Water LIFE Sept 2014

September 2014September 2014

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LIFEThe Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

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

Little TarponLittle TarponLight TackleLight Tackle& Fly& FlyPage 7Page 7

Snook Season:Snook Season:Game OnGame On

Page 6Page 6

Pinfish

are

Every

where

0 WWWWaaaatttteeeerrrr

Big Big Guns Guns

and theand theʻHold UpʼʻHold Upʼ

Page 17Page 17

WhatWhat isis This?This?Out of the Peace River,Out of the Peace River,

Straight to the Museum!Straight to the Museum!Page 12Page 12

EMAIL: W [email protected] SEPTEMBER 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014 BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 3

Very Last Wordon Jawʼs JawsI walked into Capt. Izzy’s Char-

lotte HarborBarbershop,last month.“Guess whoI went fish-ing with,”Izzy askedme. “BillyPierson” hesaid, rhetorically. If you have been following my

shark jaws story, Billy was the fel-low mentioned by Alan Ogle in theline of custody pertaining to thejaws of the world record hammer-head Alan caught in 1982. It turns out Billy was fishing

WITH Capt. Ogle when he landedthe world record animal. According to Izzy, Billy said

Alan gave the jaws to him and thenlater got them back. That’s howAlan was able to, later, give thejaws to Fishin Frank, who has themtoday. And now you know the restof the story. –Michael Heller

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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 XIII No 9 © 2014

No part of this publication (printed or electronic) may becopied or reproduced without specific written permission

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: A rare big claw rivershrimp caught in a Peace River crab traplast month – Story on pages 12-13

PAGE 4 EMAIL: W [email protected] SEPTEMBER 2014

Send letters and photos to: [email protected]

Opah not OprahLast month a trio of anglers each managed to harvest a rare opah during their fishing trip near

San Martin, Mexico. As if that was not impressive enough, one of the anglers is now applying to theInternational Game Fish Association for a world record.

The three anglers were in Mexican waters aboard Fleckʼs Excel, a long range sport-fishing shipoperating out of San Diego. The fishermen started out chasing yellowtail but soon ran into a pod offive opahs. This was especially unusual since the species is not known to school together. Thesighting was considered rare in West Coast waters although the animals might have been spawning.

Opah have been drawing more interest among California recreational anglers in recent years butare generally not targeted by saltwater fishermen. Experts think the deepwater fish is plentiful, fewcommercial fishermen actively fish for opah, instead only finding them occasionally as bycatch.

All three caught last month were behemoth specimens, but Ludlowʼs catch may very well dis-place the IGFA world record . That honor currently belongs to a 163-pound opah caught near Califor-niaʼs Port San Luis Obispo in 1998.

Editor notes: The weight of the fish submitted for the IGFA record was not given.


By Michael Heller, Water LIFE EditorClayton, the name tag on his shirt read. Standing in

front of my door he held a plastic cup of water in his lefthand. “Smell this, I got it from your outside tap,” hesaid. Clayton works for CCU and I had complained about‘yellow smelly water.’ He had, no doubt, played out thissame act many times before at numerous other houses.The cup he held appeared to be very well worn.We live on Bangsberg Road, a dead end street on one

of the finger peninsulas that extend out from EdgewaterDrive into Charlotte Harbor. Clayton knew the watermain on our block needed to be flushed. Clayton and fiveother CCU field technicians spend a lot of time flushingout water lines. “Flushing is a routine thing,” CCU waterplant manager Tom Hill would later tell me. Back in the 1960s when the water main was installed,

dead-end water lines were the norm. “The water main ismost likely PVC or AC (asbestos cement) pipe,” Tomsaid, noteing lines that come off the main to feed the firehydrants are cast iron. There was never any type of flap-per valve installed to prevent rusting water in the castiron pipe and hydrant from settling back into the mainline. Water pressure holds some of it back, but over timegravity wins out and the water main gets the rusty crud.When there are a lot of users everyone drinks a little

rust, but this becomes a bigger problem in a neighbor-hoods where half the houses are still missing from hurri-cane Charley and the snowbirds in the other half are gonethis time of year. The volume of water used is way downand contaminant levels build in the dead end lines. Thewater system design itself is flawed.Clayton gave up on his ‘smell test’ and headed down

the block to open the fire hydrant. I ran inside to grab mycamera, but Clayton had his wrench out and was openingthe hydrant when I got there.The time stamp on my first picture was 1:29:18. The

water was coming out dark brown. It spilled out, ran intothe swale and down to the catch basin that connects a cul-

vert under the road to the canal, adistance of maybe 400 feet. It didn’t look good. The water

was picking up all the fertilizer,Round Up, road contaminants,small debris, poisoned dead bugsand other unknown pollutants be-fore falling into the canal. “Wecan't put it directly in the canal,”Clayton told me, “The DEP won'tpermit it. You need to get a waterfilter,” he said. It was an easy fix,at the customer’s expense, comingfrom one of the most outrageouslyhigh-priced water companys in thestate. ‘No,’ I said to myself, this isCCU’s problem. CCU needs to in-stall non rusting pipes or at leastinstall a timed purge valve to flushthe line regularly, like they havedone off Midway. The water cameout brown until my picture at 1:32:16, at which time itwas ‘almost’ clear.My friend Tom Spencer looked at the picture and told

me “That's iron bacteria and sediment. Neither are harm-ful, but they can produce a bad odor and taste. I wouldhighly recommend a sediment and a carbon filter for yourhome. They are inexpensive. I run them at my home andI'm a DEP licensed drinking water plant operator.” Flush-ing the water into the street is better than dumping di-rectly into the Harbor. “Trust me,” Tom said, thechloramines in the water will kill fish. When it runsacross the road, the road removes the chloramines.” Kills fish, but we drink it, I thought to myself.Dr Abdul Ahmadi, PhD, PE is the Program Adminis-

trator for the DEP in Fort Myers. ‘How quickly the chlo-rine goes away depends on the concentration; from 10- to15 minutes,’ Dr Ahmadi told me. “You can’t put that

water directly into the Harbor until it is at .01 mg/l ofchlorine or less and then you need a permit.” It seemslike everything the DEP regulates needs a permit.

Bruce Bullert, Chief engineer for CCU told me that ifa water main on a block like ours was installed today,current regulations would require the system to eitherhave an automatic purge valve or be looped in a connec-tion under the canal to the water main in the next blockover. “Looping is a very expensive solution,” Mr Bullerttold me, telling me also that CCU has done it before.Clearly, CCU is dealing with an antiquated water sys-

tem, but residents are drinking the water from it daily.A week later I had CCU open the same hydrant again

and the water was mostly clear. But in a month or so itwill be mostly smelly and brown again. We’ve all beencalling CCU about this problem for 17 years and theproblem still exists. Maybe next time we call a lawyer.

This Water is Unacceptable

Charlotte County Utilities must regularly flush their water mains on dead end streets torid them of what is allegedly iron bacteria and sediment, like this. Water ran for morethan 3 minutes before it was almost clear. This is unacceptable for drinking water.

TIME 1:32:16

TIME 1:29:18

Sign up this month!Sign up this month!Classes start inClasses start in

October! October!


By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE Charlotte HarborFall is without a doubt one of the best

times to be on Charlotte Harbor. We havea longer summer than our neighbors to thenorth and our fall might not be as notice-able, but we do have a transition and ourfish know it. During the months of Sep-tember and October our temperatures arestill hitting the 90-degree mark and thewater in the Harbor is still hot enough toboil an egg, but changes are taking place.

Snook begin to move backonto the flats from their sum-mer spawning grounds so dur-ing the fall months CharlotteHarbor offers some of the bestsnook fishing in the state. This is a very important

time of year for our localsnook population. This iswhen it is necessary for themto build up fat reserves tomake it through the winterahead. During this time of year it is notunusual to catch 50 snook while out for aday of fishing with some days hitting the100 fish mark! I know it sounds like a fishstory, but that’s fall fishing on CharlotteHarbor. The slight changes that take placeare what trigger the fish into their fallfeeding patterns. The summer rains that you can just

about set your clock to become fewer andfewer and now the number one thing thatchanges the fish’s pattern is the Sun andthe Moon. As winter approaches, the days become

shorter. Normally we don’t notice this

until we are told it’stime to set our clocksback, but the fish know. Another sign that fall

is arriving are the largeschools of glass min-nows that move into theHarbor. It almost seemslike a gift from MotherNature. If you havebeen out on the Harborlately I’m sure you have seen the largeschools of ladyfish feeding on the min-nows. When these schools wander ontothe flats, life becomes one large buffet forthe snook.

If you would like to get out and experi-ence some of Charlotte Harbor’s best fallfishing, please give me a call.

All charters private and customized foryour party’s needs. 941-916-5769

www.backbayxtremes.com

Snook React toSubtle Changes

SEPTEMBER 2014 BACK ISSUES @ BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 7

By Capt. Scott Sichling Water LIFE Fly FishingThere is no better way to

start out a day on the waterthan watching the sun comeover the horizon. Waiting pa-tiently as the mangrove shore-line and your favorite flatbecome visible enough to seelittle creatures moving aroundlooking for their breakfast. Great blue herons are wad-

ing and catching fry bait,schools of mullet are millingabout stirring up the bottomand baby tarpon are rollingalong the shoreline. It allpaints the picture perfectscene of Florida at its best. Stripping out and laying

the fly line on the deck of myboat and then waiting for theperfect opportunity really getsmy adrenaline going! A few short casts are re-

quired to gently drop my flyinto the water ahead of therolling juvenile tarpon. Myheart races as I give the fly afew gentle strips and WHAM! The first few jumps are

critical to keeping the flylodged in a tarpon’s mouth.Remembering to ‘bow,’ givinghim a bit of wiggle room, in-sures the fly stays wellplanted. After a short fight and a

few more skyward jumps thesilver prince is ready for aphoto op and then a good re-vival so he swims away togrow much larger! Juvenile tarpon can be

found all throughout CharlotteHarbor and its estuaries. I

generally target feeder creeksor residential canals wherethere is a good amount of baitand moving water. You will find that first light

early in the morning, beforethe sun really comes up, to bethe best time. Just like the mega-sized

poons the little juveniles canbe super picky about your of-fering, making you shake yourhead wondering why?A wide variety of flies will

work for the occasion. Bait-fish pattern EP flies, gurglersand a few other styles in anarray of colors will get you bitthis month. The challenge of sealing

the deal on fly with a jumpedfish is the ultimate back coun-try adventure!

Capt. Scott can be reached forfly or conventional charters at

(941) 408-5634

Juvie Tarpon on Fly

Juvenile snook can be a bycatch when fly fishing the tight backwaterspots, looking for for juvenile tarpon


By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffIt’s been almost ten years since we

have had a major red tide outbreak inour area, but our luck may have run out.About six weeks ago a large bloom wasreported in the north west Gulf, about50 miles off shore. Since then the patchhas grown at a phenomenal rate. As ofthe last reports(08/23/14) it had grownin size to an area about 90 miles by 60miles, that's a little smaller than the sateof Connecticut . That would make it oneof the largest red tide blooms I haveseen in my 30-plus years in Florida. TheFWC now has the patch located 20miles offshore between Dixie Countyand north Pinellas County and it isslowly moving south.I've seen a lot of red tide in Sarasota

and Charlotte County so I think I canpredict how these things will play out. First the FWC will report that red

tide has been spotted in our area withhigher than normal red tide concentra-tions (that has already happened.) Thenthe local newspapers will pick up thestory and run background pieces on redtide calamities in the past. Then thelocal TV stations will be on the hunt forthe first dead fish on the beach. Theywill interview the first tourist who com-

plains about runnyeyes and a ticklingsensation in thethroat. That firstdead fish will be-come a celebrity asthey show that filefootage every dayuntil the red tidemoves on.Next, the na-

tional media willpick up the storyand the rest will bejust like knockingdown a row ofdominoes. Peoplewill change theirvacation plans; after all who wants tovacation at the beach if there is a chanceof red tide. Resorts and hotels will startto get cancellations and so will fishingcharter captains. Restaurants and clubs,and any other business that looks to thetourist trade to pay the bills, will losebusiness. People will demand that some-thing be done and politicians will obligethrowing money at anyone with a half-baked solution to the red tide problem.Of course the red tide will eventuallymove on, but not before we suffersome severe economic destruction.AsS this red tide death spiral begins,

I would like to play myth buster beforethe usual suspects try to confuse theconventional wisdom with half truthsand down right lies. First off the statement that red tide is

back is false because red tide has neverleft - it has always been in the water andalways will be. Red tide is an algae andlike most algae, under the right condi-tions, it blooms and unfortunately thisbloom puts out a toxin that kills fish andother creatures. Red tide forms offshore under the

right conditions, those conditions beingwarmer than normal water temperatures,lack of rain, and the right level of nutri-ents. We certainly have hit the trifectawith our current weather conditions.

When it comes to those nutrients it maynot be what you think. There are alwaysnutrients in the Gulf; that's why thingsgrow there. The latest theory is that dustblown over from Africa which is high iniron is the triggering mechanism thatcauses red tide to bloom.The biggest myth of all is that

mankind somehow is the cause of redtide. There are some people who feelthat mankind is responsible for all theevils on earth. I call this trait speciesself-loathing; the tendency to blame thehuman species for natural disasters. Ilove reading articles from these peoplethat start with, we don't know whatcauses red tide but we suspect that it isthe result of these human related activi-ties. This is what we call SWAG (Sci-entific Wild Ass Guess) and it is thesame thought process the Witch Doctorshad when they kicked the virgins intothe volcano. Red tide is not just aFlorida phenomenon; even though weidentified and named it right here atMote Marine in Sarasota, it pops up allover the Gulf and sometimes even in theAtlantic. In Texas they take a morepragmatic stand; their Parks andWildlife Department flat out states “RedTide is a natural phenomenon notcaused by human beings.” Now how’sthat for settled science?

RED Tidebloom conventional wisdom with half truths and down right liesOn The Line

Saharan Dust, now thought to trigger Red Tide, as it existed onAug 24, was graphicly enhanced by BayTV9 News in Tampa

$2 off any haircut!


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE InshoreFishing is a bit of a mysterious sport

where anglers pursue with blind confi-dence that on any given chance a fish willbite the line. When looking at the surfaceof the water you cannot possibly knowwhat lies beneath and this is where the ad-diction begins. Bretten Baker is a 13 yearold teenager from Ohio who has fishedwith me on many occasions. He is themost talented young angler I have evermet. With casting ability and lighteningfast hook-sets, the stage is set for Brettento become a pro-angler one day if he wereto choose that career path.Bretten’s grandfather Tim Short from

Port Charlotte contacted me to fish in midAugust and told me that Bretten was veryexcited for their upcoming trip. In mymind, I was concerned that 90 degreewater temperatures might make the fishsluggish so we agreed to start our fishingday at 5:00 a.m., more than an hour beforedaylight to take advantage of the earlymorning bite. Negotiating marked chan-nels of Pirate Harbor out to the Harbor inthe dark is a harrowing task but with spotlight in hand we arrived successfully out-side the sandbar on the east side. Turningthe motor off we listened for the sounds offeeding fish in the dark. There was musicto our ears with fish slurping 360-degreesaround the boat! Rods were rigged withsoft plastic jerk baits with single hooks sodehooking fish would be easy in the dark.For the next two hours, rarely did a castgo without a mash! Jack crevalle, lady-fish, bluefish, mackerel and a few swipesfrom bigger fish that never connected.With the sun getting high in the sky we

decided to run to Bookeelia to catch baitand quickly filled the wells with bigpilchards. Running to a mangrove bankonly minutes from the bait hole we metwith aggressive fish. A deep under-cutmangrove bush next to a feeder creek pro-vided lots of shade as Bretten and Timyoked on fish after fish. Redfish, snook,pinfish, snapper and of all things a bar-racuda! With the species count at 9 andthe clock reading 1:00 p.m. we made a

move to fishing sandbars in the mid-daysun. Adding three more species; flounder,trout and catfish I asked if they were upfor a battle with Goliath Groupers warn-ing that they may be too big to handle. Anemphatic yes came from Bretten and offwe went. Bretten’s favorite saying is “GoBig Or Go Home”!Anchoring right off a deep water

pocket in the Harbor, Bretten and Timfished a ½ ladyfish on heavy weight in-shore rods. Quickly Tim fought and lostone and then landed a plump grouperquickly releasing it. In minutes a big fishtook Bretten’s bait and he battled the brutewith all his might! As the fight pursued Ihelped by grabbing the rod and with twoof us putting all the heat that could be puton this fish, the line snapped! This wasdefinitely a monster fish! With the mid-day sun sending us in, the count was 13species! Talk of another trip and a coupleof days later we were at it again. Anothermagnificent day was had and we addedtwo other fish species- an enormousStingray and a small tarpon for a total of15 species!A record was set on my boat for the

most species caught and I bet it will standa long time……at least until Brettencomes down from Ohio for another fish-ing trip!

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action FlatsBackcountry Charters and can be reached at941-628-8040 or go to

www.backcountry-charters.com

Lucky 13 Age and Species Count


By Capt Billy BartonWater LIFE INSHORE

I think for all intents and purposes we can spell Summer with acapital "S" this year! With extra high humidity and heat indexes upnear 120 on some days, the afternoon fishing is definitely not goingto be for the faint of heart! If you can troop it out though, and en-dure the heat, there's plenty of big hungry fish out there right nowto keep everyone going all day long, I promise you that! Last month I suggested slowing down your presentation during

the warmer months of the year for big snook and redfish. In themorning and evenings, when it's a little bit cooler outside, most ofour fish, on an average, do have a bit more spunk behind them.

This is when they'd be most likely to chasedown an artificial or live bait that was movingpast them quickly. This is also when they'd bemost likely to come up for a baitfish on thesurface. However once that sun comes up andstarts cookin' it's a different story! The surfacetemperature warms up, and the fish look fordeeper cooler water to relax and be comfort-able in.

One of my favorite live or cut baits to usethis time of year is a good half dollar sizedpinfish. Everything seems to be focused onpinfish this time of year and they're very easyto chum up and get a hold of in a cast net,even for the novice fisherman. Pinfish are vir-tually from one side of the Harbor to the other,and basically anywhere you can locate a grass

flat. These littleguys are heartyon the hook andborderline ire-sistable to bigredfish andsnook during thelate summer andearly fallmonths. The most ver-

satile way to fisha pinfish is tohook himthrough hislower lip andcome out of hisnose. This isgreat for fishing

under a cork or can be fished freelined (weightless) as well. An-other effective thing to do is just fish stationary with a small No.1or No.2 split shot sinker about a foot or so from the hook. My per-sonal favorite way to fish these guys is to hook them just below theanal fin on a 2/0 circle hook with a small split shot sinker a foot upmy leader. Hooking them this way seems to give the most actionunder water. I love the way the pinfish will lay at the bottom andconstantly flutter, trying to swim away from the sinker. This en-tices the heck out of big snook and redfish! I've seen it first handtoo many times to not fish it with confidence! Not only are we using pinfish on the flats right now, but we're

also using pinfish in the middle of the Harbor for tarpon and up in-side the canals for snapper and even offshore for grouper! Every-thing loves these little guys! Andthey're everywhere! Personally I think pinfish are a

little under rated. Everyonewants greenbacks. Greenbacksthis. Greenbacks that. Green-backs! Greenbacks! Greenbacks!The whitebait is out there stealintheir glory! It baffles me... Enough said anyhow... Good

luck out there my Florida folk!Here's to the pinfish!

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

PinfishIt’s What Fish Want for Dinner


Whether you are looking tolist your home, buy a newhome, or bring friends and

family to join you in Florida,call me to help you find what

you are looking for!Lennore Shubel – RealtorCell: 631-741-4589 Email: [email protected]

The contrast between beautiful sunsets and uglyalgea blooms was evident last month..

There are still plenty of sharks and redfish around and snook are in season and feeding

August fish photos from Capt. Billy Barton


By Adam WilsonWater LIFE

I found this brown halfgallon bottle on the sandbaralong the southwesternedge of Hog Island a cou-ple weeks ago. Not thatodd to find garbage I know,but I recognized themakerʼs marking on thebottle. It is a capital ʻIʼ in-side an oval inside a diamond. I knew it was from the Owens-Illinois

glass company. The reasonI happen to know that is be-cause a lot of the bottles wefind diving on the shipwreckBaja California, off Naples,are bottles with the exactsame makerʼs mark. Thatship was torpedoed in 1942by a German sub. So I hadresearched these bottlesbefore. I know the numberto the right of the emblem isthe year it was produced.Being a "0" and having thestippling around the bottommeans it was made in 1940.If it had been made in 1950,it would have a "50". It wasin the late 1940's they real-ized a single digit codewould not work for long,and they went to a doubledigit year code. Had it beenmanufactured before 1940it would not have the stip-pling. The number to the leftof the mark, 6, indicatesthe bottle was made inCharleston WV. The bottles

I find from the Baja wreck all have a 4, they were made in ClarksburgWV. Itʼs just kind of neat to find a bottle in the Harbor from 1940, com-pletely unbroken with just some barnacles and oysters. I'm guessing itwas a bleach bottle, orsome other householdcleaner or detergent. It's onmy shelf now along with allmy junk from different ship-wrecks.

I am always a huge nerdwhen it comes to history, Iguess!

PEACE RIVERAnglers at Horse Creek where it meets the

Peace River:“Ony some little ones” they said.

Far Right the water level in the area is stillvery BIG. In this photo you are looking up

into the Creek from the River.

The prawn in the story below came fromup River near Nocatee

History Where We Fish

By Capt. Betty StauglerWater LIFE EnvironmentOne of the more interest-ing parts of being a Sea Grant Agentcomes when people send me their ‘Doyou know what this is?’ mystery finds. Arecent one came from my friend KellyBeall. Kelly owns Peace River Seafoodand her husband Jimmy, a commercialblue crabber, found the creature in his trapup in the Peace River. Now it’s no sur-prise that strange creatures lurk amongstus, but every so often one pops up that isjust absolutely made for movies odd look-ing, and the photo Kelly sent me was rightup there with the strangest in the category.

When I looked at the picture I immedi-ately thought it was some kind of prawn(shrimp) but not being a freshwater guru Ireally wasn’t certain so I reached out to afew scientist friends. Between them Ilearned that there are native freshwater

prawns, and I got a couple of papers tohelp me key Jimmy’s critter out, andfound a contact at the Florida Museum ofNatural History who would be able to con-firm the identification.

Jimmy’s critter turned out to be a BigClaw River Shrimp Macrobrachiumcarcinus. Big claw river shrimp are thelargest of six native freshwater shrimp inFlorida and one of the largest found in theUnited States. This shrimp occurs fromFlorida to Brazil. I tried to find out wherein Florida they are known to occur, but theonly scientific distribution papers I foundwere from the 1940s and 50s. Those pa-pers said Big Claws occurred in St. Au-gustine, Silver Springs, Miami, and BigPine Key. Papers that I found from the1960s and 70s mostly focused on theaquaculture potential of raising freshwaterprawns, including this species. In fact, a1960 paper I found from the West Indies

Jimmyʼs Prawn


Local crabber Jimmy Beall takes the first photo of the Peace River creature he found in atrap. It turned out to be a special type of freshwater shrimp. The name shrimp and prawnare used interchangeably here

AAQQUU AATTIICCAA

looked at two freshwater shrimp includingthis one for aquaculture purposes and indi-cated they had good economic potential,writing: “tails were being sold at $1.45per pound in Tampa, Florida. One restau-rant in the same city now offers six smalltails as an entre at a price of $1.50 for thecomplete meal”. It wasn’t clear to mewhich of the two shrimp being evaluatedthey were referring to though. Some more interesting tidbits about thebig claw river shrimp include:• Adult males can reach 12 inches(300mm) from rostrum to telson (tail).Adult females typically range from 5-8inches.• Most species of Macrobrachium havesimilar life cycles. Adults live primarily inrivers, lakes and canals; whereas larvae re-quire a brackish water mixture of salt andfresh.• An average sized female carries 120,000to 140,000-eggs.• Development of fertilized eggs takes 16-28 days during which time the eggs of bigclaw river shrimp change from bright or-

ange to dull greenish gray. • Larvae usually hatch at night. Big clawriver shrimp larvae are free swimming (notall freshwater shrimp are). After metamor-phous to juveniles Macrobrachium settleto the bottom and begin migrating to fresh-water. Young shrimp reach sexual maturityby their seventh month.• Adults are nocturnal, aggressive and om-nivorous (eat plants and animals).• In 2011, the Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission identified bigclaw river shrimp as Taxa of Concern.

Back to Jimmy’s critter… After consultingwith the Museum of Natural History theyindicated they did not have a specimen intheir reference library and would love togive Jimmy’s shrimp a home. So ourPeace River big claw river shrimp waspickled, packed and sent to Gainesville forpermanent display in the museum.

Capt. Betty Staugler is the Charlotte CountyFlorida Sea Grant Agent, UF/IFAS Extension You can contact her at (941) 764-4346

By Michael HellerCharlotte Harbor Reef AssociationI am pleased to announce that Capt. Scott Sichling will be

teaching the Englewood class of the Don Ball School of Fishingthis year. Classes, which are only for 7th graders, begin nextmonth with Capt. Scott teaching at LA. Ainger. Capt. CayleWills will be teaching at Murdock, Capt. Bart Marx teaching atPort Charlotte and Capt. Billy Barton teaching at Punta Gorda.Capt. Scott will be assisted in class by Tyler Bretton. Billy willhave Bill Poleceri helping him and Cayle and Bart get me andDonna Ball when necessary - like on Knott Nights! If you have been following this publication for enough years

you’ll remember Tyler Bretton was one of the winners of theWater LIFE Kids Cup Tournament in 2004. This is the cool partof where our program is at today. After 14 years the 12 and 13-year olds we had in class are now grown up and a number ofthem are guiding on their own.I am also very pleased with the way our 7th grade program

has developed. The Don Ball School of Fishing is run by TheCharlotte Harbor Reef Association, which I serve as the presi-dent. This year I have Ms. Donna Ball, the late Don Ball’s wife,working with me in the school pro-gram. It is my intention to continueon as the president of the Reef Asso-ciation and have Donna take over theday to day functions of running theschool program. That will leave memore time to devote to fundraisingand expanding the concept.So far this year we have secured

formal grants from the Fish FloridaFoundation and from CharlotteCounty. That was a great start andwe thank them both. We have alsohad support from local individualsand businesses. Mosaic is again acorporate sponsor as well.Installing a new teacher is not

something I take lightly. We run thename through the appropriate Lawenforcement databases, I talk to ref-erences and I look at the candidate’sFacebook page. The pictures andposts here are a few of the picturesand postings I found on Capt. Scott’spage. I think you’ll agree Capt Scottis exactly the kind of young manyou’d want teaching your kids. Weare very lucky to have him on ourstaff! Welcome Capt. Scott!


Don Ball School UpdateIs this the kind of captain you want teaching your kids? Yes Indeed!

Redfish have began schooling up and will beginto become more consistent around area flatsgaining size as we approach mid September andOctober before their offshore spawn. This is theBEST time to target redfish on artificial or my fa-vorite, ON FLY! A blast!!

Your newest instructor of the Don Ball school offishing. Teaching local 7 graders for 8 weeks allabout fishing beautiful Charlotte Harbor. Get theopportunity to teach everything from tying knotsto tides and lunar phases to types of fish and in-formation about the estuary. I'm excited to satu-rate the minds of the next generation offishermen and potential future guides!

This morningʼs office view was incredible! Glass calm conditionsmade for a great commute to work! Spent a little time chasinguncooperative tarpon and ended up on a small school of redfishlater on in the morning. TONS of ladyfish, jacks and spannyMack's around busting on glass minnows making a super easytarget fishing with kids. Watch out for tarpon and sharks to bemixed in the frenzy as well, watch for diving birds to locate themadness. Tight lines!

Tarpon season 2014 off the beach was a trulyamazing year! We boated more fish this yearthan previously and only used live bait ONEtime. The BEST part is yet to come and youstill have a chance to score a monster on the12 wt! We plan on getting our first over 100lbtarpon on fly this year and will continue topush hard for it!! We have some top secret flypatterns that are supposed to be killer and arebeyond ecstatic to try them out here verysoon!

Boats going to the marine doctor for a brandnew power head Monday morning! After 14years of hard work this amazingly reliableYamaha outboard has always been there forme through it all! She's tired now and will getanother chance to run hard all winter tospring! Undergoing a repower before the offi-cial start of tarpon season of 2015! Back onthe water soon! editor notes: Sheʼs running again


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE BaitshopOne night Larry

came in with friendswho were going to Fishthe Placida trestle, Larry bought a brandnew rod and a bait runner type reel, this reelhas 2 drags; one which is used for waitingfor the fish and the other for fighting thefish. The trick is to remember to set thewaiting drag then click it on. Well it was hisfirst time using the reel and his first timefishing in Florida, so like many people helaid the rod down while waiting for his fish,and did nothing about the bait runner. Soyou know what came next; all of a suddenrattle, clunk, splash the rod and reel waspulled right off the pier and into the water.Larry spent the next half hour cussing andstomping around on the dock – he had notcaught even one fish with his new set upand in the water it went. His friends did notwant to leave, they did not lose their rods.Then one of the guys had a hit and slowlystarted to reel in. It did not feel quite like afish and it wasn’t. A large blue crab had hisline in one of its claws and it appeared tobe tangled up in line, so they netted the craband found it had that line in its right clawand another line in its left claw. Youguessed it! They pulled in the other line thand over hand and there was Larry’s newrod and reel at the end of it, a little wet, butno worse for the dunking and it had a 5pound cat fish still on the hook! Lost and

found with a little help from a blue crabwhich Larry let go back into the water,while his buddies fussed about wanting itfor bait. But no way, Larry did not want thatbad Karma. After all the crab gave him histackle back. Fishing piers can be great for stress re-

lief. Another one of our customers also gota new rod and reel and was casting a lureand wham a nice hit. Fish on! The fish wasjumping and going crazy and the rod, hesaid, preformed excellent - a Shimano C-I4and a Star Seagis rod, it should be great,that was an expensive set-up, but what adream to fish with. He was breaking it in with a 4 pound la-

dyfish and after a good battle he landed thelady fish, letting the lady fish lay on the pierwith the hook still in the fishe’s jaw. Heturned to get his pliers from his tackle boxand heard a noise behind him. Turningaround quickly, he was just in time to see alarge osprey with the lady fish in its talonsflying off with his fish. Now keep in mindthe lady fish still had the hook in it's jawand he could see his new rod and reel hang-ing below the bird. The osprey was havinga hard time with the weight of the fish andthe rod and reel but made it about 30 feetup and 50 feet away from the pier beforeletting go. Splash went the fish, rod andreel. All the poor guy could do was standthere, mouth open, and watch. He packedup came back into the store for another rodand reel. I have heard a lot of stories aboutlosing rods but that one; just plain weird.

Fishin’ Frank 625-3888

NATURE IS CRAZY Mix people with wild things and the weird is going to happen

Restaurant Closed until Oct 15Restaurant Closed until Oct 15for Summer vacationfor Summer vacation

Seafood Market is still OPENSeafood Market is still OPEN

That ladyfish is caught twice!


By Capt Bart MarxWater LIFE KeysHello fellow anglers, it has been a long

hot summer so far and the fish know whenit is too hot to eat. There have been daysthat the water in Charlotte Harbor on theflats has reached over 90 degrees. That iswhen the fish slow down as they get toohot too. When you are out there in this heatyou need to hydrate throughout the day.Water is very important for this processwhen you have teens on board. Sportsdrinks and water are key not sodas or popwhich help to dehydrate you! Water is bestall around to help in this hydrating process.

Here at Alpha Omega Charters we help outour community by sponsoring youth fish-ing trips. This summer we sponsored a tripfor a group from Young Life. These guyswere lots of fun and had lots of questionsabout fishing. Earlier in the morning theywere catching snapper and snook until itgot too hot and the bite ceased. We contin-ued to beat the bushes and caught somenice mangrove snapper to send home withour Young Life Fishing Team to have freshfish dinner. These guys were very thankfulfor the trip and I think they had some funand there leader Tom had as much fun asthey did, he is a big kid himself. All kid-

ding aside, Tom works very hard for theyouth in Charlotte County giving them pos-itive things to do in there spare time. Tome, Capt. Bart, teaching fishing is my pas-sion, and my theory is give a man fish hehas food for a meal, teach a man to fish hehas food for a life time and being part ofthe community that helps teach youth posi-tive thinking and goal setting is importantfor their future. So get out there and take akid fishing and remember singing dragsand tight lines make fishermen smile.

If you would like to learn more give Capt.Bart Marx a call at 941-979-6517 or e-mail meat [email protected]

Young Life Fishing Team Home made gasket is a Problem Solver

Iʼm not a professional boat mechanicso I donʼt know if this is a ʻstandardʼproblem - I donʼt even know if itʼs justa Mercury problem with older en-gines, or just my problem, but my2002 Merc weeps water from the ther-mostat housing on the back of themotor. Mercury uses an o-ring typeseal at the thermostat and when itleaks the water erodes the metal andthe leak gets worse. I have ground itout and epoxyed it to no avail andshort of removing the head and hav-ing it welded and then machined flatthere is only one other ʻtemporary fix;Make a fiber gasket of your ownevery couple of years. I bought some waterproof gasket ma-terial at the corner auto parts storeand traced the thermostat housingoutline onto it. Then using two oldsocket wrenches for hole punches Ihammered out the correct size open-ings and then cut the outline shape.Finally I coated the new gaskets (es-pecially the inside edges of the newlypunched holes) with a light skin ofsilicone, let that dry and then assem-bled the parts back together. This willlast until it has to come apart againfor a thermostat change. – MH


The Great Fish Hold-Up

Editor notes: WE already had the headlinewritten when we got this scam email with ourfriend Glen Ballingerʼs name on it. Glen is inLouisiana fishing!!!

Hello,I am sorry for reaching you late due to the sit-uation of things right now. My family and I hada trip visiting Manila, (Philippines), everythingwas going on fine until last night when we gotattacked by some unknown gunmen. All ourmoney, phones and credit cards was stolen away including some valuable items, It was a terribleexperience but the good thing is they didn't hurt anyone or made away with our passports.

We have reported the incident to the local authorities and the consulate but their response was toocasual, we were ask to come back in 2weeks time for investigations to be made proper, But the truthis we can't wait till then as we have just got our return flight booked and is leaving in few hours fromnow but presently having problems sorting out our bills and get back home. All we need is($2,500.00 USD) or anything you can afford, I promise to refund you in full as soon as I return hope-fully tomorrow or next. Write back now to let me know what you can do......Help!Thanks Glen Ballinger - ETR (941) xxx-xxxx

By Glen Ballinger Special to Water LIFEThis story is focused more towards

professional charter captains OR the guysthat have decided they need to be the onewith the boat that takes their friends andfamily out fishing.Here’s a little background to get

started. Most of us that take fishing seri-ously have numerous memories of cer-tain trips, wonderful experiences, jokesshared, people and more specifically spe-cial fish that we or others have caught. Sometimes just living the story

through others telling it is fun. So fishinggoes beyond the day the fish is caught…but at times it is a memory that lives onand on. Sometimes the stories even buildon themselves and expand beyond theoriginal memory and grow to includeother detailsthat mightnot havebeen so ac-curate or trueto the origi-nal catch oradventure.All that

being saidmy point isthat throughour lives wecreate a backlog of “fish-ing memo-ries”. Theseare events that just never seem to leaveus and we either recall the adventure withothers or just remember ourselves howimportant and memorable they were.I recently went on an offshore fishing

trip for tile fish and yellowedge grouperwith Captain Jordan Ellis. We invited agreat guy, Richard Sisneros, that had notbeen fishing in deep water before and hewas excited to just go out and enjoy thedeep blue water experience. We had agreat time using electric reels and pulledup some tasty tilefish and grouper. Thena very large thunder storm popped up andwe had to start making our way back tothe mouth of the Mississippi River.Closer to home, Captain Jordan said let’stry here for some cobia (lemonfish)around his ‘special’ oil rigs, so we driftedaround and hooked up a few fish usingjig heads.But no cobia and with all the anticipa-

tion focused on cobia, we did not paymuch attention to other fish that wecaught. But Richard,new to fishing insaltwater, fought a very large Jackcrevalle. The Jack crevalle is a powerful,predatory fish and is ranked in the top 50favorite sportfish to catch in Florida. Thisfish wore Richard out (in a good way) onhis light tackle rod. What a fight hethought! When he finally got it boatsidewe hauled it over, slapped it on the deckand went on to get another rod set up for

cobia. Meanwhile the Captain comesover, unhooks the worthless fish andtossed that old Jack crevalle over the railand just went about his business. Later I spoke with Richard about the

trip and he told me that Jack crevalle wasthe best fighting fish he had ever caughtand how excited he was about that fishHE caught all by himself. This was theexample of why we really need to under-stand and appreciate what others fishingwith us feel about each and every fishthey catch. He did not understand whywe threw it back so quickly and why hedid not even get a picture with his prizecatch. Lesson learned.But wait a minute… I recall learning

this same lesson about 8 years ago.I live in Venice, FL and I invited some

friends to go fishing for red grouper andsnapper.Theweatherwas greatand ChadTidd andhisfriend/co-worker BillNoftz wereready to gofishing. We went

out about20 milesand an-chored up a

few times. We caught some nice grouperand few mangrove snapper. I even recallChad catching a goliath he had to throwback. It was a fun day. At the tail-end ofthe day, we had a flat line out and sud-denly the line screamed off the spinningreel and Bill took the rod. He fought itand fought it as it circled the boat manytimes. Finally it got close and we all real-ized it was just a bonita. Darn it any way.No good to eat. Just a fish we might usefor bait later. I took it off and threw it inthe cooler. Come to find out later that the Bonita

was the highlight of Bill’s trip. He toldme that day and a few times afterwardsthat fish reminded him of a fishing trip hehad taken with his father as a young boyand how much fun it was and how thisBonita he caught was his prize and hisbest fishing memory. So to all you cap-tains out there PLEASE, make sure youunderstand and ask how important thatfish is before you toss it back or even talkbad about it. A little side note with Bill Noftz is

that he came down with cancer a yearlater and fought it (like he did thatbonita) for years and then passed. Thisfishing memory might have been the bestand last one he had before passing. Hereis his picture- You can see how proud hewas of HIS fish!!

Bill Noftzʼ Special Fish – Everybody Has Them


By Capt. Jim O'BrienWater LIFE OffshoreHey ya - all how about these temper-

atures were having 94- 95 and even 96degrees whew and the water temp islike bath tub water, 91 degrees. I don'tknow about ya -all but I’m looking for-ward to those 80 degree temps. In thismonth’s story and photos is my goodfriend Mark Aberham, his son Zack andanother friend of Marks and mine Capt.Leroy Bennet that does back bay char-ters. I got pictures of both of them withnice red grouper. There was them and 2others fish'n and they limited out on redgrouper by 2 o clock and they had tothrow back 10 keepers. They werefish'n about 42 miles out last Sundayand Mark had a big school off mahi-mahi around the boat. He said he threwthe kitchen sink at them and no bites, hesaid he could see some big boys in theschool that was bigger than yourchicken dolphin. They also caught acouple of scamp, some nice mangs,lane snapper and porgies. He said thatwas one of the best days he has hadfish'n in a long time. Nice going Markand Leroy, the key is 40 to 50 miles out.Now let’s see what else anglers are

catching now.TARPON - - are off the beaches and

around the pass's, best bait are crabs.SHARKS - - black tips and lemon

sharks are in Pine Island Sound and offthe beaches and in Boca Grande Pass.Best baits cudda strips, fresh Bonita or livemullet.

BARRACUDA - - there are some big-uns out on most of the offshore wrecksBayronto, Pegasus, Charlie, Bismarck anyof these will produce some big boys. Bestbaits big lively pin fish or cudda tubes inhot pink or lime green. If you chum youcan usually see them in your chum andcan site cast to them and get ready!

COBIA - - theyʼre in the harbor on theeast and west wall and there are somethat were caught off the beaches.

MANGROVE, LANE SNAPPERS, PO-GIES there are some big ones being

caught in 100 feet of water and deeper.Best bait shrimp and squid.

AJ'S greater amberjack (reef donkeys)are on just about every wreck offshore.The guys I have talked to, they chum andtake some old bait from the freezer and cutthem up in pieces and they usually bringthem near the surface then take a biglively blue runner an cast it right to themand hang on - WOW! !

RED AND GAG GROUPER - - like Isaid in our story for this month 38 to 45miles out the grouper are on fire, 10 to 20pounders with some even bigger. Markcaught some that broke his hooks andbroke 50 pound test line. I wonder whatthem bad boys looked like? Best baits-squirrel fish, pin fish, grunts and wholesquid. There are some smaller grouperbeing caught at 10 to 20 miles out but thebig - uns are in 120 to 140 feet of water.

TRIPPLE TAIL - - are being caught onsome of the marker buoys in the shippingchannel in Boca Grande. Best baits- smallshrimp, small jigs and spoons.

MAHI - MAHI - - most are seen andcaught 40 miles and farther out. Watch thebirds and watch your chum slick. You canuse artificial jigs, popping lures. If youcatch one, leave it in the water the rest ofthem will stay right with the one youcaught.

Well gang it’s time to get out of hereso if you have a good ol fish'n story or arecipe for cook'n fish that we can sharewith our readers or if you want to bookan offshore charter with us aboard thePredator II call (941 ) 473 - 2150

AND REMEMBER:GET OUT AND SNORT SOME OF

THAT CLEAN SALT AIRC U Z IT’S GOOD FER YA! ! !

The OLʼ FISHʼN HOLE


By David AllenWater LIFE KayakingHow about exploring an interesting new

area for a delightful paddle? There aremany such locations within 40-50 miles ofPort Charlotte and all of them bring some-thing new and different to enjoy.So, several weeks ago we decided to

take a trip to Sarasota and paddle Lido Keywith some local friends. We had paddledoff the beautiful white sand beach at LidoKey and some other nearby Keys severalyears ago, and we looked forward to revisit-ing the area. Lido Key is easy to get to, just 45 miles

from Port Charlotte. Take SR 789 west to-ward St. Armand’s Key from downtownSarasota, then south on Ben Franklin Blvd.to the south end of Lido Key and SouthLido Park.South County Lido Park is right at the

southern tip of the Key and has a naturecenter, modern restrooms, a kayak launcharea, soft drink machines and more than ad-equate parking. We checked out the CountyPark, but decided we’d rather go to theKayak Sarasota area, about ¾ mile north, asthat launch was closer to the MangroveTrails and other areas of Sarasota Bay.There are also concessions there to rentkayaks and SUP’s (stand up paddleboards).We had apparently picked one of the

busier Sundays for the paddle, as the park-ing area for Kayak Sarasota was completelyfilled. As we were deciding what to do, alady who ran a kayak rental concessioncame by and we started talking to her aboutthe lack of parking. She said “I can fixthat”, and took off. A couple of minuteslater she came back with the park manager,Pete Garcia, as friendly and helpful as youcould want. I followed Pete with the carand trailer as he moved some barriers alongthe edge of the parking area to makeenough room for my car. What more couldyou ask of these friendly people.So we launched the kayaks from the

sandy beach on the east side of the key, theside closest to the start of the marked kayaktrail through the mangroves. There werealso restrooms and picnic benches on thesite for paddlers to use.

It was a typically beautiful Florida dayas we launched and turned south to themangrove area. The start of the mangrovetrail is only about ½ mile from the launchand the trails are numbered to identify thedifferent routes. There were several groupsof paddlers waiting to enter the tunnels, sowe turned north toward St. Armands Key.This is a great area to paddle on its own,particularly if you enjoy the sights alongthe Sarasota waterfront. Ca’d’zan, the homeof John and Mable Ringling, is four milesnorth and lovely to see from the bay side.We once again turned south after explor-

ing the north-east section of Lido Key andentered the mangroves. There was very lit-tle traffic through the mangroves at thistime, so we enjoyed the shade and wildlife.We exited the mangroves and headed

east again to a small, sandy island just offthe Key, beached the kayaks, stretched, hada drink, and returned to the launch andparking lot. A nice, seafood dinner atJack’s topped off a great day of kayaking.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers Meet eachWednesday evening at 5 PM sharp at Franz-Ross Park adjacent to the YMCA on Quesada.All are welcome. Call Dave Allen at 941-235-2588 for more information.

A Diverse Paddle at Lido Key

JOE WOOD of Stafford, Virginia, said he was swimmingin the Potomac River near the town of Callao earlier thismonth when a scratch on his left leg became infectedwith vibrio vulnificus, an aggressive bacteria that feedson flesh. That is the same bacteria that was in the Gulf!

IN A CALL FOR ASSISTANCE over the VHF radio, thecomplainant advised that his sailboat was almost struckby another sailboat and that the people on board ap-peared to be in a fight. Once on scene, marine officersobserved three white males on a 32Tfoot sailboat withthe sail flapping in the wind and blood from bow to stern.Two of the three subjects were bleeding; one from hisright hand and the other from his face. One of thesetwo subjects, the operator of the vessel, appeared to beunder the influence of alcohol or drugs. It was learnedthe owner of the boat struck the operator of the boat inthe face because he was drunk and passed out at thehelm. Lieutenant Berryman requested the operator toperform some standardized field sobriety tasks and heagreed to do so. After failing several tasks, the operatorof the vessel was placed under arrest for BUI. In addi-

tion, the owner of the boat was arrested for battery.

A BATTLE CONTINUES between the US Army Corpsof Engineers and the resident 16,000 cormorant birdsthat are lunching on endangered salmon in the lowerColumbia River. The birds found a home here becausethe Corps made a spoil island of the sand and mud theydug up to keep the shipping channel open for commer-cial ships.

BUYOFFMassivecontainerships pass-ing throughthe SantaBarbaraChannel offthe coast ofSouthernCalifornia will be paid a bonus of $2,500 per trip to slowdown, in an effort to cut off-shore air pollution and re-duce collisions with whales. Captains idling throughmanatee zones need similar dispensation.

THE NEW LIONFISH-REPORTING APP for smart-phones is reportedly successful, with over 250 userssporting new lionfish shirts

ON THE INDIAN RIVER a vessel was caught in a sum-mer thunderstorm where it took a large wave over thebow causing it to capsize. Two of the five occupantsperished in the accident. All of the passengers werewearing life jackets, but two of the occupants weretrapped under the overturned vessel and drowned.

MICHAEL JACKSON WAS AN ALBINO A 57-year-old fishermen identified as Tran Van Lanhwas killed after he was ambushed by a crocodile inAustraliaʼs Adelaide River. According to the AAP, Lanh

was attemptingto free asnagged fishingline when hewas attacked bya rare, but well-known albinocrocodile thatlocal river boatcaptains nick-named “MichaelJackson.” Theanimal had beenfrequently spot-ted swimming inthe river andwas considered a popular attraction for tourists. Shortlyafter the attack police and wildlife officers tracked thenearly 15-foot albino crocodile by boat, eventuallyshooting and killing it.

OFFICERS IN CHARLOTTE COUNTY were on off-shore patrol targeting commercial fishing vessels. Uponinspection of one particular vessel, the officers found 50pieces of vermillion snapper being used for bait. Sub-jects were cited for possession of reef fish not in wholecondition.

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated,

But Often True


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By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE Beach Fishing

There are so many amazing locationshidden around Charlotte Harbor that pro-duce great fishing. Over the last fewweeks I have been exploring some andredfish have been my target but I’ve beencoming up unsuccessful! I’ve tried fromshore, and in kayaks and couldn't seem tofind them! Live bait or lures, it didn’tseem to matter. I figured that I had to bedoing something wrong. It was time toenlist a professional guide with a boat! Captain Cayle Wills is one of the in-

structors at the Don Ball School of Fish-ing, that’s the program for 7th graders runby Water LIFE magazine, Cayle knowsabout redfishing. I set up a trip with him.We set out early morning and after

gathering some bait we moved out to-wards a location Capt. Cayle knew. Heexplained that fishing a certain large man-grove island should be great as the tidemoved in later in the morning. Tidescould have been part of my issue lastweek when kayaking and searching forredfish. Most of my kayak trips weretaken on low tides and not knowing wherethe fish are hanging out during the lowertides proved very challenging for me!This was the first trip I was on the wateras the tide came in. Mangroves with theirtangled roots underwater is the habitatredfish love to feed in.We arrived on a lower tide and picked a

spot to anchor up and do some fishing asthe tide moved up and in. There weresome bonnet head sharks swimmingaround in the flats, eating bait fish that had

schooled around us. We sight cast thoseguys with live shrimp – so much fun tocatch and release. I hear they are deli-cious to eat also. For bait we were using live shrimp, and

various lures – throwing them up andunder the trees as far as we could withoutgetting stuck. Easier said than done. After a few casts I finally got the hang

of it. It was pretty slow to start, there

were some mangrove snapper and otherfish that were highly skilled at stealing myshrimp without actually getting hooked. Snook were popping all around us and

it was very hard to resist fishing for themtoo, but no, I was there for the redfish! After about 20 minutes of fishing my

hubby Andrew was hooked up on the firstredfish of the day! Success! They werehere and finding them was half the battle. We pulled anchor and drifted down the

mangroves along the island, where moreof the treeline was touching the water. Westopped again and threw our baits upunder the trees, hoping to find some fish

hiding underneath. That was where it gotreally exciting! After only about a minutewe were hooked up on double redfish andI finally caught my very first one. It had13 spots and was a fun fight! As long aswe cast very far up and under that tree line

we would have a fish on in a matter ofminutes! We spent the rest of the after-noon catching these guys and were backhome before the early afternoon heat witha great fish story to tell.

BOAT is Her Cure for Unsuccessful

Charlotte HarborFrank, at Fishin’ Franks

941- 625-3888I am surprised we have trout showing up already. It

seems unusual in August but on the east side at Two Pineand Bokeelia there are fishable numbers of trout. Usually,at this time, there are none around. The east side was alittle slow on redfish, but lately it’s picking up. There areredfish to Mangrove Point, it’s not going to be the day ofyour life, but you’ll catch reds in the slot and get dinner.Pinfish, whitebait, shrimp.... whatever you got... just getit up under the trees for the redfish now. First thing in themorning they are scatterd on the flats, but later they likethe shade and they move to it. Snook are the big thing now that snook season is

open. You can catch them during the day with whitebaitat the back of Bull Bay. There are some nice snook on theeast side too, but when it comes night itime you can dou-ble or triple the number of fish you’ll catch. At night thecanals are absolutely loaded with snook right now. Atnight you use either shrimp or lures in the canals. Tossunder a dock toss along the seawall. Try a mixed bag oflures - it’s still the Twitch or the 10-series X-Wrap in 10-OG (olive green) color or the Bomber B15APXSIOwhich is a black back with an orange belly. It seems thecontrast helps in the dark water.

By the second week of September, if the rain staysdown, the color is going to be pink. Just a few weeksafter the rain, when the water has a light tint - not dark,not clear - just has a tint to it, a month on either side ofthat the pink color rules. I found out by accident yearsago when I had a collection of lures. I tried all the nicecolors but nothing worked consistently. We caught one or

two snook but that’s all. Then I got down to the bot-tom. The last lure was pink and I caught 15 snook.Maybe it’s the more pronounced femenin side of thebig snook liked the pink! I just knocked them deadthat night, but I tried that pink later - tried it all year -and it only worked before the rain season started andafter it stopped – it was all about the tint in the water. Another suprprise is Spanish mackerel right now.

Some are here and I don’t know why. Mangrove snap-per are good at Cape Haze and Boca and GasparillaPass. From Catfish Creek up to the Placide Boatramp there have been an unbelievable number of red-fish. Most are oversized. There are huge schools – agreat numbers of fish and they are pretty much a

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Logan Handlon is only 6 years old, but he is already agreat little angler thanks to his dad, Jimmy Handlon.His dad takes Logan out with him to fish every chancehe gets and is doing an excellent job of teaching himhow to fish, how to handle fish and about courtesy onthe water. The redfish pictured was one Logan caught byhimself. It measured 26-inches, weighed 6 1/2 pounds. Logan caught this beautiful redfish in the Two Pines areaof Charlotte Harbor.

If you know the area you know where this hefty redfish camefrom, or maybe was just photographer at!

Snook Reopens for Sept., Oct. & Nov.(FWC) encourages anglers to continue touse moderation when determining whetheror not to take a snook home. Regulationssuch as the one-fish-per-person, per-daybag limit will help continue rebuilding snookpopulations. In the Gulf, they must be notless than 28 inches and not more than 33inches total length, which is measured fromthe most forward point of the head with themouth closed to the farthest tip of the tailwith the tail compressed or squeezed whilethe fish is lying on its side.Shown here, Malory Herzog and a Gulfsnook caught and released last month.

September - Fishing Forecast

Trout in Sept?

white bait thing. They are not taking shrimp orlures, but if you have whitebait you’ll have fish.Out in the Gulf I haven’t heard much. In 60 feet

you’ll have good grouper still. There are snapperon the near shore reefs like Trembly, Helens andPower Pole. Snapper is pretty good right now.Shark fishing is still as crazy as it can be. All

the holes in the Harbor have sharks 2 to 12 feet inlength. The nearshore reefs are still loaded withthem. Bull sharks have been seen on the insidebars, we still have some bonnets and black nosedsharks and some smaller bulls. In the canals rightnow I am hearing 4-foot to ‘really big’ bull sharksor lemons swimming close to the surface. That’scrazy! I’ve had half dozen people tell me they havebeen tring to catch them but the sharks swim rightpast the bait. They swim to the end of the dead endcanals and swim back out. I honestly think this isthe fist time I can remember reporting this. I don’tthink sharks in the area canals has been in a fishingreport before, this is not a fluke! There actually arequite a few sharks in canals right now.Tarpon fishing is still good, I mean better-than-

it -shoud-be good. In the deep holes it’s aboutthrowing a ladyfish and/or a 3/4-ounce Rattle Trap.On the west side fishing around the sandbars ispretty good for smaller tarpon but up in the shallowwater you’ll have to freshen up the baits often be-cause of the fresh water there. A 4-inch paddle tail,the Gulp 4-inch prawn hunk on a weedless hookwith no weight, just drifting is one hot tarponticket. The other one is the Live Target suspendinglure in a scaled sardine pattern. They are pricy little

bastads, like $16, but they sure do work.For tarpon in the canals, you will switch down to

3-inch Gulp or the the 14MR mirrodine and the 1/4oz Rattletrap. Use the bright colored lures for thesmaller juvenile fish in the canals. Port Charlotte,Spring Lake and the back of the PGI Rim canal areloaded up with small tarpon .

Lemon Bay Capt. Jack, Englewood Bait House 475-4511The last week of August Capt. Dan went out 5 or

6 miles off the beach and caught a king mackerel!It’s kind of early, but they are here, just not toomany yet and trout have been showing up inshore.That’s early too. We caught some nice mangs last week on what I

call the Pipe Wreck, south of Trembley – it’s allculverts and there are some nice mangs there.The snook are all over the place; bridges,

docks, and the beach. I have them under my dockevery day, but I’m sure, come the start of snookseason on Sept 1, they will be gone. There are big schools of redfish south in the

Gasparilla sound, from Whidden Creek up to thenorth. Offshore, the red grouper have been pretty

good but you have to get out a ways, like in waterdeeper than 80 feet.Porgys, grunts, mangs and vermillion snap-

per have been plentiful on the hard cheese-lookingflat bottom. And thats about it.

SHARKS in the Harbor holesand cruising the bars

REDFISH Schools fromLemon Bay to Catfish Creek

SNOOK in the PC and PGIcanals at night

TARPON Big in the HarborJuvies in Spring Lake

FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

GREAT!GREAT!

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚

The BIG-4The BIG-4 BigBig Fish to expect in Fish to expect in September September Gulf TempsGulf Temps

are 89are 89The Harbor isThe Harbor is

hotter! Salinity ishotter! Salinity ischanging fish arechanging fish are

adaptingadapting


Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremes

Guide CardSpace Available

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Above: Chrissy Mosley with some redfish.Below: a happy client and his a shark withCapt. Billy Barton.

Snook fishing in the daytime has been good, but youʼll catch more fish at night


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Water LIFE Sept 2014

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