Water LIFE Feb 2009

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay

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Big TroutBig Troutare Here!are Here!

KKIIDDSS CCUUPPKKIIDDSS CCUUPPApplications now Applications now in Bait Shopsin Bait ShopsPage 12-13Page 12-13

Flatsmasters QualifyerPage 15

HarborHarborShrimpingShrimpingPage 19Page 19

RecordManatee Count!3,807Page 11

P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9

F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3


Water LIFEMagazine inc.

Michael & Ellen HellerPublishers

(941) 766-8180TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliatedwith any other publication

Vol IIX No2 © 2009 Water LIFENo part of this publication may be

copied or reproduced withoutspecific written permission.

Contributing Editors:Senior Editor: Capt. Ron Blago

Charlotte Harbor: Capt. Robert MoorePort Charlotte: Capt. Andy MedinaGasparilla: Capt. Chuck Eichner

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonCommercial Fishing: Kelly Beal

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerReal Estate: Dave Hofer

Inshore: Fishinʼ FrankDiving: Adam WilsonKayaks: David Allen

Sailing: Bill DixonOffice Dog: Molly

on the COVER:Capt. Chuck Eichner releases a nice troutwhile it is in the water. This is the right way

on our WEBSITE:WWW.waterlifemagazine.com

RealEstate: Whatʼs happening NOW!Fishing Resource Guide: Everythingyou ever wanted to know – almostDon Ball School: Class ReportArtificial Reefs: Projects and progresslat/long for local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original planto create sanctuaries and refuges, asspelled out by the United Nations in 1984Kids Cup: Tournament Information.

WRITE US!e-mail (preferred)

[email protected] Regular Mail:

217 Bangsberg Rd. Port Charlotte, FL 33952

LETTERS to Water LIFE@comcast .netFree to AgreeThe article in last month's Water LIFE

is right on target. every time FWC con-siders downlisting the Manatee it almosthappens, but somebody somehow getsinvolved and it doesn't happen in spite ofthe scientists saying they should be down-listed. The SMC then fades into the back-ground for awhile, and then when theopportunity comes up again they're out inthe limelight once more! And I also thinkyour comment about them wanting TurtleBay is true.Keep up the good journalism,Ed Wilson

Free to DisagreeWhat a biased little paper you have. Ihave a kayak for a reason, I don't have toregister it. I don't have to put fuel in it. Idon't have a lot of money, I don't thinkkayaks should have to pay to register, justlike other non-powered craft.I think you people with your big boatscan handle that part.Thanks, Eddie Johers

Thoughts from Capt. RickIt came to my attention very quicklyabout 4 weeks ago that you can flip apancake, you can flip an egg or a coin,

and even maybe, if he’s not too heavy,you can flip a person but you shouldnever ever flip a stingray! I did it and hisstinger got me on the flip.I was using my fancy dancy de-hooker andit worked fine, but the stingray still gotme. Normally I would just cut the linebut this stingray was just a small one - avery small one. Big Mistake! Fortunatelythis happened at the end of the trip,because believe me if you get stuck by astingray the trip is over. Repeat OVER!Some things you should know so you canbe ready if this happens to you. God for-bid. Scientific, take my word for it, urinedoes not work. Maybe you heard to peeon a stingray sting. Not true. In fact noth-ing works, not meat tenderizer or any-thing. However all is not lost. Hot waterdoes work and works very well. Hotwater, as hot as you can stand it.Nobody has hot, I mean really hot, wateron their boat so the trip is over and homeyou go. Change that – to the hospital yougo. They will give you hot water. Theywill give you a tetanus shot and a pre-scription for “Ciprofloxacin” to fightinfection and Hydrocodone/acetaminophento relieve pain, you will need BOTH!They will also X-ray your sting to see ifany part of the barb is still in the wound.4 weeks later I still have a lump.

Special thanks to Charlotte RegionalMedical Center for taking care of meimmediately and Doctor Paul Wright forhis expert care.MY NEW RULE: Never flip a stingray.Cut the line and let them go.Last Note: you will also need the painkiller when you receive the hospital billfor $1,500!! Be kind out there, slowdown and smell the fish.Capt. Rick Kel ley

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FISHʼS FISH Venice angler Rick Fish with anice January blacktip


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorMy friend Joe Adobe was in town from New Mexico

and we were fishing from my dock on a low tide onecold night last month. Joe had broken off a bunch of bar-nacles from my seawall and we were using them to tryand catch sheepshead. “They ain’t got no place to go,”Joe observed looking at the shallow water.We were using ultralight tackle because those were

the two rods closest to the front of the jumble of rodsthat is my rod closet; 4-pound test is what we had.Joe took out a cigarette, broke off the filter and lit the

unfiltered end. Then he threaded his hook through the fil-ter, baited the hook and flipped it out into the water likea tiny float! Joe always came up with ‘innovative’ stufflike that. Then he opened another beer.I remember one time Joe and I were riding across New

Mexico, talking about golf, when he pulled over on theside of the Interstate, took a 4-iron from the trunk andproceeded to hit some balls out into the desert just tomake his point. That was my friend Joe.Innevitebly the conversation came around to the econ-

omy. “NASDEC, Madoff, derrivatives, it’s all the same,it’s all one giant Ponzi scheme and eventually someonewants to cash out and there is no money. Maybe whatthe economy needs is an economic ‘Do Over,” Joe sug-gested. ‘A Do Over?’ I asked, scratching my headthrough the rumpled polar tech of my hooded sweatshirt.“That’s right, a do over. When this thing hits bottomthey’ll just stop their game and start all over.” I was going to respond, but right then something

pulled Joe’s soggy orange filter down under the surfaceand he was all focused on fishing.Joe turned the tiny crank, his big callous hands

encompassing the whole reel like a toy.

The thin line broke as Joe tried to shake loose anuncoopperative catfish, so Joe handed the slimey littleline to me and said ‘here.’ I looked at Joe who was most-ly lit in the faint glow of a streetlight from a half blockaway, and I laughed. “I can hardly see 4-pound test in thedaylight without my glasses,” I said, and it’s dark now!”“Neither can I,” Joe said, so I went searching for theflashlight from my boat while Joe opened open anotherbeer. It was quiet for a minute, then there was the sound of

water running. At first I thought it was Joe pouring hisold beeer out, into the canal, and I guess he was... in away.‘Hey! I have neighbors!’ I said to Joe. “I have neighbors too,” Joe said. “Don’t your neigh-

bors ever need to pee?” ‘Not in the canal!’ I said. “Youpee off your boat don’t you?” he asked, but I just let itslide.

“You know, it’s really the Swiss that are the econom-ic problem.” Joe said. “All those numbered accounts. Allthat money people want to hide. Where do you thinkMadoff’s money is? And where do you think the terror-ism money comes from? It’s the damn Swiss. “What should we do, Joe?” I asked, “Invade

Switzerland?” But I didn’t get an answer.The conversation had gotten pretty silly, so we drank

some more beer and I showed Joe the picture of an alli-gator carrying a wild hog away. “Least it wasn’t a dog!”he said. We caught a few fish later – more of the kindyou don’t brag about, and one lonely little sheepshead. And that’s the fun of fishing; we talked a lot of trash

and we accomplished nothing, but it was all good.“Remember,” Joe said as we headed inside just before 11p.m.: “The early bird gets the worm!” And then Ireminded him it’s usually the secondmouse that gets thecheese! So long Joe, it was good to see you again.

Talking Trash andCatching the Same

SURVIVAL OF THE QUICKEST – A big Florida gator carries a smalll hog away.


By Capt Robert MooreWater LIFE S taffWinter is now in full force and tradi-

tionally February can be the coldest andwindiest month of the year. Most of thefish that frequent our back bays and grassflats will get very lethargic with the watertemperature dipping below 65 degrees.With the numerous cold fronts we havealready experienced in January the watertemperature could fluctuate in the 60s dur-ing the entire month of February. Fishingvery slowly is one tactic you mustembrace in order to be successful in catch-ing fish in these conditions. February is when the larger speckled

trout begin to show up in good numbers.Working the outside edges of sand bars onboth sides of Charlotte Harbor and in frontof Bull and Turtle Bays you will find scat-tered trout. My favorite live bait rig fortrout is a 3/0 live bait hook, a three to fourinch live shrimp and a 3 inch poppingcork. I like to work the shrimp about 20-24 inches below the surface. After I makemy cast I will pop the cork in the waterevery 30-40 seconds. This popping soundresembles a fish feeding and can draw troutto your bait. If I am fishing in water deep-er than four feet I will usually add a smallsplit shot three inches from my bait to

help get the bait down quicker. Top waterplugs such as the Pop-R by Rebel Lurescan also be very productive. I find that oncloudy days a darker color is more produc-tive and on sunny days a brighter color is. Redfish are usually abundant this time

of year, but not always in the size wewould like to see them. The Myakka Cut-off and the West Wall of Charlotte Harborare notorious for holding hundreds of smallrat-reds this time of year. Fishing themouths of creeks and the deeper shorelinesyou can find schools of undersized redfishholding up in the deeper water. Shrimp arealso the best bet for good results but fiddlercrabs can work equally as well. Bait on a ¼ounce jig or 2/0 live bait hook with a splitshot produces the best action. Also, cutladyfish will produce dependable action forall sized reds looking for an easy meal. Snook fishing can improve any time

you have several days in a row of 75-degree weather. The local canal systemsthroughout Southwest Florida have lots offish hanging around docks and boats. Lookfor deeper water with good moving tidalflow under the larger boats and dredged outdocks to hold the most fish. Obviouslylive bait (if you can find it) can producesome good action, but believe it or not cutladyfish is again my best bait when thewater temperature is low. Snook love aneasy meal and they rarely pass up a pieceof ladyfish soaking on the bottom. When all else fails I like to turn my

attention to the artificial reefs we have in

Charlotte Harbor. Larger sheepshead areusually abundant this time of year andthese fish seem to always have a bite evenwhen most others won’t. On light tackle itcan be a lot of fun. The trick to catchingsheepshead is setting the hook quickly atthe first sign of a nibble. These fish areknown bait stealers and have earned theirblack and white strips. I like smallershrimp (2 inches) on a 1/0 circle hook witha small split shot placed four inches abovethe bait. I will clip the tail off the shrimpand thread the hook through the tail, withthe hook coming out of the bottom. With

the smaller shrimp they seem to inhale itrather than just take bites out of it. We arealso seeing grouper and snapper that willnot ignore your bait. Most are small, butproduce great action on light tackle. The key to successful fishing this time

of year is finding something that will bendthe rod. If one species will not cooperatethen don’t hesitate to move on to another.Just remember to do everything slowly.

Capt. Robert Moore can be reached tobook a trip or for fishing information at:624-5710 or at www.captrobertmoore.com

Options inFebruary

Capt. Rob Moore with a client and a big cold-morning redfish caught last month on a fish-ing day when many other anglers went to breakfast. Note the knitted Quantum cap, wedonʼt see too many of those in Florida.

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By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte HarborWinter fishing trips in southwest

Florida have many of the same chal-lenges as fishing in the north. Cold tem-peratures, windy conditions, unusuallylow tides and finicky fish. The key is topick a fishing day with the best condi-tions. Michael Heller (editor/owner of this

publication) and I planned an offshoretrip for grouper, snapper and anythingelse that cared to bite. The weather pre-diction for mid January was nearly per-fect with light east winds and mild tem-peratures. At 7:00 a.m. I was loweringmy 24’ boat into the water and couldn’thelp notice that the top of my head wasbumping my dock when the boat floatedoff. An extraordinary low tide was thefirst challenge as we motored from thedock. My canal has shallow spots andwe guessed we would run aground beforewe even got to fish. Luck was on ourside as we cautiously slid across the bot-tom and on we went. Entering BocaGrande pass with a livewell full ofwhitebait and large shrimp our expecta-tions were tempered with a 3-4 footchop. At 8:00 a.m. we watched aswhite-water spray angrily reached for thesky as waves rolled onto the shoals out-side Boca Grande. Keeping the boat justbarely on plane we rode 6 miles out anddropped our lines over. The heavynorthern breeze and chop made fishingdifficult. We dropped 3 ounce jigheadswith fresh live bait attached and madefast drifts past bottom structure. After 2hours of pitching and yawing a 20 inchgag grouper came aboard. Nothing likea fish to brighten the spirits as we con-tinued to make spot changes with fastdrifts but no fish. As the seas gotrougher the biggest challenge was stand-ing up. We decided that light windswould only be found behind a secludedisland so we headed in to the Gasparillaarea to fish. Our first choice was a protected cove

where we drifted past piers pitching liveshrimp. Michael made a perfect castbetween 2 pilings and reared back hard.I enviously looked at his bent rod as hestruggled to pull the fish out and thenboated a nice jack crevalle. Not longafter that Michael banged another jack, aladyfish and a catfish. That prompted usto move and we motored to another shel-tered bay only to meet an exposed sand-bar at its entrance. Using the trollingmotor we cautiously trolled over a breakin the bar and eased across a long shal-low expanse. I exclaimed that I hadnever seen it quite this low here before,but no worries if we got stuck becausethe tide was coming in. We were headedto a deep hole I knew at the back of thiscove but long before we got there wegot stuck. Walk around the boat and

shift the weight of the boat I called out!Meanwhile I rocked from the bow as thetrolling motor sputtered us ahead. Werepeated this drill several times beforefinally seeing some deeper sandholesahead. Now comfortably floating in 2feet of water I cast a shrimp ahead andwham! Fish on and a stocky redfish wasbattled and landed. Michael made a castand he was hooked up. The fish godshad rewarded us with a honey hole! Wedropped the power pole into the waterand gazed into the sand holes ahead. Thecalm waters and bright sun did not revealthe shallow water inhabitants, but manycasts were rewarded with great fightingredfish that were in the 3 pound catego-ry. The next specie blessed Michael’sline and a large sheepshead fought itsway in with several others to follow. Asnapper and another redfish or two andwe eased along. This was looking to bean all-species kind of day!In the distance we watched as other

boats approached the outer sandbar look-ing in our direction but all decided itwasn’t worth the trouble to get inside.Good for us, because the next hole wasalso full of fish. My first cast met witha hard thump and a large fish leaped intothe air. My light action St. Croix rodbend double and my drag pulled as aspeckled trout nearly 23 inches in lengthmade it boat-side. As any respectablephotographer would do, Michael grabbedthe camera and took a few pictures. Werethere any species left to catch? Withthat said I made another cast into thesame hole and wham – another jumperand another big trout ...except this onehad a racing stripe! A nice snook com-

pleted thespecies list.Late afternoonwas upon usand we decidedto head backhome.Deciding totake a shortcut out, wetrolled over along course ofsand and mudonly to get ourselves stuck. A 24-footboat that is stuck in the mud is not easyto move. Shoes off and pants legsrolled up, we jumped into water thatnever reached our knees. Worse yet wasthat we noticed the tide was going out.We both shared a sick feeling that if wedidn’t act fast we would be spending thenight. Adrenaline helped turn the boat360 degrees and into 2 feet of water.

Luckily, we were able to locate onepocket of deeper water, so we jumped upon plane and split. A winter adventurewith a few twists and turns kept ushappy all the way back at the dock. Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local charter cap-tain. For information or to book a guidedfishing trip call 941-505-0003 or go to hiswebsite: www.backcountry-charters.com

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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 F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9

By Capt. Andrew MedinaWater LIFE Charlotte Harbor

This time of the year I start throwingjerk shads. By far, Gulp baits by Berkleyare one of the best baits for redfish, but if Icould only have one soft plastic for a vari-ety of species, such as snook, trout, andredfish I would choose a jerk shad. It’s aproven lure, time and time again. It reallydoesn’t matter who manufactures it, theyare all pretty close to each other. I like theExude Dart, or the RT Slug, rigged on thenew Shake It jig from Owner. The differentbottoms that I will be fishing, will deter-mine how I rig the bait. If I’m fishing asand hole or a depression along a grass flat,then I will use a simple jig head. ¼ or 1/8once. In this situation I only fish exposedhooks. Hook up ratio, in my opinion ismush better with an exposed hook. Colorvaries in jig heads. I have found that red orlead color works best.

If you are fishing an area that has a lotof grass. A bait with an exposed hook willnot work. The Shake It is a great choicefor this style of fishing. Itcomes in a number of sizesranging from 1/16th to a1/2 ounce. The weightis at the top of thehook with ascrew-lock placedin the lead, nextto the hook.This jig allows

the bait to be presented a little differentlythan the rest of the weedless hooks on themarket.

Color choices are simple for jerk shads,for dark water use dark baits. Such as watermelon, blues or blacks. For clearer wateruse lighter baits, your whites, chartreuseand grays. This is a rule of thumb I havefound to hold true all across the southernUnited States.

Now, on to the fishing. Keep checkingpot holes and depressions. The fish willvisit these area’s when the water gets low.When the tide is up, keep an eye on theflats where you will find fish warmingthemselves in the shallow water. Rightnow there are a few schools of redfisharound Pirate Harbor, Whidden Creek, andin Turtle Bay. Most of these fish are large,mostly oversized but there are keepersmixed in with them. Watch the tide so youdon’t end up high and dry on an out going.

With the low water a lot of anglers havefound some real nice grouper are comingfrom Boca Grande Pass. They are eatingcut-bait or squirrel fish. February will con-tinue to produce these near shore grouper.Take advantage of some of the near by rockpiles for grouper

Be safe on the water, and remember tar-pon season, and the Kids Cup is justaround the corner.Capt. Andrew can be reached for Charter

info at 456-1540 or on the web atwww.FishFloridaTarpon.com

ScreamingScreamingReelsReels


By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffIn January the FWC counted 3,807

manatees statewide. That’s more than 500over last year’s count and more than 3000over the 1998 figure Save the ManateeClub used to gain public sympathy. Upuntil January things had been pretty quieton the manatee war-front for over a year.The last skirmish took place at theDecember 2007 meeting of the FWC(Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission).At that meeting the FWC voted toapprove a new manatee management planand deferred a decision about rule changesto reclassify manatees from endangered tothreatened. The FWC staff, and outsidescientists had recommended the changebecause the manatee population had great-ly increased in the last 30 years; muchfaster then anyone had predicted. With theexception of red tide and freezing coldsnaps; the future for manatees looked bet-ter than ever – mission accomplished, themanatee has been saved. Or so wethought.The decision to delist was postponed

until the September meeting, which wasjust enough time for someone to con-vince Governor Crist, who was in therunning for Vice President at the time,that it would not be smart politics tohave the delisting of the manatee on hisresume. So as any crafty politician woulddo; he took the easy out, asking the FWCto hold off on their vote to delist themanatee. The Save the Manatee Club,seeing the writing on the wall, needed tocome up with a Hail Mary pass if theywere going to save their club.Down in Lee County, off the

Caloosahatchee River and down theOrange River near the Florida Power andLight plant at Tice, was an old marinathat had just been recently sold, a miraclein this economy. The new owners,Leeward, LLC had great plans to build anew 128 slip marina. Of course this wasgood news for the local economy.Everyone seemed pretty happy with the

project except for -you guessed it- theSave the Manatee Club. They said thatthe old marina and the surrounding waterswere critical manatee habitats. And whilethey were on the subject; the OrangeRiver and even the Caloosahatchee wasalso part of this critical habitat. TheSMC said that any waterfront develop-ment in the area would interfere with thepassage routes the manatees use to travelto the power plant. The reason that themanatees are at the power plant in thefirst place is that power plant is requiredby law to dump heated water into theriver so the manatees can have a comfort-able winter. This is now considered natu-ral and critical manatee habitat and in theclubs reasoning it only followed thatdevelopment in the area should be severe-ly controlled and regulated.The SMC has now petitioned the

Federal Wildlife Service (they’re the peo-ple that manage the Endangered SpeciesAct) to review their designation of criticalhabitat for the manatee. It seems eventhough required by law, this has not beendone in 30 years and since there are somany more manatees now than 30 yearsago, wouldn’t these additional manateesneed much more habit to survive? It’s not that the manatees are endan-

gered; it’s their habitat that’s now endan-gered. In order to emphasize the criticalnature of this petition, the SMC signedup a few new allies, and who better tohelp Florida with our manatee problemsthan the Wildlife Advocacy Project and theDefenders of Wildlife both WashingtonDC groups, and the Center for BiologicalDiversity in Tucson, Arizona. Thesegroups are third-string players in the envi-ronmental industry but they do havefriends in high places and more impor-tantly they have money. Remember, theSMC is almost broke so these outsidegroups will have to pick up the tab forany legal work.To the people of LEE County this is a

big deal, especially the ones counting ona job at that new marina, constructionjobs building the new facilities and boatowners who were looking for additionalstorage space at a time when more andmore marinas are becoming waterfrontcondominiums. And like anything the SMC does, the

effect will also be felt elsewhere. InCharlotte County there is a rumor that aseaplane manufacturer is consideringopening up a facility in the county whichmay include up to 300 new jobs. Ofcourse they would like to use the PeaceRiver and Charlotte Harbor to test their

planes. If these areas were to become crit-ical manatee habitat it just may kill thatdeal. There is also a growing concern thatprime fishing areas like Bull and TurtleBays will be designated as critical habitatand could be closed off to boating entire-ly. And if that happens we might see thatmanatees, not boaters are destroying theseagrass. What will the state do then?So a new battle in the manatee war

begins. Hold on, it could be a bumpyride, especially if we have to steer aroundall those manatees out there.Capt Ron can be reached for comments or

questions at: [email protected]

FWC Counts Record Number of ManateesSave the Manatee Club Breaks the Cease-Fire

More conspicuous markings have been suggested as a way for boaters to spot manateesand kayaks. Safety balloons were one idea, but many boaters still like the idea of paintingall manatees and kayaks orange.


Gearing Up for the Kids Cup Were starting to collect stuff for the captainʼs bags.By Michael Hel lerKids Cup Tournament DirectorThe machinery of the Kids Cup is up

and running. We’re answering the phoneuntil 8 p.m. Dawn Marx and the crew atBuffalo Graffix has again printed ourentry forms and posters and now theapplications are available both online andat all the local bait and tackle shops, atWest Marine outlets, Affinity Tackle, andStump Pass Marina. We had five entriescome in on the first mail after New Yearsday and by January 25 we had 25 entries.At this rate we are ahead of last year

so get your entries in now to get a lowboat number. Boats are released on tour-nament morning in the order they wereentered in.

The Competitor Trophy sponsorStump Pass Marina is back with usagain, so once again every competitorwill get a trophy. So far Fishermen’sVi l lage and Fishin’ Franks are majorsponsors again this year. ScreenprintPlus in Cape Coral will again be doingour snazzy Kids Cup shirts. Look for thenew design here next month.Bennedetto’s Restaurant will caterour Captain’s dinner on April 24.Eppinger Manufacturing , the makersof the Daredevil lure have again signedback on with us (their 6th year!) and willonce again be providing quality goldspoons for all our Kids Cup anglers.Robert, Frank and Jeff from FishinFranks went to North Carolina for a big

wholesale tackle show last month andcame back with a handful of contacts inthe industry to help fill the captain’sbags. Thanks guys! We’ve alreadyreceived one big box of Eagle Clawhooks, and there is a bunch more com-ing. Frabi l l has sent us high qualitylanding nets for each of the age groupwinners (10 yrs old, 11, yrs old 12, 13,14, 15 and 16 yrs old) will each get aFrabill landing net along with their agegroup trophy. I’m working on a good rodand reel combo for our top 5 anglers(hello Shimano? Hello St Croix? are youlistening?) So everything points toanother great Kids Cup event.Ingman Marine, Wrap S ign &

Design and The Boathouse at

Boater’s World are all back with usagain as Junior Level sponsors, andPool Sharks, Greggs Automotive,Southern Oxygen, Perrin’sBarbershop, Harbor Chevron andBayshore Marine are again alreadysponsors of the 7th grade program. Weexpect, over the next two months, all thesponsor categories will continue to grow. I know this is a tough economic time,

but we can’t let that affect educating ourkids about the environment and teachingthem about fishing. If you were a spon-sor last year we need you back, if youwere not a sponsor, please...we need younow. Be a Kids Cup Sponsor and wearyour Kids Cup sponsor shirt proudly(every sponsor gets one).

Call 941-766-8180 for more KidsCup sponsor information. You can be atournament sponsor or you can sponsor akid, just go to out website:www.kidscuptournament.com, fill out theform and send it in.The Kids Cup is part of the Don Ball

School of Fishing and the CharlotteHarbor Reef Association. All contribu-tions are tax deductable.The Kids Cup will be held on April

25, 2009 at Harpoon Harrys inFishermen’s Village.See You there!

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Gearing Up for the Kids Cup Were starting to collect stuff for the captainʼs bags.By Michael Hel lerKids Cup Tournament DirectorThe machinery of the Kids Cup is up

and running. We’re answering the phoneuntil 8 p.m. Dawn Marx and the crew atBuffalo Graffix has again printed ourentry forms and posters and now theapplications are available both online andat all the local bait and tackle shops, atWest Marine outlets, Affinity Tackle, andStump Pass Marina. We had five entriescome in on the first mail after New Yearsday and by January 25 we had 25 entries.At this rate we are ahead of last year

so get your entries in now to get a lowboat number. Boats are released on tour-nament morning in the order they wereentered in.

The Competitor Trophy sponsorStump Pass Marina is back with usagain, so once again every competitorwill get a trophy. So far Fishermen’sVi l lage and Fishin’ Franks are majorsponsors again this year. ScreenprintPlus in Cape Coral will again be doingour snazzy Kids Cup shirts. Look for thenew design here next month.Bennedetto’s Restaurant will caterour Captain’s dinner on April 24.Eppinger Manufacturing , the makersof the Daredevil lure have again signedback on with us (their 6th year!) and willonce again be providing quality goldspoons for all our Kids Cup anglers.Robert, Frank and Jeff from FishinFranks went to North Carolina for a big

wholesale tackle show last month andcame back with a handful of contacts inthe industry to help fill the captain’sbags. Thanks guys! We’ve alreadyreceived one big box of Eagle Clawhooks, and there is a bunch more com-ing. Frabi l l has sent us high qualitylanding nets for each of the age groupwinners (10 yrs old, 11, yrs old 12, 13,14, 15 and 16 yrs old) will each get aFrabill landing net along with their agegroup trophy. I’m working on a good rodand reel combo for our top 5 anglers(hello Shimano? Hello St Croix? are youlistening?) So everything points toanother great Kids Cup event.Ingman Marine, Wrap S ign &

Design and The Boathouse at

Boater’s World are all back with usagain as Junior Level sponsors, andPool Sharks, Greggs Automotive,Southern Oxygen, Perrin’sBarbershop, Harbor Chevron andBayshore Marine are again alreadysponsors of the 7th grade program. Weexpect, over the next two months, all thesponsor categories will continue to grow. I know this is a tough economic time,

but we can’t let that affect educating ourkids about the environment and teachingthem about fishing. If you were a spon-sor last year we need you back, if youwere not a sponsor, please...we need younow. Be a Kids Cup Sponsor and wearyour Kids Cup sponsor shirt proudly(every sponsor gets one).

Call 941-766-8180 for more KidsCup sponsor information. You can be atournament sponsor or you can sponsor akid, just go to out website:www.kidscuptournament.com, fill out theform and send it in.The Kids Cup is part of the Don Ball

School of Fishing and the CharlotteHarbor Reef Association. All contribu-tions are tax deductable.The Kids Cup will be held on April

25, 2009 at Harpoon Harrys inFishermen’s Village.See You there!

Jesse Smith helped his little sister Adrianaland this big redfish on 10lb test.

Jesse and both his sisters are going to fishthe 2009 Kids Cup.


By Adam WilsonWater LIFE DivingIf you wait for the

warm water to returnyou have no ideawhat you are missingon our shallow reefs.Most spots in lessthan 100 feet just don't hold many fishduring the summer, but this time of yearthey absolutely explode with life. Thickschools of bait, huge snappers, biggroupers, monster amberjacks and cobiasswarm over the shallow Gulf with thecolder temperatures.Yes it can be a little chilly at times, but

we usually forget those colder temps whenwe hit the bottom and begin slinging steelin the thick schools of fish. A good, thick,quality wet suit also makes all the differ-ence in the world. I prefer a full 7 mil-limeter semi-dry suit. These suits are notcheap, but this is not an area you want totry and save money on. Warmth equalscomfort, and the right wet suit makes thedifference between a great dive and a mis-erable shivering experience. Help supportour local economy and get out to yourlocal dive shops when you are shoppingrubber. Most spots are around 61 degreesfrom top to bottom right now. Rarely doesit get much colder in this area of the gulf.

Remember if we have a warm trend thesurface will heat quick, but the bottomtemp will remain colder for months now.With a good suit you might find you arewarmer in the water than on the boat.Bringing a cooler filled with warm water isa great way to stay warm between dives. Afew buckets down the back can bring yourcore temp up quickly. Some guys use ahose connection to their boat motor tocapture the heated discharge water. Havinga thermos with hot coffee or cocoa is alsoa great way to keep your core temp up.Once you start to shiver uncontrollably onthe bottom your dive should be over. Thatis the body’s first response to hypothermiawhich can be dangerous.The biggest factor for getting out this

month is going to be wind. We had awe-some visibility early in January, 50 plusfeet on some spots, but by the end of themonth it went downhill quickly with theback to back cold fronts and high seas.Lately the vis has been ten feet even outon the deeper reefs. If you have been stonecrabbing or doing the shallower reefs thereduced vis won't be a problem for you. Photography is pretty much out of the

question with the reduced light level, but Ilove being able to sneak up on those bigspooky mangrove snappers and pulling thetrigger before they have a chance to fly. Of

course slow ascents with big stringers inmurky water can be a little interesting.The big schools of amberjacks that like tocome jetting by at mach 1 can be slightlystartling on the way back up. Even withthe cold temps we have already seen somegood sized sharks on some of the mostpopular reefs.The thick schools of American red

snappers are also still around in 100 feet.Hopefully these delicious fish will hangaround until opening day in April. Becauseof the lower light level at depth and the

reduction of the shortest color wavelength(red) past about 15 feet, these fish appearsilvery on the bottom, making them looksimilar to mutton snapper, but without thetell-tale dark spot on their body. They alsoaren't as spooky as muttons and can evenbe curious.

If you have never dived in the winter,now is the time. With a week or two with-out a cold front the visibility will returnquickly and the amount of life on all ourreefs right now is hard to describe withoutseeing it for yourself.

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By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Senior StaffHow can you tell what the fishing will

be? If you’re fishing the mangroves and youcast your lure and it goes thunk, well...something is missing – you might want towait for a higher tide. No water, no fish!But what does low tide mean anyway? Orhigh tide for that matter? On a tide chart itis when the water reaches its highest pointor its lowest ebb, but that will not tell youhow much water there is. The first key tounderstanding the water is understanding thetides. On the Atlantic or Pacific they havefour tides a day. High, low, high, low, youcan keep track of them easily, they evenhave clocks to tell the tides. Here inCharlotte Harbor the only way a tide clockworks is if you hang it over the canal, thenwhen it is wet it’s high tide, when it is dryit’s low. We can have any combination of1, 2, 3, 4, 5 even six changes a day are pos-sible. The best explination for this is thetides hit the Gulf, slosh around with thecurrents and reflect back.Up until about10 years ago there were

tide markers, with flow meters measuringcurrents and tides, now they use a comput-er to generate the forecast tides, based ondata collected for the last 200 years.

Step one in understanding tides is tolook at a tide chart. You’ll see H 6:45am,the H stands for high. I kinda figured youguessed that one. L for low but the trickyone is the number behind the time. It lookslike this: H 6:45am 1.3, the 1.3 is theheight of the tide over the chart level.On charts depths are related to 0.0 or

mean lower low water, MLLW. This is theaverage low tide. So the 1.3 is one foot andthree tenths higher, than chart level. Keepin mind it is possible to have tides lowerthan 0.0, so in the winter you will seeminus tides.

If that is not enough to remember, hereis more: fall and winter tides are 6 incheslower on average than spring or summertides. Six inches is not so much, but whenyou only exchange an average of two feet ofwater a day six inches is 25% of the totalwater movement. Wind can also compoundthe difference. A 10 m.p.h. wind can add orsubtract six inches of water. The longer itblows from the same direction the greaterthe impact. Winds from the north and east push the

water out faster on outgoing tides. Then

they hold the water back when it tries tocome in. Charlotte Harbor is more affectedby wind to water level because most of ourwater goes in and out of Boca Grande Pass.When the wind is blowing only the waterunder the surface moves the way it should.The water on top is being blown the direc-tion of the wind. It’s like if you spray waterup a sloped driveway. The pressure holdsmost of it there, but some runs down; shutoff the hose and it all runs down.Winds from the south or west push the

water in, then as the tide tries to get out itholds it back. This is very evident during abig storm If a hurricane hit Fort Myers thenall the water in Charlotte Harbor might bepushed out. During Hurricane Donna it wassaid you could walk across the Harbor dur-ing the first half of the storm, however if aslow moving hurricane hit Englewood,well let me just say glug, glug, glug.

We get calls all the time asking ‘whenis high tide?’ What good is that? The tidedoes not stay high nor does it jump fromlow to high and back. It flows in and thenflows out when the tide hits high, then itbecomes an outgoing tide. When it hits lowit starts to come in – incoming tide. But what is high tide? If you do not

know the height of the tide and just remem-ber the number after the time thing on thetide chart all you will know is when wehave the most water for that day. It is pos-sible to have low tides with more waterthan some high tides on other days andvice-versa. Any thing over a 1.0 is sortahigh anything over a 1.5 is a real high tide.Under 1.0 is low and under 0.0 like a -.6 isa lot of dirt showing in your favorite fish-ing spot.Tides are like a race car on a drag strip,

they start out stopped then build speed andrun then slow down and stop. The first thirdof the tide is "building speed" the middlethird running at speed. And the last third it’sslowing down.

Fishing in salt water is always bestwhen the water is moving. I prefer the lasthalf of the incoming tide and the first halfof the outgoing tide. When the tide comesin it brings cleaner saltier water in from theGulf and that seems to revitalize the fish. Ithink it works. Some places are good onlow tides, some on high, incoming or out-going. But in the end the best time to fishis when you get the chance. You can reach Frank at 625-3888

Flatsmasters 2009 QualifyerEvent opens local tournament season


Flatsmasters Tournament Director Jerry Cleffi, right, takes one of the two winning fishfrom tournament angler J.R. Witt. Witt and partner Terry Brantley took first place with7.45 and 7.54 pound redfish for a 14.99 pound total. Witt said they ran all the way toTampa Bay for their reds. In all, the 47 entered teams brought back 49 fish. Cliff Utt had the big fish at 7.79 pounds.The smallest legal fish weighed in was 3.08 pounds, brought in by Tim Scott.The next local tournament will be the Charlotte Warriorʼs Tournament on February 28 atLaishley Park Marina.

Will Fishing Suck Today?

Pirate Harbor in Jan 2009 with a -7 low tide compounded by 2 days of wind from the northeast


By TomFlemingFleet Captain,Platinum Point

Yacht ClubPlatinum Point Yacht Club (PPYC) cel-

ebrated its 26th Anniversary of the GoldenConch Regatta (CHBOTY) at the BurntStore Marina, on January 10th and 11th.This was a two day sailing event of threeraces with sailors from Venice to MarcoIsland.

Thirty-five sailboats participated repre-senting five sailing classes of PHRF ratedboats: Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker A, Non-Spinnaker B, True Cruising A, and TrueCruising B. The weather was perfect forcompetitive sailing with beautiful sunnyskies, temperatures in the 70s, and windsranging from 5-14 knots.

Saturday’s races started off with a lightbreeze, 5.3 knots, and increased to 8 knots,requiring one course change. Sunday’s racestarted with SW winds of 6 knots and

increased to 14 knots fromthe West. This required acourse change in directionand distance. Racing wasvery competitive. After tworaces, five boats were tiedfor second place in theSpinnaker Class. The lastday’s race with 14 knots airproved to be the challenge all competitorsenjoyed seeking a solid second place finish.There were no protests.

Before sailing each day, sailors weretreated to a continental breakfast at PPYC.After Saturday’s two races, the 129sailors/spouses/guests enjoyed a delicioussit-down steak dinner catered by WhiskeyCreek, Port Charlotte.

On Sunday, an awards presentation withcustom designed conch shell trophies werepresented to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finish-es. First-place winners were also given abottle of champagne, personalized withtheir Regatta boat picture and name on thelabel. A cocktail and hors d’oeuvre partywas given to congratulate all winners with90 people attending.

Results: Spinnaker: Bama Slammer, Bob Knowles

(S2/7.9) Non-Spinnaker A: Fancy Free, JerryPoquette (Soverel 39)

Non-Spinnaker B: Morgan, Bill Curtis(Morgan 24) True Cruising A: Bravo, PeteRehm (Tartan 34) True Cruising B: Mariah,David Erdmann (Catalina 27)

Complete results on: www.ppycbsm.com

Coming Events: The 16th annualConquistador Cup regatta will be heldMarch 6, 7, 8 out of Fisherman’s Village.We are shooting for 100 entries inSunday’s reverse start Cup race. PHRF rat-ing not required for Sunday. For detailscontact Bob Knowles 505-8543 or checkwww.pgscweb.com.For other sailing questions Bill Dixon

can be reached at: [email protected]

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All photos: Action from the 2009 Golden Conch Regatta. More Goloden Conch photos on the WaterLife Magazine website: www.waterlifemagazine.com

PROVIDED BY: Dave & Marlene Hofer RE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected] www.harborparadise.com Recent area news i tems1. The micromanagement team offi-

cially known as the Charlotte CountyBoard of Commissioners, not yet satisfiedwith the havoc reeked so far, set out tooust the County Attorney. It was littlemore than a year ago that the second mostsenior commissioner, Dick Loftus (hecounts his tenure in months vs. days)successfully harassed the CountyAdministrator into resigning. He is nowenlisting support from newbyCommissioners Duffy & Skidmore tofind a new salaried counselor. Citinglack of responsiveness (some might termit "bootlicking") and communication, heinsists that it's time for Mrs. Knowltonto go. Without directing the commentto anyone in particular, Trisha Duffy said"this is not a time for mediocrity".That's quite true, unfortunately we haveto make do with the commissioners thatare in office, for now.2. Jim Walter Homes, a pioneer in

the construction of pre engineered homesclosed its doors last month. They builtmore than 350,000 homes nationallysince World War II.3. Publix announced that it will be

building a new store on 41 at Salford Rdin North Port. It will replace the exist-ing store located just down the street atSumter. Sweet Bay will be closingtheir store on Placida Road in Englewood.It will keep its existing facility in PuntaGorda.4. Community Redevelopment

Areas are suffering from the slowdown innew construction. Relying on taxablevaluation growth within targeted areas,projections have not lived up to expecta-tions. Englewood tax revenues fell to$1.6 million, well below the expected$2.2 million. Punta Gorda's CRA col-lected $1.8 mil, only 10% below expecta-tions. The city will be borrowing $12million from sales tax receipts to pay forthe parking garage and Laishley Park con-struction projects, then lending thosefunds to the CRA. 5. Congressman Page Kreegel spon-

sored House Bill 205 in the Florida legis-lature to stem foreclosures. The law, ifpassed, will require Florida courts to pro-

vide for a conciliation process betweenlender and homeowner to attempt to rene-gotiate the existing loan terms so thatforeclosure can be prevented. This for-mat has been successful in forestalling80% of the foreclosures in thePhiladelphia circuit court region.In other news: The Consumer

Price Index fell last month for the fifthtime in a row. The index stood at 220 inJuly, it is now 210. Unemployment hit9.9% in Charlotte County in December,well above the 7.2% national average.Charles Wallace’s new restaurant, Jacks,will open this month in the SunloftCenter. Sales S tatistics:Median lot prices are down a stunning

60% from a year ago. Transactions arealmost exclusively in investment lotswhere sellers are acknowledging littleintrinsic value and no likelihood of buy-ers acquiring for new construction.House median sales were down about

35% vs. a year ago, reflecting the influ-ence of lower end foreclosures.Please visit us at www.harborparadise.com

to view any available properties from Venice


A new 60-foot ʻT ̓dock is under construction on the Ski Alley side of Stump Pass Beach StatePark. The dock will be used to store Sherifʼs and FWC boats and will be closed to the public.

Real Real Estate Estate NewsNews


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE PublisherAre shrimpers destroying the Harbor

bottom, tearing up seagrass and killingfish? I went out to see for myself.Shrimpers, and there aren’t a whole lot

of them here, drag the deepest part of theharbor, the part where everything settles.If anything; it looks like they are helpingto keep the harbor clean, stirring up themuck and pulling up debris that wouldotherwise be left to rot. In the three daysI talked, observed and followed alongthere were only two shrimp boats out onthe Harbor and they brought up severalchairs and a whole sunken 24-foot boat! At Laishley Park Marina I asked John

Mehaffey, owner, operator and one manshrimping crew of the Iron Ox shrimpboat to tell me about shrimping.“Shrimp are more like insects than a

school of fish,” says John. “They are dis-tributed mostly at the bottom of the watercolumn,” he added.“Shrimp seems to run in a 6 year

cycle. If we have a red tide, the year afterthe red tide shrimping is better,” Johntold me. There are three different kinds of

shrimp. Texas and the northern GulfCoast have the brown shrimp. The eastcoast of Florida around Jacksonville hasthe white shrimp and in SW Florida andCharlotte Harbor we have the wintershrimp which are Pink. Commercially, the white and brown

shrimp are the most desireable, primarally because they have thicker shells.White and brown shrimp will keep 5 to 7days after being caught. The pink shrimpcommon to Charlotte Harbor have thinnershells and only keep two to three days.How long the shrimp keep is importantsince there is only so much time that cango by before they must be processed andpacked. But John doesn’t worry aboutprocessing and packing since he ices hisshrimp on the boat and sells whatever hecatches the next morning at the dock. “There is nothing like the sweet fresh

pink shrimp that come from CharlotteHarbor,” John says.

Shrimp lay their eggs and mature inthe marshes and shallow spots around thearea. They hatch in the Myakka River,the Peace River and in the AlligatorCreek basin. When we get a cold frontcoming down from the north the frontdrives the shrimp out of the marshes intothe Harbor where they seek the warmth ofthe deeper water.On average, we have 5 to 6 boats

pulling their shrimp nets in the Charlotteharbor area. Lately, we’ve only had two orthree boats because some of the shrimpersdo double duty as mullet fishermen.Shrimping took a big hit after hurri-

cane Katrina. Only one out of 56 com-mercial shrimp processing plants survivedthe storm. “Now there are only about adozen processing plants back up and oper-ating,” John said. It has been a slowcomeback for shrimp processors. With limited processing facilities the

U.S. wholesale market for shrimpcrashed. Consequently, today 93-percentof the shrimp sold in the US is importedand farm raised. Luckily for us, here inCharlotte County, fresh shrimp is usuallyavailable.Catching wild shrimp, dragging a

shrimp net around, takes some doing.There are state and federal laws that man-date net size and mesh size. The netsmust have flaps and open areas to allowfish and turtles to pass through. Only atthe end of the net, which is bunched andtied with a rope are the shrimp trapped.Little fish, this time of year mostly whit-ing, and other small by-catch are dumpedout on the sorting table when the net isemptied. Then they are returned to thewater. The night I went out with John thebycatch consisted of a couple of skates, abunch of whiting, some small catfish, acouple of little flounder, one seahorse andseveral spadefish the size of a silver dol-lar. It all went back into the water alive.John went through it with a hand rake,picking out the shrimp and sliding therest overboard within minutes. One pull,(from north of Marker No.1 to abouthalfway down the Harbor to Cape Haze)took 40 minutes and netted 12 pounds of

shrimp. When the Iron

Ox goes out thedolphins in the har-bor pick up the boatimmediately, fol-lowing behind thenet, waiting for aneasy meal. Thenight we went out apod of four animalsknew exactly whichside of the boat to wait on when Johnsorted through the bycatch. Shorebirds bythe hundreds also appeared out of theblack night and hov-ered above.John held a shrimp

in his hand and closedhis fingers around it,leaving only thewispy antennas stick-ing out. “This is theway shrimp protectthemselves. Theyburry themselves inthe sandy bottom,antennas up. All thatsticks out is the antenna,” he said. Shrimpers drag a ‘tickler’ chain across

the bottom, the Chain contacts theshrimp’s antenna and a natural musclereaction takes place. The shrimp’s legsonly go one way so when they feel thechain they straighten their legs out andshoot up vertically about a foot or twofrom the sandy bottom. Following behindthe chain and raised up off the bottom isthe shrimp net. The jumping shrimp areswept up into the net.A couple of years ago John had one

dolphin that figured out how to untie theknot at the end of the net. “He’d undo theknot, eat what he could and then come tothe surface looking right at me as if tosay ‘I got you!’ I had to put two knotson the net rope that year just to keep himout of my catch.”“The last thing I want to do is drag

through a grass flat,” John says. “Thegrass fouls the chain and then net andstops the whole process, so we only drag

through the deeperholes in theHarbor,” Johnshowed me hischart plotter withthe course fromthe preceedingnight. Tracksfrom south ofMarker No 2 pastMarker No 1 thendown the harbor south and back northshow a tight area. He got a little over ahundred pounds that night. A very goodnight might bring 300 or 400 pounds. John sells his shrimp on the dock at

Laishley Park Marina on Tuesdays,Thursdays and Saturdays from 7 a.m tillabout noon.

It’s not an easy life. John is 67 yearsold, a former agricultural constructionworker. “I leave before sunset and stayout most of the night. I get back to thedock around 5 a.m and by the time Iwash down and get set up and ready forbusiness it’s 6 am, then I can grab anhour’s sleep before opening for business.” Customers come and go making small

talk and John cheerfully shows some howto ‘pop’ the heads off pulling the vein outwith it and how to peel the shell. Twenty yeas ago there were 12 to 16

boats from Jacksonville here, 6 to 8 fromApalachicola and 15 local boats, but it’sslowed way down. “There is currently afederal moritorium on shrimping licensesso we’re not going to see new shrimpersany time soon,” John said, handing me abig bag of shrimp to take home. “Havethem for breakfast,” he said, and I did.

Shrimping In Charlotte Harbor

2008 JOHNSON OUTDOORS

Key Paddlesports Dealer – East Coast

Above: John Mehaffey empties the net from one trawl made south from marker No 1.Below: John pulls his net down the harbor

By David Al lenWater LIFE KayakingWhat a Day! Manatees everywhere you

looked. They were along the riverbanks,ghosting along alone or in groups of 7 or8. They were in the quiet, warm holes outof the current, just drifting along, surfacingoccasionally to breathe, as if they didn’thave a care in the world. They were in mid-stream…they were along the edges of themangroves….everywhere you looked yousaw manatees. Even downstream, wherethe warm waters from the powerplant dis-charge can no longer raise the water tem-perature..there were manatees. Manatees were exploding out of the

water, sometimes from right under akayak, startling the paddler and almost cap-sizing the boat. Some manatees, calmlyfloating on their backs, seemed to beenjoying the commotion they were caus-ing…..as if they were watching the cloudsfloat by…taking it easy.Manatee Park, along Highway 80 E. in

North Fort Myers, had a carnival atmos-phere as we pulled into the parking lot.Although we arrived early, hundreds uponhundreds of nature lovers were already onsite to see the manatees, either by paddlingamong them or from the wide observationplatform located high above the rivers’edge. The parking lots were full and thekayak launch area was crowded with boats

of all colors. What a paddle! Our clubdrives from Port Charlotte to Manatee Parkeach winter to check out the manatees, butthis year was exceptional. Last year, forwhatever reason, we were not able toschedule the trip until late February, not agood time to see a lot of manatees. Andtrue to form, we didn’t see a lot of mana-tees. This year we resolved to schedule inlate January and what a difference that onemonth made.For those of you who may not be famil-

iar with Manatee Park, here’s the way itworks. FPL has a power plant just acrossHighway 80 from the Park, and dischargeshot-process water into the Orange River.This warm water attracts the manatees andlures them upstream from the colder waterof the Gulf and local streams. Usually,from about December through lateFebruary, you can see manatees in theriver, but the best time is in January.Climatic conditions can make a lot of dif-ference, so it’s not always dependable.This year the number of manatees was

truly amazing. I would estimate our group,about 34 kayaks, saw 50 to 75 manatees,scattered all along the river. This too was

unusual. Several other kayak groups, andthose visitors who rented kayaks from thepark, filled the river with boats, but noth-ing could keep the manatees from perform-ing for an appreciative audience.And beyond kayaking to see manatees,

the Park has special programs on mana-tees, beautiful gardens, and a picnic area.Don’t miss this wonderful local attrac-tion, but hurry. Only about 1 monthleft.Special Note: Manatees are notori-

ously hard to photograph. They remainsubmerged much of the time; just sur-facing briefly to fill their lungs. And aphotograph taken through even a thinveil of water leaves a lot to be desired.My friend and fellow club member, SkipRasmussen, is an expert photographer inPunta Gorda, with the skills and equip-ment to get the best possible photos.The manatee photos are the result of hisexpertise.Now you have absolutely no excuse.

You have a shiney new kayak complete-ly equipped, you are decked out to the 9'sand you know where to go. So, Just DoIt!

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday evening at Port Charlotte BeachPark at 5:30 PM. All are welcome. For moreinformation, contact me at 941-235-2588 oremail to: [email protected]. You can checkout our upcoming paddles and events at: pck-ayakers.org Then come join us!


KayakingKayakingManatees Everywhere!

Above: A manatee at the Fort Myers manatee park soaks up the sun. Right: Port Charlotte Kayak Club members on the Orange River

Kayakers pass the pilings for the new CoralCreek bridge at Placida. The old bridge will be

placed on the Capt. Jeff Steele Reef.


The CommercialPerspectiveBy Kel ly Beal , Water LIFE Peace River Seafood A group of local commercial crabbers

have gotten together to plan a clean upevent to remove derelict commercial traps.The cleanup is scheduled for April 6. For many years crabs were caught by

trotline and dip nets, but by the mid1950s the crab industry began to utilizethe wire traps that are so prevalent today.Ninety eight percent of the crabs caughtin Florida come from these traps. Theyare very efficient. The trap has "cull"rings which allow all juvenile crab toescape as well as a wooden bio-panel thatdisintegrates to allow sea life out if itbecomes a derelict trap. A wire trap disintegrates pretty quick

anyway, they rarely last more then a yearand a half. Traps, more often then not,become derelict if another boat runs overthe buoy and cuts it from the trap.Another way to lose a trap is duringstrong storms when heavy currents causethe trap to roll and tear away from theirbuoy. The only way a crabber can ‘pull’his trap is by getting hold of the buoyand pulling from there.

When a crabber loses a trap it costshim about $40 so he's out one trap andhas to replace it. No crabber wants toput his trap where other boaters will runit over. They value their traps and thecatch they bring.Starting this year there will be a crab

trap closure during which all crabbers willbe required to remove their traps from thewater for up to 10 days. This year thedates are tentatively set for July 10ththrough the 19th. This will give theFWC sufficient time to retrieve any leftover traps.Derelict traps can be a navigational

hazard to boaters. In an effort to clear ourwaters of derelict traps the local crabbers

have chosen to be proactive to solve thisproblem and plan an event to aid in theeffort. On Jan 24th a group out of Tampa did

a crab trap clean up in Cockroach Bay inwhich they had 14 airboats participatingand retrieved 100 traps.

If you see a derelict trap do nottouch it!! These rules apply to everyone,including the commercial guys. We areworking with the State (FWC) who pend-ing approval of our management plan,has the authority to approve our cleanupevent.By definition a derelict trap is a trap

that lacks more than two of the following 1. Buoy, 2. Buoy Line, 3. Current

FWC issued tag, 4. Current license.FL Statue 370.135 says it is illegal

to molest trap ropes or buoys and it's afelony, punishable up to five years in jailor a $5000 fine. To help us in our effort to rid the

Peace River of derelict traps you can callthe Sea Grant office at 764-4342 withderelict trap locations and we will retrievethem during the April 6th clean up event!Thank You in advance for your help. Stopin our restaurant and taste the deliciousFlorida Blue Crabs. We cook ‘em fresh toorder. Kelly Beal can be reached at 505-8440Her husband Jimmy Beal is a commercialcrabber in Charlotte County

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Call the Captain! Call the Captain! BeautifulCountry Home Situated inLuxurious Woodland Estates! A4/3/3 with a pool, 2800sf air,“1996” on ¾ of an acre. This is avery special home! $349,900.

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This buoy wasnʼt far from the trap shownat right. In an effort to keep boaters fromentangling their props in crab trap buoylines crabbers use a heavy ʻsink ropeʼwhich lessens the danger of entangle-ment

Peace RiverDerelict Crab Trap Clean Up

Tracking There was a hatchery redfish released inTampa Bay five years ago that was recovered inCharlotte Harbor, and one of the Kids Cup sonic transmit-ter redfish was recaptured in the PGI canals last month.Missing Receiver One of ourVR2 sonic receivers (right) usedto track redfish in the Kids Cupwas attached to a marker insideBass Inlet, just waterward of thebridge. The marker has now dis-appeared. If you know anythingabout this please contact WaterLIFE at 766-8180. There is areward!Fish Stocking Carole Neidig aMote Marine fishery biologistreported the state is again looking at establishing redfishhatcherys in Florida. Two pieces of property on the EastCoast have been donated for hatchery space, the legisla-

ture is considering funding and the state is now looking atSW Florida, perhaps Charlotte Harbor, for another hatch-ery site. County Cutback Now that Charlote County has predict-ed a $40Million shortfall they have gone to ʻperformancebased budgeting.ʼ ... If itʼs not performing it doesnʼt getfunded. Too bad they donʼt look at some of the top countyadministratorʼs salaries and apply the same logic.Marine Task Force A new marine coordinating task forcewithin Charlotte County will bring together Parks & Rec,Sea Grant, Dredging, Public Works, Natural Resourcesand Growth Management to help plan the countyʼsmarine projects. This could be interesting!Could this be true? According to the National EstuaryProgramʼs website the sea level at Punta Gorda will rise3-feet in the next 90 years. Really?Lost Luhrs? Luhrs and Mainship Yacht shipbuildingfacility in St Augustine were shuttered and closed in lateJanuary. Company officials were not available by phonealthough an operator at a marina now taking their callssaid Luhrs would be building ʻsome boatsʼ in NewJersey.

Illegal Netting Again on the Increase. An abundance ofPompano has brought the netters out again with illegalmultiple-pannel nets.Protected Habitat for Sawfish Areas are going in at LeeCounty and some might be proposed for Charlotte atWhidden Creek, Turtle Bay and Pine Island Sound.


The Deadly Dozen : Charlotte HarborThe Deadly Dozen : Charlotte Harbor FISHING GUIDESFISHING GUIDES

Capt. Bart Marx, USCG Licensed & Insured Light Tackle Fishing Charlotte Harbor & SW Florida

(941) 255-3551 www.alphaomegacharters.com

email:[email protected] Day & Full Day trips.

SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

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

Bus: 941-475-5538 Res: 941-473-2150

CaptainRobertMooreWhen you absoloutely positivelywant to catch fish

(941) 624-5710www.captRobertMoore.com

offshore/backcountry

Walk on Water? – Running of the Bulls, Pampalona Spain from Patrick McCarthy, Venice

It is no wonder everyone seems to beconfused by the new grouper regulations thattake effect this month. The State and theFeds are apparently on different planets.

Size limits on grouper for recreationalfishermen have not changed (although sizelimits for commercial grouper fishermenhave been reduced) and the recreational baglimit on grouper is still an aggregate of 5fish for recreational anglers in both state andfederal waters.

What did change is the closed seasons for

specific types of grouper (red, black and gaggrouper) and the bag limits on reds in Statewaters. State Waters:

• In State waters gag grouper are closedfor two months from Feb 1 to March 31

• You may keep no more than 2 gagsout of the 5 fish aggregate limit.

• The limit on red grouper in statewaters has increased to 2 fish out of the 5fish aggregate.

• There is no closure on red grouper in

State waters. This means when gag grouper are in sea-

son you could have 2 red grouper and 2 gaggrouper in state waters and the 5th fish couldbe a scamp or a black grouper, but realistical-ly that’s not likely to happen because legalscamp and black grouper are not oftencaught.

Federal Waters:• In Federal waters gag grouper is

closed for two months from Feb 1 to March31

• In Federal waters both red and blackgrouper are closed 30 days from Feb 15 toMarch 15. That means that for the two weeks before

and after the gag closure (the time from Feb

1 to Feb 14 and from March 16 to March 31)red and black grouper is still open in Federalwaters.

• In Federal waters, the aggregate limit forgrouper is the same 5 fish as in State waters,but in Federal waters the bag limit for redgrouper has not increased and is still 1 redgrouper per person. That means in Federal waters you could

have 2 gags and 1 red. So to make the 5aggregate fish limit in Federal waters, theremaining two fish could be scamp or blackgrouper, but the likelihood of finding a legalkeeper scamp or black grouper is equally asunrealistic in Federal waters.

Read this again. Now read it a third time!

F i s h i n gF i s h i n gR e p o r tR e p o r tCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888

Recent cold fronts have chilled thewater a little and trout are moving upthe Harbor towards Alligator Creek andEl Jobean. The bigger fish are still southaround Pirate Harbor, Pine Island andTurtle Bay. Live shrimp under a poppin’cork or a D.O.A. plastic shrimp willwork as will the Zara Puppy for a topwater bait. Any soft plastic on a jigheadshould also get a trout’s attention.Sheepshead are still abundant at the

Placida Trestle and are now moving intothe Myakka River at Eljobean. A lot ofsheepies are hanging at the AlligatorCreek Reef as well. The nearshore reefsalso have a lot of good size sheepsheadright now. Fiddler crabs are the bestchoice for sheepshead, that or frozensand fleas.Pompano fishing is great. This is a

very, very phenomonal year for pom-pano. Drift along the flats out front ofBull and Turtle Bay or along theIntracoastal using a small bucktail pom-pano jig or one of the leaded-hook CrazyJigs tipped with a shrimp, fiddler crab or

sand flea. At Stump Pass or along thebeaches, fan cast the area to find thefish. Light and slow jigging along thebottom is the trick. Sometimes, runningalong the flats, you can see them skip-ping out of the water. Stop and fishthere.Bluefi s h and Spani sh mackerel

are scattered out in the Harbor from thecold fronts. Look for the schools ofglass minnows to find them. Lookaround Mkr No. 5 at Caper Haze Pointand in Little Gasparilla Pass. There havebeen some three and four pound bluefishwhich is big around here. If you can figure out the regulations

on grouper, there are grouper andsnapper at Boca Grande. Helen’sNovak, Trembly.. . all the inshore reefshave had some nice fish. Further out, youget bigger fish and some mangrovesnapper and even some really nicetri g g er fi s h . At 40 to 50 miles outbl ackfi n tuna, do lphin and a coupleof wahoo have been caught now.There are a lot of small rat reds still

around, there are some legal ones too,but you have to work the shorelines andsandholes. No reds up the rivers yet, andno small snook or tarpon are showingin the river yet either. Maybe thismonth. Conti nued on faci ng page

P a g e 2 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 9Alex Florio and his sonwere drifting in about50' of water on January8 with a half of a span-ish mackeral on a sharkrig when they hookedthis shark. It took themover an hour to get theshark up to the boat. Itwas 9-feet long andestimated to weighbetween 250-300lbs.Alex said it was thegreatest thrill of theirfishing careers to thispoint. We couldnʼt tellfor sure if it was a bullor sandbar shark.

Capt. Angel Torres put his client on this nice Charlotte Harbor snook last month. Snookwonʼt be back in season on Floridaʼs Gulf coast until March.

Free Shrimp!

6 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sun – Thurs6 a.m. – midnight Fri & Sat

941- 623-5883Dozen Shrimp:

$2.50 Regular $4 Hand Pick$5 Jumbo

One Dozen Regular Shrimp FREE when you mention Water LIFELimit one dozen per customer per visit. Offer expires March 1, 2009

El Jobean Bait & TackleNext to the Marathon Gas station at the north side of the El Jobean Bridge on hwy 776

Trying to Make Sense ofthe new Grouper Regs.

Capt SteveʼsOffshore report

Fishing these last few weeks has beennothing short of non-stop action.

Pretty hot and heavy for January, a monthnormally reserved strictly for bottom fishing.We have been blessed with a kingfish runthat started back in early November and hasnot even started to slow down.

We have been finding these fish every-where from right up on the beach around thebait pods first thing in the morning all theway out to some of the "way out wrecks" off-shore.

If these fish follow the pattern they did lastyear they will be here all the way throughApril!

Putting these fish in the cooler is prettysimple, just leave a live bait swimmingaround behind the boat while youʼre bottomfishing.

Rig with wire to avoid cut-offs and have agood quality reel with a smooth drag, readyfor a smoker if one should come along.

Offshore, the amberjack fishing is on fire.If you want to get your arm's ripped right outof their sockets just drift over one of themany deep wrecks off of our coast with alive bait down, and hold on tight.

While youʼre offshore don't over look bot-tom fishing these same deep wrecks thismonth and next. They are holding hugeschools of yellowtail and mangrove snapper.

Fishing with light tackle and live shrimpshould produce some really nice big snap-per.

Working our way back inshore, redgrouper are piled up on the hard bottomspots in 60-75 feet of water.

Live pinfish are getting the best bite, butbig cut baits are working too.

As far as the gag grouper, every ledge outthere from just 25 feet of water all the wayout past 100 feet is just full of gags rightnow.

Getting a limit of these guys really is easyright now so long as the water stays clear.

Just troll overyour favorite ledgesand wrecks with deepdiving plugs, if the waterʼs clear the gagswill nail ʻem.

After you bang a couple out on plugs, goback and anchor-up. Drop the live baitsdown, this should result in almost instanthook ups.

They can swim....but they can't hide!You can call Capt Steve at (941) 575-3528for an offshore trip, for fishing advice orquestions.

F i s h i n gF i s h i n gR e p o r tR e p o r tc o n t i n u e dc o n t i n u e d .Fish live or frozen shrimp forthe reds. Cut ladyfish hasn’tbeen working that well andneither has pinfish. There are still a lot of bon-nethead sharks aroundalong the bar at Cape Haze, on the east sidearound Hobbs Point and around the fishshacks in Pine Island. For freshwater,Crappie is still phenomonal since the coldhas them all balled-up tight.

Lemon Bay:Jim at Fishermen’s Edge,Englewood:697-7595Fishing is fairly decent. Guys have

had good luck with reds and trout fish-ing Exude Dart and Cotee Chubby Grubsin golden brim or green with the orangeflake are what’s working around here. Ortry a Riptide Culprit in the darker colorslike smoking gold or rootbeer. The RattleShrimp Power Bait by Berkley is anothergood bait right now. Trout over 20 inch-es have been coming from Pine Islandand the Whidden Creek areas where thereis good water flow and plenty of grass.The sheepshead bite has been pretty

good at the phosphate dock. There aresome in the channel going out ofGasparilla Marina too.There have been some pompano

around, but every day they are in a differ-ent spot. Look for pompano at StumpPass and Gasparilla Pass or around in theIntracoastal down toward Devilfish Key.Jig fish the Silly Willy jig or Doc’s jigs.A lot of guys don’t even tip them.Some nice grouper have been caught

offshore and in the passes lately on cutsardines and threadfins, or on jigs if theyare out deep enough or trolling with adeep diving plug.

C a l e n d a r C a l e n d a r o f E v e n t so f E v e n t sb r o u g h t t o y o u b y :b r o u g h t t o y o u b y :

� Feb 19: CCA Banquet and Auction, Charlotte EventsCenter, 6 p.m., For information / reservations call 505-1344� February 28: Charlotte Warrior’s Tournament atLaishley Park Marina.� February 28: Bait Catching Ski l l s Seminar, 10 a.m.,West Marine, Port Charlotte, with Capt Bart Marx. Free� March 28: Grady White Captain’s & First Mate’sSymposium and Boat Show, Charlotte Event andConfrence Center 941-347-8086� April 25: Water LIFE Kids Cup Tournament,Fishermen’s Village, Punta Gorda 766-8180

The BIG-4The BIG-4 Fish to expect in FebruaryFish to expect in February

POMPANO: Out in front ofBull and Turtle Bay, close tothe Intracoastal and Passes

SHEEPSHEAD: around theintracoastal and moving upthe harbor now

SNAPPER: Reportedlythick offshore in 30 to 60feet of water

TROUT Moving up the harboror on the grass flats when itswarm

FishingFishingRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

StillStillGreat!Great!


20092009KIds CupKIds CupApril 25.April 25.

ApplicationsApplicationsAvailableAvailable

4265 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte941 - 625-5002


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Water LIFE Feb 2009