water life jan 2007

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay

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20072007FishingFishing

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Keeping Boaters and Fishermen InformedKeeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed

January 2007January 2007

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W a t e rW a t e r L I F EL I F EMANGROVEMANGROVE

DAMAGEDAMAGEAerial SurveyAerial Survey

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FISHINGFISHINGREPORTREPORT

There wereThere werebig onesbig ones

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InvasiveInvasiveSpecies:Species:

GiantGiantBarnaclesBarnacles

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P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J a n u a r y 2 0 0 7

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorEnvironmentalists who suc-

cessfully tapped taxpayer moneyto buy thousands of acres ofCalifornia coastline to stopdevelopment are now targetingthe Pacific Ocean, with a plan tocurb human activity by buyingboats, fishing permits and possi-bly even underwater land. Theplan has renewed the strugglebetween wealthy, liberal, envi-ronmental groups and Californiafishermen who fear they willgradually be booted off theocean. The plan offers no dis-tinction between longliners whotake tens-of-thousands of poundsof fish and recreational anglers.The plan is ‘No Fishing!’ period!A December newspaper head-

line in the Arizona Republicread: “California Olans toSteadily Curb Ocean Fishing.”A map showed the Californiacoastline checkerboarded withmarine protected areas.At the bottom of the map, in

very light, very small type, wasthe name: Ocean Conservancy.The Ocean Conservancy is a

group that openly advocates‘zero mortality for marine mam-

mals by 2010 and drastically cur-tailed fishing worldwide.The Ocean Conservancy says

no fishing networks represent anew approach to saving theworld’s ‘beleaguered’ oceans andthey are now seeking bondmoney from voters to buy outfishing boats and licenses. Theyalso want public funds for oceanmapping, remote vehicles withvideo cameras and to pay fortheir ‘researchtime.’ Worse yet,they say “California’s planshould serve as a model for otherstates.”The Ocean Conservancy is a

group to watch out for. They aretrying to sell their no-fishingidea as a ‘Second New Deal.’

“We’re doing something ashistoric for the Oceans as whatTeddy Roosevelt did 100 yearsago when he created the NationalParks and Forests,” WarrenCabbot of the Conservancy said,adding that “California, whichoversees its coastal waters up tothree miles from shore, will adda new level of protection by lim-iting fishing in it’s richestmarine ecosystems – coastalbays, estuaries, lagoons, kelpforests, undersea canyons, rocky

reefs and seagrass beds.” Headded “The protected areas willinclude marine preserves whereall fishing will be banned.”“Marine protected areas” a

term familiar to those of usinvolved in the big manatee lie afew years ago.

Personally, if I learned onething from the manatee issue, itwas ‘figures don’t lie, but liarscan figure,’ and just like in themanatee issue, I want to see thedata, – and I don’t mean just thedata their own scientists havecompiled. I want all the data.

Fishermen need watch theOcean Conservancy carefully andwe need to be vigilant aboutwhat happens in CharlotteHarbor. And we need to makesure that what happens inCalifornia stays in California.

J a n u a r y 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3

Keep i t in Cal i forn ia

What is this Fish?The coolest thing about fishing is still the stuff you never saw before. Take this fish, for example. Capt Ron

Blago sent us this photo late in December with the following message: “What is this fish? I caught it last weekin a brackish water canal in Rotunda. There were blue crabs in the canal. The fish was about 12 inches long andwas caught on a 4 inch, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow. I showed the picture around and haven't had any two peopleagree on it yet.” So we showed the picture to several other captains and still, no one could agree.

Then we e-mailed the photo to Dr. Tom Fraser who has an M.S. and Ph.D. in Marine Biology and is the authoror co-author on 40 peer reviewed scientific papers. Tom was appointed by Governor's Graham and Martinez toserve on the Florida Marine Fisheries Commission from 1986 through 1993. He served as chairman of the com-mission for 4 years. Tom wrote back: “This fish looks like a gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum. It has a sub-terminal mouth and an elongated last dorsal ray (like tarpon) -- I can't see the last ray in this photo. If I could seethis ray then it is definitely this species. This species rarely bites a hook, can be found in brackish water and isusually 9-14 inches, but reaches 20 inches. It is native and widespread in freshwater. It is in the Peace andMyakka Rivers and can be found in lakes and reservoirs.” Thanks Tom, and Happy New Year!


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LETTERS TO WATER LIFE Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

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© 2007 Vol VI No. 1 Water LIFENo part of this publication may be

copied or reproduced without the writ-ten permission of both publishers

Contributing Editors:Fishing / Environment: Capt. Ron BlagoCharlotte Harbor: Capt. Robert Moore

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonTechnical Advisor: Mike Panetti

Sailing Advisor: Bill DixonKayaks: David Allen

Sea Grant: Betty Staugler

on the COVER:A spotted sea trout, caught on a fly in a 20

knott wind. See Capt. Chuck EichnerPage 16

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

Links to Realtors: Connect with our realestate advertisersTide Graphs: For local watersWeather: Links to all of our favorite sites.Back editions: Pages of previous editionsArtificial Reefs: Lat. and Long local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original plan tocreate sanctuaries and refuges, as spelledout by the United Nations in 1984Kids Cup Updates and registration formsASA1000 Photography and Hot Rod Cars

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Hi Michael,I just read Fishin' Frank's opinionabout the sale of ʻblack saltysʼ inWater Life Magazine forDecember 2006. Looks like aloop hole of some kind. Thefreshwater rules 68A-23.008(2)clearly does not allow for thetransport of this fish in the Stateof Florida. It is no surprise thatgoldfish or varieties of goldfishare not mentioned in the saltwa-ter rules. Just because otheractions have been taken regard-ing grass carp or the sale ofgoldfish in the aquarium tradehas nothing to do with allowingimportation as bait for fishingpurposes. There are no controlswhere 'black salties' will be usedby fishermen except maybe atKey West. A non-gold variety ofgoldfish has a clear advantageto becoming established inFlorida because predation levelswill be much lower than on agold colored fish. If fishersbelieve this is the best bait sincesliced bread for carp, then blacksalties will be used in freshwater, tidal fresh and estuarinewaters – all locations for escapeand potential survival.Florida has enough trouble with

non-native species. Let's not addanother one just because it mayonly live for a few hours in salt-water and is a new hot bait. Thisvariety is not a salt water fish.Tom Fraser

MikeNot to be picky, but from the(sailing) photo (in the Decemberedition) it appears that ʻOui Ouiʼwas on port tack (wind comingover the left side, boom off cen-ter to the right) with ʻFrisbeeʼ onStarboard tack. In that case,ʻFrisbeeʼ had the right of way,ʻOui Ouiʼ correctly and graciouslyabandoned the tonnage rule (bigboats go where they want whenthey want ) in favor of theRacing Rules of Sailing.Thanks againBill Dixon

Water LIFE:I enjoyed the December 2006,article on green mussels. Thankyou for providing information onstate regulations and describinghow readers should harvest onlyfrom shellfish harvesting areaswhen those areas are in theʻopenʼ status. Your readers caneasily access this information by

reviewing our website at:www.FloridaAquaculture.comOur website has detailed mapsof state shellfish harvest areas,along with the daily open/closestatus report for each area. Ifyour readers have any additionalquestions, they can contact thePort Charlotte office of theDivision of Aquaculture at 941-

255-7405. In addition to thewebsite, this telephone numberhas a 24 hour recording detailingwhich areas are opened orclosed (convenient if one doesnot have access to a computer).You have a great paperChris BrooksEnvironmental Services,Shellfish Assessment Section.

For those of you wondering what Santa does after Christmas, thismay be the answer: Capt Angel Torrez sent us this photo of one ofhis charters on Charlotte Harbor. ʻSantaʼ it seems favors snook,which he is about to re-gift since snook fishing is closed until theend of this month. And, sorry Santa, we couldnʼt get in touch withyour guiding ʻAngelʼ in time to get your earthly ID.


By Capt. Betty S tauglerWater LIFE / Sea GrantLast month, during a talk with the

Gulf Cove Fishing Club, one of themembers asked about new marine inva-sive exotics. Wouldn’t you know, thenext day I get an email about an exoticbarnacle that was identified off St.Augustine. A couple of days later, Iheard that an exotic red lionfish was cap-tured in the Gulf off Pinellas County.So after an extensive search, this iswhat I found out from the University ofFlorida News:The barnacle in question is a giant

pink acorn barnacle (Magabalanus coc-copoma). The barnacle, known to growat least as large as a woman’s palm, isseen as a potential ‘fouling nuisance.’Experts aren’t sure what the oversizedimpact will be, but it was spotted inlate October in St.Augustine and last yearin Port St. Lucie.Environmental officialsdiscovered the jumbo-sized crustacean for thefirst time in Savannah,Ga., earlier this sum-mer.How this barnacle

ended up in Florida remains a mystery.It’s native to the Pacific Ocean, fromMexico to Ecuador, but in the last fewyears has been reported in Brazil, Texasand Louisiana.Officials say the new barnacle could

compete with other sea creatures forfood and has the potential to clog com-mercial intake or drainage pipes. And atthe least, they can cause headaches forboaters. By attaching themselves tohulls or propellers, they cause frictionas the boat cuts through the water,slowing it and forcing the engine toguzzle fuel.In 1999, the Asian green mussel was

identified in Tampa Bay. Ittook only three years for it to

make its way to northeast Florida,demonstrating the resilience of invasiveexotics in marine environments.In other marine exotic news,

researchers at the Florida Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission'sFish andWildlife Research Institutehave received the first-known lionfish(Pterois volitans) caught in Florida'sGulf of Mexico coast waters. The lion-fish was caught by someone in TreasureIsland (Pinellas County) in earlyNovember. The fish measured slightlymore than a foot long and weighedalmost two and a half pounds. Testingindicates the fish was a mature male.

A red tide bloom present in the areawhere the fish was retrieved and testingindicates the lionfish was exposed to aminimal amount of brevetoxin, thetoxin produced by the red-tide organismKarenia brevis. This suggests the lion-fish was not in Gulf waters for a longtime.The red lionfish is venomous and can

inject venom with the dorsal, anal andpelvic fin spines, which may cause

severe local pain, numbness, paralysis,respiratory illness and, in rare cases,death. Serious wounds have also resultedfrom the careless handling of recentlydead specimens. Lionfish should betreated with care at all times.Red lionfish are a food fish in some

parts of its native range, but are mainlyan ornamental fish of importance in theinternational aquarium fish trade. Redlionfish occur naturally throughout thewestern Pacific Ocean from both south-ern Japan and Korea to the east coast ofAustralia, Indonesia, Micronesia andFrench Polynesia, and in the SouthPacific Ocean from western Australia tothe Marquesas Islands. They have beenreported off Bermuda and from RhodeIsland to Florida.The sightings in Florida waters have

been off the coasts of Jacksonville, St.Augustine, Palm Beach and Boca Raton.Several possible vectors for introduc-

tion are possible for the lionfish. Atleast six lionfish were liberated intoBiscayne Bay when a beach-side aquari-um broke during Hurricane Andrew inAugust 1992. The most probable expla-nation for the arrival of the lionfishpopulation in the Atlantic Ocean is viathe aquarium trade. It is also possiblethat lionfish may have been transportedthrough ballast water of ships travelingfrom the Pacific Ocean (USGS 2006).Established non-natives can become

invasive species, which have the poten-tial to negatively impact native speciesand natural habitats. If you encounter amarine species that has been identifiedas an invasive exotic, please don’trelease it back into the environment.For more information on exotic

species, visit the USGS NonindigenousSpecies website where you can querytheir database of observations by speciestype and region http://nas.er.usgs.gov/.

Betty Staugler is the Sea Grant Agent for

Marine Invasions

Above and left: A giant barnaclefeeding and in hand.Right: the venomous red lionfish


Screaming Reels:Screaming Reels:Gunshots onthe Harbor

Capt. Andy MedinaWater LIFECharlotte HarborLate last month there

was the smell of salt outon the water ofCharlotte Harbor fromthe lack of rain. Also inthe air was the smell ofgun powder. That’sright, gun powder. On arecent outing my tour-ney partner, TrentCheatham, and I were in the Myakka cut-off and all across the harbor gun shotswere ringing out.I knew they were duck hunting, but I

was unaware we had so many people tak-ing advantage of water fowl season herein Charlotte Harbor.Let me tell you this quick story before

I get on with it. I recently purchased anew boat and before it hit the water theirwere a few things I had to do ... or justwanted to do. Power Pole, jack plate,hydraulic steering ... all the things I justcan’t live without.When all the improvements were done

it was time to give her the wet test.When we got down to the water, a

group of bird watching enthusiast werecounting and taking pictures of eagles,ospreys and other different water fowl visi-ble from the ramp They were even niceenough to let me look through their tele-scope. While I was looking through theirexpensive glass, coming up to the rampwas, yep – you guessed it – a camo-paint-ed jon boat with a man who has been outall morning bird hunting. What a contrast.Bird lovers and hunters in the same spot.People who know me know I have a goodsense of humor and in the words of somefamous poet, “that’s funny and I don’t carewho you are.” On this day we were laugh-ing hard.This actually seemed like something we

would love to do. While season is in, takethe boat, load up with guns instead of rodsand reels, and instead of bait fill thelivewell with 12 gauge bird shot.I did some digging and found out it’s

not that simple. First is the huntinglicense, check got that, but I don’t have awater fowl stamp, which is required bystate law if you want to hunt water fowl.Next comes ammo, check got lots of

that. Wrong! It has to be non-toxic loads –so you don’t endanger other species ofbirds with toxins and lead. And there are a

lot of other rules: shooting hours being ahalf hour before sunrise to sunset; nofirearm larger than a 10 gauge; not to men-tion bag limits and you can’t have youroutboard running when you are shooting.But wait, here’s the kicker, bird identifica-tion!There are only a handful of ducks you

can shoot. I’m a fishing guide. I know myfish but I really don’t claim to have a vastknowledge of bird and duck species.The season is only from Dec.9th to Jan

28th. And that is subject to change. Somy suggestion is: get a good guide forbirds and ducks and make sure you huntthe legal water fowl. Treat that bird as if itwas on America’s Most Wanted. Take areally good long look at it before yousqueeze off a round. Otherwise, if Mr.FWC catches you, it might wind up beingthe highest price you have ever paid for amealI have decided I will scrap the idea of

hunting ducks this year and stick to hunt-ing for things that either hop on four legs,or things that swim.As far as the fishing goes, there are

plenty of redfish and snook in the upperharbor. Fishing around docks and tied-upboats is still your best bet. And shrimp forbait is the way to go. The ‘hand-picks’have been unusually large this year and Idon’t think there is a snook or redfish outtheir that will turn them down. With thecold weather here it is also time to trollbig diving plugs on the artificial reefs forgrouper. The grouper have already startedtheir winter feed on the inshore bays. ABomber or Yozuri Crystal trolled at theright speed will usually produce good win-ter grouper.Don’t worry, spring will be here soon

enough and you can get back to normalfishing. Remember, be safe on the waterand have a Happy New Year!

Capt. Andrew Medina can be reached at(941) 456-1540 or on the web at


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Two great buildinglots in CollingswoodPointe area with 80 fton the canal lots 55 &56 are being sold sep-arately for $199,900each or can be soldtogether for $399,800.Only minutes to theHarbor thru theManchester Waterway. Call Today!! MLS # 619627.Call McCarthy Realty at 941-235-5648

Enjoy breath-taking panoram-ic views of thelake from yourbackyard. This2/2/1 has 1432sq ft and hasbeen completely remolded with wood cabinets, 17 inchceramic tile, new carpet, windows, roof, and A/C. Nothing todo but move in. $ 244,900 MLS # 646886 Call John at 941-204-9428

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By Adam WilsonWater Life UnderwaterThe wind was

screaming the night ofSeptember 9th, 1919,on the island of KeyWest. Wind gusts wereover 150 miles perhour. Distress signalspoured across the radiowaves as ships at seawere caught in thepowerful category-fourhurricane and began tolose their strugglewith the sea.As Key West was being pummeled,

the cargo steam-ship Bayronto, en routeto France with a cargo of wheat, wasunknowingly sailing straight into thestorm. Midday on the 10th the 400 ft.freighter met the hurricane just north ofthe islands of the Tortugas.Despite surviving a torpedo attack

just one year earlier during WW-I andnow battling massive waves for over aday, the storm proved too much for herto sail through.By the 11th she had been blown

nearly 100 miles to the north and wastaking on water. She slipped beneaththe surface of the gulf, 30 miles off thecoast of Boca Grande. When it wasover, the storm had taken hundreds ofunsuspecting lives throughout the Keysand in the Florida straights, but amaz-ingly the entire 48 person crew of theBayronto had been rescued.

I have logged close to 50 dives onthe wreck of the Bayronto and I still getexcited when we are suiting up to dropthe 70-plus feet to her aging hull.Unlike the dozens of pre-scrubbed,stripped and sterile ships intentionallysunk along the east coast for artificialreefs, the Bayronto was sent to her finalresting spot courtesy of mother nature.There is a fascination with most

divers about ships that went down dueto storms, torpedoes or unknown caus-es. It’s as if you can imagine the dramathat must have unfolded as you swimacross the decks of doomed ships.

For being on the bottom over 87years Bayronto is in surprisingly goodcondition. Resting perfectly upsidedown, her keel points skyward and her

cargo hold can still be penetrated fromthe bow to the boiler room.Swimming off the wreck in a

northerly direction the debris fieldbecomes immediately apparent, withmetal junk, bulkheads and un-identifi-able scrap extending out several hundredyards. Besides the large amount ofgame fish to take aim at, one can easi-ly be distracted by the abundance ofshells, especially the large spiny oys-ters that cover the hull inside and out.Sometimes covering every availablesquare inch of rusty sheet metal, newgenerations cling to the empty shells oftheir parents for survival. Treasurehunters are still discovering impressivefinds of brass artifacts, china, machin-ery and personal items.

Visibility this far from shore canbe incredible, especially throughout thewinter. Maximum depth to the sand isabout 100 feet so it is considered anadvanced dive. On my first dive here Iwas overwhelmed by the colossal sizeof the ship, and although it is easyenough to circumnavigate the entirewreck in one dive, I now find it moreinteresting to investigate smaller por-tions of the ship more closely. Withthe bow compartment being myfavorite spot. The eerie sounds of bub-bles escaping the bottom of the shipcombined with the light seepingthrough the swiss-cheese hull-platesmakes for a very impressive atmos-phere and a must-do Florida dive.On calm weekends you will find

multiple boats on the wreck, so getthere early and be courteous of otherstrying to anchor or fish in the samearea. GPS coordinates are 26 45.800 N82 50.840 W

The Wreck ofB a y r o n t o

Diving with Adam Wilson

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Above: One of the only pictures ofBayronto – Before being sold, her origi-nal name was “Tonto”

Right: Dennis Jordan, Jim Joseph,Jeff Steele with a porthole recoveredand then restored

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorMy first impression was; It’s not as bad as I expected,

but by the time I left I realized it was worse. Approaching the harbor from the east, I cruised over

Punta Gorda at 1,000 feet and pointed the nose of the lit-tle Cessna at Ponce deLeon inlet. I had expected to seebroken and dead mangrove trees everywhere, but the car-pet of mangroves near Ponce Point was lush and green.There were a number of dead trees, but not the number Iexpected to see. Out over the water, I dropped down to600 feet and circled around once at the mouth of the oldBarge Canal to make the first few pictures. There were

dead trees that circled the little creek there, but the shore-line growth didn’t look too bad. Click. I flew across Mangrove point where dead trees were

mixed in with the forrest. On the north side it didn’tlook too bad. Click again. Then I moved on, towardsAlligator Creek.As I approached Alligator Creek the damage appeared

worse. At the creek mouth the trees were mostly dead,but there was still a lot of live growth nearby. If the the-ory about new trees re-prorogating from old growth near-by holds true, then this area might recover byitself...someday. Another click and I rolled the planelevel and added a little more power. I was now pointedsouth where things immediately got much worse. The area known as Silcox Key, about midway

between Alligator Creek and Pirate Harbor looked like itwas stomped on. Which is probably not too far fromwhat actually happened. Here, and on down to PirateHarbor the mangroves really took a beating. Wholeislands were dead or dieing. You could see the twistingpattern of the voracious wind. I looked for fish. At thisaltitude on a clear day (like this) and in clear water (likewe had below), I can usually spot some fish swimmingaround. On this day I saw none.I made some more pictures and headed further south. The storm had stayed away from the east shoreline in

the vicinity of Burnt Store and the trees there appearedmostly normal. Further to the south, in the area fisher-men call Two-Pine, the storm had come in a little closerand there, the storm’s effect was again visible. So far, two great places to fish (the islands north of

Pirate Harbor and those at Two Pine) had been hit thehardest. I poked around, the propeller boring holes in the sky,

and me looking down. I was still looking for fish andfor signs of new tree growth, but I saw neither.My next destination was the bottom end of Gasparilla

Sound, so I pointed the plane north-west, from Two-Pineand crossed the harbor at 500 feet.I came up to the shore line around Sandfly Key. Bull

Bay and the Islands that encircle it also took a hard hitfrom Charley. There were dead trees along the shorelineand on the inside islands as well. Ditto for Turtle Bay

and its south east facing shorelines.I flew over to Cape Haze, all the

while looking down at the details ofdevastation. Then I crossed over thetip of the Cape and looked up theshoreline to the north.My heart sank. The most pristine

part of our uninhabited shoreline hadbeen obliterated. It was as if some

P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J a n u a r y 2 0 0 7

THE VIEW FROM HERECharlotte Harborʼs Mangrove Crisis

Numbers on the photographs shown here correspond withlocations on the Charlotte Harbor map below.

17

25

22

19


The photos shown here were made on December12, 2006. Black dots on the map on the facing

page indicate the path of the center of the eye ofhurricane Charley on August 13, 2004.

great monster had plucked out the first 100feet of shoreline trees all the way up theharbor, fed them into a giant wood-chipperwhich in turn spit them all back out at thewater’s edge. Chipped, broken, bleached,dead wood. One long brown stripe ofsplinters. That image is burned in mybrain. Pictures do not do justice to thetotality of devastation north from CapeHaze.The stripe runs up the shoreline all the

way past the TV towers near HalfwayPoint. There were a few trees growing hereand there, and one thin 500-foot line ofgrowth amidst miles of ruin. Clearly thiswas the worst. Past Halfway Point there was a lesser

degree of devastation until I got to themouth of the Myakka where, from therearound Hog Island, the damage was mini-mal. Around the Port Charlotte Beach

Complex to the US 41 Bridges the damagewas again intense, but there it took its tollon houses and peoples lives.But the image that stays with me is

that north of Cape Haze. I don’t think I’llever forget my first look at that shorelinefrom the air.

2 5

6

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118

By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

I keep a list of all the news-worthyevents that happen during the year.Events I think have an impact on fish-ing and boating. At the end of the year Icondense the list down to the top 10 Ithink will have an impact on how wesend our time on the water. Some itemsgot a lot of coverage and others barely amention in the local press. So here’s mylist for 2006:

The locks at South Gulf Covewere finally repaired and put back inoperation. During the last year I did alittle exploring in those canals and Ifound good numbers of large mouthbass, snook and tarpon with virtuallyno fishing pressure. Don’t be surprisedto hear about another boat ramp goingin South Gulf Cove.

The lock on the ManchesterWaterway is going to be removed. Allthe commissioners had to do was payoff the right guy. In order to get any-thing done on the water, the cost of thepermits and the environmental and engi-neering studies necessary to get the per-mits is now greater than 50-percent ofthe cost. Doing the actual work is thecheapest part of the job.

Taxes I normally don’t complain toomuch about taxes but this year’s realestate tax bill was a killer. I have nocomplaints about the $2.75 I give to theWest Coast Inland Navigation District .They do a lot for us boaters. Or the$13.26 I paid to the Stump Pass BeachRenourishment; after all they did dredgeStump Pass last year. I can even justifythe $29.05 I gave to the So. WestFlorida Water Management District.They are one of the grouts that give outthe permits. What I can’t understand iswhy the taxes on my little, homesteadedfishing shack went up 25%. Betweeninsurance and taxes; my neighbors and I

are feeling like we are being forced tomove out. By the way does anyone inEnglewood know why I’m now payingmore to the fire district than I am to theSheriff’s department.Once again we find ourselves on the

brink of environmental disaster (accord-ing to some folks). The earth is gettingwarmer, CO2 levels in the atmospherearegetting higher, solar storms on thesun are getting bigger, and the magneticfield of the earth is getting weaker.When I pass on, I want my tombstoneto read ‘Everything was working finewhen I left’.

Deaths Florida leads the nation inregistered boats with over a million.Unfortunately, we also lead in boatingdeaths with 88 in 05 (2006 numbers arenot out yet). There were 667 boatingaccidents with serious bodily injuries.After reviewing the mortality data, itappears the deadliest scenario is a 14ftjon boat on a freshwater lake, packedwith guys not wearing life jackets, whohave been drinking. Who would havethought that?

Licenses The number of people whofish in America; both freshwater andsaltwater is declining and has for the lasttwo years. The number of licenses soldin Florida is going down pretty quicklyconsidering the increase in total popula-tion. If you don’t want fishing to fallout of favor; you better drag your kidsaway from the computer or the TV andtake them fishing. Don’t blame me ifvideo games and text messaging becomeOlympic sports.

The FWC says that snook, redfishand grouper populations are not improv-ing as fast as they would like so expectto see changes in the slot limits. TheFeds are ready to close grouper fishingin federal waters this winter for recre-ational as well as commercial fishermen.That’s going to really hurt the offshorefishing guides. The days of coming backwith 20 pounds of grouper fillets areover. Anyone know where I can catchsome of those Asian catfish that a fewlocal restaurants were caught passing offas grouper?

The clean-up from HurricaneCharley is officially over. Thanks to alot of folks, especially SWFWMD whospearheaded the operation; tons of debriswere removed from our waterways. Oneof the side benefits was that CharlotteCounty started a derelict boat programto remove abandoned vessels from ourwaterways. Thanks to MAC, Sea Grantand particularly Bob Hebert of CharlotteCounty we can take care of the problem.

Best book I read last year wasFreakonomics by Steve Levitt &Stephen Dubner. Sort of an economistspin of real life problems. Best quotefrom the book “Working together jour-nalists and experts are the architects ofmuch conventional wisdom – conven-

tional wisdom must be simple,convenient, comfortable and com-forting – though not necessarilytrue.”

Red Tide Hysteria took oversouthwest Florida in 2006. Reportscame in all summer long about outbreakfrom Naples to Tampa. You couldn’t gotwo days without seeing a story abouthow bad the red tide was here in thelocal waters. That was the conventionalwisdom. In reality, 2006 was half as badas 2005 according to the scientists atMote and the FWC. Remember the deadzone of 2005? Well it came back to lifein 2006. We did have a few bad weeks,but nothing like the summer of 05.What we did have was significant eco-nomic effects of negative red tide public-ity. State economist have just finished areport that basically says that if peoplebelieve that red tide is present; water-front business (hotels, restaurants, boatrentals, bait shops and guides) canexpect a 30-percent decrease in revenue.Red tide will always be with us and con-stant media attention on its presencewithout putting it in perspective ( afterall we still have murder, death and dis-ease here too), we only hurt a lot ofpeople who are just trying to make aliving. Let the scientists do their joband find out what we can do about redtide.

The top story of the year has tobe the de-listing of the manatee fromendangered to threatened by the FWC.Its not exactly a done-deal yet, but amajor moral victory for those who saidall along that the manatee populationhas been steadily increasing for 30years. There are so many manatees now that

they are starting to leave town. Thissummer they found one in the HudsonRiver and last month they found one inthe Mississippi near Memphis. Remindsme of an argument we had several yearsago with some scientist who swore thata manatee couldn’t survive the 90 mileswim to Cuba ... now they find one1500 miles away in New York City. Iguess that proves we still need moreresearch on the manatee. As far as the Save the Manatee Club

is concerned, they have fallen on hardtimes. For the second year in a row theyhave spent more money than they havetaken in. It’s funny how all those otherenvironmental groups that supported theSMC in their lawsuit have droppedthem, now that they can no longer makemoney. I guess the SMC is going tolearn one of the basic laws of nature –only the strong survive.

MIke

Not on of Capt Ronʼs top-10 picks, but still a newsworthy item was Klaus Niggle who did aphoto layout on the white pelicans of the Gasparilla Sound for National Geographic maga-zine. He used a giant hollow white pelican as a camera blind to get close to the real birds.


Top 10 News Items of 2006

J a n u a r y 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 3

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By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Inshore FishingFisherman are notorious for creating

names to describe things found in the fish-ing world. It could be the name for a secretspot, a technique or just about anything todo with the marine environment while inpursuit of their favorite fish. I have myown vocabulary of fishing words that onlymy closest and longest standing fishingbuds understand. Some words are devised asa result of an observation or fishingmethod that the normal dictionary has yetto define. Some are the result of an excit-ing time where someone blurts out some-thing funny and the name sticks or perhapsa fishing spot that has some historical sig-nificance and as a result a name is chosen.From saltwater to freshwater there aremany words that crossover and are com-monly used. The words below are a briefcompilation of terms that readily come tomind. Some will be quite obvious to youbut not necessarily to the next fisherman.They are in no particular order. Here goes

Grand S lam- Locally on CharlotteHarbor it means a remarkable catch of alegal Snook, Redfish and Trout all in thesame day.

Whitebait- This generally describesthe silver/white sided baitfish used to catchmost inshore and offshore fish. To most itmeans the pilchard or small scaled sardine.

Oyster Bed-A large rock like outcropping situated onthe flats. At a distance it really doesnítlook like oysters just a rock mound. Agood thing to fish around but a bad thingto run into on high tide.

Nervous Water-A subtle ripple pattern on the surface thatindicates baitfish or possibly gamefish justbeneath the surface.

Pins- A popular summertime baitfishknown as the pinfish which is terrific bothinshore and offshore.

P o t h o l e -Typically refers to an opening in shallowwater grassbeds identified with a sandy bot-tom. It could be as big as a basketball orthe size of a Mack truck. Fish drop into thepotholes on low tide.

Horse- Aggressively reeling in a fishapplying lots of pressure. Horsing a fish inoften results in a broken line.

Red- The abbreviated word for redfishor red drum.

Dai sy Chain- An expression todescribe feeding tarpon that are followingeach other in a circular pattern. The site ofthis will make your heart pound whenapproaching with a fly or bait – oftenresulting in a bad cast!

Hawg - A common expression todescribe a large fish.

Skunked- If the fish gods are not infavor and you didnít catch any fish, thenyou got skunked.

Flood- A tidal expression meaning thehigher tide phase.

Ebb- A tidal expression which refers toan outgoing tide.

Meat S tick- A very heavy duty rodused to horse a fish in or to have extra con-trol. Often used to pull grouper from thewrecks.

Guides Release- When fighting out afish and the fish gets off at boatside at theend of the fight, without having to de-hookthe fish. The guide doesn’t have to get hishands dirty.

Professional Over-run- A nice wayof saying that you screwed up your bait-casting reel when casting and the linespools up wildly and tangled.

Birds Nest- A cast with a spinningreel where loose line gets piled up in thereel on the retrieve. Another nice way todescribe a casting goof up.

Rats- A local word to describe a smallredfish generally under 18 inches.

Drag- The tension adjustment on a reelthat controls the resistance to a large fishpulling in order to prevent the line frombreaking.

Honey-hole- A hot fishing spot thatis holding a lot of fish. Usually you keepthis spot to yourself.

Texas Rig- Nothing to do with oil. Amethod to rig a bait or plastic lure wherethe hook is embedded in the body of thebait making it snag free.

Hole Shot- Describes how fast yourboat gets up on plane. A combination ofacceleration and the right propeller gives

you a good hole shot which is importantfor any shallow water fisherman.

Bow To The King- A term used intarpon fishing whereby you drop your rodallowing slack in the line at the moment atarpon jumps skyward.

Hot S tick- The fisherman in the boatwho is catching the fish. He has the hotrod or hot stick and may be just lucky oris presenting the bait just right. Eitherway, everybody else is jealous.

West/East Wall - The wall is the lineof mangroves on the eastern side of TurtleBay. The east wall is the mangrove shore-line on the eastern land side of theCharlotte Harbor. At a distance they appearas a wall.

Two Pines- A local expression for amangrove lined area on the east wall southof Burnt Store Marina.

Spooled- When a huge fish is takingdrag and running all of the line off yourreel. Your fish is out of control and youcan’t stop him.

Smoker- A slang name for a kingmackerel. If you ever hook one of theseincredibly fast and hard fighting fish, youwill understand the name. Your reel will begetting spooled so fast your drag may startsmoking.

Sawed Off- When a fish runs hard intothe mangroves, around a dock piling orinto something sharp on the bottom. Thegive and take of line against the object mayresult in getting sawed off or cut off. Sometimes fishing words and expres-

sions are influenced by the beverage of the

day. Either way, they can be funny andmany expressions eventually become com-mon in the fisherman’s repertoire, butoften only the locals know the meaning.What a great sport where words can be spo-ken with significant meaning yet areonlyunderstood by another fisherman!

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The Water LIFE Kids Cup Tournament is set to coincidewith the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup that comes to town May 4-6 (the following weekend). The top-5 Kids Cup anglers will fish onthe final day of the Redfish Cup and weigh in on the ESPN2 stage.We are going to tag some if not all the fish we release this year andwe are thinking about an optional ‘boat performance test’ to go

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PAPAYASA cluster ofpapayas hangs froma tree on a vacantlot in Port Charlotte.It will probably beApril or May beforethese fruits areready to harvest.Commercially,papayas are har-vested until the treebecomes too tall,and the fruit growstoo high, for grow-ers to pick themeconomically


By Fishin FrankWater LIFE Port Charlotte

Ready to try something a little differ-ent? You all know I think CharlotteHarbor is great, but every once in a whilea change of scenery is needed. So if yourvehicle gets like mine (about ten M.P.G.when you pull your boat) this trip willcost about $38 in gas, not including thegas for the boat. Travel time is 1 hour 30minutes, each way. We’re going to thepower plant, at Apollo Beach.

To get there take I-75 north to exit 246.Turn left on Big Bend road to U.S. 41.Now here is a choice: left is a pay-to-launch ramp, and to the right is a freeramp.

The ramp to the left is almost 2 miles,at Apollo Beach Blvd. The marina is at theend of the road. It will cost $10 to launchthe boat and park. The area is fenced in,bait, drinks and snacks are available. It is alittle expensive, but you can start fishingas soon as you leave the launch. You canfish here in high winds because you are inthe canal. Snook and trout fishing in thiscanal is great.

Robert caught a half dozen snook in the2 hours we fished there using a 3-DFingerling/ghost. In the canals there arelots of docks and overhanging trees to castat. The most productive places we foundwere at the corners whereever two of thecanals met. The fishing under and alongthe docks was ok, but not as good as atthe junctions.

The trout fishing is good in the canals.We saw a few boats trolling by and theywere catching trout just dragging lures. Iasked what they were fishing for andeveryone said ‘snook.’ It seemed like agreat way to snook-fish for trout.

We smoked ‘em on the snook by spotcasting at the docks and canal ends. Fromthe boat ramp you make a left turn to getout. We fished the ends of every canal onthe way. It’s easy to find your way out ofthe canals or back in by simply watchingfor the smoke stacks at the power plant.

The sea wall along the power plant isalso good fishing. You will see the localsholding along the side of the wall castingover it. Make sure you stay out of the ‘noentry zone’ on the south end.

To the left, you can see Tampa Bay.The fishing at the mouth of the bargeentrance is good from what we were told.

In the distance, maybe a mile or two,are a group of islands people camp on. Itis easier to get to those islands from theother ramp, so let’s try:

Back to the decision point at Big Bendroad and U.S. 41 (where we turned left forthe pay launch). This time let’s turn rightand head north on 41 just past a bridge onyour left. This is a large boat ramp withlots of parking and great access. Charlotte(reedy-greedy) County could learn alot bygoing to look at the way other county'sspend money on useful parks ... but thenthey probably couldn’t find their wayhome again. (Would that be a bad thing?)

Anyway, launch your boatand start fishing the bridge.Then start working your wayalong the river banks, castingfor snook. The other thing istrolling along through theslow-speed zones for whatevermight be there.

When the river opens up,the shoreline to your left isgood fishing. Watch the waterdepth, it is very shallow atlow tides. Ahead you can seeislands where fishing andcamping is available. Theseare the same islands you sawfrom the other ramp. Bywater, the ramps are about sixmiles apart.

We did not find one lurebetter than any others. Itrolled a Bomber 15AXSIGand did good on trout. Aroundthe bridge pilings, a Calcuttasoft jig in black and silver,seemed to produce the bestsnook results. While each ofus threw different lures wecaught fish on several differ-ent ones.

This makes a great day tripand on those windy weekends the shelteredspots are great to explore. Stop by thestore and I can give you more details.

Thanks to everyone for supportingFishin Franks. We wish you all the best

for the New Year. It has been a pleasurehelping you go fishin!Frank or Robert can be reached at

Fishin Franks for fishing information orto book a charter (941) 625-3888

Every Once in a Whi lea Change of Scenery is Good

The fishing here is good but ...The coal-fired power plantin Apollo Beach is one of three such plants along TampaBay that, in 2000, the Environmental Protection Agencyrated among the top 10 mercury polluters in Florida. Coal-fired power plants and refineries are major contributors tomercury in the environment. Mercury deposits drop fromthe air into water and are consumed by fish.

Recent area news items:PROVIDED BY: Dave &Marlene HoferRE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) [email protected]

1. Englewood will be moving for-ward on the construction of a newcity pier. Since it replaces a pier thathad already existed, Army Corpsapproval of the project should beexpedited. Yes, I actually used thewords ‘expedited’ and ‘Army Corps’ inthe same sentence!

2. The City of Sarasota approvedplans for a 30 year extension of itslease with the Cincinnati Reds forspring training. Naturally, parkimprovements will be required - most-

ly at city and county taxpayer'sexpense.

3. Charlotte County met withdevelopment professionals to discussclarification issues in the 1700 pageComprehensive Plan that is expectedto be submitted for approval to thestate this spring. Transfer of Densityrequirements and scrub jay require-ments dominated the first meeting.The State wants the County to be

more specific as to whether or notallowable residential units from nonhazard areas can be transferred to highhazard areas or just within their ownwind zone classifications. Fish &Wildlife requirements call for contri-bution of twice as much area not inpotential scrub jay habitat in order torelease property for development that

RealEstate

News


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has a presence of scrub jay nests. TheCounty ordinance goes even farther thanrequired by the state by requiring that20-percent of areas not even containingnests be set aside - because they couldPOTENTIALLY become nesting areas.

4. Fisherman's Village Marina for-mally opened for business last month.Overnight dockage as well as long termlive aboard facilities are now availablefor the first time in more than 3 years.

5. The City of Punta Gorda is again

attempting to annex the unincorporatedportion of Charlotte Park. Residentsare vocally balking at paying an addi-tional $6,500 per home to convert theirseptic systems to city sewer facilities.

6. Florida will be deciding whetheror not to ante up the required $15 mil-lion to provide required improvementsto the Charlotte County Stadium toentice the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tomove their spring training facilities.

7. Florida won't consider any uni-

versity expansions until they review theresults of an independent study that isnow underway. As a result, it may betoo late to incorporate a new campusinto the Murdoch development plannow being prepared by Kitson Partners.

8. Sarasota Memorial Hospital willbe constructing a 3 story 75,000 sfmedical facility at Bobcat Trail onToledo Blade Road in North Port. Anambitious development schedule islooking for an opening late in 2007.

9. The Wilder Companies closed onthe 200 acre parcel that will one daybecome "The Loop". on either side ofJones Loop Road at I-75 & Cooper.With an investment of more than$26Million for this site, we can lookforward to a fast track development path(hopefully Charlotte County will recog-nize the urgent need for cooperation inthe approval process). Plans call for500 new residential units, 1.2 MillionSq.Ft of retail and office space. Thisfirm owns some 35 projects around thecountry. It first developed this conceptnear its hometown of Methuen, MA.They built a second one in Orlando andnow plan to add on to that successfulcomplex. They are also developing asimilar complex in Northboro, MA in2008.Sales S tatistics:KB Home sold its remaining inven-

tory of 82 unbuilt lots in Creekside onTaylor Road in South Punta Gorda toAdams Homes. Sales price for thesefully improved and master plannedproperties was $20,000 per lot. Thefew individual transactions that tookplace last month were concentrated inthe low 30's. Waterfront lot and homesales were missing in action. Medianlot prices dropped about 3/4-percent dur-ing the month (now down 37-percentfrom a year ago). House pricing stabi-lized on slightly lower volume.

These statistics are intended to assistin analyzing trends in supply anddemand and not to indicate specific mar-ket values. Ending inventory is notalways beginning inventory plus list-ings minus sales since many pendinglistings are held over from month tomonth, some listings expire and arewithdrawn and, therefore, do not appearas sales and new listings includes pricechanges.Please visit us at

www.harborparadise.com to view anyavailable properties from Venice toBurnt Store Marina.


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SCUTTLEBUTTOften Unsubstanciated, But Sometimes TrueTough Guy – The Coast Guard apparently has a newfield inspector in this area. The word on the water fromseveral people we have talked to is that he is ‘tough.’Supposedly, the C-Guard has begun to look more care-fully at charter boats, including the 6-pack boats –smaller charter fishing boats that can carry no morethan 6 people. This, because of a charter boat mishapon a northern lake where a boat that was modified witha new cabin overturned drowning a number of passen-gers. The investigation concluded the addition of thenew cabin had upset the boat’s balance and the modifi-cation was not properly documented. We all pay.

Scuttled. . . but How Long will the shrimp boat LadyLouise lay on the sandbar off Grassy Point? Anothermonth? Or has it been abandoned?Taxes – Here’s some new math: People we know losttheir house in hurricane Charley. They moved acrossthe street to a very similar same-age house and theirtaxes went from $1700 to $4500 a year. That’s becausethey bought a different house and lost their old home-stead protection. And because the assessor’s office isusing a new formula to calculate values. Now that realestate values have plummeted in the last year, and sup-posedly, the assessor’s office is going to ‘re-evaluate’the formula.

Insurance – More of the same. We’ve got a$3900 insurance bill. That’s more than double what wewere paying before we built our new hurricane-proofhouse. Some people on our block are talking aboutonly carrying flood insurance and just taking the riskof another windstorm event. A flood is still the biggestdanger here and flood insurance is much less expensive.Charlotte County Commissioners: PleaseHelp– The 50 year old concrete seawalls that surroundthe waterfront of Port Charlotte are past their forecastservice life. There is no county plan to maintain thesestructures. In the county today, seawall maintenance isthe responsibility of the homeowner. When 5 miles ofseawalls collapsed in Punta Gorda, four years ago,there was financial assistance from the federal govern-ment because Punta Gorda had a municipally fundedseawall maintenance program. It didn’t matter that theydidn’t have enough money, so they qualified for help.Talk is, if we establish a taxed MBU (Maintenance

Benefit Unit) for waterfront in Port Charlotte that areawould then be eligible for federal assistance, if neces-sary. Give us some options, please. Thank you.Behind Bars – If and when new mangrove plant-

ing starts around the harbor, new signs could appearalong the shoreline; signs saying: “No outboards run-ning between the sandbar and the shore.” A rule couldbe implemented under the guise of protecting the work-ers who would be planting mangroves. Talk is: Weneed to regulate this stuff ourselves, so that the areabehind the sandbar is still open as a safe route homewhen the weather turns bad. Nobody would be outthere planting trees, at that time, anyway.


By Capt S teve SkevingtonWater Life - Fort Myers BeachThe pictures may be crummy this

month, but the fishing sure has beengreat! In the last two days we havereleased over 100 amberjack in the 30 to50 pound class.Live bait and a strong back is all we

needed on today’s charter. We kept everyrod on the boat bent for over four hours,big A.J.s – over 50 of them, kingfish,goliath grouper, gag grouper, scamp andred grouper, mangrove and yellowtailsnapper... some of them topping 8 to 10

pounds!When conditions are right, it’s really

hard to beat a run offshore this time ofyear, for a day of great fishing.Gag grouper are closer to shore this

month than any other time of year,trolling with some of the deeper divingplugs is a great way to start out lookingfor these guys.

Live bait fishing on some of the shal-low ledges is all but a guaranteed way tobag a bunch of grouper this month.Offshore a little ways, the amberjack

are flat-out hot rightnow, trolling, livebaiting, jigging, ...anything will getslammed while theseguys are hitting.The bigger snap-

per are out there;frozen sardines havebeen the trick withthe mangrove snap-per, a ‘knocker rig’

on bottom or a flat line up top, there hit-ting just about anything I toss at themright now.The bigger yellowtail snapper have

been taking live shrimp fished right ontop in the chum slick.I have to take a moment and give cred-

it where credit is due, out of all the fishwe boated today the guys kept onlyenough for dinner.

You can reach Capt. Steve at575-FLAT or at 276-0565

Big AJʼs The Order of the Day

43' Trojan 13 Meter International, 1985. ManyUpgrades. Twin 450 HP Detroit Diesels. ONLY 75hours s.m.o.h. $139,000

38' PT Cheer Men Sedan Trawler, 1982. Single 120HP Lehman. This is a beautifully maintained vessel.$149,500

30' Sea Ray 300 Weekender, 1987. Twin 260 HPMercruisers Asking $28,000

28' Bertram with new Indmar 275 hp engines in 1991Private stateroom forward with V-berths, lower helmand dinette. Great fishing or cruising boat. $22,500

21' Cobia Center Console, 2004. Single 150 HPYamaha 4 stroke. Includes trailer! $32,900

25' Proline WA Cuddy 1998 -225hp Mercury EFI.Clean boat, lift stored. Asking $28,500

30' Mainship Pilot Hardtop sedan. Single 230HPYanmar diesel. Asking $104,900

30' Proline Express 2002 T/225hp Evinrudes Fichtsonly 78 hrs,. autopilot, depth, VHF, GPS, hydraulicsteering $59,900

25ʼ Pro Line Center Console Sportfisherman.Twin 130 hp Honda 4-strokes with only 64 hours.Loaded with extras, trailer included $58,000

30' Luhrs Alura single 350HP gas engine.Asking $43,995

23' Grady White 2006. Twin 150HP Yamaha fourstrokes with only 67 hours. Loaded. Asking $98,500

38' Bayliner 3870, 1985. Twin135 HP MitsubishiDiesels. $69,500

23' Hurricane 237 Sundeck 2001. Single 200HPYamaha Saltwater Series. Asking $23,900

27' Grady White Sailfish, 1995. Twin 1996 225 HPYamahas. Head, shower & A/C. $34,900

35' Trojan 350 Express, 1995. Twin 320 HPCrusaders. Lift stored. Loaded with equipment.$89,500


By Bil l DixonWater LIFE Sailing“Change is inevitable, ... except

from vending machines,” the Admiraltold me. Change came to West FloridaPHRF at the last board meeting. TomBragaw, skipper of the Farrier 33Trimaran Bahama Hunter and I, yourfaithful scribe, were taught the secrethandshake and admitted to the Board ofDirectors.Importantly, the Board OK’ed an

immediate 50-percent increase to thenon-spinnaker offset. In racing, thiswill only amount to a few seconds’ dif-ference between Non Spinnaker classboats. If you used to get 16 seconds,now you get 24. If your rivals used toget 20 seconds, now they get 30. If,however you were a spinnaker boat,now some boats get 30 seconds permile or more, for all the miles, andyou only carry a spinnaker for a thirdto a half of the miles. Over my heatedobjections, no data was used, just opin-ions. I couldn’t help myself. I used tobe an engineer.Locally, our first race using the new

adjustments was the Swedish SantaSail (Think Blondes in Bikinis withBeards). Non Spinnaker boats took 6of the top 8 spots. Jerry Poquett’s NonSpinnaker Fancy Free won the choco-late Santa, Tom Scott’s new oldMorgan 30 non spinnaker taking 4thbehind two spinnakers, Skip and SusanVielhauer’s Frolic, the top spinnakerboat and Bob Knowles BammaSlammer, the only other Spinnakerboat to crack the top 8.Maybe we over did the adjustment?

Ordinarily, we do not mix Spinnaker

and N/S boats in thesame start on the samecourse, but in a reversehandicap start, everybodygets a unique startingtime, so fleet size is nota problem. Now all theboats race the same racecourse, so the first boatacross the finish line isthe winner.

I will, if I can, com-pare results in the GoldenConch, coming up Jan 6, 7at Platinum Point YachtClub at Burnt Store Marina. The planis for different courses for differentfleets, however, so Spin to Non Spincomparisons may not be possible.By the way, The ‘Conch’ is a

Charlotte Harbor BOTY race, and agreat event, so I expect many morethan the 37 boats that graced the start-ing line for the SSS.

The next reverse start race will be apart of the Conquistador Cup, March10, and 11. On the 10th there will be2 races with starts and race courses splitby fleet, but on Sunday the 11th, allboats will start in reverse handicaporder, so that the first boat across theline wins. You can be assured that lotsof spinnaker racers will be watching.The Conquistador is the Oldest andbiggest regatta on Charlotte Harbor. Itis well worth entering, since all theproceeds go back to the sailors in doorprize or beverage form. This regattatoo is a part of the Charlotte HarborBOYT series. If you do not have aWest Florida PHRF, we will create a

temporary handicapfor you. Check thePunta Gorda SailClub web sitepgscweb.com for theNotice of Race.

Closely followingthe Conquistador isthe 4th annualLeukemia Cup. TheLeukemia Cup isMarch 24, 25.Awfully close intime, but that waswhen PGSC’s part-ners, The Isles YachtClub could accom-modate the sailors,for the fancy dinnerand the auction.This event too is aBOTY event and isworth entering. Proceeds go to theLeukemia/ Lymphoma Society. Checkthe Punta Gorda Sail Club web sitepgscweb.com for the Notice of Race.Personally, if I can get out of being

part of the race committee, I am goingto try to find crew for both. Also,spring series races start Jan 14.Skippers meeting before the PGSCmeeting Jan 10. Happy New Year!

Change Happens

Twenty two boats in the fleet of 37 at the The Sweedish Santa Sail race in December.

Ken Cook / Boats Unlimited4809 Tamiami TrailCharlotte Harbor941-628-8250

Boaters Must Not Operate 121.5/243 MHZEmergency Position Indicating RadioBeacons

Beginning January 1, 2007, both 121.5 and 243 MHzEmergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons(EPIRBs) are prohibited from use in both commercialand recreational watercraft. Boaters wishing to havean emergency rescue beacon aboard their vesselmust have a digital 406 MHz model.On February 1, 2009, satellite processing of distresssignals from all 121.5/243 MHz beacons will terminate.Following this termination date, only the 406 MHz bea-cons will be detected by the International Cospas-Sarsat Satellite System which provides distress alertand location data for search and rescue operationsaround the world.

Boating Tips


The Water LIFEWater LIFE Distributorʼs Club

CooksSportland

4419 So. Tamiami TrailS. Venice493-0025

Pick up a copy of Water LIFE at any of these and 120+ other locations. Water LIFE is not affiliated with any newspaper or other publicationPick up a copy of Water LIFE at any of these and 120+ other locations. Water LIFE is not affiliated with any newspaper or other publicationand is distributed at select locations around the state. These free ads to our loyal distributors rotate on a monthly basis.and is distributed at select locations around the state. These free ads to our loyal distributors rotate on a monthly basis.

Now also at the new Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers at I-75 and Alico RoadNow also at the new Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers at I-75 and Alico Road


By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffWeather has been good so far; only a

few cold fronts so far. With little rainthe water has been very clear; throw inthe really low tides and you have whatwe call a ‘fishing-challenged’ day.Remember that pot holes are your

best friend this time of year. Those littlebald spots in the middle of a grass flatsthat are just a little deeper than the sur-rounding area are great. Fish just tend tostack up in those holes waiting for foodto swim by or the tide to start running.The secret to success is to be superquite. There are times that I won’t riskusing the trolling motor – I’d rather usea push pole – so I won’t spook the fish.You’d be surprised at how many fish a10-foot- diameter hole can hold.If you are lucky enough to be fishing

on a higher tide; head for to docks forsheepshead and black drum. If the wateris clear enough you can see the fish nib-bling the barnacles and crabs on the pil-ings. If the tide is moving these fishwill just stay there and eat. Smallshrimp work best for me. A #1 live baithook and a medium split shot is all youneed.If you want a little more adventure,

try fishing the deep water channels andcanals. There still are a lot of snook tobe had. My friends fishing Sarasota Bayhave been bragging about the large red-fish and trout they have been catchingwading the flats around the RinglingMuseum. Last year Sarasota Bay washarder hit by red tide than Lemon Bay orCharlotte Harbor, and now the fishing isbetter than ever. In my younger days Idid a lot of wade fishing and it is proba-ble the most productive method forcatching big fish. That is why theywon’t let you leave your boat in most

fishing tournaments.Offshore fishing is pretty good for

AJ’s, cobia and grouper. Keep track ofthe latest regulations because the Fedslook like they are going to close grouperfishing for 60 days soon for recreationalfishing in federal waters (9 miles out).Tripletail fishing is at its peak right

now. I’ve been told by more than a fewpeople that the near shore artificial reefsare giving up some good fish but youhave to get there early before the crowdand forget about the weekends.I’ve been spending a lot of time get-

ting ready for the Fishing College whichstarts in Englewood, WednesdayJanuary17th between 2pm and 4pm.The basic fishing course meets for 6weeks each wed., and covers everythingyou need to know from hooking tocooking. The cost is $30 for the classesand you can register over the phone bycalling the Englewood Sports Complex941-861-1980. I put a lot into the courseand although it’s a lot of work I have areally good time teaching it along withthe other instructors. I appreciate all thepeople who have wanted me to takethem fishing recently ; but I’m gettingold and lazy and don’t want to work ashard as I had in the past. Feel free to trysome of the new younger guides that arejust starting out. They would reallyappreciate your business. I’m saving mystrength for the Fishing College. To allmy regular customers check back withme the end of Feb., and remember to tellme all the hot spots these new guystook you to.Call Capt Ron with your fishing ques-

On the LINEFISHING WITH CAPT RON BLAGO

Snook, snook and another little snook. Snook fishing has been good.

Reg i s ter fo r Capt Ron’sReg i s ter fo r Capt Ron’sPopul arPopul ar

Fishing CollegeFishing CollegePhone the Englewood SportsPhone the Englewood SportsComplex at: 941-861-1980.Complex at: 941-861-1980.

Key West Syle home on PineIsland. Gulf Access water-front. Oversized lot, wonder-full location, room for a pool.

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Family compound - Two homes on oversizedlots, two boat lifts, large boat house, boatramp on canal that leads to Pine Island Soundand great back water fishing. Private setting.New 3/2 home $975,000. Older 2/2 CBS$550,000. Buy one or both !

Beautiful Pine IslandHome on Back Bay.Community sharesbeach front onCharlotte Harbor.Private dock. 3 bed-rooms, 2 baths, woodfloors. Furnished. Nocondo fees. $995,000.

Directly on the IntracoastalWaterway facing Sanibel's DingDarling Preserve. CBS 3bedroom,2 bath pool home on large cul desac lot. Deep water canal runs

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kind. $1,390,000

Great Land Base. Duplex on75'canal. Room for pool. Greatboating fishing Bokeelia. $675,000


By Capt Robert MooreWater LIFE Staff

Southwest Florida has one consistent trait.Fishing is good all year long. It may notalways be good for a particular species youmay want, but due to the warm climate weenjoy the entire year there is always some-thing biting. Then take a look at the vastnumber of species we have the opportunity totarget throughout the year. This is not some-thing you can do everywhere and I honestlyfeel we are very blessed with what we have.

Below is a partial list of species you canlook forward to targeting in 2007. I have bro-ken it down by the month when each speciesis usually on its best bite. Good luck andtight lines.

January –Sheepshead andSpotted Sea Troutare in great abun-dance. Shrimp,sand fleas or small fiddler crabs work great

around anystructure forSheepshead.Trout will be onthe grass flats

during the warmer days and in deeper holesduring the cooler days. Off shore bottom fish-ing is usually still pretty consistent.

February – Spotted Sea Trout fishing isusually still very strong. The smaller fish willbe schooled up withlarger fish in singlesand doubles on the

grass flats. Small juvenile Redfish (Rat Reds)are usually very abundant in deeper creeks.Lot’s of fun on ultra light gear.

March – The water temperature begins torise and so doesthe appetite ofSnook. Whenthe water tem-perature reaches above 70 degrees and theflats fill up with baitfish, Snook will make upfor a long winter. Redfish action will alsopick up with larger slot sized fish beingcaught. March is the time of year I catch mybiggest Spotted Sea Trout. There may not bethousands of them around, but I usually seeseveral 4+ pound fish caught every trip.

April – Snook fishing will be at its peak.The water temperature will stay above 70 andbaitfish is abundant to catch. Redfish willstill beginto pick upbut with thefantasticSnook bitegoing on itshard to concen-trate on them.Also lookfor thebegin-ning ofthe fallmackerelrun along the gulf coast. Tarpon will begin toarrive in midApril.

May – Tarpon along the beaches and inthe passes will be in full swing. Thousands ofTarponwill bethrough-out

Southwest Florida. May is also the best timeof year to catch larger Sharks in CharlotteHarbor. From 2 ft to 10 ft, they will be here.Redfish and Snook fishing will also remaindependable.

June –Tarpon will stillbe the top biteof June, espe-cially in Boca GrandePass. Snook fishingalong the beaches is atits best. Shark will stillbe in good numbers butwill have a few companions as Cobia andTriple Tail are lurking in familiar waters.

July –Tarpon fishing begins to slow downout toward the beaches and passes but will

INSHORE FISHING The Year Ahead

Snook were everywherein December. Snook are out of season until Jan 31 statewide. Notehow the angler is holding the fish: horizontal with itʼs belly supported. This is good!


begin to pick up in the back bays as postspawning fish are looking for something toeat.

Redfish action will begin to pick up,especial-ly afterthe rainwatersbegin toflow outof the rivers staining the flats.

August– Redfishare usuallygrouped upinto schools of hundreds. The weather is hotand fishing in the cooler mornings or after-noons produces the best action. Tarpon arestill around in good numbers, but usuallyscattered alongthe back baysin the fresherwater.

September – Redfish action is almost atits peak. Large schools can be found through-out Southwest Florida. Tarpon action is stillvery consistentin the backbays.

October –a.k.a. RedOctober. Enjoy some of the best Redfishaction of the year. Tarpon action will beginto decline, especially if any early cold fronts

come

through. Snook actionwill begin to pick up. Thefirst wave ofthe fall mack-erel run willbegin.

November – Snook action begins toreally pick up and will remain hot until thewater temperature dips below 70 degrees. ForRedfish I will look to target on low incomingtides. The next two months will have thehottesttailingRedfishaction youwill see.

December – Tailing Redfish on calmerdays remains hot. Snook fishing will remaingood if the water temperature stays above 70degrees. Sheepshead start to show up in greatnumbers along with Spotted Sea Trout.

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n January 9 to 23 – ABC, America's Boating Class (TheCondensed version of the Boating Skills and Seamanshipcourse). This course includes the Harbor Orientation TourProgram and the American Waterway Watch Program, classTuesday's and Thursday's 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the PuntaGorda Isles Civic Center, 2001 Shreve St., Contact: FredCounter, FSO-PE (941) 505-1290. USCG Aux. Flotilla98, Port Charlotte FL

n January 18 GPS MADE EASY Captain Dave Doyle ofBluewater Marine Electronics offers GPS guidance to allboaters from beginners to experts. Tips and advice for every-one will be offered at this seminar. Seating is limited to 50people. Sign up at Venice West Marine or call 408-8288.

n April 28 – Kids Cup Tournament, Ages 10 through 16,entry fee $100 Phone (941) 766-8180 orwww.Kidscuptournament.com

n May4-6 – Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup, Punta Gorda,

n June 17 – 19, Fifth annual Mercury/IGFA Junior AnglerWorld Championship Tournament, Key West, Fla., USA --This event hosts some 40 girls and boys, ages five to 16,who have advanced to this all-release championship by win-ning one of over 30 qualifying fishing tournaments held inthe U.S. and several countries in 2006.

Tripletail are out along the crab trap lines right now and they should be there all the way through April. Sunnydays are the best days to fish for them since they are pretty-much caught by sight casting ... most of the time.

Fly-Fishing Charters ???Fly-Fishing Charters ???Call Capt. Chuck Eichner – (941) 505-0003Call Capt. Chuck Eichner – (941) 505-0003

Coming Events

JanuaryJanuaryFishing ReportFishing ReportCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888

Lets start off with sheepshead.They are making a really good pres-ence out there and that will continuefor the next couple of months. ThePlacida Trestle, the PhosphateDocks, and the trestle at El Jobeanare all very good spots to catchsheepshead. A lot of people put theirfaith in Fiddler crabs which are thebest bait for sheepshead, but fiddlercrabs are hard to get when the weath-er gets cold so you have to have analternate bait. There are some tricksto catching them when the crabsaren’t around. Sand fleas both liveand frozen work very well. But alsoyou can take a frozen shrimp andpeel the shell off and use pieces ofthat. The key is to use small piecesbecause their mouths are small. Letthe shrimp dry up in the sun, just alittle, before you put it on the hook.That way it gets a littlerubbery and becomes harderfor them to steal off yourhook.

Trout season opens backup on January 1. Trout areone of the best fish toteach people how to catchfish on because they arevery easy to catch and theyare schooling fish at thistime of year. Once you findthe school you are intothem for a while. Trout arelike redfish in that thesame size fish tend to con-gregate together. Usuallythe larger fish are more

solitary and hang in the smallerschools, but for the 12-to 16-inch-ers it’s not uncommon to find 100trout in one school. They will hitartificials easily, so for anyone whowants to practice with a lure, troutare a good fish to learn on. Justabout anywhere on the east side ofthe harbor, from inside of AlligatorCreek all the way down to PineIsland, at Bull Bay, or Turtle Baytrout will be around. For the shorefisherman, El Jobean is a wonderfultrout spot. Apoppin’ cork movingon the tide works great for trout atEl Jobean. Hang a live shrimp or anartificial for trout. If you’re lazy,D.O.A. makes a poppin’ cork with

an artificial shrimp and leaderalready attached. It’s a phenomenalrig for trout and you don’t have to doanything special.

One side note on trout: drifting ashrimp for trout, youmay wind upwith a bonnethead shark or even,possibly, a cobi a at this time ofyear. They both are a normal by-catch for January and February troutfishing. For guys fishing out alongthe beaches, Pompano andwhi t-i ng are really good right now.Redfi sh are tough this time of

year. There are mostly rat-reds now.It’s hard to find a legal sized redfishright now. Oversized fish are usuallysporadic, but being that it’s been sowarm, big redfish are still around inthe Intracoastal and in the Passes.

Captiva Pass has had a lot of niceoversized reds recently andmost ofthem have been caught on cut bait orbig pinfish.

On the calm days, out along theGulf, the boni ta move in close toshoer along with the Spani shmackerel . It’s not too often youcan catch a bonita in Boca Grandepass.

If you have patience, trolling inthe Peace or Myakka Rivers forsnook could be fun this month.Crappi e are really starting to

school up right now. Any of the PortCharlotte or Northport canals are


BIG-4BIG-4 Januaryʼs Target SpeciesJanuaryʼs Target Species

BONITA are very closes toshore right now.

TRIPLETAIL Starting tomove into the harbor now.

TROUT Handle with care,season closed!

SHEEPSHEAD are movingin and big ones are out front

FishingRIGHT NOW:

Just OK

water life jan 2007

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