Water LIFE Sept 2013

Wa t e r LIFE

Keeping Fishermen and Boaters Informed since

1997

The Don Ball School of Fishing

September 2013

Shannon始s Black Drum

Fishing Report Page 22

A Q U AT I C A

Water Quality

Bucket List

Page 12

Snook始s Back Open!

Page 7

Group-ON! Page 18

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ALWAYS FREE!

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SEPTEMBER 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013

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SEPTEMBER 2013

Benefit Tournament for Sgt. Mike Wilson Sept 28

LETTERS Good Morning: During this month I really enjoyed reading your article about "Scallopers Enjoy".

While reading the article I couldn't help but wonder about the impact on future scalloping, same as yourself.

If memory serves me correct an ol' friend of mine once stated that scalloping "used" to be fantastic in and around the Sanibel bridge areas. People would be collecting them much the same as they do at the Homosassa area today. People and articles stated that the scallop decline at the Sanibel bridge was due to the bridge itself being built and yet the majority of the ol' timers I talk to will always state that the decline was due to over harvesting much like Homosassa area is being done now.

One can only assume that the state of Florida is over seeing this and can keep everything in check.

On a side note when one does

the math the numbers are unbelievable.

Just in boats alone with that average of people the harvest alone would be approx 6000 gallons of scallops.

This does not include all of the other walk-ins and floaters out there.

Just where in the blue are they putting all of those shells?

I have lived in Florida for 13 years now and have always wanted to go up there and do some scalloping but now after reading how much of a zoo it is I think the fish market might be more peaceful and enjoyable, except when the kids come down to visit, then it would be fun and entertaining.

I would like to "Thank You" for such an informative article, I have tried to follow your articles since your departure from "The Other Paper". Keep up the great work. Thank You !

Joseph C Bigus Burnt Store Marina

To Michael Heller August 11, near Fort Myers, via mobile Michael, the story about scalloping in Homosassa was awesome!

You did a nice job. We loved the article and the photos. Thank you for coming along and documenting our day.

Andrea Sensecqua

www.www.WaterlifeMagazine.com Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180 email:

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Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Not affiliated with any other publication Vol XII No 9 © 2013

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

Contributing Editors:

CHECK YOUR FACTS!

Go back and read your own paper! (ABOVE) Last month I explained that we were the originators of the ʻoriginal Waterlineʼ and we are the ones who have been keeping fishermen and boaters informed since 1997 - You should know this! It started when I was your Punta Gorda Herald editor, coveing fishing, boating and sailing events, the year before I started the Waterline. Waterline didnʼt start until 1998. So your claim as ʻthe original since 1997ʼ is hooey. You need to take that claim off your sectionʼs front page and tell your readers you didnʼt check your facts.

Then, if you still need to say “original,ʼ tell your readers and subscribers that in 1997, the Charlotte Sun was truly original when you were sharing your subscriberʼs list with the Charlotte County Sheriffʼs office. That was an original, if journalistically unethical, idea and it was all yours.

Michael Heller, – Water LIFE publisher

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Shannon Friday with a pair of black drum caught on dead shrimp from the shore in ski alley See page 22

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The Things We Do and Why We Do Them SEPTEMBER 2013

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By Michael Heller form must include the Water LIFE editor instructor/captains. Teachers this This month we start making year are Captain’s: Billy Barton, lunchroom presentations to the 7th Ron Blago, Bart Marx and Cayle graders in the county middle schools Wills. for the Don Ball School of Fishing.

We must also provide our proof Next month the classes start. If you of insurance for each class. add them all up, this year we will Once the use form is approved start our 385th class! we take posters around to each The concept of teaching kids school promoting the class, and about local fishing and the local envithen we schedule our presentation ronment came from my friend Jerry at a 7th grade lunch to show off all Jensen, the past president of the the gear we give the kids. Then we Charlotte Harbor Reef Association. hand out sign-up forms.

Jerry’s concept was to get the kids inWhen we get the forms back we volved in fishing and to get them notify each child they are in. quality rods and reels and tackle to do In the mean time, we are getting it with. My wife Ellen and I took over tackle bags made up, ordering rods Making memories at the Placida Fishing the program 7 years ago and subseand reels, tackle and line. We also Pier, last month. quently, when Jerry, left I became presiupdate the workbook and ‘beg’ dent of the Reef Association. binders from WalMart, who has helped us out every year.

Running the Reef Association doesn’t take much beConcurrently, we are soliciting sponsors, updating the cause I have a great board of directors. Donna Ball, the teachers and getting the t-shirt design and sponsor logos late Don Ball’s wife, is our treasurer, Court Frolich hantogether. dles the legal advice, Rex Koch helps us keep the book By the time the first class rolls around in October it is keeping and taxes in line, and Capt. Ralph Allen helps us all pretty much on automatic, except that my wife and I run it all in a good ‘fishy’ perspective. have to bring different pieces of tackle and equipment to We started getting ready for the new school year in each school for each class. Last year we started taking the August. The first thing we did was check in with Mike kids out fishing, some from shore some offshore. This Riley at the County school system and get a Letter of Inyear our friends at the FWC will conduct a seining trip troduction. Then with that letter we took a Facility Use for one school and have other presentations at the other Form around to each school requesting the use of the schools, I’m not sure exactly what yet, but it will be cool. cafeteria for the two month’s of classes. The facility use So why do my wife and I do this? We don’t take

PAGE 5

2004 Water LIFE Kids Cup Grand Champion and Don Ball School participant Tommy Davis continues his life on the water. Seen last month with a bag of lobsters in the keys.

salaries, or even collect mileage.

We do this for the kids, so they learn to fish ethically and responsibly and keep watch over the environment.

The smiles and the thank-you’s are enough. The hand drawn pictures that we have received over the years and the genuine excitement we see in the kid’s faces as they master knot tieing and when they catch their first fish on the class trip is all the pay back we need.

We do this for the future. There is no other way.

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SEPTEMBER 2013

Endangered Species Act: Human Adaptation Will Be Required PAGE

ON THE LINE

By Capt. Ron Blago Water LIFE Senior Staff

In 1973 the Endangered Species Act(ESA) became the law of the land. The purpose of the law was to protect species from extinction. The law was later interpreted by the Supreme Court to “halt and reverse the trend towards species extinction, whatever the cost.”

The law is enforced and managed by two different government agencies; the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA. After 40 years, how has the law worked out so far?

What started as a worthy effort to protect a few dozen species has grown to over 2100 endangered species – and over that 40 year period only 28 species have been delisted. That is a pretty poor record, even by government standards. The ESA is seriously flawed and must be fixed or eliminated.

The first thing to be fixed is how does a species get on the endangered list to begin with. As it stands now, any group can file a petition to have a species added to the list. If the government doesn't respond within 90 days, the group can sue the government for failing to protect the species. If they win, the government has to pay the legal fees of these environmental law firms.

You want Turtles? Florida has them! You want Beach?

You may not have access to it!

Since there is an average of 10 petitions a month, the government is swamped in litigation and losses most of these lawsuits. In my opinion, there has to be a screening process for these petitions and the legal fees have to be capped.

The next thing is, how do you get off the endangered list? With only 1% ever making it off the endangered list and millions of dollars spent each year to run the program, it's easy to see that getting species off the list is not a high priority. Take the manatee for instance.

Even though the population has grown from 1,000 to over 5,000 in the last 30 years there is no talk of getting

the manatee off the endangered list because there is no population goal in the recovery plan. Even if we had 50,000 manatees they would still be considered endangered. All endangered species should have a targeted population goal. If the goal is reached, they're off the list.

Recently NOAA has announced that it is investigating the critical habitat for the Florida sea turtle on the Gulf Coast. To help in that pursuit they have awarded a grant of $822,715 to the Florida FWC to identify beach areas that need restrictions on human activities during turtle nesting season. I guess they haven’t seen the latest data that shows 2012 had record high turtle nest hatchings and 2013 appears to be as good if not better.

The trouble is that NOAA is responding to a lawsuit they lost in 2007 that required this action. This approach has to change.

Another local concern is the $605,384.00 NOAA grant to the FWC to identify the critical habitat of the small tooth sawfish. Remember that Charlotte Harbor is ground zero for sawfish sightings. So when certain waters are shut off to you or you are not allowed to build or fix your dock or seawall, remember that Restrictions on Human Activities are Required by the ESA.

SEPTEMBER 2013

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SNOOK SEASON OPENS

By Capt David Stephens Water LIFE Inshore After what seems to be an eternity, snook season finally opened again this month and there is a good chance some angler’s snook fishing skills are a little rusty. Maybe I can help with some techniques I use to locate and catch them.

Fall has always been one of the best times of year to target linesiders, second only to spring. This time of year, the summer spawn is over and most fish start leaving the beaches and passes to move back up in the Harbor to replenish lost fat reserves from the summer spawn.

Snook are one of the most diverse back-water fish we have in Charlotte Harbor. They can be located anywhere from the shallow flats, mangrove shorelines, deep structure and also in the freshwater lakes and rivers. During the fall I like to focus on the barrier islands on big flats.

Some of the things that help to locate feeding fish in these areas are good tidal flow, forage for snook to feed on and deeper water where they can go on lower tides. On higher tides, island points that have good tidal flow will hold feeding fish. I highly recommend approaching these areas with a trolling motor or a push pole to be sure not to spook them. Another common mistake I see anglers make is anchoring too close to the mangroves.

Often-times bigger snook will lay five to 10-yards off the shoreline, if you do not get any action fishing out there, then move in closer.

As the tide gets lower those same fish will move into creeks or pot holes on the flats. I can’t count the times I have gotten a school of feeding fish 50-plus yards from any mangroves. The darker water makes it a little difficult to find the potholes, so this is when a live well full of pilchards comes in.

I try to anchor as close as possible to the potholes I am going to fish and toss out a dozen or so live chummers and

wait. If there are feeding snook in the area you will know.

For the artificial guys, I like to use a technique I call fan-casting. Anchor your boat and cast from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock.

If you don’t get any takers move forward just short of your cast and repeat. When it comes to tackle, I prefer light braid in the 10 to 15-pound range. For shock leader I bump up to 30- to 40-pound, depending on the structure I am fishing.

Snook have rough gums that will shred your leader and hook, or even worse, a high dollar lure.

Back to the forage, if you are unable to locate pilchards this time of year don’t worry. Snook feed on many different small fish, from pinfish and small mullet to cut bait. If pinfish is your bait of choice a small non weighted cork or AKA (a strike indicator for you guys that don’t like corks) is the plan.

If you would like to experience some of Charlotte Harbors best snook fishing give me a call or send me a email. All of our charters are customized to fit you and your party’s needs. You can also follow me on twitter for weekly or daily updates @ backbayxtremes.

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Redfish No. 14,401 Still Out There PAGE

8

Adapted from the Tampa Bay Times Sarah Walters didn't think fish No. 14,401 was anything special. The red drum, one of several thousand caught by state biologists during a tagging study, was big but certainly no record.

"It measured 39 inches and probably weighed about 18 pounds," said Walters, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. "It is pretty much average for the fish we see in those big schools that congregate offshore."

It was a monster compared to the "slot limit" reds (18-27 inches) caught by most anglers in estuaries such as Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor.

But Walters wanted to run the tag anyway, just to find out when and where the fish was captured. So she called the state's fish hatchery in Port Manatee.

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The problem was the tag was so old, there was no record of it in the files.

Luckily, the colleague doing the checking knew a little bit about fish tags. "You might want to check with my dad," Josh Taylor told Walters. "He did a little tagging back in the 1980s."

Taylor's father, the legendary snook biologist Ron "R.T" Taylor, and Mike Murphy, another well-known researcher, were among the first scientists to conduct tagging studies in Florida. So Walters called the senior Taylor, who searched his cavernous files and produced some interesting data.

Fish No. 14,401 was tagged in Boca Ciega Bay on Oct. 16, 1989. Taylor estimated it was probably at least 25 years old.

"They can get much older than that," Walters said. "We had one fish that was 35

years old," he had said.

When captured, No. 14,401 measured 39 inches. So it grew less than a foot in its 22.97 years of freedom. "Redfish keep

You Can Help!

SEPTEMBER 2013

getting longer until they are 5 or 6 years old and then they just get wider and heavier," Walters said.

The fish was released alive.

Every year we ask for your financial support to continue this program.

Won始t you join the merchants and businesses below in helping the 2013 Don Ball School?

Your logo will appear here next month and it will be printed on the t-shirts that all the students receive.

AND If we have your donation (and size) by September 1 you始ll get a free t-shirt for yourself!

Simply fill out the online sponsor form and donate through the Pay Pal link or mail in the form with your check. The kids will thank you for it and your name/logo will appear here!

A Lot is the Same Everywhere SEPTEMBER 2013

By Capt. Chuck Eichner Water LIFE Punta Gorda Fishing Fishing in late summer is still pretty good for just about all species on Charlotte Harbor, but the heat and storms will run you back-in on most days. So my wife Joyce and I strategically planned to take a vacation at the end of August on Victoria Island, British Columbia to take part in the perfect weather, beautiful mountain terrain and a bit of fishing.

When studying an aerial map of that area, there were striking geographical similarities with Florida regarding water features which made it difficult to figure out what kind of fishing to do. A variety of salmon are the mainstay in the Pacific Northwest territories and you can fish for them in the open Pacific, Puget Sound and many other adjacent waterways including saltwater, tidal and freshwater rivers.

Does this already sound like the Gulf, Charlotte Harbor, the Peace River and the like?

The most popular type of fishing was trolling with downriggers in deep water using larger boats. I wanted light tackle fishing and was lucky enough to get a day in with Nick Hnennyi of West Coast River Charters (www.West CoastRiverCharters.ca). Nick operates on the Stamp River this time of year and keeps two jet

boats in the water at different locations on the river to take advantage of the migrating and spawning salmon that leave the saltwater and enter this scenic river in a remote mountain setting in a town called Port Alberni, known as the salmon capital of the world!

Our plan this day was to fish the lower river for half the day and then dock the boat, jump in the truck and relocate 5 miles plus up the river where his other jet boat was parked. A river jetboat is basically a custom oversize Jon boat that can navigate through rapids and rocky bottoms with only inches of water under the boat. I had no idea what salmon species we were going to catch, fishing methods or baits so from the word go it was an adventure.

A little after 6:00am Nick slid the boat off the rocky shoreline and pointed to loads of salmon jumping only a ¼ mile upstream. My eyes where bulging out as

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we crawled upriver, anchored the boat on a rocky bank and prepared to cast. The weapon of choice was an 11’ whippy baitcasting rod equipped with a level-wind Shimano Calcutta spooled with 15# mono.

My first thought was this was going to be

very hard to cast and control. Attached to the line was a soft cylinder style float with 8’ of line below it connecting to a 5/8oz. “walking” sinker and to the sinker eye yet another 5’ of 12# leader. On the business end was a Vibrax brand spinner, similar to a Mepps Spinner.

With an early morning shower on top of us, we cast this contraption into a fast moving pool at the confluence of a feeder creek into the Stamp River. Casting this without hooking ourselves or blowing a bird’s nest on the level-wind was a challenge. Upon casting, the float drifts down stream quickly and the angler has to maintain proper rod angle, controlling slack and drift rate and when a bite is detected you rear back on all 11’ of the rod, 13’ of leader and set the hook. Does this sound complicated yet?

Nick explained that the salmon were spawning and that the fish do not eat but attack out of aggression so repetitive casts on short drifts to hundreds of fish was the recipe. It didn’t take long before my float took a dip and I reared back with my first salmon! Truly, an impressive fight with nice jumps, drag peeling and the whippy rod buckling like a willow branch with a Chinook salmon pushing 7 pounds. So for hours we cast and cast to Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon that could be seen passing by in the pristine clear water with many jumping. Like fishing anywhere else they had periods where the bite would be hot and then quiet spells would settle in. Experimentation with baits became necessary and Nick tied a salmon egg imitation out of pink yarn that proved to be the favorite for the day as over 25 salmon were caught on it. There was something special about standing on a mountain stream not worrying about boat control and catching beautiful fish. One big fish changed that scenario as Joyce hooked a fish that she could hardly handle. It pulled so much line off the reel heading downstream that Nick had her running down the bank and ultimately jumping in the boat and powering down river to keep up with the fish. Salmon are

PAGE 9

really impressive fighters and after a long and very exciting battle a 14 pound Coho was lifted into the boat!

It looked like Salmon steaks to me but we were fishing during a closed season.

The fishing was so good we elected to stay in that stretch Joyce Eichner is dressed for winter but for Nick the guide itʼs summertime of river and glad we ble to do, as your crab floats up to the surdid as an afternoon bite came on so strong face as it drifts along and the tarpon usuthat I had a bite every cast for nearly an ally take it at the point in your cast where hour. Nick was an impressive fishing the crab is at its deepest point during the guide as he patiently watched what we cast. With Nick’s rig you could effecwere doing and gave us guidance contively control the crabs travel at 8’ down stantly to keep our lure presentation right. as your leader goes off the sinker creating When we let our guard down a snag in the somewhat of a down-rigger situation. bottom would consume our lures and I With sufficient leader away from the would easily say that the bottom claimed sinker and no pressure on your running 20 lures this day. The key to this fishing line where attached to the float, this might was the presentation of the salmon egg be the ultimate presentation. If you can imitation at a depth just above the bottom master casting this rig out I think the crab where the eggs would naturally flow. The will be presented more naturally in the interesting long leader combination with strong current and I will be giving this a walking sinker may have some use in try. strong current situations like Boca Grande Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action Flats pass. I often think about how to present Backcountry Charters , call 941-628-8040 or go to www.Backcountry-Charters.com the Pass crabs at a depth of 8’-10’ to tarpon passing by. It is pretty much impossi-

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SEPTEMBER 2013

Whatʼs Hot? Redfish, Snook

By Capt Billy Barton Water LIFE / Charlotte Harbor Typically, I'm a trolling motor kind of guy. I use the trolling motor a lot to maneuver around from island to island in stealth until I locate the fish we're looking for. This is the time of year though that I find myself getting in the water a little more often, and pushing the boat around manually just to cool off a bit! It really seems to help with the comfort factor. I don't care how long you've lived in this humid, breath taking climate. I don't believe you ever get used to it.

You can't let that heat slow you down when you're on your fishin mission.

Redfish recently, and like always, have been the number one targeted light tackle species on my boats. We've been targeting these fish up in the sticks and mangrove bushes on the higher tides, or fishing the deepest troughs and potholes you can find on the grass flats during the lower phase of the tides. The ticket in this dark water has been to fish stinky, slow moving, or even stationary baits on the bottom. Redfish are primarily a bottom feeding fish, don't forget that. A small to mid size blue crab, a piece of cut ladyfish or mullet, a decent size live or even frozen shrimp should suffice undoubtedly. My personal favorite lately however has been a half dollar size pinfish hooked just underneath the anal fin, with a number 1/0 or 2/0 hook and a small split shot about a foot from the bait. Hooking your pinner like this will cause him to lay down on the bottom and flutter like crazy.

These fish sense that vibration and the reds WILL come searchin you can bet on that!

Snook season re-opened at the first of the month. They've come back pretty strong if you ask me. There's still a significant amount of big upper-slot sized snook to be caught in the area right now, as well as a plentiful bunch of spunky little males to make for great catch and release fishing. To get these fish going in a frenzie during the day time hours, a live-well full of whitebait or (greenbacks) is going to be your ticket.

Imagine if you would the sound of can-

non balls hitting the water all around your boat, but what you're hearing is big fish pounding injured baitfish. You can literally pick the fish you want by placing the perfect cast over a recent swirl or pop. If you see a fish feed on one of your "chummers", there's a good chance he's still laying there.

A good amount of the fish you'll be hearing and seeing will be small to mid size males in the 14-26 inch range. Be ready though, because there's usually a few good size fish mixed in with em, and there’s a few different ways they can break your heart. 1) They almost always go for the structure once they're hooked. Sometime's you can turn them in time, sometimes they spank you like a baby! 2) They have lips like heavy grit sandpaper and can wear through your leader line if you hook them inside their mouth and don't have your drag set right. 3) They have razor sharp gill plates. When you're in battle, they've been known to flare out their gill plates and turn their heads slicing your leader like a razor knife. Once you get the fish in open water and off of the structure a good amount of the pressure is off. Just take your time, and enjoy the fight. If the fish wants to take some line let him run. Keep tension, but not too much tension. Better to have the real thing laying on the fillet table, or at least some pictures for proof!

These "line-slicers" also feed excellent at night time. They hang especially around the shadow lines put off at all of our local bridges and fishing piers. They're ambush predators. They lay in the dark, and feed into the light. Their noses are always faced into the current, that's why it's always good to fish the edge of the shadow line at night.

Feel free to give me a call. I'll be running snook charters all September long. Day and night time snookin trips are available. I have plenty of little night time, snooky honey holes just waiting to get some attention. Good luck out there ya'll, tight lines!

Capt. Billy Barton operates Scales N Tails Charters. Phone 979-6140 or email him at bartonw24@yahoo.com

SEPTEMBER 2013

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and a Little of Everything Else!

Where the Black Ponies Live

PAGE 11

By Michael Heller With Brian Knight running the marina I wasnʼt surprised to hear the facility had been designated as a Platinum Level, Stocking, Mercury Dealer. Brian has been involved with Mercury for his whole life.

Back in the day, his father Tom ran the corporate relations program at Mercuryʼs Mercabo facility in Placida. Brian grew up driving the yellow test boats and then ʻmoved up the lineʼ at Mercury learning both the new technology and the business side of the brand.

That Platinum Level designation means the Inn-Marina on Boca Grande is now at the top tier of Mercury's dealerership levels nationwide. “It's a big deal!” Brain told me. “We can usually sell at retail cheaper than the average Mercury dealer buys at cost.” he said.

But, will people drive to Boca to buy Mercury products or to have Mercury products serviced? “We have people running over to the ʻmainlandʼ every day to drop off Mercury parts, weʼll pick up and deliver boats if necessary,ʼ Brian told me. It was the same can-do attitude that made Mercury a winner at the races.

The marina completed a $2-million expansion last year. I looked around the docks and at the boats in the 75 dry storage racks. There were mostly Black Ponies, as Brian likes to call the black cowled Mercury outboards.

Brian Knight uncowled a brand new, lightweight, non-supercharged Mercury EFI 150. “This new design 4-stroke weighs about 40 pounds more than an old 2-stroke 150,” Brian told me.

Mercury still maintains its saltwater testing division on Englewood Beach, so a high level dealership near-by made perfect sense.

“Mercuryʼs corrosion resistance is second to none,” Brian said, showing a customer a competing brandʼs corrosion problem on a cell phone. “We dont have these problems,” he said.

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AQUATICA

Recreational Crabbing

LETTER TO WATER LIFE

I am a recreational crabber from the Maryland Chesapeake Bay area and have been living in Englewood/Venice area for over 30 years. My son recently called to say he and his wife were coming down for a visit in July, I thought it would be nice to put mine and my wifeʼs crab traps out and catch a few blue crabs for their visit. I have 5 traps and she has 5. We put out our traps, baited them heavy, and on the third day we went out to check on them. Well we were stunned, they were all gone. I was sick to my stomach, 10 perfect hand made traps gone!

Let me take a second to tell you about my traps because it pertains to the story. These were not Wal-Mart traps. My traps were made of a very heavy gauge vinyl coated wire. Held together with all stainless hardware, 4 entry doors with upper keeper compartment, 4 escape holes, they were held down by 2 pieces of 3/8 re-barb encased in ½ PVC piping with end caps to keep them from rusting, (this helps keeps the pot from drifting into boat channels an becoming a derelict trap). All the traps had new rope, and each one had 2 buoys, 1 large white one and a smaller one, either red or yellow. My traps had red buoys and my wifeʼs were yellow. All marked with a large black “R” painted on the top buoy.

“R” for recreational use only. Most importantly, each of these traps had a special 4x3 tag made of fiberglass, labeled and epoxy to keep them legible, with our name and address on them.

Right away I realized I may have put the pots out during the “Closed Season” I had not check the dates and I was told that last year it was cancelled all together.

When I got home I checked and sure enough it was during the 9 day Closed Season so that DERELICT/ABANDONED traps can be removed. Now I am the first one to say ignorance is not an excuse. I should have checked the schedule. However, these were not DERELICT OR ABANDONED. These 10 traps cost over $530.00 to make. So I figured lets dig in and find out where the traps were taken and how to get them back. I called FWC and they gave me the name of the person in charge of the “Derelict Pot Program” Mr. Kyle Miller. I contacted Mr. Miller, and was shocked by what he said, “I remember those traps,

and they have all been destroyed. I was on that boat that picked them up.”

I asked him, “didnʼt he see that they were not DERELICT or ABANDONED?” I pointed out that he had to empty the bait wells, abandon traps donʼt have bait in them?

He had to dump the crabs. Couldnʼt he tell these were perfect traps?

Derelict/Abandon traps are loaded with barnacles, the ropes are slimy and nasty with seaweed, couldnʼt he see these were clean traps, new clean ropes? Why didnʼt you call FWC Law Enforcement and tell them you have a string of nonderelict pots? Did you seek any advice at all? FWC could have issued me a citation or even impounded the pots. Why were they destroyed? Why didnʼt you call me?

His answer to all my questions was, “They were in during the closed season” I decided to file a complaint with FWC Law Enforcement. Officer Bob OʼHara was my contact. He was a pleasure to work with. By the next morning he called me back to give me more bad news. Because Mr. Kyle Miller worked for FWC in a civilian job he was not allowed to file a criminal charge against another employee. If I wanted to proceed I needed to contact the Attorney General of the State of Florida. He also then informed me there is a Florida Statute that allows the destruction of pots in the water during the “closed season”. Why doesnʼt common sense and decency apply to civilians doing the job? It is my opinion that when Mr. Kyle Miller spotted those 10 perfect traps, that out of respect to a fellow sportsman he should have turned them over to Marine Patrol for a citation or impoundment.

The rest of the year it is a 2nd degree felony and a hefty fine to touch traps that donʼt belong to you. But on this 9 day closed season civilians are given law enforcement powers.

While digging around about derelict pots I learned the owner of each pot will be fined $10.00 a pot to go towards the volunteerʼs fuel and such. Canʼt wait to get that bill… $530.00 in materials, $100.00 fine…total loss $630.00. Itʼs too bad a citation canʼt be issued to Mr. Miller, for his lack of common sense, lack of decency as a fellow sportsman, and over all lack of good judgment.

Rick Mahnke

WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET

The Right Way

SEPTEMBER 2013

Kevin Styles and his son Keith are recreational crabbers. “I thought it would be a good way to get the boy involved with the environment,” Kevin told me. The two were out the weekend before the July crab-trap-closure, picking up their traps, They knew what they had to do; get the traps out of the water for the 10 day period that the state designates or lose their traps. “I read about it,ʼ Kevin had said.

Kevinʼs son watched as their two traps came to the surface, eagerly looking for crabs, but it looked like there were only a few, at least until they looked closer. Apparently one of the crabs had little crabs with it and suddenly there were a dozen or more tiny crabs scurrying around the deck. He picked them all up and observed them in his hand, smiling, before releasing them. ʻThatʼs what itʼs all about,ʼ Kevin said.

RESPONSE

During the rotational closure anything left in the water is considered abandoned and therefore derelict (the trap rule of 6 intact sides plus two elements doesn't apply during this time). The intent of the closure is to remove lost and abandoned traps before they lose their buoy and become difficult to find. These traps are almost impossible to find during the non-closure when mixed with the thousands of other actively fished traps, hence the reason for the closure. To implement the gear closures, Florida has been divided into 6 regions, 3 on the east coast and 3 on the west coast. East coast regions close on even years and west coast regions close on odd years. Our region al-

ways closes between July 10-19 during odd years.

It is unfortunate that Rick was unaware of the closure taking place in our area. However, the reality is that the rules have to be applied evenly otherwise it would be far too easy for them to be abused. As Rick mentions, not removing traps can amount to a huge financial burden. Removing traps during the closure is also a huge financial burden as any commercial crabber who must remove hundreds of traps resulting in ten (actually more than that) lost days of catch will attest.

On a positive note for Rick, only the commercial sector is assessed a fine for traps recovered during the closure.

As a corollary to Rick's issue, this year I received an email from a

fisherman who had several bait traps in Pine Island Sound disappear during our rotational closure.

Bait traps are allowed to be in the water during the rotational closure.

After doing some poking around I'm pretty confident these traps were not removed by cleanup crews.

Rather, without the camouflage of all the other traps in the water, they may have become easy targets for someone wanting to capitalize on another persons gear (of course I don't know that is what happened).

I bring this up so that anglers who do set out bait traps can keep it in mind during the next rotational closure.

Betty Staugler, Florida Sea Grant Agent, UF/IFAS Charlotte County Extension (941) 764-4346

SEPTEMBER 2013

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PAGE 13

Bucket List

By Michael Heller Water LIFE editor One day last month we took water samples from various points down the Harbor, starting at Marker No.1 on the Harbor and going down to Boca Grande. The sample buckets are shown to the right.

Passed Boca Grande, heading up towards Lemon Bay, the water began to show pockets of clearing, to the south of Boca the water was a mix of Peace River Brown and Caloosahatchee brown. Below the surface, the seagrass is algae covered. It looks bad but some creatures out there are eating it and thriving.

In training for her first triathalon, Charlotte County Sea Grant Agent Betty Staugler decided to swim down the West Wall of Charlotte Harbor, with her husband James leading in their boat. “You wouldnʼt believe what I looked like when I got out” Betty said. She was covered with brown earthy scum.

The pristine blue color locals and tourists are used to seeRiver Debris on our transom ing in the near-shore Gulf has been browned out. Look at the cover photo this month. The water off Stump Pass should not be brown!

The Governor has proposed more out-flow from Lake Okeechobee be directed to the south, as it originally was before the lake shore was built up for hurricane protection. This makes sense to us, but it will take time to do.

Lake Okeechobee is not to responsible for the brown slime that covered Betty and has tainted the color of the water in Charlotte Harbor, although the same influence, too much rain, is to blame.

Charlotte Harborʼs brown comes from the Myakka and the Peace Rivers, both still swolen and carrying sediment from their banks and bottoms down to the Gulf via the Harbor.

We have big sharks in the Harbor right now, eating the fish that havenʼt Grass in Gasparilla Sound was covered with passing algae survived the salinity changes. There are large schools of freshwater loving redfish in the Harbor, early this year, and snook are staying out along the beaches when they should be moving in. Much has been affected by the rain.

Water Quality Assessment

Marker No. 1

Cape Haze

Turtle Bay

There were a few pockets of mostly- clear water around

Left: SCALLOP SURVEY RESULTS:

Our final count after all of the teams reported in was 1 bay scallop found...found by Tim Denger aboard Team Molly Brown in grid 130.

Though our count was extremely low, I am encouraged that some small portion of our estuary may have avoided last year's devestating red tide. This in itself is important information. Also, very interesting about the location is that the scallop was found a stonesʼ throw from a scallop cage restoration site. – Betty Staugler

Boca Grande Pass

The Fishinʼ Machine PAGE

14

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By Fishin’ Frank Water LIFE Baitshop It’s the same look on everyone’s face that tries this for the first time.

The serious anglers start out leaning against the counter, the inexperienced stand up attentively waiting for what they think is a video game to start.

Then, no matter who it is, it’s Oh My God! when the machine kicks in. Suddenly, they stand up straight. You can see the surprise in their faces, all of them. Their eyes widen and they are in the fight, then they are grinning, then they are laughing and suddenly they are serious and lost in the world of it. It’s crazy!

It’s the fastest way to make someone smile I’ve Left: FWCʼs Bob OʼHoro fights a bass on the Fishinʼ Machine with one of the ever seen. We are setting the new Fishinʼ Franks girlʼs pink rods. drags between 2 and 5 Above: Frank watches as Joe Ranger pounds which doesn’t sound and Ray Tippins fish inside the baitlike much, but take 5 shop, where you can try it too! pounds and put it 7 feet out from you on the end of a rod and that’s a lot of pull. The machine will pull almost 10 pounds, but we have lighter settings for teaching and for kids. We’ll be bringing the machine around to the Don Ball School classes next month too!

It’s a computer case with a motherboard and a motor.

The computer tells the motor the release pressure, the game pressure, to jerk, jerk, jerk, to pull and release. It’s very realistic. At the Meat Fishermen level it’s almost impossible to break off, on light tackle it’s difficult but not impossible to break off, but on the pro setting it’s fairly easy to lose a fish. What happens is the computer has a sensor on the line and the computer detects if you exceed the line strength and it records a break off. It also senses if the line goes slack and shows you lost the fish. Inside the computer we can switch over to an even higher power where you actually feel a marlin’s pull level. It will be on that heavy setting for the Sgt. Mike Wilson Benefit Tournament on Sept 28.

A high score shows you let the fish run when it wanted to and gained points when you effectively brought the fish in. It’s a skill level test of how well you control the rod, and drop the tip. Each fish has its own levels. The Jenae the ʻBait Girlʼ at Fishinʼ Franks tries for the best score I’ve seen so far is 2700. We’ll see what happens Rod-In-Mouth smallest fish award with a tiny bass, but Gregʼs tiny snapper still holds onto first place at the tournament on Saturday the 28th.

SEPTEMBER 2013

New bait shop custom rods are in, in both boyʼs black and girlʼs pink

Fishing Machine

TOURNAMENT for Black Top Marlin

to benefit the family of Sgt. Mike Wilson Out In Front of Fishin Franks Saturday September 28 sign up in advance - receive your fishing time call 941-625-3888 for more information or visit www.fishinfranks.com

MANY RECENT THEFTS: – Marine Trades Association Provides Networking Help SEPTEMBER 2013

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Staff Report

Below are responses Good received from association members.

Clearly this is a big problem!

It started out with an email from George Winn at Boater’s Landing to John Good at the Southwest Florida Marine Trades Association

This is the photo I took of the video we have – unfortunately the notification part of our video system wasn’t up and working properly yet (it is now). So when we realized we were ripped off I had to back up a couple days to find when it had happened. We had video of their arrival, the 20 seconds he spent on this boat and his departure two minutes later. I think he saw the cameras as he never looked up.

We’ve been hit three times in two months – before that it had been five years.

If you could send this around to the other dealers – they may recognize this guy – who knows.

Thank you, George.

DAVID HIRSHBERG, GALATI (Naples) -- This past week we had electronics stolen from a clients boat at Naples Boat Club Marina. Also, two weeks ago my neighbor lost his Contender with brand new 200 Yamaha engines out of a storage facility. Thieves got in the fence, broke into a stored Truck and hooked up to his boat. It’s that season again.

Then the follow ups and responses began coming in: Good wrote the following to his members: We had a surprising response to our e-mail on Friday regarding break-ins and boat thefts. This is obviously a big problem. We are going to put together a Roundtable on this issue (hopefully soon after Labor Day). We are working on bringing in law enforcement and are open to any suggestions you may have. If anyone else has incidents to report, please pass them along to us.

MATT HANSON – SALTY SAMS – (Fort Myers Beach) This has become an epidemic among marina owners and dealers. I think there are more people who’ve been hit in the last year than those who haven’t. We went 14 years without a major incident until this past spring. Despite each marina’s security system, photos of the criminal(s) and unique logistics, these crook(s) have been unstoppable. It might be time to pull dealers together to discuss their systems, pull in some security companies – facility and marine, and most importantly, the local police authorities. I’m sure our dealers would like to hear exactly what the police are doing to address this – task force, etc. If the theft at our facility came in between $200,000 $250,000 in damages then in the past year these crooks have stolen millions of dollars from the local boaters… our customers.

BILL ERICKSON – ERICKSON MARINE (Sarasota) -- it’s happening here too. We had a 22 Blazer Bay stolen a couple of weeks ago. We were able to recover the boat, but is was totally stripped.

We paid just over $13,000 for replacement parts. This does not include labor. Did the pictures from George’s video cameras do anything positive? Bill NICK ENG – WALKERS YACHT SALES (Fort Myers)-- We have been hit

PAGE 15

a few times this year already in Fort Myers. More electronics than lower units like years past. We now remove all electronics on inventory or customer’s boats kept on lot, and keep lower units on wires connected to our alarm. The Sheriff said most of the perps have more than likely walked the lot during business hours posing as customers.

CHRIS BECKET – The Sun, (Charlotte County) -- This week there were a couple of boat/outdrive robberies in Punta Gorda, (the ones I know about).

It always seem that when one dealer is hit, a couple of more follow, maybe not in the same town but in the same area. What if our organization set up a system that when a dealer is hit, they send someone the information who then sends out a EMAIL media blast to all members. We would use a special note in the tag line so the email is not passed over. This would give everyone warning to take some additional precautions. This is just a thought.

JASON TRAVIS – TRAPPER MARINE (Marco Island) -- We had four f250 lower units stolen in July, along with some Raymarine electronics off of service boats.

Have had customers have their motors and complete boat, motor, trailer stolen in the last month. Someone is working this area hard.

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16

Real Estate News

Provided to Water LIFE BY: Dave Hofer RE/MAX Harbor Realty (941) 575-3777 dhofer@remax.net www.harborparadise.com

EMAIL:

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Rapids & Des Moines, IA and in December, a $99 fare to Islip, Long Island.

Since many of our retirees are former New Yorkers, the addition of a New York City destination should be a great boon to our area. The airport will be adding 5 gates to accommodate this growth.

3. Punta Gorda City Council will have a new member after the November 5 election of the newly defined District 5 Recent area news items: seat. Nancy Prafke, former CEO of 1. Voting for Rand McNally's "best TEAM Punta Gorda will face Burnt small town in America" contest will be Store Isles board member Charles Coundrawing to a close on September 3. sil. Nancy and TEAM Punta Gorda Punta Gorda is in the running for top played an influential role in the architechonors. If it's anything like Money tural design of many post hurricane reMagazine's selection of our city as one development projects while Charles has of the best places to live several years immersed himself in attendance at counago, the impact on our real estate market cil meetings to stay in tuned to the actual could be tremendous. operations of the City council over the past six years. Now that the city's (and CRA) financial resources have been exhausted, voters will have to decide whether or not tax rates should be raised to speculate on real estate investments and subsidize new businesses as past boards have been eager to Mother Earth magazine will feature Punta Gorda in its Octo- do or to bring spending ber story: Top 10 places to visit that you never heard of. under control while conWater LIFE suggested Punta Gorda to them and provided tinuing our quality of life. the pictures, including one like this of Alligator Creek.

2. Allegiant Airlines has announced that it will serve 9 new destinations this fall. They will be providing non stop service to Allentown, PA, Asheville, NC, Branson, MO, Bangor, ME, Youngstown, OH, Moline, IL, Cedar

4. Pies and Plates owner, Cynthia Murphy, has proposed the lease of 4,700 square feet in the Herald Square Parking Facility. She has made the offer contingent upon the CRA spending $165K to build out the space to her specifications and being able to raise an additional $200K

SEPTEMBER 2013

in prepaid meals and cooking lessons. Kudos to her novel approach to money raising. While other local restaurants have had to market substantial discount coupons, her plan will be to raise customer awareness with cost free broad newspaper coverage while offering only negligible discounts. One good part of all the rain we have had in SW Florida, is Her website boasts havthe sugar cane fields at Lake Okeechobee are thriving. ing raised $14K, so far.

Kudos also to the City for 9. Done Right Pool Heaters will take the new experience of negotiating with over the space vacated by Australian an experienced tenant with a real busiYacht Brokers who skipped town with ness plan. $50K of taxpayer's subsidies. The partially built out space of 20,400 square 5. A ship store offering fishing supfeet was owned by Central Bank of plies has applied for a lease at Laishley Naples and was sold to a company Park. owned by local investor, Rick Treworgy, 6. Charlotte County and the City of owner of the Muscle Car Museum.

Punta Gorda have turned over $25K of taxpayer's funds to provide 1/3 of the money necessary to evaluate the possiSales Statistics: Charlotte County bility of building an aquarium for Mote processed only 28 foreclosures in July Marine. Three alternative sites will also vs 148 in June. This was the lowest total be evaluated to determine which locasince 22 were filed in May, 2004. tion might attract the millions of dollars The Charlotte Sun reported that total needed from benefactors to build the county median home prices rose 26.5% project. to $132,750 over July, 2012. Although 7. The visitor center on Jones Loop this is a reflection of the mix of house Road has reopened and is looking for types that are now selling rather than an volunteers to staff it. Didn't realize it outright increase in valuations, this is was there? Maybe other potential visifurther evidence that the distressed sale tors missed it, too. Could be why it is no longer dominating the housing closed in the first place. market. Our market study showed simi8. Dollar General will build a new lar increases in the bottom tier market.

12,000 square foot store in Cocoplum Prices on higher end homes are still Village Shops at Cranberry & Price in stagnant as inventories remain low and North Port. buyer appetite is not as robust as it should be.

$2 off any haircut!

SEPTEMBER 2013

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Reds for Some Hogs for Others Tommy Davis, center, and college friends

By Capt. Bart Marx Water LIFE Fishing Last month there was a lot of rain and the waters of Charlotte Harbor turned very dark, like espresso. We still had a great month and we were still using live shrimp from Fishin’ Franks. I like to get the ones that are cast-able size - 3-to 4-inches long.

Get about 3 dozen per person if you are serious about harvesting some good table fare.

All of last month we were into red drum and mangrove snapper. The Albrittons from Highlands County are a very nice couple. They are retired and were in our area so they called about a trip on my Action-Craft flats boat. They are Florida people and enjoy eating fresh mullet so we cast the net and caught a couple. We used shrimp too, to catch some snapper and a keeper red. They had a great time and went home looking forward to a fish dinner.

Another group that caught some nice fish were the Barrett family. They bought a 20-foot center console and hired Capt. Bart to show them around Charlotte Harbor and to show them how to fish in our area. They fish a lot in fresh water, up north. They are good anglers, but had no experience in salt water. We scheduled a couple of trips and they did a great job catching.

We trolled a little bit for mackerel and lady fish for bait. We rigged for sharks but there were no takers, although we had success harvesting reds and snapper that they

had for a family fish fry. They are coming back in the winter for another round of trips on their boat and to learn more about the Harbor.

Also last month a young but old friend Tommy Davis called. His boat was down and he had some friends in town from college and wanted to get them on the water.

They had a late night the evening before and were a little slow at first. As they recovered they got things figured out and harvested some good fish. They had a nice mess for a meal: two nice keeper red fish and ten mangrove snapper. For three anglers, now that's a fish fry!

A trip with the Mackey crew was an offshore outing in our Wellcraft. These guys are from Hardee County. They caught some white grunts, mangrove snapper, and a nice hog fish. These guys had a great time, even though it got a little sloppy out there.

On one of the Saturdays last month I took my son Brandon where he caught a nice 28-inch gag grouper. August was a great month and was very productive.

This month look for those big schools of reds. Snook is now back on the harvest list once again. Try offshore fishing for snapper- yellow tails, and mangroves on the full moon for some cool night fishing.

If you would like to book a trip with Capt. Bart Marx call 941-979-6517 or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegacharters.com. Always remember singing drags and tight lines make me smile.

PAGE 17

The Ol’ Fishin’ Hole

PAGE

18

By Captain Jim O’Brien Water LIFE Offshore Hey Ya - All August was red hot for fish'n. I mean the grouper, snapper, shark, barracuda, goliaths, you name it and they're ready to jump on your hook.

I didn't get a lot of my offshore info this month because I just got out of the hospital after having an operation. In a couple of weeks, though, I will be back fish'n.

I do have one good story for you this month and I got to be a part of it. About 3 weeks ago Mark Abraham gave me a call and said ‘let's go fish'n.’ Well, I didn't have to think twice – he said meet me down at his boat by 6 am. I said "OK!" When I got there, Mark was there, his brother Matt and Matt's son Zach. Zach is 10 years old and this was his first trip out in the blue water. He was EXCITED! Zach has been fishing from docks, piers and land. He loves to fish. I told Mark when he put his numbers in, that I had a couple of numbers we could try about 4 miles away from where we were going to be fish'n.... if he wanted to try them out.

These 2 numbers were 2 of my first HONEY HOLE numbers that I started putting my clients on back in the 70s. I haven't fished them in about 28 to 30 years so I wanted to see if there were still fish on these spots. Mark said we'd stop and give them a try.

When we got out there, we put a chicken rig on Zach's pole and I went down to the bottom with mullet and squid.

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It wasn't 5 minutes and I pulled up a 30 inch red grouper. I went back down and about 5 minutes later I pulled up a 28 inch grouper. I did this 5 times! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Matt brought up 2 nice red grouper in the 26- to 27- inch range and in the picture you will see Zach catching porgies and mangs. Then, before we left that spot, Zach caught a 22 1/2 inch red grouper on a light chicken rig.

Was he ever happy!! We caught about 20 more grouper from that spot and over half of them were keepers. Life was good that day.

Now here’s what else is going on SNAPPER AND PORGIES - are chewing good on all the inshore and offshore wrecks, reefs and ledges. Bigger ones are farther out. Best baits are squid and live shrimp.

SEPTEMBER 2013

RED GROUPER - are being caught at 80 to 120 ft of water. Look for Swiss cheese bottom. Best baits, mullet chunks and sardines.

GAG GROUPER - are being caught from 28 to 60 miles out. Look for rocks and ledges. Best baits blue runners and squirrelfish.

AJ'S - are on most of the offshore wrecks and reefs. Out 50 to 60 miles there are some monsters. Best bait blue runners or large pin fish.

SHARKS - are all over the place, in the harbor, in the pass's, on the inshore reefs and offshore wrecks.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you have any numbers you haven't been to in 5 or 10 years give them a try, you might just be surprised what's on there now.

Well, now it's time to get out of here and take my nap! If you have a good ol' fish'n story or a recipe for cooking fish we can share with our readers, send it in!

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SEPTEMBER 2013

Paddling Alligator Creek

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What? You've never heard of Allapatchee Park?

By David Allen Water LIFE Kayaking Sometimes, particularly on a hot summer day, you want to get out on the water, but you don't feel like paddling for two or three hours under the hot sun. If you live in Port Charlotte, as I do, several options come to mind. Sunrise Park off Edgewater Drive and Port Charlotte Beach Park are twoI think of immediately. Both are close to hame and are interesting paddles.

But the club, the Port Charlotte Kayakers, has done both of those sites recently and sometimes a change of scenery is refreshing. So let’s try Allapatchee Park.

What! You've never heard of Allapatchee Park? Then you're missing a nice, relaxed paddle; one that's only a short drive from either Port Charlotte or Punta Gorda. Allapatchee Park is located just off Acline Road south of Punta Gorda and has a nice, easy beach to launch into Alligator Creek. The park doesn't seem to attract many boaters or kayakers so the limited parking space, enough for 10-15

cars, is more than adequate. There are no restroom facilities in the park.

From the launch site, you have two options; you can go upstream for about 1.5 miles to the dam at Taylor Street, or you can paddle downstream to Charlotte Harbor, a distance of about 4-5 miles. We usually go upstream first as it's more rural, fewer homes, more trees and wildlife. And the dam moderates the current even after a heavy rain. We usually see quite a few birds during the trip, and once we spotted a red-shouldered hawk on the riverbank feasting on a fish he had just caught.

The last time we paddled there, someone had spilled a detergent or surfactant into the creek above the dam creating a cloud of foam below the dam. The foam had gradually moved down the creek but spread out as it traveled downstream. We didn't see any dead fish floating in the water, so perhaps the chemical was harmless.

Alternatively, heading downstream from the launch site presents a very different picture.

About 1/4 mile west of the launch, you pass under a railroad bridge and then two bridges for Highway 41, north and south.

About the same distance beyond Highway 41, you pass under the Burnt Store Bridge. You can see Home Depot in the shopping center further to the west.

Donald Gaiser demonstrates his new Kayak Launch which is being produced by Golden Boat Lifts. The all aluminum and stainless device For about the next attaches to a dock with 4 bolts, will lift a 100 pound boat and sells for mile or so, you $1649 with a 1 year warrantee. pass the RV Parks

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that line Burnt Store Road south of Highway 41.

Then you get to the good part.

Beyond the last RV Park, the Creek broadens out and becomes much more open.

The channel widens and you see more birds and more fish jumping. Occasionally, you'll hear an alligator grunting along the river bank.

There is usually little power-boat traffic in this section of the Creek; actually very little activity of any kind, so just enjoy the solitude. About 2 miles further west you enter Charlotte Harbor and can explore the many, tiny islands just south of the inlet, or paddle north toward Punta Gorda. The trip back to the launch is only a couple of miles and is not a difficult paddle, as the dam reduces the flow down the Creek.

All in all, it's a great paddle if you don't feel like working too hard on a hot sum-

PAGE 19

mer day. There is usually something interesting to see, and anyway, if you're like me, you probably need the exercise.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet each Wednesday evening at 5PM at Franz-Ross Park next to the YMCA on Quesada. All are welcome to join us. For more information, call Dave Allen at 941-235-2588 or dlaa@comcast.net.

20

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SEPTEMBER 2013

Good Advice for Charter Captains and Crew PAGE

From Capt. Steve Skevington Water LIFE Offshore via Dream Catcher Charters Department of Oh Crap!!

We have been in the charter fishing game for a lot of years. Things have changed in those years A LOT..... With the litigious age and the nanny generation we have discovered this awful thing called Law Suits.

Hook in the head. Happens to us all one time or another. One of your clients on the boat is rolling back on a cast to really heave it out there.. then WHAM, the MirroLure Catch-5 is firmly lodged in his buddies scalp. Hooks work.

Now what do you do? Get old school and use the old hook removal technique our dads taught us, tell the guy to bite down on a rod-butt and YANK!!!

OMG NO! Imobilize and Transport. DO NOT remove anything impaled in a person’s body unless you perceive more damage or imminent life threat... and you better be able to PROVE it.

With all the power of our justice system, it has been proven in a court of law that captains are not licensed surgeons.

Words of the day.... Immobilize and Transport. ADVICE, as we do it.

Imobilize. Clip the plug.. or tape to the area plug is attached. DO NOT cut hook size down. The whole hook may aid in removal later..

Transport Bring the client back to dock when possible. Base your hurry on the level of injury. Finishing out the fishing day is your client’s choice NOT THE CAPTAINS and the client should verbally commit to staying out based on the knowledge of his injury... The captain can cut the trip short but not make a wounded angler stay..

Provide enough fluids to client to keep him happy unless shock or shock symptoms are noticed. This does not include beer!

Gags from Capt. Steve Skevington

OUT OF VENICE

A few pictures from Capt.

Joe Miller's charters last month.

Amberjack, African Pompano and a Gag Grouper From Glen Ballinger

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SEPTEMBER 2013

BOAT SHOW MOVING: The Southwest Florida Marine Industries Association has announced plans to relocate its 25'" Annual Spring Boat Show from Fort Myers to Naples.

ANGLER MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP September 10, 6 pm —8 pm Cape Haze Marina,

WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM

SCUTTLEBUTT

Sometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

sightings of Florida panthers to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) website launched a year ago, where people can record when and where they saw a panther or its tracks. As of August 2013, the public had submitted 790 sightings.

WHY BOTHER? At their September meeting, the FWC is slated to discuss a new recreational bag limit for blue runners: 100 fish per-person per-day!

EVERY BLUEFIN TUNA TESTED in the waters off California has shown to be contamiTopics Covered: How Quotas are Established, law enforcement, regulation changes, barotrauma, Q&A with the experts.

Who Should Attend? Recreational and Commercial Anglers To register for this FREE workshop visit: https://anglerfisheriesworkshop.eventbrite.com/ Questions? – contact Betty Staugler at Staugler@ufl.edu or 941.764.4346 PANTHER SIGHTINGS The public has reported hundreds of

PAGE 21

nated with radiation that originated in Fukushima. Every single one.

CROCS ROCK State wildlife experts say they are sure a Florida

crocodile captured near lake Tarpon, north of Tampa was born in 1999 near the Turkey Point nuclear plant in Dade County, meaning it traveled some 350 miles around the southern tip of the state, and in the end set a record for the farthest distance ever documented for a crocodile to travel in Florida.

SNAKE ISLAND Last month WCIND approved funding for a renourishment project on Snake Island. Construction is still at least 60 days out. The original permit application has changed as far as the amount of sand to be placed back onto the west side to help replace what has been lost a lot since the permit was applied for.

We bet this sign is much more effective at keeping bathers out of the water than a simple ʻNo Swimmingʼ. The sign was located somewhere in South America.

SNEAKY SNAKES Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) biologists are asking the public to report sightings of three rare snake species: (Top to bottom) Florida hognose snake, pine snake and short-tailed snake.

DON BALL SCHOOL Registration for 7th graders takes place this month at Punta Gords, Port Charlotte, Murdock and L.A. Ainger Middle schools. www.waterlifemagazine.com

Sign on Bermont Road near the proposed, (but rejected) dump site that was to be located uphill from Shell Creek. BAD IDEA!

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September Fishing Forecast

SEPTEMBER 2013

Charlotte Harbor:

Frank, at Fishin’ Franks in Charlotte Harbor 941- 625-3888

We are starting to see flounder from Two Pine up to Ponce Park. Use the old bottom bouncer technique of drifting along bobbing the sinker up and down.

You can use shrimp or white bait, it’s just the best method – keep bouncing the rod tip, I don’t know if your spooking them up, or if the bounce gets their attention, but we haven’t heard of anybody getting shorts, mostly they are all keeper size.

Out in the middle of the Harbor, in the deep holes, you’ll find some pretty big bull sharks out there right now. Why did they choose this time of the year, when there is the most fresh water? (Maybe we lose some bait fish and with some fish kills happening, the dead fish end up in those deeper holes and that is what is attracting the bull sharks). Whether it is dead threadfins or, more likely, freshwater fish getting washed down the river and the salt burns their gills out, there is some logical explination. I’ve had reports of 8 - to 9 foot bulls out in those deep holes. And as weird as it is, there are smaller sharks around Cape Haze, now, blacktips and bonnet heads. They should be hard to find at this time of year, but here they are.

It’s a month or two early for big redfish, but out along the Gulf in 30 feet and in along the beach, guys are catching really big, oversize reds. From down by Matlacha all the way to Ponce Park there

Zachary from Northern New Jersey and a nice redfish with Capt. Fred of Backdraft Charters

are several schools of big reds right now.

Ponce, Two Pine, Cormorant, Burnt Store, these are big schools of nice redfish and they are just working the bar now. Blue crabs, shrimp, pinfish, topwaters – they are mostly keying in on purple lures like the purple Maverick. It should be really interesting to see if the reds beat a purple lure up like the snook have been doing.

We have sporadic pompano in the area, they seemed to have moved more into the Gulf again and there is also quite a bit of whiting along the beaches now, too.

For snook, the best bets for September, normally this would not be true, but with all the rain all along the beaches we have tons of snook on them. There seems to be a lot of baitfish along the beaches and that

Snook from a charter with Capt. Dave Stephens

Redfish from a charter with Capt. Bart Marx

apparently has captivated the snooks attention. Try an MR 17 twitched in 2-to 3feet of water along the beaches where the snook will be hanging out. Along the ICW, the Tom Adams Pier will have snook right under your feet. Placida lights up at night when snook are stacked up underneath the trestle. The Port Charlotte Beach pier is also great for snook, Bayshore is fair, and by the end of September Laishley Pier should light up with snook at night too.

But one of the best bets is Gilchrist pier, walk three feet out and cast parallel to the seawall. There are monster snook along that seawall. You’ll go through oversized fish to find your keeper. Fish 16-Bombers or a large Maverick, you don’t want to be

using small bait along the seawall at Gilchrist.

In the Myakka and Peace Rivers, drag out the Rattletrap and cast the holes along those rivers. Anything with red and orange is what you want to work the deeper parts of the river. In Lee County it’s the brown Maverick or the red Rattletrap up at the trestle. Just listen. If you hear them, tie on the Maverick. If they pop you want to stay closer to the surface. If you don’t hear them making noise, get out the Rattletrap.

There are plenty good on bluegill and shellcrackers around. For the panfish, you are into the wigglers for bait. Tie them with a float with the bait below the bobber and if that doesn’t work, take the float off and try it with a split shot.

Bass are good in 9-Mile (canal). With all the rain, the bass have a lot of food right now. They are eating worms or lures.

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Guide Card Ad Space $40/month call 941-766-8180

e-mail to Water LIFE Hello! My name is Shannon Friday I live in Grove City and have been an avid reader of the Water Life! I thought I'd send in a couple pics, one is a couple black drum (editor notes* on front page) caught on dead shrimp from the shore in ski alley and the other a slot size 23" red caught from under a bridge into a Lemon Bay estuary, He fell for a live finger mullet. Hope you enjoy and Iʼll be sure to keep reading!!!

Shannon

Charters

Offshore Fishing Trips: 1/2 day • 8hr • 10 hr • 12 hr We help put your charters together

Shark, Tarpon, Grouper, Snapper, Kingfish, and MORE!

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BackBay Xtremes Capt Dave Stephens www.backbayxtremes.com

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SEPTEMBER 2013

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The The BIG-4 BIG-4

FLOUNDER along the east side of the Harbor

Fish Fish to to expect expect in in

GROUPER in the Gulf in 60-feet of water

September September

SNOOK coming back in from the Gulf

REDFISH big redfish schools cruising the east side

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Gulf Temps are 86 o and climbing the Harbor is almost 88

My guy slammed the pigglets today. I had em boilin like a fry daddy!! I love my job and Iʼm feelin blessed - Capt. Billy Barton Via Facebook: His commercial mullet friends couldn't move the net fast enough to get it out of the way of a fish they had never seen before in Bull Bay, bordering Charlotte Harbor! What do you think about a marlin inside a bar on a flat, at least 50 miles from its hunting grounds!

Lemon Bay:

Capt. Jack Englewood Bait House Englewood: 475-4511

It took Traci L. Hawk more than 15 minutes to reel this jack in. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!! she wrote.

Snook are pretty much everywhere around Lemon Bay, at the bridges, under the docks, on the beach, just all over. Redfish seemed to have slowed down a little, maybe from the fresh water, but there are still reds around. Mangrove snapper are hot! Guys are limiting out on the mangs at the Tom Adams Pier across the street from our place. And, believe it or not, there are sheepshead around the docks and under the fishing pier too. I’ve been throwing out some shrimp and some pretty good sized sheepshead are taking them right under the fuel dock here.

Mike Holliday saw this lionfish in the Indian River holding onto the side of the planks at the Stuart Causeway Boat Ramp. “It's the first lion fish I've seen in the river.

No one thinks about how the water they're dumping displaces habitats of fish.”

Offshore, red grouper are good in 70- to 75-feet.

We’ve tried some spots in close and we’re catching small gags, but nothing of size yet. And we’re getting some grunts with the mangrove snapper.

What I am catching a lot of that we usually don’t, is yellowtail snapper. We’re getting 10 to 15 on a trip, nice 13-to 14-inch yellowtail snapper. From 10- to 15- to 20 miles out yellowtail seem to be all over the reefs right now. Usually we get one here or there, but usually never very many. They are a nice eating fish. I guess they migrate through here to the north. And, finally, we’ve had excellent lane snapper all summer. They are still good, they are just slowing down a little. Oh yeah, there are grunts and porgys and all the usual stuff. The fishing has been pretty good.

Offshore $160/person 8am-5pm

Capt. Steve Skevington

www.fishingpuntagorda.com

FISHING RIGHT NOW: Excellent!

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SEPTEMBER 2013