water life jan 2015

January 2015

Always FREE!www.WaterlifeMagazine.com

LIFEThe Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay & the GulfCharlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay & the Gulf

WWWWaaaatttteeeerrrr

BOFFFFʼs Eggspage 14

Area Sailing page 20

Outfishedby

Rodney

page 6

Snow Shovels

atPlacida

on the mullet dock

page 5

EMAIL: W [email protected] JANUARY 2015

JANUARY 2015 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 3

Publisherʼs PointWe didnʼt get many let-

ters last month. Holidays areslow. One from Dr Raddish(Deep Creek Optical) saidhis ad was working and hewas selling sunglasses toour readers. Another, from afellow who wants to beanonymous, was a hot tip.

Mr. Anonymous sent usa picture of a fire hydrantwith an automatic purgedevice on it and a dechlo-rinator. (photo below)

If you remember, a fewmonths back I ran a photo ofbrown colored drinking watercoming out of a Port Char-lotte fire hydrant. When Iquestioned the DEP and thecounty about why the deadend water mains in thecounty arenʼt all purged au-tomatically, to keep water

clean, I was told the water would have to go intothe Harbor and thatʼs not permitted becausechlorine would be bad for the creatures in theenvironment. Mr. Anonymous apparently readmy column and sent me an available remedy.So why, when I talked to the head guy at theDEP didnʼt he mention this? Ditto for the Char-lotte County Utilities spokesman.

After my column came out they flushed thewater mains in my neighborhood for several

weeks, but knowing now what I do, that was allsmoke in the mirror, a quick display to avoidthe expense of bringing an old water systemup to modern standards. I was lied to throughomission by both agencies.

Charlotte County must figure out a way toget the water circulating in their dead endwater mains. This device, which can go on anyfire hydrant, seems like an acceptable solutionthat would be worth investigating – MH

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Water LIFE [email protected]

Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

(941) 766-8180217 Bangsberg Rd.

Port Charlotte, FL 33952Independant - Not affiliated with

any other publicationVol XIV No 1 © 2015

No part of this publication (printed or electronic) maybe copied or reproduced without specific written per-

mission from the publishers.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoRiver and Shore: Fishinʼ Frank

Charlotte Harbor: Capt. Billy BartonFamily Fishing: Capt. Bart Marx

Punta Gorda: Capt. Chuck EichnerVenice: Glen BallingerKayaking: David Allen

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerOffshore: Capt. Jim OʼBrien

Fly Fishing: Capt. Scott SichlingBeach Fishing: Mallory Herzog

Circulation: Robert CohnOffice Dog: Molly Brown

on the COVER: Mullet fishermen unload theircatch, in mid December, at the dock in Placida. Pleasesee Around the Dock, beginning on page 5.

PAGE 4 EMAIL: W [email protected] JANUARY 2015

Send letters and photos to: [email protected]

These two circular photos, the moon over low clouds as photographed from our Port Char-lotte balcony and a school of Atlantic Bumbers around a jellyfish in the Gulf (from the coverof last monthʼs edition) appear here for your viewing pleasure and to help us establish betterreproduction quality.

By Michael HellerWater LIFE editor

“You’re not going to write anythingbad about us,” one of the men on the dockasked, when I arrived and asked permis-sion to take pictures around the mulletdock at Placida. ‘Not if you’re not doinganything bad,’ I told him and we laughed.

A week earlier, another mullet dockworkers had told me “The best time is be-fore a cold front, right around then iswhen the fish go offshore to spawn.” Soon a cloudy overcast Tuesday in Decem-ber, after having followed the weathercharts, I headed out to Placida.

Placida is a major offloading point forlocal mullet skiffs that ply the creeks andbackwaters of Charlotte County this timeof year. Mullet, specifically the red roe ofthe females bring decent money this timeof year.

Mullet fishing is a hard past time; onegroup stays out all night and comes backto the dock with their catch around 7 am,the other group goes out at first light andcomes back in around dusk.

When I pulled into Placida the lowclouds of morning near the coast were stillhanging heavy in the air. Inland, there hadbeen some rain, but the roads around theFishery were mostly dry.

In the parking lot, Pepper Branham andShannondoah Nichols had their mulletskiff on a trailer. They were shovelingcrushed ice into the boat’s fish box inpreparation for the day's fishing. Since

most of the mullet catch is for human con-sumption the fish must be put on ice assoon as they are caught. “As long as webring our fish back here later today,” Pep-per told me. “They give us the ice forfree.”

“It's just starting to get good, now,”Sam Jones, a mullet fisherman from PuntaGorda, said while he was unloading fish.“The fish are still all up in Coral Creek,”Jones, said. He and his partner JohnThomas had been out all night. They wereunloading their fish with a new red snowshovel, a tool of choice, in these parts.

Fisherman come in with their catch andnose up on the sand alongside the docknext to the E&L Clam house building. Onthe boat they examine each fish bysqueezing it and forcing out some of theroe. “Fish with red roe (as opposed tothose with white roe, which are almostworthless) are paying $1.05 (per pound)right now,” Kayley Thomas told me whileshe and Mark Edwards were sorting theircatch. "Later, when the fish get a little fat-ter, the price will go up a little bit," sheexplained. Mullet season often runs intothe later part of January. Kaley and Markcome down from Polk County.

From the dock, an old conveyor beltcarries the sorted fish up to a large trans-port box which is continually layered withfish and ice and more fish and more ice.Then the big ice-packed containers of fishare loaded into a refrigerated semi andlater transported to the cleaning house

where the roe and the meat are processed.What's a good night's haul?, I asked

Pepper Branham: “Four thousandpounds,” he told me, without hesitating.

I looked at his boat, a homemade skiffwith big plumbed fish boxes and the tradi-tional forward mounted outboard that al-lows them to fish in the shallowest waters.The gunnels were covered with whatlooked like perforated drainage pipe.

On the dock, Kevin Hart was shovelingice and moving the filled up containers ofmullet with a fork lift. Kevin works forGet Seafood, the operator who collects themullet from the fishermen, pays them andbrings the catch to the procession plant.

In the water just off the dock, whitepelicans fought over the scraps left whenfishermen clean their boats. From thewildlife’s perspective, it must seem likenot much has changed at Placida in thelast 50 or 100 years.

This time of year some mullet are usu-ally coming out of the Punta Gordacanals, heading to the Gulf. Mullet fisher-men traditionally wait on the shallows atPonce Point, following the school of mul-let and throwing their cast nets to catchthem. Some fishermen use seine nets toencircle the fish. “Seine nets have beenmore productive than cast nets, so far thisyear,” Kevin told me. continued on page 12


Around the Mullet Dock

Pepper Branham and Shannondoah Nichols, at Placida in the early morning, shovelingcrushed ice into their fish box in preparation for the day's mullet fishing.


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Inshore

Unique to competitive tournament fish-ing, redfish are one of only a few speciesthat inspire passion and obsession. Whenthe freshwater largemouth bass tourna-ments spawned a saltwater counter-partthe only fish that fit the bill was the red-fish.

Easily accessible with light tackle,finicky, aggressive and hard fighting, thisfish has a following quite like no other.Charlotte Harbor is host to dozens of hardfighting gamefish, but none demand thepassion of redfish. Sight fishing is the ulti-mate challenge, requiring the angler to vi-sually see the fish and approach withstealth, make the perfect cast and enticethe strike. Redfish will gobble up livebait, crustaceans and lures in backcountrywaters, flats and the open waters of thegulf.

Recently, I had the pleasure of fishingwith Ken Wells. A remarkable red fisher-man who is an ardent tournament angler.Not unusual, our goal was to fish shallowwater with pinfish. Pinfish are notorious

for being one of the favorite foods of theredfish. The game plan for the day was tocatch bait and fish potholes in Pine IslandSound. The Sound has a million pot holesto say the least, so knowing which ones topick does require experience and time onthe water.

With a livewell full of pinny’s we ranto our first spot and noticed the weather-man was once again wrong. Winds were15 knots and picking up on a day pre-dicted to be 5-8 knots. Oddly, it was asouth wind which normally blows thewater in but not this day.

With tough winds and no water on theflats our game plan was tarnished from theget-go. Ken positioned us on sandytroughs adjacent to deep water and it tookseveral spots before we connected. A cou-ple of jumbo jack crevalle first bit ourlines, then a beautiful 27-inch red buckedKen’s rod and the fight was on.

With the tide finally coming in we no-ticed mullet getting active and two darkshadows passed by our boat - first a 7-footshark then a 150-pound tarpon! We werenot armed for either fish but consideringthis was the end of Summer, it told usthere are more fish around then one wouldthink.

Several location changes were neces-sary as the wind picked up to 20 knotswith a storm approaching.

Confidence was strongwith Ken as I mentallywaivered on patience.Pothole after pothole,troughs, pockets, grass-beds and very few bites.With the tide half in, wedrifted onto a grass flatand launched our pinfishinto a sandhole just bigenough for both lines.Both rods were riggedidentically as I chose tohold my rod wanting tofeel a bite and Ken plac-ing his in the rod holder.Wham! Fish on and Ken’sdrag was singing. A beau-tiful upper 20-inch redwas fought, caught and re-leased. And so it went, as I watched Kenside by side with me getting yanked andme getting nothing. Finally, I decided that“Rodney” the rod-holder was a better wayto go and placed my rod into the holder.Not 30 seconds went by and wham! Rodbuckled, drag screeching and it was gameon….then Ken’s rod went down. A dou-ble! Or so we thought, but it was a doubleheader with this one chunky redfish sport-ing 2 hooks in his mouth! It was clear tome that despite my efforts at holding therod without moving the bait, the fishcould tell I was holding the rod and would

not take my line! The next few casts produced catfish

which Ken signaled was the end of theredfish bite which I did not fully under-stand, but perhaps on the higher tide phasethe kitty-kats come pouring onto the flats.

Interestingly, many redfish hadremora’s attached to their bodies, suggest-ing they had just came in from the Gulf.

This was simple fishing at best usingthree feet of 20-pound leader, 4/0 circlehooks and pinfish. Depending on windand tides you may need to add weight.This day proved that with a talented red-fish angler, confidence, persistence and adeep understanding of fish habits you canover-come some horrible weather. Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action

Flats Backcountry Charters and can bereached at 941-628-8040.

Outfishedby Rodney

JANUARY 2015 BACK ISSUES @ BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 7

By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE Charlotte Harbor

The water temperatures have droppedinto the 60s. Most all the game fish westalked in summer have moved to deeperwarmer waters, at least for the next couplemonths. The trick to having a successfulday of fishing during this time of year isunderstanding what to target and how tolocate them.

Charlotte Harbor is a truly fertile fish-ing ground. During the warmer months,Charlotte Harbor has world class snook,redfish and tarpon fishing. Then, when oldman winter blows in, there are two other

great game fish that the Harbor provides.Spotted sea trout, during the warmermonths of the year, can be caught in justabout all your snook, and redfish holes.So when the water begins to chill andthose snook just don’t want to feed, troutcan turn a slow day of fishing into a greatday.

Locating winter trout can be a littletricky. This is when you want to fishdeeper. We have miles of residentialcanals, endless creeks and rivers that havethe depth for trout to spend their timewaiting for the warmer weather. On yournext outing I highly recommend spendingsome time fishing these local areas.

The other great game fish we have dur-ing the winter months is the mightysheepshead. I know when I mention thatname some of our friends from the northcringe. Well, let me give y’all a little les-son on sheep heads. The fish that yallcatch while targeting walleye in the GreatLakes is considered a trash fish. Although,I don’t believe in any trash fish! What youcatch up north is a fresh water drum. Whatwe call a sheepshead in South WestFlorida. They are a member of the porgyfamily and a great fighting fish. They arealso very good table fare.

When targeting these guys you aregonna want to make sure you bring plentyof bait. They are black and white striped

for a reason. I have never targeted a fishother then these guys that can steal yourbait without me feeling it. Sheepsheadfeed on crustaceans, so you are going tolook around docks, bridge pilings and

rock sea walls, the older thestructure the better. On a clearsunny day, you can often seethese guys feeding on the pilingsof dock. Shrimp is my bait ofchoice, but the meat from a bar-nacle is also irresistable to theseguys.

On your next outing give thedeep water and your local docks atry. You just might just have oneof your best winter days of fish-ing.

If you would like to experience some ofSouth West Florida’s finest fishing give me acall or send me an email. All of our chartersare private and customized to fit your partiesneeds. 941-916-5769 ww.backbayxtremes.com

Fertile Fishing Grounds

By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Baitshop

2015 and still no flyingcars... so let’s start the year with snapper.Mangrove snappers, in huge numbers andlarge sizes (average 12 –to 14-inches)have been an increasingly steady catchhere in the Harbor and near Gulf over thelast 10 years. And 2014 was a banner yearfor BIG mangrove snappers. One of thereasons for this could be as simple asfashion. It is not cool to fish for snapperright now, going after redfish has a morefashionable sound to it. But if it is dinnerand a great fight on light tackle few fishcompare to the snapper.

When I fish for snapper here in theHarbor, small white bait, free lined, is agood bet. But most of the time I just use aregular bottom rig with a sliding sinker, soI can feel the bite and hold the bait nearthe bottom. Either I use a live shrimp or ashrimp tail that’s peeled. For snapper Ithread the hook into the shrimp, starting atthe tail end and threading the hook up to-ward the head. I want the most meat at thesame end as the point of the hook or atleast toward the middle of the shrimp, asthat is where the snapper most often bite –unlike most fish, which eat shrimp headfirst.

Black sea bass have been in the Passesthis year, a first for us in about 6 years,not to say that there have been none, but

they’ve beenfew and far be-tween. Return-ing sea bass area welcomesight in thePasses.

A few stargazers havebeen caughtalong thebeaches and atthe beginning of 2014 we had good num-bers of lane snappers in the passes too, soapparently some of the once plentiful fishare now starting to trickle back into thepasses.

In thinking back on 2014 and changes,(how we hate that word!) the spillwaysalong U.S 41 have had a major changethis year, a man made change this time.The canals here were dug in the 1950swhen we had a rainy season. Each dayduring the summer the clouds would goup the Myakka River and down the PeaceRiver circling and circling until they gottogether and then Bam! Thunder, light-ning, 2 inches of rain and 30- to 40-mphwinds. It was not uncommon then for awinter resident who decided to move hereto sell out and move back up north aftertheir first rainy season. It was so intenseand there was so much thunder and light-ning the storms would send them packing.

This ended when Murdock wasdeveloped and the rising heatbroke the cloud pattern – wenow have a rainy-er season, butnothing like it was.

This is why the canals had tobe re-done, there was simply notenough rain water to flush themout anymore. So the rain we doget has now been channeled tohelp clean out some of thecanals that had become stagnantpools of algae and bacteria. Lotsof local snook and tarpon canalfisherman are complaining thiswill ruin the fishing, but thespill ways will get snook andtarpon back and the fishing mayeven be better, or sadly it maybe worse. Let’s just hope for the best.

This all reminds me of Boca GrandePass and the shipping lane. Some of the socalled fishing guides out there didn’t evenknow the state had been dredging it every4 years for over 90 years and like the spillways, the Pass will now be different and itwill never again be the same, now that thedredging has stopped. Like the spillways,the fishing might be better or worse. BocaGrande is now wild and free and changingeach year with each storm.

If history is a judge, the area just outside the Pass should settle in at about 11feet deep instead of the 30-plus feet it hadbeen. Once it reaches that depth thechanges each year should be less drastic.

2014 ended with a lot of red grouper inBoca and Captiva passes as well, more

shorts than legal size fish, but legal sizecan be had right there in the passes.

Tilapia had a big spawn this fall. I havenot seen a hatch like this since the 1980swhen millions of baby tilapia would comeboiling down the Peace River to the de-light of the snook and tarpon. Back then,for 2 months every fall, tilapia were thebest bait you could get. Today it is illegalto use live tilapia for bait, which is stupideven by Florida standards. If the statewants them dead or thinned out, (they arean invasive species) then what better waythan to let a snook or tarpon eat them? Iunderstand and completely agree withnever transporting fish from one lake toanother, that’s very bad, but using themfor bait in the water you just caught themin? This is the FWC at it’s [email protected] 625-3888


Spillways and Other Watery Stuff

They make us put turtle excluders and bycatch reduc-tion devices (holes in the net) to allow fish to escapealive, shrimper Bill Damour said from his boat the IronOx at Fishermenʼs Village. But that has unintended con-sequences, Bill added. L ast night I had 20 dolphinslined up at the bycatch hole. The Alpha male gets firstshot at what comes out, then the next dolphin takesover. Not much gets away alive from them. Bill sellsCharlotte Harbor shrimp three days/week. Call: 916-5773

From NOAA: Black sea bass is one of many species thatare moving as the oceans warm. This graph shows how thecenter of the species' distribution has changed latitude overfour decades. It is moving North. Check it on the web

By Capt Billy BartonWater LIFE INSHORE

Yes indeed anglers and salt lovers! Ifyou're reading this and I'm still fishing...that my friends is a blessing because itmeans we all made it through anothernew year! December was exhausting, butnow that families and friends have madetheir way home, the turkeys are donefryin', the presents are unwrapped, thechampaign bottles have been popped andthe ball has dropped... now it's time to getback to the reel world!

Last month, although people wereshowing up in full force and many busi-nesses picked up a lot, a good majority offolks were more pre-occupied with theHolidays than they were with going outfishing so that meant I got to take time offto smell the roses.

If I'm not working on a charter and ifthere's nothing important for me to bedoing on land on any particular day,chances are I'm taking one of my littlebrothers fishing, or maybe taking both ofthem fishing together.

Austin Phelps isn't technically myblood brother, he's just been under mywing for a lot of years and now he's a lit-tle fishin’ machine! Some of you guysmight know Austin as one of the certifiedshrimp engineers at Fishin’ Franks.

My other brother Matt, who looks justlike a younger version of me, is my littlebrother by blood. He's my first mate onbig game charters and does the job like afull time pro. He's my best bud and alsoanother young fishin’ machine!

All both of these boys ever want to dois fish. They have the utmost respect forour fishery. They handle their fish care-fully, only take what they need and havevery good ethics on the water as younganglers. They act this way because theywere shown how to, at an early age andbecause they truly care. They could beout getting into trouble or at home sittingin front of the XBOX, but they're not. I'm

very proud of themand I try my best tokeep them both outon the water as muchas possible when-ever I can.

At this point they both want to be fish-ing guides when they get older, so need-less to say it's my goal and duty as a bigbrother to help lead them in that direc-tion. I have a ton of confidence that theirdreams are every bit possible and I poundthat into their skulls all the time. I neverunderstood when I was a young man andpeople told me "I could be whatever Iwanted to be if I put my mind to it," thatI actually could. But now I understand itand I tell them the same thing.

As grown adults and anglers, it's up tous to make this beautiful place that isCharlotte Harbor last, not just by our own

Teaching My Brothers PAGE 10 EMAIL: W [email protected] JANUARY 2015

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actions on the water, but by what we'redoing all the time to influence the nextgeneration of young and up-coming fish-erman.

Whoever they are, whether they'reblood or not, the good ethics that we teachthem today is what's going to have thelargest impact on our fishery tomorrow.They are going to act just as we teachthem to. They will watch us and do thesame thing.

I don't know about you guys but I'd

like to continue to call this place paradise!So pass along the torch! Teach a kid tofish! If you know a kid that likes to fish,teach him or her to be an ethical anglerand don't forget to take time out to smellthe tide and the mangroves (roses) when-ever you can.

Happy 2015, guys and gals. The fishare calling our names, let's get out and getsalty!!

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

This tinyoctopus cameaboard on asnagged piece ofcoral bottom,brought up on ahook, during anoffshore trip inthe Gulf lastmonth. Bigger octopusare being blamedfor a poor turnoutof the stone crabsthis year. Octopus aremortal enemies ofthe tasty stonecrab.

Earlier in themonth therewerenʼt as manymullet fishermenhere from ʻupnorthʼ or fromʻover inLouisianaʼ butthat changed.“All I am seeing is outof town boats,” Jim, atthe Fishermenʼs Edgein Englewood, told meon the day after Christ-mas.

Fishermen who fishour resource and thentake their profits backhome with them, awayfrom Charlotte County,has been a sore spotfor locals for as long asI can remember.

Early on, the fish this year were for the most part,up in the creeks or, according to Kelly Beall atPeace River Sea Food, ʻballed up offshoreʼ wheremullet fishermen were throwing cast nets on them.

There are two ways to catch mullet: cast net orseine net, mullet wonʼt take a baited hook. Seiningonly works in shallow water. Cast netting is the hardway. All you have to do is look at the hands of a netfisherman and you will see why - even with gloveson, the heavy nets, hauled in over and over byhand, take their toll.

Twice in mid December friends asked me “Have youseen any mullet boats off Punta Gorda?” I can see PoncePoint from my upstairs bedroom and I have not. My friend

Ralph, who works at Fishermen's Village, had not and nei-ther had Capt. Dave Stephens who theorized the cityʼs cur-rent dredging in the PGI entrance canals might be having

an impact. Why should we care about commercial mullet

fishing? Because it is an economic component ofour community. The red roe from mullet is valu-able in the far east and some of that money isspent here. And mullet fishing is important be-cause it has an impact on the Estuary.

People like Mark Edwards and Kaley Thomaswho had just come in that morning are typical ofthe important eyes and ears that are watching andlistening to the environment every day they are on

the water. Ifsomething un-usual happensthey are the onesto see it immedi-ately.

Here is wheremy personalcommentarycomes in: Theproblem is, somemullet fishermen,like some tournament anglers, are simply unscrupulous.Itʼs much easier to discard the unwanted fish overboardand fill the box with the money fish than it is to bring youractual catch back to the dock. Every year there are thou-sands of dead male mullet found floating in our estuary,and every year the blame is on ʻfishermen from out ofstate.ʼ We write about it - nothing changes.

Once again, last month, I saw video of a sea of deadmullet floating in front of Bull and Turtle Bay. The backwa-ters, where you donʼt see whatʼs happening, are usuallyworse.

Dead and wasted fish for someoneʼs own personalprofit doesnʼt cut it. I talked to a lot of fishermen on thedock for this story. They all seemed like good hard working


At the Mullet DockAAQQUU AATTIICCAA

continued from page 5


people, but evidently mullet fishermenare a lot more like tournament anglersthan they want to admit. In bothgroups, even the good ones will some-times turn a blind eye and refuse to getinvolved identifying ʻone of their own,ʼeven when the law is broken and theirown livlyhood is at stake.

This is not boys fishing with their

buds on Sunday; these aremen (and women) makinggood money on fish from thepublic estuary – and with thatcomes the responsibility tobe ethical, uphold the law ...and report offenses.

Personally, I think everycommercial harvesting boatin the Aquatic Preserve andits surrounding waters shouldhave a Reporting-GPS on it.The science would be incred-ible and it would be a deter-ent to fish dumping.

Charlotte Marine Sheriffʼsofficer Hargrove must bemaking some progress in

this area. His name was mentioned tome, without love, by several mulletfishermen, but thatʼs not enough. Ittakes ethical anglers from all walks ofthe Salt Life, all working together withthe common good of the resourcebeing the motivator for everyoneʼsactions.

Commercial fishing is a valuablepart of not only our economy,but of our culture as well.When I walked out on thedock, this was going to be a100-percent positive story, butwhen selfish people surfaceand the “code of silence” isused to cover up the plunder-ing of our public resource, thenI have a hard time coming upwith a nice happy ending.

Aquatica is amonthly feature of

Water LIFE magazine.Back issues areavailable free at:

waterlifemagazine.com


By Bryan FluechWater LIFE Sea Grant

Most anglers understandwe have two snook closures annually; eachfor very different reasons. The Decemberthrough February closure we are in nowprotects snook during the cold weather andthe May to September closure protectsspawning snook. The size limits for snookare designed to protect juveniles and olderspawning snook. Many people understandthe reason to protect juveniles; after all theyare the future generation. But why protectthe old girls?

Well it turns out size matters when itcomes to fish spawning. That’s right Big,Old, Fat, Fecund, Female Fish or BOFFFFscontribute far more to future fish stocksthan their smaller, younger same speciesrepresentatives, and the old girls contributein many ways.

BOFFFFs make more eggs – It makesperfect sense, the bigger the fish the moreroom to store eggs. Bigger females also donot need to devote as much energy intogrowing as smaller female fish and there-fore can devote more energy into makingeggs. As a matter of fact, just one 24 inchfemale red snapper will produce as manyeggs as 212, 17 inch female red snappers!This same pattern holds true for manyspecies including bluefin trevally, salmon,cod, rockfish and snook.

BOFFFFs eggs are bigger and more fit –

There’s a body of research that demon-strates a very positive correlation betweenfemale size and egg size. Bigger eggs pro-duce bigger larvae and bigger larvae aremore resistant to starvation and predation.Why is this? Well, bigger eggs have a big-ger yolk which equates to more food for thedeveloping offspring. A study that lookedat egg size on development of walleye de-termined that larvae from larger eggs hadfaster hypural bone (bone at the tail) for-mation and greater body lengths, measuredone and 13 days after hatching. They alsoingested more food, had fewer deformitiesand lower mortality. That leads me to pre-dation. Bigger eggs have fewer predators.While small and large predators can feedon small eggs, large eggs are only availableto large predators, and small predators faroutnumber large ones…good news for bigeggs.

BOFFFFs produce more buoyant eggs –In the case of cod, one of the most studied

fish, older females produce more buoyanteggs. In fact neutral buoyancy is almost sixtimes greater for a six year old fish than athree year old fish at a brackish salinity of15 (half seawater strength).

BOFFFFs distribute their eggs far andwide – With age comes wisdom, and in thecase of BOFFFFs the ability to spawn overlonger periods in the season. Not only doold females produce eggs in greater num-bers and at a greater size, they also spawnin more batches over extended seasons thando smaller females. This means the biggirls are spreading their eggs over many lo-cations and habitats.

There is a growing concern for fisherieswhere BOFFFFs are not protected. Not

only is this bad for future stocks, but it mayhave far greater implications. Picture aworld where all of the people over 5 footfive are selectively removed. Don’t ask mewhere they go, I don’t know, but hey I’mstill here. Anyways over time in a fishworld what we are left with is smaller fishproducing fewer offspring that are less fitwith a slimmer chance of survival, and overtime that means fewer adults spawningfewer fish. A cycle like this would be veryhard to reverse. So the next time you catcha BOFFFF treat her with extra special care.She is the future of our fishery.Charlotte County Sea Grant Agent Capt.

Betty Staugler’s column will return next month.She can be reached at: UF/IFAS Extension,Charlotte County (941) 764-4346

Big Old Fat Fecund Female Fish!


By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE All Kinds of Fishing

A few months back I becameinterested in fly fishing. Itseemed exciting, challengingand more personal between youand your catch. I practiced afew times in the back yard andnever really got the hang of it.My husband however has beendoing great with it and has a fewimpressive catches under hisbelt while all the while I'm over heresticking flys in my hat, trying to practicein the yard. I needed some help.

Recently I had the opportunity to take afly fishing for beginners class. It was es-pecially nice that everyone in the classwas at a beginner/intermediate level. Weall had the same questions and lack of flyfishing knowledge and were all eager tolearn.

The class was taught by IFFF MasterInstructor Rex Gudgel. We started with aclass room setting to explain the basics ofthe fly rod and reel, leaders and knots. Allthe basics you needto know before youcan get out on thewater. It was clearfrom the beginningthat Rex knew hisstuff and was pa-tient with all of ourbeginning questionsand knot errors!

We were all anx-ious to get out thereand practice cast-ing. When you firststart it’s best topractice with apiece of pipecleaner or a hookless fly for safety, untilyou get the hang of it. Sunglasses and ahat are also great protective gear whenlearning to fly fish. We drove to a localpark with lots of room to cast.

It was a perfect day with a slight windto make it a bit challenging. The class

spread out down the football field andwaited for instructions. Rex had everyoneput together their own fly rods and get inline, ready for casting. We were using 6-8w reels and two piece rods. Every partof casting felt unnatural to me at first. Rexwalked around and assisted us one by one,identifying our issues and correcting them.He also taught us a few easy practices youcan do at home that help your casting abil-ity. Near the end of the class everyonehad improved and were able t o cast line ator near a desired target.

Over the next week I was excited to get

out on the water and practice my newskill. I took a trip out on our local PortCharlotte canals. These canals are greatfor quick afternoon trips and usually hideyou from the elements. My first cast wassurprising. Surprisingly terrible. Some-thing Rex explained during the class that I

had forgotten until that moment. Castingfor the first time with your fly in the waterwill be a lot more resistance than thegrassy fields. After a few mistakes andnearly hooking myself I started to get thehang of it. Using a lighter rod than I hadused in class, I had to adjust the amount offorce I was used to. I threw the fly nearsome mangroves and a sandy shoreline.Stripping line through the water, I couldfeel there was more sensitivity. The linebeing in my hand vs a reel and having toset the hook as I felt the fish bite – all avery exciting and personal experience be-

tween you and your catch. My first fish on the fly was a man-

grove snapper. What a small fish andwhat a hard fight. We posed for a quicksnapshot before its release. I caught mysnapper on an EP glass minnow. Excitedthat I could be successful after a lessonand a few practice sessions in the yard Iam now looking forward to my Januaryintermediate class of more advanced cast-ing and hauls. Classes are located in PortCharlotte and cost $35.00 an individual.You can contact West Wall Boat Works at941-875-9630.

First Try At Fly


On The Line By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

Below are the factoids, quotes and newitems I jotted down in my notebook lastyear but never had a chance to use.

10 The U.N. has predicted that 2014will be one of the hottest years on record.This is the same prediction they made for2013, 2012 and 2011. Global warmingscientists are telling us we have to preparefor: Killer heat waves-Rising sea levels-Record droughts- and Mass extinction ofspecies. I bet these guys have some prettywild office parties and I'm sure they arereally fun people when you get to knowthem.9 The World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

issued a report that said that there hasbeen a 50% decrease in animal species inthe last 10 years; caused by man and aloss of habitat. I know that when there is areal crisis on the planet; like war, famineand disease, that the world's upcoming en-vironmental crisis gets pushed to the backburner, but I think they are starting to overplay their hand with all this gloom anddoom stuff. Here is a little factoid theyshould appreciate from a lecture series by

Professor Niel deGrasse Tyson called MyFavorite Universe which states “Every100 million years the earth losses 50% to90% of all species on the planet.” Can weget the WWF to admit that extinction is anatural thing?8 Global warming is one on of the

most contentious issues in science today.This year it seems both sides have dou-bled down on their perspective views.Here are few more data points they canput into those computer simulations. On11/19/2014 Jacksonville, FL broke a coldweather record with a 24 degree low;breaking the old record of 30 degrees setin 1873; in 2013 there were more recordlows in the USA than record high temper-atures. That's the first time in 20 yearsthat has happened. In July 2014 theAntarctic sea ice hit a record of 2,112square kilometers beating the previousrecord of 1,180 square kilometers set inDecember 2007. In July 2014, NOAA re-leased satellite photos showing a 43% in-crease in the polar ice cap in the last 2years. (photo page right)7 Who would of thought that the price

of a barrel of oil would be cut in half lastyear? That sure helps out when you’refilling up the old boat and truck. With thedrop in oil prices the world is using more

IN RETROSPECT: The Top-10 of 2014

$2 off any haircut!


of it than ever before. The world dailyconsumption of oil is 92.5 million barrels;that's up 1.3% over last year. A lot of en-ergy in this country is used to produceelectricity and I came across a list of thecost of producing one megawatt hour ofelectricity using various types of fuels.The cheapest by far is hydroelectric, coalis next at $40 – Nuclear at $60 – naturalgas at $70 and solar at $280. 6 There was a lot of talk about the

distribution of income in this country lastyear. It's just as true now as it always hasbeen; the rich get richer and the poor getpoorer. The beauty of our country is themobility people have to move up anddown that ladder based on effort, skill andluck. Remember that most people come tothis country to be rich not poor. So who ispaying their fair share? According to theIRS, the top 20-percent of income earnersin this country paid 69-percent of all thetaxes and the bottom 20-percent paid only4-percent of the taxes. Don't hate the rich,do your best to become one of them.5 Back in August, the FWC reported a

large red tide bloom offshore in theFlorida panhandle area; the biggest bloomin 10 years. It primarily moved south butstayed offshore and really didn't causemuch of a problem in our area. Interest-ing new research this year shows that an-other harmful algae bloom calledtrichodesmium seems to feeds on red tide.

So, it my be possible to use one algae tocontrol the other. 4 It was a pretty interesting year for

manatees in 2014 . The year started offwith an aerial survey in January whichshowed atotal popula-tion of4831; whichis prettygood con-sidering that276 diedfrom redtide the yearbefore. InMay, themanateewars startedagain whenthe SaveCrystalRiver groupfiled a peti-tion with theFederal Fish and Wildlife Service to havethe manatee taken off the endangeredspecies list. The FWS accepted the peti-tion and it is now making its way throughthe system. We may not hear the phrase“endangered Florida manatee” muchlonger. To complicate things more, an-other environmental group is suing theEPA to stop water inlets and warm water

discharges from power plants. They claimthat the inlets kill sea turtles and the out-lets kill fish. Remember that in the lastaerial survey they found 60-percent of allmanatees counted were in just 10 of these

Florida powerplant discharges.3 It has been

over 9 years sincea hurricane hashit any of the1,260 miles ofcoastline inFlorida. Therewill be futurestorms, but fornow, let's bethankful for ourgood luck. Inyour face – AlGore.2 Trouble is

brewing at Chad-wick Cove. Thissmall Safe Haven

anchoring area near the Tom AdamsBridge in Englewood has become a sourceof controversy between a number of liveaboard boaters who use the area and localofficials who want to enforce State andLocal health and safety laws. This is along simmering dispute that is about toget ugly. Rumor has it that several of theboaters have vowed not to let officials

push them around. The Florida EPA hasbeen taking water samples looking forhuman waste coming from the boats. TheMarine Patrol and the Coast Guard havebeen notified of violations of State andFederal laws. This could all turn badpretty quick.1 Last year I predicted that by this

time of year, Stump Pass would have apermanent rock jetty which would end theproblem of the Pass closing forever more.Well, I was dead wrong on that one. In myown defense I will admit that I fell for oneof the oldest lines in the book. I'm fromthe government and I'm here to help you. Iwas led to believe that there was a newspirit of co-operation with government of-ficials to work with local people and thateveryone was on board with the projectand that meetings were going well withstate and federal authorities and that onlya few details had yet to be worked out.Well, let me lay out the facts as I nowknow them at this point in time. No engi-neering plans have been approved. No en-vironmental permits have been issued andno construction contracts have beensigned. I'm still hopeful that there will bea successful outcome in the future, but Iam starting to lose hope.

My favorite quote for the new year is :“just because I don't lie, doesn't mean Ihave to tell the truth.” Happy New Year!

On Sept. 19, 2014, the five-day average of Antarctic seaice extent exceeded 20 million square kilometers forthe first time since 1979. The line shows the averagemaximum extent from 1979-2014. Image Credit: NASA


By Capt Bart MarxWater LIFE inshore

Recently I was able to show off Char-lotte Harbor to a fly fishing guide fromUtah. This past summer I sold my boat tohis father. We met through our church andhe mentioned his son was a fly fishingguide and that he was an alternate for FlyFishing Team USA. It was very excitingto meet someone of this caliber and a flyfisherman to boot and I was invited tocome along on my old Action-Craft whenTrevor arrived to do some fishing.

We started just inside the bar on theEast side where we picked a top waterpopper for some trout action. We driftedacross the grass beds and were catchingsome small spotted sea trout on the flyand the shrimp with a popping cork.

We drifted as the wind blew us andevery so often we would motor back tothe areas that we were catching trout. Aswe continued our search for bigger troutwe spotted some small bonnethead sharksin the shallows; one here, two there, theywere just cruising around in search offood.

Trevor tried to get the fly in place toget hooked up on a shark but no takers, sowe moved further south to find some bet-ter action. As we were drifting we wereseeing some southern stingrays aboutthree feet across the wings and Trevorasked what that was following the ray?

It was a cobia looking for bait fish thatwere spooked by the ray. The first onethat we saw was pretty close to 38 inches.

A nice fish. Trevor tried to get the fly infront of this critter, but it was not inter-ested at all.

We continued to drift up to some man-groves and started to trolling-motor alongand spotted reds and mullet a few sandbrem down near Pirate Harbor.

It was getting late in the day and wewere spotting reds and snook but as thefly would hit they would scatter, snap!

We continued to motor slowly arounda couple of points and came across somemonster reds around 30 inches, but it wastoo late and they left the area like a grey-hound after a rabbit. Then within just afew yards we spooked some good sizesnook who were on the move before wehad the chance to put a fly out. That is re-ally frustrating, when you can see fish butthey are not hungry for fly food.

Still, we had a great time and learnedsome things from each other that we canuse on some future trips like casting tech-niques for different applications.

Fly fishing is about the hunt and get-ting into casting range of your targetspecies and casting a fly and presenting itwell enough to get that fish to bite.

So we spotted lots of fish and caught afew and it was a beautiful day on Char-lotte Harbor. If you would like to book a trip with Capt.

Bart Marx give me a call at 941-979-6517 ore-mail at [email protected] can take you on our boat or I can comealong on yours. Always remember singingdrags and tight lines make me smile.

The Good Fish Were Lookers

The FFTUSA will select a team of qualified anglers to represent the United States of Americaat national and international fly fishing competitions, including the world competition heldeach year by the International Sport Flyfishing Federation which is an arm of the Interna-tional Angling Confederation.


Olʼ Fishinʼ HoleWith Capt. Jm O’BrienWater LIFE Offshore

Well let’s get into fish'n! I havn't hadany offshore charters out, everyone waswaiting for Jan to get here when the redgrouper and Ajs open back up, so my wifeDebbie and I have been fresh water snookand bass fishing in the lakes and pondsout off SR 771. The fishing is great whenyou can't get out offshore. The snook inthe pictures was caught on a 1/2 oz. lure,silver with a black stripe down its back. The fresh water snook are hitting theselures with aggression. They are ranging28- to 44-inches. The bass are hittingpretty good too. The bass seem to like the

buzz baits; I use green and yellow andwhite. Most of the guys I talk to are notspending the fuel cost it takes to run out20 to 30 miles, everyone is waiting forJan. 1 so they can bring back somegrouper, snapper and Aj's. Most of theguys fish'n for sheepshead on docks,bridges, at the Phosphate Docks and atMary’s reef are using fiddler crabs andsmall pieces of shrimp.

There are some Spanish mackerel andbonitas 2- to 10-miles off the beach and afew kings are being caught trolling. Thenice days without wind, if you get up earlyin the morning, go out to the crab traps

and cast out asmall spoon oruse a HankBrown jig tippedwith a small pieceof shrimp fortriple tail. Theywon't be on everycrab trap, butwhen you find theone you will havea nice battle and adelicious dinner.

I want to letyou know ourfish'n for heroes

wounded warrors first Chili Cook-Off onDecember 6 was a great success and weare looking forward to next year on thefirst Saturday of December.

Well now it’s time to get out of here,so if you have any good fish stories or arecipe for cooking fish that we can sharewith our readers or if you want to book anoffshore trip with us aboard the Predator IIgive me a call at ( 941 ) 473 - 2150

AND REMEMBERGET OUT AND SNORT SOME OFTHAT GOOD CLEAN SALT AIR CUZ IT’S GOOD FER YA ! ! !

Snookinʼ the Ponds


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Burnt Store IslesPort Charlotte

Sailing 2.4-Mʼs get much wind: Holiday Regatta gets little

By Peter WelchWater LIFE Sailing

Nineteen sailors from four countries par-ticipated in the 2.4M US and NorthAmericasRegatta, (photo left) hosted by the CharlotteHarbor Yacht Club. The US Championshiphad eight races over four days (Dec 9-12) andwas followed by the North Americas sixraces on December 13 and 14. This is the sec-ond year at CHYC. Local 2.4M sailor DennisPeck was elected racing class president.

The week started with cold north windsand dark clouds. Waves put a lot of coldwater in the small boats the first day, but thenorth wind moderated, clear skies promotedheat driven wi nd from the west that producedvelocity and direction changes during eachrace. A strong eb tide also figured into thedayʼs sailing as Charlotte Harbor retained itsability to challenge sailors!

The 2.4M boats are adapted to handi-capped sailors physical capability based ondoctorʼs analysis. The beauty of this boat isthat it measures sailing skill, not strength ormoney and that it is a fun and responsiveboat with low total cost to own.

The Holiday Regatta (above) is a PuntaGorda Sailing Club “Boat of the Year” (BOTY)event. It is the second of five BOTY eventswhose results are tracked by the sanctioningbody to determine the most successful boatsby region. BOTY races raise money used fordonations to local and national (like theLeukemia Cup) causes. The regatta attracted21 boats this year. The winds were capri-cious, great for some, frustrating for others.

In the first race, our wind was blocked andwe had to tack off to the east and away fromfavored wind shift toward the west. The lastfleet to start (Cruising fleet) ran out of windall together and their race was terminated.

Race two we watched the smart startersand with a good spinnaker set at the wind-ward mark we finished fourth.

On day two the wind stopped and the cur-rent took us slowly to the parking lot of boatsat Mkr. No. 1. When the wind started again itresumed weakly from the north east. Then,we got the news on the VHF radio : RACEABANDONED.

Above: 2.4 action.Results: N America (8 races) A Leibel Can. US Champ (6 races) T Pocklington Regatta Best (14 races) M Pasco GBRRight: Holiday Results: Spinnaker See Ya T Milan / Non Spinnaker Fancy Free J Pouquette /Multi Hull Kimosabi P Saunders / Cruiser Sun Chaser WilliamsTHIS MONTH: Golden Conch Regatta, Burnt Store Jan 17-18Next Month: Charlotte Harbor Regatta February 6-8

Photos: Fran Nashier Burstein

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated,

But Often True


AN FWC SNOOK STUDY in progresson the other coast seems to indicate onesegment of the snook population there isusing two specific inlets to come and gooffshore, while the other segment uses nu-merous random inlets.

NISSAN HEADS UP An advertiserwrote us: We just received a letter todaystating that Nissan Marine is discontinuingtheir outboards.

APPROVALS ARE IN and the Char-lotte Sailing Center is about to get a new3,000+ sq.ft. home, a building of their ownat the Port Charlotte Beach Complex. Thisis great for the county and its ʻsmall boatʼsailors. In a related story, the CharlotteSun has told the sailing club the Sun nolonger has room to run sailing stories intheir weakly Waterline section.

TUNA ANYONE? Australiaʼs ABCNews reports that the bodies of three peo-ple have been found in the freezer of an il-legal fishing boat in a remote part ofPapua New Guinea. The deceased appear

to be Asian, their bodies were packed inamongst the boatʼs catch of tuna.

FWC OFFICERS WERE ON WATERPATROL in Duval County when they spot-ted a commercial shrimp trawler that hadbeen identified by Resource ProtectionSquad members as possibly using netsthat are too large for state waters. Upon

coming alongside the vessel, they notedthat the trawler was 230 feet from theshore in an area that is closed to shrimp-ing. Officers boarded the vessel and ameasurement of the nets showed them tobe 882 and 912 square feet; well in excessof the 500 square feet maximum. The cap-tain was cited for the oversized net andwarned for trawling too close to the shore.The illegal nets were seized.

FEDERAL INTELLIGENCE Officershave been working on gathering intelli-gence on federally permitted commercialfishing vessels. The intelligence gatheredthrough months of IFQ inspections and off-shore inspections has resulted in multipleresource citations and warnings issued tovarious commercial fishing boats out ofTampa Bay.

OOPPSIE NO BRAKEE A vessel hadjust pulled into the Ft Lauderdale boatramp. The occupants exited the vesseland backed their truck and trailer to theramp. They exited the truck and werepreparing the vessel to be taken out of thewater. Suddenly, the truck started rollingback toward the water. In moments, thetrailer and truck were fully submerged inthe water. The truck fell off the edge of theramp and sank down 8 feet. The emer-gency brake had not been set.

AMERICAS NEW SPACECRAFT – NASAsOrion capsule is shown being recovered byNavy divers after it splashed down 275miles west of Baja California after orbitingthe Earth twice. The 4.5 hour flight testedthe rocket and the capsuleʼs heat shield,the largest ever used in a space program."There's your new spacecraft, America,"said Rob Navias, a NASA spokespersonduring the flight. The destination is Mars.

December 10 South Venice, FL ·

This boy thinks this thing runs in mud....... guess who's pushin'?! Luckily, it was only about 2 inches ofwater so he didn't get too wet!

Rachel Nicole — with Capt. Scott Sichling.

Either You Have or You Will

Charlotte HarborFrank, at Fishin’ Franks941- 625-3888

There have been lots of little redfish,the rat-reds are pretty much the go-to fishnow, but what is weird is this year thereare a lot of oversize redfish too. Usuallythere is an event that causes this. Backthree years ago we had a big red tide inBull and Turtle Bay. Big bull reds washedup at Boca Grande, that correlates to themissing keeper-fish this year. The babiesfrom three years ago got knocked out bythe red tide. So now, back on the flats, youfind fewer keepers than we had last yearand the year before. That would be my ex-planation: (Frankism: If you want to knowwhere you are going, you have you knowwhere you have been.)

If you are outon an inshore char-ter this month the predominant thing thecaptains are working is poppin corks withshrimp and they are back on the flats andbehind the bar if possible. They want anarea with little depressions, maybe 2- to 6-inches deep. They motor up current anddrift back across the pot holes. If theydon’t get a red drifting then they start pop-ping the cork. That way you are more thanlikely to attract a trout reeling back in.

At Gasparilla, Pine Island and in theHarbor I prefer the D.O.A. DeadlyCombo. The thing I like about it is itshalf-ounce bullet weight that slaps theoval shaped float and gives you a deepsound. A cigar shaped float produces alighter tone which works better on troutand ladyfish. The rounder one is better forreds. It’s a subtle difference and that’show to select a bobber for differentspecies. The D.O.A. is less expensive andhas the weight which makes it easier toget a good cast and easier for a beginnerto pop. The floats with plastic beads areharder to work and harder to get a goodcast out of.

Out in front of Bull and Turtle, down atTwo Pine and at Jug Creek out beyond thesandbars there are pompano. It’s reallygood to have two people to fish pompano.Back the throttle down to just stay on

plane. The driver looks where he’s goingand the second person looks back in thewake to see the pompano skip out of thewater. Like carp on the Illinois River, thepompano do the exact same thing, exceptthey jump after the boat has passed –that’s why someone needs to be lookingbehind the boat. Then once you see thefish, turn away from the bar, go a good20-to 50-yards to deeper water (becauseyou just spooked the fish!). Get up currentand drift back into them. The best jig isthe banana jig in pink and white or char-treuses and white. I like the ones with ateaser on them. They started in the 70s asa walleye jig and in the 80s someone triedone down here. Now they call them asilly-jigs. Cast out and reel in with a slightlifting of the rod tip. That’s it.Snook fishing is doing fair. Snook are

not what I would target, but on the eastside, with a half-ounce weedless goldspoon you’ll get a lot of small snook. Thebigger snook are back in the canals andthey don’t seem to be eating. Sheepsheadfishing on the other hand is still prettygood. Placida has a nice population andthere you want to be 2-to 3-feet off thebottom, next to the pilings. Bring it up oneturn on the reel handle. Fiddler crabs (ifwe could get them) would be great bait.

Sand fleas are good and there are someyou can find on the beach.... or the easything is small pieces of shrimp. You don’twant anything too big for the sheepshead.El JoBean would be another good spot forsheephead now. If I was going to try myluck, I’d try one of the bridges on the In-tracoastal and I’d take a scraper with me.What I would do is drag the scraper UP

ChartersOffshore Fishing Trips: 1/2 day • 8hr • 10 hr • 12 hr

We help put your charters togetherShark, Tarpon, Grouper, Snapper, Kingfish, and MORE!

Nighttime Trips AvailableCapt. Jim OʼBrien USCG 50 ton license since 1985

941-473-2150


Guide Cardspace available$40/mo

766-8180

Corey Maples, grandson of Mike and Le AnneMaples with a pompano from a pompano tripwith Capt Dave Stephens. Also at right.

Capt. Billy Bartonreleases a redfishwhile clients hold

two more

Bud Angus and Gordon Roman caughtabout 30 sheepshead around the docks inCharlotte Harbor near Boca Grande. Theyused live shrimp and the temperature wasin the low 50 s. They kept 6. Here's "what'sfor dinner."

January January –– Predictions and SuggestionsPredictions and Suggestions

the piling because if youscrape down you only get onescrape. Pulling up you getthree or four passes on thesame set of barnacles. Whenyou find barnacle coated pil-ings you want to make themlast as long as possible.Cobia are coming back

into the Harbor now andthere have been a lot of themunder the 33 inch minimum. TheCulprit 7-inch worm in GreenKudzu Shad is what they are goingcrazy with. The Yum Yum bait inchartreuses and pepper is my sec-ond choice. Fish a 1/0 - or 3/0short-shank hook with a straighteye - no weight, no nothing, just tieit on the end of the line. The heavyhook is your weight. Rig it with thehook exposed.

Out in the Gulf it’s been tough toget reports, but the water tempera-tures are good for king mackerel.Grouper opened up this month andwe have had legal-sized redgrouper in Boca Grande Pass allthrough December. That is very

rare, especially this time of year.Freshwater is on fire. Bass is

going crazy, it’s buzz-baits orfrogs: Rapalla 09s and 11s - anylure with greens is hot right now,like somethging white with darkgreen and light green.Crappie fishing is just OK.

2014 was not a banner year forpan fish - no big sizes or numbers- but you still can catch somenice ones. It’s better up byKissimmee and Lake Traffordthan down at Lake O. In thecanals in Port Charlotte thecrappie are moving around be-cause of the culvert construc-tion and all the rerouted water.

Lastly, there are BIG triple tailaround. I saw one over 3-feet!There are not many in the Harbor,so check the near-Gulf crab buoys.

Lemon Bay Jim at Fishermen’s Edge 697-7595

The guys are all saying theycan’t remember this much actionthis time of year ever! The waterhas cooled off and it didn’t heatback up. We’ve had a lot of pom-pano and permit along the beachand they are mixed in with somenice flounder. There have been anumber of nice sheepshead caught

on docks and structure around BocaGrande and Gasparilla Island.

I don’t have a report for theAinger Creek pier, which is nowclosed for .... a while.

A lot of nice redfish are beingcaught, a lot of keepers. One guyused one shrimp to catch his keeperred, it was 26 inches. He said he atethe rest of his bait shrimp with theredfish for dinner. Another friendtold me he was catching them ontop water plugs in Whidden Creek,over by Cayo Pleau while he washiding from the wind and driftingover the potholes - he said hecaught quite a few nice ones there.

Offshore has been good too,

with banner days on mangrove andyellow tail snapper. Quite a fewhog fish are being caught too,mostly in 75 or 80 feet of water.There might be some closer, buthard bottom is key. And there arestill a lot of keeper sized cobiaaround too, but not one AJ yet.

Coral Creek is giving up somenice fish, guys are getting smallsnook and small tarpon up there.

And there is good trout around.Guys are getting 50- or 60, noproblem. Trout are all over now.You better take 8 -to 10 dozenshrimp because you got to weedthrough the little ones to get to thekeepers.

TROUT in the Harbor andalong the beach.

REDFISH Schools fromLemon Bay to Catfish Creek

POMPANO In the Harbor andthe passes

BLACK DRUM PGI and man-chester waterway.

FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

Good !Good !

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚

The BIG-4The BIG-4 GoodGood Fish to expect in Fish to expect in JanuaryJanuaryJANUARY 2015 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 23

Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremes

Gulf Gulf TempsTemps

are low 60sare low 60sThe Harbor is 3-The Harbor is 3-

or 4-degreesor 4-degreeswarmerwarmer

Weʼve seen quite a few black drum lately, some in the canals, some in the Harbor.


Bow Rider Commander 2300 LX 1999 $19,999 #682Bow Rider Maxum 20 SF 1998 $7,900 #638Bow Rider Stingray 195LS 2006 $13,900 #668Bow Rider Sea Ray 167 BR 2003 $8,900 #676Center Console Sea Pro SV1700 CC 2006 $15,900 #665Center Console Key West 1720 CC 1995 $5,900 #684Center Console Cape Craft 16 CC 2004 $8,995 #634Center Console Angler 173 CC 2009 $17,900 #622Center Console Triumph 215 CC 2006 $21,900 #666Cruiser Bayliner Discovery 246 2007 $35,900 #656Cruiser Grady White 252 G 1989 $18,900 #685Deck Boat Hurricane 187 SD 2014 $29,900 #644Deck Boat Hurricane 226 CC 2008 $14,999 #615Deck Boat Hurricane SS 231 OB 2010 $34,900 #602Deck Boat Bennington RL210 2004 $15,900 #686Dual Console Ranger 18 Reata VS 2006 $14,400 #661Flats Boat Pathfinder 17T 1999 $9,900 #618

Flats boat Tristar 18 Flats 1999 $13,900 #625High Perf. Baja Marine 20 Outlaw 2007 $21,900 #675Jet Boat Yamaha LS 2000 2000 $11,900 #645 Jet Boat Sea Doo 1800 Challenger 2003 $10,900 #631Skiff Carolina Skiff JV17 CC 2008 $10,900 #660Skiff Boston Whaler 130 Sport 2006 $8,900 #657Skiff Craig Cat E-2 Elite 2013 $9,900 #600Skiff Gheenoe 16CC 2004 $5,600 #648Walkaround Grady-White 230 W/A 1992 $19,900 #677Walkaround Stratos 2600 1990 $17,900 #683Walkaround Aquasport 225 Explorer 1998 $15,900 #624Walkaround Aquasport 250 Explorer 2004 $37,900 #617Walkaround Pro Line 251 W/A 1995 $21,900 #609Walkaround Cobia 230 W/A 2004 $27,900 #629Walkaround Sailfish 2660 W/A 2006 $52,900 #598Walkaround Grady White 282 W/A 2001 $49,900 #652Walkaround Boston Whaler 235 Conquest 2006 $52,900 #667

water life jan 2015

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