Water LIFE Feb 2016

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Charlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay, Venice, Estero, 10,000 Islands and the GulfCharlotte Harbor, Lemon Bay, Venice, Estero, 10,000 Islands and the Gulf

WaterWater LL II FEFEThe Don Ball School of FishingThe Don Ball School of Fishing

February 2016

Estero still goodin the wind Page 8

OFFSHORE FISHINGVenice Inlet Page 14

Unhooking aGoliath Grouper –

Bite slows withfalling temperatures

Page 6

Kayak FishingPage 20

SheepsheadSheepsheadcoming on strongcoming on strong

Fishing ReportFishing ReportPage 22-23Page 22-23

PAGE 2 EMAIL: [email protected] FEBRUARY 2016

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Michael & Ellen Heller Publishers

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Port Charlotte, FL 33952Independant - Not affiliatedwith any other publication!

Vol XV No 2 © 2016 NO PART of this publication (printed or

electronic) may be copied, reproduced or re-used without specific written permission fromthe publishers (and thatʼs never happened!).

Contributing Editors:Photography: ASA1000.com

Senior Editor: Capt. Ron BlagoCharlotte Harbor: Capt. Billy Barton

Baitshop: Fishinʼ FrankPeace River: Capt. David Stephens

Diving: Adam WilsonPunta Gorda: Capt. Chuck Eichner

Venice: Glen BallingerEstero: Capt. Joe Angius

Everglades City: Capt. Charlie PhillipsKayaking: Bob Fraser

Sea Grant: Capt. Betty StauglerBeach Fishing: Mallory Herzog

Pier Fishing: Bobby Vitalis

On the Cover: His face is hiddenbut Capt. Andrew Herzog put his angler

on this Goliath grouper last month atBoca Grande. Itʼs all part of Mallory

Herzogʼs story. See page 6

Send letters and photos to: [email protected]

LEONARD AT TOP NOTCH CANVAS“... A LOT MORE CALLS FROM YOUR PUBLICATIONTHAN FROM ... THAT OTHER WATER PUBLICATION”

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About Sending us Pictures: Yes! Please do!We like Fresh Fish so please donʼt send us old photos.We like the First Catch so donʼt send us pictures you are sending to another publication, like forinstance, the Charlotte Sun ;-(Bigger is Better, higher resolution is best. Please donʼt adjust, crop or sharpen your pictures.Let us to do that, it will look better!Send Where? email to: [email protected] or txt them, include your name, to 941-457-1316(txt only, voice calls are not answered)Best Picture Wins There is no guarantee your fish will appear in print, but if itʼs a better pictureof a bigger fish or something cool or unusual, it has a good chance of getting into the magazine.... and Thank You!

Dale Merchant and his father caught the ray and shark on Englewood pier under theTom Adams bridge. They texted us these photos. – Thanks!

Text Us your Fish! 941.457.1316Please include your name in the msg.

Dear Water LIFEAttached is a pic of a largemouth I caught the day afterChristmas. It was 26 inches long and weighed 10 pounds. Icaught it on a small spinner bait I make myself using 3-inchplastic grub from Fishinʼ Frank's. You can use the picture ifyou would like. My name is George King Thank you for publishing a great paper.Editor says: Thank YOU ..... and Nice Fish!


By Michael HellerWater LIFE EditorThis time of year commercial fishing

around Charlotte County is all about themullet. The primary drop-off point wheremullet boats unload their catch is atPlacida. In January 2015 I did a two pagespread on mullet fishing. The guys run-ning the operation at Placida gave me ac-cess to their dock and I hung out for acouple of mornings, right after the strongcold fronts came through, when the fishbegan to gather and move towards theGulf and the fishermen were chasing themwith their nets. There are always a few bad apples in

every basket. Last year one of the localFWC officers told me about a problemthey were having with some of the mulletfishermen leaving fish they didn’t wantfloating in big patches around the harbor. It was nothing new. Hey they’re just

trying to make a living, one of the othermullet anglers told me, and I wrote it. Next thing I knew, a big fence went up

around the mullet dock at Placida andphotographers, me in particular, were nolonger welcome. Banned from Placida...you can add it to my resume, but Hey, I’mjust trying to make a living.Commercial mullet fishing in and

around the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Pre-serve has numerous effects on our fishery.As I hear it, there is one alleged posi-

tive connection between mullet fishermen

in the back country and the long termhealth of the Estuary. It has to do withmullet going out into the Gulf to spawn. In the Gulf, both the male and the fe-

male mullet dive down to deeper waterwhere eggs and sperm are squeezed fromtheir bodies by the increased water pres-sure. In fresh water, eggs would sink anddie, but in the salinity of the Gulf the eggsand sperm rise to the surface where theymix and new life begins. Supposedly, inshore mullet fishermen,

throwing nets in the back country, breakup the schools of mullet, so when the fishmigrate out into the Gulf there isn’t onebig run of mullet in one place at the sametime. If too many mullet were to congre-gate they would attract the attention of thebig commercial fishing boats. Those boatswould then come into the near shore areawith their big purse-seine nets and takethe whole school. Not only would that be bad for the

mullet fishery, but the big purse seineboats, which close off the bottoms of theirnets and take in everything, would take ina huge by-catch. Our Estuary is a delicately balanced

breeding ground for numerous species andthey all depend on each other, in someway, for survival. So mullet fishing inCharlotte Harbor (Hey they’re just tryingto make a living) is perceived by some aspossibly, maybe, having a positive impact.In recent years we have seen an influx

of non-resident mullet fishermen cominginto our area to fish. They fish from boatsand they fish from our local piers. Theygo where the fish are and they will oftenrun through your fishing spot while youare fishing it. They will tell you Hey we’rejust trying to make a living, but some,maybe a lot, of those fishermen don’t givea damn about our Estuary or us.Go down to the Bayshore fishing pier

in Port Charlotte and look in the ditch tothe left of the parking lot as you face thepier. If the tide and the wind haven’tswept them out, you will probably see

dead mullet. They will all be males, dis-carded by greedy fishermen who onlywant the money-fish, the red-roe females.I don’t have a problem with guys

catching mullet, but I do have a problemwith guys wasting fish from our public re-source so they can make a buck for them-selves. To me, that’s the same thing aswhen a fishing tournament monopolizesan area or kills fish so they can put on ashow and turn a profit for themselves atour expense. Hey we’re just trying tomake a living doesn’t cut it when you arestealing or breaking the law.

Just Trying To Make a Living

Mullet from a boat on a trailer, are sorted and unloaded into shipping containers at Placida.Itʼs the female fish with the red roe that they want. Males, with white roe, are less valuable.

PAGE 6 EMAIL: W [email protected] FEBRUARY 2016

By Mallory HerzogWater LIFE FishingWinter arrived in the south as it always

does, with a cool-snap and now thosesummer-like days are few and far be-tween. We have had cold and rain andnow the fish are feeling it too. When thetemperatures started dropping, so did thebite. The last week of January was brutal.Goliath grouper are always hungry, it

seems as if these cool temps are bringingout the BIG guys to play. On a recentcharter, father and son pulled up two gi-ants pushing 400lbs! Seriously puttingour 600lb line and 50w reel to the test. Ibet these guys had sore arms the nextmorning. We are working with GreysFishtag Research and the FWC in hopesto begin tagging these grouper. FWC hasbeen doing a study over the last few years,trying to determine if these fish shouldcontinue to be protected or if they canopen them up to limited harvest. Thesegrouper have a very slow growth rate andwere nearly fished to extinction in the1980s. We are excited to lend a hand inthe study.Sheepshead are always a good winter

bite, especially for those fishermen wholike to bring home dinner. These fish likestructure such as rocks or bridges pilingsand can be caught by land or sea. Anglersshould look for structure covered in shells

and crustaceans. On a good-water-clarityday, you can see them milling around thepilings. Drop your bait right to them.They are known to be bait thieves, so aweight on the bottom is best, giving theangler an opportunity to feel the bite.They feed on barnacles by using their"human" like teeth to rip though the toughshell. Many anglers also use fiddler crabsor scape barnacles from whatever struc-ture they are fishing and put them on ahook. The best bite is during a rising tide. Delicious and fun to catch, mangrove

snapper have been a recent client favorite.Near shore we have been catching them inthe 20-25 inch range. These fish can reallytest your patience. They have great eye

sight and are known to eat only from verylight line. This isn't an issue unless yourfishing the bottom and getting broken offevery other bite. How can you fix this?Chum them up to the top. If you aredoing this effectively when you look inthe direction of your chum slick you willstart to see fish rising to the top. We use achum called Snapper up. It’s a wet drymix, that gets them in a frenzy. Once youspot these fish coming up in the slick,drift a piece of cut bait or small live baitback to them. I get more bites with a morenatural drift and I like to leave the bail ofthe reel open, as you see your line start tomove, close the bail and just reel.You can contact Big Bully Outdoors Char-

ters for a trip with Mallory’s husband, Capt.Andrew Herzog. Call 941-661-9880 or visit BigBullyOutdoors.com

Bite Drops As Temperature Falls

Goliath grouper continue to populate the old Phosphete Dock at Boca Grande

FEBRUARY 2016 BACK ISSUES @ BACK ISSUES @ WWW.WATERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM PAGE 7


By Captain Joe AngiusWater LIFE Estero Bay Inshore light-tackle saltwater fishing will teach an-

glers one thing: humility. This statement becomes espe-cially true when an angler must apply his skills andknowledge to the waterways of Estero Bay. Since EsteroBay is a shallow water estuary that covers approximately15 square miles, the slightest change in weather condi-tions, specifically wind, will impact your day of fishing.Last month and this month to follow showcase some ofSouthwest Florida’s drastically changing wind andweather conditions. Wind direction in Estero Bay plays an integral role in

tide fluctuation, water quality and clarity ... and roughopen-waters to cross. If the wind is coming from the east,

usually whenwind speedsreach 10 mphor more, an an-gler will findthat an outgo-ing tide willflush water outfaster than nor-mal and be re-sponsible for ashallower lowtide. This east

wind direction and speed will also slow or completelystop and incoming tide from happening. The oppositeapplies to a wind coming from the west, where an in-coming tide will come in faster and make the water-level higher. As this month moves on, Estero Bay will continue to

experience unexpected and odd weather conditions thatwill affect the inshore fishing. It is important not to getdiscouraged and remember that optimal weather condi-tions do not necessarily mean optimal fishing. On mymost recent charters, my clients braved the cold morn-ings and found that it paid off. We managed to get out ofthe wind, deep into the backwaters and find fish. There were a couple of occasions where I was chal-

lenged with an eastward wind that blew the water outtoo much and left me with little to no water. In that in-stance I was definitely humbled from what mother-na-ture can do. No matter what preparation was done thenight before, it often does not prepare us for tomorrow’sday of fishing.If you decide to experience the shallow waters of Es-

tero Bay, remember to respect other boaters and thewildlife that resides in our estuary. Rules and regula-tions are put into place to conserve and protect the bayand they should be abided. With our recent extremeweather events, it has left a lot of debris in the watersuch as chairs and mangrove limbs. The beaches arestrewn with shells, starfish and other creatures. Be cau-tious boating from spot to spot and be mindful of the

weather conditions around you. Captain Joe Angius (727) 234-3171

Speakeasyfishing.com [email protected]

Estero Bay Relentless East Winds but still plenty of fish!


By Capt. David StephensWater LIFE Charlotte HarborWinter has finally arrived in

South West Florida, but even withthe water temperatures droppingyou can still have a very produc-tive day on the water. During thewinter months when our watercan cool down below 70 degrees,a large majority of our fish mi-grate to deeper water. CharlotteHarbor has two main rivers thatflow into it: The Myakka on theNorth West end, and on the NorthEast end the Peace River. We also havemiles of man made canals. During this time of year the main rea-

son our fish migrate to these areas is depth.Water cools from the surface to the bot-tom. So the deeper the water, the warmer itwill remain close to the bottom, during acold front. Everyone that knows me knowssnook is my fish of choice to target. Well,during the winter, unfortunately the snookgo into a hibernation stage and do not feedvery well. The good news is we haveplenty of other fish that will feed well dur-ing this time of year. We just have tochange up our approach and slow thingsdown. That even goes for the type of baitwe choose to use. I have put up my cast nets for a couple

months and got out my shrimp gear.Cooler water means slowing down. A bigpart of slowing down is the type of bait wechoose to use. Shrimp is a lot slower mov-ing bait so fish don’t have to chase them.There are several ways you can fish live

shrimp. I prefer the two basic ways. Thefirst way is on a jig head. I use this methodwhen I am fishing deeper water, such asthe rivers and residential canals. Currentflow plays a big part on the weight of jighead I use. Normally I use a 1/8oz, butoften, if the tide and current are to strong, Iwill bump that up to a 1/4oz. Other times Iwill flat line a shrimp with just a circlehook. If necessary I often add a small splitshot to slow my drift. Another way that I like to fish live

shrimp is under a popping cork. Normally,when I use this technique, I am fishingdepths in the 4-6 foot range. I also fish thisway with a jig head.Trout is a great species to target this

time of the year. Even with the cooler wa-ters they seem to feed very well. I havefound often it’s best to try both techniques;on the bottom andwith a popping cork. When the bottom allows you to, it may

be better to get your bait down to the fish.Some days they may come off the bottomto feed, some days not, so mix it up to seewhat works best. Sheepshead is anothergreat cold water fish. During the wintermonths these guys school up to spawn.Your going to want to use a small circle

hook and a split shot for these guys. Docksand pilings that have good growth iswhere they like to hang out. Slow yourpresentation down, and fish a little deeper,try some of the rivers and canals. That willhelp get the rod bent for you. If you would like to experience some of

Charlotte Harbor’s best fishing give me a callor send me an email. All of our charters areprivate and customized to fit you and your par-ties needs. Capt. Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com 941-916-5769

Water Cools From the Top Down

By Capt. Billy BartonWater LIFE InshoreWhen the month of December came to an end and we

transitioned into the new year it was almost like MotherNature wasn't going to bring us a winter in 2016. How-ever she went and flipped the light switch upstairs and inthe blink of an eye we are now bearing witness to one ofthe coolest and wettest winters that the Sunshine Statehas been through in years. So what kind of role does our climate play in our local

fishing? Major! Our weather patterns are at the top of thelist of factors that control how these fish are going to act.If our weather is somewhat consistent then these fish willfall into a particular eating pattern and they won't movearound quite as much. When our local weather is like aroller coaster the fish get confused and move all over theplace. They won't reside in one area for long, and if youaren't out there following them on a daily basis than youcould have some problems keeping up with what they'redoing. Typically during our winter months the bulk of our in-

shore species will push inside the passes and migrate upinto the bay and rivers in search of warmer water. Thedark bottom and dark water in our upper Harbor tend toabsorb what little heat is put off by the sun, making this amore comfortable habitat for them to reside. Some fish such as snook and tarpon are extremely in-

tolerant when it comes to cold water. We tend to not tar-get these fish as much in the heart of winter. When ourwater temperatures in the bay get down into the 60s their

metabolisms slow down drastically. They don't have toeat as much to survive, nor will they exert a great deal ofenergy to hunt down a meal. On a bright note however, Charlotte Harbor is far from

a duck pond and we have plenty of other species of fishto get out there and keep us busy! Redfish, speckledtrout, sheepshead, pompano, and flounder are all fish thatcooperate fairly well when our water temperature is onthe low side. These fish are all a great time on the rodand they all make for great table fair. Their main focus food wise is on small crustaceans.

Live shrimp is always a sure bet throughout the wintermonths and into the early spring. My confidence cur-rently is in a tailhooked shrimp on an 1\8th ounce goldflake jighead. I like to make a long cast and slowly

Low and Slow is the Way to GoPAGE 10 EMAIL: W [email protected] FEBRUARY 2016


twitch my shrimp. I like to make it hop a foot or so off ofthe bottom, than let it rest and continue. This will keepproving itself effective for the next couple of months.Shrimp are a slow moving creature. The slower you fishthis and the more patience you have while working it, thebetter off you will do.During the hours of daylight a shrimp will bury itself

under the sand or hide under the grass. When a predatorswims by, the shrimp will spook backwards by snappingits tail to try and get away from whatever is after it. Thisis exactly what you are mimicking with this particular rig. When our water temperature meets 70 degrees again

and starts to climb in the later part of winter or in theearly spring. This will be when it's time to transition backto live sardines and pinfish on the grass flats in CharlotteHarbor. Until then... Shrimp-On my friends!! Fish themlow and fish them slow. It should be the only way to go! If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to

this article please give me a call and I'll be happy to helpout however I can. Best of luck out there! Keep that linetight! Captain Billy Barton, Scales N Tails Charters941-979-6140 http://www.puntagordafishingcharter.com

Water LIFE Staff ReportTwo months ago Mote Marine ca-

sually announced they were raisingredfish for sale. Now we know more.On January 11, NOAA published afinal rule implementing our nationʼsfirst regional regulatory program foroffshore aquaculture in federal wa-ters. In doing so, NOAA is expandingopportunities for U.S. seafood farm-ing in the open ocean. NOAA saysthey and their partners “are workingto advance and expand U.S. aqua-culture, as a complement to wild har-vests, to keep our fisheriessustainable and resilient to growingdemand.” State approval is expectedto mimic the federal rule, so perhapsthat Charlotte Harbor redfish hatch-ery we have been talking about forso many years might not be that far

off.The new rule

took into accountthousands of pub-lic comments andauthorizes NOAAFisheries to issue

permits for an initial period of 10years for growing species such asred drum, cobia, and almaco jack infederal waters in the Gulf.

The term marine aquaculturespecifically refers to the culturing ofspecies that live in the ocean. Todaythe U.S. marine aquacultureindustry primarily producesoysters, clams, mussels,shrimp, and salmon.

Marine aquaculture cre-ates jobs, supports resilientworking waterfronts andcoastal communities and pro-vides international trade op-portunities.

According to NOAA, after30 years of innovation andlearning, “the practices andtechnologies available todayare significantly improvedover those available duringthe industryʼs early years.”

NOAA, and their partnershave already developed theeconomically and environmentallysustainable marine aquaculture prac-tices shown here. U.S. aquaculturecurrently accounts for 20 percent of

the value of domestic fisherylandings, but U.S. production

still lags behind much of theworld despite representing asignificant opportunity forcoastal communities and do-mestic seafood production ca-pacity.


NOAA Expands Opportunities for US Aquaculture

Gulf of Mexico Ruleopens the doorfor fish farming in the Gulf and open ocean

Divers around an open-ocean aquaculturecage at the Cape Eleuthera Institiute in theBahamas.

Hawaii: The diver above is shown for a size comparison tothe fish cage in the middle photo. The cage itself has asurface marker attached, seen to the left of the vessel inthe top photo.

Atlantic Cod farm at Great Bay M aine

Muscles at the Tottin Inlet facility in Wash.

Floating Sablefish tanks in Washington

Oyster farming at Washington

Ocean fish cage in Hawaii Sablefish in Washington

New Hampshire sugar kelp

AAQQUU AATICA


By Capt. Betty StauglerWater LIFE / Sea Grant

Shellfish aquaculture isa relatively new pursuit inFlorida. It began in the1970s in the Indian River Lagoon whenattempts were made to culture hard clamsas a means of taking pressure off declin-ing wild populations. Techniques for pro-ducing seed clams had been developed20 years prior and Harbor BranchOceanographic Institution (HBOI) devel-oped early grow-out technologies basedon culture methods already used in theNortheast but modified for Floridaʼs sub-tropical and subtidal conditions.

These early efforts got a major boost inthe early 1990s as a result of federally-funded job retraining programs designedto provide employment opportunities fordisplaced workers from the commercialfishing industry. The most notable retrain-ing program began in 1994 as a result ofthe net ban.

In 1995 a position was created withinUF-IFAS Extension to assist the emergentshellfish aquaculture industry on Floridaʼswest coast and that position later ex-panded to allow for statewide extensionactivities. Through the efforts of HBOI, UF,Florida Sea Grant, and many others, over350 program graduates were trained andplaced onto shellfish aquaculture leasesof 2-4 acres. These entities continue tosupport this industry through integratedresearch, education and extension activi-ties today.

Here in the early days, Dan Leonard,who had a lease originally in Bull Bay,was the project manager for the retrainingprograms in Charlotte and Lee Countieswith an office in Placida. These programsresulted in about 90 graduates. TonyHeeb, who is still in growing clams today,was also employed by HBOI as a techni-cian and ran a shellfish nursery that wasset up in Bokeelia.

In southwest Florida, aquaculturelease sites are established in GasparillaSound behind Sandfly Key, in Pine IslandSound near Demere Key, and inside BullBay. Over 50 leases in our area are ac-tively farmed today, but many of the faceshave changed since the 1990s.

Tending to crops is very different fromfishing. Those that adapted to the farminglifestyle survived but many moved on toother things. Only a few of the original

Pine Island Sound farmersmaintain their leases, other-wise those practicing shellfishaquaculture today are new.

Successful clam farmingrequires good, clean water,free from contamination.Water quality and periodic redtide blooms produce thebiggest challenges for south-west Florida clam farmers.Clam farmers are hardwork-ing, business savvy, and ac-

tively involved inthe regulatory andseafood safety as-pects of the busi-ness. To make aprofit and keeptheir businessalive, they need toensure their prod-uct is safe for con-sumers. Floridaenforces strictsafety protocolsfor molluscanshellfish to ensureconsumers are

getting a safe product so farmers mustsell to a Certified Shellfish Dealer.

Successful clam farmers also need tobe innovators. As one told me “necessityis the mother of invention.” And that isabsolutely true. Growing conditions arevery different from region to region. Hereclam leases are in water deeper thanother farmed areas of the state. As a re-sult special dive gear and harvestingmethods are necessary. Who better todevelop or tweak tools of the trade forlocal conditions than those who will bene-fit the most?

Up until recently shellfish aquaculturein Florida consisted solely of hard clams,but new crops such as sunray venusclams and oysters are coming online andothers are being evaluated. Clam farmersin southwest Florida are particu-larly excited about sunray venusclams, a species that naturallygrows here and is thus wellsuited for growing in this area.

You might ask, where do allof these raised clams go? Al-though dated, a 1999 report in-dicated that the southwestFlorida industry sold more thanhalf of their product to buyersoutside of the state (55 per-cent), 39 percent to other re-gions in Florida, and only 6%locally. A 2009 report aggregated

southwest Florida with east Florida.Those results indicated that the majorityof clams were sold to other wholesaledealers, followed by retailers, followed byrestaurant buyers and final consumers.According to local farmer and producerBarry Hurt, most of the clams producedhere today stay in southwest Florida.

How important is this industry inFlorida? Here are some 2015 stats. Thesenumbers are not available by region (andit is important to note the bulk of clamfarming in Florida occurs in Cedar Key),but here goes: in 2015, 1,548 acres ofsubmerged land were leased from theState of Florida for shellfish aquaculture,288 farmers worked these leases, 543jobs were supported by aquaculture, 136billion clams were produced, sales bydealer totaled $19.6 million, with a totaleconomic impact to Florida estimated at$38.7 million.

Aquaculture leases in Florida are man-aged by the Division of Aquaculture withinthe Florida Department of Agriculture andConsumer Services. Leases are ten-yearterm and renewable with annual feesbased on the size of the lease. Newleases can be requested through an appli-cation process. Capt. Betty Staugler, Florida Sea GrantAgent. UF/IFAS Extension CharlotteCounty (941) 764-4346

Clam Leases Local Aquaculture

Tony Heebʼs new generation of local clammers, selltheir clams at a Cape Coral farmerʼs market

Curtis Hemmelʼs Bay Shellfish Compant shows of ahand full of little clams in Terra Cia

Clamming in 2003 behind Sandfly Key in the Gasparilla Sound

AQU AATTIICCAA


CANVAS &UPHOLSTERY

January Fishing: Offshore Galore with Capt. Joe Miller Report:The fishing out of Venice Inlet

continues to be good.... on those daysthat the anglers can get out. Lastmonth was tough, with two majorfronts coming through, bringing galeforce winds and driving rain. Butthere were some beautiful days toowhen there were grouper, amberjacksand little tuna galore

Steve Rogers with an AJ caught on Jan 8 Mo Hindmarsh, Glen Ballinger and a little tuna Alex Timmons and friend with their grouper, 30-miles off Venice


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE InshoreExtra low tides and windy weather de-

fine February in southwest Florida, butCharlotte Harbor fish still have to eat, re-gardless of the cold and wind, and withsome patience and diligence you can havesome great fishing.On this particular day, we had a cold

morning with a warming afternoon withtemperatures reaching into the 70s. An in-coming tide late in the day presented anopportunity for fish that have retreatedfrom the shallows to again return to feed.Leaving the dock at noon allowed the wa-ters to warm and the tide to rise. Ourmethod of fishing was basic using a baitholder hook, with splitshot and a shrimprigged weedless (Texas style). As the af-ternoon progressed we cast around theperimeter of mangrove islands, sandholes,creek mouths and any depression that pro-vided a foot or more of depth over the sur-rounding waters. Fishing in less than 3feet of water on high tide is not a confi-dence builder, but that is what it takes. Friend Ken Ice and I methodically cast

and retrieved the shrimp very slowly withoccasional pauses to allow the shrimp tofall back to the bottom. The best methodof presenting the bait is to raise the rod tipto move the line then dropping the rod tipto take up the slack. The fish will almostalways take the shrimp as it drops backdown into the water column.If your are patient enough to cover a lot

of water sooner or later you will find agroup of redfish and that is when the funstarts. This time of year, expect that mostfish will be under 20 inches so using alight action rod makes these fish feel likemonsters. Our first hotspot produced 5redfish before things went quiet which ledus to move to other mangrove islandsprobing the shallows with medium sizedshrimp. Not every spot produced for sure. A

strong bite on one island met with adogged fight and a fish pulling drag.About a minute later a monster

sheepshead came boatside.Sheepies in shallow water arefun and there are more on theflats then you might think!This time of year you won’t

see sheets of silvery white baitflicking around and pinfishflashing in the grass. In fact, youwon’t see much activity in the shal-lows, but small mud minnows, shrimpand crabs are hiding and the fish knowit! Redfish, trout, sheepshead, flounder

and a host of other species sulk in thedepths of the harbor only to return tofeed when the water gets deep enoughto search the grass flats and mangrovebackcountry. As our day progressed we hit one

spot that produced 20 redfish and attimes we had two on at a time! Thespot was not much to look at, but smallmud minnows were scurrying around acreek mouth where we found these fishwhich we guessed was the attraction. Interestingly, some redfish were red-

dish in color and others were silver.My belief is that the silvery redfish areones that just came out of the deeper,cooler water of the harbor. Patience, confidence and persistence

are more important than technique forcolder weather fishing. Approach theshallows with stealth and you will be sur-

prised at all the fish you don’t see that biteyour line!Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action Flats

Backcountry Charters and can be reached at941-628-8040

Patience, Confidence and Persistence


By Capt. Charlie PhillipsWater LIFE / Everglades CityFebruary 2016 is off to great start down here in the

Everglades. The warmer than usual weather has of-fered some great opportunities for quite the variety offish to target and made days on the water a lot of fun. Ihope it lasts! On the inshore side we have seen some great

catches of redfish and snook. The warmer water hadthe fish really all over the place, but as each cold frontfinally started coming thru, it got a little more pre-dictable each week. I have been targeting my redfish in the back bays

that hold good water, has some flow and plenty of oys-ter bars. Places like Pumpkin Bay and House Ham-mock are good starting points to look for a red. Wetarget these guys using two methods, a big live shrimpunder a popping cork worked along the bars, or artifi-

cial plastics and hardbaits worked aroundthose same bars. Thesemethod will also netyou some slot trout aswell and has done justthat all month long. When you can, try

to take advantage ofthe cleaner water forsome awesome sightfishing opportunitieswhile you’re in theback. The water reallydoes clean up in placesand if you find a smallbay in the lee of the

wind, it can be money this time of year. Look for fishpushing, tailing or mullet moving around and you’llhave the signs of life you need for some action. We have been doing well on snook in the creeks

that join these back bays as well this month and as thewater cools down more and more, this will become aneven better place to look. Also, in those same creeks,don’t be surprised to find a juvenile tarpon or two. Forme, there is nothing finer then a 10-15 pound creek tar-pon. The fight is incredible with lots of action and ac-robatics. As we move thru the winter, take some timeto do some exploring and see what you can find. Lots of trout on the grass south of Pavilion all

month, with some good catches being taken home forthe supper table. A popping cork with a live shrimp ishard to beat, but for the bigger fish, remember an adultspeckled trout will eat way more finned fish thenshrimp, so a hard bait that mimics a baitfish is alwaysa good search tool. Don’t be surprised to catch a fewbluefish, ladyfish and Spanish macs out there as well.

And if you try throw-ing a small shrimptipped jig you shouldfind a pompano or two.We have been doinggreat this month ongolden nuggets. Offshore, the triple-

tail have been thick onthe crab pots, so asyou transit the areato fish your spots,its always a greatidea to find atrapline to run ifyou can. The redgrouper bite hasbeen very strong inwater around the35-foot mark westof Marco. Aknocker rig with achunk of squid orcut grunt is all youneed to fill the box.Also, there are some big lane snapper out there rightnow too. Overall January was a great month down here in the

Glades. It looks like we will be transitioning to a moretraditional winter time fishery now, so stay tuned fornext month’s report when I will hopefully have somesheepshead for you. See you out there!

Capt. Charlie Phillips: 863-517-1829e-mail: [email protected]

Web: hopefishing.com

10,000 Islands / Everglades City


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By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE BaitshopDeath and destruction,

has ended for the night.Sound bad and a little dramatic? It’s truenone the less. The drag netting of wildshrimp is not a real good thing. The aver-age by-catch is around 15 pounds of otherlife or shrimp too small to sell and all ofthat goes over board, either dead or soonto be eaten by waiting birds and dolphinhanging around the shrimp boat.I have learned many things in my time

here at the bait shop. One of them is, weneed commercial fisherman to get our baitor even a night-out fish dinner, but somethings just do not make sense. Commercial shrimping for food-

shrimp in Charlotte Harbor is not a goodthing. Charlotte Harbor is a favorite placefor the larger shrimping boats which workthe Gulf of Mexico. When the wind getstoo strong to be in the Gulf safely, like ithas lately, those boats head into CharlotteHarbor where the shrimpers can lay upuntil the wind lays down. What’s evenbetter for them, this time of year the Har-bor is full of shrimp. Brown shrimp are on the move. The

brown shrimp live in the deep waters ofthe Gulf from 60 feet down to almost 600feet, but most commonly in water 100 feetdeep, where they spawn and their eggs be-come part of the plankton. As the freyshrimp hatch they wash into the Harborand swim as far into the creeks and canalsas possible, or they scatter across thegrass flats. Growing at a rate of about 1/3

of an inch a month a shrimp may becomeadults in a year and are able to spawn. Shrimp is the basic food for everything

including us humans. They spawn thou-sands of tiny eggs each time so there is

genetic safety in their numbers. Humanshave learned to make nets and trawls tocatch them by the thousands each pull.The nets have heavy doors which drag onthe bottom, keeping the nets open andclose to the sand. Often a chain is draggedin front of the net to scare the shrimp upoff the bottom and into the net.Ever wonder why the bottom of Char-

lotte Harbor is so flat? Watch your depthfinder and you will not see anything; nobumps or junk on the bottom. Anything

caught in the net of a shrimper is dumpedat the Alligator Creek reef or in the holeoff Pirate Harbor. Now this could be agood thing in a way, but fish like habitat,not open bottom. No reefs, man made ornatural, have a chance to develop here,they will be dragged off each fall or win-ter by the big off shore shrimp boats.

Why is this a big deal for the Harbor?Let’s look at Texas. The snapper andgrouper were becoming scarce, fishingwas getting real bad in the Gulf off Texas.So they did studies and a simple thing wasfound out: The fish were lacking food.Without enough food the snapper andgrouper did not grow or reproduce verywell at all. Starving fish are just nothealthy... who would have guessed?

So Texas now closes its shrimping forfood shrimp until the shrimp have become

large enough to spawn – about 4.5 inches,it takes about a year for a shrimp to reachthat size. Only after the state of Texas hassampled its shrimp can the commercialfood-take of shrimp begin. Florida has noclosed season on shrimp so many boatswho's home state closes its shrimpingcome to Florida for that time. They knowCharlotte Harbor is a good place toweather a storm so these huge boats an-chor up and at night they work, draggingup and down the Harbor. The biggestproblem I have with this is that the vastmajority of what is caught is not good tosell. Shrimp too small, bait fish, flounderand many other creatures are all tossedback dead. Food shrimpers pull/drag theirnets until the boat slows down. Theshrimp can not escape. It’s very effective. We need commercial fishermen, they

are not bad people or indifferent to thefate of marine life, but still, some forms offishing are just not good. Commercialshrimping has come a long way, with netsthat let out a lot of fish and exclude turtlesbut not all of it lives. They are good peo-ple in a line of work which is out dated.Why is shrimping for food allowed in aNational Estuary in the first place? TampaBay has out-lawed the take of food shrimpentirely. Why is it still allowed here? Be-cause we do not see it. They do it at nightand, most often, when the weather is toobad to be in the Gulf. They are dumpingthousands of pounds of shrimp dead intothe water instead of letting them grow upto feed the fish. We need to adopt Texasstyle laws or stop all together the com-mercial take of shrimp in Charlotte Har-bor and other places.

[email protected] 941-625-3888

Under the Cover of Darkness

This is one typical ʻpullʼ by a small one man shrimp boat in Charlotte Harbor. The shrimp arepicked out by hand. Everything else goes back to the waiting dolphins and birds.

By Peter WelchWater LIFE Sailing

That weather phenomenon known as ElNiño is upon us. It can produce hurri-canes and winter crop damage and it cangive us winter tornados and we’ve seenmost of that already this year!Like many others I came here to sail

thru the winter. Who knew about Floridatornados? Recent events in Cape Coraland lesser damage in Charlotte Countybeg we adapt quickly. At 4 AM this Jan17th a wind force of 47 knots was meas-ured at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club.

The effect at the Port Charlotte BeachComplex was to throw the boats at theSailing Center there around. One 20 ftboat tipped its trailer over. There were twodismastings and numerous minor damage.Do we need to use our hurricane prepared-ness measures in the winter?Fortunately, 18 Flying Scotts found the

weather just right for their January 9 -10regatta. Sixteen boats completed threeraces on day 1 and T Mcnally lead by onepoint over M Faugust. But a ninth placefinish in race 4 left him second to Faugustby two points after race five. Mark Taylorand young daughter had two first and two

tenth place finishes forsixth overall. Noyelling (skippers!) andthere is a great futurefor them when she getsher growing spurt. The 34th Golden

Conch Regatta was avictim of El Nino. Twenty three boats

were registered. Theweather forecast for thescheduled January 23 -24event was dire and the weather the day be-fore when the boats were to be deliveredwas worse, so the event was rescheduledfor one week later. The weather forecasts

had been correct, so when the forecastwas replicated a week later the event wasabandoned until next year. The right movebased on the damage in south west duringthat two week period.


Gale Force Winds Cancel Conquistador Cup

$2 off any haircut!

No Golden Conch Regatta this day Fran Burstein for Water LIFE


SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

Prostate Cancer HelpBy Michael HellerWaterLIFE publisherI am writing about this because I want other men to

know there are options, good options, if you are diag-nosed with prostate cancer. In 2013 I was diagnosed withprostate cancer. Today I am cancer free and living a 100-percent normal life. I was treated with Proton Therapy, ahigh tech kind of radiation. You should look into this.Proton Therapy uses protons instead of conventional

x-ray’s photons. Protons release their energy at the siteof the cancer, so unlike conventional radiation, there islittle or no colateral damage from the 'beam' radiating itsway in on one side of your body, then through the cancerand then radiating on through your organs on the otherside of the cancer until it radiates out the other side ofyour body. 'Gentler on the patient, harder on cancer' isthe mantra of Proton Therapy, but when I told my urolo-gist in Port Charlotte that I was thinking about ProtonTherapy, he did all he could to talk me out of it. He toldme it was "much too expensive" of a treatment and thatby me having this treatment under my Medicare insur-ance I was "unfairly spending other taxpayer's money."

He’s a liberal kind of guy, but a good doctor. He sug-gested I go to the neighborhood radiation facility downthe block. “It’s the same thing, same result” he said, but Iknew better. I had spoken to a number of proton patientsand found out there are little or no side effects from Pro-ton Therapy. Recovery time after treatment is short andeveryone I talked to was living a normal life. With con-ventional radiation it is not always that way.

Proton Therapy is a regemin of 39 treatments. Theprotons actually only zap you for about a minute, the restof your treatment time is spent changing into a gown,being positioned on the treatment table and then chang-ing back into your street clothes. You can’t feel the pro-tons. Treatments are five days a week for 8 weeks, butthere is one catch, the nearest Proton facility is at theUniversity of Florida Hospital in Jacksonville. If you fol-low this publication regularly, you know I was up inJacksonville for a while last spring, now you know why.If you might be a candidate for treatment of prostate

cancer, or if you know someone dealing with that dis-ease, then visit WaterLIFEmagazine.com website andclick on the FloridaProton link. This isn’t an advertis-ment, it’s my own blog along with some photos that Itook while I was in Jacksonville – Proton Therapyworked out really well for me and I’m hoping to be ableto help others.

Note* Proton Therapy isn’t just for prostate cancer, in fact,prostate cancer treatments make up only a small part of theproton facility’s case load. One of their specialties is treatingchildren. Children from around the world travel with their par-ents to Jacksonville for proton treatment since Proton Therapyis an excellent approach to treating cancers of the head andneck in the delicate and still developing bodies of childre n.

A family with a child being treated for cancer emergesfrom the Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville. ProtonTherapy is especially successful treating cancers in chil-dren, but it has also proven to be very successful in treat-ing prostate cancer in older men.

GIMME A BREAK! An officer on land pa-trol in the Webb WMA when he heard thesound of motors revving east of his loca-tion. He drove in the direction of thenoise and observed two trucks muddingand damaging public lands. One of thetrucks drove into a deep ditch and beganspinning mud in the air before becomingstuck. Lieutenant Ruggiero stopped thetrucks and when asked what they weredoing, one of the men said, “They justwanted to get their trucks a little dirty.”Both men were issued misdemeanor ci-tations for destruction to public lands.

FOCUS PLEASE A new underwatercamera has been developed that can seetwo to three times further under waterthan existing cameras.

NOT AGAIN NOAA Fisheries seeks pub-lic comment on Amendment 28 to theFishery Management Plan for the ReefFish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico toagain reallocate the red snapper harvestand reallocate the Gulf of Mexico 2016and 2017 red snapper stock annual catchlimit between the commercial and recre-ational sectors. This would result in re-vising the 2016 and 2017 quotas.

YOUR FISH ARE CUT BAIT FWC offi-cers conducted a safety and resource in-spection on a commercial vesselapproximately 1/4 mile off the Gulf sideof Boca Grande Island. Some of the fishon board were not properly iced. Whenasked why the fish were not properlyiced, the individual stated he ran out ofice and did not want to throw back any ofthe fish. The individual was escorted tothe local fish house where the fish notsafe for human consumption were soldoff as bait. An officer was patrolling private property

owned by Mosaic Mines in south PolkCounty and observed a vehicle trespass-ing. After a short pursuit, The officer wasable to stop the vehicle and make con-tact with the driver. Two other subjectsexited the passenger side and fled. Thesubjects were commercial fishing fortilapia and were in possession of approxi-mately 200 pounds of fish.

BIRD BRAINS Painted and indigobuntings breed in northern Florida, spendthe winter primarily in southern Floridaand can be found throughout much of the

state during spring and fall migration.Poachers illegally trap these beautifulbirds to sell them. The traps that are nor-mally used are elaborate, transparent de-vices that can be found hanging fromtrees 2 to 4 feet above the ground in highgrasses, where the wintering birds like toseek cover.

SHARK TANKED An FWC officer re-sponded to a shark placed in a condo-minium pool on the ICW in Lake Worth.The complainant advised that she ob-served two young males running from theMarinerʼs Cay pool. Upon approachingthe pool, the complainant advised she

observed a 5 footlong black tip sharkin the pool whichappeared to still bealive. The sharkwas taken out of thepool and releasedback into the ICWby the FWC. The in-cident is still beinginvestigated.

ONGOINGABUSE FROM CHARLOTTE COUNTY The intersectionof Lake View Boulevard and EdgewaterDrive will be closed until further notice aspart of the Edgewater Drive Phase 2 Im-provements that will widen EdgewaterDrive from Harbor Boulevard to MidwayBoulevard. Thatʼs a total distance of 1.8miles and it is taking TWO YEARS towiden it. The Interstate bridge over theCallosahatchee too less time to build.Worse yet, citizens are putting up with it!

RED FACES IN SPANISH NAVY TwoColombians ran a major heroin and co-caine smuggling operation to New Yorkaboard the Royal Spanish Navyʼs officialtraining ship, paying thousands of dollarsin bribes to midshipmen on the vessel.The sailors picked up drugs in Cartagenaduring a six-month international voyageand delivered them to New York traffick-ers in April 2014, when the Juan Sebast-ian de Elcano was docked near theaircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid .

By Bob Fraser Water LIFE KayakingThe forecast for the day was

foggy, misty and cold. The sunwas supposed to come out about10:00 am and the wind was sup-posed to die down. After 5 hoursof fishing the wind picked up andwe never saw the sun. I thoughtit was a miserable day, by thetime we got back to the launchsite I was wet and cold. On theother hand, my client that justflew down from Indiana for a twoweek vacation, thought it was agood day. He said it was 50 de-grees colder where he just camefrom. Most of my clients comedown from the north, so this timeof the year the weather is alwaysbetter in Florida regardless of what we think. We did catch sometrout and plenty of blowfish in spite of the weather. The blowfishwere eating my soft plastic and my clients shrimp.The trip was scheduled for 6 hours but we called it a day after 5

hours. I would have called it a day after 3 hours if I was by myself.My client Mike enjoyed himself despite the weather. When I takesomeone on a kayak fishing trip, I like to educate them about kayakfishing and teach them about saltwater fishing. I talk about thegrass flats, the spotty bottom (sandy spots in the grass), I talk aboutfishing the tides, mangrove shore line, etc. I teach them how to usea popping cork, artificial lures, how to hook a shrimp and other tips.I want them to be able to go fishing in the future with enough in-formation so they have a better chance of having a successful day

on the water.I also inform my clients

of the good surf fishing wehave in the area. I teachthem how to fish from shore:what type of rod & reelsthey need, terminal tackle,bait, and places to go. I be-lieve by helping them I’mshowing our southern hospi-tality and hope they willcome back and visit usagain. Having visitors comeback to our area can impactmany of our local busi-nesses: hotels, resorts, baitshops, restaurants, otherfishing guides, etc.I taught math and Special

Education for 14 years be-fore I retired three years ago. These days, I’m teaching young peo-ple and adults how to fish and my classroom is the flats of SWFlorida. I enjoy having young people on my kayak charters, espe-cially those that have never fished before.Those of you that are new to Charlotte County and saltwater

fishing, check out my next fishing class at the Cultural Center, it’sin February. We meet two nights in the classroom and our thirdclass is at Boca Grande Beach. We surf fish for 3-4 hours, puttinginto practice what you learned in the classroom. We catch floun-der, sheepshead, pompano, whiting, drum, Spanish mackerel, snookand sharks.Bob Fraser is a southwest Florida kayak fishing guide – He can be

reached for comments or to book a trip at: 941-916-8303 or email him [email protected] His website is ww.kayakfishingwithbob.com

Kayak Fishing: Trout and Blowfish on a Miserable Day Manatees and scienceThe manatee is among the most

studied creatures in Florida, and itsnumbers have increased over the pastfew decades. Manatees' range has ex-ploded, as they are now found up theEastern Seaboard into Virginia, andaround the Gulf Coast to Texas, as theyrely on thermal pollution outfalls inthese new areas.

In Florida, numbers of individual ani-mals are near 1,000 in certain wintergathering spots. There, water quality isimpacted, sea grasses are impacted,and other species suffer from loss ofhabitat.

Whether or not the manatees are"cute," "lovable" or "beautiful" is notpart of the scientific equation. The U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service has studiedthe science and has come to the con-clusion that the animal does not qualifyfor "endangered" status.

The Board of Directors of StandingWatch, Florida's largest boating advo-cacy organization, applauds the servicefor its announcement, even though ittook the Pacific Legal Foundation's fil-ing a legal challenge to get the agencyto act on its own science.

Emotional rhetoric should have noplace in this discussion. Let sciencespeak, and let the regulators do theirjobs. The mainstream press does a dis-service when it engages in the samerhetoric.Jim Kalvin president, founder andCEO, Standing Watch, Naples



On The Line By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffLast month I attended the the monthly

meeting of the Beach and Shores Advi-sory Committee. I was asked to attendtheir meetings because they are the leadcommittee for the Stump Pass project.Their meetings are always well attendedby the public and the information fromthe county staff members and engineeringconsultants is more detailed and up todate at their meeting than you will findany place else in Charlotte County gov-ernment. That is where I got the latestbad news about the Stump Pass project.The Army Corps of Engineers still has notsigned off on the project. They had tillDec.15th to sign the approval or theschedule would have to be pushed back.We were assured there would be no prob-lem. So here is where we stand now. Theproject time line has now been pushedback another 4 or possibly 9 months. Now one of the biggest difficulties will

be trying to work around turtle nestingseason which is from May to October.Manasota Key has one of the highestnumbers of sea turtle nests in the State, soregulations prohibit any constructionwork north of the pass during thosemonths. If the Army Corps of Engineers 'sapproval is on hand this month; the newschedule could be:

March - the bids will go out for a 30day period.Then the selected contractor will be

awarded the contract.In July equipment would be mobilized

to Stump Pass.In July and August – beach renour-

ishment for Knight Island would takeplace. The sand will be dredged from an

offshore site.In October and November they

would Dredge Stump Pass.Then from November to January in

2017 they would build and backfill thenew groin (jetty) on Manasota Key.Allegedly, the current delay for Army

Corps approval is due to too many otherpermit applications waiting for approval. If the approval for the Stump Pass

project doesn’t come this month the proj-ect could go well into 2017, at which timenesting shore birds could become a miti-gating factor.Another bit of news that came out of

the meeting was that Chuck Mopp, thelead staff member for Charlotte County’sStump Pass group, was leaving his posi-tion with the county to work for a privateconsulting firm. He is a great guy, veryknowledgeable and he will be missed.When I returned home after that meet-

ing I received a call from a reporter withthe local newspaper. He wanted mythoughts on the news that the Federal Fishand Wildlife Service was preparing to re-move the manatee from the EndangeredSpecies list. I told him it was about timethat the manatee be removed from the list.The FWS as far back as 2006 said thattheir data showed no reason why the man-atee should not be down listed. Back thenthe manatee population was around 3,000and now it is over 6,000. We have ex-Governor Crist to thank for the delay.

I know that there are people who willnever accept the fact that the manatee canbe anything but endangered, but if thepopulation of live manatees is growing ata faster rate than the number of dead ones,the species is healthy. It's time to acceptthe fact that the manatee has been [email protected]

MANATEE SAVEDMANATEE SAVEDSTUMP PASS POSTPONEDSTUMP PASS POSTPONED


Charlotte HarborFrank at Fishin’ Franks941- 625-3888Sheephead is probably the big

thing to look for right now. We arealready having one of the bettersheepshead years in forever.Placida, the 41 Bridges, El Jo-Bthey are all stacked up right nowwith sheep. The better sized fish areback on the east side, or down in thePine Island Sound. What you arelooking for is the deeper troughs upby the mangroves. For some reasonthey are spawning back on the flatsthis year. It could be because of theabundance of food there. There arenot as many large ones around thebridges as the there are back on theflats. The exception to that is aroundLemon Bay and the Tom Adamsbridge, that area seems to hold thebiggest sheepshead, there and thedocks leading out to Stump Pass oraround the swing bridge by Gaspar-illa Pass.Seatrout is going to be the next

easiest fish to find. The one thingthat really isn’t going on as much asnormal right now is the poppin-corkfrenzy. When trout seem to wantsomething else, consider the tandemrig. The D.O.A. or the LoveBugtandem - trout seem to be goingafter them more. Jigging back with

an upward motionof the rod is theway to go. We areseeing the bestnumbers and goodsized fish that way.The old Love Luredoesn’t exist anymore so guys areusing the D.O.A.and the LoveBugwhich are curly-tailrigs. One of thereasons the curl tailworks so well ontrout is that it has alighter frequencyvibration in the water thatseems to lend itself to a min-now sound and that brings onthe trout when the water iscold. When the water warmsup, the paddle tail will be bet-ter, but when it’s cold thatsound is what’s needed to at-tract them up.We have been hearing of trout

smaller and bigger ones in the sameschool. I’m told it is a spawningthing. When they are spawning theygo together more. To find the bigtrout you need a lure you can usealong the bottom slowly, somethinglike a TT-18 Mirrolure, somethingthat will get the attention of the big-ger fish.

The trick is, you have to work itslowly, very close to the bottom.The T18 falls about 1 foot a sec-ond, so in three feet, you see thesplash and count to three and itwill be just off the bottom. Thenslowly twitch the rod bringing itback up.I’m hearing a few stories of in-

termittent pompano, and while theflounder has not been great up inthe Harbor, they are way betteralong the beaches. If you are look-ing for flounder along the beach(on the right day) you just have towalk along and cast for them in thesurf.

Whiting are along the beaches alittle too, but better up off GilchristPier or at the bridges on 41. Whitingare biting small pieces of shrimp ona small hook. Use a No. 4 - or No. 6hook. You tear a live shrimp in halfor use a piece of dead shrimp that ispeeled.There are a lot of redfish on the

east side, but the ones out on the is-lands along the Harbor are mostlythe smaller fish. If you want biggerreds, you got to find your way backin the islands to find the biggerones. It’s easier on the west side,there are not as many islands. If youfind small ones that’s all you’ll getuntill you move and find anothergroup.Redfish are eating shrimp. The

question is: live and fresh or letsome die and get a little pink or redbefore you use them. I’d start withlive ones and try the dead ones iflive doesn’t work.Snook are doing reasonably well

but you have to use a very light jighead (1/16 oz) and a large paddle-tail soft plastic. What you are doing

Capt Dave Stephenswww.backbayxtremes.com

941-916-5769

BackBayXtremes

Fish With A Guide!Youʼll catch more fish and youʼll

learn something new, too!

Speak Easy Fishing ChartersCaptain Joe AngiusUSCG licensed & Insured

Phone: (727) [email protected]

Bruce Christensen said Joleen caught this 30-inch red-fish on a Cajun Thunder float in a Cape Coral canal.Capt. Billy Barton put the angler below on her redfish

A nice Everglades redfish with Capt.Charlie Phillips

February February –– Predictions and SuggestionsPredictions and Suggestions


is retrieving unbelievably slow.It’s only a slow, steady, retrievethat may get a snook interestedright now. Just move it to keepthe tail moving a little bit, that’sthe reason for the light jig head.If you are just going slow, youare going too fast!The water got cold and 60

degrees leaves us with onlysandbar and bonnet sharks.There is a fair population fromCayo Costa to Sanibel. The Bonnetsharks are out by Cape Haze infront of Turtle Bay. Those sharksseem to enjoy the cooler weather.I don’t have much from the

Gulf. When and if the wind slows,the cooler water should bring redgrouper close to shore. Snapper,grunts, porgy and grouper areloaded up on the near shore reefs,but getting them to hit is anotherthing. Try live shrimp or sardines.Hogfish are here now and the coldbrings them right up to the shore.There are a few, but most mack-

erel are gone with the cold now.Tarpon are hiding, moving up

into the rivers and back in thecanals. You need small, tiny lures,almost crappie size, for them. Ifthey don’t hit get somethingsmaller, if that doesn’t work get

something even smaller than that.

Lemon Bay - PlacidaJim at Fishermen’s Edge 697-7595There were are a lot of high

waves pounding the beach and thesurf got stirred up. You could hearit from here. They lost a lot ofbeach at Manasota. I don’t knowhow Stump Pass is. I know snook fishing has been

good, though the dirty water thatcame in changed it. Then once thewater got the silt out it was verygood after that for snook and trout.It looked like chocolate milk atBoca Grande it was so stirred up. Itell guys to look for cleaner wateruntil the water settles down, butwho know when that will be.I’ve had guys catching quite a

bit of sheepshead at the pier anddocks a round Gasparilla Island.

Lemon Bayseems to becleaner thanBoca Grandeand it’s betteron the piers andprivate docksaround there.Guys are catch-ing redfish inLemon Bay,keeper stuff,but no real gi-ants. A lot of

big reds were hereand they left, butwe still have nicefish.Guys have been

catching pompanoand some flounderon the inside,mostly because thebeach has been sounsettled. Last week some friends went

off shore by the Bayronto. Theygot pretty big AJs and redgrouper using pinfish and a lot ofthe other reef fish like porgys,grunts and mangrove snapper.Some areas were giving up moreyellowtail than others. I also had a couple of guys tell

me they latched onto a couple ofhogfish. That’s an interestingbite, there are some guys whoknow how to catch them, theirbite is different and when you fi-nally figure it out, you will catchthem better with a rod and reel.The freshwater guys are catch-

ing bass and crappie in the pondsand canals at Rotonda and SouthGulf Cove. They like rubberworms or swim baits like littleRattle-Traps or inline spinners orspinner baits. Some guys aredoing pretty well with frogs rightnow. In the Gardens of Gulf Covethe centipede that looks like aFrench fry is working good now.

SEATROUT On the grass flats,south in Pine Island Sound

REDFISH In the Harborcreeks and creek mouths

SHEEPSHEAD on docks,piers, and some on the flats

95˚

90˚

85˚

80˚

72˚70˚68˚

50˚

45˚

FISHING FISHINGRIGHT NOW:RIGHT NOW:

GoodGood

The BIG-4The BIG-4 Fish you can expect in Fish you can expect in FebruaryFebruary

AMBERJACK on all thenearshore and offshore reefs

Gulf Gulf TempsTemps

are mid 60s are mid 60s Cooler close in, Cooler close in, slightly warmer slightly warmer

further further offshoreoffshore

J J. Hummon with a nice 32-inch redfishfrom the same Gasparilla Pass area.

Pat Holmes and a beautiful 38-inch redfish

From Fishinʼ FrankShrimp migrate out of the Harbor each year to go out and live in the deep

waters of the Gulf and now is the peak of the shrimp migration. The shrimp nowaverage about 5 inches long as they head out of the passes. If you were foodfor everything on the planet including us, would you travel during the day? Theshrimp bury in the sand until the cover of darkness, then they move on. Funnything about shrimp is they know daylight is dangerous but they are attracted tolight. And a shrimp is not a very strong swimmer so they move out of the Harboron the out going tide. So to catch your own fresh shrimp dinner you need astrong light, and a net. Here on the west coast we use dip nets and a car head-light hooked to a battery. I would also get a spare light and an extra boat or car12 volt battery. The battery is heavy so if you are going out on the pier likePlacida I would bring a cart. Use a two line electric wire and tie one end to yourlight, wrap it in black plastic tape so the ends are covered. Rig up an aluminumpizza pan or even a tin foil reflector so the light shines down, not up into youreyes. The wire will hold the light, but if your are on a boat, you need a stick tohold the light over the water and away from the boat a couple of feet. The lightshinning down into the water will attract the shrimp to it and then you will simplydip them up and put them on ice in an ice chest. Even if it is cold out use ice tokeep the shrimp fresh. Shrimp laying on top of each other insulates them andthey get hot and will go bad, so spread them out over the ice, or better yet, mixthem in with ice.

Brown shrimp is what you will be catching, yes the same shrimp you use forbait, the brown shrimp coming from the Harbor do not have the iodine that thepink shrimp or the ones caught in the Gulf will have, so they aresweeter tasting and really quite yummy. The shrimping stays pretty good until atleast the end of March. Every pass from Venice to Punta Rassa has shrimpmoving out each night. The best passes are Captiva and Boca Grande. Keep inmind, Boca Grande is not a place to anchor your boat for shrimping, where youneed to anchor is behind the Phosphate docks or close toshore. Never anchor in the middle of Boca Grande Pass. Youneed to be on an out going tide, so plan to be there just beforehigh tide to get set up and find a good spot.

For pier shrimping, Placida Pier being so close to Gaspar-illa Pass is a good place with lots of water flowing.

If you are shrimping from a pier you must consider howhigh the pier is off the water. If the handle on your net is 6 or 8feet long it might only make it to the water if you lay on yourbelly on the pier. For the piers I suggest an 18 foot net handle -figure 8 feet to the water, four feet to where you hold the netand the extra is for you to reach out with, this will give you agood chance at catching the ones right at the edge of the light.

From a boat, a six foot to 12 foot net handle is fine and youkeep the light close to the boat so you don't have to reach asfar. You cannot drag a net for shrimp any more without a spe-cial license, plus itʼs hard to set up a net to drag with a boat.Itʼs better to just use a dip net!

JACKINʼ SHRIMP WITH A CAR HEADLIGHTThis is the Time and the Place!!

Cameron Smith with a 3-foot shark atGasparilla Pass


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Water LIFE Feb 2016