Keeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed Keeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed Charlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay Charlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay www www.CHARLOTTEHARBORMAGAZINE.COM .CHARLOTTEHARBORMAGAZINE.COM Still time Still time to enter! to enter! Who says Who says Fishing is Fishing is O ff? Off? Coming MayComing May 4-64-6 Fish SurgeryFish Surgery at the Kids Cupat the Kids Cup Shut SnookShut Snook Down?Down? Page 15Page15 Page 3Page3 Page 9Page9 Page 12Page12 Page 31Page31 February 2007 Page 2
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Transcript
Charlotte Harbor and Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay
Keeping Boaters and Fishermen InformedKeeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed
April 2007April 2007
FREE!FREE!
W a t e rW a t e r L I F EL I F E
FREE!FREE!
Still timeStill timeto enter!to enter!
Page 15Page 15
Who saysWho saysFishing isFishing isOff?Off?
Page 3Page 3
Page 9Page 9
Fish SurgeryFish Surgeryat the Kids Cupat the Kids Cup
Page 12Page 12
Shut SnookShut SnookDown?Down?
Page 31Page 31
Coming MayComing May4-64-6
April 28!April 28!
P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 7
By Michael Hel lerWaster LIFE editorA statewide movement called Save
Our Fisheries is being talked about bysome Florida guides, but does our localinshore fishing need saving? Hard luckstories are nothing new to fishermen,but when those stories come from theseasoned old time guides and from theserious, studious anglers, both, is it thesign of a problem? On the other handsome guides are saying fishing has beengreat. Most of the conversation has cen-tered around redfish. Is it just the slot-sized tournament fish that are gettinghard to find?There are more people than ever fish-
ing Charlotte Harbor. That has to atleast be part of it. I would guess thatbetween now and the end of Novemberthere will be at least 10 inshore tourna-ments a month from Fort Myers toPunta Gorda. On April 28 our ownKids Cup is one of them.Many events put 200 to 300 anglers
out on the water. Redfish are the popu-lar target. But are tournaments a prob-lem? Is there any one single thing thatis hurting our fishing? I don’t think it’sone thing.For the last few years we’ve had dis-
cussions about ‘running inside the(sand) bar,’ and ‘running the shoreline.’That scatters fish, they don’t eat and inthe interim we don’t catch them. If wedo it enough the fish will move on.But, there are numerous other fac-
tors. How about red tide? Effluent dis-charge? That has to figure into it. Howabout Hurricane Charley. With all theshoreline mangroves up and down theharbor dead, the food chain has changed.Small fish and crabs have no shelteralong the shore. Is that the problem?And we’ve had a ton of live bait in theharbor this winter. Did that change thefishing, and catching?Last summer, fish were concentrat-
ed on the few green spots of cover thatremained around the harbor. That justmade them easy prey for anglers. Wejust wiped ‘em out is another populartheory.Scented baits have impacted fishing.
Lures have improved. In all, fishermentoday are more lethal. That has to havean effect.A big factor is live–bait fishing.
Today, more and more anglers arethrowing a cast net. Live bait makesfishing exponentially more productive,but if we are releasing most of the fish
we catch are our release techniques allthey are cracked up to be? Should webe targeting fish in their closed seasoneven if we do release them? That toocoule be a factor.So is fishing off? Right now, trout
fishing should be good, but it’s not. Isthat just because it’s been so warm?The trout we have seen have been mon-sters.According to some people, snook are
in trouble. We’ve heard that for 10years. A lot of anglers were saying red-
fishing was clearly off. Then a weekago it turned on. Are redfish really introuble? We’ve had big reds all winter.Are reds just moving around more?We have more anglers, but we are
not doing any fish stocking. Do wehave too many guides?Is it one problem or is it all of it?Is it a problem at all?Or is it just a ‘cyclic thing’?What ever it is, we need to figure it
out. It’s up to us to know the mostabout our fishery.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3
S o m e T h i n g s H a p p e n i n g H e r e
The new 2400 Bay Ranger – the ultimate Bay Boat for Charlotte Harbor
San Carlos Marine3300 Palm Beach Blvd. (I-75 Exit 141) Ft. Myers
(239) 334-3424
The Heaviest Snook tournament was a memorialtribute to Matthew OʼBrien, a 1995 Charlotte HighSchool graduate who passed away last year. Theweigh in was held at ʻBlood Beachʼ in the back of
Turtle Bay where Matt loved to fish. The eventraised $1800 for the Haven Clinic in Port
Charlotte.
P a g e 4 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
SUBSCRIBE to Water LIFEHave us mail your copy anywhere in the U.S.A. for $19 / YearName _______________________________________________Address _____________________________________________City _______________________________ State ____________Zip ____________________ Please watch your mailing label for expiration datePlease watch your mailing label for expiration date
copied or reproduced without the writ-ten permission of both publishers
Contributing Editors:Fishing / Environment: Capt. Ron BlagoCharlotte Harbor: Capt. Robert Moore
Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank
Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonReal Estate: Dave HoferSailing Advisor: Bill Dixon
Kayaks: David AllenSea Grant: Betty Staugler
Diving: Adam Wilson
on the COVER:Capt Angel Torrez provided the photo.
on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com
Links to Realtors: Connect with our realestate advertisersTide Graphs: For local watersWeather: Links to all of our favorite sites.Back editions: Pages of previous editionsArtificial Reefs: Lat. and Long local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original plan tocreate sanctuaries and refuges, as spelledout by the United Nations in 1984Kids Cup Updates and registration formsASA1000 Photography and Hot Rod Cars
Dear Water LIFEI don't know if you knew this. I pulled it from
the Coast Guard Documentation CenterRecords online. I had several interesting dis-cussions with the owner of Lady Louise whileout on the water. This is the owner of record:
Vessel Name: LADY LOUISE USCG Doc.No.: 599481 Vessel Service: COMMERCIALFISHING VESSEL IMO Number: 7938555 HullMaterial: WOOD Year Built: 1978
Owner: MICHAEL J BROWN7504 SW 5TH ST NORTH LAUDERDALE,
FL 33068 Documentation Expiration Date: July31, 2007 Name withheld
Dear Captain Ron,I have enjoyed your columns for years. The
two articles in March issue were especially use-ful. But a question. Did you catch the pom-pano on grass flats using the jigs and techniquedescribed or did the pompano come off sand-bars or channels? I have just ordered some Cal
jigs and grub tails. I have fished here for aboutsix years but have never caught anything on ajig. I have caught a lot of fish but only one pom-pano while trolling just off the beach. Alwayswanted to catch more pompano.
Thanks for the extra help, Ted Hutchins.Capt Blago Responds: TedDon't feel bad, it's not that you are doing
anything wrong, it's just that the fish are doingsomething right. All of my pompano have beencaught on the grass flats near my house onLemon Bay near Stump Pass. It's hard toanalyse your technique over the Internet, butare you fishing enough? If you only go outonce a month you can write that off to just abad fishing day. My suggestion is to takesomeone fishing with you that's better at jig-ging that you are. If they catch fish and youdon't , then you know you have a problem.Another thing is to make sure the fish are
there. Now I use my jig to find fish; but youmight do better by using a popping cork with ashrimp. If you don't catch any pompano, trout orat least ladyfish, the flat just might not have anyfish. If you do catch something, that's the timeto switch over to the jig. If all else fails, keepnext Jan and Feb open and go to the "FishingCollege" next year. Remember, don't take fish-ing too seriously - you always have bowling tofall back on.
Good Luck Capt Ron
Dear Water LIFEMyself and my good buddy Chris Hutchinson
were recently in Port Charlotte fishing withCaptain Mike Mahan of Castaway FishingCharter. We fished Tuesday thru Thursday the15th. Tuesday yielded us only 1 fish in a 9 hourday (snook). Captain Mike put us on fish allover charlotte harbor, and most of the PeaceRiver, but the fish just werenʼt interested in eat-ing. Our only fish came at the spillway at ShellCreek on a rattle trap. Wednesday the winds
were blowing out of the west at about 15-20mph. We started fishing around the docks atgrassy point, catching small snook, ladyfish,jacks, etc. We then rode the west wall all theway down to Turtle bay stopping here and therepicking up 1-2 fish every where we stopped. Wehit an area called muddy lake and loaded up ontrout. All legal size, one was even 5-6 pounds.
Wednesday we started off on the same pat-tern, but again the winds were howling at 10-15mph, it was overcast, and drizzling all day.After a few snook and some ladyfish we headedto the ʻsecret spot.ʼ We spent 5 hours catchingoversize reds.It was an awesome day despitethe conditions. Most captains would havebagged both wednesday and thursday becauseof that cold wind. I canʼt say enough about char-lotte harbor as a fishery, captain Mike as aguide and a person, and all the guys and galsat Fishin' Franks.
Sincerely, Scott Bickling
Dear Water LIFEThought youʼd be interested in this picture of
a cormorant eating a mullet.Robert Dawson, Port Charlotte
The Lady Louise, with 9 foot draft, has nowdug a shallow pit in the seagrass where shelay at anchor for the last four months. As theanchor drags, the boat inches closer to thewaterway.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 5
By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte HarborMidMarch is typically the start of good
snook fishing. Like a right of passage Ilook forward to it every year and called afew fishing buddies for a trip. Two infa-mous local anglers including GeneKingery and the editor of this publication,Michael Heller, joinedme for a shake downof Charlotte Harbor in pursuit of a fewlinesiders. A shakedown it was literally!The trip started off with an early morningdecision on whether or not to go. The windwas predicted to be 10-15 out of the south-southeast. Gene said if you add the low andthe high wind prediction together that itwas probably more realistic- twenty fiveknot winds – not too pretty. Anyway, weall wanted to go since we had the fishingbug. It was as simple as that. We fishedfrom my 24-foot Avenger Boca Grandestyle boat so we felt we could safely man-age the conditions.My original plans were to fish the
Gasparilla area, but with possible easterlywinds we decided to head to the Peace Riverto fish. Bait catching was the first order ofthe day and as we turned the corner onColony Point we had a south wind blow-ing at our backs. The good news is wefound diving birds and baitfish in 3 feet ofwater. Gene was coaxed into throwing thenet while Michael chummed and I super-vised. Before the first cast of the net, theboat was breaking anchor and we literallyused 2 anchors and a power pole to posi-tion ourselves. Luckily, a beautifulbaitwell of lively pilchards, threadfin her-ring, crabs, one big shrimp and a smallladyfish was had.With plan A accomplished, we quickly hadto change plan B which was fishing inopen water. A steady 18 knot blow droveus straight into a quiet and calm canal.There was no pressure this day. Three expe-rienced Charlotte Harbor anglers, countless
fishing spots between them and here we satin a canal pitching docks with white bait.Settling in a fishy corner, we dropped
the anchor and pitched some free baits intothe water. Snook willingly mashed a fewof the baits so we knew we were in theright spot. Michael hooked up first and itturned out to be a nice redfish! A funnything Michael said, the night before thesnook had left his fish light and redfish andladyfish moved in. Somehow there was aconnection to his home–site observationsand this canal of redfish mixed in withsnook just a stone’s throw away. The nexthour was a good one. Several very nicesnook were caught, one more redfish andthen the fishing quieted a bit. The tide hadrisen significantly with the wind out of thesouth so we headed to the backcountry.Weaving through the marshes and back-
country in the Myakka Cut-off we settledinto a protected shallow basin. No morethan 2 feet on average. The mindset wasthat shallow, protected, sun-baked waterwould hold active snook on a high incom-ing tide. Gene called this spot right on themoney. I guess a blind squirrel finds an
acorn now and then, I quipped!We quickly got bit from nice snook
from 23 inches and up. Pitching up tightto the mangroves was good, but we foundthat an occasional snook would slurp a baitout in the middle of the bay. We changedspots a few times and each of us caught orat least hooked some nice fish. Redfishwere also a bonus fish this day as each ofus hooked a few. These fish were hungry
and gulped our white baits down.One thing we noted was that each spot
seemed to produce a few fish and then thebite shut off. We speculated on boat noise,boat positioning, a noisy trolling motorand livewell pumps eventually spookingthe fish to the point of not chewing. Ofcourse, we will never know for sure.Pulling up on one spot, Michael made aperfect cast with a large pilchard rightagainst the mangrove. His bait uponimpact got blasted as this fish was big andapparently was looking up. An excitingbite to say the least, but the fish neededglasses as it missed the bait. A little laterit was lunchtime so I cast a bait into openwater and began working on a sandwich- Ilike to call this my ‘deadstick’ technique.Somehow a rod not being watched getsaction. Not 5 minutes into a good tuna fishsandwich and my rod buckles with lineburning off the reel. There was so muchpressure on the rod that I could hardly
Spring Fishing for Snook and Reds
Far Left: Gene Kingery unhooks a snookwhile keepingthe fish in the water.Above: This snook is hookedLeft: Capt Chuck gets ready to land a niceredfish.
continued on page 6
P a g e 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
Continued from page 5remove it from the rod holder. Withmy spool being dumped, I squeezeda little more pressure onto the fastspinning reel spool and the fishbroke me off. A huge fish, with noidea of what it was. I am stillthinking about it! Next, Gene flicksa bait that lands perfectly against asmall mangrove point. A largesnook whomps it and commencesto rip deep into the bush. This wasa wild one as his rod buckled downand up. The fish won this contest,but it was exciting for all of us tosay the least.One final fishing spot and plen-
ty of larger snook were blasting our chummedbaits. A few small ones were caught, but like sev-eral spots before it, the fish got quiet. We defi-nitely left a group of hungry and smart snook onthat spot.On this day, 3 fairly competent anglers had a
great time. Some braided lines and some monolines were used. Big hooks, small hooks, lightleader to heavy leader. The fish didn’t seem to careor did they? Interesting, how they will recklesslyhit the free swimming chummed baits and thenbecome selective after a time.Leaving the protection of calm water we met
with large rollers and whitecaps out of the west.The ride back in was a little wet with 20 knotwinds coming on our starboard side. We all had to
agree that adding the low and high wind predictionwas a better method of predicting a nautical windforecast this day. Salt spray was wisked up andoccasionally lofted into the boat. Charlotte Harborwas shaking us down on the ride back but the tripwas worth it.Be careful out there, watch your winds and pick
your days. My fishing partners picked the spotsextremely well this day with a few fish comingfrom each. My spot was conveniently blown outas it was to be the last fishing hole of the day. Ibetter have a honey hole on our next trip!
Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local charter captain.For information or to book a guided fishing trip call941-505-0003 or go to his website:www.backcountry-charters.com
43' Trojan 13 Meter International, 1985. ManyUpgrades. Twin 450 HP Detroit Diesels. ONLY 75hours s.m.o.h. $129,000
38' PT Cheer Men Sedan Trawler, 1982. Single 120HP Lehman. This is a beautifully maintained vessel.$129,900
25' Catalina 250 Sloop 1986. Single 10HP UniversalDiesal $7,900
A redfish smashes one of our baits and tries to run with it.
S taff ReportThe long awaited new marina at Laishley Park opens this month
with a celebration on the weekend of April 14-15. The facility, ownedby the city of Punta Gorda will be run by a private management com-pany headed up by local businessman Bruce Laishley and HarpoonHarry’s restau-rant partnerChris Evans.Marina planscall for a stageddevel opmen t .The first phase,opening thismonth, includesa full servicemarina, marinaoffice, showers,rest rooms and aships store. A public meeting room which occupies the other half of thefirst building is scheduled to be completed soon. Within 18 months thepartnership will build a full service crab house restaurant and bar. A cov-ered marketplace and landscaped grounds including courtyards and walk-ways to connect with the Laishley Park fishing pier to the boat rampand additional boat ramp parking will developed in the interim. Theshipos store will sell live bait and the marina’s future plans call forgasoline pumps.Free performances on the opening weekend will include; Charlotte
High jazz band, Slick Willy band, the Boogiemen band, The RoyalOrder of the Conquistadors, a boat show, an antique car show, kayakdemos, jet ski demos, The PG fire dept. safety trailer a bounce house forkids, a rock climbing wall, cooking demonstrations and a dunk tank and$4 Laishley Marina T shirts.
Laishley Park MarinaOpening This Month
Boat Ramp Fishing Pier
FutureRestaurantMarina & Store
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 7
P a g e 8 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
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By BettyS tauglerWater LIFE Sea GrantHave you ever wondered what happens to your
fish when you release it after it’s weighed in at atournament? Kids Cup anglers, if you catchyour redfish in Pine Island Sound, do you thinkit will go back? Or, will it hang around in theupper harbor? These are the questions Kids CupTournament Director Michael Heller asked, andthe answer is: we don’t know, but we want to.This year Kids Cup participants are going to
help researchers learn more about redfish behaviorand specifically where Kids Cup redfish go afterbeing released. Thanks to a collaborative effortof the Water LIFE Kids Cup Tournament, MoteMarine Laboratory, Sea Grant and local contribu-tors, weighed in redfish will be tagged as part ofa research and education program. The beauty ofthis tagging program is that not only willresearchers have the opportunity to learn aboutredfish behavior, so will participants.Carole Neidig from Mote Marine Laboratory
will be the primary investigator for the taggingresearch. Carole and her support staff will betagging every redfish weighed in with a dart tag.Each tag will have a unique identification num-ber. This tag will be visible to future anglersand the data received from these tags will bealmost entirely angler dependent. What thatmeans is researchers will only receive informa-tion about the tagged fish if an angler catches thefish, records the tag number and location the fishwas caught, and reports these finding via thephone number listed on the tag.In addition to the dart tags, twenty suitable
tournament redfish will receive a sonic tag.Carole Neidig and a fishery biologist fromProgress Energy, an FPL fishery monitoringdivision, will surgically implant a small sonictag into the redfish, much like a microchip isinserted in a pet dog or cat. The sonic tag willnot be visible to anglers. Data will be receivedfrom these tags using under water sensors calledVR2s. Mote and/or Sea Grant will be deployingVR2s along the path that we suspect redfish willtravel. Each unit is able receive informationfrom the sonic tag within a radius (array) aroundthe underwater sensor. So if a sonically taggedfish travels within the underwater array, the tagwill transmit a unique signal (frequency) to theVR2 where it will be stored. Weekly, we will begoing out to download the underwater sensors toreceive the data so we can see which of our
tagged fish were in thearea of the VR2s.The sonic tags can
also be picked up by aunit deployed off of theside of a vessel. Thisunit is called a VR100.FWC will be lettingus borrow their VR100for the tournament andfor a couple of followup events. With thisunit we will attempt tofind our tagged fish andfollow them. At thetournament we hope tobe able to follow atleast one fish for aperiod of time.All of the informa-
tion collected will becoming back to youvia a website being designed by Sea GrantExtension with support from Charlotte CountyGIS. The website will allow participants andother interested users to learn about redfishbehavior. Every angler that weighs a redfish inwill be listed along with their tagged fish (sonicand/or dart). Website users will be able to clickon an angler’s tagged fish link where they willbe directed to an interactive map that displaysrecorded fish movement. The website will beupdated as data is received. We are also planninga data link, which will allow users to see a list-ing of recorded movements. This data link willallow users to conduct their own research. Thisdata link could be used by teachers or studentsand would make a great science fair project.Anglers and Captains, in order to
make this project a success, we willbe asking you to help us.First, we will need information on each redfish
tagged. Our plan is to provide waterproof cardswhich can be filled out on site. We will onlyask a minimum of questions. One of those ques-tions will be where did you catch the fish? Forthe research side of things it is important to beas specific as possible. On the website, in orderto protect your fishing hole, we will not be dis-playing the exact location. Instead, the Harborwill be divided into 10 zones, covering LemonBay to San Carlos Bay. Another importantrequest we are making, and you will be remindedof at the Captain’s Dinner, is that we need you toturn off your depth finders when you pass thelast marker into Fishermen’s Village. This isbecause sonic tags and depth finders both trans-mit into the water. One can interfere with theother.
This year’s tagging effort is an important stepin the understanding of redfish behavior and travelpatterns. Remember it is up to each of us tomake this program a success. Spread the wordabout the importance of collecting and calling indart tagged fish (you may find dart tags on otherfish species too). See you all at the Kids Cup!
Betty Staugler can be reached at 764.4346.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 9
Tracking Tournament FishElectronic Tagging at the April 28 Kids Cup
Above: An electronic tag is implanted in a redfish. This wil happen right on the weigh in dockat the Kids Cup on April 28. Below: an electronic tag. Bottom: external plastic ʻdartʼ tags
P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
Water LIFEStaff ReportIt’s a bracket elimination. One team
against another and you’re team is fishingfor three fish. You don’t have to have thebiggest fish of the day, you only needbigger fish than the team you’re fishingagainst.This is the Redfish Survivor series,
the latest entry into the calendar of redfishtournaments that take place on CharlotteHarbor. Thirty three angler teams partici-pated in the first ‘Survivor’ event whichconcludes with a final–four style weigh inthe first weekend of April. This tourna-ment is a spectator’s sport. Anglers con-gregate their boats just off the weigh indock, and then two teams at a time arecalled up. You hope the water is flat.
Theattraction iscold hardcash. Everytime yousurvive youwin money.The winnertakes home$20,000–plus moneyfor each round he progresses through.Anglers competing in the first round wereupbeat and happy about the event. “Youhave a 50-percent chance of winning, inany given round,” one angler said.Also new to the tournament trail is the
$170,000 Ultimate Fishing Challenge,held on a weekday. “We choose, as
always, to respect thecrowded tournamentweekend calendars,” tournament organizerssaid. “Also, we recognize that manyanglers appreciate the freedom from boattraffic during the week and/or pre-fishanyway.” The tournament combines a‘skills trial’ with its fishing tournament
which also targets three redfish.www.ultimatefishingchallenge.com. Theevent comes to Placida May 2-3. TheChampionship is at South SeasPlantation May 15-17.
Tournaments: Different approaches to competitivenessTournaments: Different approaches to competitiveness
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A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 11
Screaming ReelsBy Capt. Andrew MedinaWater LIFE StaffRemember all the “It only cost a nickel”, and
“it was better back then” stories you heard grow-ing up from your grandparents? Well I do, and Ihave a few stories of my own to add to them. I’mnot talking gas prices. I’m talking fishing ... pret-ty much as I do all the time. So here we go, wayback when. That’s how it all starts.Ever since I can remember, the Punta Gorda
bridge has always been a hot spot for fishing. Inthe 70s the old bridge was a flat draw bridge. Itused to shake when cars went over it, and carswould wait forever when the center of the bridgewould lift to let boats pass through. But the goodthing about it were the lights. The bridge was lit up likea Christmas tree. At night I remember all the old timerssnook fishing, and not just fishing, but catching. Inaddition to snook, there were huge black drum, tarpon,trout, goliath grouper and many other species. The keywasn’t only fishing around the structure of the bridgepilings, but fishing the lights. At night the lights of thebridge cast a huge shadow line across the water. I wasn’told enough to fish the bridge by myself, so I would waittill my grandpa took us and I loved it. But the bridgewas very dangerous to fish off of, it had no barrier. If Ican remember correctly, it didn’t have a curb separatingyou from the traffic, so if you stepped back you mightget hit by a car. Not that traffic was that big of a prob-lem.As time went on the old bridge was torn down and
two new taller bridges were built. By then we were oldenough to ride our bikes to the new bridges. The new
bridges were safe with big barriers and a walk way withrailings. And they were well lit for those night timetrips. The shadow line on the new bridges was even bet-ter than before. We caught snook and tarpon almostevery night we went. I caught my first tarpon on thebridge, and my first shark. This lasted for years, and theUS 41 bridges at Punta Gorda became a regular hot spotfor night time anglers. People would actually drive toCharlotte Harbor to fish the bridges. Then cameHurricane Charlie, most of the light poles blew down inthe storm and the rest were removed so now there arenone. I have not seen one night time snook angler up onthe bridge since the storm. The lights were for us all atnight. For people to fish or to just be safe as theywalked the bridge for exercise in the coolness of thenight.Are they ever going to put the lights back up? I don’t
know, but I figure probably not. I figure they made this
decision with out any public input, or anyangler–tax-paying-citizen input. Its probably the endof shadow line fishing in the harbor. So next timeyou see a county commissioner ask him why theypulled the plug on a fishing tradition? And if youlive on a canal off the river, and are one of the peoplewho complain when people fish your dock lights,don’t. Lights attract fish, and fish attract anglers. Itlooks like only a lawsuit from someone tripping inthe dark will bring our bridge lights back. Now withthat off my chest, local fishing has been hot.The action has really picked up on the flats and in
bushes around the high tide. With bait being every-where, this spring will be a great time to get a rodbent. Snook, trout, and redfish can be found on bothsides of the harbor. And all of them are ready to eatthose greenbacks. If the redfish you find are slowpicking up a bait try ripping the head off the greenback, and fishing it on a jig. Sometimes redfish arelazy creatures.There are also a lot of lady fish and jacks around
Grassy Point and the beach complex right now. Theywill provide hours of fun for anyone. Be warned, someof the jacks have just been huge, a true test on lighttackle. Also, I am starting to see cobia and sharks aroundthe bars. Even as close as the bar between the cut off andthe beach complex; that’s where we saw a huge bullshark recently. And for you tarpon anglers, the return ofthe white butterflies, and single love bugs is always agood sign. To me, this means less than three weeks tosticking the kings. As you read this there are a lot ofwhat I call river fish (small tarpon 5 to 20-pounds) inthe canals around U.S 41. They can be caught on theTsunami swim baits or Riptide’s finger mullet.Remember the Kids Cup is coming April 28, so take
your child out to practice his angling skills, and comeenjoy a great day on the water. The Kids Cup is a nopressure event. Good luck.
Cody Bollinger with a giant jack from Grassy Point.
Bridge Lights Were partof a Fishing Tradition
By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior EditorOpen your wallets boys, it looks like
our government is about ready to takeanother handful. A proposal in the StateLegislature is about to raise the price of asnook stamp from $2 to $10. To justifythe increase, we are being lead to believethat any new revenue that is collected(minus administration fees) will be usedto help protect our ever-dwindling snookpopulation. Now what red blooded saltwa-ter fisherman would object to chipping ina few more bucks to help our belovedsnook? Not me. I’ve been around longenough to remember when the snookstamp started in 1989. Back then snookstamps were real stamps, kind of likeduck stamps, real pretty. I never could fig-ure out why the state stopped havingwildlife artist make snook prints to usefor stamps. I guess for $2.00 you don'tget that much art appreciation.Snook has a long history of being reg-
ulated going back over 50 years. Beforethat, snook was not considered anythingspecial. I read back then that peoplecooked their fish with the skin on andthat made the meat taste soapy. One of
the first names for snook was soapfishand between 1941 and 1955 it was beingsold as cat food for 5 cents a pound.Sometime during that period someonewas smart enough to cook it without theskin and that pretty well started the longroad down hill for the snook population.Commercial landing for snook reachedtheir peak in 1948 with over 500,000pounds being netted mostly right here inCharlotte Harbor. Snook meat was sellingfor 25 cents a pound. Quite the growthindustry back then.People started getting worried about
falling snook stocks and in 1957 the stateprohibited the selling of snook, thusmaking the snook the first gamefish insalt water. Not much happened on thesnook scene until the state began doingsome research in 1976. Researchers begandoing test netting around Naples between1977 and 1981, and came to the conclu-sion that the snook population haddeclined in that area as much as 70-per-cent. No one really explained how theycame to that conclusion considering theydidn’t know how many snook there wereto begin with, but that was the sound bitethat people remembered - snook popula-
tion down 70-percent.This was about that time that I arrived
on the fishing and I remember snook lim-its being 4 fish per day,18 inch limit, noclosed season. For the sake of full disclo-sure and knowing that the statute of limi-tations is up; I’ll tell you why I remem-ber. I was fishing one day in Sarasota Bayand I hooked a 171/2 inch snook andunfortunately I gut hooked him. I cut myline and threw him back in, but he justpopped up to the surface. I watched thatfish for 10 minutes and felt sorry for himhaving to suffer until I saw a frigate birdcircling above. The fish still had the hookin him so I figured I could be killing thebird too if he got the fish. I asked myselfone of those philosophical questions‘who would profit most by eating thatfish?’ Short version, I won, bird lost; butI do remember sneaking back to the bait-shop and feeling like a criminal. I wasable to ease my conscience with somesucculent tender snook filets sautéed gen-tly with butter, garlic and white wine.In 1981 the snook limit was dropped
to two fish a day. In 1982, the seasonwas closed for Jan, Feb. and June andJuly. Everyone agreed about the Jan, Febclosing because it was common practiceback then to wait for a cold snap and goout and gig snook when they werestunned by the cold – it’s hard to believeit was legal to spear snook up until 2000.The June – July closure was met with
a lot of opposition from local fishermenand I can tell you there was a lot ofpoaching going on by both recreationaland commercial fishermen. In 1985 theyraised the minimum size limit to 24 inch-es and the bag limit to 1 fish per day over34 inches. In 1987 they addedAugust tothe list of closed months.
Everyone was curious to know how allthese new regulations were affecting thesnook population, but before any resultswere known there was the killer freeze ofthe winter of 89-90.One report had 60,000 mature snook
dead in the Manatee River. That kind ofthrows the curve off. In 1994 they closedthe winter season from Dec.15th to Jan31 and in 1998 they raised the minimumlimit again, this time to 26 inches. In2002 they added May to the closed seasonand in 2006 the minimum limit wasraised to 27 inches. That’s an awfully lotof regulating for just one fish.What I’m going to say now will prob-
ably get me kicked out of every bait shopin town; but we don’t know anythingabout snook that we didn’t know back in1957. We definitely can’t say the snookpopulation is getting better, worse orstaying the same. All these changing reg-ulations are like a death from a thousandcuts to a fisherman.If you want to know the score you
have to stop moving the target. It mightbe time to just shut snook fishing downfor 5 years. Let’s give the scientist themoney and the tools to do the job right.What has the most effect on snook?Habitat destruction.I cry when I see mangroves ripped out
and replaced by seawalls. Pollution? Thereare still plenty of people that rememberthe big phosphate spill in the early 70’sthat wiped out the snook in the PeaceRiver. How about Mother Nature? Coldsnaps and Red Tide- and of course recre-ational fishermen. Can we really helpsnook or do we think that throwing moremoney at the problem is really going tohelp. Capt Ron can be reached at (941)474-3474
P a g e 1 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
Should We Shut Snook Down?
Local snook fishermen have debated this subject for years.
By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffWith the exception of a few cold fronts
and some wind, March has been a pretty goodfishing month. Sheepshead fishing is at itspeak. I’ve had a few friends tell me how wellthey are doing in Rag Alley lately. Rag Alleyis next to Ski Alley near Stump Pass and isa well known local snook spot in LemonBay. It’s pretty shallow in spots and thechannel snakes from side to side along themangroves. You definitely want to use slowspeed and keep your eyes open when travel-ing through Rag Alley until you learn thechannel. The most popular spots are at eitherentrance, especially when you have a strongtide. The snook jam up in these spots tofeed. At the north end there is a deep holewhere manatees hang out, in fact there is amanatee sign there; I’ve caught some niceredfish there over the years.What a lot of people don’t know is that
near that sign is an old sunken boat near themangroves. People have told me about it,but I got to see it for myself about threeyears ago. It was one of those super low tidedays in the winter and I was in my canoe justtaken a look around when I saw the outlineof an old wooden hull buried in the sand bot-tom with just about 12 inches of the barnacleencrusted gunwale standing above the bot-tom. Because the water was so clear that day
I could watch the fish come from under themangroves to visit the boat. I saw twosheepshead, one about 4 pounds anotherabout 7 pounds swim down the channel tothe boat and start chewing on the barnacles.So I know there are some big fish there.Good luck finding them.Boat ramp activity is picking up but it
seems lighter than in past years. Even ingood weather there is still room to park in apublic boat ramp on a Sunday afternoon.There are still plenty of pompano, trout andredfish around; but snook hasn’t really pickedup yet. There is a little bit of live bait show-ing up already. If you can net some you real-ly have an advantage on snook this time ofyear. I was in Publix this morning and therewas a bin full of Jack Mackerel sitting in theaisle. My advice is to stock pile a dozen canswhile it’s there . Last year during MemorialDay weekend, there wasn’t a can to be had inall of Englewood. There is nothing better tochum bait with than Jack Mackerel.Remember to bring the can opener.Offshore fishing is good. Kingfish are here
when you can get out; but everyone is talk-ing about the big Spanish Mackerels that arebeing caught. It’s hard to tell the differencebetween a small king and a big spanishmackerel. Both can have the distinctive yel-low dots. The lateral line on a king will dipdown to the belly underneath the dorsal fin.
To make things more complicated, some-times we will have Cero mackerel show upthis time of year. This fish looks more like aspanish than a kink but it has a solid yellowline running down the middle of the fish.Don’t worry, even the most experienced fish-ermen can be fooled. Remember what the oldtimers used to say ‘catch’em, all-let God sortthem out.’On a sad note we have had some boating
deaths recently. When you are boating any-time of year you really have to be careful.Don’t over load the boat and wear a life pre-server. It’s easy to second guess people andbelieve me things really look different whenyou’re the one in the water. In general, ifyour boat capsizes, it’s probably best to staywith the boat. If you’re young enough ,strong enough and a good swimmer and youcan see shore, have an incoming tide with thewind to your back and you’re sure no one islooking for you, you might want to try toswim to shore but remember if you don’tmake it you’re going to die.If you want to know what it’s like, take a
few friends in your boat – go offshore abouta mile-put on a life preserver and jump over-board and swim for shore. Most people won’tmake it. I didn’t.
Capt. Ron can be reached at (941) 474-3474for fishing information or to book a guided fish-ing trip.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 3
On The Line Fishing with Capt Ron
Dear Folks at WaterLIFEThought you might enjoy seeing a
big one that our son, Tim, reeled inout of our canal last week when hewas down from MA. It's a drum. Hechased a group of five of them forabout two and a half hours onemorning and followed them acrossthe seawalls of our neighbors, whowere very kind to let us intrude ontheir property. Well, he snagged onefinally with just a worn out shrimpand brought it in over the course ofabout fifteen minutes. Biggest fishwe ever pulled out of the canal at 38pounds. Henry Jacques
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We chased an electrical prob-lem with our jack platepump until we looked care-fully at this otherwise cleanbattery connection. The wesaw the wire’s insulation hadsplit and allowed the insideof the cable to corrode. Thatreduced the flow of currentenough to affect the jackplate pump. Once again, ifyou ever have any electricalproblem on a boat, suspect afaulty ground first, and thenlook for bad wiring.
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S taff ReportIt’s getting closer! If you haven’t
entered yet there is still time. We will cutoff at either 125 junior anglers or at thecaptain’s meeting dinner on April 27,whichever comes first. The Kids Cup is onSaturday April 28. Entry forms are at localbait and tackle shops and on the internet atwww.kidscuptournament.com. Call (941)766-8180 for more information. This tour-nament is FUN!The Kids Cup is an all for fun, not-for-
profit, no pressure event. There are no cashprizes, but the Top 5 kids get to weigh inon the ESPN-2 TV stage in front of whatthe Oberto Redfish Cup guys promisewill be Punta Gorda’s biggest crowd ever.There are rods and reels for the top 5, aKids Cup trophy for the winner and theoverall Kids Cup winner gets a trip to theKeys to fish. This year we are going to tag all the
fish we release. Mote Marine will do thetagging and the science they get from thisproject could answer the question: Does aredfish caught in the Pine Island Sound andreleased at Fishermen’s Village swimstraight back to Pine Island or does itbecome a part of the redfish population uphere? Some of the tagging will utilizeelectronic transmitting tags – see the storythis month on page 7. Fishermen’s VillageMarina and Yacht Basin is the Tagging
Sponsor for theKids Cup.Back on board
for their fourth con-secutive year ofKids Cup supportwill be our majortournament spon-sors: PalmChevrolet, LaishleyMarine and San Carlos Marine, who pro-vide the hats, shirts and captain’s meetingdinner. The dinner will again be atBennedetto’s Restaurant at the BestWestern in Punta Gorda. Bennedetto’s ishelping by keeping their prices down forour kids as well.
This year, Ranger Boats will be theKids Cup boat sponsor. Your Kids Cup Tshirt will show a junior angler fishing outof a Ranger Boat. The Kids Cup Hat hasthe Ranger and Yamaha logos on it.Thanks to San Carlos Marine and RangerBoats for that. And Ingman Marine willagain donate a Power Pole for the captainof the winning kid and will donate movietickets for every kid who weighs in a fish.Don Gasgarth Ford will sponsor a BigFish, Little Fish award, so even if youbring back a little redfish you could stilltake home a nice prize. Mercury Marinewill again donate racing jackets and capsfor our top five kids, Eppinger Lures willagain donate 2/5 oz gold spoons for eachangler. The captain’s bags the kids receiveshould once again contain outstandinglyuseful stuff.Fish X-S in Englewood will provide
the Trophies for each age group - there is aframed-redfish-print trophy for the biggestfish in each age bracket (ages 10-11-12-13-14-15 and 16 ) and thanks to Lori and Barbat Laishley Marine, S.P.I. will provide thetop 5 bronze redfish trophies.The Charlotte Redfish Baseball Team is
going to play a part in the Kids Cup aswell. They have a Redfish Kids programand every kid and every captain will gat aticket to a ball games at the CharlotteRedfish Stadium. The Charlotte RedfishBaseball Team is also a tagging sponsor.Quantum will donate top 5 rods and reels
Flying Fisherman donated sunglasses forthe top 5 and sunglass lanyards for everyangler, 125 hooks from Eagle Claw,Henry's Tackle (a special thanks to SusanWeeks) has donated 125 bomber lures andbass medics 125 packets ofrejuvinate. Exude has given usbaits, and longer life- top 5 baitbucket & aerators. Ocean Wavessunglasses is giving us polycar-bonate glasses for our top 10anglers. This could be the bestKids Cup yet, so sign up NOW,entry forms are at the local baitand tackle shops and online at
www.kidscuptournament.com. Don’t for-get, this is all for a good cause. Themoney we raise at the Kids Cup goes tofund our Don Ball School of Fishing. Itdoesn’t get any better than that.
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 5
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By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Port Charlotte
Big, big, fish, it is that time again. Bythe end of this month the big one will beback.
Tarpon, sharks and cobia, are our bigthree, so get out your free weights (dumbbells to us old guys) and start getting thosearms in shape. Everyone has seen or heardabout fishing tarpon in the pass. It’s excit-ing. There are boats all around you, fishrolling, and all the newbees running helterskelter, chasing the ‘pooning’ fish. Or per-haps you have seen the guys in the harbortossing live bait–fish at them. Thatinvolves finding bait fish, throwing a castnet, catching them and trying to keep themalive – all of which can be challenging.Casting with lures like the D.O.A. bait-buster, or even chucking a fly at a tarponcan be exciting and wear your arm out too.
Not long ago, I was thinking about thepast and how people used to fish for tarpon,and while thinking, I was watching the newStrike King lure, ‘King Kong’ swimmingin the lure testing tank at Fishin Franks. Iwas thinking how a tarpon would eat thatlure in a skinny–minute. Then thinkingthat a 150 pound fish would probablysmash that lure to bits. But the numberone reason I would not use this lure for tar-pon are those big treble hooks. Thinking ofthose extra sharp extra strong trebles thatthe lure comes with in the mouth of athrashing Tarpon and me putting my fin-gers in there with them to get it out – thereis no way I am trying to get those big tre-ble hooks out of the mouth of a thrashingtarpon. Then it hit me. Bam! Take off thetreble hook and add a couple of circlehooks. But I still believed a tarpon wouldput the lure into pieces. So it hit me. Whynot make the hooks to break away?
Take a Strike King, "King Kong" lureand remove the treble hooks. Now, using a150 pound test swivel tie a 36" inch #60pound test fluorocarbon leader from theswivel to the front of the lure. Then fromthe same swivel tie a 39–inch leader to thefirst 8/0 circle hook, then tie a second cir-cle hook 6–inches back from the first hook
this is done simply by tieing from the eyeof the first hook to the eye of the secondhook. To make a knot it usually takes6–inches of line, so for a 36–inch leader cut48–inches since there is a knot at bothends. You need one King Konglure, a 150–pound–test swivel,three pre-cut leader pieces –one 48 inches another 51 inch-es and the third 18 inches –and 2 8/0 circle hooks.The hooks are then tied to the lure with
12 pound mono or with very light zipstrips. Attach them where the original tre-ble hooks were. The reason the leader to thehooks is longer than the leader to the lureis so with the pressure of the fish it willbreak away the hook from the lure andavoid the destruction of the lure by lettingit dangle off to the side, out of the way andif the fish wears through the leader you stillget the lure back.
It is best to troll this lure. Six mph is agood speed, a little faster or slower depend-ing on conditions. Let out 25 yards of lineif you have more than one lure out, becareful not to turn the boat too tight as thiswill cause two lures to cross each other and
tangle. King Kong swims about 4 feet deepand the circle hooks do not effect theaction.
People have been trolling for tarponfrom long before I came to Charlotte har-bor. Now the craze is to sit and cast live
bait at rolling fish, but it just sounds goodto me to sit back with the lines out andidle along to slam the big ones. Why spendthree hours looking for bait fish? This is aneffective way to catch tarpon, but not ifyou troll through the school of rolling fish.Stay away from the school itself. The out-board motor will spook a school of feedingfish, and do not change the throttle. Whenthe motor noise changes it will also spookthe fish. Fish don’t seem to be spooked bya continuos noise that come and goes. Theyare used to that, but if the noise is therethen stops or gets louder it scares them.
The best places to troll for tarpon are atthe mouth of the Myakka River or thePirate Harbor hole. Do not troll by boatscasting at rolling fish. It will make themthrow things at you and the fish are mov-ing anyway. Watch the direction they movein and troll where you think they are head-ed.
I call this a DI36–rig and it is an origi-nal Fishin’ Frank’s creation. I hope youcatch your dream fish. Good luck, boys andgirls.
Fishin Frank can be reached for charters orfor fishing information at 625-3888
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 9
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MANATEES ON THE MOVE – Ask anyone who is out on the water a lot. The water has beenwarm this winter and the manatees have been out in the harbor for months already. Thatʼswhy the aerial count made in February was low this year...because the manatees were trav-elling. Seen here, a manatee leaves its tell-ʼtailʼ track – a string of swirling circular distur-bances made by the animalʼs big paddle tail. This photo was made In a Port Charlotte canalat the top of the Peace River, in March.
Tarpon Trol ler
Is th is the next tarpon bai t?
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By Capt S teve SkevingtonWater LIFE OffshoreWow what a great month March has
been. A lot of big fish came to the boat anda lot of smiles followed.With the list of fish to hunt down this
month being a long one, we will start withone my favorites.Number one on my list is kingfish,
Trolling for these guys is probably themost effective way to fill up a fish box.One thing I know you'll need for kingfishof any size is a super smooth drag and a lotof line on your reel.Slow trolling live sardines over hard
bottom and clear water is all but a guaran-tee for big kings in April.Some of the smoker king's will be
found on wrecks from 20- to 30 miles out.The first permit of the season will start
showing up on wrecks looking for jumbolive shrimp and yellow jigs.Cobia should start their migration up
the coast. Look for mudding rays just offthe beach, or try your favorite wreck and alot of chum.A lot of very big Sharks will be
hooked-up this month. The trick to findingthese guys is simple: chum, chum andmore chum. Then hold on tight!
It's real hard to top boating a six orseven foot black tip shark early in themorning.Amberjack are still out there, just beg-
ging to pick a fight with anyone willing toput a big live bait out over a deep wreck.This kind of fishing involves a long rideoffshore and a strong back.There's just a lot going on way offshore
this month. The red grouper bight is start-ing to heat up in about 80 feet, driftingwith cut sardines until you hook-up with aquality fish is a great way to find red's.
Once you find them, anchor-up and testyour strength with a few.April is a great snapper month with yel-
low tail snapper stacking up on the deeperspots and mangrove snapper piling up onthose same wrecks with the amberjack.It's really hard to do anything wrong
this month ....except not go fishing at all.Tight Lines
Capt SteveYou can reach Capt. Steve at575-FLAT or at 276-0565
OFFSHORE: Big Fish
By Dav id Al l enWater LIFE Kayaking
Four times a year, thePort Charlotte Kayakersparticipate in a clean-upprogram to keep the areabeaches and streams cleanand inviting. Our club is asmall part of the overalleffort organized and sponsored by theKeep Charlotte Beautiful and Adopt-aShore. Glenda Anderson manages thisprogram with headquarters at theEnvironmental Park on HarborviewRoad.About two years ago, the Port
Charlotte Kayakers decided to getinvolved in cleaning up the local beacheson a regular basis. The club had, forsome years, been picking up trash andother accumulated waste, but HurricaneCharlie had done so much damage to thebeaches andmangroves, that we decidedsomething more was needed.We joined the more organized program
provided by Keep Charlotte Beautiful andagreed to Adopt-A-Shore. We signed upto clean a section of the harbor, fromMuddy Bay on the north to Rock Creekon the south. This section of beach isdirectly across Alligator Bay from PortCharlotte Beach Park. This 1.5-milestretch of beach is an active fishing areaand due to the prevailing winds and cur-rents is always littered with trash.The Big Spring Clean-up this year was
scheduled for Saturday,March 10. Over 400 volunteers, in smallgroups, were assigned a beach or river-bank in Charlotte County. KeepCharlotte Beautiful provided garbagebags and other supplies. And after theclean up, refreshments were served at theRecycle Center on Kenilworth Rd.Twenty-five Club members arrived at
Port Charlotte Beach Park at 7:30 AM topaddle over to Muddy Bay and begin theclean up. Bill Mango provided a power-boat to off load the garbage bags so thekayakers would not have to return to thebeach.It always amazes us that, even though
we clean the beach 4 times a year, that wecontinue to find as much trash as we do.The trash is not just on the beach, butoften well behind the first rank of man-groves. So we beach our kayaks and goback into the mangroves for bottles,cans, tires, and lots of styrofoam. Thisyear we collected about 30 bags of trash,about 1000 pounds, including tires and alarge plastic panel.After off-loading the trash, we took
several pictures of the group and the
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 2 1
Kayaking
P a g e 2 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
Charters20–50 mile trips
We help you put charters together• Grouper • Snapper • Kingfish • Shark • Tarpon and more!
Capt Jim OʼBrienUSCG 50 ton license since 1985
Bus: 941-475-5538 Res: 941-473-2150visit us at www.captjimsbigfish.com
Charlotte HarborCharlotte Harbor FISHING GUIDESFISHING GUIDES
SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often TrueThe Gulf Counci l 's ‘Scoping meeting’ washeld in Naples last month. Attendance was very low.That's surprising, considering how many avid anglers
we have here in southwest FL and how this groupplans future regulation in the Gulf. The one commonthing heard was how hard the meeting information wasto find. With most of the guides just finding out aboutit that same day in the editorial section of their localpaper.
Tarpon Science This season the FWC has distributed‘swab’ kits to certain anglers to sample the ‘saliva’inside the fish’s mouth. Last year they sampled finclips.
Now that the new Laishley Park Marina isopen someone asked us whether marina slips are candi-dates for the county’s room-night bed tax? That’s a fairquestion.
Don Bal l School of Fishing founder Jerry
Jensen has 500 mangrove seedlings he is raising in hispool cage. It’s been Jerry’s plan to plant the trees onthe hurricane ravaged shores of Charlotte Harbor. Jerryhas been a tireless servant and advocate for CharlotteHarbor. Founder of the Charlotte Harbor ReefAssociation, father of the reef ball project, past CCApresident, Don Ball School of Fishing founder ... thestate should be thrilled to have Jerry’s help. Instead, hehas had a problem getting permission to plant thesetrees on state lands. The state has offered no plan of itsown for dealing with Charlotte harbor’s significantmangrove crisis so these trees will now have to beplanted on private land. We want to know why the statewon’t cooperate.
Also ‘Why’ don’t we have a fish stocking program?The State passively accepted the loss of a land lease attheir redfish hatchery at Port Manatee and has donenothing to relocate. Why aren’t we raising and releasingmore fish into the harbor? Texas releases millions offish every year and it’s beginning to have an impact on
A p r i l 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 2 3
issues continued to domi-nate state and local govern-ment committees through-out Florida. GovernorCrist is favoring a plan todouble the $25,000 home-stead exemption and extendthe 3% annual valuationcap to commercial proper-ties. The State HouseEfficiency andAccountability Councilvoted 10-5 to rollback val-uations to 2001 levels(plus inflation & growth).And on March 16, thePolicy and BudgetCommittee passed the pro-posed plan by a margin of24-7. The plan will nowbe crafted in bill form andvoted on by the legislature.Fearing the loss of mil-lions of hard-to-justify taxdollars, County Boards andCity Councils throughoutthe state are outraged andvocalizing their resentmentof anticipated loss of theircandy jar! Surely just acoincidence, CharlotteCounty suddenly pulled theplug on the near giveawayoffice rentals that had beenfurnished to our StateRep.....kids, play nice....2. Lee County's
Assessor, Ken Wilkinson(proudly a sponsor of theatrocious 1994 Save OurHomes Legislation) is nowpushing to make the give-away portable. "Save ourhomes" punishes non-homesteaded properties andis just one more impedi-ment to commercial devel-opment in Florida. He is
trying to gather 611,000signatures to put in on astatewide ballot.Wilkinson is also warm tothe proposal of an alterna-tive, to the "rollback" - a2.5% sales tax levy in lieuof real estate taxes. Andjust when folks in theupper 47 were starting toforget why they called itFlori-"duh"!3. A huge, but
largely unnoticed,facet of the tax reformbil l is a clarification ofthe appraisal method to beused by County Assessorsto assess income producingreal estate. Net rentalincome will now be usedto determine value insteadof comparable sales datawhich has, in recent years,been heavily manipulatedby speculators. The realbenefit will go to apart-ment lessors who havebeen constrained from pro-viding rental housing ataffordable rates because ofonerous real estate taxes.4. Burnt S tore
Marina Golf Courseabruptly shut down alloperations this month.Members were sent prorat-ed refunds. The club hasbeen a steady money losersince it was acquired in2005. With little hope ofrezoning the property forresidential development,the owner is planning toredevelop the property.Probably to redesign the27 "executive" lengthholes into 18 traditionallength holes with newcommercial buildings.5. A 76, 364 sf
commercial office andretai l bui lding wasapproved for the intersec-tion of El Jobean andManchester in EastEnglewood.
6. SchoolHouse SquareShopping Center onKings Hwy in PortCharlotte traded hands lastmonth for $11,900,000.The center, built in 1988,brought $80 per squarefoot. It had previouslysold for $46/sf 3 daysbefore Hurricane Charleyhit. And who said nobodywins when a hurricanestrikes?7. In Ft. Myers
Beach, Compass PointMarina was sold to devel-opers from Orlando and Ft.Lauderdale. The new own-ers expect to be able tooffer 431 "Rackominiums"(dry boat storage).Estimated retail price for acubby hole for your boat isexpected to be around$70,000.8. Ave Maria
Law School will bemoving from Michigan tothe Ave Maria Campus inCollier County. This willbe SW Florida's firstaccredited law school.9. National
home bui lders see somesales rising from the ashesof the last quarter. Centexreports new sales of 103homes more than doublethose registered in the priorquarter. More important-ly, cancellations haveretreated to normal levels.Bonita Bay Group is stillmoving forward on itsmassive single familydevelopments in Glades &Hendry Counties as well asthe 999 unit project onBurnt Store Road. Theirfocus in Collier and LeeCounties will be towarddenser infill complexeswithout golf courses.Hovnanian Corp.announced substantial assetwritedowns as a result ofits "top of the market"
acquisition of FirstAmerican Home Builders.First American's scatteredsite building style is appar-ently faring far worse thancontrolled subdivisionswith attractive amenitypackages.
Sales S tatistics:Lot prices declined
another 3% last month andmedian prices are nowdown 44% vs. last year.Volume edged up to 99from 83 last month.Houses prices are down10% from a year ago.The fallout from thedemise of "sub prime"lending has yet to be felton the market. Wheninterest rates on thosemortgages adjust to moreoutrageous levels as "teaserrates" roll off, we canexpect more price soften-ing as lenders foreclose onmore properties. Condoinventory climbed another5% this month with salesvolume again being con-
RealRealEstateEstate
NewsNews
Spring is in bloom along the banks of the Peace Riveras seen here in a photo made late last month near theriverʼs confluence with Horse Creek. The banks of theriver are much greener and show less effect of the hurri-cane this spring.
P a g e 2 4 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E A p r i l 2 0 0 7
MARCH WAS LOCAL SAILINGʼS BIGGEST MONTH
Charlotte Countyʼs CompleteSwimming Pool SupplysPool Repair and Maintenance Store
575-575-25252525Located in the Punta Gorda Crossing Shopping Center Next to PublixMon-Fri 9AM-5:30PM Sat 9AM-3PM
Specializing inHeaters and
Pumps
“Green Pool” Clean Up& Maintenance
By Bil l Dixonand Michael Hel lerWater LIFE SailingCONQUISTADORCUPOn the first day the
wind was barely blowingand boats sat idle on aharbor with a surfacelike rippled glass. Laterthe winds picked upslightly and by the sec-ond day the wind wasright for racing.The starting order for
the second day of theConquistador Cup takesplace in a reverse orderdetermined by the finishof the races from the dayprior. Theoretically, the
slowest boat starts firstand the fastest one startslast.This year turned out
to be a rite of revengefor the mono hull war-riors as Dan Kendrickfrom Naples in his Farr395 Tippecanoe tookhome the covetedConquistador Helmet.“This is not a multi-hull!” Dan said loudlyafter he crossed the fin-ish line. Dan also wonthe overall in theSpinnaker under 150class. Second was BigSky, Jim Gunderson’sMelges 24 also fromNaples. Third wasForrest Bank’s Tartan4100 Midnight Riderfrom Ft. Myers.Local racer Dave
Flechsig won Spinnakerover 150 in his S-2 7.9Rooster Tail. Secondhere was Steve Todd inhis Colgate 26 HotToddy. Third wasKaboom, Steve Bailey’sS-2 7.9 from LouisvilleKY.
Tom and Bob Reese
were second in their F-28 Flight Simulator.Local sailor and lastyear’s winner of theConquistador’s HelmetTom Bragaw was thirdin his F-33 BahamaHunter.On the other race
course, my neighbor BillHart, 84 years old withhis 84 year old pit manJack, won 1st place inthe over 200 non spinfleet in his Harbor 20.Tom Scott on his newlyrestored Morgan 30 tooksecond. Recess, SkipSchmidt’s S-2 6.7 wasthird. Rudy Reineckewon the under 200 nospin fleet in hisBeneteau FC 12 OHHZone. David Bridges inSpars & Stripes, aChrysler 27, was second.Jessica Knighton wasthird on Gregg’s Ranger33, Misty.Rex Good won the
under 200 true cruisingclass with his Sabre 402Jabu. Ron Scalzo wassecond with his Irwin 38La Boheme. Lea, Jerry
Crowley’s Herreschoff41 was third,Arnie Pfalz won the
0ver 200 true cruisingclass in his Pearson 35Laura Li. Local RogerRommel was second onhis Hunter 34 DesertFox II. Euphoria, EdBrauer’s Hunter 30 sailedwithout Ed on board to athird place. Nice workcrew. Complete resultsare posted on the PuntaGorda Sailing Club website pgscweb.com.
THE SUNFISHINTERNATIONALREGATTAThe weather for the
first scheduled day ofSunfish sailing was mar-ginal at best with winds20 gusting to 25, butthe sailors opted to giveit a try anyway. Thefleet left the BeachComplex and sailed outAlligator Bay into theopen harbor where acourse was set, but thewinds proved to be toomuch for many of thesailors. Several capsized
Light Airfor the big boats
Big Airfor the little ones
Top: Light air for the start. Above: Race win-ner Dan Kendrick in his Farr 395 TippecanoeMiddle: Winning multihull Kathryn Garlickʼs F-28 Evolution. Right: Action at the first mark.
into the not so warm not-quite-70-degree, water. Those who weretruly masters of their craft put ondazzling display of sailing thatresembled wind surfing, but beforethe start, the first day was can-celled. Winds subsided for the sec-ond day and lessened again for thefinals. In the end first overall and1st in the 40 -50 year old"Masters" class was TomWhitehurst. First 50-60 year old"Grand Master" was Tony Elliotwho was also 3rd over all. First60 -70 year old "Great GrandMaster" was Bill Mc Innis. Firstfemale was Gale Heausler. AndOldest Racers were Ray Buchananand Ed Carney tied at 82 year ofage!!!
LEUKEMIA CUPGreat sailing both days marked
the fourth annual Leukemia CupRegatta. The race committee head-ed by PRO Roger Strube set finerace courses quickly and got us allstarted nicely. Photos taken byWater LIFE are for sale for a $15donation to the Leukemia Society.E-mail Bill, he’ll tell you all. Atpress time, the final total amountraised was not available, but I doknow that the amount donated bythe sailors set a new record. Iheard that Wendy Filler raised$7,500 and qualifies for a trip toSan Diego and a sail with GaryJobson.
Bob Knowles’ Bamma Slammerwon the Leukemia Cup by a verysmall margin over Dave and SueCleverly on Free Again. Both hadthree firsts in the regatta, both hadsimilar margins over second placeboats in each race, but BammaSlammer got around the courses inless corrected time.
Bamma Slammer wonSpinnaker, Dave Flechsig’sRooster Tail was second.Jerry & Kay Haller won
non–spinnaker A on Jammin, TomScott of Whimsy was at the helm.George Buckingham was second onLearning to Fly.
Bill Berges on Wimpie won
Non Spinnaker B. Bill Mclearnon Frisbee was second.Mike & Sandy Busher, and
daughter and grand kids wonCruising A on Serendipity, ( Hedoesn’t need another sail, Sandy!)Jerry Crowley was second on Lea.The Cleverly’s Free Again won
Cruising B, Jeff Letteri took sec-ond onboard Destiny.Roger Horton on Wiley Coyote
took first place in Cruising C,Crash Brauer was second onEuphoria.Mr. Smith, won the multihull
fleet on A Train.More next month!
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SUNFISH CHAMPIONSHIPSOn the first day the harbor was awesome! 3 to 4 foot chop with winds 20 gusting to 30. It was worth a try but after several knockdowns and capsizings they called it off. Better air pre-vailed on Saturday and Sunday, although the breeze was still stiff. (Saturday BOTTOM right)
P8
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Now also at the new Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers at I-75 and Alico RoadNow also at the new Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers at I-75 and Alico Road
My Opinion – By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editorGE’s appliances have been less than satisfactory.
We’ve been through one washing machine transmissionand two dishwasher pumps. In all, I now have five wast-ed days invested in being home and waiting for the GErepairman. It still boggles my mind that our society canturn out an automobile that meets all applicable pollu-tion and safety standards and will go 100,000 or moremiles without a tune up yet some are apparently stillchallenged to produce everyday appliances. I think it’s allabout quality control. Perhaps it’s cheaper to replaceinferior parts than to make good ones.And the worst part is, you get the run around from
one repairman who bad mouths the guy who came beforehim and all of them tell you what junk GE stuff reallyis. A recommendation like that, from a service man,would make anyone feel foolish for spending so muchmoney on their products. It is not what GE would call a‘successful public relations and marketing campaign’ ...and it gets worse.
It’s been six months since we moved into our newhouse – six months of living with our top-of-the-line(high priced) GE Monogram® stainless steel appliances.Out of that six months we’ve had about three weeks oftotal trouble free use.We bought our appliances from Bill Smith
Appliances in Port Charlotte. “We have own servicedepartment,” their salesman told us. I didn’t know thatwas a warning.The range arrived without burners, the range hood
came with pieces missing and with several holes drilledbut not tapped for the screws that went into them. Therefrigerator, an all stainless model that cost as much as anice used car, had a broken shelf bracket. The dishwasherran well ...for a week and then started making noise. Thewashing machine screeched like a stuck pig from the daywe plugged it in.The Bill Smith guy came out and looked over the
dishwasher. “It needs a new pump,” he told us and saidhe’d order one. Then he looked at the washer. “They allmake that noise,” he told me. He took the front off themachine and pointed to four rods that suspend the wash-ing tank. “It’s just a bad design,” he said, adding that Icould lubricate the rod tops if I wanted to. The emphasiswas on the “I could do it” part. Then he left.I got my stethoscope out and listened for the noise at
each of the four suspension rods. They were all quiet.Then I listened around the insides and found the noise tobe coming from the motor drive at the bottom of thewasher tub.A week later the same guy came back and installed a
new pump in the dishwasher. The dishwasher was quietagain. I asked him about the washing machine. I toldthe man the noise was not from the rods but from thebottom of the tank. The service man said he would callGE and ‘see what he could do.” Why don’t you just fixit? I asked. He went back to his office and reported therewas nothing wrong with my washing machine and nevereven called GE.Two weeks went by then another two. In the mean
time I got a call from a survey company who wanted toknow about the service call I had. I told them themachine still didn’t work right, but the caller only want-ed to talk about the service man and if the guy was
clean.... reverent, brave, obedient,kind and a list of other boy-scoutishthings. Mechanical things were notcovered in this survey, the lady toldme, but she said she would ‘red flag’her follow up and someone wouldsurely call me. But no one ever did.The dishwasher began to make
noise again a week later and thewasher was still screeching. I tookmy cell phone, switched it to videoand recorded the washer and dishwash-er noise. Then I went over to BillSmiths and played the recording tothe store manager.“You know, I bought one of those
washers for my mother in law,” thenice man told me “and it makes the same noise. They allsound like that,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.“Unacceptable,” I said. And I said I wanted someone fromGE to come out to my house and tell me that was theway they ‘all’ sound. I also told him the dishwasher wasbroken again.This Bill Smith guy did call GE and the following
week I got a call from GE to set up a service time.When the day came I got a computer call reminding meto be home and to secure any pets.On the scheduled day a GE service truck pulled up
into our driveway and a mature service guy came to thedoor. He was a clean, well dressed, uniformed profession-al. He switched on the dishwasher and listened to thenoise. Then he looked underneath. He reached under andcame out with a styrofoam bock. Did you wedge this inthere? He asked me. “No,” I said and then he asked mewhat the Bill Smith guy who was here before him did. Ishowed him the old pump that was replaced. “That’s themain pump. This machine needs a washer pump,” hesaid. He made it sound like the Bill Smith guy wedgedthe styrofoam against the noisy pump to try and quiet it.“Someone put this there,” he said. “I’ll order the rightpump,” he added. Then I asked him to look at the wash-
ing machine.“I don’t have a service ticket for the
washer,” he said, but he listened to thenoise and looked underneath anyway.“The transmission is bad in thismachine, I can see it slipping,” hesaid. “I’ll order one of those too.” Thisman seemed like he knew what he wasdoing. “Are you going to be back toinstall the new parts,” I asked. “Surewill,” he said. “Good,” said me.But ‘sure will’ and ‘good’ turned to
‘nope’ and ‘no-way’ when he calledback to say his knee went out, and thathe’d be laid up for a while. We neversaw that nice man again. The service
call scheduled was cancelled the next day and anothervisit was set up for another day.Another GE service man came the following week
and installed the third pump in the dishwasher and it wasquiet again, for the second time. Then he listened to thewasher. “Could be the suspension rods,” he said, but Itold him about the stethoscope and showed him the partGE had already sent for the replacement – GE ships theparts directly to the customer.He listened more carefully and looked underneath.
“This is the most difficult part to replace on the entiremachine,” he told me, once he had it all disassembledand spread around. “If this breaks again, just buy anotherwasher,” he told me, offering up the old transmission-gearbox as a souvenir. “It wouldn’t be cost effective toreplace this once the warrantee runs out.”I waited for my copy of the work order on the job he
had just done, but there was none. There wasn’t a cus-tomer copy for any of the work either GE or Bill Smithdid. I took the transmission along with the two washerpumps out to the garage and put them in the pile withother worthless junk I am hanging on to.The dishwasher is still quiet, but two weeks later the
washer started to squeak again and now it’s getting loud-er. Would I buy another GE appliance again?
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This New Housepart 17 Update:Still Appliance Problems
Above: Two dishwasher pumps and the washingmachineʼs transmission. All replaced in the first fewmonths of service.Left: A GE appliance repairman makes a call to service ourGE products. The GE servicemen were vey nice.Below: A wire is held in place inside the washing machinewith paper tape. This is the way it came from the factory.Perhaps, in the country where this machine was assem-bled, this is an approved manufacturing technique.
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By Capt. Robert MooreWater LIFE Staff
After a successful year on the airwavesof ESPN2, the Madfin Shark Series wasback and Capt. Mike Mahan and I wereinvited to return. My first experience withthe Madfin Shark Series in 2006 was one Ithought I’d never be able to beat, but thisyear’s experience raised the bar.
The format was the same as last year’s.Eight two man teams catching and releas-ing sharks. Points are awarded for a suc-cessful live release of a shark. Bonuspoints awarded if the hook was removedand for the first and largest shark caught.The two teams with the lowest pointswould be eliminated after day 1 & 2. On daythree the top four teams would fish for thetitle. Our team for 2007 would once againbe known as ‘Team Redfish’.
We arrived in Key West a week early tostart our pre-fishing. Our first objectivewas to catch bait for shark fishing.Barracuda was abundant and easy to catch,but overall the average size was small.Finding sharks was easy, but finding anyconcentrations was far and few between.By the end of the week we did manage tofind 3 areas that had large concentrationsof lemon and bull sharks.
Day 1 of the competition began a littleslow. But once the action got started itnever seemed to stop. On a flat just west ofKey West known as the Lakes Passage weanchored up and established our chum lineof fresh barracuda and king mackerel. Afterabout an hour, numerous bull and lemonsharks began to aggressively circle theboat. Capt. Mike refers to this time frameas ‘just before the bubble pops’. Well it’s apretty accurate description of what hap-pened next. When the bubble did pop wedidn’t stop hooking sharks until it wastime to head in.
The scenario was pretty much like this.I’d hook up and begin to fight my fish.Several minutes later Capt. Mike wouldhook up. When I had my fish up to theboat, Capt. Mike would place his rod in arod holder and help me land my fish. As hewent back to fighting his fish I would castback out and before Capt. Mike could landhis fish we were doubled up again. Thiswent on pretty much all day. I honestlyhave never been so happy in a tournamentto hear the tournament director announcelines out of the water. My arms and legswere like jelly. Thank God for Advil. Oursuccess on day 1 was rewarded with theadvancement to day 2, avoiding the firstelimination of two teams.
Day 2 started out like the previous day,very slow. After about 2 hours of not see-ing any sharks, Capt. Mike and I agreed amove was needed. That move proved to bea very good decision. Our second spot pro-duced a lemon shark bite very similar today 1. As fast as we could get our bait intothe water the lemon sharks would eat it. Welanded as many sharks as the previous day,
but did it in only three and half hours. Ourlargest shark was over 9 feet long. Ourafternoon lemon shark bite advanced us today 3.
Day three proved to be more challeng-ing for all teams. Acold front hadapproached South Florida and changed con-ditions. The wind changed direction andmade for a very slow bite that all teamswere not accustom to. I did witness some-thing I had never seen before. My partnerCapt. Mike Mahan was assisting me withlanding a large lemon shark. As we weretrying to get a measurement the sharkslapped Capt. Mike along side of his headwith his tail. Well I guess after three daysof trying to land and control these sharks,Capt. Mike had had enough. He grabbedthe shark’s tail and bit it, mumbling underhis breath enough was enough. It wasn’tstaged, it was just a reaction to being pure-ly exhausted and fed up with being pushedaround. As for the results of day 3, I prom-ised the producers I would not reveal it.You’ll have to watch to find out.
Our tackle this year compared to last
year’s made a huge difference. We usedQuantumAruba’s matched up with Caborods. This combination gave us the edge tobe very competitive. The line capacitycombined with the unbelievable drag sys-tem of the Aruba’s enabled us to stay in onespot and catch shark after shark. We werepretty much sight casting every shark wesaw and were able to cast these conven-tional reels like baitcasters. Our line ofchoice this year was 100lb Sufix Braid.I’ve tried and liked a lot of braided lines,but nothing has impressed me like Sufixhas. The casting ability and the abrasionresistance made it perfect for shallowwatershark fishing. I have now spooled all of
my inshore set ups with Sufix.We also decided to fish this tournament
out of the Andros 26-foot tarpon boat.What a perfect boat for the Keys. Oneminute we would be slicing through 4-5seas and the next running through 14 inch-es of water. What made this boat stand outfor us was the fishability. From the firsttime I fished in this boat, it just felt com-fortable. I can’t say that about many boatsI have been in. Capt. Mike and I were soimpressed with the performance of thisboat we ordered two smaller versions, the22 ft Bonefish, for our charter business inSouthwest Florida.
Capt. Mike and I would like to once
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Fishing in the ESPN Mad Fin
Capts. Rob Moore (L) and Mike Mahan on a double hookup. Sponsor Quantum should behappy with the national exposure they are getting from these anglers. Above: the bull shark
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A little over three years ago wordhad gotten around the local dive shopthat there was a guy looking fordivers. Someone to pull in theanchor, toss and retrieve the markerjug, help split increasing fuel costs,and other usual tasks that go alongwith running a larger boat.That was how I came to meet my
now very good friend HowardMartinez. At first impression helooked a little like a younger G.Gordon Liddy, with a clean shavenhead, and in better physical conditionthan most guys my age with a great easy going personality. It didn't take long torealize he was also a very good diver, and with our mutual fondness for fishing, andthe water, I knew we were going to get along great.Howard started spear fishing in the early 50s in the waters of Tampa Bay. His
guns were made by his father George, and his spears by the now legendary Ray Odor,who is still in the business of manufacturing spear fishing gear in Tampa today. Hisfirst set of dive gear came when he was 13. The Jacques Cousteau line of Aqua Lungfrom Sears & Roebuck had just hit the market. Sharpening his skills on snook atTampa ship docks eventually led to bigger fish.In 1965, at 27 years old, he laid a steel shaft into a monster at the second range
marker south of shell point on the east side of Tampa Bay. Missing the paralyzingstone–shot areas of the brain or spine, all he could do was hang on and enjoy theride. Knowing if the fish didn'tbegin to slow soon, he would haveto cut the line connecting him tothe scaly leviathan and begin hisascent. Running low on air, andbeing dragged across what seemedlike the entire expanse of the bay,the fish did slow enough to subdueand float up. Surfacing near 3 wideeyed and open mouthed fishermanhe asked, “hey, do you guys see aboat around here?” Their startledreply was “yeah, there's one waaaayover by that range marker.” Thatwound up being the largest goliathhe ever shot and weighed in at 556pounds.Goliaths were legal to harvest in
those days, and I love to hear thestories of diving from then. "Gagand black grouper would be sothick sometimes we would have topush them out of the way. Whyshoot 20 or 30 pound gag grouperwhen you could shoot a 200 pound goliath! I have never had the opportunity tosample a goliath grouper, being protected since 1990, but Howard assures me eventhe larger ones were quite delicious.
To me it's invaluable to know a sportsman with such a wealth of knowledgeand experience. I have learned a lot from Howard and I think he has even learned alittle from me.Howard retired form the Tampa police department 10 years ago and has been in our
area since then. Neither retirement nor hurricanes have slowed him down. When thetides let him out of Alligator creek we still make runs offshore to hunt wrecks andledges. His son Bo also dives with us when visiting from the east coast. It's been apleasure diving with him over the past three years and I'm looking forward to manymore.
DownUnderDiving with Adam Wilson
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AprilAprilFishing ReportFishing ReportCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888I Love this month. It’s time to clean
off all the big rods and reels. Big fishare coming. I would say on April 21the tarpon will dump into the pass inreally big numbers. The second or thirdweek, that’s my bet. They are alreadystarting to move around in the rivers,the Peace River especially, there a lotof juveniles are showing and schoolingup a little. Small fish are up around thetrestles and around Horse Creek. Theyshould start seeing small schools of bigfish around Sanibel and the Pine Islandarea soon. They are already moving inthe Evergaldes and the Keys area. It’s agreat time of year to stick on a fly ...ifyou can avoid the wind.Sharks will be following the tar-
pon. Bull sharks will start stagingaround the Intracoastal and in the pass-
es. Lemon sharks will start to movearound now. You’ll start seeing smallerblack tips moving into the harbor.Fish them with live bait like ladyfish,sardines. Some mixed varieties ofsharks will be along the beaches andsome of the wrecks mixed in with theSpanish mackerel . Anchor up andchum for them. The good numbers ofsharks should show by the end of themonth.Inshore, larger redfish should start
moving in from out along the beaches.Some have been here for most of thewinter. It’s been a strange year for red-
fish. You should start finding schoolsof fish in the 20 to 100 count aroundthe intracoastal and the barrier islands.There are already a lot of individualgood sized reds scattered on the east sideof the harbor and on the north end ofthe west wall towards El Jobean.Shrimp is going to be the best bait atfirst, but we are in a transition period,moving into the time when white baitwill be better.Snook are still phenomenal at El
Jobean at night and that should contin-ue for the rest of the month. Fish thatdid move up into the rivers will start
moving out heading towards the passes.You might find a school at Cape Hazeone day and the next day that schoolwill be down at Sandfly Key. Everydaythey are on the move. The fish aren’tmolested as much when they are mov-ing.The trout will fizzle out because it’s
too warm. The bigger fish might stillbe in the deeper sand holes along theintracoastal, but there are also a ton ofpompano mixed in with those trout inthe deeper sand holes.
Continued on facingpage
This month Capt Steven Eggers sent in a few pictures. Weʼve been catching mostly redfish ranging from 5 to 12 pounds caught inCharlotte Harbor. The anglers here are Mr. and Mrs. Koza.
Continued from facing pageSheepshead are still doing
great and should stay that wayuntil the middle of the month, butthen it will be too warm and theywill be moving north. That’s agood time to hit them on the nearshore wrecks like the Novak andTrembly reefs. The bigger fish tendto linger around longer.Spanish mackerel and king
mackerel will be here. Spanishare already here in scattered num-bers in the harbor, but they will bemore prevalent as the month pro-gresses. Out along the beach thereare already heavy schools ofSpanish mackerel. There are a fewkings and a few bonita mixed inwith them.The bigger kingfish are still out
past 15 miles offshore. It’s prettytough to catch them with all thewind we have been getting.Cobia will start moving out
along the beaches and coming intothe harbor this month. They havehad a great cobia season up in thepanhandle this year. It’s notuncommon for them to see 1,000fish in a day up there and these
fish come south.Tripletai l have been slow.
They aren’t due up here until May.May is better for them.
Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s Edge.Englewood: 697-7595There is plenty of bait around
and that’s a good sign. We caughtsome real nice snook around thebottom end of Charlotte Harbor,all right around the slot size. Andwe caught a mess of smaller red-fish, around 17 inches, so thatfishing was pretty good,We saw quite a few sharks
roaming the flats and a lot of bigrays . Sharks between 5 and 6 feet,probably blacktips. Still, someguys aren’t catching anything andthere haven’t been any real giantsnook.
There are still pompanoaround, Guys are catching somewhiting and quite a bit ofsheepshead are still here.Spanish mackerel have beenaround Devilfish Key on theincoming tide. Also around CayoPelau on the other side. I Haven’theard any cobia stories but therewas quite a bit of tripletai l onthe beach last weekend. This is thefirst week I’ve heard about triple-tail. A number of them came offthe crab traps.A couple guys have seen tar-
pon already, but there are nostories of anyone hooking any ofthem yet.There has already been a big
shrimp run. That’s the first one.I’m seeing crabs mixed in with
my shrimp.It’s that time of year.
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BIG-4BIG-4 Aprilʼs Target SpeciesAprilʼs Target Species
SNOOK are around the har-bor, a few on the beaches.
SHARKS Starting to moveonto the pass
REDFISH are starting tofeed well
TARPON wil be here sometime soon
FishingRIGHT NOW:
Changing forthe better
n April 7 – X-treme Redfish Series, pre-sented by Evinrude, Punta Gorda 456-1540n April 21 Charlotte Harbor Challenge.A Portion of the proceeds benefit TheFuture Builders of America. Multi speciesevent.n April 28 –Water LIFE Kids CupTournament, Ages 10 through 16, entry
fee $100 Phone (941) 766-8180 orwww.Kidscuptournament.com for entryformn May 15-16 Ultimate FishingChallenge Championship, South SeaResort, Captiva. 671-9347n May 4–6 Oh Boy! Oberto RedfishCup Kids and Cup Finals, Punta Gorda.n May 12-13– Flatsmasters Series, Live
Bait, two redfish, Punta Gordan May 26 – X-treme Redfish Series, pre-sented by Evinrude, Punta Gorda 456-1540n May 28-29– Flatsmasters Series, PlugChallenge, two redfish, Punta Gordan June 17 – 19, The last everMercury/IGFA Junior Angler World
C a l e n d a r o f E v e n t s
KIDSKIDSCUPCUPAPRILAPRIL
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WE WERE WRONG!Last month we questioned Capt. Angel Torrezand what we thought were three pictures ofthe same redfish, being held by three differ-ent anglers. But, after looking at Angelʼs cam-era, we now say we were wrong. And Angelbacked it up with these photos to prove heʼsbeen on the big fish. Way to go Capt Angel!
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