Water LIFE Nov 2010

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor and Lemon BayFFFFRRRREEEEEEEE!!!!

November 2010November 2010

FFFFaaaabbbbuuuulllloooouuuussss FFFFaaaallll llll FFFFiiiisssshhhhiiiinnnnggggPPPPaaaaggggeeeessss 8888 &&&& 9999

Keeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997Keeping Boaters & Fishermen Informed Since 1997

WWWW aaaa tttt eeee rrrr

wwwwww.. WWaterater LL ifeMagazineifeMagazine .com.com

L I F EL I F E

AlwaysAlwaysFREE!FREE!

Was Was thisthis

tuna a tuna a hoax?hoax?

5Page 15

Might Might notnot be be the Knotthe Knot

Page 14Page 14

P a g e 2 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0

MYAKKA RIVER VIEW – Waterfront livingat its best. If you are thinking of a home onthe River, this one is for you. 2,770 sq. ft.built 2006 home with all the upgrades youʼlllove. 3 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths. 3-cargarage. Walkway to dock and boat lift.Master downstairs with living, dining, fami-ly room, kitchen and nook. 2 bedrooms, sit-ting room and bath upstairs. Breath-takingdécor in all rooms, with ceiling fans, trays,molding, lighting, wood cabinets, corianthru out. This one is a charm at $574,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

DIRECT 941-235-5648 DIRECT 941-235-5648 TOLL FREE 877-218-6552 TOLL FREE 877-218-6552

WONDERFUL POOL HOME in DeepCreek. This 1,934 sf 3/2/2 home featuresnew carpet, paint, filter, pump, skylights,roof and gutters. Master Bedroom suitewith dual vanity sinks, garden tub andshower. Large kitchen, huge inside laun-dry room and Lanai with cabinets & sinkand space for a kitchen. LOOK NOMORE! $158,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

SHOWS PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP - Oneowner home, 2/2/2 with pool on large cor-ner lot. All rooms are oversized, all tilefloors except of Master bedrm has highquality carpet, 2 double French doors,newer A/C, range, microwave, waterheater, garage door,opener and dryer. Newcage and sand finished surface in pool.Priced at market price to sell. $104,000 CallEllen McCarthy 941-235-5648

OVERSIZED CORNER WATERFRONTLOT. Water on side and back of lot size135x125 for a great waterfront view. Justone bridge and 20 min. to the Harbor.Across the street from CollingswoodPointe Estate of million-dollar homes.Most of the lot is recently cleared leavingseveral palm trees. Seller will look at alloffers. $139,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 235-5648

CHARMING WATERFRONT POOLHOME - 3/2/2 1,749 sq ft. Just a great pri-vate home on Como Waterway and ashort ride to the Harbor. Fish from yourdock and watch a beautiful sunset. Thishome features so many upgrades as newroof, pool cage, all new wood cabinetswith corian tops, new white wood cabi-nets in both baths, 2nd bedroom has dou.doors to nook area, new tile & woodfloors. Don't wait!! $239,900 Call EllenMcCarthy 941-235-5648

ONE-OF-A-KIND Entertainer SeriesMobile Home in out-of-park Punta Gordaarea. Over 1,400 sf, this 3/2 home is allfenced in with 2 metal sheds, largeconcrete patio facing open pasture, insidelaundry, open living area, breakfast bar,glass top range, recessed lighting, built-inentertainment center and much more.$88,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

ROCK CREEK WATERFRONT POOLHOME - 3/2/2, 1,700 sq ft. Minutes to theHarbor, concrete seawall, dock anddavits. Auto cleaner for pool. All newroof, windows, sliding doors, hurricaneshutters, tile floors, complete kitchen w/hardwood cabinets, granite, appliances,screen on cage, paint interior and exteri-or, 17.5 Seer A/C, and on and on. A mustsee. $234,900

ATTENTION INVESTORS, SEASONALOR FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS!Home sold AS-IS. This 2/1 with carporthas been painted outside and yardcleaned up. So convenient toeverything. Priced at todays market.Don't wait -- this home will not last long.$34,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

LAKE SUZY BEAUTY ON LAKE PEM-BROKE - 3/2/2 heated pool home, 2135 sqft, built in 1996. This home is a charm, withupgrades galore. Volume ceilings, Italiantile, new tile roof, pool cage, diamond brite& tile, hurricane shutters, inside laundrywith lots of storage thru out home and thelist goes on, This is a must see, Priced tosell at $299,900 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

Ellen McCarthy Broker AssociateEllen McCarthy Broker Associatewww.portcharlotte-pgi.com www.portcharlotte-pgi.com [email protected]@portcharlotte-pgi.com

19700 Cochran Blvd • Port Charlotte, FL 3394819700 Cochran Blvd • Port Charlotte, FL 33948

SHROEDER CUSTOM-BUILT HOMEshows like a model. Only lived in a fewmonths, this 3/2/2 1,614 sf home built in2007 features 17” tile floors (except inbedrooms), split bedroom plan, opengreat room, white wood cabinets & Coriancountertops $159,900Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

BANK-OWNED 3/2/2 home sold As Is.Newly painted, this 2,830 sf bargain has ahuge family room with fireplace andaquarium, French doors, split bedroomplan and spacious Master bedroom suitewith garden tub, walk-in shower anddual sinks. Check this one out today!$189,000 Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

CUSTOM-BUILT POOL HOME ON 2LOTS. This gorgeous 3000 +sq ft homehas all the whistles and bells, built 2006.Upgrades in this 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths, 3car garage home with pavered drivewayand pool area. Features tri-level wood cab-inetry, granite, gourment kitchen, built-inentertainment center and a master suite todie for. Call for a list of all the features, thelist goes on. Wonderful buy at $399,900Call Ellen McCarthy 941-235-5648

N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m P a g e 3

Water LIFE is ALL ONLINE every month

ADVERTISE HEREWater LIFEs 1/8 page ad (this size)

just $99$99per month!call 941-766-8180 4-4-CCOOLLOORR alwaysalways FREEFREE

If you want to reach boaters and fishermen...we are IT!

We don’t just count the people we reach, we reach the people that count

Link to your website from ours ... advertise in Water LIFE

Water LIFE i s the o ffi ci al publ i cati on o fthe Charl o t t e Harbo r ReefAs so ci at i on , the o ri g i nato r o f theKids Cup Tournamentand the producer o f theDon Bal l Schoo l o f Fi shing .

Not per WEEK

Water LIFEMagazine inc.

Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers(941) 766-8180e-mail (preferred)

[email protected] Mail: 217 Bangsberg Rd.

Port Charlotte, FL 33952

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTNot affiliated with any other

publicationVol IX No 11 © 2010

www.WaterLIFEmagazine.comNo part of this publication (printed or electronic)may be copied or reproduced without specific

written permission from the publisher.

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoPort Charlotte: Billy Barton

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerCommercial Fishing: Kelly Beall

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerReal Estate: Dave Hofer

Inshore: Fishinʼ FrankDiving: Adam WilsonKayaks: David Allen

Sailing: Bill DixonOffice Dog: Molly Brown

on the COVER Throwing a cast net for mullet off Capehaze, last month. Page 7www.waterlifemagazine.com

www.waterlifemagazine.com


Letters to: [email protected]

My daughter Alexis caught this carp, in her words "Huge Fish" in a freshwater canalin Port Charlotte. She has always picked up a copy of the Water Life to practicereading and asked if I could try and get her in one of the upcoming copies. The fishwas caught unexpectedly while brim fishing with bread and was successfully landedby Alexis on her Bass Pro ladies ultra lite rod and reel. Thanks in advance, Kris (Proud father of two great fishing partners)

Water LIFETo Whom It May Concern,What's the chance we can get a "Collier County" WaterLIFE magazine too?I love this magazine, but, would like a more local one, forus down here. I know you incorporate Lee and Collier inyour additions. Maybe a local "boat club" can work withyou on that.What do you think?George Karpathios, via email

Editor Responds* Thanks George, Iʼll think about it – M

Water LIFEI am pleased to report that the FWC's Guidelinesfor Launch Facilities for Non-Motorized Boats isready for distribution. This guide has been puttogether by the members of FWC's Non-Motorized Boat Technical Assistance Group, fromresources and input provided over the past year'smeetings in Orlando.Jo MoglePunta GordaNote* The guide is also available online rommyFWC.org

Mike I see plans for the county to purchase land to expand the county boat ramppark in Placida. I launched my 26' boat there for years. Then they rebuiltthe parking spaces. Now my truck & trailer wouldn't fit in the parking spotsas they are too short. Everyone with longer rigs used to just pull past thepaved spot a few feet before the park was redone. One time I pulled overthe concrete stop at the end of the parking spot. When I returned from fish-ing I found a $40 ticket on my windshield for "parking on the grass." So Ibegan parking at Eldred's. Is there any way to pressure the county intodesigning the park with longer parking spaces? I trailer to the east coastand they have plenty of boat launches and they accommodate the longerrigs required by us who prefer to fish offshore.Lester Kuhn, Habour Heights

On Facebooktype inWater LIFE Magazine

... click


On the Line By Capt Ron Blago, Water LIFE Senior Staff

The first meeting of theCharlotte County ManateeProtection Plan ReviewCommittee has already beenheld. The decisions they makewill have a profound affect onall boaters that use CharlotteCounty's waters. The FloridaFish and Wildlife Commissionhas asked Charlotte County tovolunteer to implement a StateApproved Manatee ProtectionPlan (MPP). If CharlotteCounty agrees to the idea itwill become the 15th countyout of 43 that have a Stateapproved MPP.I was not at the meeting,

but I did talk to two individu-als that were there and since each of themhave totally different opinions on theidea, I think I have a pretty good idea ofthe arguments on both sides. The FWCbrought in their experts with piles of

data that shows that a lot of manatees aredieing each year and they think we haveto do something about that. Already in2010 more than 656 manatees haveshown up dead. With 4 of those beingattributed to Charlotte County boaters.They seemed to be very concerned forLemon Bay as a high mortality area. Iguess someone should have pointed outthat all of Lemon Bay, both in Sarasotaand Charlotte County have been giantslow speed -minimum wake-manateeprotection zone for the last 10 years.The real selling point of a MPP is

the expediting of the federal and statepermitting process for new waterfrontconstruction-related projects. If the coun-ty agrees to a MPP, it doesn't mean youwill get a permit any faster than before;it could just mean - as one memberpointed out - that your application canbe refused faster than before. Remember,just because the manatee regulators giveyou a permit, you still have to deal withthe turtle, sea grass, swordfish and shorebird regulators who will most likely allhave their own special requirements. Isthe MPP about protecting manatees or isit, as I suspect, about power and money?Last year, according to the manatee

trust fund figures, the state spent $1.8million on manatee research and $1 mil-lion on manatee management. Manateeprotection is now big business.Remember that this is just the taxpayerfunds and does not include all the privatemoney that goes to special interestgroups like the Save the Manatee Club. If Charlotte County accepts the state

offer to put a MPP in place then the

county must also accept the financialburden of implementing the plan. If a new plan required new signage the

county pays for that. If you need morelaw enforcement on the water the countymust pay for that. In effect, the federaland state authorities get the power tocontrol our future and Charlotte Countygets the bill.Recently the FWC voted to leave the

manatee on the endangered species list aslong as it was on the Federal EndangeredSpecies List. So the way I figure, aslong as we are going to let the Feds con-trol the manatee situation we might aswell let them have the responsibility aswell. Let the Feds pick up the dead man-atees. Let the Feds cut them up and fig-ure out why they died. Let the Feds payfor any manatee protection plan.Manatees are not just a Florida problemanymore. Manatees have been found asfar north as Connecticut and as far westas Texas and as far south as SouthAmerica. This is now an internationalproblem. You never know, some terroristgroup may figure out how to turn mana-tees into suicide bombers to swim up thewarm water discharges and destroy ourpower plants. Maybe homeland securityshould be involved – (just kidding!) But seriously, if the State and Federal

authorities really think the manatee is introuble in Charlotte County after findinga population of over 5000 manatees lastyear, then there is not much we can do tostop them. B ut we don't have to volun-teer to pay for it. If they want to be thebig shots, they should, at least have topick up their own tab.

Boaters Held Hostage by Manatee Regulations

Last year the state spent $1.8 million on manatee research and $ 1 million onmanatee management. Manatee protection is now big business.

Joe Pocklington,former owner of Fort Myers Yacht,

Burnt Store MarineService, GasparillaMarine Service andCharlotte Harbor

Boat Storage,is at it again!

Joe has assembleda top notch crew toconcentrate onpainting bottoms

and waxing hullsides.

Joe offers his services only to a limited number of customers so he has the abilityto concentrate on quality.

Call Joe at 941-769-0493 for information

Bottom painting and hullside waxing up to 55 feetOther services available on request

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE

Fishing magazines are sup-posed to tell you how to catchfish, give good accounts of mem-orable outings and take you therewith relevant photos. Does twoout of three do it for you?

I had received a carton ofgold Rex spoons from Eppingerfor our 7th grade fishing classes.In it were two packets that weredifferent. They were markedSpinnin’ Rex. It was a gold spoonwith a stiff wire leader with fourgold metal beads two red plasticbeads and a gold spinner on thefront. Instead of the traditionalred feathers like a normal Rexspoon, this lure had a mop-headof rubbery road-stripe yellow ten-tacles. I’m sure it is a favorite forsome species somewhere up in

the north country. So late one afternoon my

buddy Ralph and I headed out tosee if old Spinnin Rex wouldwork in Charlotte Harbor. Firststop was about 4oo yards fromthe dock, where tarpon wererolling in front of the US 41bridge. Twenty minutes of castingand not one hit. We got a fewladyfish on regular spoons, but notarpon and not even a bump onthe mop head.

We beat around for a whileafter that, down the harbor, outthe pass, south along Cayo Costato the two lone pilings and thenback inside. Casting at every stop,catching a few fish here and thereall on other lures, but still nothingwanted any part of the mop head.

We started back and by 6:30 or7 we were stopped and fishing

again outside the bar at CapeHaze. It was a fishy time.

The sun was going down themoon was just coming up. Birdswere diving and fish were jump-ing all around us on the movingoutgoing tide. We caught macker-el, bluefish, trout, ladyfish andmore ladyfish. We drifted timeafter time down the outside of thebar catching fish.

We teased mackerel with topwaters, I caught some fish on aM-17 and some more on mytrusty old gold spoon, but everytime I switched back to the mophead...nothing. Then came twi-light, the perfect solunar moment,just as the last orange orb of thesun disappeared, the sky hadturned magenta and then; yank! Astrike on the mop head! Butthings went downhill from there.

It was only a ladyfish, proba-bly a blind one, and as I swung itto the boat it flipped off the lureand landed on the deck.

I looked down at the patheticcatch for a moment thinkingabout rehooking it for a picture,but I don’t like set-up photos sothat was that.

We went on and caught morefish before dark, but not even onemore hit on the mop head. I wasfishing with what I had, 20 poundleader, in a school of mackerel. Ilost an old Top-Pup in a noisycrashing-splash and I lost a newM-17 to something silent andunseen. But the mop head, on 20pound leader, remained intact.

And in spite of it all, in theannals of all those good days fish-ing stored in my mind...this wasanother one.

What Our Fish Donʼt Want

Eppingerʼs new Spinninʼ - RexTo our knowledge this spoon isnot available locally.


By Bi l ly BartonWater LIFE InshoreFall is one of my favorite times to

fish every year here in Charlotte Harbor.It's just redfish central, the snook fishingusually proves to be terrific, the troutstart to show themselves, and the tarponare on their way. Along with all of thisthe Spanish mackerel and ladyfish schoolsare just all over the place pounding white-bait to no end. There's nothing like thisplace. I love it with every bit and piece ofmy heart and soul! In a dream world, Icould spend every single day of the weekon my Action Craft exploring and fish-ing. For some of y'all out there, youactually live this. I am very jealous, Ican't lie, and if you don't appreciate it youshould! Being as I don't live in a dream world

though, I am just like the majority ofyou fishermen who just gets it in whenhe can. There are always plenty of bills topay and we all have a rat-race to run!While you're in this life with me, yougotta make your days on the water count,you gotta catch big fish, and lots of ‘em!I had one experience to remember out

on the water this month. I went fishingwith my friend Cayle from Fishin’Franks. For those of you who don't knowCayle he's the man on the computer inthe back. He handles all the stuff that the

cavemen can't do! (inside Fishin Franksjoke – if you don't know you should bethere). Well anyhow, Cayle loves hiskayak, and Captain Angel was kindenough to let me borrow his (unknowing-ly) for the experience. (Thanks Angel)Well Cayle and I set out at the crack ofdawn with some live shrimp, some goldspoons, and some Berkley Gulps. Thetide was up and we worked our way downthe shoreline together stopping at all ofCayle’s favorite spots. I put a keeper red-fish on the stringer pretty quickly andcaught a small, but lively snook. "I likethis!" I told Cayle. As the tide worked itsway out we proceeded working our waydown the shoreline fishing the trough outaway from the bank. Well half way downthe shoreline we ran into some bigschools of mullet.I know by now, one ofmy favorite tactics for fishing redfish isjust to follow the schools of mullet.Sure enough, we saw some tails, madesome casts, and I hooked up again! I was-n't ready for this fish though. Before Iknew it he had me shooting across theflats like a torpedo! I tried and tried to putthe stick anchor into the bottom with myleft arm as I clenched my pole with myother. But it just wasn't happening. Ilooked down to see 20 or 30 spooked bullredfish all around me. All I could do waslaugh and apologize to Cayle as I landed

my oversize red. We continued on anexciting adventure catching a few morereds and snook, some trout, and somemangrove snapper. Then we called it aday. I tell you what, it was a nice, andpeaceful experience and the kayak openedmy eyes to a new stealthy way of fishing.That is, if you have your anchor down!Thanks Cayle, and heck, thanks all youguys up at the bait shop. I appreciatewhat y'all have done over the years. As we work our way into winter,

whitebait is no longer an option, you aremuch better off fishing with shrimp,preferably live, but dead works too. Keepin mind this month the trout and snookwill be moving up into the Harbor as thewater temperature declines. Trout are a fun

fish to go out and target during the wintertime. They are just so plentiful out onthe grass flats. A good thing to throw atthem is just a live shrimp under a float,or any type of soft plastic should workwell. Remember snook and trout areclosed to harvesting. They are still a lotof fun to catch, but handle them withcare. Try hard not to damage their slimecoat and their scales. If you throw artifi-cials, treble hooks hurt the fish real bad, Iprefer any lure with a single hook.Snook took one heck of a beating lastwinter. I sure do hope we don't gothrough that again it broke my heart! Ihope every body's enjoying themselves.Until next time, catch big fish!

Get Out Your Hoodies P a g e 8 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE InshoreFabulous fall fishing is only minutes

from the boat ramp. No need to run tofar away places as you only need to fishthe outside of the bars in November.Sand bars run the entire length of the eastand west sides of the harbor separating themangroves from open water by perhaps a¼ to ½ mile with lush grassbeds inbetween. November is a month of extralow tides and the fish push to the outsidedeeper waters. We have a variety of cooler water

species that invade the shallows thismonth. Pompano will cruise the shallowsandy areas and trout will hang in thedeeper grassbeds and in the potholes onthe bars. This is genuine fun fishingbecause on any given cast you neverknow what will bite next. My favoritelures are small jigs for pompano in white,chartreuse or yellow. Nothing complicatedjust rig them in tandum or single andretrieve with a quick jigging motion.Jigs will catch everything that swims andyou can expect a widevariety. Lizard fish,sea robbins, flounder,trout, mackerel, lady-fish, jacks and blackdrum will surprise you.The key water depth is5 feet to the edge ofthe bar. With a tandum rig double headersof a variety of fish will guarantee somedrag pulling!Trout will be in full force and any type

of swim bait on a jighead, shrimp imita-tion or lure fished under a popping corkwill get you action. Trout are lazy sokeep your retrieve slow with long pausesto allow the lure to fall back to the bot-tom.Using wind and perhaps a trolling

motor as your navigation tool, move yourboat through various depths coveringwater to locate schools of fish. You mayhave long dry spells followed by absolutereckless fish catching if you are persistent.With certainty if you do enough of this

style of fishing you will stumble ontoschools of redfish, particularly on the low-est of tides. Nothing beats a live shrimpfished on a jighead to cover lots of water.Anything that swims in the Harbor willeat a fresh shrimp this time of year. Your

rod and reel choice is simply a 6-8 footmedium action spinning rod rigged with10-15# braid. Thirty pound leader with alength of 3’ will do the job. The water is

clear and the fish have goodvision so long casts and longleaders help to fool skittishfish.Nothing beats a pair of 3

pound pompano pulling in 2directions on light tackle.Perhaps one of the hardest

fighting fish in the harbor, kin to the per-mit and is one of the finest table fare. Ona recent trip I had pompano doubles andeven had one pompano eat both my jigsupon setting the hook. The fish are liter-ally under your feet and most anglersdon’t even know it. It is easy to watch the flats boats run-

ning the backcountry from your positionon the outside of the bar. These anglerswill more than likely be struggling tocatch redfish meanwhile you may want tohide your bent rod so as not to invitecompany into your fishing hole!Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action

Flats Backcountry Guide Service. For acharter call 941-505-0003 or go towww.backcountry-charters.com

Capt. Chuck Eichner operates ActionFlats Backcountry Charters and can be con-tacted for charters at 941-505-0003 or v isitwww.backcountry-charters.com

Fabulous Fall Fishing

Nothing complicated -just rig them in tandum or single

Joyce shows off a pair of pompano on adouble rig

P a g e 1 0 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0

PROVIDED to Water LIFE BY: Dave Ho fer RE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected] www.harborparadise.com Recent area news i tems:1. Branch Bank and Trust (BB&T)

took the first step to foreclose on theSheraton Four Points Hotel. TheFour Points was built on the site ofthe former Holiday Inn which wasdestroyed by Hurricane Charley. Whilepublicly boasting that they avoided the"subprime" lending mess, BB&Tnaively lent Jose Suriol and his corpo-rations some $17 Mil to acquire thesite and build a 106 room hotel. Inaddition to the hotel, the loan was col-lateralized with a 4 acre condominiumsite and an undeveloped 82 slip mari-na. The appraised value of the addition-al site slipped from $11.9 mil to $6.6mil over the past two years. The slidein valuation has triggered a clause inthe note requiring the borrowers to paydown the loan balance by $2.9 mil. 2. FGCU opened its doors in

Punta Gorda's commercial space nextto the new parking garage and 25 stu-dents enrolled for $15 each to learnhow to become better entrepreneurs.3. Always determined to inno-

vate, Charlotte CountyCommissioners, Loftus and Skidmoreproposed that the costs of operatingthe Sheriff's department be allocatedequally among property owners like anMSBU fee rather than being fundedthrough tax deductible dollars accordingto property valuations. Although notapparent to the naked eye, there mustbe a good idea behind this proposal...or maybe not.4. To make sure that dissention

and chaos prevail in County Boardmeetings, Commissioners Skidmoreand Duffy opined that the impact (cost)of new development of public facilitiesand infrastructure should be the burdenof current taxpayers, not the develop-ers. Ignoring the fact that impact feesdo not prevent developers from build-ing warranted projects, Skidmore stated"... impact fees are the biggest deter-rent to economic development..."

Other commissioners acknowledged theobvious... if there's no growth, thereare no impact fees being collected any-way! 5. Developer Pat Neal received

preliminary approval from SarasotaCounty to create Blackburn Creek sub-division on 784 acres at Center Rd &River Road. When complete, the newproject will add 1568 homes and150,000 sf of commercial and officespace.6. North Port voters have a ballot

proposal to allocate $20 million tobuild a new water park. Desperatelytrying to attract new visitors (andhomebuyers), the City is exploringevery conceivable opportunity to havetaxpayers take this gamble.In other news: A groundbreak-

ing ceremony was held for redevelop-ment of the former Wachovia Bankbranch. Seven Eleven will operate a

company owned store at the corner ofAqui Esta and Bal Harbor. Air trafficat the Punta Gorda airport was down13% from the prior year – Septemberis traditionally the quietest month ofthe year, so this decline is very mod-est. Allegiant Air announced the addi-tion of three new non stop destinations(Grand Rapids, MI, Greensboro, NC& Lexington, KY) to start onNovember 18. Punta Gorda's liquorlaw will likely be changed to permitsales on Sunday - Mimosas andBloody Marys will be available toSunday morning brunchers.Sales S tatistics:Inventories of lower priced homes

continued to climb in North Port, PortCharlotte and Deep Creek continued toclimb as short sales continued andforeclosure moratoriums began.Waterfront lot sales continued to bequiet.

Real Estate News

Cartoonist Harry Thomas ̓take on public apathy.


By Betty S taugler Water LIFE / Sea Grant Artificial reefs in Florida are construct-

ed with one or more of the followingobjectives: to 1) enhance private recre-ational and charter fishing and divingopportunities; 2) provide a socioeconomicbenefit to local coastal communities; 3)increase reef fish habitat; 4) reduce userconflicts; and 5) facilitate reef-relatedresearch.Expenditures to construct public artifi-

cial reefs off Florida coasts prompted aneed for local gover nments to quantify theeconomic benefits that are derived fromreef deployments. Six counties in south-west Florida – Pinellas, Hillsborough,Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee –collaborated to determine the economiccontribution and use values of artificialreef activities that accrue to the individualcounties and to the region.The economic analysis was completed

by the University of Florida and FloridaSea Grant College Program using a vari-ety of survey techniques and augmentedby data from previous boating studies insouthwest Florida. The study was fundedby the Florida Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission statewide arti-ficial reef program and the West CoastInland Navigation District. Results of the study characterize the

recreational use of artificial reefs, dollarsspent visiting a reef, jobs created, for-hireuse of artificial reefs and client spending,for each county and then southwestFlorida as a whole. This type of analysishad previously been completed for eastFlorida and the Panhandle. The comple-tion of the southwest Florida socioeco-nomic analysis fills a large void in thestate regarding the economic impact ofartificial reefs and provides each countywith important economic benefit informa-

tion.The draft report, which is well over

100 pages, is set to be finalized before theend of the year. The following is aglance of what’s inside. On a daily basis, an average of 6,000

persons in southwest Florida, residentsand visitors included, use artificial reefs.That number breaks down to over 900 inCharlotte County (over 1450 persons inLee, over 600 in Sarasota, nearly 450 inManatee, more than 550 in Hillsborough,and more than 2000 in Pinellas). Annualuse of artificial reefs for Charlotte Countyis 99,282 boat days a year and 339,585person days a year.Fishermen and divers who use artificial

reefs spend nearly $275 million in the sixcounty region annually. The annualexpenditure for fishermen and divers usingartificial reefs for Charlotte County isnearly $34 million.Visitors bring new money into local

economies ($132.88 million for the sixcounty region), and account for almosthalf of the artificial reef expenditures. InCharlotte County, new money derivedfrom visitors account for more than halfof artificial reef spending ($18.67 mil-

lion).Survey results document that artificial

reefs help support the six county region’sfor-hire fishing sector (guides, charter andparty boats) with clients spending over$88 million annually (over $6 millionspent annually in Charlotte County).Expenditures on artificial reef related

activities in the six county region gener-ate nearly $182 million annually and sup-

port 1,987 full and part time jobs.Artificial reef related activities inCharlotte County generate nearly $20million in net economic impacts annuallyand support 266 full and part time jobs.The amount invested by local govern-

ments in artificial reef construction activi-ties varies by county. Some budget artifi-cial reef related activities and supplementwith grant funding. Others rely solelyupon grant funding to construct artificialreefs. Charlotte County uses approxi-mately $50,000 in grant funding annually.The county has also received supplemen-tal funding and material for reef construc-tion through donation.Results generated by the study “A

Socioeconomic Analysis of Artificial ReefPatronage for Six Southwest FloridaCounties” demonstrates the return oninvestment for artificial reefs in CharlotteCounty and southwest Florida. The finalreport will be made available electronical-ly through the Florida Sea Grant websitewww.flseagrant.org.

Betty Staugler is the Florida Sea GrantAgent for Charlotte County. She can bereached at 941.764.4346. Sea Grant is aUniversity of Florida IFAS program.

Economic Value of Artificial Reef$

32ft Sea Ray 2006 – Inboards, Loaded,Always Stored Inside, PERFECT!

28' Mako 282 CC- Twin 225 MercuryDFI engines. enclosed head &T-top.

30ft Nimble Yawl 1993 – Diesel,Shallow Draft, Many Upgrades

32 Shannon Hardtop 1988 – T-DieselAir, Loaded

28ft Grady White Sailfish 2002 – T-225Yamaha 4/strokes,Hardtop, Lift Kept

$109,900$109,900 $34,900$34,900 REDUCED!REDUCED!$38,900$38,900 $33,900$33,900

$69,900$69,900

$72,900$72,900

Punta Gorda Marina, 25096 Marion Ave, Punta Gorda, Fl, 33950941-639-9400 • www.redfishyacht.com

REDFISH YACHT BROKERSREDFISH YACHT BROKERSHAS:HAS: 6 Brokers with over 100 combined years of boat sales experience!

SOLD:SOLD: Over ONE MILLION dollars worth of boats last month!ARE:ARE: Located on the water to better serve you!

LET US SELL YOUR BOAT, WE HAVE BUYERS WAITINGLET US SELL YOUR BOAT, WE HAVE BUYERS WAITING

Concrete poles and culverts make up a simple reef that provides structure for fish.

30ft Tollycraft Sedan 1988 – T-InboardsAir, Freat Layout, Very Clean


941-627-577723269 Bayshore Rd

Charlotte Harbor

Consignment Boats [email protected]

2004 Sailfish19’ Bay Boat115hpYamaha 4-stroke, 4blade, fullyloaded, veryefficientOnly$15,900

2000Hydra Sport180T-top, 90hpJohnson, depthfinder, low hrs,aluminum railerOnly $9,900

2005 Action Craft20’ 300hp V-

Max All re-done in

2009Every optionavailable,

perfect guideboat

Only $33,990

2001 Flats and Bay 18’ x 8’ wide2004 Suzuki 115hp 4-St, 2 livewells, bimini, trl mtr, trailer, Only $11,900

1. During periods of_________________, fish tend to be morescattered and are present in areas wherethe water depths offer them safety.40% High water42% Low water17% I donʼt know

2. What influences the tides most?16% The weather11% The earthʼs magnetic field60% The Sun and Moon1% Mercury and Mars11% I donʼt know

3. Which fish is more likely to becaught when fishing on the grass flats?5% Snook23% Redfish16% Trout21% Mangrove Snapper32% I donʼt know

4. A ______________ hook, tends to hook a fish in thecorner of the mouth, as opposed to the gut, resulting in high-er survival rates.31% “J”39% Circle0% Kahle1% Aberdeen28% I donʼt know

5. Non-stainless hooks degrade faster than stainlesshooks. 40% True30% False29% I donʼt know

6. The best way to hold a fish is:21% Vertically by the jaw 55% Horizontally, supporting the belly with your hand0% With dry hands16% By the gill openings6% I donʼt know

7. What is an Ethical Angler?10% An angler who always has the right tackle2% An angler who only fishes from shore2% An angler who only fishes from a boat12% An angler who does the right thing when no one else islooking3% An angler who does the right thing when someone else iswatching69% I donʼt know

8. The most abundant baitfish in an estuary10% Anchovy7% Menhaden7% Bigeye Scad19% Thread herring55% I donʼt know

9. Which Knot is this?32% Cinch knot 3% Square knot21% Loop knot6% Back knot36% I donʼt know

10. The water is usually deeper on which side of a bendin the river?45% Inside24% Outside30% I donʼt know

Are You Smarter Than a 7th Grader?Below are the questions and combined results of the first-night quiz given at all 5 middle schools.

The same quiz will be given at the conclusion of the 8 week course to see what they learned.� We asked students not to guess.� % is the percent of the entire studentbody that picked each answer.� The correct answers are in bold.

Ar Right: Capt. Bart Marx at Port CharlotteMiddle, going over knots

Don Ball School of Fishing

By Adam WildonWater LIFE DivingI am an addict. This is the first step

right? Admitting you actually have aproblem. I have finally come to realize, Iam a saltwater junky. It doesn’t matter ifit’s one more breath of nitrox to shootanother grouper, one more reach for thatclump of oysters in search of a SouthAmerican shaped 6 incher, or just anotherpeek around one more piling looking forthat monster crab claw. I will skip work,split out of town, and turn off the cellphone telling everyone I’m probablybusy, at the bottom of a pool, working,whatever it takes. I must and will get myfix, and this month it is real easy for allof us fanatical fish fiends to get what weneed. There is so much fun stuff to dothis month it’s almost overwhelming.This is positively my favorite time ofyear. Even if the wind is howling fromwhatever direction, there is something funto do on or under the water and still comehome with dinner for the family too.

Water temperature on the bottomoffshore barely reached 80 degrees andnow it’s already starting to cool backdown. Wetsuit weather is here and thepelagic schools of cobia and mackerel aremoving through along with it. The next

few weeks will be a great opportunity toland a big cobia. On a trip to the BoxcarReef in 70 feet I had left my gun in theboat to shoot video when I was buzzed bytwo cobias, a small one about 30 poundsright next to one of the biggest, prehis-toric looking cobias I’ve ever seen, easilyin the 80 pound range. The mangrove snappers we have been

seeing are very fat and plentiful. There areswarms of them at the Placida railroadtrestle right now. I have also seen a fewbig sheepshead pushing 5 pounds theretoo. The one thing eerily missing at thetrestle right now is snook. There are usu-ally some pretty thick schools of them atthe deepest section of trestle this time ofyear. Last stone crab trip I saw only onesnook at the trestle. I was south of theold swing bridge. Don’t be tempted to bring a spear gun

when stone crabbing; spearing is off lim-its along the entire length of the trestle.We have been checked by law enforcementevery time we have been stone crabbingthis season.Stone crabbing was a little slow open-

ing night. The wind had turned justenough out of the north to send breakersacross the sandbars outside of the passes,silting up the visibility to a barely work-

able 2 to 3 feet. And largecrabs were pretty few and farbetween. My buddy and Iworked till a little after 4 a.m.to get our 2 gallons of claws.Some years we have to pullourselves away, reaching a gal-lon each in just 30 minutes.On the brighter side, we didstumble across some beautifulflounders over 20 inches. Recently with the easterly

winds, the waters around Bocahave cleared and it’s been easierto work more structure. I evenfound a 1 1/2 pound lobsterwhile working near the railroadtrestle. I had to go back over 7years in my dive log to Marchof 2003 to find the last time Ifound a keeper lobster in theshallows around the island.Lobster remains in season tillMarch 31st.My stone crabbing partner

runs his skiff from the Myakka River. It’sa pretty good haul out to where we liketo crab, but along the way are some ofthe most incredible oyster and clam bedsin the world. Huge areas are now uncondi-tionally open for shellfish harvest fromHog Island and the Myakka out toGasparilla sound, Turtle Bay and LemonBay and many spots in between. We don’tdive for them as it’s only knee deep atlow tide. It’s mostly a diversion to killtime while waiting for the appropriate andsafe slack tide around Boca Grande. Theinvasive Asian green mussels are stillthick on any structure near a current.They are delicious at any size and a cou-ple of divers can fill a 5 gallon bucketpretty quickly by popping them off rocksor posts and throwing them in a meshbag. I love stumbling across an old ropedangling from above as it will often beencrusted with dozens of mussels, readyto harvest with just one snip, and all easyenough to carry with one hand. Before harvesting any shellfish you

must check the website floridaaquacul-

ture.com. Click on shellfish harvesting,and then click on area maps. Maps 56, 58and 60 cover our area and are verydetailed, easy to read and understand. It’spretty hard to beat a bowl of fresh clamchowder, fresh fried flounder, a platter oficed oysters and some stone crabs withmustard sauce or butter, all from our ownbackyard. If you share my same diseasedon’t worry, an overdose only results in afew added pounds.

N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0 w w w. Wa t e r L I F E m a g a z i n e . c o m P a g e 1 3

Huge areas now unconditionally open for shellfish harvest

Thatʼs a video camera on the end of the pole Adam Wilson is carrying

In a long-awaited decisionlast month, theEnvironmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) announced alimited approval for the saleof gasoline containing up to15% ethanol (E15) for modelyear 2007 and newer motorvehicles. This decisionexcludes marine engines andother non-road engines suchas snowmobiles, lawn andgarden equipment, as well asother gasoline-powered smallengines such as generators.The waiver also excludes motorcycles, heavy-duty vehicles and older cars,although EPA is expected to approve E15 for cars and light-duty trucks made in2001 and after later this year. B oaters submitted more than 30,000 comments to the EPA during the initial

comment period. In fact, comments from the boating community comprised morethan 40% of the total number of comments the Agency received.


FFaabbrr iiccaatt iioonn •• SSppoott RReeppaaii rrss •• MMaajjoorr SStt rruuccttuurraa ll FFaabbrr iiccaatt iioonn •• SSppoott RReeppaaii rrss •• MMaajjoorr SS tt rruuccttuurraall CCuussttoomm wwoorrkk iiss oouurr SSppeecciiaa ll ttyyCCuussttoomm wwoorrkk iiss oouurr SSppeecciiaall ttyy

PPrroo ffeessss iioonnaall QQuuaall ii ttyy PPrrooffeessss iioonnaall QQuuaa ll ii ttyy AAwwll GGrrii pp FF iinn iisshheess AAwwll GGrr iipp FF iinnii sshheess

GGee ll CCooaatt •• FFrreeee EEsstt iimmaatteessGGeell CCooaatt •• FFrreeee EEsstt iimmaatteessMMoobb ii llee SSeerrvv iicceeMMoobb ii llee SSeerrvvii ccee

In-house In-house UpholsteryUpholstery

ShopShop

www.al l f iberglassrepairs .com www.al l f iberglassrepairs .com Scott Steffe Owner Scott Steffe Owner

1 7 2 6 S t e a d l e y Av e . P u n t a G o r d a 1 7 2 6 S t e a d l e y Av e . P u n t a G o r d a S h o p 9 4 1 - 5 7 5 - 8 9 1 4 H o m e 2 3 5 - 2 2 4 3S h o p 9 4 1 - 5 7 5 - 8 9 1 4 H o m e 2 3 5 - 2 2 4 3

CustomCustomFiberglassFiberglass

KAYAKS!KAYAKS!

Are you using a lure with a split ring on it for an eye? Look closely at how the split ringinteracts with the leader knot. A big split ring and light weight leader tend to create aproblem. Little by little the split ring can wear down the leader, sometimes even pinchingit flat and creating a weak spot.

Pump Sticker for Ethanol 15

Potential Problem?


First this story appeared on the internet,then it went around as email. It makesgood reading – EdThe story is By Philippe Virgili:

The action took place in the NorthAtlantic at about 170 miles off thecoast off New Foundland. At thetime the main goal of the trip wasagain to spot giant Atlantic bluefintuna and to do some video... In par-ticular, at the time they do huntingherring schools, which are plentifulin late summer there. If you planto do this hunt, luck is the masterof the game, because these greatpelagics do move all the time alongthe North America coast, swim-ming from 100 to 150 miles perday! The weather is the second parameter,

because the sea must be calm if youintend to see the "herring run" and toluckily spot tuna. Great mako and whitesharks do often take part to the quarry,this is the third unforesee-able parameter. After 3 days boating in

the best weather condi-tions, we finally couldspot, on the surface, a pre-dation action: a lot ofbirds and two whales.Tuna were probably therehunting in a school. Each time this kind of

action can last severalminutes or less, then thetuna school vanishes to the depths. I jumped from the boat among the

"slaughter". Hundreds and hundreds ofbirds were hunting the herrings. Thewater temperature was about 19 C degreeand pretty much colder in the depth.

The water was green, dirty but thevisibility fair at about 2 meter range. Idived equipped with a wooden spear gun,

the shaft with a special spear-tip whichcan penetrate the thick tuna skin and donot rip the meat when it gets pulled. I dived at about 50feet depth where the

visibility was better and I could observe,

a couple of times, massive tunas swim-ming fast and moving sometimes likerockets to the surface while huntingfiercely.I have been free diving for years, sev-

eral times among these fishes: it's eachtime the same incredible and amazing"rodeo". They are coming from nowhere and

eating all the fish to the last one, thenthey takeoff in a split of minutes. Usually you never find a middle-size

tuna because in this kind of school,which is only made of massive fish, but

the school was made there was only of600 to about 900lb tuna.I did several dives from 40 to 70 ft

depth but I could not spot any tunaagain. Probably several hundred tuna had

been hunting her-rings, did they moveaway? At the time I was

thinking " aimingand shooting a gianttuna is paradoxicallypretty hard: the targetis wide, but the fishis moving fast, atabout 10 feet per sec-ond, and changing itspath all the time.

A silvery andblack-blue huge shape swam suddenly infront of me then under my fins. I aimedthe tuna in front of the head at about 6feet range and shot. The shaft hit the fishin the middle of the body! The tuna vanished in a spilt of second

in taking the bungee to the depth. Igrabbed it and got towed as if I should bea buoy. The power of this fish isunthinkable. After about 30 seconds a short break,

I could get back to the surface, then thetuna took off again. The fight lastedabout an hour. I suddenly felt less resist-ance while trying to pull the line in vain,because the fish was too heavy and Icould not check it. The tuna stayedmotionless at about120ft depth and I gotexhausted. The fish was dead. It was gaffed by the captain and

attached at the bow then landed on thedeck with a crane. The fish could bechecked: the spear tip worked perfectly,got jammed under the skin. The shaft hitfirst probably the spine.

The length was 124-inches and girth was88-inches!! The weight estimated between1,200 and 1,250lbs.

Gear used for the catch: · A home-made 69"teakwood tuna gun (St. Alexander style)equipped with a (3/8) 72'' long spear Riffe anda home-made slip tip (harpoon dart style) ·The spear is connected to the gun with a 3 mmstainless steel plastic-coated cable. Swivels,snaps, sleeves... are about 600lb resistant. ·Five 20 mm elastic bands · The float line is a75' Riffe bungee (550lb nylon line core) and thefloat system is T Botha board (I improved insome details) an inflatable Riffe buoy con-nected to the board by a North Water WedgeSpectr X Throw Bag (used in Kayaking)Probably the greatest fish ever speared andlanded by a spearo!

Speared tuna or a 1,000-pound hoax? It is not clear

I read the story a while ago. Impressive feat. Thestory has changed so many times it's hard to knowwhat's true or not. It is illegal to spear bluefin tuna inmost of the Atlantic, and certainly inside any stateʼs orcountryʼs exclusive economic zone. The guy claims hewas 170 miles off Newfoundland. This would have himstill in Canada's exclusive economic zone that is offlimits to spearing bluefin. The dumb-ass actually post-ed this whole story up on spear fishing planet andother online forums as well. Supposedly the fish wasnever even brought back to the dock. That's why thereis no dock photos or "actual" weight, just an estimatedweight.

There was some BS about accidentally losing itover the side of the boat? What kind of s--t is that? If Iput a 1,000 pound fish on a boat, I'm not letting it slipaway. Then there was some back peddling, weeeelllthe fish died at depth and had to be brought up with awinch, but the winch cable broke. Then he claimedthey didn't lose the fish, but cut it up and split itamongst the crew. The story just kept changing.

Philippe never did defend himself either. You wouldthink if it was a legally taken fish he would simplystomp out the rumors immediately, but he never did.Instead, the entire posting was deleted and the guy justseemed to disappear. He has not been back on spearfishing planet since the questions began arrising. In myopinion the guy really gives a black eye to spear fish-ing. I think I remember reading about poaching chargesbeing considered by Canadian wildlife officials as theybelieve he was off Prince Edward Island, a definite no-spear area for blue fins in Canada's EEZ. I don't knowif charges were ever filed or not.

This Virgili guy was pretty much shamed off of mul-tiple online fishing forums. Like I said, the original postthat I read was eventually deleted. The guy is obviouslya talented free diver, but If he really did kill that fishjust to get photos and then rolled it off a boat to destroythe evidence, thatʼs sick. Yes, I do take pleasure inkilling fish, but I only take what's legal and I eat everymorsel of everything I take. And I hope Canadian Fin &Fur guys charge this guy and prosecute him fully if hedid indeed poach and they can prove it.

Hereʼs our spear fishing & diving buddy Adam Wilsonʼs take


Over 3,000 cigarette butts were the num-ber one item removed from BAYSHOREpark which is a popular hangout for localbums. Peace River Sail & Power Squadronvolunteers (Ron Dafoe, below) also hauledtrash from Bayshore Live Oak Park and the

shallow waters nearshore duringInternational Coastal Clean-up Day lastmonth

A State Officer observed a vehicle on theside of the road shining a light into theDinner Island Wildlife Management Area.As Officer Lilley approached the vehicle, thesubjects ran back to the truck and quicklyleft the area. The officer located the vehicleand noticed two dogs with tracking collarsactivated in the bed of the truck. OfficerLilleyʼs investigation revealed a rifle, twolights, and a GPS tracking system whichwas turned on and ready to track the dogs.Citations were issued for hunting from acounty- maintained right-of-way

Numerous officers responded to thereport of a missing commercial boat captainbayside of Marathon. During early morninghours before sunrise, the vessel was under-way when the captain fell overboard. Bothcrew members were sleeping at the timeand when they awoke, they discovered thecaptain missing. Neither of them knew howto operate the vessel and a language barri-er impeded effective communicationsbetween the crew and rescuers. After fallingoverboard, the captain collected trap buoysand remained afloat for nearly seven hours.Eventually, another commercial fishermanlocated and recovered the captain in goodcondition.

On the opening day of stone crab sea-son, Officers were on water patrol inSarasota County when they observed twoindividuals scuba diving beneath a bridgewith no dive flag displayed. When the diverssurfaced, the officers approached the indi-viduals to address the dive flag violation andconduct an inspection. The subjects werefound in possession of 40 undersize stonecrab claws. Citations were issued

State Officer issued citations to a marinelife collector for illegal possession of liverock. The officer conducted several hours ofsurveillance and observed the diver bringing

marine life onboard his vessel.The inspection revealed numerous ricordia

polyps, 30 were attached to live rock, whichis illegal to possess.The collector, a resident of Big Pine Key

and Sarasota, was cited and further chargesare pending.

Warm Mineral Springs in Northport toopen to divers Clean up of the 200 footdeep springs is underway and the springswill soon be open to scuba divers.

New IGFA Record A 30 lb 8 oz lake troutcaught on fly in Canada,

Rhinos In Hendry County FWC officersreceived a call about a male subject trans-porting rhinoceros vipers imported fromAfrica. Officer found the subject in violationof the caging requirements for venomousreptiles. The subject was cited.

Lobster Cart An FWC officer on land patrolreceived a call about a subject seen ridingaround Florida City on a bike, pulling a shop-ping cart full of lobsters, trying to sell them.The subject was found to be in possessionof 29 lobsters and was cited for attemptingto sell of saltwater products without the req-uisite license and for selling seafood in anunwholesome condition

Super Virus Scientists have found theocean's largest virus one with a surprisinggenetic code which further blurs the bound-ary between viruses and cellular life. CroVvirus is equipped with genes that allow it to

repair its genome, synthesize sugars andeven gain more control over the machinerythat it hijacks within the host cells to repli-cate itself. Traditionally, viruses were con-sidered nonliving. However, these discover-ies about CroV add more weight to the argu-ment that viruses are alive.

No Fireworks on New Years Rumor has itthat the New Yearʼs Fireworks display in thePeace River in front of Fishermenʼs Villagewonʼt happen this year. Harpoon Harryʼs andthe Captainʼs Table, the previous benefactorfor the event, has reportedly declined to par-ticipate this year.

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes

Unsubstanciated,But Often True


By Capt. Jim O'BrienWater LIFE Englewood

Hey y-all can you believe anothermonth has gone by. Golly I was readingthe paper earlier and they have the countdown to Christmas already.Wow I know I need some hooks, arti-

ficial lures a new rod or two on myChristmas list. I had better start myChristmas list when I get done writingthis article! I'll tell y-all a little secret on ol' Capt.

here turned 65 on the 28th of Octoberand my lovely wife turned 57 on the29th. and we arestill like 2 kid'swhen it come's toChristmas. – WESTILL BELIEVEIN SANTA CLAUS– ha! How do youlike that?Well let's get on to some fish'n. I

hope y-all got out this last month. Thefish'n has been hot. There are some nicespotted sea trout being caught around skialley in Lemon Bay and also in CharlotteHarbor.Red fish are showing up in Bull Bay,

and Turtle Bay. There are some nice redsbeing caught on the east and west wallsof the Harbor and live shrimp or pinfishare doing the trick.Snook season is still closed until

September 2011, but they’re beingcaught in bull Bay and Turtle Bay on anout going tide – REMEMBER CATCHAND RELEASE ONLY.This last week I teamed up with Capt.

Steve and two days in a row we trolledtoward Boca Grande from the BocaGrande causeway. We caught Spanishmackerel in the I.C.W., before we evengot to Boca Grande. Lil’ tunny, Spanishand king mackerel are in from 20- to 45-feet of water. The barracuda are all over the artificial

reefs and wrecks inshore. The banana col-ored cuda-tube's have been hot.Cobia and triple tail are being caught

around the crab trap buoys. If you seetriple tail around the buoys, they’re justmight be a cobia around so if you don'tcatch or see anything in 15 minutesmove to the next crab trap. I like to fishthese guys 4 or 5 hour's after they bait

the crab traps because there is more freshscent in the water then.The first charter we went to was about

15 miles out. We almost caught ourlimit in red grouper; we lacked one. Wecaught some very nice mangrove snapperand Key West grunts. It was a nice tripin 65 feet of water.The next day Steve and I took two fel-

lows from Germany fish'n. It was afather and 14 year old son. The boywanted to go fish'n on his birthday sothis was his present from dad. They wasonly here for two weeks and they only

had a couple ofdays left. Theson wanted tocatch a big fish.Dad said we'lltake a few fordinner and youcan have the

rest. That sounded good to Steve and I. Our day started out trolling for

Spanish mackerel and lil’ tunny from theICW out through the shipping channelof Boca Grande. We caught a fewSpanish on the way out the son smiledand said ‘that was fun.’ When we got inthe Gulf I put a banana colored ‘cuda-tube on. It was about 10 minutes andBAM the rod bent over – the ‘cuda wason. We reeled the other lines in so theboy could battle his ‘cuda. To tell you the truth I don't under

stand the German language, but I can telly-all there was a lot of grunting andgroaning going on, but finally we gaffedhis ‘cuda, it was about 4 ft. When theboy got a look at them there teeth hiseyes got the size of silver dollars.I asked the boy, ready for something

bigger? He said yes, so we anchored upon a spot and caught a couple of gaggrouper one was 28 inches long (that'sour photo for this month) Then webrought out a big rod and Steve put on awhole bonita and sent it to the bottom.It wasn't long before the rod bent overdouble. We give the rod to the boy andhe couldn't reel it at first, so Steve gotbehind him and I held the rod up. Thenhe started reeling. You guessed it, a nice big goliath

grouper, at 200-plus pounds. That madehis day. He was taking picture's and dad

was taking movie's so they could showtheir friends back in Germany. The boycouldn't believe how big the fish was. Itold him that was a small one and thatwhen they come down next year wewould put him on some that will go600-plus pounds. He was all for that. Bythe way, dad wanted to catch one too, sowe obliged and his was 200 pounds. Ibet you never been out fish'n on yourbirthday, reel'n up a big 200 pound fishand having the crew singing “HappyBirthday to You” at the same time. It

was quite a day and I am sure he willremember it for a long time.Well it’s about time I quit flapping

my gums till next month. Remember: Get out and snort

some of that good clean sal t aircuz - i t’s good fer ya!

If you have any questions or if you havea good ol' fishin’ story or a recipe for cook-ing fish that I can share with our readersgive me a call.

‘To book an offshore charter with us -aboard the Predator II call (941) 473-2150

From the Olʼ Fishʼn Hole

By David Al lenWater LIFE KayakingTraveling around the state to find good

kayaking spots is part of the fun of kayak-ing, so three or four times a year the PortCharlotte Kayakers plan a long weekend atsome location. And during these three dayweekends, we always have time for two orthree paddles, time for some extended bicy-cle rides and time to check out the localrestaurants.Tarpon Springs was our destination for

the October outing. Tarpon Springs waswell known for its sponge industry in theearly 1900s, considered the largest in theworld. However, in the late 1940s, the redtide wiped out the sponging industry andmost of the spongers switched to shrimpfishing. Now the Sponge Docks are a retailarea with many quaint shops and restau-rants, and the sponges sold there are mostlyimported. But the influence of the Greekspongers remains in the civic and religiouslife of this community. So why did we pick Tarpon Springs for

a kayak outing? Consider the advantages: arelatively short drive from Port Charlotte(about 150 miles), low cost rooms at a 4-star hotel, paddles ranging from mangroveareas to the open waters of the bays andgulf, the Pinellas Trail for those memberswho enjoy a good bike ride after kayaking,and lastly, as diverse a group of excellentGreek restaurants as you could find this sideof Athens. Not too difficult a decision, wasit?We arrived about 11 AM on a warm,

sunny Friday, had a quick lunch and drove acouple of miles to Graig Park on SpringBayou for our first paddle. This beautifullittle park has an active boat ramp, butsomewhat limited parking. However, fromGraig Park it’s a short distance to the

Anclote River and the Sponge Docks. Thisis a very scenic paddle as we passed theshrimp boat fleet and could see the touristsmaking their way to the shops and restau-rants on the dock. Once past the docks, thescenery changes to a few homes set back inareas of mangrove and live oak. We paddledup stream a mile or two and then let theoutgoing tide take us back to the park.

We were all looking forward to theSaturday paddle as this was a launchingfrom Fred Howard Park on the east side ofTarpon Springs. After passing through amangrove tunnel and dragging our kayaksacross the beach at low tide, we entered St.Joseph Sound and the Gulf of Mexico.From this spot, you can paddle out to thebeach at the end of the causeway or simplyenjoy the shoreline north or south of thePark. Beautiful homes line the shore and ifyou take a turn to the east, you will findthe lovely, protected Avoca Lake. Severaltimes we saw dolphins playing or grazing

in these waters.Shopping and bike rides were on the

schedule for Saturday afternoon. There arewonderful antique shops in the downtownsection of Tarpon Springs and many of ourparty checked them out. As I mentionedearlier, the Pinellas Trail, a 37 mileasphalt-paved trail, ends in Tarpon Springs.The south end of the trail is in St.Petersburg. The flat or gently sloping ter-rain makes this an ideal venue for a bikeride of any length.Sunday found several of our group tak-

ing a final paddle in the area, others decidedon a bike ride, while most headed back toPort Charlotte. All in all, it was one of thebetter trips our club has taken and I wouldrecommend it to all kayakers.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday evening at 5:30 PM at PortCharlotte Beach Park at the end of HarborBlvd. All are welcome to attend. For addi-


Charlotte County s CompleteSwimming Pool SupplysPool Repair and Maintenance Store

575-2525575-2525Located in the Punta Gorda Crossing Shopping Center Next to Publix Mon-Fri 9AM-5:30PM Sat 9AM-3PM

Specializing in Heaters andPool Pumps

“Green Pool” “Green Pool” Clean Up & MaintenanceClean Up & Maintenance

Paddling:Paddling:Tarpon SpringsTarpon Springs

By Bi l lDixonWater LIFESailing

Wow!! Sailing season is here now. PGSC sent 7boats to Ft. Myers for the 40 something SummersetRegatta. Six of them took trophies. Unfortunately atthis writing, results are not available, so I can't tell youwhich ones took what. I did hear that Bob and MaryAnderson racing in cruising class with their no-spin rat-ing took 3 bullets and a second for first overall.Congrats Bob and Mary!! Congrats to all you PGSCcompetitors. Big doings coming up every weekend in November. Florida Sunfish Regional Championship

November 6, 7. Dennis Peck is putting on a smallboat extravaganza. Serious competitors for a berth at theSunfish World Championship will have their own race-course. Not so serious Sunfish, The Flying Scot fleet,and such Lasers and Optis as show up will race on a dif-ferent circle. Should be a fabulous event. ContactDennis at the following web site: charlotteharborcom-munitysailingcenter.com or call him at 456-8542November 13, 14 wi l l see the first ever

Suncat Nationals regatta. It will be held right here

on Charlotte Harbor. Another outstanding eventfeaturing a steak dinner for competitors from thenorth, the east coast and, I heard, the panhandle.Check it out at suncatnationals.com. AlsoNovember 14 will be PGSC fall series #5.Check pgscweb.com for info on the fall series.Also, the Flying Scot fleet has a regional eventin Sarasota on the 13th and 14th details atwix.com/fleet198/198.November 21 wi l l be the annual

“Picture of Beer” race where the winner getsguess what for a trophy. Because of long overduework on the bridge at Matlacha, this year the racewill be to Gasparilla Marina instead of to Bert'sBar. Info on the PGSC web site at pgscweb.com.Finally November 28 wi l l be PGSC fal l

series #6. Then we are into December with it'sboat parades on the 4th and 18th as well as theHoliday Regatta on the 11th and 12th.Go Sail Now!! It's not gonna’ get any better. PS: I just got the November issue of Sai l

Magazine. There is another article about sail-ing on Charlotte Harbor written by a Chartererfrom Burnt Store. We are becoming too famous.Soon there won't be room to fish.


Notice of Regatta:Florida Regional Sunfish ChampionshipNovember 6 & 7, 2010 941.456.8542On Charlotte Harbor at the YMCA Bayfront Center750 West Retta Esplanade, Punta Gorda, Fl.Sponsored by the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center.

October was a spectacular month for sailing with often reasonablebreezes, light humidity, the Harvest Moon and many pumpkin col-ored sunsets. Seen here the tri-hull Roaring Fourties makes herway back up the Harbor, carrying one sponson, the week beforeHalloween.March 19: Small Boat Regatta

March 26-27: Big Boat Regatta


The Water LIFEWater LIFE Distributors Club

Cooks Sportland

4419 So. Tamiami TrailS. Venice493-0025

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

If you would like this publication for distribution at your business please call us at 941-766-8180If you would like this publication for distribution at your business please call us at 941-766-8180


Call the Captain! Call the Captain! MAGNIFICENTLYBEAUTIFUL! Like New '2003 with2800sf Under Air! High ceilings, gran-ite counters, designer spa, fine touch-es throughout.Circular drive, walkingdistance to Fishermans Village. A trulybeautiful home. $695,000

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! TROPICAL STILT HOMESUPER DEAL! Sailboat waterfront, 5 minutesto harbor, 3/3/2, recently remodeled through-out, 100 ft seawall, davits, immaculate condi-tion, room for an RV. $219,900

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! Super Nice Shortride to harbor and largely cleared!Ready to build with dock and 80 ft. ofwaterfront leading to Charlotte Harbor.No bridges. Situated amongst beautifulhomes in Port Charlotte. Build or investwhile the prices are low. $59,000

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! SPECTACULARTIP LOT HOME WITH 179' OF WATER-FRONT! Incredible intersecting canalviews, 10K lift, custom built 2/2/2 withGazebo Office with panoramic viewslocated at end of cul-de-sac $249,900

Punta Gorda Isles

Port Charlotte

Sailboat Waterfront

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! WIDE OPEN VIEW,3 Car Garage, Deep Water SailboatHome on Edgewater Lake, Like Newbuilt in 2007, 3/2/3, caged pool withpavers. High ceilings, great room, ent.center, large walk-in closets, 6 minutesto the Harbor! $34 9,000

Call the Captain! Call the Captain! NO BRIDGES TOCHARLOTTE HARBOR! Hard to find 4bedroom, waterfront, pool home.Newly upgraded in 2006 with new roof,ext/int walls, cherry wood cabinets inkitchen with stainless steel appliances.Serene view from the patio of the pooland waterway. $419,000

Call the Captain!Call the Captain! IMMACULATE3/2/2 Florida dream home! Located onthe 5th hole of the Twin Isles CC golfcourse. Elegant, yet comfortable. Sitback, Golf from your lanai and pool.Hurricane shutters, lovely landscaping,some furniture negotiable. $274,900

Punta Gorda Isles

Burnt Store Isles

Port Charlotte

Pirate Harbor

Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorPeople are coming up with new ways

of not answering tough questions all thetime. After Hurricane Charley the dodgewas: ‘if you don’t hear from so-and-so in acouple of days - here is his cell phonenumber, just call him directly. The timewould pass and when you called the num-ber the agent would tell you your case hadbeen handed off to another agent. Then youwere told “Here is his cell phone numberand if you don’t hear from him in a coupleof days, give him a call.” This went on alot. I finally figured it out. The telephonehad at that point become a great tool fornot communicating.In Charlotte County they have appar-

ently added a more sophisticated twist,they have learned to use the phone for notgoing on the record. In my humble opin-ion (IMHO as they say in computer-speak)the open meetings and Sunshine Law havemade answering the hard questions in writ-ing the least favorite line of response. Thisis because all correspondence has becomepublic record. The last thing a politicianwants is to go on the record in an e-mailthat someone could dig up later.In August I posed a question to

Charlotte County Commissioners askingwhat the county’s plan was in the event wehad another catastrophic seawall collapselike we did in 2003. Now, with so manyvacant and bank owned properties, I asked

the County Commissioners (via e-mail)how the county would handle that. 1) Would they fix the problem seawalls

and assess the repair bill back to the prop-erty owners via a lien? 2) Could they legally even do that? 3) Is there enough money in the coun-

ty coffers to handle such a problem on alarge scale or 4) Does the county just hope they will

be able to go to the Feds and get bailedout? I thought those were four, fair, yes-or-no answer questions. Commissioner Skidmore replied imme-

diately and told me he would have some-one look into it. A month later RobertHalfhill, the Public Works Director,emailed me. “Would you please call me at941-575-3600. I would like to discuss theseawall condition with you.” It was thesame old dodge of stonewalling via tele-phone. I have now named this obviouslyevasive tactic as phonewalling, avoidingthe written answer with a less verifiable,less specific, often open to interpretation,verbal answer given over the phone. But Icalled. Mr. Halfhill anyway and we talked.“I know the responsibility is that of theproperty owner,” I told Mr. Halfhill, butwhat is the plan in an extreme situationwhere the property ownership is in limboand a collapsed seawall could threaten theinfrastructure, underground pipes and lines,maybe even the roads?”Mr. Halfhill asked me to come in and

“listen to a presentation.” It was anotherside step, yet another way to avoid a writ-ten answer. “I’d like to have you respondin writing,” I told him. “Oh?” he said.On Sept 28, after a few additional prod-

ding e-mails from me, Mr Halfhill wrote:“As we discussed last week, (Note* bythen it was already two weeks) your ques-tions involve policy decisions which can-not be answered in 3 days. I will have aresponse for you this week.”But ‘this week” passed and the next

week began and I still had no response.Then on Oct 5 I received the followingresponse from Mr. Halfhill:

“At the present time seawall mainte-nance, repair and restoration is the respon-sibility of the property owner....” Mr

Halfhill went on to repeat that PuntaGorda - had its own seawall maintenancedistrict, but he never answered any one ofmy four questions. His response containednothing new, certainly not any ‘policydecisions’ unless the policy was to avoidanswering any questions in writing.Such misdirected and evasive responses

fly in the face of transparent governmentand the Sunshine Law. This should be alesson to all of us: As far as CharlotteCounty Government is concerned we willget what they want to give us and nothingmore. Now, only time will tell if Charlotte

County’s apparent lack of planning willwind up being each and every taxpayer’svery expensive economic responsibility.

Phonewalling: New Name for the Same Old Evasive Game

It took 10 days for FWC biologists to catch a black bear cub in Marion County that had itshead stuck in a plastic container, but they were ultimately successful and the cub survived.


Charlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888Trout is closed so we won’t

dwell on them. Not snookeither because both are catch andrelease now. Redfish will bepretty abundant through thismonth depending on how thecold works out. To the fish, theconditions are like being inSeptember, the water is stillpretty nice. There are not a lot ofschools around, but there areplenty of individual fish and itshould stay that way for a while.Primarally, now you want to befishing the bushes on the highand fishing the deeper sand holesas it drops because it’s still sowarm. Shrimp and white-bait areworking well. There is still anabundance of whitebait aroundand still some threadfinsalthough the pods are gettingsmaller and more spread out.Cut ladyfish are working wellas bait. Now is the time for aslightly slower presentation, try

fishing the Mirrorlure 17 MR orthe Badonk-A-Donk lure fromBomber. And as the water coolsthe topwater bite should heat upPompano are good this

month and into the next.Fishing the beaches and any-where in the Harbor or along theflats, the Cape Haze Bar,Bokeelia Bar and Johnson’sShoals should all be really goodspots for pompano. Small liveshrimp or pieces of shrimp on asmall pompano bucktail or theSilly Willy jigs are the ticket.Pompano show up as a smallschool, usually not as singlefish. Once you hit one you usu-ally hit several. Occasionallyyou will also get a small per-mit mixed in with them.Sheepshead are going to

start showing up, but the watertemperature needs to come downanother 5- to 6-degrees beforethey turn on good. There are alot of sheepshead on the reefsand hard ledges 4- to 8-miles off-shore right now. Fiddler crabsand shrimp are your two bestbets for those guys. El JoBean doesn’t usually get

good until mid-December. Nowwith Placida and the South Pierboth closed, this month could bedifficult for the shore fishermen. Offshore, king mackerel

will be here throughout thiswhole month along with somereally big Spanish mackerel .There have been quite a few

cobia showing sporadically, bigfish, and also some permithave been around them as well. The gag grouper, man-

grove and lane snapper bitewill pick up now as the watercools into the 75 degree range.Most of this past summer the

shrimp have stayed prettynice sized. The blue crabshave gone bonkers in the

last few months and there are aton of blue crabs around now.Flounder has started to

show again. They had disap-peared for a while and now as thetemps drop a couple moredegrees the flounder are comingback.There are still a few tarpon

around and some bonnetheadsharks on the flats. I think wehave at least another two orthree weeks of summer relatedfishing left.

Fishing Report Continued on following page

CCCChhhhaaaarrrrllllooootttttttteeee HHHHaaaarrrrbbbboooorrrrFFFF IIII SSSSHHHH IIIINNNNGGGGGGGGUUUU IIII DDDDEEEESSSS

GGGGiiiivvvveeee tttthhhheeee GGGGiiiiffffttttooooffff FFFFiiiisssshhhhiiiinnnngggg

aaaallllllll gggguuuuiiiiddddeeeessss ooooffffffffeeeerrrr ggggiiiifffftttt cccceeeerrrrttttiiiiffffiiiiccccaaaatttteeeessss

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

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

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

941-473-2150

GGGGuuuuiiiiddddeeee CCCCaaaarrrrddddSSSSppppaaaacccceeee AAAAvvvvaaaa iiii llll aaaabbbb llll eeee

$$$$44440000 ////mmmmoooo

F i s h i n g R e p o r t F i s h i n g R e p o r t

�� November 6,7. Florida SunfishRegional Sailing Championship

�� November 13,14 Suncat NationalsRegatta Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda

�� November 13: Lower Keys LionfishDerby Hurricane Hole Marina Key West,MOST LIONFISH: $1,000 cash, $500cash, $250 Divers Direct Gift CertificateBIGGEST LIONFISH: $500 cash, $200cash, $100 Divers Direct Gift CertificateSMALLEST LIONFISH: $500 cash, $200cash, $100 Divers Direct Gift Certificate.Call: [email protected] or 305-852-0030

�� November 20: 11th Annual CharlotteHarbor Nature Festival Saturday, 10a.m. to 3 p.m. Charlotte County SportsComplex

�� December 4 Lighted Boat Parade,Starts at Edgewater lake in PortCharlotte concludes at US 41 Bridge inPunta Gorda

�� December 18 Rim Canal Lighted Boat Parade, PuntaGorda

Send your calendar events to:[email protected]

F i s h i n gF i s h i n gRR e p o r te p o r t . continued from facing page

Lemon Bay:Jim at Fishermens Edge,Englewood: 697-7595With all the transition, fishing is never the

same. There have been lots of different fishingscenarios: weather blowing one way thenanother: cold then 92 degrees. Now we need toget one steady fall scenario back. Right nowfishing is good but it still depends on the dayand tides. Guys are catching Redfish on artificials

and top waters. There were some big pods ofredfish around, bul l reds 38-to 39-inches, inLemon Bay. The fish would go out on the out-going tide. You could follow them. One guytold me he was catching them on a Sebillestick-shad lure.There are Spanish mackerel on the beach

and they are coming in the pass on the incom-ing tide. And not a lot, but some pompanocoming in now as well. One guy told me hecaught a bunch of pompano around Cape Hazepoint last week. They have been scatteredaround along with quite a bit of mackerel andsome kings.I heard the gold colored broken-back lure

from Bomber along the beach was pretty goodfor kingfish. Kings in the 20 to 30 poundrange are being caught now.

Offshore, there are a lot of gags and a littlefurther out some nice red grouper. There havebeen cobia around and blackfin tuna – fishin the high 20s as well.The only other thing is snook and trout.

Some guides say that are doing better withshrimp and artificials for trout. The trout don’tseem to be biting the minnows right now.

The BIG-4 The BIG-4 Fish to expect in Fish to expect in NovemberNovember

POMPANO Cape Haze bar,Bokeelia and the Beaches

SHEEPSHEAD Stagingjust offshore

REDFISH are showing up inschools, holding to the south

FLOUNDER We are seeingmore and more nice flounder

FishingFishingright now:right now:Excellent!Excellent!


4265 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte941 - 625-2700

700 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda941 - 637-0019

GoGoFishing -Fishing -Do NotDo NotStop!Stop!

BBllaacckk TTiipp BBaaiitt && TTaacckklleeOur bait is guaranteed to catch fish or die trying!

Open Every DayOpen Every DayMon - Sat: 6am - 7pm

Sun: 6 am - 6 pm

Live Shrimp, Pinfish, Live Crabs Full Line of Tackle Supplies (941) 627-0809NOW OPEN NOW OPEN at El Jobeanat El Jobean

All photos, both pages, courtesy of Capt. Angel Torrez

Southeast/Gulf of MexicoSoutheast/Gulf of Mexico - NOAA WillReopen the Recreational Red SnapperFishery in Gulf of Mexico Federal Waters.

Recreational red snapper fishing will reopenfor an added season to allow fishermen to catch

the quota they did not reach because a portionof the Gulf was closed due to the DeepwaterHorizon/BP oil spill. Recreational fishing will beallowed on Fridays through Sundays for eightweeks, from Oct. 1 through Nov. 21.

Snook is closedSnook is closedto harvest untilto harvest untilSept 2011Sept 2011

Water LIFE Nov 2010

Documents

Transcript of Water LIFE Nov 2010