amberjack.

The small horseshoe outcropping, clearly visible from a good distance was the perfect location for this Gulf cleaning station. Thousands of fish had probably made their own landings at this aquatic service spot.

Like a busy underwater airport, I could have stayed there all day and watched all the different fish come and go. It was a big 12 pound female hogfish I noticed out of the corner of my eye that finally distracted my attention and returned my hunter instincts.

Unlike the desolation of the Gulf floor closer to home, the grounds is mile after mile of ledges, caves, swiss cheese reefs, pillars, coral heads and under sea mountains. There is so much bottom terain that it isn't all covered with fish. Typically spots will either be a

Photo by Adam Wilson

ghost town or just the opposite and swarming with a small portion of almost every kind of fish found in the Gulf. A close eye on a good bottom machine will clue you in on the best spots to dive and find fish. Finding new dive locations is as easy as slowly cruising around and watching for the inevitable bottom break and fish show. A middlegrounds trip can easily be planned with only a single chart number, something that is unheard of in our area.

Visibillity averages around 40 feet, but each dive spot can vary greatly. On one dive we had vis lower than 30 feet. Just a couple of miles away at the next spot vis was almost 80 feet. Near the full moon you will find some screaming currents moving through the deep underwater island cuts. Anchoring for fishing is the norm, but while diving it is best to have 2 people up top driving and following bubbles. Drift diving can cover a huge section of reef and divers may surface hundreds of feet from the drop point. Divers should always carry air driven horns and blow up "see me" tubes in case they surface far from a pursuing boat.

The only problem is, with the two fish per person limit you will be done fishing most natural bottom spots in about 10 minutes.

July

Water LIFE

2009

Page 13

MAGAZINE

Shark Tournament brings lots of big catfish and a few other surprises

All the flies on Capt. Wayne Nicholʼs shark drew the crowds attention

Larry Mayʼs catfish had a weird lumpy head.

In all 5 cats over 5 pounds (gutted) were weighed in. Clint Jeff had the winner at 5.90 pounds.

X-Treme Redfish Tournament

Results June 28 Event

1.

J.R Witt, Terry Brantly total 13.51 lbs $1070.00 Big fish $230.00 2.Dustin Hormann, Jeremiah Melchor 11.62 lbs $460.00 3.Ron Cauffman, Nate Larson 11.04 lbs $185.00 4. Clint Webster, Justen Solomen 10.98 lbs $125.00 We had 24 teams in this leg of the tournament. A total of 28 fish weighed in (4 dead).

We hope to see you all at the next one July 25, 2009

By Fi shi n Frank Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor.

One Shark, Catfish, and Sting-Ray tournament down and one to go. I wish I could say all went well, and for the most part it did. Let’s face it, this is a big tournament 500 to 600 people have to be signed-in and signed-out. Each year brings up new problems. Last year it took over two hours to sign-out every one. An average of one person every 18 seconds. Way too long for people to be standing in line. This June sign-out times were 3.5 second per person. What took over two hours, only took 18 minutes this year! Now we didn’t know the correct total of people who signed up. We knew 540 people paid, but one guy paid twice, another did not pay at all.

Here is the most embarrassing issue: Nine years ago was our last lie detector ‘polygraph test’ a guy brought in a large bull shark. It was covered with flies, and only a little ice, it just smelled bad. He went to the polygraph. It turned out the fish was caught during the tournament and was not an "old fish" but he was out of bounds when he hooked the fish. That incident was in my mind when this years winning shark was brought in with only a slight bit of ice and full of flies and smelling bad.

Not having had to deal with this for 9 years, I looked for help from the biologist there and they could not say when the fish was caught, and the guy who brought it in is a good person, so with the knowledge of the first polygraph and no evidence that he did anything but catch a monster shark. He won!

To protect the winners and keep the rumor mill to a minimum, this will not be the case again. I have hired a firm to do polygraphs, Never again will a shark that attracts so many flies win. The rules state "edible condition." This is subject to who is doing the eating. So edible condition will be judged by a third party panel and when you sign up you will agree to abide by their decision. Hate it, like it, this is the way it is. This is to insure that no one goes around calling good people cheaters. Over the years after 10 polygraphs we found winners were not cheating. They did follow the rules, that is why we quit doing those expensive polygraph tests. This year pushed us back into the testing. It will protect the winners from false accusations and everyone else from cheaters.

We have a boundary change this year for the tournament. People coming from Fort Myers asked to include New Pass into the legal boundaries. We have done that.

Thank you for your patronage Fort Myers and Cape Coral and good luck in the tournament.

I am sorry the proper safeguards for the winners were not in place, but it will never happen again.

Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who had fun. Glad you are with us. – Frank

Weighmaster Capt Andrew Medina weighs in a fish from Capt. Wayne Quick

IFA Tournament

The big fish at the IFA Redfish Tour at Stump Pass in June was this 6.86 pounder caught by Ray Trudeau.

Out of 96 boats fewer anglers weighed in than expected and the fish weights, in this artificial only event, were generally low.

Bob Looper and Rick Walters, both a Brooksville, Fl, caught a two-redfish limit that weighed 13.23 pounds to win the 2009 IFA Redfish Tour event at Englewood, Fishing with Gulp!

Jerk Shads, the pair boated 10 fish on the day.

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Page 14

Goliath Grouper Research

S ea Grant / Bet t y S t augl er At a recent artificial reef workshop organized by Florida Sea Grant in Palmetto, world renowned fisheries biologist Dr. Chris Koenig (Florida State University) shared the results of the goliath grouper biology research he has recently completed. I think many of you will find these results to be quite interesting.

What i s j uv eni l e gol i at h grouper habi t at ?

A variety of methods were used to study juvenile goliath groupers in mangrove habitat. Mangrove habitat is essential for juvenile survival and the Ten Thousand Islands and Everglades in southwest Florida is the most important source of juvenile recruitment, but other areas in Florida are also important. Juveniles remain in mangrove habitat for the first 5 to 6 years of life and they move offshore when they reach about 36 inches in length. The abundant food and shelter results in higher survival (95%) and rapid growth (4.5 to 6 inches/year). They tend to not move much and usually stay within 100 yards (meters) of the same spot.

What do gol i at h grouper eat ?

Most local anglers and divers are con-

Water LIFE

vinced that this massive grouper (can weigh up to 800 lbs) eats other small grouper and reef fish found on the reefs they inhabit. However, this does not appear to be true. Dr. Koenig found that 85% of the diet consisted of crustaceans, most of which were crabs. The remaining 15% of the diet primarily consisted of slow-moving fishes such as burrfish, catfish, toadfish etc. They forage for food during daylight and are mostly inactive during the night.

How m uch do gol i at h grouper m ov e around?

I already mentioned that juveniles don’t move much. The same is true of adults with many tagged fish found gathered at the same spot. When juveniles move out of mangrove habitat, they may disperse far and wide. One juvenile tagged in the Ten Thousand Islands was recaptured on the central east coast of Florida in the Indian River area. Adults can also migrate up to 100 miles to spawning aggregation sites.

When and w here do gol i at h grouper spaw n?

Most of the spawning aggregations found to date are off of southwest Florida, but additional aggregations have recently been found off of central east coast. These

July

MAGAZINE

aggregations usually contain less than 100 individuals.

Spawning occurs in late summer or early fall. Dr. Koenig found that spawning occurs on dark nights (new moon particularly) between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. (so sometimes they are active at night). Such spawning behavior is likely an adaptation to avoid egg predation.

What i s t he st at us of t he gol i at h grouper st ock?

Goliath grouper were once very abundant; however, due to fishing pressure, they were nearly eliminated. Regulation passed in the early 1990’s prohibited taking goliath grouper. Now, many years later, populations seem to be recovering, especially along Florida’s southwest coast. Many anglers and divers report that they have become extremely abundant and may be “overpopulating” wrecks and reefs and depleting other reef fish.

Goliath grouper have become accustomed to eating hooked fish making it essentially impossible for an angler to successfully bring a hooked fish to the boat. Spear fishermen increasingly report alarming encounters with goliath grouper aggressively attacking speared fish. Many folks have suggested that perhaps the time has come to allow keeping a limited number

2009

photo: Doug Seifert

of goliath grouper fish. What little scientific data that is available indicates goliath grouper abundance is increasing.

However, the data is very limited and is not available for its entire geographic range. Thus, there is a great deal of uncertainty in projecting when goliath grouper abundance will have fully recovered.

Because of it demise in the past, my opinion is that fisheries scientists will want to have very good data before any type of harvesting is allowed. Stay tuned!

(Source: Marine Scene, Volume 50-2.

University of Florida-IFAS Manatee County Extension)

Betty Staugler is the Florida Sea Grant Agent for Charlotte County. Florida Sea Grant is a Univ ersity of Florida-IFAS Ex tension Program. Betty can be reached at 941.764.4346.

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2009

Water LIFE

FWC to Review Manatee Management Plans

MAGAZINE

Page 15

Same names still involved with drive to curtail boating

S taff Report from FWC In late June, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) heard a progress report on the Manatee Management Plan. The update included reports on several management tasks under way since the approval of the plan in December 2007.

The plan sets out a schedule for the review of existing manatee-protection rules. The first action requires a review of Sarasota County’s rules. Kipp Frohlich, FWC’s Imperiled Species Section leader, informed the Commission that this review is moving forward.

“We notified Sarasota County in early April, asking them to form a committee to consider potential rule changes,” Frohlich said. “Several meetings have taken place so far to discuss areas that might warrant some rule modification.”

The committee will review the package of information and data analysis provided by the FWC and prepare a report that will be submitted to the FWC by mid-July. Frohlich said FWC staff will review the committee’s report

and bring any recommendations for rule changes in Sarasota County to the Commission in either September or December.

The Manatee Management Plan recommends amending the rule for commercial fishing and professional guiding permits to allow permits only for commercial net-setting. Currently, exemptions on boat speeds are available in limited locations for commercial fishermen. Frohlich said staff will meet with stakeholders and current permit holders over the next few months to discuss the issue. A possible draft rule will be presented to the Commission in September or December.

Frohlich reported that reviews have begun on county Manatee Protection Plans, starting with Collier and Duval counties. There are 13 key counties with plans that eventually will need review. Charlotte is one of them.

FWC staff is collecting boating and manatee data from the first two counties and will revise their plans by the end of 2010, if necessary. Finally, the FWC has been working closely with

IFA angler Goeff Paige shows Mote Marine biologist Carole Neidig a new $15 (+/- ) floating, plastic gamefish Fish Grip. Unlike a Boga Grip this grip does not allow the fish to ʻspin.ʼ Paige noted. It operates with an over-center Vice-Grip like lock. www.nortonbrassrattler.com

federal and state agencies to refine and improve the process the FWC uses when coordinating with permitting agencies to perform manatee impact reviews.“The Manatee Management Plan provides the framework for conserving and managing manatees in Florida for the long term, and we are confident given our past gains we can achieve that,” Frohlich said.

Page 16

Water LIFE

More on the $10,000 Fishing Grant

Mi chael Hel l er Water LIFE Editor As the pieces start to fall into place, still more questions arise over the Take Me Fishing Grant issued to Charlotte County Parks and Recreation Department and then later recinded after the County failed to implement a timely or acceptable plan. The grant money, we were told, has now been returned and the kids of Charlotte County have lost out.

Whether this opportunity will present itself again next year is not clear.

After numerous communications we have now received a copy of what is supposed to be to be the actual grant application Ms. Karen Helmick filed on behalf of Charlotte County. The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) is the agency that approved and issued the grant.

Unfortunately we were told that the actual application was made online, so what we got was a printed-out version of the online screens but with the numbers written in, in longhand, in the margin.

That will now take a little more verification.

Even so, attached to the application was a typewritten sheet outlining what the county was going to do for our kids with the money. Not on a county letterhead, just a blank sheet of paper.

The first thing the plan lists is county’s Risk Watch program, claiming county staff members “visit each of the area’s middle schools to discuss boating and water safety skills.”

What a broad interpretation of the truth. On the Charlotte County internet site, the Risk Watch program is defined: (:copy and paste:) “The Risk Watch Program is an exciting NFPA, National Fire Protection Association, program with a comprehensive curriculum designed to give children the information they need to make positive choices about their personal safety and well being.”

MAGAZINE

Topics include: 1. Motor Vehicle Safety & Bus Safety 2. Fire/Burn Prevention & Wild fire Safety 3. Choking and CPR 4. Drug Prevention & Child Abduction Safety 5. Firearms Safety 6. Animal Safety 7. Bike Safety 8. Water Safety”

That sounds more like: what to do if your boat catches fire than take me fishing.

Next, the application talked about the Kayak Festival, even though it was already clear there wasn’t going to be a Kayak Festival. Four hundred people attend, the application said. Four hundred is an important number because when you add 400 to 100 people the county said will attend the Big Surf Fishing Tournament and another 100 (or so) at the county’s “Fishing & Wildlife Camp” the total number (600) falls WAY SHORT of the 3,500 kids (specified by the grant) – kids that need to have a ‘fishing experience’ in order for the county to qualify for the grant money.

Still they got the check.

This money for the grant comes from boating and fishing expenditures. It was your money at one time, and last month that money was misappropriated.

So who is at fault? My guess is that the county people probably knew they were fudging the paperwork and that someone at the RBFF made it way too easy for them to do so. If left unchecked this was going into the county’s coffers and our kids would have been none the wiser.

This is apparently the problem with many grants. The followup appears to often be grossly inadequate.

By Bi l l Di xon Water LIFE Sailing

I had a great Wednesday night. I raced in and won the open Beercan Series race put on by Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club. I don’t usually win; I had great crew in P/C John and Nancy Dauster. The best part came later at the CHYC bar. First, Martin Holland told me that the concrete base for the first jib crane in the area is poured and is curing. He expects to be able to launch small boats July 4.

Better yet, CHYC is fostering a Flying Scot fleet. I have been hearing that I should start a lighting fleet, F/S fleet, J22 fleet, J24 fleet, pick your boat fleet since I moved ashore in 1998. Dennis Peck and Gary Trimmer actually had a small one design fleet of roto moulded ”Escapes” going, but the manufacturer kept changing the boat. I started racing sailboats in mid life with an awful boat, a McGregor 24. But, I was racing against dozens of other McG 24’s, so it was “fair”. I had a great time, all my competitors were kind and helpful and after my first year I started finishing not last.

I was not familiar with Flying

July

2009

Scots, so I looked them up on the web.

They are 19 feet long, 6-9 wide. They weigh 850 lbs. and carry about 191 sq ft of sail upwind and about 350 Sf off the wind. They appear very stable, yet they plane. There is one manufacturer, there have been thousands made since the late 50’s. The class rules are strict, and there are sail limits. Hull number 1 still races competitively.

In one design sailboat racing, the best sailor wins, not the biggest wallet.

You can look over at your competition and see what’s different about their sail trim or weight distribution, as well as who is higher, or faster. New Flying Scots are available race ready at about $20,000, used boats from $3k. In contrast a Melges 20 is $40,000, a Colgate 26 more. This is fabulous news for people who like to race. The manufacturer web site http://www.flyingscot.com/ has a great video of the boats sailing, as well as photos, specs etc.

The class organization at http://www.fssa.com/ has the class rules which they call the “manual”.

I have great hopes that the Flying Scot fleet will add a whole new dimension to sailing on Charlotte Harbor.

Contact Martin Holland at bayracer@comcast.net for more information.

July

2009

Kayaking Tippecanoe

By Davi d Al l en Water LIFE Kayaking Charlotte County is fortunate to have some of the best kayaking waters in Florida. There are many natural launch sites in the county, most of them are a sandy beach or bank along a backwoods river. But in addition to the natural launch sites, the Charlotte County Parks Department does an excellent job of providing additional launch sites with better facilities and improved parking. Since Hurricane Charley came our way, the Parks Department has opened three new launch sites in the Port Charlotte area.

First came West Spring Lake at the intersection of Edgewater Drive and Lakeview Blvd. This is the largest of the three parks and it has excellent facilities for both powerboater and kayakers.

Leaving from the concrete launch ramp will quickly take you into Little Alligator Creek and then, a mile beyond, Alligator Bay in the area of Port Charlotte Beach Park. From there the options are almost endless; head south toward Muddy Bay, Kayak Beach and the mangroves; or head east, around Grassy Point, then either east toward Punta Gorda or up the Peace River to Harbor Heights Park. You can't have a bad paddle along any of these routes.

Water LIFE

MAGAZINE

In 2008, the Sunrise Park site was opened to provide easier access to Little Alligator Creek for canoes and kayaks.

Located just a half mile east of West Spring Lake on Edgewater Drive, this small park also has restroom facilities and a sand beach to launch from.

After launching, your options are the same as for West Spring Lake.

And just last week, a new park was opened that I think is going to be used regularly by many kayakers. It's the Tippecanoe Environmental Park located at the end of Tea Street, just off Highway 776. The Parks Department did a very nice job of providing an all-weather road to the launch and a bowl-shaped area leading to the shallow, sandy put-in. You launch into Flamingo Creek which winds its way south and west of the Port Charlotte Sports Complex. Flamingo Creek and Sam Knight Creek drain the entire area south of Highway 776, including the Sports Park, into Tippecanoe Bay and further on, into the Myakka River.

Last week our kayak club took our first paddle from this site and it showed a lot of promise. There are two main routes and some of our group tried each of them.

You can paddle down a broad canal, with homes on the east side and mangroves on the west. If you continue down Flamingo Creek you will enter the Manchester Waterway. If you really felt motivated, paddling about 5 miles further would take you into Alligator Bay south of Port

Page 17

With the recent rain the dry sod at Tippecanoe launch spot will be soft and green.

Charlotte Beach.

The second option is to take a short portage of about 50 feet at a point where Flopbuck Creek intersects Flamingo Creek. Yes, that's right; "Flopbuck Creek" This is an easy portage and once in Flopbuck Creek you are definitely in the backwood mangroves. Lots of fish jumping and birds are everywhere. About 100 or 200 yards beyond the portage, several palm trees have fallen across the Creek and have left only about 2 feet of headroom to paddle underneath. We had to "scooch" way down into our kayaks to get through.

As you continue your way south west, about a mile, you enter the lower section

of Sam Knight Creek where it flows into Tippecanoe Bay. The Myakka River is only about 2 miles beyond.

It was a very interesting paddle and we'll return soon. Of course, once you get into the Myakka River, you have endless options on extending the paddle....all of them enjoyable.

The Port Charlotte Kay ak ers meet each Wednesday ev ening at 5:30 PM at Port Charlotte Beach Park . All are welcome to join us to learn about k ay ak ing. For additional information, contact Dav e Allen at 941-235-2588 or email to dlaa@comcast.net.

Page 18

R Re ea al l E Es st ta at te e N Ne ew ws s

PROVIDED BY: Dave Hofer RE/MAX Harbor Realty (941) 575-3777 dhofer@remax.net www.harborparadise.com Recent area news i tems: 1. Governor Charlie Crist is a man of his word. His campaign promise to not raise taxes to balance the budget is being achieved. A combination of additional federal aid, a $1 per pack increase in cigarette tax, a reduction in subsidies to county governments and a 15% increase in state university tuitions helped to meet his campaign pledge.

2. Charlotte County's budget director and assessor finally acknowledged that, rather than the previously projected 8% reduction, they now expect that taxable property values have fallen by as much as 30% this year. Because of the disparity between homesteaded and non homesteaded valuation limitations, the oldest homesteaders should see a substantial increase in the amount of real estate tax due this year to the benefit of vacant land, commercial and seasonal property owners.

3. Battle lines have been drawn among Charlotte County Commissioners. Loftus and Skidmore appear to want to slash costs everywhere they can. Cummings, Duffy and Starr favor a more reasoned approach. Now the questionable merits of the millions thrown at Murdock Village, environmentally sensitive swamp land, and luxuries for our jail guests are costing us libraries, park maintenance, and oh yes, let's look at closing the costly public pool at the beach complex!

4. The voices of government department heads facing budget cuts all over southwest Florida are being heard louder every day. State subsidies are projected to be reduced by about 18% this year, so many departments are trimming what must have been bloated pay-

Water LIFE

rolls to make up for the loss. The Sarasota County clerk's office reduced their workforce by 39 so that they could reduce their budget by $190K. Apparently, one of the casualties must have been their number cruncher... cut 39 salaries - save $190K??? Charlotte County Clerk will shutter its Englewood office, too.

5. Some expenditures seem to be more important than others. North Port is about to open its new BMX bike park. The $650K tax bill for this amenity will certainly be appreciated by our youths, who are apparently unchallenged by the rigors of obtaining an education.

Then there's the bribery competition to lure major league baseball franchises to play 20 or so exhibition games in taxpayer funded facilities. Sarasota offered $31.2 million in improvements to Ed Smith Stadium to the Baltimore Orioles to compete with offers from Tucson and Ft. Myers. Not to be outdone, Lee County offered $75 million for 106 acres to build a brand new stadium.

6. The boater's alliance is pushing Punta Gorda towards permitting a boat launch and small boat storage facility in Shreve Park near Fisherman's Village.

Council is viewing this as a positive step towards expanding the image of Punta Gorda as a picturesque boating community.

7. Remember the ambitious plans for the Isles of Athena? The 5,771 acre project in northeast North Port promised housing for 18,000 new residents. To date, the only residents are cows. To hear the developer tell it, they've destroyed hundreds of acres of precious wetlands.

Apparently serious enough to withhold payments on the $37 million of debt owed to the cattle rancher/seller.

8. The woes of the condominium developers continued to expand.

Vivante developer, Gabe Bove acknowledged the presence of Chinese drywall in building five of Boca Lago. Previously, the 90 unit Magdalena Gardens, already plagued with numerous foreclosures and unpaid condo assessments, started mak-

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July

MAGAZINE

Building 5 at Vivante Boca Lago in Punta Gorda is one of the latest places found with Chineese Drywall that will have to be removed.

ing plans for massive relocation of its residents so that remediation could commence.

9. The most humorous idea of the month came from our old friends at FEMA. Now that Florida has some 278,000 homes in various states of foreclosure, there should be plenty of opportunity to make housing available to hurricane victims in their own neighborhoods. Just picture that. The government rushing to coordinate leases between shell shocked hurricane victims, bankrupt homeowners and their lenders

on abandoned, unhurricaneprepared, applianceless homes....

In other news: Mama Nunzio's Restaurant has been sold again. The new owners have opted for descriptive vs enticing and renamed the Punta Gorda landmark, "Phil's on 41". The owners of Cafe Ruelle opened a new pub (Cafe Ruelle Too) just east of 41. The 106 room Sheraton Four Points Hotel opened on the old Holiday Inn site on 41 at the Peace River. A 3,000 sf Irish Pub is likely to be the first tenant in the Herald Court parking garage/retail center. The $14/sf rental rate for the prime corner location reflects the dire condition of commercial real estate rentals today.

S al es S tati sti cs: As a consequence of foreclosures in Port Charlotte and North Port spec homes, more houses went pending last month than came on the market. As a result, inventories are now about one half of where they were last year at this time. The vacant lot market continues to be comatose and housing above $250,000 is still very quiet.

Visit us at www.harborparadise.com to view any available properties from Venice to Burnt Store Marina

Charlotte Countyʼs Complete Swimming Pool Supplys Pool Repair and Maintenance Store

575-2525

Specializing in Heaters and Pool Pumps

Located in the Punta Gorda Crossing Shopping Center Next to Publix

2009

Mon-Fri 9AM-5:30PM Sat 9AM-3PM

“Green Pool” Clean Up & Maintenance

July

2009

SCUTTLEBUTT

Water LIFE

Sometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

Kayaker Tasered Officer Gregory Bryson was on water patrol in the Estero Bay area when he observed an overturned kayak with an individual swimming around it. As Officer Bryson was attempting to help the individual, he began cursing.

The individual displayed signs of impairment and after struggling to board his kayak, he began to paddle away. Officer Bryson attempted to stop him, but the subject continued to paddle away, fleeing into the mangroves. Officer Bryson was assisted by a Lee County Sheriffʼs Office deputy in his attempt to remove the subject from the mangroves. The indi-

vidual resisted, was tasered and arrested for boating under the influence (BUI). The subject was booked into the Lee County Jail where he refused a breath test.

Wait Fishing: To Capt. JR Witt – Weʼre still waiting.

Operation Renewable Stone. FWC Officers initiated Operation Renewable Stone targeting the abandonment of stone crab traps during the closed season. During the first two days of the detail, over 50 stone crab traps were located and documented for criminal prosecution.

Photographs of hundreds of dead and dying stone crabs were taken to document the damage being done by abandoned traps

Page 19

MAGAZINE

to the renewable resource of stone crabs. Officers also located 24 fish traps in federal waters.

The unlawful fish traps were traced back to a local fisherman and federal charges are being prepared.

PTTS OVER FOR THE YEAR The Professionsl Tarpon Tournament Series is over for the year. TV broadcasts start this month on Sun Sports and WFN. Weʼve now heard that in local tarpon watering holes at Boca Grande there has been talk that the Traditional Tarpon Anglers are considering sueing the FWC for not enforcing the state tarpon regulations as they pertain to jig fishing.

IIWII

The Deadly Dozen : Charlotte Harbor FISHING GUIDES New fuel tank for the Water LIFE boat

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When you absoloutely positively want to catch fish

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offshore/backcountry

Page 20

Water LIFE

MAGAZINE

July

2009

The Water Water LIFE LIFE Distributor始s Club

Cooks Sportland

4419 So. Tamiami Trail S. Venice 493-0025

is the Water LIFE Magazine Website Internet Provider

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

If you would like this publication for distribution at your business please call us at 941-766-8180

July

2009

OLD TIMERS: An Interview with

Water LIFE

MAGAZINE

Page 21

Buzz Hendrickson

The Commercial Perspective

By Kel ly Beal Water LIFE Commercial Fishing It's an exciting time for Punta Gorda with the new huge Laishley Crabhouse being built. It puts talk back on the tongues of the town about the old days and the old crab plant that once stood at Fishermans Village. When you think of the crab industry of Charlotte Harbor you think of the Hendrickson family. From 1897 till 1977 the area where Fishermans Village now sits was the center of all the commercial fishing action. The main crab houses were Charlotte Crab Company and Gulf Shore Seafood. The Munson family had Punta Gorda Fish Company there as well.

As many as 200 fishermen sold their catch to these places. I got a chance to sit and chat with one of the best crabbers I know Buzz Hendrickson. Buzz is Ed Hendricksons eldest son followed by Rodney, Kim and Jan. When you meet a Hendrickson you can tell they're a cut above the rest, they have a sense of class and their striking good looks don't hurt them either!

K- So when did you start crabbing?

B- When I was 10 my dad had me and my friend George Noe run a crab boat. We got out of school around 2:30 and we'd go and in the summer we'd go in the morning.

K- What kind of boat were you running?

B- We called it "The Crab Hound" , it was an old wood skiff with a 3 hp Briggs-nStratton.

K- You were flyin' huh?

B- Yeah, it took us about a half hour to get to the 41 bridge from where Fishermans Village is now. We called them putt putt boats.

K- How many traps were you running?

B- About 75, and we'd come in with about 250 to 300 pounds.

K- Thats pretty good! Did George always crab with you?

B- Yeah, we always worked together. His Dad and Larry Mays Dad were managers at the crab plant so my Dad put us to work too. We were happy to make some money, we got five cents a pound. Some days George and I crabbed and some days Larry did.

K- What did you put the crabs in?

B- We didn't have the wood crates we have now, we used to have to build boxes with nails and wood and sometimes barrels.

George would go there on Saturdays and build boxes at the crab plant and he'd get ten cent a piece.

K- That's wild! How did you get a big wooden drum out of the boat?

B- They had an electric hoist. We'd hoist

them up the seawall into the crabhouse.

K- How many crab pickers were in there?

B- About 12 back then.

K- So your Dad was just in the crab business?

B- No, he had quite a few shrimp boats The Little Buzz, The Virginia Ann, Georgie Boy and the a big steel hull "Gulf Star" - he partnered with Drayton Farr on that one.

K- Oh yeah, Larry said he had Grouper Boats too.

B- Yeah my Dad had some grouper boats.

He just paid people to run them so the product was his.

K- Did he ever crab?

B- I remember him off shrimping but he did his crabbing before I was around.

K- The heyday was when it all took place at Fishermans Village.

B- Yeah, after the city denied the lease in 1977 it never was really the same.

K- He moved the plant to Airport Road then?

B- Yeah, by then he just primarily focused on blue crab, and he stayed there for quite awhile.

K- You never quit crabbing?

B- No, it’s the only thing I know how to do.

K- Come on, it's the only thing you want to do!

B- Some days...

KWell, what about Bubba your grandson?

Top: Crab pickers at Fishermenʼs Village, above Fishermenʼs Village in the B- He 1960s Left: Longtime crabber Buzz and his 10 yer old grandson Bubba loves to crab, it's all he out long enough. I hope he does crab, it's thinks about. in his genes. Practically the whole family K- He's ten now, I have no hang ups has been in the business at one time or about child labor - what time does he get another. Buzz's brother Rodney still crabs , out of school? as well as his nephew Jaime. You'll see Buzz just laughs. We always kid about Bubba being a crabber, even though some of the family worry the industry won't hold

Bubba (Logan) out there, he's the happiest when he's in his white boots on the boat with his Grandpa Buzz.

Page 22

July Fishing Report

Water LIFE

MAGAZINE

July

2009

Charlotte Harbor:

Robert at Fishin' Franks Port Charlotte: 625-3888

Fishing should be fun, but it’s been very odd. All the regular fishing patterns have gone out the window... with the exception of snook. S nook fishermen are doing well. I definitely know the tarpon will be back. They left the pass for a while but I’ve heard some reports already that there are tarpon back in the pass now. Those fish like to move around. As the month progresses there should be l adyfi sh schooling up in the harbor and tarpon will feed on them and on the threadfi ns. The beach tarpon will feed on crabs and threadfins primarily. The DOA bait buster and the Calculcutta swim baits are still the artificials of choice.

S harks are still very abundant in the Harbor and on

the offshore reefs. They should stay abundant, especially the smaller sharks in the 2 to 4-foot range, like spi nners, bonnethead and bl ack ti ps. Anchor around any of the Cape Haze area channel markers and put out a slick with fresh cut bait– mullet, bonita or ladyfish. For the larger sharks I’d be fishing the Intracoastal around Captiva Pass or the near shore structure like Novak or the Pine Island Ferry reef.

I honestly have no 100% idea of where the redfi sh are right now, in good numbers, or where they are going to be. Punta Rasa and North Sanibel have had

the better consistency of decent redfish but it’s a long run down there. Other than that, you’ll have to work the bushes hard for those one or two legal redfish. This is the time of year for frozen sardines, cut ladyfish or a frozen shrimp. They will all work really well. The new Trigger X crab and Trigger X shrimp baits have been producing for some guys on redfish. But the snook guys are the ones really lovin’ this new bait.

Cobi a are pretty abundant now. If you can get offshore to the near reefs or along the west wall on the outside edge of the bar you could be on cobia. Fish look for shade this time of year so it’s not unusual to have a cobia come sit under your boat while you are tarpon or shark fishing. A small Rapalla X-wrap or a small Crystal Minnow are the cobia bait now. We just saw cobias with little crabs, pass crabs, in their stomaches.

Ki ngs and S pani sh mackerel have been up in the harbor. The Spanish are pretty much all over. If there is bait they will be there. The fish are in the 15to 18-inch range. And the closer you get to Boca Grande the bigger they will be. From right out in front of Fishermen’s Village all the way down the harbor with some schoolie Kings mixed in. Some fish were even free jumping last week in the schools of bait out in the harbor... before the wind started up again.

Out in the gulf there are bigger Kings and Spanish but it’s all about the snapper right now. Lots of mangs and out in 70-feet of water or better we have been seeing yel l owtai l and l ane snapper. The heavier you chum the more fish that come around. If you have small whitebait or threadfins chunk them up along with the chum bags. We has maybe 200 fish around us the other day, doing this in the harbor!

Hi, This is my son, Zach Irons, with his Tarpon catch on June 2! Zach and his friend, Josh Reager, were fishing out at Boca Grande Pass. They are both from Punta Gorda. I hope you print this picture in the Water Life Magazine. Thank you. Linda Irons

Capt Angel Torres provided the two sharl pictures and the snook picture on this page. You did see the shark?

July

2009

Fishing Report .

Lemon Bay: Jim at Fishermen’s Edge, Englewood: 697-7595

Water LIFE

The The BIG-4 BIG-4 SHARK: Lots of big and small species are here now

It’s been windy and the offshore business is off. They were getting S pani sh mackerel and a little grouper, but the wind has been blowing 20 again.

Most guys are fishing inside on the lee of the islands for snook and whi ti ng. In Stump and Little Gasparilla passes they are getting whiting and pompano. There have also been some nice small tarpon under the Gasparilla Bridge.

Guys that usually fish on the beach are fishing inside to stay out of the wind.

There are some fish at the mouth of Turtle Bay. S hark fishing at the deep cut at Turtle Bay has been good. I’ve had reports of S pi nners and bl ackti ps and a couple of bul l sharks in the 200 to 300 pound range, there.

Some guys are trying the big fish slam; Tarpon Shark and Goliath Grouper.

The Spanish have been on the incoming tide at Boca Grande.

Now, mostly snapper is what everyone gearing up for. There have been mangrove 12 to 14 inches. I haven’t heard anybody doing much with redfi sh in the last week or two. But things change.

MAGAZINE

Fish Fish to to expect expect in in

TARPON: Most of these fish are in the Passes

COBIA In the Harbor at the 41 Bridge and around some of the markers

July July

SPANISH MACKEREL: Still plenty of mackerel around the harbor and offshore

Page 23

STOP

Fishing!

C a l e n d a r o f E v e n t s

brought

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by:

4265 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte

941 - 625-2700

My son Tommy caught this snook on 4 lb test near Turtle Bay, in June.

Kris Peterson Punta Gorda

July 3,4,5: S arasota Powerboat Races and Ki l o Top S peed Runs Sunday Finals 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

July 4: Peace Ri ver Freedom S wi m, Charlotte Harbor to Punta Gorda, scheduled to begins at 11 a.m. from the base of the US 41 Bridge (south) Whether construction will be completed, whether the Coast Guard will intervene, whether the weather will be good at all is anyone’s guess. The swim goes from the community of Charlotte Harbor to Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda. Discussion with swimmers before the start will occur at 10:55 a. m. 941-661-5622 Fishing July 11-12 Hooters-HT3 Professi onal Redfi sh RIGHT NOW: S eri es $400 entry, $15,000 first place, total fish from Very Good two days of fishing. Laishley Park Marina, Punta Gorda 321 217 3515 July 25: Xtreme Redfi sh Tournament at Laishley Park marina. Sign up the morning of the event.

August 14th-16th, Grouper Grab, Fish Tale Marina and Pinchers at the Holiday Inn on Fort Myers Beach. 239-850-1707 Send y our boating and fishing ev ent and calendar information to: waterlife@comcast.net

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Military Discounts

Tarpon Crabs (blues) $25/dozen Regular Shrimp $2.50/dozen

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Next to the Marathon Gas station at the north side of the El Jobean Bridge on hwy 776

6 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sun – Thurs 6 a.m. – Midnight Fri & Sat

941- 623-5883

Dozen Shrimp: $2.50 Regular $3.50 Select $4 Hand Pick $5 Jumbo

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July

2009

Water LIFE

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Page 24

MAGAZINE

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