Water LIFE Oct 2014

Water

Th C K an las id s P k se ag Y e ous 5 始s

LIFE

The Don Ball School of Fishing

October 2014 Reds are Hungry!

Page 15

Wade in the Creeks

Fall Has Arrived!

Page 11

Spearfishing Tournament Page 21

Fishy Tale?

Photo Contest Winners

Page 5

Tarpon chasing tilapia

Aquatica, pages 12-13

Fishin始 Report Busy Month

Page 22

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Tune in to Radio Fishinʼ anytime!

Talk shows with Fishinʼ Frank @ FishinFranks.com

Water LIFE inc.

Send letters and photos to: WaterLIFE@comcast.net

Dear Michael Just writing again to let you know that I am still interested in the whatʼs and wherefores of the Seminole Trader (shrimp boat). Thanks Thomas Mckeown

Tom: Capt Steve Skevington, who owned the boat when we started reporting on it, has now sold it to John Drown. John tells me he has cleaned it up further and now only needs to remove the rigging. John says he has been in contact with Charlotte Countyʼs abandoned vessel program which does not have the funds to help him with the boat so they referred him to Lee County.

“Feels like Iʼm getting the run around” John told me adding that he is now thinking about towing it to Fort Myers and scrapping it.

Iʼll keep you posted if anything changes Michael Heller WaterLIFE Here is an electron microscope scan of Karenia brevis (red tide), photographed as part of the ongoing red tide research in Florida.

Hopefully all the rain above Tampa will keep the big red tide bloom in the northern Gulf when the manatees start migrating up to the Crystal River area this Don G. winter. Map from 9/26

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Water Heater Exploratory Surgery

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Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180

217 Bangsberg Rd. Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Independant - Not affiliated with any other publication Vol XIII No 10 © 2014

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

Contributing Editors:

Our RHEEM HOT WATER HEATER rusted through in 7 years - the warrantee was for 6!

So I wanted to see where the problem started. I found there were pinholes (below) in the metal where the threaded neck for the heating element was welded onto the tank.

Rheem has got to know this happens!

Photography: ASA1000.com Senior Editor: Capt. Ron Blago River and Shore: Fishinʼ Frank Charlotte Harbor: Capt. Billy Barton Family Fishing: Capt. Bart Marx Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck Eichner Venice: Glen Ballinger Kayaking: David Allen Sea Grant: Betty Staugler Offshore: Capt. Jim OʼBrien Fly Fishing: Capt. Scott Sichling Beach Fishing: Mallory Herzog Circulation: Robert Cohn Office Dog: Molly Brown

on the COVER: “Winter time negative tides can't get here quick enough! My tough girl Rachel Nicole and I have been wading up long feeder creeks to get to the pot of gold at the end” Capt. Scott Sichling page 11

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Unacceptable Appearance of Impropriety

By Michael Heller Water LIFE Publisher The FWC issues a culling waiver to redfish tournaments allowing their anglers to catch a redfish, put it in their well and then later, if they catch a bigger redfish, switch them out, releasing the one they caught prior and replacing it with the bigger one. Recreational anglers, on the other hand, are stuck with the first redfish they put in their livewell.

In return for this ‘culling waiver’ tournament officials are required to release all the fish alive and submit a written report to the FWC about how many fish were caught, how many were dead at the weigh-in and how many died after it.

I looked at the report the Punta Gorda Flatsmasters Tournament filed with the FWC after some non tournament anglers posted pictures on facebook noting a dozen dead fish at Laishley Marina left by that July event.

The Flatsmaster’s report lists 3 dead redfish at the time of weigh in and 7 fish that died after the weigh-in but before the remaining live fish were released. I asked the FWC what the requirement was for disposing of the dead fish.

The reply was: If a fish dies, it is the property of the angler who harvested that fish. The angler is the one to decide what to do with a dead fish since it is theirs, but the fish cannot enter into commerce in any fashion. If the angler decides to give the fish to a tournament, the tournament cannot use the fish as barter or exchange for any type of goods or services, which would include a fish fry if the tournament charged a fee per plate. If the tournament wanted to do a fish fry without charging a

fee, then that would be ok.

That answered part of the question, but what happens to the fish that dies after the weigh-in, but before the release boat releases all the live fish, which happens when the tournament is over. The anglers have gone home, what is done with those dead fish, I asked. Do they dump them in the trash or do they dump them in the Harbor? I didn’t get an answer back.

Maybe the release boat didn’t go out far enough before they dumped the dead fish into the Harbor and maybe the math was a little off on someone’s dead fish report. Potentially honest mistakes. Maybe this will be the end of the Flatsmaster’s drama, I thought to myself.

The next day my wife came in from the mailbox and handed me a letter. There was no return address and no stamp. Inside were two white pages with pictures printed on each. The first was of three tournament anglers holding fish and the other was a close up picture of one of the fish’s tails. There was a handwritten note signed Tired of the Cheaters. It was more from the Flatsmasters.

Sometimes the feathery ends of a tournament redfish’s tail is clandestinely clipped so the fish will be short enough to fit between the lines on the measuring board. A fraction of an inch of ‘trimming could mean the difference between several thousand dollars in prize money or a citation for an oversized fish. With cash at stake, clipping is felony fraud.

I have seen clipped fish tails before.

Usually the clipping is more subtle. This looked more like an axe-chop than a clip.

I looked at the picture carefully, but a picture of a picture from a home printer

isn’t going to be conclusive.

Why does this matter? You know why, because this tournament has a long history of questionable acts, deeds and decisions ... and because its actions affect the way our local fishing community is perceived by anglers around the state.

I don’t know what the tournament officials thought but they had to see this was ‘curious’ at Team Flippers on the Bay, Stuart Widner, Derek Ward, and least, and at that point Kenny Wells with a curiously strange-tailed redfish there should have been a boat and the prop chopped the tail off. public explanation. I’m not saying there 2: The fish’s tail was cut off by some isn’t a good reason, I’m just saying I can’t other angler for a different tournament think of it myself. A quick accurate honest and then these anglers caught it. public response travels with a picture like 3: Lightning hit it while it was tailing. this and when people see it that explains 4: Aliens took a tissue sample. it. These anglers won the event. It’s worth 5: It grew that way, honest! explaining.

It may sound funny, but I look at fishMany anglers like to talk trash in the ing tournaments the same way I look at baitshop, but few will say anything in Journalism; I believe that even the appear- public – and they never want their names ance of something improper in either in print. How is that any different than venue is unacceptable. Everything must cheating? It’s looking the other way and be open, above the table and beyond rethat only helps the wrong people. proach... according to ethics and the law.

We are doing our part to change that Flatsmasters does not allow me to be at kind of thinking one student at a time by their events and they stopped answering teaching Ethical Angling in our 7th grade my emails a long time back, so I don’t Don Ball fishing classes. If the angler have their official explanation. Other who sent us the letter wants to take on knowledgeable tournament anglers who Flatsmasters or its anglers about ethics, he have seen the pictures suggested this: or she will have to sign their name to it.

1: The fish was run over by a speeding Without a signature it’s cowardly whining.

Fundraising Continues - You Can Help Too!

I just celebrated a Big Number birthday with what was the biggest surprise ever. and to my kids.......WOW did you guys fool your mother!

Family and friends came from all over to help me celebrate.

Knowing this is so near and dear to my heart, in lieu of gifts it was suggested that guests make a donation to the DON BALL SCHOOL OF FISHING. And WOW! Thanks to everyone who gave, we have taken in over $1500!

This is our 13th year for the kids program and funding is always the biggest task at hand. If YOU would like to donate you can use on the WaterLIFE.com website, or you can mail a donation to: The Don Ball School of Fishing, P.O. Box 512010, Punta Gorda, FL 33951.

For more information call: 941-766-8180 and we will call you back.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Donna Ball GO FISH .........teach a child.

Capt. Billy Barton and prospective 2014 students at Punta Gorda Middle last month

Donna Ball

The Pull of GOLIATH! PAGE

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By Mallory Herzog Water LIFE Beach Fishing During the last 4 years of fishing in south west florida I have caught many goliath grouper from land. They are a fun fight and some of the larger ones really pull some drag, and in my opinion are almost as tough as the bull sharks. I’ve always wondered though, is it a harder fight from a boat? Land based fishermen like to talk trash and say how boat fishing is easier. In some ways I am sure it is, oth-

ers not so much.

On the beach when we hook up we wear a gimbal fight belt and a harness.

This helps save your back and aid in the reel not twisting all around when your trying to reel. On a boat this isn’t safe to be completely harnessed in. The fish your fighting could make you easily misstep and fall overboard taking you down into the depths of danger. On a boat you can use a fight belt, but that’s about it! I had to try this for myself so I called our friend Capt. Bo Johnson of Tenacity Guide Service and asked him to take us out!

My husband Andrew was up first and

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landed a nice sized goliath. We snapped some pics, released it and got ready for my turn!

I saw Andrew do this solo, no assistance and it didn't look too difficult but I asked first mate Deidra to stay close to me in case I needed help. And Oh did I! As soon as I hooked up on this fish I knew that I was in trouble. Deidra and I were both lifting up on the rod in hopes of pulling this fish out of his home where he was hiding! It’s such an intense feeling, very different from the beach. We were using all our weight and strength to pull this fish to the surface! We saw the fish at the surface 30 yards out, but he also saw us diving back down taking the rod to the rail as we pulled with all our might to get him back up.

When this grouper was finally next to the boat we really saw his incredible size. This is why it was so much of a harder fight than Andrew’s fish! The goliath grouper Diedra and I reeled in was 3- to 400-pounds! We had a quick discussion about pictures. Previously in the week FWC had stated that captains are no longer allowed to bring Goliath Grouper to the shallows onshore to take photos and dehook. But we wanted an IN the water picture with this extra large grouper.

The last thing I remember was looking at Bo and asking " have there been many bullsharks around recently? With a smile he replied ‘No’, he already knew what I was about to do. I jumped into the usually sharky waters without another

thought.

What an experience being in the water with this HUGE fish. At one time he dove under, probably terrified of me and thinking ‘crazy human!’ My biggest worry was that it would surface underneath me, but thankfully it didn't! I swam around took a few pics and eagerly went to get back in the boat – thankfully Deidra still had some muscle left to pull me back in.

The water depth at the Phosphate Dock, where we were fishing, is 10-15 feet, with strong currents. I was exhausted from the 15 minute fight and then treading water. I should of been wearing a PFD. (Personal Flotation Device) but thankfully my adrenaline kept me going.

Later in the month we took our good friend Tom back to the same location to break in his new boat! He also got to feel this incredible pull of a mighty goliath grouper. I must say its a different experience doing this on my own without the experience Capt. Bo has. He certainly makes it look a lot easier than it actually is!

This has been such a great learning experience: bBoat vs beach, but, I must say, I think they are much harder from a boat.

The weight you feel is much more intense, you can really feel how powerful these animals are.

OCTOBER 2014

FWC is currently doing a stock assessment on goliath grouper to possibly open them back up for harvest. They have been protected since the early 90s and their numbers have greatly increased because of it. There are a lot of rumors on how they will handle this, most likely coming up with a system similar to tarpon tags. Their final ruling on this will take place some time in the spring 2015. Until then they remain protected. When you catch one from a boat it must be de-hooked quickly and not be removed from original catch location. When fishing from the beach FWC asks that you keep them in the water while de-hooking and taking photos.

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Tilapia Run

By Capt. David Stephens Water LIFE Charlotte Harbor I was getting ready to watch some football when my phone started ringing. It was my good friend Jimmy Beal who I lived down the canal from, up on the Peace River, 15 years ago.

“I was coming back up the river from running my crab traps,” Jimmy told me “... and in the distance all I could see was huge splashes. When I got up to the area their were tarpon, snook and all different kinds of fish feeding on tilapia!”

After getting the location and time of day and what the tide was doing, we talked about how long it has been since we have seen a tilapia run up on the river.

The people that know me know I grew up a river rat. I was raised up on the Peace River and spent a lot of my free time fishing up there as a young boy. Back 20- to 25- years ago, depending on the summer rain fall, it was not uncommon to have tilapia runs during the late summer.

Anyone who has been in a restaurant in the last 10 years has seen these fish on the menu. I’m not sure if it was from the sudden commercial boom over tilapia or just not enough rain in Central Florida, but over the last 10- to 15-years their have been no more tilapia runs down the river.

Tilapia caught while feeding on algae growing on the boat ramp surface

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Cory with that nice redfish

Tilapia are an invasive species not native to Florida. I have seen ponds that have been taken over by these fish, as a matter of fact they can live just about anywhere from lakes to rivers or ponds and even in drainage ditches.

I didn’t have a charter that Monday and my wife Rachel had the day off work (not to mention she had been on me about catching her a big tarpon!) so we decided to go for a boat ride.

We rode up past the county line, taking our time looking around but we hadn’t really seen much.

A pod of tilapia tries to make its way across the Peace River.

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So we decided to go back and check the area Jimmy told me about.

We got about a quarter mile from the spot and in the distance we could already see fish feeding. We set up, put out a couple baits and before we could grab something cold to drink from the cooler we had a tarpon over a 150 pounds in the air. We managed to get a couple jumps before he spit the hook. So we baited back up and not more than five minutes later we had number two on. Rachel wanted a big fish and number three was a monster and after an almost hour long fight Rach had her big tarpon which we estimated to be in the 150 pound range.

Unfortunately we were too tired for a good picture. Y’all just have to take a fisherman’s word!

The next day I spoke with a buddy of mine, Bryan Ball, who told me he was going to ride up there and he invited me to ride with him and Cory. We meet at

Rachel with a ʻsmallʼ tarpon

the ramp around 11:00am and after having to take cover from the rain for an hour or so we headed back down to the boat.

As we made our way we noticed there were fish feeding all around the dock, so like any fisherme in their right mind, we grabbed our rods and fished from the dock!

We jumped several juvenile tarpon and Cory caught a couple very nice redfish on his fly rod. Once the bite slowed down on the dock we jumped in the boat to fish around the schools of tilapia we could see being blown up by fish. By the end of that day we jumped over 30 tarpon and caught some nice reds. Cory landed 6 or 8 tarpon on his fly rod and we lost count of how many he jumped. It was a day we will all be talking about for a long time

If you would like to experience some of South West Florida’s finest fishing give me a call or send me an email. All of our charters are private and customized to fit your parties needs. 941-916-5769 ww.backbayxtremes.comReted Photos on page 12-13

In the Water PAGE

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By Capt. Betty Staugler Water LIFE Sea Grant It’s been a busy month in my world on both work and personal fronts. My highlights start with a short boating jaunt. For years, Port of the Islands has been a launch point for James (the hubby) and I when headed south, but we’ve never really spent much time in Collier County north of Faka Union, so we made that our goal. Located at the tip of Cape Romano are the mysterious domes, six concrete domes with open windows sitting atop pillars. The domes were once connected into what was a very luxurious home, but storms, erosion and ultimate abandonment resulted in the dome

shells slowly making their way to sea. We found the domes to be an excellent snorkel but the fishing not so much (I caught a few small snapper). The domes are heavily visited including being a regular stopping point for guided ecotours on

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Jet Skies which appeared to be quite popular down there.

My next excursion was spending a day with the FWC-FWRI fisheries folks pulling seine nets in Alligator Creek.

FWC is just beginning a new project to collect information on young of the year snook. The project involves Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor and the Indian River Lagoon. Right now they are working on sampling design and specifically which type of net will work best for sampling in the creek systems. We pulled two different nets at six locations along both the north and south forks of Alligator Creek and in some of the smaller creeks off the

main stems. At times we were knee deep in muck; a perfect spot to find little snook, and we did. According to the crew I was with, creek sampling there will likely become a permanent part of their program.

Fast forward, mid-month was the annual Florida Outdoor Writers Association (FOWA) annual conference in Crystal River where area guides are recruited to take out FOWA members. Our target species were redfish and trout. My tournament captain was Johnathan Hamilton from Brooksville. The Nature Coast which includes Crystal River experiences a three to 4-foot tide range and because the shelf extends so far out into the Gulf there are no beaches or barrier islands.

Shallow water seagrass beds extend offshore for miles and that is where we fished for trout. When we fished for reds Capt. Johnathan explained that they almost never see reds tailing because their bottom consists of exposed rock and very little sediment leaving nothing for redfish to root around in. I caught several trout

OCTOBER 2014

and a few mangrove snapper. The only redfish I hooked into got away before I could get it to the boat, but I landed a snapper on the same cast. Most importantly I had a great day!

My month ended down in the Keys for the Swim for Alligator Light. This is an 8- mile swim out to the lighthouse and back. I went with 18 of my swimming friends and we comprised 5 relay teams.

We learned that the 8 miles advertised were really 8 nautical miles making the swim over 9 miles total. To do the swim we rented two boats and brought along 3 kayaks to support our swimmers. I was on the first rental boat to head out. After arriving at the race start (2 miles away) we found our boat wouldn’t go into neutral and wouldn’t go into reverse. Fortunately the marina sent someone out quickly and got us working right. The swim was hard, rough current, at times choppy, and tons of jellyfish…walls of jellyfish! The two teams on my boat didn’t break any records but we did finish and despite the jellyfish stings had a great time. When we got to shore we learned the other boat nearly sunk. It started taking on water and the bilge pump didn’t

work. When it began listing they beached it in shallow water. Yes we will be rethinking our boat plans for next year. All in all though it was a great weekend and a great month!!

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

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Ambushing Predators NIGHT TIME

By Capt Billy Barton Water LIFE INSHORE As a born and raised Floridian and an avid salt water fisherman, my heart is always yearning for another trophy catch. I know a lot of you folks out there can relate. If you are on that mission searching for trophy fish and if snook and tarpon are the species you seek, it might be a bright idea for you to get out there and put some work in at night. Some of the greatest fishing memories I have in over 20 years of fishing here were made at 3 a.m. at one of our local bridges.

Snook and tarpon are two of the most exciting and popular gamefish that Southwest Florida has to offer. It's most common for captains and anglers to be targeting these two species during the day. What I've come to notice though is that over the years these fish are have been forgotten by many when it comes to fishing them at night.

The lack of night time pressure may be what actually en-

IS THE

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RIGHT TIME

tices a lot of these larger fish to come out, relax, and eat like crazy!

Two important factors that come into the picture are our tides and your moon phases which do play a large role in how active these fish are going to be. With the full and new moons especially come your best times of the month to get out and fish hard!

Where do I go? You ask. A simple answer. Anywhere that has a decent tidal flow and where you have light creating a shaddow line on the water.

Most of our local bridges will create this scenario for you.

How do these fish stage? It's typical for these fish to lay on the surface in the dark side of the shadow, with their noses facing into the current. Predators like to stalk their prey right?

This is exactly the scene that's coming into play here.

These fish are laying in the dark unseen and not noticed. As that shrimp or live bait fish

flows through on the surface, helplessly fighting the current, you can bet your lucky stars that there's a snook or a tarpon laying in a nearby shadow in search of that easy meal.

The early fall months make for some of the best night time snook fishing this place has to offer. I'm not talking about little breeder males either folks.

These are the big, wise females that didn't get that big by being dumb! They know when they can relax and take an easy meal by now. Or at least they think they do.... Good luck out there folks. Go out and get ya a trophy!

Capt. Billy Barton, Scales-n-Tails Fishing Charters 941- 979-6140

Snook have been the target when fishing nights under the US 41 Bridge.

Tarpon have been a very pleasant by-catch!

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When he始s not fishing at night, (see page 9) Capt. Billy has been doing pretty well on his daytime trips too. Snook, and reds for clients and a slam of snook, trout and gar for himself.

OCTOBER 2014

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FLY FISHING: Snook, Reds and Tarpon

By Capt. Scott Sichling Water LIFE Fly Fishing

presentation to the silver princes that are rolling about.

Glass calm conditions make the Harbor look like one long mirror that stretches as far as the eye can see, giving you an open invitation into one of best fishing estuaries

Nothing is more exciting than catching 10-to 20-pound tarpon on fly, especially if it’s your first fish! Watching friends and clients over the last month land their first tarpon on fly is especially rewarding to me as I know it will create memories of a lifetime for both the fisherman and myself.

Fall has finally arrived in southwest Florida…or at least the calendar says so!

Idling out into the channel where the red and green navigation lights shine into the dark, the cool morning temperatures set the mood for the beginning of a great day.

A few slow strips are given as the gurgler travels gently across the surface before it’s violently crushed when the little tarpon launches skyward inhaling the fly!

The tarpon bite shuts down almost as quickly as it starts. Shortly after 9 a.m. the fish seem to magically turn off and be-

or more redfish undetected.

Observing the school and a high level of patience is required to sealing the deal when throwing a fly into the school – timing is everything.

We decide to throw a popper type of fly and wait until the right moment to place the fly 20 feet in front of the school. Concentration is key when watching hundreds of red pumpkins swim towards your fly.

A couple of quick tugs as the water erupts in a sea of red and then the whole school goes into attack mode trying to destroy your fly. It is an incredible sight to watch and it’s only when the fly line rockets out of your hand that you are brought back to the reality of a hook up!

Fly fishing can be extremely rewarding and it is the most humble form of fishing, at least that’s what most people say. southwest Florida has to offer.

It is a short boat ride before we arrive at our first location. The sun peeks over the horizon and sheds light onto our spot.

On top of the poling platform I’m greeted with great blue herons wading on the exposed oyster bars and looking for breakfast. Snook are popping the glass minnows along the nearest shoreline.

My partner ties on his favorite gurgler top water fly and lays out the fly line onto the deck as I stealthfully pole him towards some rolling juvenile tarpon ahead.

With a bird’s eye view from the poling platform I position the boat so my buddy on the bow can make the proper cast and

come preoccupied with other things. Now they could care less what fly was put on their nose.

Knowing that we are fishing an incoming tide we decide to switch gears and run to one of my favorite redfish spots to try and find a school. Locating a school of redfish can be tricky, but often times you can see them pushing a “head wake” across the flat as they travel looking for food. Sometimes they will be swimming in shallow water so stealth and a quiet boat are key to getting within casting distance.

Push poling is my preferred method and often can get me within 30 feet of 300

There is something special about feeling the strike and the smooth line gliding

through your hand that leaves you coming back for more!

Capt. Scott can be reached for fly or conventional charters at (941) 408-5634

PUNTA GORDA ISLES

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Lennore Shubel – Realtor Office: 941-575-2502 Cell: 631-741-4589 Email: lennore@liveswflorida.com

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The Bite Was Definately On!

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By Michael Heller Water LIFE Editor I don’t remember if I was on the bow and Capt.

David Stephens was on the motor end of the boat, or if we were the other way around, but I do remember us both moving as we reacted to an airborne tarpon.

The fish before that one, and there were a bunch before .... and many after it, had run straight back at the boat, jumping and diving wildly in a path that looked like it was coming our way. That fish dove out of a tail walk with a wet ‘in your face’ splash from 10 feet away! But this fish was different. This fish was bigger. And it was much closer!

I’m going to say 80 pounds and 5 feet. And it was out of my control. I couldn’t reel fast enough and I couldn’t run.

There were a lot of fish that morning, all tarpon and tarpon of all different sizes – 10 to 200 pounds. This fish wasn’t the biggest, but it was one of the wildest and it was close.

The tarpon we were after, right around the middle of last month, were after schools of tilapia in the Peace River.

We motored over to the Harbour Heights boat ramp where Dave netted a well full of tilapia feeding on the algae on the ramps surface, but when we got out in the middle of the River, with tarpon all around us, we started

OCTOBER 2014

throwing the D.O.A. Bait Busters he had already rigged.

There must have been a lot of oxygen in the water because the tarpon were not rolling, instead they were busting upward and sideways into the tilapia like killer whales after seals.

I let my first cast sink deep and I began reeling it closer to the boat. I was jigging it a little and I was ready. BOOM! First cast and I was on a big fish. The water 30 feet in front of us boiled and exploded as a big tarpon came up, did a 180-degree turn onto his side at the surface, showing us his translucent golden rain-stained brown geometry and then he disappeared. It was a great start.

A low laugh rolled between us; an affirmation.

Yes! It was on! There were no ‘I told you so’s’ required. Big, hungry fish were close by.

I like to fish fish like these because every hit makes me grin childishly or laugh aloud.

I like to hook them up, hang on for a good run and a jump, maybe get control and then I’ll give him slack and let him shake the hook... if he hasn’t already...and then I’ll cast that same lure right back out and do it again. D.O.A.s are hard to land these kind of fish on anyway.

Over and over, the lures took a beating, Lure bodies would be sliding up the line and we’d slide ‘em back in place, cast back out and hook more fish. If I had to write a screenplay about fishing, that morning would be a part of it. There were a lot of feeding tarpon.

But I digress! Back to the second biggest fish, the one that I had on my line that jumped twice and

OCTOBER 2014

kept turning left in a ever tightening circle towards the boat.

We had laughed at the fish right before that one. You know: Wow, I thought that fish was going to jump in the boat. But now we were sliding out of this fish’s way! He had the control.

His last jump turned him sideways, it was easily a 100 pound fish. It hit the water right alongside the boat in a big smacking splash. We both knew where the next jump would take it.

I looked at the space between the gunnel and the console. That was going to be my out. I kept reeling, Dave angled back, we had eye contact and then the line went slack and all the excitement went away. It was quiet, but then we laughed. And then I cast out that same lure again only to be quickly broken off.

I was letting my lure drop deep where the bigger fish were. Reedy to re-rig, we looked for another DOA; white, root beer - the color didn’t matter but after an hour and a half of fishing we were running out of D.O.A.s !

I had brought a gold spoon along. This one had a nice plume of bright red custom tied feathers on the hook. I wish I could show you a picture of it, but a tarpon took it and ran off.

I was spoiled throwing those heavy Bait Busters a mile, then I cast my little 5/8 ounce gold Rex spoon with its custom feathers.

Cast - 30 feet - plink. No distance. No matter.

Whoossshhh! That cast was my last with that fine little spoon. Yet another giant had swirled slowly just beneath

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the surface, a rolling boil of disturbed water came up that looked like a manatee’s tail wash. Overpowered! We were laughing again.

Towards the end of our morning we free lined some ‘crushed’ tilapia and took some from the baitwell and broadcast them around. A few were taken, but many swam off. Something had changed.

We could feel the excitement drain away. We were starting to see more rolling fish, more of a traditional tarpon air breathing behavior. Some fish were still busting the various pods of tilapia around us, but the edge was off. The tide was changing and the magic was gone.

Related story on page 7

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Situational Updates

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OCTOBER 2014

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Proposed Bay Heights Boat ramp

On The Line

By Capt. Ron Blago Water LIFE Senior Staff Some times I feel like a juggler with too many balls in the air. There are so many things going on in the world right now that it’s hard to focus on one problem without another one coming right behind it. So in order to catch my breath, I would like to update you on a few of my favorite topics.

First off is red tide. Currently there is no red tide in Sarasota, Charlotte or Lee Counties. There is still a massive bloom to the north of us, from 5 to 30 miles offshore centered around Cedar Key. That’s the good news: The bad news is that another harmful algae bloom (HAB) has been found offshore from Clearwater Beach to Sanibel Island. This one is called Trichodesmium and they are not too sure if this will cause fish kills.

Manatees are in the news again. A few months ago I wrote about a local group called Save the Crystal River that had filled a law suit against the Federal Wildlife Service (FWS) asking them to act on a request to delist the manatee from endangered to threatened. In July the FWS answered the petition by agreeing with the petitioners that there was no reason not to delist the manatee. This ruling was placed in the Federal Register which begins a 90 day public input period. That ended in Sept. Now the FWS has 12 months to make a ruling. Remember that in 2007 the FWS said that the population of manatees was large enough to justify delisting. Since then the population has only gotten bigger. Before you say I'll believe it when I see it, remember that the legal firm Pacific Legal Group, representing the Save Crystal River group, were the ones that got the eagle delisted and last month they also had the woodstork delisted from endangered to threatened. By this time next year the manatee may have ended its 50 year reign on the endangered list.

Stump Pass has been a project close to my heart for many years. Charlotte County’s permit to keep the pass open has expired and we are in the process of requesting another 10 year open permit.

This time we want to put a jetty on the north side of the pass to prevent sand from filling the pass. State officials have agreed with the basic plan, but now they are arguing about where the jetty should be, how long it should be, what it should be made of, etc, etc, etc. I'm sorry to say that the County doesn’t expect to have the permit in hand until November 2015.

Bay Heights is a spot I'm sure not many of you have heard of. It's a small piece of land on Lemon Bay close to the Charlotte – Sarasota border. It used to be a cute trailer park before the county bought it in their haste to buy up waterfront access. It was next to a small chanel that ran from the Englewood Marina to the old Weeks Fish House. The original plan was to put in a boat ramp for small boats. The Marine Advisory Committee was sold on the idea and put up about $300,000 of taxpayers money to get the ball rolling. That was six years ago and that ball has not rolled an inch.

Without going into the ugly details, let’s just say that lies were told and promises were broken.

The good news is finally the Florida DEP has issued the permit to begin the work. The bad news is that all DEP officials go to the Tony Soprano School of Environmental Management where the first rule is: we do something for you you have to do something for us.

The permit requires Charlotte County to set aside a half acre piece of propscared sea bed in Lemon Bay; replant it, keep boats off it and monitor it each year for 5 years.

The best guess for the location of this project is the small piece of bottom where you go from the ICW to the Stump Pass Channel. Bye-bye shortcut.

Capt.ronb@juno.com

Right for Redfish OCTOBER 2014

By Fishin’ Frank Water LIFE Baitshop What a great time to be in Florida. The cooler air and the water temps are going down, the rain is slowing, it’s just perfect.

And the big, huge, giant, redfish are arriving!

Yes, October this year is the month we get to catch huge redfish right along the beaches and just in front of Turtle Bay and the Jug Creek shoals. And they are here already.

Some years we have to wait until November before we get these big reds. By big I mean over 34-inches and some of these fish will weigh in at 40pounds or more.

In the Gulf you can catch these reds from a beach, but this is an evening, night or morning thing. If you are fishing during the day, all I can say is that it is better to be lucky.

If you are fishing early or late, which is the prime target time, try casting a 3/4 ounce weed-less spoon out from the beach. I like to add a strip of Fishbites cut down to 4 inches and stuck on the hook of the spoon.

Cast out and reel in trying to get the spoon to come back in, about a foot off the bottom.

I use the count method where off the sand I figure to have about 6-feet of water, so when the spoon hits the water I count to five, then I start reeling. Keep your rod tip down to keep the spoon from trying to swim up as you reel it in. Use a slow, steady, retrieve. I will stop reeling two or three times on my retrieve to let the spoon settle on the bottom. Once the spoon is on the bottom, I will just lift, or sharply jerk my rod tip to sort of dance / slide the spoon across the bottom. Then start reeling again. Think of bait jumping off the bottom to escape a predator fish.

Trolling for these big reds is the same thing as trolling for grouper. Use a lure that will dive at least 30 feet and troll between 3 to 4 mph. What I look for is a path between 2 reefs - like between Mary’s and the Power Poles. I figure that the fish would most likely head from one food source to another, so trolling from one reef to the next always seemed right to me. Now, I do this in around 30 feet of water and the lure says it goes down 30 feet deep so compensate by reeling in some line to get the lure shallower or letting line out to get deeper.

Pink and bright greens for one of the lures, and the other purple dark and light. Then if you get hit on the darker color a couple time

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switch the other lure over and visa/ versa.

Getting into the Harbor, there are reds just out side of Jug Creek shoals. This is a bait thing, lure will work, but it is double-tough to do it. I do a Lewis & Clark on the sand bar when the tide is very low so I can see where the cuts in the bar are – and by cuts I mean slight depressions where the water has cut a trough across the sand bar. This is where the reds will cross in from the Harbor to get back up on the flats. They are going up on the flats to find shrimp or pinfish, but whitebait (hard scaled sardines) are the best bait right now.

Get to the trough at low tide and get set up, then be quiet like a hole in the water.

As the tide comes up the reds will want to get up on the flat to feed.

Cast your bait into the middle of the trough and wait. If you fish them, they will come.

I have seen the huge bull reds wait for schools of smaller mullet or lady fish to leave the flats as the tide is falling.

They just lay outside the cut in the bar and ambush the fish as they come out, so don’t get all hung up on fishing the trough/cut if you do not see a big school of reds right there.

Keep the boat to one side or the other of the opening so the fish will move through the cut.

If your boat is sitting right where the reds are trying to get on the flats, as you guess, it will not be good. Stay off to the side and try not to interfere with the fish except to stick some as they pass by.

How you rig depends on the tide. In a slow moving tide, I free line the bait on 20pound braid with 25 pound test, fluro leader.

Now as the fish get closer to 40-inches, go to 40- or 50-pound test leader. The 20-pound braid should hold, but it takes longer so the thicker leader gives you more time to land it.

If the current from the tide is stronger, or if you have to cast farther to stay out of the path of the fish, I will add a sinker about 30 inches up the line from the hook. Split shot - maybe even a 1/2 - to keep my bait in the trough. If I am using a sinker, I switch from hooking the bait in the head or mouth to hooking just above the anal opening. This allows the bait to swim better, pulling against the hook and line rather than pushing it.

I hope you find these schools of big bull reds. If you can find some blue crabs, cut them into bait chunks, that is candy-crack for big redfish. And don’t worry if the fish breaks your rod or pulls it out of your hand, I have more to sell! Hang on and have fun and best fish wishes Fishin’ Frank 625-3888

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By Capt Bart Marx Water LIFE Keys This month the weather should start cooling down and the water will too. The reds will be schooling up all along the coast, feeding for their offshore trip to spawn, hence the term is Red October.

September was kind of red too... red hot! We had a repeat customer come from

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Wauchula. David had never caught a snook so that was a focus species on our trip.

There were several snook caught at our first stop, shorts, but they were fun to catch.

They also caught some nice mangrove snapper to harvest for a meal. It was a hot summer day and as it approached noon it got even hotter and the bite slowed. Mrs. Mackey is not accustom to the heat and the guest they brought along was getting hot too, so they decided to return to the dock and get into the truck for some A/C action.

David and I were preparing to clean the fish and there were some snappers at the ramp. There were some shrimp left so David started to catch snapper. There were snook and catfish around as well so he played with what shrimp we had left and soon an hour had passed.

I had cleaned the fish they were taking with them for a meal, a nice red and some mangrove snapper. All in all it was a long hot summer day, but a successful one at that. The girls got their A/C and the guys got to catch a few. This month things start to cool down, weather wise, but the fishing gets heated up. Reds, grouper and kings come to town to play, so give me a call if you would like to come along with Capt.

Bart Marx ... or we could go on your boat.

Call 941-979-6517 or e-mail me at captbart@alphaomegacharters.com

OCTOBER 2014

Prehistoric Shark Latest Victim in Middle East

Karachi Pakistan The Islamabad Herald reported a giant prehistoric shark, previously thought to be extinct for more than 20 million years, was captured by local fishermen off the coast of Pakistan last month. The creature, first thought to be a great white shark, was quickly declared by experts to be an unknown species since its great weight and size were unheard of.

Later, analysis of the creature始s teeth suggested the shark to be a 驶parent始 of the Megalodon, an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 28 to 1.5 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era. More at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/15-tonprehistoric-shark-captured-off-coast-ofpakistan/#sthash.WXPdkn8C.dpuf

OCTOBER 2014

YELLOWTAIL

Reef Fishing

By Capt. Chuck Eichner Water LIFE Inshore Living near the shores of Charlotte Harbor is quite the luxury and if that is not enough, in 3.5 hours you can be in the Florida Keys. The big ticket there is that the Great Florida Reef is within a 5-10 mile boat ride from shore and it is an extraordinary fish magnet.

With the reef in mind I towed my 24’ boat to a KOA campground on Sugarloaf Key for two days of fishing. Yellowtail snapper and anything else that swims near my boat would be my target species.

After splashing the boat I ran towards American Shoal Lighthouse where the floor bottom goes from 40 to 100 feet in just a couple of hundred yards. Fishing solo and bottom fishing requires a good bit of organization to do it safely so when I was met with 4 foot seas I decided to drop back to shallower water where the reef itself breaks down the chop.

Idling around starring aimlessly at two depth finders I spot a group of fish on the bottom and zoomed in to magnify the detail of the marks on my screen and felt good about my prospects. Critical to fishing this area is a reef anchor which has flexible tines that bend when pulling up the anchor.

Once you know a few basics this is really easy fishing! First, place a chum block in a weighted chum cage (sharks don’t like eating metal) and drop to the bottom. Then, place a chum bag amid-ship off the gunnel. Do not fish yet!

Next, start dicing and slicing frozen sardines into small pieces and drop them behind the boat setting out a constant string of chum for the next 15 minutes.

All of this matters, because the goal is to get a school of fish comfortably feeding without seeing their friends struggling.

Line is very, very important. The water clarity this day was 40 feet and I was set up in 36 feet so the fish can see what is happening and are pretty darn smart. My suggestion is to A) use 10-pound monofilament and no leader straight to hook or B) use 20-pound braid to 8’ of 20-pound

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leader to fool the insightful reef fish.

Then, after all of this work, you hope the fish are back there somewhere.

My first pitch utilized a 1/16oz. chartreuse short shank Calcutta jig with a small piece of sardine on it. Wham! First cast and a nice 13 inch yellowtail snapper came aboard. For the next several hours I caught plenty of snappers and found them to be a cast away from the boat as the tide was sweeping the chum so far. I could not see the fish, but they were literally pouncing on my jig on the surface. A number of big fish jumped on my line as well and pulled me into the reef with my guess being a Goliath Grouper that chomped on my snapper!

That night I dropped two baited pinfish traps into some grass beds with hopes of bigger fish the next day and a bigger variety. The next day approaching the float ball to the first trap you could see it was full of bait and lifting into the boat there were easily 40 small fish, including pinfish, grunts, baby yellowtails and others.

The second trap pulled up had a slimy surprise- a moray eel! With no need to be greedy I dumped that entire trap back into the water and headed to the reef.

What a difference a day makes in the Keys – mirror calm water, a huge reef all

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to myself and a well full of great baitfish.

I chose to search the bottom in 90-100 feet of water with hopes of catching bigger fish but the screen was barren after 30 minutes of searching. But in the 60-foot range my screen was lit up like a Christmas tree so I dropped the anchor, set chum, chunked, waited…….and then dropped lines into the water.

One free line with a nice pinfish was put way out back, one pinfish down on the bottom and the special chartreuse jig was pitched out. Near perfect conditions for the angler, but the fish did not really see it this way. Small undersize snapper showed themselves, a shark which was plenty of fun and blue runners. I switched spots 5 times, using an anchor ball to heft the reef anchor off the bottom setting up

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on a nice “painted screen” showing reef fish on each spot. I don’t know when I have seen live bait go so ignored on the reef, but this was the day. I decided that catching undersize snapper was going to be plenty of fun and made the best of it.

The campground on Sugarloaf Key (30 minutes from Key West) has rental trailers, a small marina, bait, tackle, snacks and drinks. Typically, you can expect to catch big mangrove snapper, black grouper, kingfish and other reef species or trolling outside of the reef: mahi, sailfish, tuna and wahoo are easily done. You can find water depths over 200 feet within a mile of the reef.

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action Flats Backcountry Charters 941-628-8040 or www.backcountrycharters.com

$2 off any haircut!

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Asian Nematode Parasite in American Eels

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OCTOBER 2014

Special to Water LIFE FWRI researchers are studying nematodes found in the swim bladders of American eels. Little is known about the infection in Florida’s eel populations so researchers are trying to collect information in several freshwater systems to determine the prevalence and intensity of infection on a statewide level.

Researchers believe the nematodes have originated from Southeast Asia and are specific to eels of the genus Anguilla.

First confirmed in South Carolina in 1995, the parasite Anguillicoloidescrassus has been documented in American eels inhabiting many Atlantic coastal streams, from Canada south to Texas.

Eels become infected by consuming intermediate crustacean hosts, like copepods or ostracods. They can also become infected by eating a host that is unaffected by the paraLOCAL ANGLE: Chrissy Moesley wrote: Thought I'd site and is merely a carrier. share this wild lookin eel I caught on the Myakka river last month ...first one I ever caught . Man, was it heavy!!

Nematode larvae can re... and it didn't even put up a fight! main inactive, although still infectious, in many organisms such as snails, amphibians, insect larvae, and some fish. Once ingested, the larvae migrate to the swim bladder where they mature, reproduce, and ultimately release eggs and larvae back into the water through the eel’s digestive tract.

The swim bladder is important for a fish to regulate its position in the water.

As a result, these nematode infections can influence the fish’s ability to move up and down in the water column and may affect the migration of mature eels to their spawning ground deep in the Sargasso Sea. Although eels appear to handle these chronic parasitic infections well, they may still have to expend a lot of energy urban areas have higher rates of infecto cope, making the animal more prone tion due to increased stressors in the ento disease or succumbing more easily to vironment. In 2006, preliminary surveys environmental stressors. of commercially harvested eels found as Previous studies have shown that many as one third of eels from the St. physical barriers, such as dams, and Johns River were infected. cooler water temperatures can limit the Researchers are currently conducting level of infection in eels, but given dissections and assessing overall health Florida’s subtropical temperatures and of eels in freshwater systems to learn limited number of physical barriers, scimore about the potential effects this parentists are concerned that these infecasite may have on Florida’s American tions can be more widespread here. eel populations.

Researchers also hypothesize that more

The Most Beautiful Paddle in Florida OCTOBER 2014

By David Allen Water LIFE Kayaking Kayakers are usually a pretty independent lot, but most will agree that a paddle on Fisheating Creek is near the top of their bucket-list. Over the years, I have paddled this beautiful stream countless times and am still in awe of the surroundings.

The Creek meanders through a landscape of prairies, freshwater marshes and floodplain swamps for about 50 miles, creating a wonderland for all manner of wildlife.

Strategically located in relation to Big Cypress Swamp, Okaloacoochee Slough, Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, Lake Okeechobee and the Lake Wales Ridge, Fisheating Creek is critical to the long-term welfare of many Florida species native to the area. Fisheating Creek is also the summer home and breeding grounds for the swallowtail kite, which migrates to the area from South America.

I was always curious about the origin of the name, “Fisheating Creek.” The stream was originally named by the Seminole tribes that inhabited the area many centuries ago. They called it,” ThlothlopopkaHatchee,” which translated means the river where fish are eaten.

We paddled the Creek recently, checking to make sure that the water level was not too high nor too low, but just right. This can be an issue at the Creek because if the water level is below 1.5-to 3-feet you will be dragging your kayaks through some of the shallower sections. On the other hand, if the stream is flowing at more than about 500-600 cubic feet/minute the strong current will make your passage through the narrow channels very difficult. Several years ago, I paddled the Creek with some friends who were very experienced kayakers. One of the best paddlers capsized coming downstream and we had a devil of a time getting him back together.

The U.S. Geological Survey posts the stream flow and gage height on their web site, www.waterdata.usgs/fl/current/. Once on the site, go to station # 02256500 for Palmdale, the town nearest the Creek.

The Creek extends both west, where we usually paddle and east toward Lake Okee-

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chobee from the launch at Palmdale.

Lake Okeechobee is about 18 miles east of the launch and Fisheating Creek is one of only two freshwater creeks that feed the lake. I have never tried to get through to Okeechobee, but some friends from Ft. Myers tried and failed several years ago when the Creek became impassable in the Cowbone Marsh area west of the Lake.

The day we paddled, the water level was 3+ feet, just about right for now. The weather was bright and sunny, but much of the wildlife was hiding somewhere else. At this water lever, there are usually several hummocks dry enough to beach your kayak and take a break. Of course, you may have to shoo away a couple of alligators that are sunning themselves there too, but that’s no problem. We did see a lot of alligators and a Blue Heron landing creek-side. Of

course, the cypresses lining the waterway were magnificent as usual.

We returned to the launch at the Outpost, loaded the kayaks and drove the 40-some miles back to Port Charlotte. The attendants that run the Outpost are friendly and helpful and can provide information on kayak rentals, camping facilities and tours of the area. You can also arrange for a shuttle upstream to Burnt Bridge for a leisurely paddle/ drift back downstream to the launch. Visit their web site at www.fisheatingdreekoutpost.com.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers Meet each Wednesday evening at 5 PM sharp at FranzRoss Park adjacent to the YMCA on Quesada.

All are welcome. Call Dave Allen at 941-2352588 for more information.

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OCTOBER 2014

SCUTTLEBUTT

Sometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

HIGHS and LOWS

Checking an Ocean Snapper Farm, in trials at Puerto Rico. Several are in operation.

gists are approaching fish management. Too much releasing, it seems, is keeping trout, bass, and walleye from reaching their ideal size.

HIGH: ROBAR Quantum of the Seasʼ Bionic Bar uses robots to mix drinks. Guests place orders via tablets and phones and then enjoy watching.

LOW: Hopefully they will clean the Christmas ornaments at the Charlotte County Environmental Campus on Harborview, before they hang them.

Storage is very short at this facility - a design flaw that goes back to when it was built.

FWC OFFICERS WERE DISPATCHED to the Raulerson Hospital in Okeechobee regarding a subject suffering from an alligator bite. The subject advised them that he was in the process of cleaning an alligator he had just killed. He took the tape off the mouth of the gator and opened it to look at the teeth when its jaws snapped shut on his left thumb, lacerating it severely. The gator fell on the ground after its jaws closed and a tooth went through the subjectʼs boot. Officers completed an alligator bite report.

FORKED TONGUE DEVILS FWC Investigators responded to a complaint of an individual in Palm Beach County who reportedly might be in possession of snakes illegally.

After making contact with the subject, the subject consented to allow an inspection.

He initially showed the Investigator the nonvenomous snakes in his room and said that was all he had. Further investigation inside of his closet revealed three Monocled Cobras hidden under sheets. Once again, he said that was all he had. Further investigation revealed five copperheads and a whitelipped pit viper hidden under his bathroom sink. It was then discovered that one of his snakes that was under a rock in its enclosure was a black and white spitting cobra.

Initially, he stated it was a non-venomous snake. All of the venomous snakes were seized and turned over to a permitted holding facility. The subject was charged .

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING The Utah Department of Wildlife Resources announced that it will be proposing rule changes for 2015 that encourage anglers to keep their fish. The popularity of catch-andrelease fishing boomed over the last decade, dramatically changing how biolo-

SKIPPER AND HIS MOM Collier FWC officers worked with MOTE Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, SeaWorld Orlando and other agencies to rescue a dolphin calf, named “Skipper.”

Skipper was approximately 16 months old and was observed by dolphin eco tours to have a net wrapped around his fluke.

The biologist came up with a plan to net the dolphin in order to remove the net, place a tracking chip on the dolphin and care for the cut around his fluke. The officers were able to observe Skipper and his mother (Motherʼs name not provided – ED) in Marco River and followed them until they were in shallow enough water to begin the rescue. Due to tide conditions, the officers followed them further into the waters around Keewaydin Island.

Once in the shallow water there, the biologist deployed the net, captured Skipper, cared for the cut and placed a tracking device on him. Skipper was then released back to his mother.

A football sized, self propelled underwater robot used for port security.

Anglers are generally accustomed to the unexpected, but when Steve Bargeron saw a fellow fisherman pull a massive 18-inch “shrimp” out of the water on a dock near Fort Pierce, Bargeron sent photographs to the FWC. Now biologists are trying to narrow down the specific species of the shrimp. The popular consensus is that the large crustacean is actually some kind of overgrown mantis shrimp.

OCTOBER 2014

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Englewood Open Spearfishing Tournament at Cape Haze Marina

No Third Place Was Awarded

Second Place

First Place

Photo Contest

PAGE 21

Honorable Mention

Dave Flower shot this diver climbing aboard with his stringer

Snapper with a headache. “I always like to bleed my fish as soon as I shoot them,” Adam Wilson said. “It helps keep the sharks away from my stringer.”

A moon jelly hovers above photographer Adam Wilsonʼs fin during the Englewood Open Spearfishing Tournament last month.

RESULTS

Grouper 1st Paul Wagenseil 2nd Eric Pinkham

Hogfish 1st Steven Lee 2nd Jason Thompson Snapper 1st Adam Wilson 2nd Christina Lee

Sheepshead: 1st Matt Stephenson

Barracuda 1st Ryan Wandersee 2nd Pat Tormey

Big Lobster: Ryan Wandersee Most Lionfish Darrell Walchle

Largest Lionfish Steven Lee

Smallest Lionfish: John Gurland

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OCTOBER 2014

October - Fishing Forecast

Charlotte Harbor

Frank, at Fishin’ Franks 941- 625-3888

Keeper redfish are scattered at the top of the Harbor. On the west side, most creeks at the north end have lower slot redfish or even smaller ones. On the east side, from Punta Gorda at Ponce Inlet to Mangrove Point, 20 inch seems to be the average there.

Snook fishing is really incredible. October is going to be a knock ‘em dead snook month in the canals in Punta Gorda, Gulf Cove and Port Charlotte. On every third dock you will probably catch a snook. Fish the small lures 3.5 inches or less. If you are looking for oversize snook, use six-inch lures. Storm Twitchin for most and 16-Bombers for the best size fish. Make longer casts with the bigger baits, you’ll cast more but get more exciting hook-ups and better fish.

The nice part of snook now is we have a lot of fish 38- to 44-inches and there are a lot of them.

For those of you with deeper draft boats, Spanish mackerel are at Cape

Haze around Mkr. No. 5.

Up in the middle of the Harbor, at the deep holes, there are ladyfish and jacks on the surface. Surface lures will catch less catfish, but there is no getting away from them. The best lure is a 1/2-ounce Rattletrap in 15 feet of water. Cast and count to 10 before you retrieve. You are liable to get the macks and jacks coming up.

There are sailcats, small gags and goliath laying deep in the holes, so if you are dropping down into it add 4 seconds to your count. With the water this murky I think the Rattletrap annoys them into hitting the dam thing.

There are still a good variety of tarpon up in the Harbor, just west of Pirate Harbor channel and up in the mouth of the Myakka. D.O.A. Bait Busters in purple or root beer, or even light with a green back, are all good. It’s a lot like musky fishing, you put in a lot of time casting to get that one fish, then when you get it, hang on!

Out at Boca Pass there is still quite a bit of tarpon. In all the passes you have Spanish and pompano and we have some really nice flounder coming up this year.

If you are into flounder this is your time. Drift with shrimp or whitebait. There are also quite a few flounder along the beaches now too – decently sized fish, 14- to 16-inches. I would think it’s too early, but here they are!

Landon Ali with a sheepshead and sister Kendra with a little snook

The Jug Creek shoal, that’s where the best size trout are.

North of Pirate Harbor, out on the flat, you’ll have the best numbers of trout. Cape Haze has a mixed bag.

Sharks are slowing down, finally.

There are not as many in the near Gulf, but in the Harbor holes we still have good ‘blacktip style’ sharks. We are hearing less reports of big sharks, but still a few, mostly lemons and nurse sharks.

There are pompano in front of Bull Bay and a few by Burnt Store. Try a bobber for pompano. Use a 1/8 oz jig, with a small hook and a shrimp or small plastic tail.

Let the bobber do the jigging, it seems to be effective. I don’t know, normally it doesn’t work on pompano, but it’s been working. A crappie jig would probably work too, with less than 1/4-inch pieces of peeled shrimp on the hook. Back your drag off a half turn when using braided line, and play them more.

Reminder: Grouper closes early this month.

In the Gulf, there are Spanish mack-

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erel on the hard bottom and you will have lane snapper, porgys and grunts on the near-shore reefs. In 60-feet-plus this is a good time for mixed red grouper and gag grouper and I’m hearing that’s the case all over the place. The closer to 80- feet of water the better, but 60 will do in a pinch.

There are Myan cichlids being caught in the fresher parts of the Port Charlotte canal system, We are identifying these fish for people every other day. Bucktails with reflective maribu seem to be the cichlids lure of choice - small little fuzzy jigs.

Soon we will switch to beetle spins.

Lemon Bay

Jim at Fishermen’s Edge 697-7595

There has been lots of redfish action going on over here. The bigger schools are in Whidden Creek, up in Catfish Creek and there have been a couple in Lemon Bay. A lot of these reds are way over the

OCTOBER 2014

The BIG-4

TARPON Big in the Harbor Juvies in Spring Lake

A catfish and a trout on the same cast

slot, bigger than you can keep for sure. Some guys are catching keepers mixed in with the fish around Oyster Creek.

There are also some bigger schools around Pine Island. They are catching them on white bait and cut mullet and some guys are

OFFSHORE from Capt. Jim OʼBrien

I talked to some of my friends and seen how they done and they have been limiting out on red grouper at 42 to 45 miles out. Most of them are useing mullet, sardines, live pin fish or squirrel fish. A couple of other guys I talked to was fishing closer in, in about 65- to 80-feet of water and not doing too bad on red grouper and snapper. They said they got a lot of shorts, but when they did get a keeper it was 22 to 26-inches.

The lanes and mangs they caught they caught on live shrimp. The snappers was running around 15 to 17 inches. One guy I talked to said he got a nice cobia out on the Bayronto wreck. All in all the fish'n is very good right now and should be getting better.

Now letʼs see what some other folks are catching.

TARPON -- there are still some out off the beaches, but they are starting to thin out and most will be gone soon.

SHARKS -- nice size black tips are being caught on the inshore and offshore reefs. The good baits are chunks of mullet and bonita. If you get any, black tip sharks are delicious, just remember after you catch one and put him in the boat, gut him right away and put

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Big Fish to expect in October

FLOUNDER in the Harbor and along the beach. Theyʼre early!

REDFISH Schools from Lemon Bay to Catfish Creek

using ladyfish chunked dead on the bottom.

One guy likes 4-inch Gulp on a circle hook: let the fish come to you and you don’t have to work. I’ve had guys catching a big variety of stuff: flounder out on the beach and lots of Spanish mackerel; just work the area you are in.

Snapper are close by and around the trestle.

On docks close to the pass, guys are catching lots of keeper size mangs.

And some guys are starting to catch sheepshead. They are showing around the ICW docks. Those fish have a different schedule.

The Spanish are fun. A lot of guys are making a day of snapper, Spanish, trout and reds.

One girl told me there were nice trout in

him in an ice slurry (salt water and ice) This will keep the fish nice an cold until you get back to the dock.

Then cut him into 1- to 2-inch steaks. You can broil him or put him on the grill and my friend you will have some very good eating - Yum !

COBIA -- there are some bruisers on the offshore wrecks if your site fish'n cast a black and silver eel at them. Berkley makes scented ones - or try a nice big pin fish.

BARRACUDA -- are still on just about all the offshore reefs and wrecks. Put on a blue runner or a big lively pin fish and hang on, if you want a fight you will have one.

AJs -- there are a lot of them on just about all the offshore wrecks. Lively blue runners is your choice of baits, but remember, itʼs catch an release only until Jan 1st 2015 RED GROUPER -- are on fire at 40- to 45-miles out. Mostly 10- to 20-pounders are being caught and every one I know is limiting out. Fishing out there is like 30 miles was 15 years ago! Itʼs awesome.

GAG GROUPER -- are chewing good if you get out around the wrecks or ledges an rocks. Pinfish an squir-

SNOOK in the PC and PGI canals at night

PAGE 23

Gulf Temps are 83

The Harbor is cooling off. Rain has changed the salinity.

Lemon Bay over by Lemon Bay Park. ‘Shrimp on a poppin cork,’ she said.

There are still tarpon around, 40- to 50 pounders with the bigger ones up in the Harbor.

Some Boca guides are still running tarpon trips on the outgoing tide late at night and early am.

Snook are being caught, a lot of little snook around here says snook in the future will be awesome. Keeper snook are now up at the Tom Adams bridge, fish in the 28- 32 inch range.

There are still some sharks. Bonnet sharks are the biggest ones still around. Some guys are catching the smaller black tips too.

All in all, Fishing has been pretty good and should only get better this month. rel fish are the hot ticket.

MANGROVE SNAPPER AN LANE SNAPPER -- a lot of them are being caught in 60- to 80feet of water.

They are running 15- to 17- inches on the inshore reefs. Bigger ones are farther out. Best bait is still shrimp Photo from Glen Ballinger Well folks that's all I got fer ya this month. If you want to book an offshore charter with us aboard the Predator II give us a call at (941) 473 - 2150.

BackBay Xtremes Capt Dave Stephens www.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

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95˚ 90˚ 85˚ 80˚ 72˚ 70˚ 68˚ 50˚ 45˚ FISHING RIGHT NOW:

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