Water LIFE Dec 2005

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay FloridaCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay FloridaFREE!FREE!

FREE!FREE!w w ww w w . C H A R L O T T E H A R B O R M A G A Z I N E . C O M. C H A R L O T T E H A R B O R M A G A Z I N E . C O M

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

PADDLE SPORTSPADDLE SPORTSPage 30Page 30

ThisThisNewNew HouseHouse

ProgressProgressReportReportPage 22Page 22

INSIDE:INSIDE:Trolling for GagsTrolling for Gags

Pages 5 & 16Pages 5 & 16

KIds Cup andKIds Cup andESPN Redfish CupESPN Redfish CupReturn toReturn toPunta GordaPunta Gordain Mayin MayPage 4Page 4

Keeping Boaters andKeeping Boaters and Fishermen InformedFishermen Informed

December 2005December 2005

P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5

December Seminars: 6 p.m.December Seminars: 6 p.m.Dec 8Dec 8

D.O.A Productswith Capt. Mark Nichols

Dec 13Dec 13Berkley Gulp Products

with Capt. David Justice

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE Editor

This particular morning comes slowly,shrouded in fog, the sun hidden awaysomeplace out of sight. What little lightthere is shines dimly through the wet air.From my perch atop a high foundation100 yards away I am invisible.

A rumble of old machinery breaks thequiet from afar, slowly encroaching on myspace. Around the area of this flat outcrop-ping we are on, surrounded by water onthree sides, the native residents are mostlyasleep. A dog barks his alert, but it ismuffled by bushes and stifled by the heavyair.

The approaching noise grows louder, aheavy diesel truck carrying one bigweapon. Soon it is within sight, translu-cent and ethereal yet looming ever bigger.

It coasts out of gear, no engine brake,no noise. Offering as little disruption aspossible, it comes to a halt just off theside of the road.

A head looks out of the cab, searchingfor other life. There is none, except forme, and I am well hidden. Three menclimb down from the truck and walkaround back. They swing the weapon, acold orange steel implement into view.Then, in a minute, they back the truckonto a vacant lot and take aim at the tar-get.

The prey is unaware. Standing graceful-ly and quiet in the soft morning air. It has

no idea of what is about to happen. Aheavy sling is quickly thrown around itsmiddle. There is, of course, no resistance.

Shovels come out and the perimeter isdug in, then the silence is broken – at firstby one and then two chain saws, raspingup to speed. Ladders are set, men go upand one by one the fans are severed.

Like white hunters cutting ivory tusksfrom an old elephant, landscape brokers aregrabbing another stately date palm and itonly takes a matter of minutes.

In the wake of hurricane Charley someresidents of the nicer neighborhoods, theplaces with the older big trees, have decid-ed to take their insurance settlements andrun and some are selling off their big treesfor a healthy, but unconscionable, profit.

Trees like this stately specimen willbring upwards of $7,000 in posh neighbor-hoods like Naples or Bonita Springs. Treesthat grew from small plantings started inthe 1960’s in Port Charlotte’s soil willnow live out their days 50 miles south inneighborhoods where owners need instantgratification and it is brought by truck.

This particular tree belonged to Mr JackGross, a real estate investor from Napleswho bought the house in Port Charlotte asan investment and left it unprotected dur-ing hurricane Charley. It was a nice house,complete with roll down shutters and hur-ricane doors, but with the shutters up thewindows blew in and the roof came off.Then the house became a haven for rats

and vermin for over a year until the countyred-tagged it and told the owner if he didn’ttear it down they would. So the house wasleveled and the landscaping sold off. Theowner wasn’t a guy with neighborhoodpride, we didn’t see him much, he was aninvestor with motives that didn’t includethe neighbors on the block.

The workers dug a big trench aroundthe majestic old palm and nudged it overwith the orange crane. The soft thud itmade when it hit the ground was one ofsadness and defeat. Then the men with thesaws went to work trimming back thefoliage, cutting the fronds and wrappingthe root ball in plastic. It was loaded onto

the truck and gone before anyone knew.The whole thing angered me – the

falling, the cutting, the thievery-like speedand the big vacant spot in the sky I nowlook at every time I drive down my block.

There are county codes and landscaperegulations; permits and forms that we hadto fill out when we demolished our ownhouse. There was a county formula forremoving trees and stipulations for whatreplacements must be made; calculationsabout height and girth must be met andcomplied with. I’d sure like to think thatsomeone in the county follows this up.Otherwise, they’re going to be selling offour beautiful county one tree at a time,

D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3

In Charlotte, a Tree Falls for Christmas

Workers dig up and remove a majestic date palm from property on Bangsberg Road.

Charlotte Harbor’s most popular boat and motor from the #1 Action Craft and Yamaha dealerCome by for your piece of the ‘Action’

3300 Palm Beach Blvd. (Exit 25) Ft. Myers • (239) 334-3424


Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

with any newspaper or otherpublication

© 2005 Vol V No. 12 Water LIFENo part of this publication may becopied or reproduced without the

written permission of the publishers

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonTechnical Advisor: Mike Panetti

Sailing Advisor: Bill DixonLemon Bay: Don Cessna

Kayaks: David AllenLocal: Capt. Andrew Medina

Tournament Report: Capt Jerry CleffiSea Grant: Betty Staugler

on the COVER:The Kid and the gag were both photographed

aboard Capt. Dan Cambernʼs Hammerheadcharters boat.

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

Tide Graphs: For local watersWeather: Links to all of our favorite sites.Back editions: Pages of previous editionsArtificial Reefs: Lat. and Long local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original plan tocreate sanctuaries and refuges, as spelledout by the United Nations in 1984Links to Realtors: Connect with our realestate advertisers

WRITE US!e-mail (preferred)

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217 Bangsberg Rd.Port Charlotte, FL 33952

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Editor Notes**This is a letter we got inresponse to Merry Beth Ryan’sstory on Mullet last month.There are other theories as well

Dear Sirs,I would like to put every

onesʼ mind at ease about whyMullet jump. Mother natureinstalled mullet and like salmonwith egg sacks that house theeggs which in turn are connect-ed by membranes. In order forthe mullet or salmon to spawn,they have to break the mem-branes that connect to everyegg. They can not go to thedoctor to do this. They have tojump in the air and land on theirsides to break the eggs up, sowhen it comes time to laytheireggs, they come out one ata time until she has emptiedthe egg casing. If they did notdo this then all the eggs wouldend up dead inside the fishbecause they could not be fertil-ized by the males milk. I amsure that the people that watchthe mullet and salmon jump willget a good nightʼs sleep know-ing this. S.G.P.

Letter to Water LIFE Anyone Know Anything About This?

This was sent to me from a friend asking if I hadheard about a potential world record Snook beingcaught in South Florida. This is the first I have heard ofany potential world record Snook possibly beingcaught. This picture looks authentic and looks like itcould be a record fish. Anyone heard anything aboutthis? Thanks.

Capt. Rob

Kids Cup ComingS taff Report

David Healy and our friends at ESPN’s JMProductions have called to say that in lieu ofthis past season’s terrible hurricane disastersthey have rethought their 2006 Redfish Cupschedule for Florida and will be bringing thefull ESPN Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup toPunta Gorda in May instead of September aspreviously announced. The weekend of May12-14 will be the Redfish cup, complete withthe Big Air Dogs, cardboard boat races tail-gate party and whatever else they bring along.That means that the Water LIFE Kids Cupwill take place on the weekend of May 6,with the top five kids going on to fish withthe pros on Sunday May 14 and weighing intheir fish on the ESPN stage in front of theTV cameras.

According to Healy, hotel accommodationshave already been made at the Best Westernand they are looking into having the majorityof the event, including the Big Air DogShow, at Gilchrist Park instead of in the bar-ren asphalt parking lot of the old CharlotteCounty auditorium.

We’ll have more on the Kids Cup startingnext month. Full information will be postedon the Kids Cup websitewww.kidscuptournament.com and applica-tions will become available on January 15.Entries will be limited to the first 125 junioranglers between at least 10 but not yet 17years of age. Entry fee is $100 and the pro-ceeds go to support the Don Ball School ofFishing program in the Charlotte Countypublic schools.


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Port Charlotte

I was watching TV the morn-ing after Thanksgiving and therewere hundreds of people lined upin front of a store. When inter-viewed, one man said he got upat 3 a.m. and was there by 4 toget a good spot in line so hecould get a deal on a TV. Thatmade sense to me. Then thereporter asked the next guy inline what he was there for. Theguy said he was just there ‘forthe experience!!!’ What the heckwas he thinking? Obviously thisguy has never gotten up early togo fishing – of this I am posi-tive. To get up at 3 a.m. anddrive to a mall so you can standin line with hundreds of peoplejust so you can experience walk-ing through a store ... Let’s thinkthis out.

On one hand we have standingin line with a hundred people. Onthe other hand there is the oppor-tunity of taking a fishing poleout on a pier, alone, waves lap-ping the shore, the sun startingto peak out over the horizon, thesmell of salt in the air. What’syour choice?

As the gulf gets colder thefish move to the warmer watersin the canals so now is the timeto fish there. The fishing insidehas been great. Ladyfish, snapper,jacks, snook and redfish havebeen hitting in almost every areacanal.

Lures are really taking overthe canal fishing now. Heddon’s x9230dts and the Bomber15axs104 are really popular. Witha lure you can cover more areaand there is a certain satisfactionthat comes from tricking a bigsnook into biting on your pieceof plastic.

It is legal in Florida to fishwith more then one rod, as long

as you are in attendance of bothrods. So while you are throwinga lure you can have another rodwith a bait on it. The rod you arenot working should be in a rodholder. Fish in Florida are excel-lent rod thieves and if you layyour rod down, chances are it willbe gone. Putting out a second rodwith bait on it is so popular thatthere are special reels made justfor this with two drags. One dragis to fight the fish, the other isto let the fish run under con-trolled tension; kind of like aclicker on the old off-shore Pennreels, only you can adjust the ten-sion of the pull. You fish yourlure and when a fish takes offwith your bait on the other rodyou click it over to the fightingdrag and everything is preset sothere is no fumbling with thedrag setting during the fight.

One drawback to the two-rodstyle fishing is when you are notholding the rod, the chances of

the fish swallowing the hook arevery good and that often means adead fish. If it is a keeper and youare going to eat the fish there’sno problem, however if it is nota keeper, it becomes a waste.But there is a solution to this too– use circle hooks.

A circle hook does not get

stuck when a fish swallows it. Itslides over until it gets to theedge of his mouth and then itgets stuck on the edge of his lip.This makes catch-and-release pos-sible and keeps you from missingthat second fish.

The hard part of circle hookfishing is picking the correctsize. There is no standard size rat-ing for circle hooks. Each brandhas its own system and many ofthe circle hooks are just modifiedkahle hooks or so-called wide-gaphooks. True circle hooks catch inthe lip. If the point of the hookis off-set to the side, it may hookin deep, where a true circle willnot. You should check that thepoint faces the shank. If it isbent or offset to one side it mayset better, but it is more likely togut-hook the fish. Eagle clawLl702G and Bear Paw CHSS arereal circle hooks. The Bear Pawis a snelled hook with 30-poundmono leader already on it. Thebest thing to do is just look atthe size bait you're using andmatch the hook to that. Do not

try to match number sizes. Lastthing is, after you cast out andplace your rod in the holder checkthe drag setting by pulling lineout from the tip of the rod like afish would. Do not check the dragat the reel – the tension on theline should be tight enough notto let the spool backlash, whilestill getting the hook to grab.

Next Thought: In Charlottecounty there are miles and milesof canals; salt, brackish and freshwater. Many have dams where thefresh water spills over into thesalt water side and all of themhave fish in them. Why is that?It is the vast population of wad-ing birds. Up north it is theducks that transfer fish eggs fromone pond to another. Here, notonly do we have ducks, but wealso have wading birds; egrets,storks, herons, and many otherswalking in the water searchingfor food, getting fish eggs stuckto their feet and flying them tothe next pond or canal they visit.It is estimated that with the bird’shelp, one pair of fish can popu-late 20 acres a year in Florida.

Many of our fresh water lakesand canals have snook, tarpon orredfish in them. Often it is assimple as when the water risesduring heavy rains or wind fishtend to follow the rising water tonew feeding grounds. A few yearsago a man in P.G.I. found a tar-pon in his front ditch. It followedthe storm drains up and got stuckthere when the water receded.

Sometimes a bird will catch afish and fly off with it in hisbeak and if the fish can wiggleout he may be dropped intoanother body of water. There aremany ways fish can be movedfrom one spot to another.

While I am off the beatenpath I would like to share athought. Have you noticed howflat and featureless the bottom ofCharlotte Harbor is? No, it didnot get that way naturally. Muchof it it has been dragged flat bythe shrimp fleet. That’s a lot ofdragging. They are not reallyharming the shrimp populations,but the lack of shrimp swim-ming out of the harbor is stavingthe off-shore fish like grouper,snapper, and grunts. I don’t wantanyone to lose their livelihood,but if something is not doneabout letting some bait (shrimp)return to the gulf so those fishcan feed, more restrictions likethe grouper ban will be coming.Maybe you should have to livehere to be a commercial shrimperhere.

Frank can be reached at Fishin’

F i s h i n ʼ w i t h F r a n k

Guys walk into the bait shop and say they want circle hooks. Often theysay they read about catching this fish or that on circle hooks and ask fora particular size. The problem is that there is no standardization in circlehook sizes. A 1-0 J hook is the same no matter if itʼs a Mustad, a gama-gatzu or an owner, but circle hooks that are labeled the same size varygreatly. Shown here, both packs are labeled 8-0 size


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By Merry Beth RyanWater Life Fishing

Often referred to as golden nuggetspompano are a highly sought after fish.Pompano invade our inshore waters in latefall and early winter. Once the water tem-peratures drop into the 70s the pompanohead inshore to feed on small crabs,shrimp, and any other tidbits such as sandfleas that they can find. Pompano are avery elusive fish to say the least. Just aswith many other species of fish they arethere one day and gone the next. Patienceis a must while fishing for pompano.

You will have to do some runningaround while at the same time doing yourhomework on their patterns. Just whenyou think you have them figured out theythrow you a curve ball and you’re back toplaying hide and seek with them. The goodnews is once you do locate them yourrewards will be well worth your efforts.Pompano will skip right out of the waterwhich helps locate them. There is no needto put your engines into overdrive tolocate the pomps. A slow moving boatkeeping a steady pace will actually workto your advantage versus cruising througha school of pompano at a high rate ofspeed. If you are operating your boat toofast and happen to run through a school ofpompano you will quickly see just howfast they can disappear.

Keep your eyes peeled. When you spota school of ladyfish, that usually is a goodindicator that pompano are scattered inwith them as well. Another thing to watchfor are schools of bat rays and stingrays.They too will attract pompano to followin tandem, eating all the goodies they raiseup from the sandy bottom. Where you seeone pompano skittering across the surfaceyou are bound to see others close by. Ican remember the first time I spotted apompano skip out of the water and it near-ly landed in the boat I was in. Pompanohave a shimmer like that of a silver king.What a sight to see as their iridescent bod-ies wiggled up and out of the water. Talkabout excitement – these silvery slabs pro-vide that and then some.

The most productive way to catchpompano is by using jigs. There are manyjigs on the market designed for pompano.One of my favorites is Doc's Goofy Jigstipped with a piece of shrimp. Doc's jigsare made right here in the state of Floridain the Tampa Bay area. His jigs are a hair-less jig usually used as the trailer jig whenusing a double jig rig. Targeting pompanousing the jigging method is a sure way toattract the pompano bite. Anglers retrievethe jig by bouncing it along the bottom.You are looking for the jig to imitate a

crab or other small crustaceans scurryingout of the way of predator fish. Pompanolike anything that is crunchy to eat.Bounce the jigs along the bottom liftingthe sand to attract the pompanos attention.Make sure you feel your jig hit the bot-tom before starting to bounce it along.Depending on the depth of the water youare in, tides as well as currents will helpdictate how fast you should retrieve thejig. A faster retrieve will be needed whenthe tide is running fast. If the tide is run-ning at a snails pace use a slow retrieve.This will help enhance your odds of hook-ing these delicious eating fish.

Tipping your jigs with a small piece ofshrimp seems to work as well as any-thing. Sand fleas are also a very popularand effective bait of choice. You can bringyour snowbird-shovels also known as sandrakes to the beach and rake up some sandfleas for bait. Sand fleas freeze well andcan be used again. I have found that liveshrimp tend to stay on the hook a lot bet-ter than frozen shrimp. So given a choice,use live shrimp when available. Pompanoare a challenging fish to catch. It takespractice to master the technique as withmost fish you target. Pompano are oftenconfused with their cousin, the permit.Although they are in many ways alike,there are things about the two fish that arevery different. Both pompano and permitare highly sought after game fish. Both aregreat eating fish as well. A permit’s tail islonger with darker edges than that of thepompano. A permit also has a longer dor-sal fin with darker tips than the pompano.Permit have a deeper body and slightlymore blunted shaped head than the pom-pano.The pompano will have more orangecolor from their head back under theirbelly than a permit has. Permit do haveyellow on them as well, but mostly locat-ed on their underside near the back of thefish.

The average size pompano caught on aregular basis is usually a fish ranging

between 1 and 3 pounds. There have beensome much bigger pompano caught, someweighing over 8 pounds, but they are notyour everyday catch. One thing is for surepompano on the dinner table is a meal fitfor Kings. If you’re looking for a differentfish to target, give pompano a try. Youwill not be sorry you did. When you hookinto your first ever pompano you too willquickly have the golden nugget fever. Thechallenge of catching pompano will keepyou coming back for more.


Jigging forʻGoldenNuggetsʼ

POMPANOPREPARATIONSA FavoritePompanoRecipe

The most important rule inpompano dining is to eat themfresh the day you catch ʻem ifyou can. Freeze if you cannoteat them the second day.

Filet your golden nuggetsand leave the skin on to holdmoisture. Season to taste withEverglades seasoning. Placeseasoned filets skin side downon foil under a red hot broilerfor about two minutes; untilabout half cooked. Open ovenand baste liberally with mayon-naise. Place back under broilerand watch it closely. As themayo browns remove fish andmake sure itʼs done. Use a forkand see if the meat flakes. Ifnot just leave in warm oven aminute or two depending uponthe thickness of filets.

Itʼs simple and tasty. Wildrice goes great as a side dish.

Carole Neidig, a Mote Marine scientist showing off a nice Pompano she caught while fishing withCapt. Van Hubbard and Merry Beth Ryan last month

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By. Capt Dan CambernWater LIFE Offshore Staff

Well, December is here and I’m hop-ing this month will end the year withsome sort of normalcy. As I look back onmy log book for 2005, it shows that lastJanuary started out pretty well. I only hadto reschedule 3 trips due to wind, dieselfuel was less than $2 a gallon, the gulfwater was clear and the fish bit good allmonth.

By the end of January we had red-tidewhich continued to plague us off and onthe whole year. We didn’t get hit as hard asthe Tampa- St Pete area which had hun-dreds of square miles of dead-zones on thebottom, but even now there are reports ofred-tide patches off Boca Grande and theGulf is as dirty as can be, all from thehuge amounts of water being dumped outof Lake-Okeechobee.

This year’s hurricane season has with-out-a-doubt set new records – 26 namedstorms, starting with Arlene, which is alsomy wife’s name, and ending with Epsilon,the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet. Threepowerful hurricanes roared up the Gulf ofMexico, and the devastation they visitedon the lives and property of the Gulf coastwas phenomenal. We lost about 25 to 30trips this past year due to the hurricanes,but we are thankful to have been spared adirect hit this season.

The damage to off-shore oil rigs andrefineries slowed down production and thatresulted in record high fuel prices whichin turn resulted in higher prices for allkinds of services including trips on charterfishing boats. After Katrina hit, fueljumped to over $3 a gallon, which has ahuge effect on profits when your boat getsaround 1 mile per gallon. Thankfully, bythe end of November fuel prices had startedto come down.

As if all of this wasn’t enough to dealwith, we had to battle with the federalgovernment over their crazy plan to shutdown all grouper fishing for Novemberand December in the federal waters of theGulf of Mexico, which start at 9 nauticalmiles offshore. In August they also cutour bag limit down from 5 to 3 grouperwith only 1 red grouper allowed per per-son.

Thankfully, a federal court judge inFt. Myers took our side when we sued thefeds for overstepping their authority. Thatsuit gave us back all grouper except redsand put the limit back up to 5 fish per per-son. Then at the last Gulf council meetingin November, their latest recommendationwas to close all grouper fishing againfrom February. 15th through March 15thto coincide with the closed season on com-mercial grouper fishing. I’ve been told thisprobably won’t take affect until 2007because they don’t have enough time tomake it all official. Stay tuned, becauseI’m sure this issue is far from beingresolved.

Fishing has been very good this yearwith all things being considered. Tarponseason was better than it has been inrecent years, and most of the feudingbetween guides has calmed way down.Grouper and snapper fishing have beendependable on most day trips and phenom-enal on the 50- 100 mile overnight trips.The red snapper fishing has been the bestI’ve seen in many years with most anglerscoming back with full limits. Large yel-lowtail and mutton snapper have helpedfill the coolers along with mahi-mahi,blackfin tuna and wahoo. We hooked twosailfish this year, but neither one stayed onlong enough to qualify for a catch. We’vebeen catching more black grouper recentlyalso and that is definitely a good sign. We

caught our largest black grouper in Nov. ata whopping 44-pounds. It took two grownmen to get that fish off the bottom and upto the boat in 5-foot seas, 50 miles off-shore, but they told me afterwards that wasthe best trip they ever had. It’s days likethat which makes it all worth while.

Now that winter is here we won’thave to run as far offshore to catch grouperas they move in closer to spawn and wewill also start trolling for them, which isone my favorite ways to catch them. A lotof my customers are surprised when I tellthem we can troll for grouper and somelike it even better than traditional bottomfishing. For one thing, it doesn’t requirethe brute strength necessary to get a largegrouper up off the bottom quickly to keephim from getting back into his hole orwhatever structure he happens to be on.This is an especially good way for kids orelderly people to catch nice grouper. I liketo use deep diving lures such as Mann’sstretch 25’s, 30’s, or even 40’s, dependingon the depth we’re in. Running them justoff the bottom you can entice that largegrouper away from his structure, and oncehe is hooked and being dragged away bythe moving boat he doesn’t have a chance.Well, that’s almost always the case any-way, because if you let them have anyslack at all they will take advantage of itand shake off.

Obviously, you want to get the lureclose to the bottom because that’s wherethe grouper live, right? While this is true,I have also found that grouper will swimup quite a way to eat a lure. It seems thatthe sound of the rattle inside of the luregets their attention and as long as thewater is clear enough for them to see itthey will come up and grab it. The deepestI have trolled up grouper was at 106-feetwith a stretch 40 running about 55-feetdown, which means the fish came up over50-feet from the bottom!

The trick to getting these lures asdeep as possible is to use a thin diameterbraided line such as Power-Pro, which ismy personal favorite. I use 50- 65-poundtest line with 5- to 6-feet of 80-poundmono leader or a couple of feet of 64-pound wire leader if there are lots of kingsor 'cudas around. Trolling speed and theamount of line you let out will also affecthow deep the lures run. I troll at about 4to 5 knots and let out over 200 feet of lineto get a stretch 30 down to about 48-feet.

You can experiment with lure colorsand also other brands of lures as there are awide variety to choose from. I generallyrun a red/white combo on one line andexperiment on the second line. Gold/ blackand silver/black have produced gags over20-pounds, as well as plenty of big kings.

Trolling more than two deep lures is arecipe for disaster with a huge tangle, butit doesn’t hurt to run a ballyhoo or skip-ping lure on top for a shot at a king, boni-ta, or possibly a sailfish.

One last note: if the water temperaturedrops down to the 50s or low 60s after areal cold night, it’s better to wait until latemorning or early afternoon before you starttrolling. The fish get real lethargic onthose cold mornings and don’t seem towant to chase lures until later in the day.

Hopefully this is enough informationto get you started on your trolling adven-ture and you might still have enough timeto get some of these lures onto yourChristmas shopping list – let your wifepick out the colors and she will probablywant to go along just to see how theywork! Have a safe and happy holiday.

Capt. Dan Cambern owns and operatesHammerhead Charters out of the Placida mari-

Looking Back and Trol l ing Deep

A trolled up gag and the lure he rode in on


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P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5By Capt Ron BlagoWater Life Senior Staff

Red tide has sure been in the news alot this year. It seems that every organi-zation with a public relations depart-ment has had their opinion on red tidepublished in the local media and, sad tosay, checking statements for accuracy isnot one of the local newspaper’s strongpoints. So a lot of misinformationseems to be spreading out to the public.

I can't count how many times thisyear we have seen articles and editorialsthat say “scientists now believe thatman made pollution is the cause of ourred tide outbreaks.” That statement istotally wrong. Don't take my word forit; check out the article FrequentlyAsked Questions about the 2005Benthic Mortality Event and Red Tide,published by the Florida Fish andWildlife Research Institute athttp://research.myfwc. State scientistsare pretty confident when they make thestatement that man made pollution doesnot cause red tide and they give the follow-ing reasons.

First off, in 2005 they used satelliteimagery to show that the current red tidestarted 20 miles offshore from PinellasCounty in a region beyond the influenceof coastal nutrients. They have also beenstudying red tide in the lab since the 70sand have found no evidence of a direct linkbetween Florida red tides and nutrient pol-

lution. As a matter of fact, the local typeof red tide we have in the area (Kareniabrevis) uses different forms of nutrientsthat are not a common component of typi-cal nutrient pollution. So why did we haveso much red tide in 2005?

Well it was a problem, but at least itwasn’t as bad as the documented outbreaksin 1880, 1917, 1946, 1947,1953, 1971and 1995. As a matter of fact 2005 wasrather mild by historic standards. It appears

that red tide just got a lot more mediaattention than in past years. But there werea few things to be learned from 2005. Thephrase ‘dead zone’ surfaced around midJuly. The term was used to describe an areafrom Sarasota north to Tarpon Springswhere divers were reporting that every liv-ing thing was dead on the bottom of theGulf. Scientists hypothesize that the hotsummer warmed the surface water resultingin a layering of warmer, less dense, seawa-

ter over a cooler, denser layer near thebottom. This caused the red tide to staynear the bottom and produce a toxin-richregion near the bottom which killed anycreature that came in contact with it. Thedead fish consumed all the dissolved oxy-gen in the seawater as they decomposed,which pretty well finished off any livingthing that was on the bottom.

Another questions that kept poppingup was what effect the dumping of thePiney Point phosphate wastewater dis-charge offshore in 2003 had on the redtide outbreak? According to state scien-tists, it had no effect at all and here iswhy: During the wastewater discharge inthe fall of 2003 they took 272 watersamples and only 2 showed extremelylow levels of red tide cells. They trackedthe discharge by satellite and the dis-charge was carried by the current to thesouth and west, away from the coast ofFlorida. They also monitored the water

quality at Bishop Harbor in southernTampa Bay for 2 years and found no redtide. As a matter of fact, Bishop Harborwas red tide free in 2005.

It looks like a lot of money will begoing into red tide research over the nextfew years and what they discover is any-one's guess, but remember that red tide ishere, always was here, and probably willalways be here, so get use to it.

Capt Ron can be reached at 941-474-3474

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Mike Kelley of South Carolina and Frank Guterez of PortCharlotte teamed up to catch this 44# Black grouper 50 miles

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New Home Under Construction in South GulfCove across from Acorn Waterway. Great invest-ment for a winter home or year round living! MLS489837. $439,900. For a FREE info pack, call theKelli Parker Team of Duffyís Realty Station, Inc. at(941) 204-1039, (941) 628-6894 or (941) 234-3402.

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HOLIDAY LIGHTS BY BOATPOPULAR CANALS SHOWN IN GREEN AND RED

Pom

pano

Inle

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FishermenʼsVillage

i

IslesYachtClub

Basin

Staff ReportThe annual Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte lighted boat parade takesplace on December 3 this year. ʻItʼs early in the month, but wepicked that night because of the favorable tide,ʼ parade organiz-ers explained, noting that a favorable tide was a prerequisite forputting so many boats on the water at night. The parade origi-nates at Edgewater lake in Port Charlotte, just off Edgewater

drive 3/4 mile west of US 41. With so many vacant lots in thatarea because of hurricane Charley, there should be plenty of roomfor spectators there. The parade crosses the Peace River and

goes into the Punta Gorda Canals to pass before the Isles YachtClub. Boats at the Yacht Club should be lit with festive holidaydecorations as well. Then the parade returns back to the river,passing in review before Fishermenʼs Village and going under theUS 41 bridge at mid span. The southbound walkway on the bridgeis a popular viewing spot as well. Boaters use small DC to ACinverters to power traditional holiday lights aboard their vessels.For the remainder of the month area boaters make an evening ofit, cruising the local canals and enjoying the lights residents dis-play in the back yards.

Holiday Lights TraditionBoaters take to the water at night

The Fleet is Lighted at the Isles Yacht Club

Above: The Yacht Club basin. Below: The parade route.

P a g e 1 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5

Ken Cook / Boats Unlimited4809 Tamiami TrailCharlotte Harbor

941-628-8250

Boat Buying Tips Jacks and Trout Keep Rods BentBy Don CessnaWater LIFE Englewood

The weather has cooled offquickly now, and again thefishing opportunities arechanging. First, the fish arefeeling good and frisky thenthey get really hungry andmore aggressive. The coolerdays are easier on fishermentoo. On the other hand, colddays and cold nights cause theshrimp to go to the bottomand dig in. Now is a goodtime to fish with jigs andtails. Now is when you cantake all the lure types, a couple extralengths of leader material and a pair of longnose pliers and it all fits in your pockets.

The Jack Crevalle will be going nutsthis month, tearing up schools of bait fishand attacking about any fast moving bait inthe water, especially when they are in afrenzy. They may not be the greatest for thetable, but they are a blast to catch.

Sheepshead will be hanging around thepilings and under boats at the docks. Somenice sized ones can be had around thePlacida trestle. Peel the skin off somefrozen shrimp tails for them, or try a sandflea.

As the water cools down try sneakinginto shallow bays early in the morning.The shallows will be warmed by the sunfirst and a good bay will show you whenfish are present. Watch for swirls and jump-ing bait fish. This is the first indication youare in the right place.

You have to find fish to make it easier tocatch fish, so I would add one more plug tomy pockets. This is the time and place fora top water plug. It doesn't get any betterthan catching fish on a top water plug. Youget the most visibly vicious of strikes.

Trout are a likely species to be caughtnow. Snook are really active as well.

During daylight the smaller snook canbe caught in the warm bays along with thetrout, but there have been a bunch of goodsized snook caught at the bridges, trestlesand docks mainly at night. The last time Iwas out it was about 9:30 in the morning.A couple of snook did roll on my bait fish

lure but struck short. The bright light orability to see the fake bait must have tippedthem off. A good bit of information is notto throw right back at them, but wait a cou-ple of minutes before casting to them againand this time speed it up. In this way thefish doesn't have as much time to checkthings over. Many times that fish will justcharge in and eat the bait on the second try.That is, of course, if it didn't learn the firsttime.

Trout are just about everywhere and aremuch easier to catch. They are reallygullible! Looking for seagrass is the stan-dard for finding trout. The edges of the deep-er Intracoastal will produce fewer fish, butlarger fish. For those who fish from shore,those shallow bays before daylight and atnight are a good place to catch nice trout.Some of the biggest trout I've caught werebefore daylight from the shore with a topwater plug. This is a great time for thosewho like to catch a bunch of fish. Theymay not all be keepers, but with trout youdon't get bored.

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Looking for the PERFECT BOATfor Charlotte Harbor? Try severalbefore you buy. Shorter hull lengths areperfect for getting in and out of the tighterspots and boats that draw less water will get you intothe back country where the fish are. Boats that arelonger in length generally take the chop better andmake boating when the water is less than calm morepleasurable. The dividing line for Charlotte Harbor com-fort on a rough day seems to be right around 21-feet.If you are going to test drive a boat try and go on a daythat is not totally calm, that way you will get an idea ofhow the boat performs in a real world situation and donʼtbe afraid to make some tight turns to see how the vesselresponds to steering input.

A marauding wolfpack of jacks coming in with the tide tearsup a school of bait during one early morning late last month.

A jack this size will give you a nice work out.

D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5 Wa t e r L I F E P a g e 1 3

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13388 Clarence Lane - Relax on your lanaiand enjoy the view of this small lagoon on theSanta Cruz Waterway in South Gulf Cove. Thisoversized lot with seawall in place allowsaccess to Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf ofMexico via the Santa Cruz Waterway or theZephyr Waterway. Bring your powerboat and

experience the best the Florida has to offer. Water....you waiting for?? $324,900 CallLowell Grube 941-235-1555 or e-mail: [email protected]

10884 McAlester Circle - This property inthe southern sailboat section of SouthGulf Cove offers it all. Leave your dockand travel the Santa Cruz waterway to theInterceptor Lagoon. Enjoy the tranquilityof the Bird Estuary and the lagoon on yourway to the lock. No seawall is in place. This property offers all that SouthwestFlorida has to offer. $325,000 Call Nancy at 941-661-9737

806 Marion Avenue - Enjoy the view ofthe Peace River from your office whenyou purchase this OMI zoned propertyon Marion Avenue in Punta Gorda.Located directly across from CharlotteRegional Hospital in Punta Gorda, there

are 11 lots totaling 1.3 acres+/-. For all the details and disclosures on this property, callNancy at 941-661-9737 or e-mail to: [email protected] $2,800,000

321 Capri Isles - PGI - Florida living doesn't get anybetter than this. Take a look at this 4 bedroom, 3bath, 2 car garage pool home. The split floor planoffers a complete new kitchen. The large lanai is justwaiting for you to entertain your family and friends.Powerboat access to Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf ofMexico. $675,000 Call Chuck Sanders for moredetails. 941-235-1555 or e-mail Chuck Sanders at [email protected]

23296 Peachland Blvd - This 3/2/2pool home located on a freshwatercanal is waiting for you. Nice and openfor entertaining or just relaxing by thepool, this 1,993 sq ft. home has ceram-ic tile and carpet, screened entry, new

pool cage, new barrel tile roof and recently been painted on the outside. Splitfloor plan offers privacy with a large master bedroom and bath. Located on acorner lot-garage access is from the side street. Stroll through the large backyard to the freshwater canal for some great fishing. Section 15 is one of themost desirable areas to live in Charlotte County. $365,000 Call Nancy at 941-661-9737 or e-mail questions to [email protected].

18874 Ayrshire Circle - Located on theManchester Waterway, this sailboat homehas so much to offer it can't all be listed here.Built in 1987, this home shows like a newhome. The 3 bedroom, 2 bath split floor planoffers a living room, formal dining room, fam-ily room and a den and/or home office. Theroof was just replaced with a metal roof, hurricane rated windows and sliders - no need forshutters on these, pool just refinished, new pool deck, pool heater and cage. Outside, newconcrete seawall and boat lift installed in 2004 per owner. A 15 minute boat ride down thebeautiful Manchester Waterway takes you to Charlotte Harbor. For more info call NancyGrube at 941-661-9737 or email to: [email protected]

REDUCEDREDUCED

Staff Report“Ahhh, Air France 747 heavy, this

is St. Martin tower. You are cleared forthe approach, runway 27 at St. Martin,wind two-five-zero at 8. Watch out forthe beach umbrellas!”

Here are some photos of St. Marten Airportin the French West Indies. The planes impress

most people on the beach, flying over just sec-onds before touching down at Princess Julianaairport. The area is paradise for the bathers onthe lovely tropical beach, and heaven for avia-

tion fanatics who spend hours-on-end observingthe very low flying skills of the pilots on final

approach. Twelve Boeing 747s operate daily toSt. Marten. The heavy jumbo jet is the mostimpressive of all and attracts the attention ofeverybody around.

A Day at the Beach

By Capt. Robert MooreWater LIFE Senior Guide

Everyone who has fished the flats canprobably share a story or two about beinghigh and dry at one time or another andthat definitely applies to me. While pre-fishing for the Oh Boy! Oberto RedfishCup championship last month in southTexas, I was able to add to my list of sto-ries of being ‘high and dry’ on a grass flatin the lower Laguna Madre.

My partner Bob Boudreau and I startedthe morning off like we usually do, check-ing the tides, fueling the boat, gettingplenty of ice for the cooler, etc.. The tidereport said we had an outgoing tide until11:30 a.m. and then a slow incoming therest of the afternoon. Our first stop wasthe Port Mansfield jetties. We had heardreports of slot size redfish along the rocksand wanted to give it a try, but with anoutgoing tide and a 20-25 knot southeastwind the 4-6 foot waves in the pass weretoo much for our skiff. So we decided tohead to a grass flat a few miles north ofthe pass. The flats in the Laguna Madreare similar to the ones in SouthwestFlorida, but are much larger and vast. Youbasically have a channel going down themiddle of the bay and shallow flats oneach side. These shallow flats can be 20miles long and four- to 5-miles wide. Soonce you commit to a flat you’d betterknow the tide and where the nearest chan-nel or deeper depressions are.

The flat we motored onto was abouttwo miles off the main channel and about20 inches deep. There was a large depres-sion in the middle of this flat that went tothree feet. With a strong 20 knot wind, ourintention was to motor upwind of thedepression and fish scattered sand holes,letting the boat drift back into the depres-sion where we could easily get back up onplane and make it back to the main chan-nel. The tide was scheduled to turn andstart coming back in, in about an hour.

As we started our drift we got excitedwhen we observed just about every sandhole was holding rRedfish. Most fish werein the 3-4 pound range, but none-the-lesswe were seeing lots of fish. After seeingall the fish, our minds were on one thing,let’s catch some fish. We drifted well overa mile and Bob pointed out it was gettingshallower. My thought was that as wedrifted up onto a hump in the flat, hope-fully it would soon return to the originaldepth. Shortly after that, it became obvi-ous that the tide had dropped 8-to 9- inchesin just over an hour; that the tide wasmuch later where we were, and our miscal-culation meant we were going to be highand dry for a while.

It’s now noon, and with the tide in thenearby pass starting to come back in, ourthoughts were we would wait it out for afew hours, the tide would come back inand we’d continue our pre-fishing.

Well for those of you who know me,

you know that it is physically impossiblefor me to sit still for more than 2 min-utes. So I simply jumped out of the boatwith my rod and waded the nearby grassflats. I cast a weedless soft jerk-bait intoevery sand hole I came across and, in everysand hole I cast to, I either caught a smallredfish or one would at least come out andstrike at it. This took about two hours. AsI headed back to the boat it occurred to methat the tide was still falling and that theflat was much shallower, still.

At 3 p.m. the boat was now tilted tothe port side, the top of the grass was nowshowing and birds were walking all aroundus. It was then that Bob told me we werenot going anywhere for a while. I refusedto believe it at that time. I only started toagree when the sun started its descent ataround 5:30 p.m. and the tide was still notcoming in.

Hunger started to become a factor aboutthen. Bob and I usually carry enough foodand snacks on board to last 2-3 weeks, butafter just driving 25 hours straight throughfrom Florida, Bob and I were really anx-ious to get on the water that morning. Wenever thought about getting food orsnacks, all I grabbed at the gas stationbefore we launched was a Snickers candybar.

Out came the filet knife. I promise youthis, that candy bar was evenly dividedinto four parts. Not a hair more or less.Two parts for now and two for later in casethe tide never came in at all.

As the sun went down I seemed to missthe beauty in it. I was just pissed. Tiredfrom the long drive, hungry and ...oh, didI forget to mention cold. Bob and I put onevery stitch of clothing we had in the boatincluding our rain gear. At around 8 p.m.the tide had not moved a bit, the wind washowling every bit of 25 knots, we had nocell phone service, nothing. It looked likewe were spending the better part of thenight on the boat. At around 8:30 p.m.Bob and I tried to find a comfortable spoton the boat that was out of the wind to liedown.

When I awoke I looked at my watch. Itwas now 1 a.m. I looked over the side ofthe boat with the flashlight and myprayers seemed to have been answered. Thetide was up about 6 inches. Bob and Iquickly stripped down to our shorts andstarted pushing the boat. Now it’s 1 a.m.and it’s dark, I mean very dark, we arestarving, cold and now wet. The GPS wasthe only help we had for knowing whichway to push. After pushing the boat in 11inches of water for about 1/2 mile westarted to hit the edge of the depression.We quickly climbed back in the boat, gotdried off and put all of our extra clothsback on. We were now barely able to idlewith the big motor. After another 1/4mile we hit the deeper depression. It wasonly about 18 inches deep, but enough toget back up on plane and make it out to

the main channel With the help of theGPS, we simply followed our old trackback to the marina.

We arrived at the marina at 2:30 a.m.Now we are in Port Mansfield, Texas witha population of about 50. What do you

think the chances were anything was openfor us to get something to eat?You can reach Capt. Robert Moore for

fishing information, help with nav igationand tides or to book a charter fishing trip at(941) 637-5710 or (941) 628-2650 or you

D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 5 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 5

Fishing the Redfish Cup: High and Dry in the Laguna Madre

WINTER TIDES AND A BAD WIND Capt. Rob Moore wasnʼt the only one high and dry inNovember. Shown here, a local angler put the power pole down and hung out the anchorbefore he walked ashore from this flat just west of the Interstate 75 bridge in Charlotte Countylast month.

Roland Martin to Fish in the Redfish CupBy Capt Rob Moore

Roland Martin announced his retirement from competitive bass fishing last monthand also announced his intentions to fish the Redfish Cup in 2006. All I can say iswow! From bass to redfish!

Is this a trend we might start to see in the future? Well, itʼs already been a trend.Greg & Brian Watts (a.k.a. the Watts Brothers) started their careers of competitive fish-ing with bass.

Roland Martin is truly a legend in bass fishing. He is probably one of the most giftedanglers to date. How will he do in saltwater competitive fishing? In my opinion, his skillas a competitive bass fisherman and tournament angler will put him in the hunt inevery tournament he fishes, bass or redfish. The more interesting part to me is theamount of attention he will bring to the sport of Redfish Tournaments.

Roland Martin has a strong following of bass anglers and will now introduce them toinshore saltwater fishing. I also believe that now that the purses for some of the profes-sional redfish tournaments are well above $50,000 you might see more bass celebri-ties make the switch.

Can you imagine what it would be like fishing a flat next to Kevin Vandam or MikeIaconelli? Only time will tell.

NaplesDec 12 thru Dec 20

St. Thomas V.I.DEc 3

Cape CoralDec 5 thru Dec 15

By Aaron Sutcl i ffeWater LIFE Offshore

It’s that time of yearagain. With each passingcold front the water coolsslightly and the highlysought after gag groupermoves closer to shore.Fish that have spent thewarm summer months inwater deeper than 100-feetare moving in to water asshallow as 10-feet. Ledgesand hard bottom that heldno grouper last month arenow covered in hungrygags. An excellent way tolocate these fish is bytrolling. Here are sometricks that will put thegags, as well as kingfish,cobia, and other species inthe boat.

The standard, and easiestmethod is to drag a Stretchlure. These deep divers aredesigned to work at variousdepths. A Stretch 30+ lurewill dive to approximately

30-feet, with 200 feet of40-or 50-pound line paidout off the reel. I alwaystry to use the appropriatelure for the depth that I amfishing. In water that is 15to 20 feet deep I will use aStretch 18 or a 20. If I amtrolling deeper water, 30-to60-feet, I will use a Stretch30. The main concern iskeeping the lure from snag-ging structure. These lureswill bang the bottom ifthey are pulled in waterthat is too shallow for thatparticular model. If thathappens, stop the boat andput the reel in free-spool.

The lure is very buoyantand will float up, awayfrom the snag, as long asthe hooks are not hung up.

My two favorite colorsfor grouper trolling plugsare white/red head and char-treuse. These two colorshave produced in all rangesof water clarity, and in alldepths. Other colors willwork, including silver/blue,black/gold, orange, firetiger, or purple/ black. I tryto keep it simple by hav-ing several sizes in my pre-ferred colors. If I were tostore several sizes in all thegood colors it would look

like I was carrying a smalltackle store aboard theboat. Try to stick with thecolors that you have confi-dence in. It will make iteasier in the long run.

Now to find some fish!Start off in an area that hasproductive ledges, hard bot-tom, or an artificial reef.To keep things simple,troll two lures. Start offwith two different colorsand if one seems more pro-ductive you can alwaysswitch to dragging two ofthe same lures.Experimenting with differ-ent colors is a good idea,


TrollingClose


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2000 BAL HARBORBLVD. (UNIT 722) -3BR/2BA secondfloor condo withdeeded dock foraccess to your saltwater playground.Fully tiled interiorand many ownerupgrades with a sin-gle car garage forvehicle or storage.Furnished, too!$379,000

115 SINCLAIR STREET SE - Port Charlotte Beach area withquick out to Charlotte Harbor from this 3/2 home. Lots ofroom to add your own pool! Nice tile and new kitchen cabi-nets and a whole wall of sliders from the family room thatreally shows off the view - $595,000.

3968 SAN PIETRO COURT - Spectacular long water viewson this 3/2/2 Burnt Store Isles home. Granite and limestonecountertops, an island kitchen, large walk-in closets and sit-ting area in the master bedroom, Pebbleworks pool withhigh volume cage. PGT Wingard doors and windowsthroughout. $875,000

2572 BRAZILIA CT. - An oversized, beautifully landscapedlot is the setting for this 3/2 PGI pool home with a wider-than-usual canal and great view! Immaculate home withextras throughout make this sailboat water location theperfect spot for your Florida residence! $879,000

2837 SANCHO PANZA COURT - Only 6 lots between you andthe Ponce Inlet - QUICK Harbor access from this sailboat lot.Impressive 3/2/2 home, freshly painted inside & out, largekitchen, and a huge master bedroom with room for office.Oversized dock and lift, spectacular landscaping and \ patio,large screened lanai and pool all for only $749,000

because you will get an idea of what the ‘hot’colors are. Work the area by cris-crossing, ormaking circles over structure. A speed rangingfrom 2-to 8-knots will get the job done. Fasterspeeds are better if you want to cover more areain an effort to find fish, and slower will helpkeep the lures in a hot area longer.

As you are working an area, keep an eye onthe bottom machine to get an idea of what kindof structure you are over. This is an excellentway to cover new ground and find new honey-holes. Often times, the bottom machine willmark a break or a fish show, and shortly after thelures get nailed by fish that you saw on thescreen seconds before. Saving that waypoint toyour GPS will ensure that you can return to thesame spot and put your lures in the strike zone.

Another method that will produce is to deploya downrigger to get your trolling lures downdeep. The downrigger is capable of presentinglures in much deeper water than a stretch plugwill probe. Downriggers are a tad more compli-cated to use, but they pay off big in severalways. They are extremely versatile in respect toboth depth that can be fished, and lures that canbe used.

If you have a downrigger, and plan to troll forgrouper with it, send down a chartreuse BomberLong A Magnum! This lure has put more trolledup grouper aboard the Pelagic than all othertrolling lures combined. Other colors of Bomberlures will work, as well as spoons, feathers anddeep jigs. In fact, live bait will also work, if youhave it, but when using live bait the trollingspeed should be much slower than the speed for

lures. Experiment with different lures and baits toestablish your confidence in the technique.

To deploy the downrigger you first let yourchosen lure out 50-to 100-feet out behind theboat (the boat needs to be in gear). Clip the linegoing to your lure onto the downrigger ball.Once done, lower the downrigger ball with thereel in free spool as you do this. You want to letout line off the reel at the same pace as the riggerball plummets. The depth you are trolling in, aswell as the speed you are trolling will dictatehow much downrigger cable to let out. The keyhere is to get the lure 15 to 20 feet from the bot-tom as you troll it. If you are trolling in 70 feetof water at 5 knots you should have 80-to 100-feet of downrigger cable out. The best downrig-gers have counters that tell you how much cableis out. Otherwise it’s guess work.

When the bait is at the proper depth, set therod in a holder and crank in as much slack as youcan without popping it free of the clip. The rodwill bend over deeply. When a fish strikes thelure, it will pull free from the clip. The rod tipwill straighten quickly because of the slack creat-ed by the line pulling free of the clip. It is agood practice cranking this slack in quickly andgetting the line tight on the fish fast. This helpsset the hook, and gets the fish moving awayfrom the structure. Then the fight is on!

These techniques will definitely put many fishin the boat, if done properly. Not only gaggrouper, but red grouper and black grouper, aswell as the occasional cobia, kingfish, tuna, andbelieve it or not snapper! Good luck, and happycatching for the holidays!

P a g e 1 8 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E O c t o b e r 2 0 0 5

By David AllenWater LIFE Kayaking

We had been looking for-ward to this long weekendkayaking trip on KeyLargo. Fourteen membersof the Port CharlotteKayakers had signed up forthe outing and were ready togo. Then, just 10 daysbefore we were to head east,Hurricane Wilma decided toput in an appearance.

The hurricane, with windsreaching Category 2 and 3,passed 25 miles south of Naples, sparing theupper Keys a direct hit. However, thestrong winds on the northeast quadrantpicked up the water in Florida Bay andshoved it up onto the beaches and into somehomes in Key Largo. Some homes anddocks were slightly damaged, some homesflooded and some boats pushed up on thebeach, but overall Key Largo was back inoperation in less than a week. Power wasrestored and gasoline supplies were back tonormal. Resorts and restaurants back inbusiness, our trip was on.

We left Port Charlotte early Friday morn-ing, planning to do some sight seeing onthe way to Key Largo, and then, to find thebest spots for kayaking. One very interest-ing stop on the long drive across southernFlorida, is the Clyde Butcher Big CypressGallery in Ochopee, Florida. The gallery,on old Hwy 41, displays numerous blackand white photographs of the Everglades andother beautiful scenes of Florida in all itsnative splendor. Clyde’s web site ishttp://www.clydebutcher.com

After we checked into the Bayside Resort,our home for the weekend, we explored thebest launch points for the upcoming paddles.Florida Bay Outfitters, the largest kayakshop in the Keys, gave us the benefit oftheir long experience paddling and guidingtours in the Key Largo area. Given the fore-cast winds and tides for the next day, wedecided to try Garden Cove, just north ofPennycamp State Park. Strong winds fromthe northeast were expected and the man-grove channels south of the launch pointwould give us some protection.

True to the forecast, Saturday morningwas windy, but otherwise we had a beautifulday for a paddle. We paddled along the eastshore of Garden Cove until we reached theentrance to North Sound Creek at the northend of Largo Lagoon. With the strong windbehind us, it took little effort to paddleswiftly over the coral and sand of the Cove.In North Sound Creek, we wandered in andout of the small islands through channelsthat varied in depth from a few inches to afew feet. As we wound around through thearea, cormorants and frigate birds swoopedover our heads. Surprisingly, we saw fewfish or dolphins.

We emerged from the mangroves into thenorth end of Largo Lagoon, the site of

Pennycamp State Park. The wind had reallypicked up by this time and we decided tobeach the kayaks on the western side of theLagoon for a break and snack. With thewind pushing the waves and us onto thebeach, it was an exciting landing, but all gotsafely ashore.

A brief stop and we were back in thekayaks, this time headed northeast, directlyinto the wind. About a mile of open waterwas ahead of us before we again reached theprotection of the mangroves. After about ahalf-hour of hard paddling we reached themangroves and stopped to have a drink andease the tired muscles. We arrived back at thelaunch point after about 3.5 hours, havingcovered about 7 miles, half of it into a verystrong wind.

Everyone was tired when we returned tothe our hotel, thankful for a hot shower anda little relaxation, but a few bicyclers in thegroup, decided to pedal to Islamorada, about10 miles south. It was a nice ride, but wefaced more northeast wind coming back.

Sunday was a perfect day for a paddle:bright sunshine and very little wind. Wedecided to launch directly from the hotelbeach and paddle, on the Bay side, toGrouper Creek. As we paddled north alongthe shoreline, we saw a handful of boats thathad been tossed up onto the beach or thebreakwater by Wilma. Most of the homesappeared to be undamaged. After reachingthe mangroves at the north end ofButtonwood Sound, we headed west towardGrouper Creek. Once again this area is pri-marily mangrove islands that skirt the eastside of the Intracoastal Waterway fromMiami to Key West. We simply enjoyedthis paddle, as it was in marked contrast tothe hard paddle of the previous day.Checkout time at the hotel was 11 a.m., sowe reluctantly headed back earlier than wehad planned to beat the deadline.

Everyone agreed that this was a great pad-dling weekend and we decided to do another,similar trip, soon. Great paddling, (evenwith the wind), wonderful dinners at greatrestaurants, and a fine, accommodating hotel.How can you beat that?The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet each

Wednesday evening at 5:30 PM, at PortCharlotte Beach Complex . We encourage allpaddlers or potential paddles to stop by and seewhat we are about. For more info call 941-235-2588 or email to [email protected]

Kayaking The Keys: Key Largo

Ready to launch from Garden Cove in the Keys.


The 4-inch Old Bay Side Saltwater Shadlyn is yourperfect bait to mimic wounded baitfish thatRedfish or Snook canít resist. Locally, the Mud-Mino and New Penny colors are your best bet.The water is getting colder and fish are somewhatlethargic so work your baits slower than usual.Whether rigged weedless or with a jig head, slowlybounce these baits several inches off the bottomand let it rest. Then repeat. Redfish canʼt resist thewounded action.

New PennyMud Minnow

Perfect for a small family.Located in a great neigh-borhood on a quiet cul-de-sac. Home has an updatedkitchen, large spaciousbedrooms, and lovely out-side patio area Out back isa 10,000lb boat lift with onlyminutes to open water. Aone of a kind deal, call mefor the details. MLS 610653

Charming little Key West styledoll house is just waiting forsome entertaining. Donʼt let thesize of this house fool you, with1 bedroom 1.5 bath, this apart-ment style home has it all.Nestled in historic downtownPunta Gorda, within walking dis-tance to Gilcrest Park and ten-nis courts, this charming homewill not last long, call me todayfor more details. MLS 609409

Come build yourdream home on thisfabulous residentiallot. This lot is locatedin the quiet HarborHeights neighbor-hood, with HarborHeights park onlyminutes away.Call me today formore details.MLS 606170

Florida living at its very finest.Gorgeous PGI home with newly re-modeled kitchen is perfect for peo-ple who love to cook and entertain.With two sinks, a cook top range,dual dishwashers, double oven, andtons of cabinet space, this kitchenhas everything you are looking for.Call me today for all the details MLS609944

Building isc u r r e n t l yleased as aconvienencestore, but thelayout mayallow severald i f f e r e n toptions suchas office or retail space. Property con-sists of a 2,016 sf building on a 9,119 sf ofland in the heart of downtown PuntaGorda. MLS 608175

Looking to build a privateestate with largeacreage? This is it! In thehighly desirableWashington Loop area,property offers 20 plusacres with two privateentrances. Currently aworking orange grove,Property has power, apond and 4 wells. Area cleared for a home. Calltoday for more details. MLS 605081


Area Real Estate TrendsProvided by Water LIFE Publisher and Realtor,® Ellen HellerUsing information from the Charlotte County Multiple Listing Service

This is NOT an Advertisement!

2005 RecapEvery month Water LIFE looks at homes which are currently on the market andhave just sold or are in the process of closing. Our resident realtor and co-publisherEllen Heller is out of town as this edition comes together so this month we lookback at 2005 and highlite some of the properties we have previously shown.

Via Milanese - Fairly newer home built in 2000with 2,101 sq ft and 3 bedrooms 2 baths. It is ona canal with a concrete dock, seawall and boatlift. Although it is just minutes to the Harborbecause of a fixed bridge it is powerboat accessonly.Five years ago it sold for $325,000 and thispast September for $628,000.

By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Staff

The tourists are back.They all slipped in justbefore Thanksgiving whenno one was looking. Ihope they brought a lot ofmoney this year because alot of us local folks couldreally use some of it. It’samazing how the area candouble in size overnight.One day the roads and thestores are empty and thenext day it’s bumper tobumper and hurry- up-and-wait. Boating and fishingactivity has picked up sig-nificantly with the boatramps filled up even in the

middle of the week.Fishing has been good

in Lemon Bay and inCharlotte Harbor. Goodnumbers of reddfish andsnook are being caughtaround Stump Pass withgood catches being reportedin Ski and Rag Alley. Bigshrimp seems to be thebait of choice. In the har-bor, reddfish have beenhanging back in the man-groves as well as in BullBay and Whidden Creek. Afriend reported fishing theskinny water in the backof Whidden Creek with topwater plugs and runninginto schools of small tar-

pon – 7 to 15 pounds. Justoutside of Stump Pass,triple tail are hanging nextto the crab buoys nearshore. Try to be there earlyin the morning on a calmday. There hasn't beenmuch kingfish action toreport this season, but afew big kings (20 to 30pounds) have been caughtby slow trolling with livebait close to shore. Furtherout, over 20 miles, goodcatches of amberjacks andcobia are being reported.Remember not to catch redgrouper in federal waters.The Federal ticket is veryexpensive.

ON THE LINE Fishing with Capt. Ron Blago

With Capta in Scot t9 4 1 - 6 6 1 - 3 9 8 79 4 1 - 6 6 1 - 3 9 8 7

2 0 0 6 P O L A R2 0 0 6 P O L A RB AY B O ATB AY B O AT

u p t o 6 P a s s e n g e r su p t o 6 P a s s e n g e r sF I S H F O R : Ta r p o n , B l a c k t i pF I S H F O R : Ta r p o n , B l a c k t i p

S h a r k s , S n o o k , R e d f i s h ,S h a r k s , S n o o k , R e d f i s h ,S n a p p e r , Tr o u t , G r o u p e rS n a p p e r , Tr o u t , G r o u p e r

O R :O R :C R U I S E T O Y O U R C H O I C E O FC R U I S E T O Y O U R C H O I C E O F

D E S T I N AT I O N S I N C L U D I N G :D E S T I N AT I O N S I N C L U D I N G :C a y o C o s t a C a b b a g e K e yC a y o C o s t a C a b b a g e K e yB u r n t S t o r e B o c a G r a n d eB u r n t S t o r e B o c a G r a n d e

U p t h e P e a c e R i v e rU p t h e P e a c e R i v e rO RO R

Ta k e a S u n s e t C r u i s e T h r o u g hTa k e a S u n s e t C r u i s e T h r o u g hC h a r l o t t e H a r b o r w i t h a n i c eC h a r l o t t e H a r b o r w i t h a n i c e

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Punta Gorda

A beautiful house built in 1926 with 2 stories,3,000 square feet and 5.5 subdividable lots onShell Creek. Very quick access to the Peace Riverand Gulf. This home was pending in less than amonth and sold for $640,000. It last sold in 1999for $155,000.

A victim of Charley this older home was built in1958 with 1011 sq ft on a powerboat canal with fastHarbor access. In September, immediately followingthe storm it sold for $75,000. After just 10 months itsold in June 05 "as is, no warranties" for $215,000.

Lakeside in Nokomis - Beautiful three bedroom,pool home with a dock on a fresh water lake.Almost 25 years old this home was built in 1976with 1,770 square feet and 3 bedrooms 2 baths. InJune 2000 it sold for $155,000 and more recentlyin 2005 for $275,000.

Prather St - Older canal home built in 1988 with2/2 and 1,321 sq ft. It has a private dock withquick access to the Myakka river and a river viewfrom the roof top deck. First time it sold for$114,000 in 1996, again in 1998 $125,000 andrecently in April '05 for full asking price of$375,000

Peace River Dr. - This 1,625 square foot home wasbuilt in 2002 with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. ThePeace river is across the street and behind thehouse is a sailboat water canal with direct accessto the river. It sold in 1999 for $95,000 and is cur-rently pending with a price of $359,900.

Grouper UpdateIt might not be a bad idea to take a

lawyer grouping fishing with you duringthe holiday season. They may be the onlyones who can figure out all the changes inregulations for grouper fishing in Federalwaters. Here is a brief recap of the latestevents.

Aug 9th - The National MarineFisheries Service (NMFS) drops the baglimit on red grouper to 1 fish per day, witha total limit of 3 combined grouper (blacksand gags) per day. They also closed allgrouper fishing during November andDecember in Federal waters.

Oct 31th - CCA gets a Federal judge

to modify the NMFS rule. Red grouperonly will be closed Nov. and Dec. Theaggregate bag limit is moved back to 5grouper per day with only 1 red grouperallowed. Nov.16th - The Gulf of MexicoFisheries Management Council votes toclose all grouper fishing from Feb 15th. toMarch 15th. The rest of the year the rulesare: 1 red grouper per day with a 5 grouperaggregate bag limit. Because of the regula-tory process, the closed season may not gointo effect until 2007. Remember, thesechanges are in Federal waters only. Stategrouper regulations have not changed as ofyet. Daily bag limit of 2 red grouper perday with an aggregate bag limit of 5. Thereis no closed grouper season in state waters.

Call forCall forHolidayHolidayspecialsspecials

Capt Ron Blago’s AnnualFISHING COLLEGE

Its hard to believe, but the "College ofFishing Knowledge" is about to begin itsfifth year. Starting Jan. 3rd, the fishingcollege will meet for two hour( 1pm -3pm) each Tuesday for 6 weeks. The basicintroduction to local saltwater fishing willcover everything you have to know fromhooking to cooking. The college is run bySarasota County Parks and RecreationDepartment at the Englewood SportsComplex , 1300 S. River Road, Englewood.

Once again yours truly, Capt. Ron, will

be the lead instruc-tor along with afaculty of local fish-ing experts. We tryto cover everythinga new fishermanneeds to know inorder to have a funday on the water.

You can registerin person at the Englewood SportsComplex, or over the phone by calling941- 861-1980. The cost is $30 for allsix classes. Seats are limited and the c-lege has always been a sellout in the pa

By Capt. Betty Staug l erWater LIFE / Sea Grant

Hopefully many of you havenoticed the recent additions ofmonofilament recycling containersaround the County. Outdoor recyclingbins, which are constructed of PVCpipe, are currently located at severallocations. In Englewood, the U.S.Coast GuardAuxiliary, Flotilla 87 hasimplemented recycling at the TomAdam’s Bridge fishing pier, AingerCreek boat ramp, Cedar PointEnvironmental Park, Royal PalmMarina, Oyster Creek Mobile HomePark, Eldred’s Marina, GasparillaMarina, Stump Pass Marina, MarineDynamics, Manasota Beach Park, andIndian Mound Park. These bins are allsponsored and maintained by Flotilla87.

Bins are also located at Ponce deLeon Park, Laishley Park, GilchrestFishing Pier, and the History Park inPunta Gorda. These sites have allbeen sponsored by the Charlotte

County Coastal ConservationAssociation with support of theCounty’s 4H Marine Ecology Club.Additional bins are coming soon tothe El Jobean Fishing Pier, SpringLake Park, Port Charlotte Beach,Bayshore Fishing Pier, and CoralCreek. Indoor recycling boxes arealso located at the Englewood BaitHouse and at Captain Ted’s Tackle inPort Charlotte, with one coming soonto Fishin Franks.

Why is monofilament recyclingimportant? Monofilament lineremains in the marine environmentfor up to 600 years! Monofilamententangled wildlife can lead to injury ordeath. Monofilament entangled propscan lead to costly repairs.

Monofilament line retrieved fromour bins is sent to Pure Fishing inIowa who melts the line into smallpellets, which are in turn used to makefishing related products such as tackleboxes, spools for new monofilamentline, and freshwater artificial fishhabitats.

Monofilament recycling is provid-ed as a service to the community. Yourhelp in assuring only monofilamentline is placed in the bins is greatlyappreciated! With that said, I thoughtI’d run through a list of some of theother items volunteers are finding inthe bins and suggest reasons why theyare not appropriate for monofilamentrecycling.

Empty beer bottles – this is a pop-ular one. Beer bottle are not made ofmonofilament. Volunteers who recov-er them must dispose of them, and thatis not what they signed up to do. Ifyou see a volunteer and would like tothank them for their efforts with a fullchilled beer, that would probably beacceptable (:

Cigarette butts – another popularitem. Cigarette butts are not made ofmonofilament. Cigarette buttsretrieved by volunteers must in turn beplaced into the garbage. Ironically,the bins with the greatest number ofbutts in them have garbage cans locat-ed right beside them.

Shrimp – this one is just plainnasty, especially when they have beenin the bin a long time, but yes, theyhave been found in recycling bins.

Fishing Line – fishing line ismonofilament, Please, please, pleasefeel free to place yours in the bins.Braided line, on the other hand, is notmonofilament and should be disposedof in the garbage.

Many thanks from Sea GrantExtension and from all of the organi-zations supporting this effort to themany folks who are using the bins todispose of their monofilament line.

For more information about themonofilament recycling program inEnglewood, you can visit Flotilla 87’s


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This New House Part 7: Blockwork Happening

By Michael HellerWater LIFE Editor

In Pavlov’s famous response, an animal, I think it wasa dog, was made to drool when it heard a sound associatedwith its feeding. It was a second level of response: theanimal knew after the noise the next thing coming wouldbe food.

Snowbirds returning to our block have wondered aloudwhy our new house is on such a high foundation. ‘It’sFEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers,’ I tell them;‘the same people who mandated our 5 foot high founda-tion were the wisdom behind the design of the levees sur-rounding New Orleans.’ Everyone laughs when I say that.

Actually in a way it’s way cool. Our view will be bet-ter, the breeze will be stronger and bugs and ants will behard pressed to invade our new up-in-the-sky structure.

While houses along Edgewater drive are elevated threefeet, we are a full five feet up because we are down by thebig water. Our neighbors have come to call our newhouse and our next door neighbor’s new house ‘the towersection’ of Bangsberg Road. On the final plan, the tippy-top of our second story roof will be a staggering 34 feetin the air. That’s three and a half stories any where else.

With such lofty levels comes some loft constructionconsequences. Materials which normally are simply laidout in front of a regular house are having to be hauled andhoisted up to the first floor level.

This month’s project was the blocking up of the walls,which meant about 2,500 cement blocks had to somehowget from the stockpile at the side of our old garage to thefloor 50 feet away and 5 feet up, in the process. Toaccomplish this task, I hired a guy whose name I shall

not mention because he turned outto be a flake, but at least in thebeginning, he brought his Moffit,a soft tired, super-sized fork lift, topick up stacks of block, and loaded20 cubes of 74 blocks each ontoour slab. The plan was to lay upthose 1500 block and then havehim return to load up the rest. Hisreturn, however did not occur, sowe hand-lifted and stacked the last600 block ourselves. I still feel theexercise in my back a week later.

The project started easilyenough. My friend and blockmason and super fishermen Capt.Andy Medina showed up the day hegot back from the Redfish cup finals and started lay-ing block. The immediate hard part was getting themud (mortar mix) up from the mixer at street levelto the slab. I had saved a dozen or so 4x6 raftersfrom our Florida room when the old house wasdestroyed and we used some of them to build a bigramp up the 5 feet to the slab. It was a good idea,but in practice it was more than any one humancould do to wheel a full 200 pound wheel barrowup a 30-percent grade. So we doubled teamed it.Every time Andy had a load of mud to bring up he’dcall me. “Ug” he’d say, “...come here Ug,” and I’dgrab the dock line tied to the front of the wheelbar-row and Andy would take the back and we’d chargeup the ramp with him pushing and me pulling...“Ug” I’d say, until we made it to the top.Continued on Facing page

Water LIFE Editor Michael Heller (Ug!) and Andy Medina pulling up the mud.

The block crew working on ʻthe long wall.ʼ

A Mule named ʻUgʼ

Phone: 941-474-9534or 800-881-9534 Cell: 941-416-1585e-mail: [email protected]

9271 PINE COVE: Truly a Boaterʼs Paradise looking out over beautiful Lemon Bay fromthe back yard, which includes room for all your boats. Completely seawalled including

a 10,000+lb horizontal lift. Will accommodate a 32+-foot boat as well as 4other boats. With no bridges to the Bay and ICW and less than

10 minutes to the Gulf, this updated 3 bedroom 2 bathsplit plan home is located on a very quiet cul-

de-sac only 4 lots from the Bay.Offered for $849,000.

It got so that what ever else I wasdoing when I heard the mixer stop I’dgo ‘Ug,’ like Pavlov’s dog. I knewwhat was coming next.

Andy laid up the Florida room andthe pool side one day and then the hall-way and the kitchen the next. In blockwork the idea is to lay up 7 coursesfrom the floor and then bring in thescaffolding to ‘top-out’ the remainingcourses. Andy single handedly musthave laid 1500 blocks in four days.Then on Saturday his brother Gregshowed up with his crew and theyblocked up the long 63 foot wall andset the four ridiculously high (25blocks up) columns.

You learn a lot when you move thatmany block. Did you know there is ahandle on every cement block? A thickpart of the center web, designed tomake it easier for masons to handlethem? Did you know that almost every‘cube’ of block you buy comes withthe handle upside down? No, I don’tknow why. Did you know that halfblocks cost more than full blocks? andthat without a concrete saw you arelost when it comes to making thingsfit. You’d think that CAD designedplans would have it down to a sciencewhen it comes to ‘block work’ withthe right number of full sized blocks togo between the windows and in thewalls so everything comes out equal. Itain’t so, not all the time anyway. Thesponge is an invaluable tool tomasons, used to ‘float’ the mortarjoints and clean off excess mud.‘Preachers’ are tools that hold the level-ing strings in place on a wall and thatmasons use short levels and blocksthemselves are really not that square.There are preferences for the type of

sand that masons like and mortar mixleft laying around too long gets staleand is hard to work. There are ‘righthanded’ and ‘left handed’ trowels, ‘mor-tarboards’ and ‘jump boards’ that allcome into play in building a house.

We finished the block beforeThanksgiving and started on the tiebeam, the concrete beam around thetop, the very next day. It’s not done asof this writing, but by early Decemberwe should have it. Stay tuned.

Now for an insurance update. Afterjerking us around for 16 months TowerHill has finally paid us off. House con-tents, pool cage, alternate living, thewhole eñchilada. Done, finished, thankyou and good bye. But it has taken solong that now the SBA wants us torequalify for our loan, in spite of thefact that we closed on the loan 8months ago and have recorded a mort-gage in their name. More paperwork,more proof of insurance, a builders riskpolicy, flood insurance updates andsome other stuff that I just don’t feellike looking upright now. Will itever end? It’s notthe natural disasterthat drives youcrazy, you can dealwith that, you canclean up andrebuild, but theman made disaster,the paperwork, thelying contractors,the guys that sim-ply don’t do whatthey said, the gov-ernment, they’re theones that make it sodifficult. Ug.


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ScuttleButt

Sometimes Unsubstanciated ...but often true!

Manatee Madness ContinuesBoaters on Little Gasparilla may get an additional 25mph chan-nel that will make traveling between the island and the main-land a bit easier. The current manatee protection plan imple-mented in the county in 2002 only provided one main channelfor boaters located at the middle of the island. This forcedboaters that lived on either end ofLittle Gasparilla Island to idle fromtheir docks to the main channel,thus doubling the time it takes toreach the mainland. Local islandresidents proposed adding a northand south 25 mph chancel thatwould connect to the existing mainchannel . Charlotte County recentlyput together a Local Rule ReviewCommittee compromised of threeIsland residents and three directorsof the Lemon Bay Conservancy toreview the proposal. The group splitright along party lines until a com-promise plan was proposed. Theislanders would get a new 25 mph channel on the south side ofthe island to go with the one in the middle, and a new manateeprotection, slow zone would be being added between the verysouthern end of Little Gasparilla Island and Bird Key. The plannow goes in front of the FWC this month for discussion. Theproblem is that in 2002 the new proposed south channel wasconsidered as a critical manatee habitat both by the FWC andthe Save the Manatee Club, and the new proposed slow zonewas not even considered as having an effect on manatees atthat time. It would not surprise us if the FWC reject the newsouth channel, but still implemented the new slow zone any-way. So far in 2005 , there has been 23 manatee mortalities inCharlotte County with only 2 due to watercraft. This is wellbelow the state average.

Hereʼs a look at the start of the tie beam. The form boardsare going up atop the block walls. One of the completedcolumns is shown in the foreground. Scaffolding will followsoon.

The four outside columns are 24 blocksin the air. Itʼs scary high!

Dear Santa,I'd like to think that I have been a 'Good

Fisherman" this year. So, I won't be shyabout letting you know what I want forChristmas.

1. First and foremost, I am going toneed plenty of 5/0 and 7/0 hooks for all thegag grouper that are currently laying inambush under all of the offshore ledgesand reefs. Those hooks are great for livePinfish and Squirrel fish. Those baits don'tlast very long on these spots.

2. Secondly Santa, I'm not trying to begreedy or anything, but just in case thoseGrouper won't chew I am going to need aspool of 20 lb fluorocarbon leader. I'm alsogoing to need a box of 1/0 hooks and a livewell full of shrimp/sardines for all theMangrove Snapper that will be on all thesame ledges.

3. Next, I'm going to need a fewdozen 3-4 oz bucktail jigs for theAmberJack that are stacked up on the off-shore wrecks. I'd better go ahead and geta couple of fighting belts and a bottle ofaspirin. These fish are averaging 50lbsand bigger, and should be around until atleast May. (Jigs are great stockingstuffers, Santa) and the aspirin are for theaches and pains associated with winchingthem up to the boat.

4. Now I am going to have to ask youfor calm seas, Santa. I'll need them to getall the way out to the big wrecks thismonth. They will be pretty much coveredwith big Yellowtail Snapper. Bottom fishingw/ live shrimp is a sure thing with thesefish. I'll just be sure that when I hook oneto crank-em up super fast to avoid theGoliath Grouper, that are just waiting in line

to take my fishaway from me.

5. And lastbut not leastSanta, I'm goingto need :

6 new 30lbspinning rods

6 shiny new30lb spinning reels

6 new 60lb conventional rods6 shiny new 60lb conventional reelsSimply because I am more than likely

to wear out all of my fishing tackle thismonth.

Tight Lines and Bent Rods!Capt Steve / Kingfisher FleetP.S. Fresh grouper nuggets and beer

will be under the tree this year for youSanta. Enjoy!

Offshore Captain Puts in his Request to Santa

Mark your CalendarMark your Calendar

the 2006the 2006 Water LIFE Kids CupWater LIFE Kids CupMay 6May 6 with the top 5 kids fishing in thewith the top 5 kids fishing in the ESPN REdfish Cup on May 11ESPN REdfish Cup on May 11

This nice Novembersnapper was released


Water LIFE StaffAs December rolls in a couple of things

come with it; Christmas and extreme lowtides. This time of the year most of the larg-er flats boats won’t be able to target the fishthat are trying to warm themselves on thebackwater flats. This gives the kayaks andsmall technical skiffs a chance to get to thewater that fish are not getting run over in.

Kayaks are pretty stealthy and technicalskiffs offer the ability to be poled while let-ting the angler see a little more than thekayaks do. With the morning temperaturesbeing a little on the cool side, it’s not a pri-ority to be the first boat on the flats.

This time of year we like to play the tide

game, that is, let a little more water ontothe flats. An extra two or three inches ofwater just may make the difference betweenyou getting into your favorite area, or beinghigh and dry on the way. As the tide falls,you are able to work your way out and fishthe pockets with the falling water. Manyfish will visit those shallow spots to warm;fish like snook, redfish, trout and evencobia. To me, fish just seem to eat better asthe water warms up and there are always fishto be had. Trout can save the day when otherfish are not being so cooperative.Sometimes, in the right spot, every castwill produce a ‘spec.’ Live shrimp under apopping cork or small jigs or shrimp imita-

tions all work well while bouncing thesandy bottoms. Smaller top water baitswalked across shallow grass flats also pro-duce.

We always target redfish in pods that areheld up in the deeper water this time of year.Channels, such as Ponce inlet or ColonyPoint, on certain days, can produce morefish than you want, but this is hit or missfishing – there’s a lot of water and fishswim around. Fishing channels is not likefinding a school on a flat where you can seethem push, you’re not gonna’ see these fish,and a lot of catching them, I think, is moreluck than skill. The sure bet is patience.Work the baits slower, use jerk baits –watermelon seems to be the hot color rightnow. Rig it with a 1/16 or 1⁄4 oz jig head. I

personally don’t rig any bait weedless. I findthe hookup ratio is better with an exposedhook, but to each his own. Try throwingRiptides new Calcasieu Brew or Watermelon5-inch gulf chub. Gold spoons also workwell and are always a good ‘search bait.’ Ihave learned that the old faithful Johnsonspoon can be improved upon by putting partof a Berkley gulp tail on the back of thehook.

Snook are staging in the creek and canalmouths, but there are a lot of shorts. Theyoffer good catch and release action on eitherlive shrimp or artificials. With a littlework, December can be a very good time ofthe year. Be safe and just have fun.Check out Capt. Andrew Medina on the

Screaming Reels with Capt. Andrew Medina

By Bil l DixonWater LIFE Sailing

What a year this has been. Tropicalstorm Epsilon for God’s sake, HurricaneWilma. I live long enough to go onMedicare, Mike turns general contractor,

and records fall. Glad this year is almostover.

Sailing wise, PGSC has a specialtyreverse start race on Dec.11, call JerryHaller at 505-0499 for details. A couple oflighted boat parades, and presto it is 2006.

January 7, 8 is Burnt Store’s PPYCGolden Conch Regatta call 639-0733for details. Now that snowbird season is

upon us. I expect to see more of y’all outon the water. Remember there are 20,000boats in this county. Let’s use them. Iam going to get my boat back from theyard soon and I plan to use it as much as Ican. We live in sailing heaven, why areyou sitting home reading about it?

PGSC has a ful l year of races callBob Anderson at 505-8933, Cruises callSue Fuller at 505-0215 and other activitiesplanned. Check out the web site:pgscweb.com. PGSC has out grown ouronly home, the Boat Club building, andwill be meeting at the new Punta GordaCivic Association Building at 2001 ShreveSt. beginning January 11, 2006. The civicassociation building has chairs and tablesfor 300 while Boat Club capacity withtables is less than 200.

We will again be sponsoring two majorregattas this year – the two biggest sailingevents in southwest Florida.

The 13th annual ConquistadorCup Regatta, PHRF boats, 2 buoy raceson Saturday and an 8 + mile reverse startrace on Sunday will be held March 4 and5

Contact Bob Knowles at 505-8543.The Leukemia Cup Regatta, big

(PHRF) and small (Portsmouth) boats,buoy races both Saturday and Sunday withshore-side activities by Isles Yacht Clubwill be April 22, 23. Contact Jerry Hallerat 505-0499. This will be the 3rd annualLeukemia Cup on Charlotte Harbor. Lastyear, even with a fleet decimated byCharley, we raised $80,000 for TheLeukemia/Lymphoma Society. We areplanning on topping that this year.

Next month, if all goes well, we willhave a boat review that you realtors willlove. Ed Benson, local boat broker anddealer, has a couple of sailboats withhinged masts, called ‘tabernacles’ in nauti-cal-speak. These masts fold on the waterallowing sailboats to motor under bridges,and then raise their masts. Everywheredamp could be sold as “Sailboat Water” tobuyers with one of these boats.

Bill Dixon cane be reached at: 941-637-2694 or at [email protected].

By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Inshore Editor

Peering into the water we watched anx-iously to see what was pulling on the otherend of the line.Three anglers with countless years of fish-

ing experience were having a ball this dayand none of us would have guessed a babybarracuda. Barracuda aren’t that uncommonoffshore however not in a foot of water inBull Bay in late fall?

December in Charlotte Harbor marks thebeginning of winter fishing and shrimpbecomes the main forage for most fish. Ifthere is any doubt about that just ask theshrimp trawlers in Matlacha Pass off PineIsland just south of here. In Novemberthey were catching 300 pounds of shrimpan hour just north of Burnt Store Marina.When I got word of this I immediatelyswitched from white bait and lures toshrimp. Shrimp will catch just about any-thing that swims this time of year and to besure, you never know what will bite next.

Would you believe me if I told you thatcatching 12 different fish species on a sin-gle outing is quite the possibility thismonth? Snook, redfish, trout, sheepshead,pompano, snapper, flounder, blowfish,lizard fish, black drum, grouper, spadefish,shark, catfish, jack crevalle and the last ofthe tarpon, cobia and mackerel are catchablefrom Pine Island to Lemon Bay. Actuallythere are more than 12 species to catch butthis includes an additional few that mostaren’t really interested in. The main thingto remember about most of these species isthat they are primarily feeding on or nearthe bottom. Shrimp is the perfect answer

and here’s how to do it.

We all know rigging a shrimp can bedone in many ways. I think the most com-mon approach is on a single hook suspend-ed under a float. This is a great method fortrout over grass flats but generally, I rarelyfish this way. My approach is more aggres-sive, using the shrimp and some weight toget the bait down to the bottom. Then, Idrag the bait with short pauses to allow itto fall back making repetitive contact withthe bottom.The 2 most productive techniques are fish-

ing Ω a shrimp on a 1/8-1/4oz jighead or touse a whole shrimp on a 1/0-3/0 baitholderhook with a small split-shot above thehook. The bigger the shrimp the betterbecause it is more for the fish to see andsmell. The size of your jighead or splitshot will depend on the water depth and cur-rent.

The location of most gamefish is fairlyp r e d i c t a b l e .They will seek deep water during the low-

est tide phases and move to the mangrovebushes only on the very highest parts of thet i d e .True high tides are not overly common dur-ing the winter as the seasonal pattern oflow tides and north and easterly winds rarelysee high tides above 1.5 feet. Deep watergrass beds will hold trout all winter longbut the trout will follow the water depthand on extreme lows will vacate the grassbeds in favor of a neighboring deep waterdrop off.

You can figure that snook will only biteafter extended periods of warm fronts.

However redfish and trout will remainactive all month. Of course, trout are nowout of season, so you will probably findbeautiful eating size trout everywhere.Most of the other species are serious bot-tom feeders like the flounder and you canexpect them to be near sand or oyster barswhere there is current. Deep passes andcuts will find the delicious flounder lying inambush on adjacent shallows.

Redfish will be found in small pods andthey will average 10-18 inches. Deeptroughs near mangrove bushes are theirhangout and catching 50 in a day is prettycommon. There are bigger reds around;however not in big numbers and catchingone is more luck than skill. Jack Crevallewill surprise you and remain active in deepchannels and canals. They will often strike

as you’re bringing your bait in and willattack near the surface. The other bottomdwellers will appear just about anywherewhere there’s 3 feet of water or more.

If you think of it, Charlotte Harbor isjust a remarkable nursery for just abouteverything that swims in the gulf waters.A baby barracuda in the backcountry makesme think that the mother 'cuda likelyspawned not too far away. How incredibleis that? With the clear December watersyou will see thousands of tiny baitfishthroughout the harbor and over the flats. Ican’t tell what species they are but theycould be one of a dozen or more based onwhat’s been biting on my line.

The simple rule is fish slow, fish deepand fish shrimp because you never knowwhat might bite next. You’re gonna' love it!


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By Capt. Jerry Cl effiWater LIFE Tournament Report

Normally, this time of yearis a time for me to kick backand relax a little after a longtournament season. This yearthings are different. With thepopularity of the Flatsmastersin 2005, the ball is alreadyrolling for the 2006 season. Bythe time this month’s LIFE Lifecomes out, the FlatsmastersTournament series will morethan likely be full at 100 boats.While I’m writing this articlethere are only 5 spots left! It’shard to believe that we filled upthat fast. Don’t despairthough, if you wanted to fishthe 2006 Flatsmasters therewill be a Flatsmasters QualifierEvent – The FMQ Tournamentto be held on February 11th,2006 at Harpoon Harry’s,Fisherman’s Village, in PuntaGorda.

The Qualifier is open to any-one, whether you have alreadyregistered for the Flatsmastersor not. The top 5 finishingteams not already registeredwill be invited to fish the 2006Flatsmasters Series. This willbe the only way new teams willbe able to fish the series. TheFMQ tournament is also a greatway for existing teams to tuneup their skills before the firstFlatsmasters Event of the yearin March.

Don’t forget about ourfirst Flatsmaster’s fun event –

the REDSpot ‘Count the Spots’redfish tournament onDecember 3rd, at HarpoonHarry’s. This tournament isbased on the number of spotson 2 legal reds instead of thenormal heaviest weight. It’s agreat way to get a taste of tour-nament fishing and the $5,000First Prize is not bad either.

Next year, in addition tothe 5 FlatsmastersTournaments, Charlotte Harborwill welcome back The FLWRedfish Series on March 16-18and the ESPN Redfish Cup onMay 12-14. These redfishonly, artificial only, eventsbring some of the top redfishtournament anglers from aroundthe country to Charlotte Harborto try their hand at our localredfish. Many of these tourna-ment anglers cut their teethfishing our local tournamentslike The Flatsmasters and theold RedSnook tournamentseries. In addition to theseevents, This publication willagain sponsor the Water LIFEKids Cup Tournament held theweek before the ESPN tourna-ment, and we’ll also have ourlocal high school fund raisingevents to support Charlotte andPort. Charlotte High Schools.

It looks like a great yearfor competitive fishing, so takea chance if you haven’t everfished a tournament; it’s a lot offun and a great way to learnmore about fishing the harbor.

2006 SCHEDULEFebruary 11, 2006Flatsmasters ʻFMQ ̓Qualifier Tournament2 redfish – artificials onlyTop 5 finishers invited to fish The Flatsmasters Series

March 04, 2006Flatsmasters Grand Slam Plug Tournament1 trout, 1 redfish, 1 snook – artificials only

April 29-30, 2006Flatsmasters Summer Redfish Classic2 redfish – open to all baits2 day event – top 5 teams advance to Sunday

July 22-23, 2006Flatsmasters RedPlug Tournament2 redfish- artificials only2 day event- top 5 teams advance to Sunday

September 16, 2006Flatsmasters RedSnook Challenge1 redfish, 1 snook – open to all baits

October 28-29, 2006Flatsmasters Championship WeekendTop 40 teams fish Saturday – 1 redfish, 1 snook – open toall baitsTop 5 Shootout on Sunday – 1 redfish, 1 snook – open toall baits

Gearing Up for 2006 Tournaments

2005Champion

Roger Harris


December s̓ Fishing ForecastCharlotte HarborRobert at Fi shin' FranksPort Charl o tte: 6 25 -3888

December is a fun month to figure out. Now we havegood cold fronts every 10 days to two weeks and when thewater starts to warm up another front comes through. Thisis the time to start fishing the canals a little more – fortwo reasons: It will be out of the wind and there will bewater there. December can be real shallow sometimes.

For the first part of the month, snook will be veryeasy to catch. Trolling for them has been (and will be)productive for the rest of the winter. Lures like the Crystal

Minnow and the Bomber are the baits of choice. For theshore fisherman, night snook fishing off El Jobean andPort Charlotte beach piers will be very productive.

Redffish are always a big challenge this time of year.The larger, legal size, fish tend to be individuals or travel-ing in small groups of three to four fish. Look for themin the mouths of the canals, all along the mangroves andalong the east or west side of the harbor. There are plentyof ‘juveniles’, but it’s a hunting game for the bigger legal-sized redfish. A circle hook is a good choice now due tothe abundance of smaller ‘rat reds’ and shrimp is probablythe best all around bait. conti nued on the fo l l owing Night time is snooktime as Ernie found out while fishing

with Port Charlotteʼs Capt. Angel Torres last month.

Trout season is closed untilthe first of the year, but now thatwe have had one good cold front,maybe two by the time you readthis, trout will be showing up inmajor numbers. Some of the larg-er fish will move up into the shal-low grass flats now. Turtle Bayand Bull Bay would be two primary areas to lookfor those fish. Catching them on live shrimp undera popping cork is the traditional way, but they arenot picky eaters so now is a good time to practiceyour technique with artificials. Lures like topwatersearly in the morning, gold spoons mid-day and softplastics like the Old Bayside Skeleton Shad areexcellent choices for trout right now.

Another fun fish that’s here and not targeted veryoften is flounder. They will be here the rest of thewinter and are excellent eating. Placida trestle is avery good place for flounder and not fished veryheavily for them this time of year. Most guys atPlacida are concentrating on sheepshead now. Forflounder, cast away from the pier and slowly drag ajig or an egg sinker with a shrimp back toward you.Whiting and pompano are often a productive by-catch when flounder fishing.

Placida is the first spot that sheepshead willshow. Fiddler crabs or sand fleas are working verywell on sheepshead right now. Also, around theBoca Grande beaches and at the old oil and phos-phate docks, sheepshead will be appearing in goodnumbers. Fish in the three to four pound rangewould be the average right about now. By the endof December, start looking for those fish to bemoving up into the harbor. Then El Jobean wouldbe a good place to catch them too.

Cobia and triple tai l would be good speciesto target this month out along the beaches. As longas the stone crab traps are out there, the cobia andtriple tail will be around.

Ladyfish and Spanish mackerel will also beout along the beaches as well as populating thewater in the middle of the harbor.

Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595

I’ve had quite a bit of snook reports fromLemon Bay to Placida and El Jobean lately.Anywhere there is a dock or a pier the snook arebiting. We’ve had a few guys wrestle with 40-inchplus fish at El Jobean and had guys catching over25 fish there. The incoming and rising tide is thetime at El Jobean or Placida.

We’ve had a number of redfish north of thebridge, in the creek and channel mouths and on theflats, but they are either too big or small. The lastfew days there has been plenty of redfish action onlive shrimp or assorted DOA, Gulp or Exude plas-tics. Whatever your bait of choice is, it seems to beworking. There is a lot of redfish action. Troutfishing has been decent. A couple of guys havereported bigger trout, but many guys are on thesmaller fish. Trout fishing seems to be best on theflats before all the boat traffic starts running around.Some guys are having fun trout fishing with 6-pound line and lighter rods right now. There havebeen some cobia and quite a bit of triple tai laround. A lot of triple tail are on the crab pots rightnow and they are good eating fish ... and I’m get-ting a lot of Pompano reports all the way downthe coast to Captiva and Redfish pass.

There has been a little offshore fishing, butmostly it’s close to the passes. It’s been too roughoutside lately. A few guys are reporting gags andblacks in 60- to 70-feet of water.

What’s really hot are the blue crabs right now,a ton of really big ones are out there this winter.

Stump Pass & the GulfBen at S tump Pass Marina 697-2206

Offshore, there are a lot of snapper in 80-to100-foot depths. Cobia have been here, theyhave been streaky, but when they show up theyare in good numbers. I’ve heard some reportsabout kings, but they have been deep, in 65-to80- foot of water and amberjack have beengood too. Inshore, there has been a really consis-tent run of pompano right in stump pass, theyhave been here for a while now. Bluefish,ladyfish and jacks are showing too and floun-der are to the north. Trout has picked up in thebay, and there are snook on the Tom Adamsbridge as long as the tide is moving.

Brian Surber with a little bull shark caught offthe Bayshore Pier on a piece of eel-tail.

n December 2: REDstartREDFISH workshop forall our past, present andfuture recruits that have(or want to) work at thefacility on Sanibel Island.Florida Gulf CoastUniversity, 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. All things relat-ed to fish, 239-461-7518

n December 3:Flatsmasters, Count theSpots RedfishTournament. Size doesnʼtmatter, the fish with themost spots win. 637-5953

n December 8: Fishing

Seminar DOA baits byMark Nichols atLaishley Marine, PuntaGorda. n December 9-10:Fishing Expo at WestMarine, Port Charlotte. 4-7 p.m. on the 9th, andfrom 10-3 p.m. on the10th

n December 9-10:Hooters Tournament atCabbage Key $3,000 firstplace for 2 Snook, 1Redfish on 2 days 239-275-6339

n December 10: Kayak

Fishing Seminar byDave Loger, at GrandeTours in Placida, 941 697-8825

n January 10: SmallCraft Rules of the Roadpresented by MaritimeOfficer Heather Fortner.Focus on kayak lightingrequirements, at GrandeTours, Placida, 941 697-8825

n January 26-29:Charlotte County BoatShow fairgrounds on SR776 across from the oldRanger Stadium


BIG-4 BIG-4 Decemberʼs Target Species Decemberʼs Target Species

JACK CREVALLE have beentearing up the canals

TROUT are big and lovingthe cooler water temps

GAG GROUPER are movingin closer to shore now

SNOOK are moving in and outof the canals and up river

C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T SPowered by

Send us your event calendar information via e-mail: [email protected]

Fishing Report Continued from facing page

FishingRIGHT NOW:

excellent!

ChristmasChristmasLightsLights

CruiCruisese

A Punta GordaTradition

For Over 21 years

See the ChristmasSee the ChristmasLights andLights and

Decorations FromDecorations Fromthe Waterthe Water

Three Cruises Nightly6 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 9

p.m.

$9.50 adults, Kids under 12 $5,2 and under FREE

Water LIFE Dec 2005

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Transcript of Water LIFE Dec 2005