Water
LI FE
Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay, Venice, Estero, 10,000 Islands and the Gulf
The Charlotte Harbor Reef Association
February 2020
FISH PIX! Water LIFE magazine
Ella Martz from Ohio caught this seahorse in the Pine Island Sound The smile says it all!
Mike Bowers personal best sheepshead Charlotte Harbor
Txt Us Ur FishPix! weʼll use ʻem! see page 4
FISH PIX! Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX! 39 inch grass carp 40 plus-pounds safely released at Rotonda Tim Flack
Water LIFE magazine
Matthew Lozecki, FishingZone, Caught on 20lb braid. Gordonʼs Pass
www.waterlifemagazine.com FISH PIX! Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX! Water LIFE magazine
Zachary Taulbee, age 14, with a 34-inch redfish, Charlotte Harbor wade fishing.
FREE!
PAGE
2
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
PAGE 3
3/1/20
(239) 347-4983
PAGE
4
EMAIL:
WE WANT YOUR FISH! Txt Us Ur Fish Pix txt to: 941- 457- 1316
eMail letters and photos to:
1) No Pictures Sent to
Other Publications
2) No Old Fish
3) No Blatant Ads
Include anglerʼs name and what kind of fish. Weʼre giving our favorite FISH PIX $25 vouchers good at Fishinʼ Franks
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
This Monthʼs Gold Star $25 Winner
Page 14 Angler Logan Forfar, catch and release, nice sailcat
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
WaterLIFE@comcast.net
Txt fish Pix ONLY to 941-457-1316
Water LIFE inc. waterlife@comcast.net www.WaterlifeMagazine.com Ellen Heller Publisher Michael Heller Editor
(941) 766-8180
Sunseeker rendering
SUNSEEKER RESORT PROGRESS REPORT
They are coming and God forbid the County underestimated their impact. “We will begin hosting events in 2021,” Thatʼs how the latest release from Sunseeker begins. They tout two ballrooms, one is 15,000 square feet, board rooms, meeting rooms and over 700 hotel rooms. What effect will this facility have on the Convention and Events Center business in Punta Gorda? Is our economy robust enough to support them both? If you are in Punta Gorda, look around. We are at the height of snowbird season. Streets are full, restaurants are full, this time of year itʼs quite different from how things are in the summer, but get ready. If Sunseeker is on schedule, next year weʼll have a double snowbird season and a new snowbird season in summer to go with it. Our little piece of paradise has been sold! – MH
SUPPORT KRVSA
It just seems to never to stop. My favorite conservation and public service group is Kissimmee River Valley Sportsman's Association -- KRVSA. Member volunteers, led by Jerry Bridges, VP, just built an incredible storm shelter / breathtaking park & picnic pavillion for public use on Dead River of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes (KCOL). Before we could catch our breath from this project, word leaked / dumped down that a major water quality // environmental disaster is looming alongside the KCOL's eastern border. It seems that a huge urban area in SE Florida is producing more "bio-solids" -- poop -- than they wish to be responsible for locally. Soooooo -- their plan is to pay a local trucking service to haul it up to Osceola County and spread it across a ranch that borders on the eastern fence of Gardner Cobb Marsh. Oh, and it's also just barely up hill from Lake
ADVERTISE HERE! Water LIFEʼs 1/8 page ad (this size)
still only $105 per month!
call 941-766-8180
4- C O L O R is always FREE
FEBRUARY 2020
The effective & economical month-long advertising solution!
WE areTHE WAY to reach people who love the WATER!
Kissimmee's North Cove. And, that's directly up river from Lk. Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, Charlotte Harbor, St. Lucie Waterway and Florida's Everglades. We've all learned, long ago, that poop always flows downhill. So, South Florida is planning to send its poop to Florida's Heartland and spread it over FL's central spinal fresh water source. Far too toxic to dump locally. It will flow southward and add significantly to KCOL's phosphorous and nitrogen overloads. KRVSA is about to fully engage, in opposition. Please, consider lending Your support to KRVSA's efforts. Find KRVSA on FB - or on our website. www. KRVSA.com IF you investigate us, you will find a long history of strong efforts on behalf of Natural Florida's and the Public's best interests. Dave Markett
FishPix, text only number 941-457-1316
217 Bangsberg Rd.
Port Charlotte, FL 33952
Independant - Not affiliated with any other publication! Vol XIX No. 2 © 2020
NO PART of this publication (printed or
electronic) may be copied, reproduced or re-used in any manner without specific written, witnessed and notarized, permission from the Publisher
Contributing Editors:
Photography: ASA1000.com
Senior Editor: Capt. Ron Blago Baitshop: Fishinʼ Frank
Upper Harbor: Cameron Parson
Peace River: Capt. Dave Stephens Punta Gorda: Position Open Boca Grande: Mallory Herzog Estero: Capt. Joe Angius
Everglades: Capt. Charlie Phillips Sailing: Fran Burstein
Pier Fishing: Bobby Vitalis Diving: Adam Wilson From the Ponds: Nicholas J
AD STRATEGY: 1.
Kayaking: Bob Fraser
ADVERTISE BY THE MONTH -
NOT BY THE WEEK! 2. LOOK AT THE FISH PIX, THOSE ARE OUR READERS
3. THINK COST EFFECTIVE CALL ELLEN AT WATER LIFE
941-766-8180
Ad deadline is the 15th of the month prior
RENEW AGAIN!
TOM AT THE BOAT HOUSE “I ONLY DO TWO PRINT ADS AND YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!”
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
Not Always As Easy As It Sounds By Michael Heller Water LIFE Editor In the late 1990s I worked with Jerry Jensen, who had just founded the Charlotte Harbor Reef Association and Rich Novak, Charlotte County’s Sea Grant Agent. Together we were involved in a number of artificial reef projects. The Reef Association put almost 500 reef balls under residential docks in Punta Gorda Isles and Rich went on to construct two new large artificial reefs off Stump Pass. The reefs Rich built were made up of large concrete beams from the old I-75 bridge across the Peace River. They are spectacular! In the early 2000s Jerry was also running a kids fishing program and I was running a kids fishing tournament. Our tournament, the Kids Cup, funded Jerry’s kid’s program. It was a perfect match. Then in 2004, just before Hurricane Charley, Rich suffered a heart attack and died, tuna fishing off North Carolina. A few local divers, led by FantaSea Scuba owner Jim Joseph, constructed a concrete monument with a brass plaque for Rich and we put it out in a scenic little underwater grotto at one of Rich’s new reefs. Jim later led the effort to have that reef officially named Novak Reef and today it is shown on nautical charts. The other reef, the Trembly Reef, was named for Charlotte Harbor Reef Association cofounding member, Gerald Trembly.
By 2010 Jerry was tired and he asked me to take over the Reef Association. When Jerry passed away in June of 2018 his family and friends made a donation to the Reef Association in his name and I decided to use some of that money to build an underwater monument for Jerry and put it down in that little grotto, next to our friend Rich. It would include the site’s exact GPS location for other divers to have. I ordered the plaque. Then, that summer, the big red tide hit. I went ahead with the monument. Todd at Mac’s Metals welded a heavy stainless steel base. I formed up the sides for concrete and mixed 5 bags. Then I anchored the bronze plaque in place and let it sit. I asked Roger DeBruler, the County’s Artificial Reef guru, and Jim Joseph, still the top diver I know, to help get the monument in place. Roger had a boat with a crane on it.... actually Roger had the old Parker boat that used to be Rich Novak’s boat ... but that’s a whole other story - and Jim had lift bags to float the monument to the bottom. But Roger told me the crane was broken and the boat was going into the shop for a new crane. On hold again. Next, Jim sold his diving business, Roger got busy picking up abandoned vessels and my kids and grandkids came to visit. I got busy, Roger got busy, Jim was unavailable, the wind blew, the viz was zero... more red tide...and before I knew it, another summer slipped away.
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
PAGE 5
Last month, Roger DeBruler moved the monument from my truck to the the boat
Meanwhile the monument was along side my garage and had weeds growing around it, My lawn guy was complaining. Last month we almost had it. It was still warm. We found a day all three of us were available and so with a chain hoist on my garage beam, I lifted the monument into my truck and drove it out to the County yard where Roger kept the boat. By now the concrete and brass chunk had gained its own identity. I pulled my truck alongside the boat and we lifted ‘Jerry’ out of my truck and set him down on the deck of Roger’s boat. Then I noticed the cowling was off the
starboard engine, “The engine isn’t peeing, I think it’s the water pump. We’ll have to limp out on one engine,” Roger said; and I was OK with that. But that night the wind started blowing 20 and we scrubbed the mission yet again. Now Jerry is at the County Yard, the Gulf is 63 degrees, the boat is in maintenance, I don’t have a full wet suit, Jim has a part time salvage job and Roger has more new work ahead. It’s been one thing after another, but now we’re very close. We’ll be back and Jerry knows it because I told him ... right before I left the County Yard.
PAGE
6
EMAIL:
CHARLOTTE HARBOR: By Capt. David Stephens Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor Mother Nature cannot decide if we are going to have winter, or is it going to be beach weather. Well fellow anglers, it makes things much easier for us if we could just get one or the other. The schools of white bait swarming our flats are what we want, but sometimes what we want as anglers and what the fish want are two different scenarios. Snook fishing is my passion, there’s
nothing that I love more than chasing big linesiders. I love the look on my clients faces when they land a fish of a lifetime. However, I have been humbled over the years. Mother Nature has taught me you get what you get. It wasn’t long ago when I thought I could challenge the ol’girl... I got a little cocky, if you want me to be honest. We had several days of great weather here in South West Florida last month so I figured, with having new clients one day,
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020
Mother Nature Still Has the Say
I would show them what I was made of. Well, I got put in my place like I have never been before. Everything was perfect as far as I was concerned. I spent that morning locating live bait, cast netting them and filling the live well. The tide for the area I was going to fish was perfect.
The water temperature was 73 that morning. I was going to show these guys what catching big snook was all about, but Mother Nature had other plans. I fished my heart out, but after four hours all we had were three small snook. This was a very humbling experience for me. I was reminded of a lesson that day, a lesson that was taught to me many years ago. The best advice that was ever given
to me was.... you’re not fishing for you or fishing for them. I realized that even though you think you can make great things happen, Mother Nature still has the say-so. Learning my lesson that day was well over due. I put the old cast net up, realized that it’s winter in South West Florida. We might want our fishery to always be like it’s summer, but for a few months things slow down, and we need to slow down too. For a couple months, shrimp become the bait of choice. It took that day for me to realize that it is winter here. Then, once I got back into winter fishing, the rods stayed bent. The trout bite has been the best I’ve had in a couple years. We have been catching 50- to 100-fish in a morning. Also, the redfish have picked up in areas I haven’t seen reds for a few years. Right now we still have closures on our big three fish; snook, reds and trout. Is it a possibility that protecting our fish-
ery is paying off? Is it safe to say, catch and release is the future? I’m not really sure, but I do know that certain species are benefiting. I also know, that I have seen the quality of fish return to areas that they weren’t before – those are just some of my observations.
If you would like to experience some of Charlotte Harbor’s finest fishing, call or send me an email. All of our charters are private and customized to fit your needs. Capt. Dave Stephens, 941-916-5769 www.bayxtremes.com
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
ESTERO BAY: Putting Food on the Table By Capt. Joe Angius Water LIFE Estero Every season presents new challenges to overcome. One challenge in particular has been providing clients the opportunity to “fill-up the cooler” with their day’s catch of keeper sized fish. The closure on snook, redfish, and trout forced me to adapt and ensure that I can accommodate
my guests requests of bringing dinner home so I’ve been more versatile in my fishing, targeting tripletail, snapper, sheepshead, kingfish and more. This challenge of putting food on the table has also led me to fish different and completely new waters – waters south of the official FWC Southwest closure zone, where keeping snook, redfish, and trout are allowed. It’s safe to say that this year, the challenge of keeping fish has been an easy hurdle to overcome. King and Spanish mackerel are perceived differently from angler to angler. Since the kingfish is a larger and harder fighting fish than the Spanish mackerel,
many people perceive the kingfish to be a prized gamefish over the Spanish mackerel. Also with this mind set comes the thought that the meat is of higher quality, but in my perspective is actually comparable. Yes, the kingfish will have bigger and chunkier filets and this characteristic definitely gives a chef more freedom and options when it comes to preparing it. This year my favorite recipe has been utilizing the under-appreciated Spanish mackerel for smoked fish dip. Spanish mackerel are a quick-striking opportunistic gamefish species that are a blast to catch. They may be frowned upon by certain anglers, but being a fish with one of the richest sources of Omega-3 fatty acids and managed so well that it’s considered a sustainable fish source, Spanish mackerel has been my go-to fish to harvest. This time of the year they are abundant and having a daily bag limit of 15 per harvester, you sure can feed an entire army of
people. My biggest tip to anglers who scoff at the idea of eating mackerel or maybe hasn’t tried eating one yet is to go back and try it. After you catch and land one, place it directly on ice in a cooler. This will start to preserve the meat and maintain its freshness. Several other gamefish species that are prized for their meat quality and deserve to be on the dinner plate are often overfished. Even when they are deemed to be properly managed, highly sought after fish receive too much pressure from anglers targeting them. That’s why I chose to highlight the mackerel. The fish closure in our area has made a positive impact on our fishery populations. As an effort to continue this style of fish preservation, it’s important to remember to adapt and overcome challenges in ways you wouldn’t think is necessary. Continue to take responsibility by following the rules and regulations that are put into place, but always take the conscious effort of thinking about our future generations to come. Capt. Joe Angius (727)-234-3171 www.speakeasyfishing.com speakeasyfishing@gmail.com
PAGE 7
8
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
Everglades & 10,000 Islands - Outstanding Fishing! PAGE
By Capt. Charlie Phillips Water LIFE / Everglades City 2020 is off to a roaring start for us down in the Everglades National Park. A relatively mild January has led to some outstanding fishing in our area. Inshore and offshore have both been strong. The wind has had some heavy days, and that kept me inside more than out this past month, but like I said earlier, the fishing is great regardless. We have been having great success with speckled trout this past month and I expect that will continue into February. When the water cools down these fish really get hungry and can be found in large numbers around the grass near Pavilion Key, as well as over towards Goodland. A popping cork with a live shrimp on a jighead or a soft plastic are my go-to offerings. I prefer personally the soft plastic as I can get many more bites off a single bait vs the live shrimp. Both though
have their place. If the water is deeper than about 4 feet or so where we are targeting trout, I will often go with either a suspending hard bait or that same soft plastic on a jig without the cork. Both ways let you work the water column a bit more and target fish who may be holding deeper. We’ve had a great redfish bite in the front islands and one bay back the past month as well. We have been targeting these fish using live shrimp on knocker rigs around the oyster bars and points with good flow. If the snapper are eating your shrimp too quick, a chunk of ladyfish on a 2/0 circle hook also does a good job, though when the water is cooler, I prefer the live shrimp. We also use the popping cork when searching for red-
fish ....like they do in Louisiana. Ringing the dinner bell is what I call it, and if there are reds in the area, often it’s a successful manner to find one. On the warmer days there are juvenile tarpon all around the extreme backcoun-
FEBRUARY 2020
try and this time of year we have a blast targeting these fish. From around 5pounds to 50-, we catch them on hard bait like live target mullets as well as soft plastics imitating baitfish. These fish are great wintertime fun and often a surprise for my guest who relate these to summertime only catches. And of course sheepshead fishing is great right now with the cooler water. Inshore looking around the deeper cuts and channels with rip rap bottoms is a go to place. Especially on the start and end of a tide, when the flow is not quite so hard, we can target these fish with light weight and small rods. Offshore, looking around the wrecks and rock piles, we have been finding some stud fish on our trips. Live shrimp is my bait of choice, though I look for the smallest ones in the tank. Remember, elephants eat peanuts! A 1/0 hook on some good leader and you are in business.
Capt. Charlie Phillips, President, Florida Guides Assn. Owner/Captain, Hope Fishing Adventures Everglades City, Florida hopefishing.com 863-517-1829
FEBRUARY 2020
Report from the Ponds
By Nicholas J Water LIFE Bass Addict Since the end of December and all of January it has been an emotional roller coaster ride for the Bass bite. With all the erratic changes in the weather patterns, with record heat one week and record cold the next, it definitely made bass fishing a challenge. We had a couple of major cold and very windy rain-
fronts pass through that also effected the bite. Then January 22 we had the coldest weather in two years hit the ponds. That dropped the wind chill, where I am, into the low 30s that morning, which was going to make bass fishing for lunkers a challenge for me. I dressed up warmly, grabbed my poles and gear and hit the ponds with little hope, but major curiosity, about whether these spoiled south Florida bass will
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
Matching the Hatch, on the Coldest Day
strike in lockjaw weather. It was windy and very cold by the water edge so I figured if I was a bass I would hold up in the thick bank cover, all cozy. Working the frog though it would be the way to go. After a few casts I get a blow up on the frog, I set the hooks good and reeled in a very nice lunker bass on the coldest day in two years! That was very rewarding. Altogether that day I hooked and landed 4 quality bass, all on the frog. That was a day I won’t forget! Don't let this type of extreme weather discourage you from getting out and hitting the ponds for trophy bass – it's challenging, but I have hooked some of my personal best trophy Largemouths just before a front, including the ones this past month, when it was super windy and gusty ... and frustrating to cast from the banks ....but well worth it, once you have one in hand. I have hooked trophy bass on the hottest, the coldest, the windiest, the rainiest days; all I have left to do is hook one during a hurricane, now that would
be a challenge.....lol On top of the unstable weather the barometric pressure number stayed unbelievable high for about 20 straight days in January. It was in the high thirties before it slightly dropped to around 29. But then it went back up again, still suppressing the bite to a certain point with the yo-yo effect on the big lunkers, but you could still get one to strike with patience. My most recent water temperature reading was 76 degrees at 15-feet deep which is great for the pre spawning cycle to begin. Now for some good news: pre spawners are starting to move up to the shallows to fatten up on bait fish, especially on the blue gills. Now is the time to match the hatch and use lures and baits similar to the bait fish in your ponds. On January second I found two pairs of bass on their beds. This was a very good early sign and I was able to hook the defending males on their beds with the crack Craw while the females stayed leary as usual. Now is also the time to start using
PAGE 9
big profile baits to get the attention of those big hungry lunkers that have been suppressed for months and now are moving up into the banks, to fatten up for the spawn. They are looking for a big fatty meal, so my big profile bait recommendation for the month is the 10-inch Rage Tail Anaconda. I get awesome strikes with this bait and it has great action that huge hungry bucketmouths can't resist. Now's the time to get froggy. Big largemouths are moving up to the banks and into the heavy cover and matted grass where they can ambush baitfish. I have been getting a lot more strikes and hooking trophy bass this past month on the frog in these vegetation areas of the ponds. Now, more then ever, great quality polarized glasses are important for sight fishing succes, especially if you are a bank fisherman like me. Polarized glasses are a must-have when it’s cloudy or overcast, or you are fishing stained or murky waters. Now’s a good time to go through all your fishing tackle and equipment too. It's all downhill now, with only about 5 more weeks until prime time pond bass fishing for all us bass addicts that have been waiting for months for the spring bass spawning cycle to kick in again. Then we’ll have a chance to hook the next trophy bass of a lifetime.
PAGE
10
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020
Buckleyʼs Pass
Work continues on Buskleyʼs Pass, the new cut from Punta Gorda Isles to Alligator Creek. This is the view from Alligator Creek. The cut will give some PGI boaters easier access to Charlotte Harbor and change real estate values in parts of PGI when Harbor access becomes quicker.
ENDANGERED On the Line
VS, INVASIVE
By Capt. Ron Blago Water LIFE Senior Staff Florida just finished their 2020 Python Bowl, down in the Everglades; over 700 people participated in the 10day event where, when it was over, snake hunters put the squeeze on 80 snakes. The winner who captured 8 Burmese Pythons was Mike Kimmel and for his efforts won a new off road utility vehicle. Tom Rahill won $1,000 for bringing in the largest python which measured in at 12 feet 7 inches long. The FWC reported that last year, professional snake hunters in the Everglades have eliminated over 800 pythons. It's believed that these snakes are the descendants of pets that escaped or were released by their owners into the wild when they became too big to handle.
Now I’m a live and let live type guy and I’m not planning on going to the Everglades any time soon – so if the pythons leave me alone, I’ll leave them alone. The real problem with pythons is what they eat. They are known to eat small deer, rabbits, foxes and several
-
The Battle of the Species
Mike Kimmel won a Tracker 570 ATV for capturing 8 pythons. The most by any participant.
types of endangered rodent species. The Burmese Python has become established in southern Florida. Already they are reporting a 50% loss of the raccoon population in parts of the Everglades which they think is due to the python. Another problem is that the python is moving north - just last month a lady in Naples found a 10-foot python in her backyard. She called a trapper who removed it from her property. The whole thing is posted on You-Tube.
Another invasive species, the Lionfish, is also causing problems for native species. This other escapee from the pet trade is causing damage to the offshore coral reefs in Florida. The trouble is that the lion fish will eat any small fish it finds; and because of its venomous spines, it has no native predators. A female lionfish can produce up to 1,000 eggs per month. Since they cannot be caught on hook and line, even humans can’t do much to control them. The only method of control currently being used is for divers to spear them one at a time, which will never put a dent in the population. Moving closer to home we have a few more bad actors; the Nile Monitor lizard and the Tegu lizard both have large growing populations in the Cape Coral area. The Nile Monitor is the largest lizard in our area and can grow to over 35-pounds. They will eat just about anything they can find. The Tegu is another non-native lizard from the pet trade. They are voracious eaters that love to eat eggs, particularly alligator and bird eggs. The tegu will bite, so it is not recommended you try to catch them by hand. Live traps baited with eggs are the prefered approach.
The most problematic of the invasive lizards is the Iguana. Recently we have seen news footage of iguanas falling out of trees during our latest cold snap; being cold blooded reptiles, their bodies just shut down when it gets too cold, but when they warm up they snap back to life. Either you love iguanas or hate them, but no one can deny that they are everywhere now. These former pets do have a down side. First off, they love flowers and will eat every one they find, especially hibiscus flowers. So if you are into landscaping, you may not be a big fan of iguanas. A bigger problem is that iguanas burrow underground next to canal shorelines and sea walls, to build their nest. This undermines the sea walls and causes erosion of the shoreline. This is the main reason the FWC has recently recommended the humane elimination of iguanas from private property. I’m not sure I understand how the classification system for native, invasive and endangered species really works, but what I do know is when invasive species start eating endangered species we will have a problem that might be beyond anyone’s control. Captronb@juno.com
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
• Best Pr ic es and Com plet e Fit m ent Ser vi ce
• B o a t L i f t C a p a b i l i t i e s - E n s u r e P r o p e r F i t m e n t , C o r r e c t To n g u e W e i g h t , E a s e O f L o a d i n g •
SHARKING:
By Capt. John Brossard Water LIFE Shark Fishing So far we have had great fishing weather, relatively warm water and the sharking has been great in the back waters and on the near shore reefs. Again, it seems that people are catching the bigger sharks in the back waters, and the smaller blacktip and blacknose offshore on the reefs. There are a lot of bull sharks around right now. Probably they like the water temperature too. On the Shark Chaser charter boat, I have been hooking 10- to 11-foot tiger sharks near shore, in very shallow waters in the Everglades. We have also been hooking big tarpon while shark fishing.... even on coated wire!
• C o m p l e t e Tr a i l e r M a i n t e n a n c e a n d R e p a ir Pa r ts a n d A c c e s s o r ie s
Cooler weather will slow down the sharks this month
Watching their tracks, a few great whites are vacationing around Florida right now, that’s according to the OCEARCH website, and they are only showing the ones that are tagged, so I have to imagine that there are plenty more out there that have not been tagged yet. Last month, I recaptured a shark that I tagged 5 years ago. It is shown to the left. I have not yet received the information back fromNOAA to find out how much it has grown, but when I do, I will be sure to share it with you. If you have any questions or want to have your shark picture in the magazine, you can text them or send them to me at: SharkChaserFL@gmail.com Until next month, stay warm and shark on !!
February is one of the coldest months of the year, so the bites are fewer and farther apart, but the bites are still there. There are sharks called sandbar and great white that come around when the water is cooler. I look forward to catching them this month.
Shark of the Month BULL SHARK: They are all around us in the area including way up rivers such as the Caloosahatchee. Bull sharks are one of the three main man-eaters of sharks including the great white and tiger. They like to hang out in murky waters, so they are hard to see when in the shallows. They like to be near the passes and back waters all throughout our region. They prefer brackish water, near estuaries.
Capt John Brossard 239-777-9279Capt John Brossard 239777-9279 sharkchaserfl@gmail.com sharkchasercharters.com
PAGE 11
PAGE
12
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
READERʼS PHOTOS Send us ur fish pix! Weʼll use ʻem!! see page 4
FEBRUARY 2020
FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
Amy Stanley from Chillicothe Ohio got her 2 red grouper limit on an orange 6-oz hair jig tipped with ladyfish in 73-feet west of Naples
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Isaac Metschnabel
9 year old Charlee Wustman caught this 22.5-inch black drum 01/02/20 on live shrimp while on vacation from Greenville SC
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Sheephead Caught by Ryan Marrs in Placida Florida
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Ferruccio DeChamps, 4 years old, first time fishing. Casted and hooked a nice jack. Fishing with Capt. Rhett Morris.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Max with a fire truck red
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Corey Zumstein snook fishing south of Goodland with brother Kyle
FIS
from W
24-inch red grouper caught by Brian 15 miles out off Boca grande
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Capt Dawn "D Sizzle, the West Coast Sizzle"with a nice red grouper out on a day with Slim Jim, way to go Dawn:) !!
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
First spotted sea trout of the year. John Slattery. Love your Magazine !
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Erica with whiting at trestle bridge
FIS
from W
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
Danny Godwin with a Myan cichlid editor notes* thatʼs the way the pictire came!
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
SH PIX!
"Bugs" Mattingly with a big snook from Estero Bay with Capt Fred Gowdy.
SH PIX!
28-inch redfish from my kayak Blind Angler of SWFL, George Tice
Water LIFE magazine
Water LIFE magazine
Scott and Joni Wulfcooler doubled up with 22 and 26-inch snook with Capt. Jon Bauer Adventures of Manasota Key, Englewood
FISH PIX!
Angling with Adria with a nice keeper red grouper offshore
Christopher Perry catches his first amberjack coming in at 47 inches.
from Water LIFE magazine
from Water LIFE magazine
from Water LIFE magazine
from Water LIFE magazine
Garrett Bauer & Scott Wulfcooler with a 34-inch amberjack with Capt. Jon Bauer Adventures of Manasota Key, out of Englewood
FISH PIX!
FISH PIX!
FISH PIX!
FISH PIX!
PAGE 13
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Greg Speer 36-inch c&r snook
Steve Zebley with a 26 inch snook
Happy birthday to me!!!!!, Bud Crihfield
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Peacock bass caught in Miami by Don Marcusson
PAGE
14
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020
READERʼS PHOTOS Send us ur fish pix! Weʼll use ʻem!! see page 4
FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
FISH PIX! from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Randy with a nice mess of blue gills on a recent trip with Captain Roger Newton
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Big Al with a north Charlotte Country redfish.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Above & Below: Deborah Ludlow, Boca Grande. Sun and fun!
Lisa Newton clowning around with Capt. Roger Newton. Clown knife fish
Stud bass at Lake Parrish. Capt. Roger Newton
Last big hog in CT 4-pound Large mouth Mike DeAngelis
$25 WINNER
Angler Logan Forfar catch and release, nice sailcat
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Halie Elliott from New Hampshire, black drum, Charlotte Harbor canal
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
PAGE 15
READERʼS PHOTOS Send us ur fish pix! Weʼll use ʻem!! see page 4
FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX! Chad Wittwer, Brownsburg, Indiana , triple tail offshore Venice jetty, with Captain Milton Bontrager, 1/11/20
from Water LIFE magazine
40” HOG beeg-fish caught by Reuben with Capt. Russ
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Earl Horecky Pine Island Red 6.25lb
Jamie Wustman down from Greenville South Carolina caught this 15-1/2” Sheepshead 01/02/20 on live shrimp.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Red Grouper caught 30 miles out in the Gulf. 2019. Barb Peckinpaugh
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Gary Reger with best release of 2020 near Englewood FL. Caught by Mark Kaufman
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Kevin Wittekind
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Mike Perkins Shell Creek 30 inch snook
Jen Perkins Shell Creek 29-inch snook
PAGE
16
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020
Who is Mosaic?
what the Mosaic gypstacks are: waste from the mining process, waste that is Commentary so toxic it can’t be moved so they By Tim Ritchie simply pile, or stack, it up. Water LIFE March Against Mosaic The Mosaic New Wales gypstack When I ask people this specific question in Charlotte is where an August 2016 sinkhole reCounty Florida: Do you know who Mosaic is? The anleased over 215 million gallons of swer I get most often is NO. That is because in most peo- acidic radioactive wastewater that ple’s mind, all people see is the word Mosaic. It’s an burned through the Florida limestone intentionally sly form of brand-marketing. and flowed into the aquifer. It was Some people ask: Isn’t nineteen (19) days Mosaic that Rodeo Arena in before Mosaic FertilArcadia, in Desoto County? izer LLC notified the No, but they paid for that public. Keep that Rodeo Arena. It’s very deimage in your mind ceiving, just like all of the too. More than likely Mosaic Fertilizer LLC operwe all drank and ating practices. bathed in that water, Mosaic is an agriculture in Charlotte County. company that is really operRight next to the gypstack is the Moating as a chemical comsaic New Wales Chemical Processing pany and they do their dirty Plant. There is always a chemical plant work up our beautiful Peace because they have to manufacture huge River. amounts of sulphuric acid for their mine MOSAIC FERTILIZER processing. The lake on top of the gypLLC has multiple Mosaic stacks is all sulphuric acid. Phosphate Mining site's up The Mosaic Green on our Peace River in Polk, This is a previous Mosaic sink hole, we donʼt Bay Gyp Stack and have a photo of the latest one Hardee and DeSoto Counties. Mosaic Chemical ProMining, tearing up the earth, is the image they don’t want cessing Plant were involved in a 2015 to be associated with. $1.8 Billion environmental fine. I would like that when people hear the word Mosaic, And then there is the Mosaic Barthey have the images on this page come to mind. tow Chemical Plant, the Mosaic BarFor every 1 TON of fertilizer they produce, they protow Gyp Stack and directly across the duce 5 TONS of radioactive waste called phosphogypstreet is the Mosaic Bartow South sum. Phosphogypsum is like a paste/cement – that is Gypstack. That’s the stack that has
been LEAKING since October 2019. Every day, continuously, the Mosaic Bartow South Gypstack discharges 2.6 million gallons of acidic radioactive wastewater into the Peace River, which flows down to Charlotte Harbor, which is the watershed to over 185,000 citizens in Charlotte County. It’s happening as you read this. Can you visualize that? These are the images everyone should have in their mind when they think about Mosaic phosphate mining.
Why is this so important?
Phosphate Mining continually pollutes the water. Unless the DeSoto County Commissioners reject a zoning use change, phosphate mining is set to begin in DeSoto County, on Horse Creek, just 13 miles upriver from Punta Gorda. Part of the mining process involves acid and clay settlement ponds. Mining pollutes our drinking and bathing water. We test for nitrogen and nutrients, chlorophyl and O2, but we donʼt test for the pollution mining produces. Why?
aerial photos by Tim Ritchie
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
The Path Our Drinking Water Travels By Michael Heller Water LIFE editor The Myakka enjoys the designation of Wild and Scenic River. That helps protect parts of the Myakka from degradation. The Peace River is wild and scenic, but it doesn’t enjoy the same level of protection as the Myakka. Yet the Peace River serves as a major regional source of drinking water for Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota and Manatee Counties. The Peace River and its 9 sub-basins flow through Bone Valley, an ancient fossil bed containing deposits of rich phosphate ore that lie 20 to 50 feet beneath much of Central and Southwest Florida. In 2007, after a dry spell, Viki Dean, a writer for the Sarasota Herald Tribune, wrote the following: The Bone Valley is bone dry. This year’s drought has taken a toll. Once again, on the Peace River, a section of the River has gone dry as millions of gallons of water drain into a series of sinkholes and fissures.” “It’s not a new phenomenon,” Ms. Dean wrote, “The River’s flow naturally fluctuates wildly between the rainy and dry seasons. But the sight of a dry riverbed up in the valley is disturbing.” No-flow conditions were first documented by hydrologists studying the River during the major drought of 2000, this condition has recurred numerous times since then. Vicki Dean observed: “The River was defying the laws of nature, by flowing backward as it drained into a distributary that ends at a limestone formation called Dover sink.” Patricia Metz is a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. She studys karst formations - a topography left by soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite and gypsum after dissolving in the Peace River. She observed signs of rushing water on the porous limestone formations and in the spillway channel. Metz said she heard rumbling in underground caverns below Dover Sink -- a deep hole with large limestone formations and multiple fissures. “You could hear the water cascading down there,” she said. One US Geological Service publication described the largest sinkhole in the crevasses as 26 feet long, spanning the entire width of the riverbed. Data collected from USGS gauges provided evidence the Peace River was losing stream along a 3.2-mile stretch in the phosphate mining area from Bartow to Homeland, in Polk County. The severe drought provided visual evidence the limestone formations were draining the river through ‘previously undetected underwater passages and sinkholes.’
Charlotte County gets drinking water from the Peace River. The water department draws water from this spot, just below SR 761. Here, the inflow gates must routinely be closed due to excessive contaminants in the river. Phosphate mining is the main cause.
PAGE 17
complex relationship between surface and the underground water. That whole region of Polk County had been heavily mined for phosphate. The Clear Springs mine site had several claysettling ponds left over from one inactive phosphate strip mine. In heavy rain, it all went underground. According to a USGS report “Within the Upper Peace River basin, upstream of Bowling Green, much of the natural drainage system characteristics have been altered by phosphate surface mining activity.” Today, most reclaimed landforms adjacent to the Peace River floodplain, from Bartow to Bowling Green, are predominantly large clay-settling areas from mining that, in dry weather, impede natural ground-water recharge and drainage, but in wet weather will overflow. Where does the water go? How does the Peace River disappear and then gain enough volume to serve as a supply of drinking water at regional water plants in Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota and Manatee Counties? The surface and sub surface aquifirs are mixing. Downstream from Dover Sink, inflow from three mine outfalls, and then water from Six Mile Creek, allows the Peace River to resume flowing on the surface. Other, so far less-impacted, tributaries then feed the river farther downstream. Horse Creek is one of those tributaries. It’s the last one up from where your drinking water comes from. Mosaic plans to mine at Horse Creek next.
Geologists and hydrologists have eswasn’t until the drought of 2000 that they tablished a hydrological connection beactually found it was going back undertween surface and ground water in the ground. In 2000 the River had gone dry Peace River Basin. They’re constantly and they were able to hike into remote recording ground-water levels in aquifer areas that were normally dense swamp. monitoring wells and measuring stream A few miles downstream, Kissengen flow loss into the sinkholes. It’s a comSprings stopped flowing in the late 1950s plex relationship, in which there appears when, according to a cumulative impact to be a tipping point. study of the River by the Florida DepartSpring flows into the Peace River were ment of Environmental Protection, mining significant at one time ... where groundoperations and agriculture were draining water seepages once augmented stream 450 million gallons of ground water a day. flow, but the River now loses water to unKissengen Springs and the karst formaderlying aquifers, springs and sinkholes. tions near Clear Springs illustrate the Ann Tihansky, a USGS hydrologist, said Dover Sink may have been a spring at one point. “There are lots of springs that don’t flow anymore,” she said, noting that springs once fed millions of gallons of fresh water each day into the upper Peace River. Tihansky was one of the first to discover the Peace’s dry river bed. She and colleague Bill Lewelling worked on a major study of the hydraulic connection between ground water and the Peace River in the 1990s. They observed the river was losing stream. “Based on our data, we suspected that there were significant sinkhole structures in the vicinity of Clear Springs,” hydrologist Lewelling said in a USGS report on the no-flow According to the Aquatic Preserve biologists, the filamentous algae infestation currently choking parts of zone. the east side of Charlotte Harbor is being caused by a new source of nutrients, or a chemical change, coming from somewhere up the Peace River. This began in the summer of 2018 so there is a possibility The water had to be going phosphate residue from mining, disturbed by the runoff from Hurricane Irma, is feeding the algae. somewhere, however, it No one knows whatʼs been accumulating in the River and Harbor bottoms because we donʼt test it at all.
18
Fishinʼ in the Back Yard PAGE
By Mallory Herzog Water LIFE Inshore Selling real estate in South West Florida, one of the first questions I get asked is “What can I catch from this dock?” Well you would be surprised! Our saltwater canal systems are packed FULL of diverse sea life. Snook, snapper, redfish and black drum to name a few. Many northerners are also surprised to learn you can collect fresh blue crabs daily, right behind your house, with the right bait and a good trap.
Good friends of ours live in South Gulf Cove. They constructed a live bait tank especially for their blue crabs. Now that’s a fresh meal! Believe it or not, there are some monsters too. I remember the first canal I fished was on West Tarpon Blvd, at my friend Heather’s house. As we were hanging out by the pool, we saw a 150pound tarpon roll in the canal. You can only imagine what this did to our group of die-hard fishermen! For the next few years, the guys tried everything in their power to catch this fish. She
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
hung around, taunting them most evenings, rolling right around at sunset. Live bait, dead bait, lures. The most successful was a live mullet on a trolly rig across the canal. They hooked her a few times, but never landed her – this fish always came off the line almost instantly and she’s probably still there, chasing mullet. I reached out to a few of the people I’ve sold waterfront homes to and I am thrilled to report back
they are loving Florida life. The Shevket family purchased a beautiful home on a tip lot, giving them a massive view of the canal basin. They have been enjoying fishing in their canal and from their boat. Pictured is Cengiz with one of his many dockside catches. From snapping turtles to sting rays, they’ve caught it all right in their own back yard! Mallory’s husband, Capt. Andrew Herzog, operates Big Bully Charters. He can be reached at 941-661-0304 by phone or text
FEBRUARY 2020
Mike with Enjoy Fishing, with a nice blacktop he caught while down fishing with Captain Roger Newton @ finebaitandtackle
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Lisa Newton with a 5 1/2 pounder caught with her husband Capt. Roger Newton at Lake Istapoga
FEBRUARY 2020
BACK ISSUES @
Charlotte Harbor By Fishin’ Frank Water LIFE Baitshop Howdy fish rangers. It’s time to fight another fish. Which fish? Well, take your pick, there are more types of fish around than you can shake a stick at. I guess it is the crazy weather patterns. We have more sharks than I have ever seen on the beaches and reefs in the Gulf, but not as many as I would think in the Harbor, I wonder why that is. If you wish to catch a shark, head out to any beach on the Gulf of Mexico and toss out a chunk of fish. Big rod, small rod, just adjust the size of your bait to your rod ... like a two-finger cut of mullet or lady fish for a normal Spinning rod (10- to 20- pound class with a 3- or 4000reel). And if you are using a 6000- or so, use 6-fingers up to a 10-inch chunk and just cast it out. You will need a steel leader for the
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Gabriel Setser age 6 Venice Florida
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
PAGE 19
lighter set up ... 40pound or more. And for the heavier one, start at 100-, up to 250-pound. And what ever hook you are using, flatten or bend the barb down so if you lose it the hook can fall out. Try not to crush the barb, but leave a little bump. For food-fish, Stakes in Charlotte Harbor, near Alligator Creek, are part of a seagrass mitigation project by the DEP and FWC. sheepshead are the big The mitigation fills prop blow-out holes with grass in return for grass destroyed during recent Creek dredging. meal right now. Many people are hitting the full of larger sheepshead. Now around on the outside edge of the sand bar. docks in Lemon Bay and on the back side Bull Bay, the place for sheepshead would And if you want snook, well they are of Boca. be the area around the clam leases. just about all over the place. Quite a few of the sheepshead - mostly On the east side of the Harbor, about 4 For some of the schooling fish it’s time the larger ones over 15 inches - are under islands north of Pirate Harbor, back befor trolling. What I would suggest is you the mangroves. So, if you know a place hind the first row of islands, there is a big get outside the sand bar edge or right next with 3-foot of water under the mangroves, oyster bed and the sheepshead like both of to the I.C.W. Whereever shallow meets there is a very good chance that spot is these places or I should say they like to be deep water. Try trolling on one side with a near them. The deeper holes, close to Storm Twitch Stik and on the other side of these beds, are your best bet. the boat troll a double-ended trolling rig. The sheepshead are not eating the oysTake 4-feet of 40-pound leader on one end ters or clams like you would think, but the tie on a smaller buck tail, like a Hot Skirt. places they are in hold a tremendous On the other end, tie a 0-size Clark squidamount of tiny crabs, which they do love spoon. to eat. So think about fiddler crabs for Now holding up the rig by the line, let sheepshead bait, maybe under a tiny float the jig drop until the spoon is 2/3 longer set where the crab will just about touch than the jig side, tie a loop in the line to the top edge of the oysters. keep them there, and tie your line to that Drop back to the flats and look around. loop you made. There are a ton of redfish in the Harbor If you have questions stop by the store right now. Smaller ones can be found in I will show you. Between the two lures the creeks on the West Wall, or back two you should be able to catch anything. or three sets of islands on the east side The last thing is, that when I hook a Look at the cuts between two islands fish trolling, I just shut down the boat and that have a bit deeper water and good start casting either jigs or spoon. I figure, Trey Setszer age 8 Venice Fl flow. Pieces of shrimp are the bait of hey I hit a fish trolling so I know they are After getting his bait stolen FISH PIX! all day, he was happy to choice for these “rat” reds. For the larger close by! have a fish in his hands! Frank@fishinfranks.com (941) 625-3888 reds, look out in front of Turtle Bay, just from Water LIFE magazine
PAGE
20
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
EMAIL:
A nice Gasparilla Red caught by Joe Sheaffer 1/23/20
Laslo Corba caught and released this nice snook on the Peace River at night near a Snook Light
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FEBRUARY 2020
READERʼS PHOTOS Send us ur fish pix! Weʼll use ʻem!! see page 4
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Lily Rogers of Dallas Ga. Fishing with Grandpa Rich of Punta Gorda. Lily's first Red fish. Love your mag. All the grandkids want to read it when they visit
Brtttany Cortes and Dalton Rybka, snooks and a redfish
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Jim Kline, 4 pound blue tilapia in the Rotonda Canals.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Kevin Wittekind black drum
This baby bonnet is from the Port Charlotte Pier Walter
Me, Walter, and my son Conner fishing at pond on Airport Road Punta Gorda. For bass I'm using a tube I used back in Pennsylvania - the large mouth love them!
FEBRUARY 2020
FISH PIX! f r o m Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
SCUTTLEBUTT
PAGE 21
Sometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True
baleen whale found in the Arctic) can live for more than 200 years, and killer whales (a toothed whale found in various habitats worldwide) can live for more than 100 years.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
My dad Ron Roe with a Peace River snook with Captain Scotty Roe
The Water LIFE $1 Bill Challenge kids summer fishing tournament will have t-shirts this summer. Sign Up Begins April 1
THEY HAVE A PLAN In the port city of Xiamen, on Chinaʼs southeast coast, three cameras watch the Jiulong River to monitor litter. Predicted drift patterns are calculated and collection points are chosen. The following day, the bulk of the stray waste is hauled aboard a boat.
KILLER CRABS Mitten crabs are a seasonal delicacy in China, but in the USA their exceptional ability to out-compete native species - like the blue crab - has earned them a place on the Invasive Species list of “100 of the Worldʼs Worst Invasive Alien Species." They have been found in the Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson River, Delaware Bay and San Francisco Bay, and they are established in European waters as well. Shippers in China send live crabs to American customers, labeling the shipping containers as tools or clothing. At the Port of Cincinnati, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted 51 shipments of the vigorous, invasive crab species in the last four months. One seizure amounted to roughly 3,700 live crabs weighing a total of 3,400 pounds. They retail for about $50 per crab in the United States.
STUCK BAMBI FWC Officers assisted area FWC biologists with a manatee rescue in Saint James City. The manatee became wedged between dock pilings when the tide went out.
Vintage colored post card showing a huge sawfish and the old Hotel Punta Gorda in the backround.
New artificial coral reefs in the Keys will be started on armatures like these. They plan to start 300,000 sq ft of new reef.
OLD SALTS Some species of whales are among the longest lived mammals. Scientists estimate bowhead whales (a
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Big peace river jacks ! My dad at 70 getting it done with his son Captain Scotty Roe
Dave Reineick with a Peace River fatty with Captain Scotty Roe.
Harbor Sailing By Fran Burstein Water LIFE Sailing The 27th Golden Conch Regatta took place on Charlotte Harbor, January 18 and 19. Four classes of sail boats raced in two locations. Thirteen boats in the Non Spinnaker and True Cruising A and B classes, completed three races in waters outside of the Burnt Store Marina. Two races took place on Saturday in 20 knot winds. That made for exciting racing on bumpy seas. 3 photos: Fran Burstein Racing continued on Sunday with one race, slower winds but heightened competition. There were three Catalina 320s in the True Cruising B Class battling for position and the ongoing contest between Captains Rudy Gottshlich sailing Diva Gorda and Mike Busher sailing Serendipity. The Harbor 20s raced on Saturday between Marker 3 and the bridge in gusty conditions with winds ranging from10 to 15 kts with gusts up to 20. Eleven boats were registered and seven completed four races. Harbor 20s are designed for mature sailors and are perfect for a day sail in eight to 10 kt winds. Saturday's heavy winds made for some exciting sailing, but stressed the limits of both skippers and boats. Harbor 20 1-2-3 place finish: Jim Nuzzo Ed Werner
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Mary Roe with her husband Captain Scotty Roe with a fat river redfish.
Bob Knowles
The 2.4mR EDGE Midwinter Regatta, the 3rd in the winter series for the 2.4 Meter boats took place on January 25 and 26. Twenty two American and Canadian sailors compete in this series. A total of four races were completed on Saturday in 15 to 20 kt winds. Two races were planned for Sunday and the first race began in eight to ten kts but as the race finished close to an hour later, the wind died. There was hope that the wind would fill in again, but that did not happen and the second race was abandoned. 2.4MR Edge 1-2-3 place finish: Dee Smith Jeff Linton
Tony Pocklington
Harbor 20 racing
Golden Conch racing
photo: Jake Dye
February Sailing Calendar
Jan 31- Feb 2, Charlotte Harbor Regatta Feb 15-Valentine's Day Massacre, Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Feb 16, Punta Gorda Sailing Club Winter Series Feb 16, Harbor 20 Championship Series Feb 22-23, Can/Am #4 Feb 28-March 1, Conquistador Regatta Golden Conch 1-2-3 place finish: Non-Spinnaker: Jerry Poquette Thomas Horner True Cruising A: Robert Rogers Mike Busher True Cruising B: Art Gates David Green
Tony Millan Rudy Gottschlich Mike Baldwin
PAGE
22
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020
READERʼS PHOTOS Send us ur fish pix! Weʼll use ʻem!! see page 4
I read the magazine every month and the idea of an airline flying people free to a resort it owns in Florida is one hell of a great idea. Here is an idea for different fishing pics. Robert Cohn.
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Greg Rakow, Pirate Harbor snook
This is an Albacore caught by Millie Forster on 01-24-20 Once again out fished hubby Steve!
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Mikki's bass on lake Okeechobee
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Jack caught by Jesse lantz at the dam at 3 rivers
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
FISH PIX!
from Water LIFE magazine
Wayne Kaleciak, 24-inch red grouper, 30 miles west of Sanibel
Last Cast Last picture before we went to print
Humberto, nice red and a nice gag
FEBRUARY 2020
Explore! Fish with one of our Guides Youʼll learn new things and youʼll catch good fish!
The BIG-4 SPANISH MACKEREL In the Harbor in the Pases
BackBay Xtremes Capt Dave Stephens www.backbayxtremes.com
941-916-5769
BACK ISSUES @
WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM
Fish you can expect in
SHEEPSHEAD ICW docks and moving to the piers
February
SPOTTED TROUT Everywhere around the Harbor
REDFISH East and west side of Charlotte Harbor
January – Predictions and Suggestions
Peace River Charlotte Harbor Frank at Fishin’ Franks 941-625-3888
With the water temperatures varying so much we have a lot of different fish around. Ladyfish, bluefish, trout, sheepshead, tripletail, snapper, snook, sharks.... I mean, pretty much if you can imagine a fish, it’s in the Harbor now! A guy got a gag and a goliath, a 300pound goliath, from the Bokeelia Pier. I don’t remember the last time there were this many species around, all at the same time. I don’t remember if I said Spanish mackerel... but they’re here too! Right now you could go catch 10 different types of fish in one day. There are small drum, sheepshead and redfish under the docks at Gasparilla Island. The ICW almost looks like the beginning of the snook spawn... there are just a ton of snook in the ICW - typically, this time of year they are in the canals and creeks, but not the ICW. We’re even getting reports of snook along the beaches. Redfish are along the flats. If you fish the small creeks and bays you’ll find a lot of smaller redfish, where as the larger reds are on the open flats or around the islands on the open area. It’s crazy how many fish... big redfish, are across the flats... keeper size reds! Out on the bars, just inside or outside, around a lot of the Harbor, there are mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and trout and .. Oh, I forgot about the pompano... we have had more pompano reported in the last week - I literally don’t know whats going on. The only thing I can think of: There’s an excessive amount of bait fish around. Most of it is small, not like the bait you’d put on a hook, most are too small, but of you are a trout or a mackerel they are awesome. Some are threadfin and greenbacks, but they are all tiny. Weird thing is, the Gulf is short on snapper, grunts and small fish, but we have the most sharks ever, in my memory, for January. Guys are catching a lot of keeper red grouper and triggerfish in 60 feet. One guy caught a 10-pound bass out at Babcock. That was something!
Lemon Bay, Placida, Gasparilla Sound Capt. Kaelin Olayer Flyin’ Hawaiian Fishing Charters 941-716-1425 We have been seeing redfish almost everywhere this month in all shapes and sizes, from Lemon Bay to Charlotte Harbor and everywhere in between. I believe the mandatory closure has helped this species bounce back tremendously! On the higher tides, we have been fishing the deeper mangroves where we see lots of mullet, and on the low tides we are fishing around the potholes. Finding the mullet is key to finding the redfish. We also have been seeing some good numbers of trout and the occasional cold water snook. They have been hitting a variety of baits, with shrimp and pinfish being the preferred live bait. A slow bounced Mirrorlure Little Jon or Gulp Shrimp on a 1/4 oz jig head is hard to beat when the water is cold. Now the sheepshead should pile on the docks, bridges and near shore wrecks. Spots such as the Placida and Tom Adams piers should provide great opportunities from land. Targeting sheepshead you may also catch snapper, flounder, or even a gag grouper or two. When the wind cooperates offshore, fishing has been great! Fishing inside of 9-nautical miles has been action packed with Key West grunts, lane and mangrove snappers plus all the catch and release gag groupers you could want, and some big sheepshead. There are still some nice tripletail migrating through our area too, and hopefully some cobia show up in-close this month. Further offshore, red grouper fishing has been great in 70- to 110-feet. They have been eating everything from live bait, to cut bait such as squid or sardines. We have also been catching some snapper while fishing for grouper. The porgies have showed up in full force. They are probably one of the tastiest fish our waters have to offer! There has also been a lot of amberjacks and sandbar sharks on the deeper wrecks if you’re willing to put your tackle (and your back!) to the test. Keep a pitch rod with a pinfish or squirrel fish ready in case a curious cobia happens to swim by.
PAGE 23
Nearshore water temps are now in the mid 60s Fish have slowed way down
95˚ 90˚ 85˚ 80˚
75˚ 72˚ 70˚ 68˚ 50˚ 45˚
FISHING RIGHT NOW: GOOD! Englewood Bait House
Head-Boat Offshore Fishing 941- 475-4511
PAGE
24
EMAIL:
WATERLIFE@COMCAST.NET
FEBRUARY 2020