Water LIFE Sept 2011

Water

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Charlotte Charlotte Harbor Harbor and and Lemon Lemon Bay Bay Keeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997

The official publication of the Charlotte Harbor Reef Association

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C over ed up in L o b s t e r s

Adam Wilson Page 6

The Ol始 Fishin始 Hole Capt. Jim

Taking the Kids Offshore Capt. Steve

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Trilogy of Fishing Capt. Chuck

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w w w. W a t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m Online every month!

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Parents of 7th Graders sign your kids up!

Fishing Classes

For the 10th year the Don Ball School of Fishing classes are being offered at: Port Charlotte, Murdock, LA Ainger, Punta Gorda and Heron Creek middle schools.

This is an 8 week program held in the school cafeteria from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. one night a week.

Children receive invaluable fishing instruction from local guides. They will learn how to tie knots, cast and identify fish.

Students receive a quality Shakespeare Rod and Reel, a custom tackle bag, tackle trays, lures, hooks, jigs, sinkers, spoons, plyers, casting plugs and more!

Plus, every student receives the new 2011 edition of the Don Ball School of Fishing workbook and upon graduation they will receive a custom Be-The-Fish graduation t-shirt.

The cost of the whole program is just $12.

Students will have a chance to see the equipment, meet us and ask questions at a school lunch session in early September. Application forms are now available at each school 7th grade office.

Early sign up is available from the waterlifemagazine.com website NOW! Call 941-766-8180 for more information.

Sponsored by the Charlotte Harbor Reef Assn. and the Fish Florida Foundation with additional funding from Fishermen’s Village and Water LIFE magazine

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Inshore & Offshore Headquarters Letters to: WaterLIFEmagazine@comcast.net

From: hooksetbob@aol.com Subject: Why I Came to Charlotte Harbor As a relatively new full time resident who loves to fish, Water Life is simply great. The articles are informative and helped my learning curve along with the many friendly anglers, guides and bait shops in the area. We are truly blessed with Charlotte Harbor for it is a great fishery. Joe the Fisherman knows if they want to "meat fish" it is far more costeffective to go to the local seafood store.

Having personally been once an avid fresh-water tournament fisherman (now converted), I cannot imagine a tournament fisherman looking you in the face and saying what they are doing is good for the fishery. It is simply not true.

Economics will also show that if Charlotte Harbor has a great reputation as a great fishery, the economy will flourish much more from new residents and visiting Joe the Fisherman anglers than from tournaments. Build a great reputation as a great fishery and the people will come to fuel the economy. It is a free world and if the local economic leaders want to encourage tournament fishermen so be it, but please do not tell me this is best for the fishery and the economy. I will glady debate the facts of this argument anywhere.

Do I personally spend the money on gas and boat to get a good keeper red to eat? No, I go for the fight and the more bites the better. Am I sad to see

that the closed snook season has resulted in a boom in young and maturing fighting snook. No. Controversial as it may be, Iʼd love to see the same closed season for reds for a couple of years.

Every fisherman should read the early history of Charlotte Harbour when fish were thick and plentiful and healthy.

As a nation, what we have done to our environment as a collective is shameful. LIke other anglers I keep a catch once in a red moon to eat, but it is rare, my joy is the fight and a careful successful release to fight again one day.

Rather than fight among ourselves about jigging artificials vs live bait for tarpon, letʼs ensure that Charlotte Harbor is healthy fishery with lots of crabs that attract the spring tarpon and where fish of all species want to come and give us that moment of joy.

Let us suffer with the problem of so many tarpon in Charlotte Harbor that a 13% or so loss due to angling is a minor dent. Letʼs fight cuts in funding of clean water, water quality, research, etc. that I fear will be our greatest threat to the fishery - not jigging vs. live bait.

Not trying to be political, but I fear that our self imposed greed for oil and the fight to reduce regulations will lead to the demise of our waters and our economy and most importantly, to our great gift of a sustainable environment from God.

Editor Notes * I agree with you, Bob, about tournaments, but I believe that if tournaments did away with the big payouts and were made to give back to the fishery - by supplying brood stock for a hatchery, for example and then by having tournament anglers distribute and release those hatchery fish into the backwaters of Charlotte Harbor, then I believe we could reach a balance. With that kind of balance tournaments would then focus positive attention on Charlotte Harbor instead of generating more headlines about cheating, arrogance and entitlement. – MH

Hey man I just wanted to send this picture because I'm proud of it! That was my first offshore trip as the Captain on the Kingfisherʼs big boat. We did awesome man! I had five people and all together my mate cleaned 9 Spanish macks, 35 lane snappers, 8 porgys and 7 grunts.

We caught so many red grouper too, but they were just shortys. A couple of ʻem were real close - but just not quite there. What a great day that was though. I really love the offshore thing. What a blast! That is almost more fun than inshore fishinʼ. I can't wait to start incorporating more offshore into my life of fishin!

- Capt. Billy Barton

Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180

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Photography: ASA1000.com Senior Editor: Capt. Ron Blago Port Charlotte: Billy Barton Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck Eichner Commercial Fishing: Kelly Beall Sea Grant: Betty Staugler Real Estate: Dave Hofer Inshore: Fishin’ Frank Offshore: Capt Jim O’Brien Diving: Tommy Davis Kayaks: David Allen Sailing: Bill Dixon Office Dog: Molly Brown

Best Excuse Ever: Mike, I'm sittin down now to write my story - it's been a long day - sorry. I know I said it would be done in the morning. I just didn't get to it. I had a house full of drunk people all day.

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Water LIFE

o n the COVER

Spearfisherman Adam Wilson hams it up with a fine August catch of Florida lobsters.

Story: Page 6

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Charlotte Harbor Reef Assn

Hurricane Weather Links

Kids Fishing Classes

Electronic Fish Tracking

School Workbook pdf.

We don’t just count the people we reach, we reach the people that count

Tides

Weather

Manatee Myths

Aerial Tour

Hot Rods

Photography

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My friend Capt. Ralph Allen, owner of the KIngfisher Fleet at Fishermenʼs Village and I both believe it is important to take kids that have never been fishing before, out onto the Harbor for a real fishing trip. Seen here, 4 year old Joshua Giannakopoulos is all smiles on one of those special days last month as he fights a snapper. His sister Elizabeth, 12, is in the background, brother Joseph, with a ladyfish is to the right. We encourage other area guides to contact us if they are willing to donate a half day of their services to introduce kids to fishing - kids that have never fished before. And Water LIFE will put the photos and your name right here.

Youth Fishing Coalition www.WaterLIFEmagazine.com

By Mi chael Hel l er Wat er LIFE edi t or This month our Don Ball School of Fishing program starts. This will be the 10th year of teaching 7th graders about local fishing and the local environment. So far we have put over 1000 kids through our program. Now I am happy to report we will finally start our program in Cape Coral this spring. Capt. Sam O’Briant will be the instructor.

Last month I had an interesting dialogue with Karen Blyer of the University of Florida. She is the coordinator of 4-H, Marine, Aquatic, and Environmental Education and heads up the Florida Youth Fishing Coalition (FYFC) which consists of representatives from state and federal agencies (FWCC, NOAA) universities (UF IFAS and Sea Grant, public and private schools), non-profit fishing organizations/youth programs (IGFA, Anglers for Conservation, BASS Federation, the Florida Fishing Academy, Mahogany for Youth, Teen Anglers, and others) Karen had already seen our Fishing Resource Manual - it’s on the WaterLIFEmagazine.com website if you want to check it out too - the manual is our class handbook. Our Don Ball program has now been

invited to join her group.

Karen told me the FYFC was formed “out of the need to develop stronger communication pathways between those that work in or have a stake in youth fishing programs across Florida.” Formed in 2010 the FYFC meetings provide an opportunity to share ideas and programs.

According to Karen, one of the group’s goals is to establish a “standardized template” to help guide all youth fishing programs in Florida with regard to best practices and learning outcomes. Having some consistency and standardization in youth fishing programs,” she said “may help to expand such programs and make evaluation efforts easier and more meaningful.”

Since the FWC is a key collaborative partner in the FYFC the phrase standardized template drew my attention, so I asked what it meant.

“Perhaps the word “standardize” is not the best word,” Ms. Blyer explained. “It is more like clarifying/spelling out the outcomes of a fishing program. Understandably not all “programs” will be able to achieve all skill-sets and concepts, but there are also those that could enhance their own programs by addressing a core-set of outcomes...

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if they knew what they were, but there is a lack of coordination, sharing of ideas, and consistency in how information is delivered.”

I believe strongly in what we are doing in our 7th grade classes. Our program is not just about teaching kids how to fish, it’s about teaching care of the environment and how a healthy environment is inseparable from good fishing. I believe our approach might make a good template for teaching other young anglers, but at the same time I am a little leery about joining a state approved program since, in the past, the fishermen’s perspective has often differed from that of the state’s scientists and, personally, I’m not convinced the State always knows best.

August Opening for Lobsters / Diving the St. Pete Open

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By Adam Wi l son Water LIFE DIving Since lobster season opened August 6, we decided it was time to make the rounds and collect on all the big bugs we have been seeing since crawfish went out of season last April. We hit several spots out in the 100 foot depth range and found all of our spiny buddies right where we had left them. If you see a lobster out of season, and you want to insure he will stay put till season opens, your best bet is to just look and make a record of where you saw it. If you mess around with it too much by tickling it out of its home, or grabbing it, there’s a good chance it won’t be there on your next visit.

I go so far as making a point to not even shine my dive light on an out of season lobster as it can make them rethink their hiding spot. We also found a bunch of their smaller cousins, slipper lobsters, mixed in amongst the rocky hiding spots. Slipper lobsters are not regulated and there is no closed season or size limit on them.

We were hoping to find a big lobster that we could have saved and returned to collect for the St. Pete Open tournament on August 20, but with the largest lobster we ran across only weighing in at a little over 5 pounds we decided to round them all up as none would have placed very well on tournament day. In fact, if we had saved our biggest lobster for tournament day, it would not even have made the top ten in the lobster category – seriously tough competition for sure.

The St. Pete Open, the 46th annual World’s largest spearfishing tournament put on by the St. Pete Underwater Club lived up to its name with a record breaking 336 participants and a prize table pushing $70,000.

Our Team WreckReation trekked 90 miles due west into the Gulf of Mexico in the early morning hours of Saturday the 20th, dodging lightning storms and rain showers along the way. We decided to dive a spot we have known about for years, but just never got around to hitting. With high fuel prices we didn’t have

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the luxury of scouting the spot prior to tournament day. We were going to gamble and hope for the best.

On arrival, the bottom machine screen lit up red indicating large fish high in the column. Large pelagics don’t congregate over just anything, so a healthy reef had to be waiting below.

Looking over the gunnel as I threw the marker buoy, I could see the water was a gorgeous purple blue crystal clear.

The descent, 200 feet through hundreds of almacos and amberjacks, schools of African pompano and fast moving wahoo made us all eager to see what waited for us on the bottom.

We landed on the high side of a ledge that made almost a complete circle, creating what was like a large tabletop over a hundred feet across.

Enormous American red snappers, mutton snappers and a 30-pound cubera snapper all bolted for cover as we started to hunt.

With quality targets all around, it’s hard to have the patience to wait for a trophy.

Not just any fish will place well at the Open.

I began working my way around the edge of the tabletop and when one of the bigger amberjacks in the school came too close, I couldn’t resist any longer. He looked to push 70 pounds and he was moving fast. I hit him high and completely missed the kill shot. I dumped all the air from my b.c. and made him drag me and my 130 pounds of tanks and gear across the bottom.

After hitting him with my last two shafts he began to slow down and nose dived into the sand. I took the opportunity to jump on his back and quickly end the fight. My bottom time was up and I gave my AJ a fast trip to the surface with a lift bag and then began my own 30 minute slow ascent through multiple deco stops. The half hour went by quickly as I watched thousands of fish swimming by, close enough to pet.

Regrouping in the boat I saw everyone else did well too. Dan Maloney and Eric Pinkham both had beautiful hogfish of 16 and 14 pounds respectively. Ron Anderson, Carl Gill and I all had respectable amberjacks. None of us had seen any black grouper, big or little, which I find a little unusual. I did see my first lionfish. Had I not been trophy hunting I would have shot the 14 inch fish to

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sample at dinner. I have heard reports and seen photos of hundreds of lionfish deep in the Gulf. It’s only a matter of time before they begin to flourish closer near shore along the Gulf coast. Jim Joseph of Fantasea Scuba has reported sightings at the Palm Island ferry, only 13 miles from land. With no natural predators, and a voracious appetite for juvenile reef fish, that is bad news for us.

Despite running far and diving deep, we didn’t place in the coveted top 3 in any category. My amberjack gutted out at 62.2 pounds for 6th place. I won a new scuba tank. Dan’s 15.65 pound gutted hogfish placed 5th. He won some beautiful metal fish artwork. The chase for a top 3 glass trophy will keep us coming back year after year, but it’s the family reunion like setting, and seeing all your buddies you have made over the years that really makes the St. Pete Open so much fun. Pictures and final standings can be found at www.stpeteopen.com.

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2011 Scallop Survey

By Betty S taugl er Water LIFE / Sea Grant On August 27th, approximately 120 citizen-scientists participated in the third annual Great Bay & Sound Scallop Search in Charlotte County. The search is a way of assessing bay scallop distribution and trends in abundance over time in local waters.

The Charlotte County event was one of four volunteer based scallop searches scheduled in southwest Florida. The others occurred in Pine Island Sound and Sarasota Bay on August 13th. The Tampa Bay search scheduled for August 27th was cancelled due to the weather.

All total, 30 2009 teams went Tampa Bay 674 out in the Sarasota 180 Charlotte Charlotte 94 event.

Pine Island NoSearch Each team was assigned an area to sample. Sites ranged from just north of the Tom Adams Bridge down to Boca Grande and then east to Turtle Bay. The methods we use are designed to provide uniform data that can compare different areas of the bay, different areas of southwest Florida (Tampa to Pine Island Sound) and one year to the next. (see chart) We monitor bay scallops in southwest Florida because they are an important species to both humans and the environment. When coastal waters are able to support bay scallops it is a sign of reasonably good water quality and seagrass conditions. But water quality and seagrass health are only part of a complicated scallop picture.

Populations fluctuate from year to year due to many factors including winds and currents that distribute larvae

to suitable or unsuitable areas. Cold temperatures, such as those experienced the last two years can result in larvae remaining in the water column longer where they are more vulnerable to predation.

Unseasonable warm waters are lethal to bay scallops. Water that becomes too fresh due to heavy rains is also lethal to scallops.

Heavy 2010 2011 flows NoSearch 32 15 10 may also 163 24 flush a 335 1027 scallop’s food supply away. And predators fluctuate from year to year as well. A good year for blue and stone crabs can spell a bad year for bay scallops. In a healthy population, these annual fluctuations are easily absorbed, but in collapsed or recovering populations, these changes can be quite dramatic.

Bay scallops are extremely sensitive organisms and so short lived that their success depends upon large populations in large areas over a long enough time period to ensure one bad year will not result in a collapse of the species.

Hopefully someday we will see a sustainable bay scallop population in southwest Florida.

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

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Call the Captain! DEEP WATER, SAILBOAT QUICK ACCESS! Intersecting canals, 3/2/2, pool home- Mediterranean character. Chair rail molding, track lighting, fireplace, brick paver driveway, large concrete dock. $339,000

Call the Captain! TWO PARCELS FOR SALE.

Call the Captain! TIP LOT HOME! Approx.

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Arcadi a

High quality farmland. One is 20.4 acres, the other is 40.8 acres. There is power and 2 wells on the property, entrance is fenced with a locked gate. Largely cleared.

Perfect for groves or farm. Convenient to Rt. 17. $183,600 & 67,200.

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Call the Captain! DEEP SAILBOAT WATER! Build your Florida dream home or vacation get-away on this gulf access lot located in a golf course neighborhood. Concrete seawall and dock already installed. No bridges to the open water of Charlotte Harbor for world class fishing and boating fun. $185,000

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Catching the ʻCuda that Ate Nemoʼs Mom

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Steve Skevington Water LIFE Offshore Taking a four and seven year old out fishing all day in the Gulf does take a bit of planning ...and a little bit of luck.

Looking back, I can remember plenty of charters with little ones...I remember one 9 year old little girl that sat in the fighting chair like a trooper while she reeled in every bit of a 200-pound goliath, hooked trolling a red and white Bomber!

Of course I can also remember turning back to port a few times with what started out looking like cute little tykes and fast turned into looking like little green men from another planet.....poor little guys.

I can also remember, on a very recent charter, a little boy who burst into tears at the sight of his large red grouper going into the cooler. And when I pulled the fish from the ice to release it, his parents looked like THEY where going to cry! Sometimes you just can’t make everyone happy. But that day I made a 10 year old, oh, and a grouper, very happy.

I have been planning to take my own kids offshore for a while now, but weather, school, even the common cold has kept this trip from happening until now.

This day in the middle of August was set to be nothing short of perfect, five knots out of the east in the morning, followed by five knots from the west in the afternoon. That kind of forecast is what us offshore guys dream about all winter, it should make for smooth sailing and healthy kids.

The morning of their trip didn't start out like most fishing trips I am used to.

Instead of waking up at five am and hurrying to prep the boat, I woke up at 7:30, to breakfast and cartoons. This break in my routine did worry me, it

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just didn't feel like a fishing trip yet.

Here it was almost nine am and I hadn't even bought bait yet..

After explaining to Emily my four year old, that we were going to go catch fish, she explained to me that we could catch one fish today, that's right, the barracuda that ate Nemo’s mom!

And so their adventure begins...

In my seven year old Charlie’s mind fishing means,...fishing shirts, sunglasses, and such. These kids had to have some sort of custom fishing shirt before they could go on this avenge/fishing trip.

So that had to be fixed before I could leave the house: two magic markers and two plane white T-Shirts. Then, a smattering of sunscreen later, we were out the door.

On our way offshore the kids were blessed with a dolphin show that would rival anything Orlando could throw at you on any given day.

Heading out to go fishing does not

mean you have to burn a bunch of fuel, we simply cut one engine off and troll all the way out to our favorite spot.

This saves a ton of fuel, and wear and tear on the boat. And it gets you fishing right away.

Everything you can think of can be caught doing this, from Spanish mac, to grouper and cobia, bonita, kingfish and even tuna.

But my kids were not at all interested in anything but big bad Mr Cuda today.

Well, we trolled cuda tubes and plugs all the way out to a piece of grouper bottom in 60 feet of water and no cuda yet.

The kids took turns at the wheel, that didn't even help.. So we decided to stop and catch some bottom fish.

Charlie dropped down a whole frozen squid, and BOOM it never reached bottom and his first grouper!

Him and his little sister both on the rod at the same time was a sight to behold, the sheer excitement in their

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eyes as the rod bent over the gunwale was beyond priceless.

As happy as they were catching and releasing grouper left and right, they still were on a mission that could not be forgotten.

Mr Cuda's rein of terror was soon to be over. Picking up the anchor we headed for the boxcar reef, I had a hunch this could be the very reef Nemo grew up on.

When we arrived we deployed two cuda tubes behind the boat about 50 feet.

Trolling slowly across the reef it took no time at all before something dark appeared behind the starboard tube.

It was him! and BAM cuda was in the air, 20 feet or more, with tube hanging from his lower jaw! As drag screamed from the reel, the two munchkin cuda fighters climbed into the chair.

As Charlie held the rod for all he was worth Emily cranked with both hands.

Ten minutes of the hardest battle these kids have ever faced past, it must have seemed like an eternity to them.

But finally there he was, their nemesis, Mr Cuda, was on the deck!

He didn't look anywhere near as scary as he did in the movie, so the vote was unanimous, this Cuda has learned his lesson and was to be released.

On the way back the munchkins seemed a bit overheated, so what to do with an empty fish box? Fill it with seawater and let em have at it.

After all I was trolling all the way back in, hoping for a kingfish, and saving a fortune in fuel.

Capt. Steve Skevington can be reached at Paridise Charters at 941-575-3528 for information

More Tourists + More Fishing = More Money

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On the Line COMMENTARY

By Capt. Ron Bl ago Water LIFE Senior Staff I must admit that I am part of a special interest group and any time I talk to someone in authority around here, I remind them that I'm representing one of the largest economic engines in Charlotte County. That special interest is all the people that like to fish and boat in Charlotte Harbor. But I have the feeling that the people in authority aren't taking me seriously. I tell them if Florida is the fishing capital of the world then Charlotte County is the fishing capital of Florida. I remind them Charlotte County has the second highest percentage of boat registrations per population in Florida, only Monroe County has more. Mostly I get blank stares and comments like “So what does that mean?” – It means we have a multi-million-dollar product with no marketing plan to sell it.

If you think I'm kidding go to the Charlotte County web site and look up fishing and boating. If you find Tourist Development you will get the Charlotte Harbor Guide they put out. If you click on “things to do” you will find fishing; click on that and you get a few subjects one of which is ‘fishing charters and guides.’ I clicked on that and all I got was a ‘no matching the given criteria’ message. You would think all the fishing charter guides had gone out of business.

I back clicked to fishing and found a lovely article on the 2009 Red Fish Cup Tournament. I think the site needs a little updating.

When you navigate over to the Community Services Department on the

county web site you will find a listing for boat ramps. Click and you will find the addresses of the 11 county boat ramps. I clicked on Placida Park which I assumed was Placida Boat Ramp. It's almost like they are ashamed to admit it's a boat ramp. The only thing on the page were two small pictures of the ramp and dock, a reference to port-o-lets and a link to birding information.

Here is a free marketing tip for the county; if some one is looking for a boat ramp, they want to know where it is, how many parking spaces there are, what size boat it can reasonably handle, what body of water it is connected to and how far from an inlet it is. It would be nice to provide special notes like: Placida Boat Ramp: Extremely busy during tarpon season or for the Ainger Creek Boat Ramp; must pass under bridge with 8foot clearance at high tide to get to open water.

If you click on ‘fishing’ you get a list of places you can fish in the County, but unfortunately they don't tell you anything.

Are they freshwater or saltwater; is it a pier or a pond? Please give me a clue.

I did find out that we can now fish at the Learning Garden in Port Charlotte ... what ever that is. If I get some free time I'll run over with my grouper rod and give it a try. This is how we sell boating and fishing in Charlotte County at the present time. We need a better plan.

Michael Heller, publisher of Water LIFE, has an idea to bring celebrities down here to fish Charlotte Harbor. I certainly think an annual celebrity fishing tournament would be a great idea.

I would love to see Lady Gaga fighting a red fish.

I started to think maybe we don't have to ask celebrities to come here and fish because they are already here. Remember Bush presidents and Gov. Jeb Bush fish here all the time. Any charter guide that has been in business a while can tell you about all the baseball and football players they have taken fishing here. There are enough celebrities here already that we could start our own Fishing with the Stars program.

I would like to start a “Tag a Celebrity” program. Anyone that fishes with a celebrity should take their picture holding a fish and send it to our Tourist Development Director to help promote fishing in Charlotte County.

Anyone know how I can get a message to Lady Gaga? I want to invite her to come fishing. I wonder if I can get her to wear a chum-dress.

Capt. Ron Blago captronb@juno.com

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Grandpaʼs Pride

Three brothers, Josh, Blake and Isaac Dunson were visiting Englewood and Palm Island from Salt Lake City this week and did some fishing with some success. This is a big change from Salt Lake City where the Great Salt Lake has no fish.

Bill Dunson

Baitʼs Moved, Reds Still Here September

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By Capt. Bi l l y Barton Water LIFE / Charlotte Harbor Well guys, August has come and gone ...thank God! July was a pretty darn dry month this year, but almost as if someone just hit a switch, the rain started in August and it's here in full force now.

From a personal level, I love the rain. I really do. We need the rain, however the rain can make for some pretty inconsistent fishin trips. It's something we just have to deal with. Change is good and it's something we experience all year round on Charlotte Harbor and in our part of the Gulf. If you used the same type of bait every time you went fishin’ and you fished for the same type of fish every trip out, and you fished the same areas day in, day out, fishin might just not be as fun.

It could actually get a little boring.

Ewww... did I just say that!? Some of ya'll might have heard this saying. "If you hammered fish every time you went out, it wouldn't be called fishin’... might as well just call it catchin!"

My favorite fish hands down is redfish.

I love these fish more than I can describe in words – I love everything about em!

Heck my life revolves around redfish!

For redfish, the first and most important thing would be the bait of choice.

Up until August the whitebait had been in the Harbor thick. It was absolutely no trouble at all to set out early in the morning and go catch some bait for my trips.

Well the rain has changed things up a little bit. All of that bait has moved out of the Harbor and closer to the salty Gulf.

Whitebait just doesn't tolerate all that fresh water. The reds however don't mind the fresh water so they are still all over the Harbor in pretty good numbers. You just gotta set out to find them. A good method this time of year when you don't have whitebait is to use some cut mullet or ladyfish chunks.

Right now the ladyfish are schooling up all over the Harbor feeding on glass minnows and they are an easy catch.

Also, if you can get some blue crabs and cut them in half, or quarter them, they should prove to be pretty effective too.

I'm noticing lately that a lot of the fish I've been cleaning for my customers have been full of small grass shrimp and ittybitty stone crabs. A live shrimp probably wouldn't be a bad choice, you just gotta deal with the smaller pinfish and snappers pecking your shrimp apart, which can kinda be a pain.

One thing about the larger fish that you want to remember also is that they want an easy meal. Almost the same idea in the winter time when the fish are cold and a bit lethargic, in the summer time with the water temperature pushing up over 90 degrees some days, these fish are just hot and they seem to not wanna’ work as hard for what they're gonna’ eat.

Now, when you're beatin up the bush-

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es searching for your bull redfish it's good to chum a little bit. We get some very high tides this time of year and redfish tend to get way way up under the bushes to stay as cool as possible. If you're fishing cut bait, or crabs or shrimp (it doesn't matter which) I like to take a handful of whatever it is I'm using and chum up the outside of the bushes to bring the reds out a little bit. What's gonna happen is the small pinfish are gonna all gang up on your chum and this in turn will help spread that fishy smell around in the water column and that gets those redfish interested and hungry. That's my way of thinking anyway. Redfish are highly reliant on their sense of smell to eat.

That's a very important thing for you to remember.

When the tide is low these fish aren't way up under the bushes.

Usually you can find them by fishing the potholes. When they can't get up under the bushes and get some shade, they get down in those potholes where the water is cooler than on the open flat. This also provides a good feeding grounds for them.

I like to fish the potholes - personally I do, but I'm not gonna lie; it's kinda my weakness when searching for reds. It's a lot easier to just work a shoreline and find fish than it is to go out and fish open water in search of them. Reactionbaits usually give me my best success out in open water. I like to fish a Berkley Gulp jerk-shad rigged weedless, or a weedless gold Johnson's Sprite in the quarter or half ounce. By drifting or working on the trolling motor, and constantly casting and retrieving, you are covering a lot more ground than casting out a piece of cut bait and relying on the fishes’ sense of smell to bring him to you. If live bait is your choice I would say a pinfish under a bobber or a piece of whitebait would be the way to go.

You never know what you're gonna catch and that's what makes this place so great! I wish you guys luck on your fishin ventures. Catch em up guys and take a kid with you! Until next time.

Capt. Billy Barton runs Scales N Tails Charters. For information, or to book a fishing trip, Capt. Billy can be reached at 979-6140 or at: bartonw24@yahoo.com

P a g e 11

Trilogy

Page 12

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of Fishing

By Capt. Chuck Ei chner Water LIFE Punta Gorda A trilogy of recent fishing experiences sheds light on the diversity of our fishery and some lessons to be learned as well.

There are two fisheries that are “game on” right now, namely redfish and red grouper.

Both require distinctly different boats and are in totally different parts of the aquatic system. September is redfish month and the fish school up and can be found just about anywhere in the shallows in waters up to 3 feet. Red grouper on the other hand will be found in broad schools located in 50-100 feet.

Until I actively pursued red grouper I never realized that you could expect to catch 50-75 grouper in one day and catch most of the fish within a ½ mile radius of where you started. Grouper fishing is not rocket science, but it does take a good understanding of operating your bottom machine to recognize what the fish look like. A 10 pound grouper in 75 feet of water on the bottom looks like little more than a squiggly line. Often you will see multiple marks on your machine and that is the time to drop your lines over.

Accurate drops on your marks will produce lots of action. Many think that set-

ting drifts and bottom bouncing is the way to go, but I prefer to target fish as I did recently with friends Brian Sabo and Mick Kieferle.

As soon as we would see a mark I would place the boat in reverse stop on the spot and drop. We were fishing with sardines rigged on a jighead or a bottom knocker rig, the fish just didn’t care.

Often we would have multiple hook ups and on this trip we stuffed the fish box with grouper that averaged 10 pounds with the big boy pushing 18 pounds.

Shifting our sights back to redfish on a second outing Brian Sabo and myself fished 2 feet of water in the Turtle Bay area. An early morning trip had us casting spoons and soft plastics with an abundance of snook and redfish from 3-8 pounds being caught. The first-light bite is really strong and the higher the sun got the more the fish slowed up and the initially savage attacks gave way to subtle taps on our lures.

We shifted gears and ran to the east side and fished pinfish. A high outgoing

tide against bushes produced fat redfish one after another. When the tide got lower the fishing shut down - I suspect the fish fled the backcountry for safer deeper waters with their whereabouts unknown.

A third fishing adventure took place right at my dock. My two grandson’s Zachary and Gavin, age 3 and 5 were excited to go fishing when they arrived from up north. When I picked them up from the airport I told them I had a present for them. They envisioned batman or spiderman toys, but seemed pleased with 2 new fishing outfits just for them. We proudly posed for a picture and then I rigged and baited Zach’s line with a piece of frozen sardine under a cork. As Zach leaned back to cast he didn’t realize his footing was on the edge of the dock and in he went. The canal water is coal black and an instant chill came over me as I peered into the water. I couldn’t see Zach, but the bottom of his lime green Croc shoes were quite noticeable under the water. Diving in I knew exactly where he was and easily pulled him to safety. The dark water is a bit dangerous for little ones, a good lesson to remember with kids at the dock. Still determined to fish, Zach was rewarded with a spunky catfish on his first cast and by the way, he did not drop his new rod when he fell in - a

sign of a true fisherman!

All fishing is good fishing. A bent rod is a wonderful thing and if you can’t get one this month then sell the boat and buy a golf cart. Every fish that swims in the Gulf will be active offshore, inshore, flats and backcountry and any slight drop in water temperature will increase their appetites.

Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local fishing guide and operates Action Flats Back country Guide Serv ice. To book a trip call 941-6288040 or: www.back country -charters.com

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Page 13

This Girl Can Fish!

Vi a eMai l : My name is Tara Zuromski, I'm a student at FGCU. I do a lot of deep sea fishing with my older brother. There is nothing like rolling in the big ones and screaming for help... and my brother telling me to ‘keep reeling!’ Besides baiting my hook and taking the fish off the line, I have learned that if I hook them there isn't

anyone that's going to help me get the mac-daddys in the boat. For any women that don't fish, I definitely think you should take up the sport. It is thrilling,

exciting and just gives you an overall feeling of accomplishment when you've limited out after a hard day of fishing. Here's a few of my pictures from this year. They may just be good eating to most people, but these are the trophies to me, the ones I can look back on forever.

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Watching Weather on the Web

S t aff R eport The one tropical weather site we look at the most during Hurricane Season is the radar image above called the funktop loop. (that’s the official name - funktop!)

It shows the whole Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. It is a loop of radar images that is 15 minutes old. There are tons of weather related products on the internet.

We have links to all our favorite sites shown here from our website: waterl i femagazi ne. com but how do they all contribute to the big picture?

The sites put out by NOAA and NASA are the most recent images. Recent weather observations and depictions are what you want to look at when weather is developing. Observations mean someone or something has recorded the conditions.

Depictions are graphic interpretations of what the observations saw. Forecasts are guesses at the future.

There are some interesting facts that help predict weather. Since the wind circulates clockwise around a high and counterclockwise around a low that gives you a clue to the real-time weather outside.

Here’s the trick: When the wind is coming from your left, you are facing towards the center of the low pressure.

Here’s another one: Subtract the dew point from the temperature divide by 4.5.

That gives you the height of the cloud base above the ground in thousands of feet.

Wind is depicted with arrows on the weather maps. The arrow points to the way the wind is

blowing, although in a written weather report, when the wind is reported as 240@7 that means the wind is coming from 240 degrees -a little to the south of west. On some wind maps the more ‘feathers’ on the arrows or the bigger the arrows are, the stronger the wind is.

Another wind indicator is the fingerprint like swirling lines on some charts. They are isobars, areas of barometric pressure.

The closer the isobars are together the stronger the wind.

The next thing I like to look at, this time of year, is the Hurricane Center site

to see the storms and their forecast tracks.

Then I go to the Aviation Prog Charts which show 12-24-36-and 48 hour forecast of the major weather across the US. Weather on the prog or progress chart is

depicted by highs and lows with warm fronts or cold fronts movement predicted.

Warm fronts are red, cold fronts are blue. The little triangles with a dot above them are rain, and if there is a arrow coming out of the rain symbol

there is lightning.

Next I glance at the National winds and then move on to the local Tampa South radar from NOAA. That radar shows the Charlotte Harbor Area.

If I want a still closer look then there is NBC-2 street level doppler radar which you can use to zoom in or out to see the

weather at street level on your own block.

There are also a few other products that I like to keep a careful eye on.

One is the Sea Surface Temperatures.

When there are hurricanes in the area the sea temperatures will influence their movement and how strong the storms is.

Another thing I like to watch is the Water Vapor imagery to help position the

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wettest weather.

Next I like to take a look at the global weather, The GOES satellite is an image loop that shows the Atlantic from

Africa to the Pacific.

The Offshore Buoys website will give you wave heights and real time conditions

for offshore Florida.

When there are significant weather events happening NOAA often positions a satellite right over them. They call the satellite a floater because it floats over the weather.

And last, but locally not least, is the Punta Gorda Sailing Club’s excellent local weather site. It shows, in real time, the wind speed, direction and peak gusts,

as well as temperature, pressure and cloud base reports.

Weather sites don’t always agree. You need to look at a number of websites to start understanding, just a little, what is happening outside your window and why.

Helping a Good Friend September

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By Capt. Bart Marx Water LIFE Inshore Well, it is September and the heat is still on. Too bad we are not able to bottle some of this heat up and bring it back out in January or February.

Last month we had an opportunity to help out a very good friend.

There was an evening at a local restaurant where they were giving back a portion of each bill to benefit Mona Chupein. She has cancer and is fighting back to win the battle over her illness.

We went to the restaurant to have desert that evening and Mona and her husband were there. As we were leaving and saying our good-byes we found out that Mona really enjoys fishing.

This was a surprise to me as Mona and I actually met in the U.S. Virgin Island on St. Croix where we would go SCUBA diving back in the early ninetys.

My wife asked if Mona would like to go fishing on our boat, she said yes, and we made arrangements to go fishing.

We met Mona, her sister-in-law and brother-in-law at Ponce DeLeon park to start our adventure. We were ready with live shrimp and live pin fish in the well.

We traveled south down close to Pirate Harbor to start and we caught a few small fish, snapper and reds, but none to go into the live well to be cleaned later. It was a cloudy and hot afternoon. We even put the bimini top up to create some shade on the boat.

We moved around the corner of one of the islands that we were fishing near where there was a nice breeze to help cool us down. This was the spot where we started to catch more snapper, we even had a few to put in the live well that were over the 10-inch mark, keepers.

Then one of the anglers caught a nice flounder to add to the bounty. It was a nice 14 inch keeper.

After a while the bite slowed down and it was time to move up the Harbor, to another favorite spot in the mangroves where there was a breeze and some of those afternoon rain showers were starting to build.

We anchored the boat and started to catch some more mangrove snapper. As soon as the bait would hit the water it would get slammed by these small but feisty little dudes.

After a little time went by there were some snook that showed up to the feeding frenzy. These little under-size snook

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are lots of fun. They are very acrobatic, as soon as they realize that they are hooked they shoot across behind the boat, jump and shake their head like they are forty pounds. There were several fish over twenty inches that we released in good condition.

The rigs that we were using to catch these guys were Boca 40 reels on Red Bone rods with twenty pound Suffix braid and fluorocarbon leader and circle hooks.

This was a very busy area; as soon as one would get on the line and we’d get it under control and release it - then another one would bite. This went on for about an hour steady and Mona ended up catching a nice snook that was about twenty four inches. She did a very good job keeping the fish under control and bringing it to the boat.

The rain clouds were sprinkling a little bit, just enough to dampen your shirt and make it comfortable. The wind and lightning we closing in on us and the bite slowed, so we picked up the anchor once again and started back up north.

Close to Alligator Creek, in the mangroves, we caught some of those slimy cat fish and a small jack crevelle. By then

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it was getting close to time to head back to the dock to clean the six mangrove snapper and one flounder. After all the dirty work was done we said our good bye's and Mona and I had a nice chat.

She was very gracious for the opportunity to go out on the boat and have some fresh fish for a meal with her family.

This is the part of my charter business that is such a blessing to me; to see someone fighting with all she has to beat her illness and doing it with a big smile on her face. It makes it all worth it.

Giving back to the community – that gives me a big smile too.

So thanks to Mona for the trip and the chance to take her mind off her problems for a few minutes. We both attend New Day Christian Church where we are praying for God to heal her from this disease.

Mona has four daughters and her husband Jim to help her around the house while she is recovering from treatments. Mona is on the far left of the picture holding one of the snapper she caught.

If y ou would lik e to book a trip with Capt.

Bart Marx call 941-979-6517 Alpha@Omega Charters. We are a k id friendly company and welcome children of all ages 8 to 80. Singing drags and tight lines mak e me smile.

YOU JUST CANʼT MISTAKE THE AMERICAN FLAG This is our flag ripped and then braided by the 175 mph winds of Hurricane Charley. There is something about the juxtaposition of the red and white stripes that gets Americanʼs attention no matter what shape the flag is in. After all, itʼs not the condition of the flag that is important, but the condition of our freedom that really matters.

FLY YOUR FLAG ON 9/11

OFFSHORE REPORT

Page 16

With Capt. Jim O'Brien

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Water LIFE Englewood Hey ya- all, I am back with a couple of fish'n stories. The fish'n has been nothing short of spectacular. Ol' Capt. here got a chance to do some fish'n with some friends since last month, and my goal was to fish for everything and anything that swam. We’ll get back to that a little later.

Right now let's see what's biting - zhook.

My friends are tell'n me the back country fish'n has been great. The snook have been bitting good in the passes and off the beachs. Lil’ Gasparilla and Stump Pass and also Bull Bay has been producing some snook in the 30- to 38-inch range if you get up close to the mangroves.

Black tip and spinner sharks are on most of the inshore reefs. The Palm Island ferry has had some pretty sporty-size bull sharks up to 8 or 9 feet, cruising the wreck. There are some good size sharks on the other offshore wrecks as well.

Redfish action has been real good on the west wall up in the Harbor. AJ'S are on all the offshore wrecks –the Bayronto has some BIG-un’s cruising around her.

There are a few Aj's on the Boxcars and one of the trips we took to the Pegasus, Charlie, and the Twin Barges was just thick with Aj's. The best bait we used was real big pin fish and blue runners.

Here’s a funny thing that happened: I have been having a hard time getting decent size blue runners on our trips out, and on our trip out to the Twin Barges I stopped outside of Stump Pass and we got some nice big pin fish and some nice blue runners. When we got out to the wreck, I started chumming to get the snapper up to the surface and up come some of the biggest blue runners I have ever seen – schools of them – they was on steroids, fish 2 to 3-pounds or better. I would have liked to have seen the AJ that would have gulped it down. I am think'n ‘bigger hook’ ha!

The grouper action has been awesome. The gags are really nice size, I am talk'n 25 to 34 inchers. The gag grouper season is supposed to open September 16 through

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November 16. Myself, I have a lot of vacuum freezer bags ready. I plan to get some of them big-uns. I have been throwing back this last year, now I am going to get enough to last until next September.

The snapper action has been hot, the mangs, yellow tail, and lane snapper are chewing real good, and I am talk'n 16- to 24- inchers. The lane snapper was running extra big. I am still using Hank Brown jigs with shrimp and a lot of chum.

The story I'm a tell'n ya this month is my trip out fish'n with my mate Brian Runge, and good friends Glen Keaser, and his son Kevin Keaser owners of Paradise Jewelers here in Englewood and Andy Franklin. We wanted to spend 10 to 12 hours fish'n for everything and anything that swam. We took off at 7 a.m. got some shrimp and pin fish and we were gone, out 30-to 33-miles. We limited out on red grouper. We must have thrown back 30 reds and gags over the days fish'n. Every time I had to throw back a gag a tear come to my eyes. I don't know where the shortage is on the gag grouper, but it sure is not around here. We went to a different spot and we still got gags. Like I said earlier in the article GAG GROUPER is supposed to open next month for 2 months on September 16, so if you like that nice white, juicy, flaky meat you will have 2 months to get ya some.

Well all in all we all had a good day on the water. A couple of ice cold beers, a cooler full of fish and some good laughs.

Man, it just don't get any better than that.

Ol' Capt. here is ready to do another one of those trips anytime.Yeah, buddie, I needed a trip like that.

Well again my fingers are getting cramped up and my jaw is ready to drop on the desk, so I think it's time to get out of here.

The Olʼ Fishʼn Hole

If y ou hav e any questions or if y ou hav e a good ol' fishin’ story or a recipe for cook ing fish that I can share with our readers giv e me a call. To book an offshore charter with us aboard the Predator II call (941) 473-2150 AND BE SURE TO SNORT SOME OF THAT SALT AIR CUZ IT’S GOOD FER YA!

941-628-4746 Half Day & Full Day

From Sun Up To Sun Down There Is Always Time For A Big Hit

bighitcharters.net

Capt. Wayne Kerry

USCG licensed

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UnderWater LIFE Lobstering in the Keys

By Tommy Davi s Water LIFE Diving With both grouper and amberjack out of season for the summer the only thing to look forward to underwater was lobster season. My sportsman-season trip was canceled due to bad weather, so I was really looking forward to heading down to the Keys one week into the main season.

We left Friday morning around 6 a.m.

I splashed the water around 2 p.m. in Coujo channel. The visibility was around 10 feet and overzealous me dropped in a little too early so I spent the first part of my dive looking at sand.

Once I finally drifted into the channel it was obvious that it was the second week into the season. The only lobsters I was seeing were obviously short or way back in the bigger holes. I did manage to catch four huge bugs (AKA lobster) on that dive, but they were all off the main ledge and in their own separate holes.

After coming up with only four lobster we decided to dive the S channel because few people like to dive with boats cruising over their heads. But that channel does tend to hold bugs well into the season.

Jeff went down and caught the rest of our limit for that day with half a tank

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and he brought up some 3- to 4-pound lobsters which are huge for the Keys.

So by 5 pm we were done catching lobster for the day and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the pool.

We arrived at our channel around 9 a.m. Saturday morning and I hit the water. The water viz was about 6-feet and cloudy, typical for this channel.

I started working the side and I could tell someone was there before me, so I headed out to the center and found some little ledges just stuffed full of lobster.

When I see a ledge with lobster so thick that not all of them can fit under it I get excited. It is one of my favorite things to see.

The first thing you do is try to get the big boys in the back to come out and you try to do this without mucking up the water. Once the water is too dirty to see into the back of the hole, I resort to rough tickling, basically pushing the lobster to one side of the hole and forcing them out into the clearer water, where I can divide them if they are big enough.

Lastly, you resort to the arm-in-thehole technique because the big ones are usually tucked in the back and will not come out unless you drag them out.

I caught three by wedging my body as far as I could under the rock to get the grand daddies in the back.

All in all, it was a very productive dive and it made the 7 hour car ride all worth it. We left for Home before the afternoon showers had a chance to build.

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Tommy Davis with a couple of big bugs, picked up in the Keys

A docile nurse shark hangs on a man made reef while a spearo looks for fish to shoot in offshore SW florida.

Real Estate News

Page 18

Recent area news i tems:

1. Charlotte County mailed its preliminary TRIM notices to property owners this month. This notice provides homeowners with the assessor's estimation of market value as of 1/1/11 and projects the real estate taxes that will be due this fall based on last year's assessment rate. It also provides us with two interesting statistical analyses: A. How close to this year's actual sales prices was the assessor's estimation of value?

The assessor's estimation of value reflects a 15% reduction from gross sales value to allow for selling costs. After reflecting that adjustment, the assessor's estimation of value of the median house sale price was about 2% below the actual sales price ... but don't rely on that variance for ANYTHING. The variances on each individual sale varied widely - most varied from 30% below actual sales price to 30% above actual sales price.

And B. How much of a discount are banks taking on short sales and foreclosures compared to the assessor's valuation?

Median short sale prices were about 18% below the assessor's estimate of value. Coupled with the 2% undervaluation on non distressed sales, a total discount in the area of 20% below true value seems to be the norm... little wonder that pricing and volume continue to stagnate.

2.

Charlotte County unemployment remained high at 11.1% in June but down from the 12.1% rate in the prior year.

3. The state of Florida reported that international tourism was 7% ahead of last year. Overseas traffic increased 17.3% and Canada, 18.4% 4. Denny Curtis and Andrea Messina, a

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county school board member, will run against Robert Skidmore for the west county seat on the Charlotte County Board.

5. The Punta Gorda City Council pulled financial support for Main Street Punta Gorda, which consequently disbanded.

City council members recognized the redundancy with efforts from the Chamber of Commerce and TEAM Punta Gorda.

6. A casualty of the new construction slump, county impact fees have all but vanished creating a delay on the completion of planned road improvements at Burnt Store Road, Piper Road and Toledo Blade. In a futile attempt to stimulate new housing construction, the Board also voted to defer impact fees for new resiPunta Go rda Ho me Sal es Co mmuni ty

PGI/BSI Burnt Store Meadows Deep Creek Burnt Store Lakes Burnt Store Village

dential applications.

New floating docks for the disabled sailors regatta are being finished in the county yard.

After the race the docks will be available to the general public. The project was financed by the Charlotte Marine Advisory Committee.

The hotel was acquired for $8.2 mil just 2 months before Hurricane Charley in 2004. When Premier Bank acquired the assets of Penninsula Bank, which was liquidated by the FDIC in March, it immediately foreclosed on the $5.6 mil mort-

Jul y 2 0 1 0 -Jul y 2 0 11

Distressed Sales

30 7 91 14 14

% of total

14% 26% 33% 33% 52%

7.

The drop in assessed valuations appears to be in the 7% range rather than the 4% as originally forecast. The strain on school budgets has required the board to reduce teacher pay by 4.5% and cut 140 positions.

8. The Laishley group has offered to buy land to provide a location near the airport for Cheney Brothers, a national food distributor who expects to add 700 new jobs in this location.

9. The completion of the city's harborwalk project has been stalled by the Best Western Hotel's foreclosure problems.

Median Sale

$262,500 135,000 110,000 129,500 101,200

Assessor's Variance

-18.7% -18.9% -17.5% -11.9% -15.4%

large employer to the corner space, the CRA has negotiated a new lease for a bicycle shop in the Herald Square Parking Garage.

S al es S tati sti cs:

Conventional Sales

190 20 188 28 13

gage. With the future ownership of the hotel in question, easement rights to continue the walkway on the hotel's water front will be delayed.

In other news: Punta Gorda airport traffic was 76% above last year. The FAA has forced a temporary hold on the construction of the new control tower.

Work is expected to resume this fall.

Vision Airlines has cancelled its service to Destin, FL but will add Louisville and St. Louis this fall. Tapas One, the classy new restaurant on Marion Street's restaurant row has closed and is now reopening as Trabue.

Shunning an opportunity to bring in a

% of total

86% 74% 67% 67% 48%

Land prices contin-

Median Sale

$320,500 139,000 125,000 210,000 84,900

Assessor's Variance

1.5% 11.0% 2.3% -1.1% 2.9%

ue to slide as new construction on unimproved lots remains dormant. Inventories of condos and houses continue their descent with many property owners waiting to reenter when the winter season approaches.

Foreclosure filings in Charlotte County fell to 131 in July vs 168 in July, 2010.

Nationally, mortgage delinquencies dropped slightly but remain high at 8.8% of all mortgages outstanding. The old norm was 1.1%. Prices fell nationally by 4.5%, year over year. In the larger Florida markets, prices have fallen 54% since the peak in June, 2006. Prices are generally in the range last seen in June, 2002.

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Whereʼs Curry Creek?

KAYAKING

By Davi d Al l en Water LIFE Kayaking If you don’t know, you’ve missed one of the more interesting and beautiful paddles in this area. Our kayak club, the Port Charlotte Kayakers, paddle Curry several times a year, from both the west side and the east entrance.

Several months ago the club paddled the Myakka River, launching from Snook Haven. Several miles upstream and a hard left turn puts you in the east end of curry Creek.

We paddled several miles to the west before we returned to Snook Haven.

Several of our new club members were so taken by the beauty of the stream that they suggested a follow-up paddle from the east end.

So this last weekend, we scheduled a paddle from the Marine Park adjacent to the historic Venice Train Station on the defunct Seminole Gulf Railroad. The city and county renovated the park and ramp after Hurricane Charlie, providing adequate parking, restroom facilities, an improved ramp and no parking fees.

From our standpoint, it makes a great

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location to access Curry Creek, just a short paddle across Roberts Bay. On Sunday morning the day was typically bright and sunny, with a 15-20 kt. wind out of the west. No problem there!

And the tide was incoming, important to a trouble-free passage over the oyster beds beyond the Highway 41 Bridge. We paddled a short distance up the Intracoastal to Roberts Bay and then had both wind and tide in our favor as we entered Curry

and tall pine trees festooned with Spanish moss. Beautiful! Curry Creek is one of the very few coastal creeks in southwest Florida and paddling through the mangrove forests, pine flatwoods and tidal marshes is a great experience.

There is usually an abundance of wildlife along and in the creek, but on this paddle we only saw an osprey with a fish he had just caught, and a couple of egrets.

As we pad-

Creek.

For the first mile or so, Curry Creek is lined, sometimes on both sides, by residential areas and docks. But as we paddle east, the homes disappear and the true nature of the creek emerges. As the Creek narrows down to 20 or 30 feet wide, mangroves are replaced by live oaks

dle along, some of us recall the first time we paddled Curry, almost 10 years ago.

It was a far different paddle than today, as the stream was very wild and overgrown.

Just east of the residential areas, the creek narrowed down to about 8-10 feet across.

Branches from both sides completely spanned the creek; but worse yet were the

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many spider webs anchored on those branches. I used my paddle, at arms length in front of me, to clear out the spiders. Little further along, there was a section completely clogged with water lilies. We had to slowly “pole” our kayaks through this section. It was a challenging paddle, but those are fun too.

We paddled east for about an hour and a half, past the Capri Isles Golf Course on the left, came to a wide, shady area, took a break, and headed back. On the way back, someone commented that we had paddled under more bridges on this trip than any other. Many road and streets cross the creek, as do several bridges near the golf club.

The return paddle was against the current all the way, and as we entered Roberts Bay we found the wind hadn’t diminished a bit. We had to work the paddles hard to get into the Intracoastal and to the ramp.

Now that you know where Curry Creek is, and some of its pluses and minuses, give it a try.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet each Wednesday evening at 5:30 PM at Port Charlotte Beach Park. All are welcome.

For more information contact Dave Allen at 941-235-2588

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SCUTTLEBUTT

Sometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

ROCKY THE FLYING SQUIRREL In the left photo the frisky pup has a baby squirrel pinned down while momma squirrel comes down the tree to protect her young. In the next photo momma flys off the tree and attacks the dog. The next frame the baby scampers away and in the final frame momma squirrel carries her baby to safety as the befuddled pooch looks on.

BP FRAUD A Miami fisherman was the latest one charged in late August.

“Dishonest individuals who sought illicit gains through false damage claims wind up further burdening the victims who really need compensation,” said the acting FBI Special Agent in charge of an ongoing investigation “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to root out the perpetrators of these crimes and bring them to justice.” Southwest Florida claims will also be investigated. The IRS has already ruled the claims are taxable income, to be calculated at the highest rate.

MOTOR BOATING, a magazine aimed at recreational motor boaters, has ceased publishing.

FLIPPED Officers observed a 23-foot bay boat completely out of the water on shore and upside down. Four people onboard had been trapped under the vessel and had to dig their way out AN FWC OFFICER was inspecting blue crab traps in Lee County for compliance when he came across a line of traps belonging to a subject who was previously warned for violating the biodegradable panel requirements. After inspecting the traps, the officer found that none of the traps met the biodegradable requirements.

He proceeded to the individual's residence where the crabber admitted to not having the minimum requirements on the traps, but said he felt he did not need to meet them since his traps were in shallow water.

The subject was cited.

AN OREGON BLOGGER’S disparaging “almost stream-of-consciousness-like” statements about the trustee in a bankruptcy case are protected opinion under the First Amendment, a federal judge in Portland recently ruled. We suspect that our own media access to free public events held outside in a public park are also protected under the First Amendment. And it won’t be over till the Fat Lady sings.

AN FWC INVESTIGATION REVEALED the subject had broken into the vessel and had been living on it for several days. The subject was wearing the boat owner’s clothes, had been eating his food, and drinking his alcoholic beverages when he was captured.

This sailboat has been around Lee & Charlotte County. It was tied to the A marker along the West Wall in late August. The sailboat was aground over in the mouth of Coral Creek during the middle of the month. The new owner was planning on moving it to South Gulf Cove.

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By Bill Dixon Water LIFE Sailing For you really small boat sailors, model sailboat racing goes on year round here in Punta Gorda with the Sun Coast Model Sailing Club. Over the summer, the racing is in the mornings only. As the cooler fall temperatures arrive, racing will expand into the afternoons.

Take a look on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 10:00 AM until noon at South County Regional Park off Cooper Street. Entry from the south is by going north on Education Avenue into the park. Look for lots of bouys on the water to the right if you do a drive-by when they aren't sailing.

Further information can be found on the local club's web site at www.suncoastsailingclub.net

For you bigger boat sailors, Sarasota Sailing Squadron is having a HUGE Labor Day Regatta.

Details at sarasotasailingsquadron.org.

For you that don't leave Charlotte Harbor, fall racing is right around the corner. Fall series NOR and registration forms are on the web site at pgscweb.com. 2011-12 BOTY schedule is also up on the PGSC web site. Summerset regatta in Ft. Myers is October 7-9. There is a link to the regatta on the PGSC web site.

The Community Sailing Center will be somewhat messed up over the next few months as construction of a new larger ramp and repairs to the seawall precede the construction of the city's “Harbor Walk”. Check the web site at charlotteharborcommunitysailingcenter.com or call Dennis peck at 456-8542 for current conditions.

Flying Scot fleet 198 has nothing posted before District Championship events start in October. You can check their schedule at wix.com/fleet198/198.

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September Fishing Forecast

Charlotte Harbor:

Robert at Fishin' Franks Port Charlotte: 625-3888

It’s getting better, better than what it’s been, anyway. Redfi sh have been off, tarpon have been off, it’s all been screwy this year. Now redfish are starting to cooperate.

September is always the transition month. Redfish are still in the southern part of the Harbor, but as the rain subsides, if it ever subsides, the fish will start moving up into the Harbor, out of the Gulf and the ICW. They will be following the tide-line because the bait follows that; plus the Gulf is cooler than the Harbor, so they will follow that cooler water as the rain subsides and the salt intrudes more and more into the Harbor.

Right now (beginning of September) we still have that defined tide line around Turtle Bay that goes all the way across Cape Haze. It has been the boundary line for most of the fish, so the fishing has been good down there.

Since the water is still exceptionally hot, the reds are being caught on cut ladyfish, cut mullet and shrimp.

The pinfish are starting to get to the

silver-dollar size that the reds like too. If you want to throw artificials at the reds, the early, early, morning top water bite has been real good.

Try working soft plastics along the bottom. That has been good all day.

Gulp in the shrimp or the jerk bait and the new penny color is always consistent, but white colored Gulps or any scented bait have been real good the past week or so. White is a wierd color. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is clean or dark water. White will work for a week straight then stop working entirely and then start working again. I don’t know why.

Tarpon are still all over the Harbor from I-75 and El-Jo all the way to the Pass and the beaches.

Tarpon are eating just about everything now. It just seems to depend on their mood. One day they want ladyfish the next day it’s pinfish.

And most of the time shrimp will still work too.

Every day is a crap shoot on bai t shri mp. One day they are real nice another just OK, but all in all, shrimp are starting to get bigger now in size and they are better than they were two weeks ago.

S nook- There have been really

nice snook along the beaches now, but remember snook are still catch and release only. Snook are eating a variety of stuff: shrimp, cut bait dragged on the bottom around the ICW docks, even live ladyfish for the bigger snook. There are whi ti ng out along the beach and the snook will eat them, but it’s hard to get them in the daytime. I’ve not heard of anyone using whiting for snook bait lately.

S napper are starting to move to the passes pretty heavy. On the calmer days, if you want to run offshore, this is the month for all sorts of snapper. Mangs, lane, mutton, yellowtail, this has been definitely one of the best lane snapper years I have seen. Try fishing the near shore reefs, any hard bottom or any of the artificial reefs. The further out you go, the more variety. Inside of 15 miles out will get you mostly mangs and the occasional Fishing Report continued on facing page

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The The BIG-4 BIG-4

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lane – further out you get the bigger ones. Frozen shrimp, live shrimp, small cut sardines or even squid are attracting the snapper offshore. The one big mistake when snapSNAPPER More snapper this per fishing offshore is not year than ever chumming enough or putting the lines down too soon. It’s best to give it a half-hour of chumming first. Especially if you are closer in.

Grouper opens Sept 15th. That will be a good thing, now you can catch 4 grouper instead of two.

Two reds and two gags, and if you really go out there far enough you can catch scamp too and that would make 6 grouper, but the scamp bite hasn’t been too good inside of 40 miles or so.

There are a lot of little sharks still around. Four to 6-footers just off the beaches, chasing the boni ta and S pani sh macks. There are still Bl ackti ps inside the Harbor and the occasional bonnetheads and sharpnosed sharks around the passes and the ICW. The bigger sharks are where the bonita are.

They have been moving 3 to 15 miles out.

Bl ackfi n, s ai l fi s h and dol phi n have been incredible out past 40- to 60-miles as well.

Ki ngfi sh and the bi g bul l reds will show offshore by the end of the month ... if everything goes according to schedule ... whatever ‘schedule’ means.

Fish Fish to to expect expect in in

SNOOK Catch & release only, but plenty of them

September September

HOG FISH Taste like lobster and are plentiful offshore

Jim at Fishermens Edge, Englewood: 697-7595

Fishing hasn’t been so active around here. Some guys have been catching redfi sh on he north side of the bridge on Michael Saunder’s flat.

Our "incidental" catch while bass fishing. My 12 year old granddaughter Kalie Pazienza caught this baby gator. He was not happy In Ski Alley and Rag Alley and in and hissing like crazy when I took the hook out of him. Bob Whidden Creek there have been a lot of reds over the slot, but some slotted some permi t mixed in as well. When they are fish are in there too. A lot of the reds have been small they seem to be mixed together, permit and caught on ladyfish chunks, frozen sardines, shrimp pompano, almost like the same fish. or even pinfish. A lot of guys are fishing with the There are some mackerel around offshore and 5-inch jerk shad Gulp. also at Boca Grane Pass. Tarpon are up in the harThere have been quite a few snook in those bor, and Gol i ath grouper are being caught spots. Up in Coral Creek the reds and snook have around the phosphate dock on any outgoing tide. been good but you need a kayak to get there. There S harks are still around on the beach. Guys are still some trout around on the beach and on the with kayaks are taking two big old bloody chunks deeper grass flats. Guys are still catching trout of meat out off the beach and drop them. Then they around Pine Island in the early a.m. with the big come back in and fight the shark from the beach – prop-bladed baits, or the skitterwalk or walk- theguys with crappy rods. That’s why they kayak out, dog baits. Guys are catching some pompano at because the crappy rods won’t cast when they put Boca Grande around the north condos and there are so much heavy stuff on them.

REDFISH The better fish are to the salty south.

Edi tori al Comment It’s been a while since I’ve given the prestigious Water LIFE ‘Flush It!” award, but the August 18 Charlotte Sun story that only asked the tournament director himself to comment on whether there was cheating going on at his own tournament gets the big Flush It! this time.

Why not ask other tournament anglers? Doesn’t it seem like the tournament director could have something to protect? Something to hide?

Is it a coincidence that the tournament’s owners are all big advertisers in the Sun and so the Sun’s cheating story is only ‘one sided news’ with ‘splashy’ graphics?

To which I say: “Flush It!”

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Li ve S hri mp, Pi nfi sh, Li ve Crabs Ful l Li ne of Tackl e S uppl i es

Fi s h i n g ri g h t n o w:

Good (and hot!)

Snook remains closed to harvest until at least 2012

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Water Temps in the mid 80s

Is there Cheating at the Flatsmasters Tournaments?

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