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Wyatt Wins It!Wyatt Wins It!11 yr old KIds Cup winner11 yr old KIds Cup winnerWyatt Carter with an evenWyatt Carter with an evenbigger redfish, caughtbigger redfish, caughtpre-fishing the day before!pre-fishing the day before!

Kids CupKids Cup page 16-17page 16-17

BigBaitForBigFish

CAPT CHUCK

PAGE 10

NOWTHAT?SA ?CUDA!

June 2007June 2007

DownTimeLocal Diving Page 18

S h a r kS h a r k TricksTricksPage 29Page 29

Keeping Boaters and Fishermen InformedKeeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed

Itʼs all GOOD!Itʼs all GOOD!

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LETTERS TO WATER LIFE Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

with any newspaper or otherpublication

© 2007 Vol VI No. 6 Water LIFENo part of this publication may be

copied or reproduced without the writ-ten permission of both publishers

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonReal Estate: Dave HoferSailing Advisor: Bill Dixon

Kayaks: David AllenSea Grant: Betty Staugler

Diving: Adam Wilson

on the COVER:Capt. Chuck Eichner with a huge ʻcuda

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

Links to Realtors: Connect with our realestate advertisersTide Graphs: For local watersWeather: Links to all of our favorite sites.Back editions: Pages of previous editionsArtificial Reefs: Lat. and Long local reefsManatee Myths: Read the original plan tocreate sanctuaries and refuges, as spelledout by the United Nations in 1984Kids Cup Updates and TrackingASA1000 Photography and Hot Rod Cars

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Sierra Club joins threecounties and PeaceRiver/ManasotaRegional Water SupplyAuthority in fightagainst Onaphosphate mineFrom Sue Reske and Eric HuberOn Friday May 11, 2007 the Sierra

Club filed a petition to intervene in theproceedings before Florida Department ofEnvironmental Protection (FDEP) againstthe Mosaic Co.’s proposed phosphatemine known as the Ona Mine. SierraClub's action will support the Peace RiverWater Mgmt. Authority and Charlotte,Sarasota and Lee counties in their fightagainst the mine.The proposed Ona Mine would be in

Hardee County, near where Manatee,Hillsborough, Hardee and Polk Countiesmeet. The permit would allow mining inthe first phase of the project, referred to asthe Ona-Fort Green extension, on about4,000 acres in the Horse Creek -PeaceRiver watershed.“The phosphate companies have been

trying for years to paint a pretty face ontheir strip mining. The ugly truth hasnow come out, and that is, that upstream

activities have an affect on water down-stream, and phosphate strip mining hasalready had a serious impact," said SueReske, Chair, Sierra Club GreaterCharlotte Harbor Group.Sierra Club takes this action following

the Florida Court of Appeals remand ofthe mining permit to DEP for reconsidera-tion in light of the Peace RiverCumulative Impact Study. That study con-firms that the cumulative impact of thephosphate mines causes serious harm tothe river. According to the CumulativeImpact Study: ‘There seems to be littledoubt that the loss of streams and wet-

lands in the Peace River watershed, aswell as the loss of base flow... impair theability of the Peace River to provide sus-tainable public water supplies.’"We are taking this action to help pro-

tect the people who use the Peace Riverand Charlotte Harbor for drinking water,fishing and recreation," said Eric Huber,Sierra Club Senior Staff Attorney. "TheSierra Club looks forward to assisting thecounties in ensuring that the Florida DEPfully considers and protects against theimpacts of phosphate mines, now and inthe future.

Florida phosphate mining is uguly and has irreprably changed the face of the delicateenvironmental balance that is Florida. To grasp the magnitude of scale, thatʼs a road goingdown the ʻspine in the picture. This is Barstow Florida about 1 hour north of Punta Gorda.


By Michael Hel lerWaster LIFE editorLook closely at the water filling the

livewell in the photo. It caught my eyebecause of its pristine Carribbean blue colorand the snowy white bubbles – probablyRejuvenade and O2. At first I thought I sawminnows swimming in the well; that wouldhave been a no-no in an artificial tournamentlike the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup, so Ilooked more closely.Remember the old movie Blow Up, where

a photographer enlarges a photo and discoversa murder? I zoomed in on the livewell andsaw...not a murder, but in fact a great idea:plastic bags – some kind of inflated packagingin the well. Now it could have been packaged-bait stored in the cool water or trash fromlunch, but I’m guessing it was intentionalcushioning – a padded cell for fish.This might be a great idea, transporting fish

in ‘cushioned’ area where they can’t getslammed around. Already this particulat stylelivewell is popular for its circulation, maybecushioning is the next step. The fish in thewell (they won the tournament) lookedhealthy and not very stressed, except for onewith a slightly red nose, when they arrived at

the dock.Coincidently, I talked to a U of F scientist

that same week who had told me he and theFDA had been discussing Rejuvenade andother baitwell additives. He told me the FDAwas not aware of the compounds comprisingthese baitwell additives, and that none of theadditives were FDA-approved for use in foodfish (including game fish that would be with-in the slot and consumable).He said both his program at the

University and the FDA were interested inworking with anglers and manufacturers toget these products properly licensed, assum-ing the ingredients were safe. “And if theyaren't safe for the fish, anglers, or the envi-ronment-- we probably need to know that,too,” he said.At first it sounded like a good question,

after all, if you or I happen to re-catch one ofthese tournament fish that was in a well fullof unapproved chemicals, and we eat it, whoknows what might happen. Then I wonderedhow many people actually catch and eatenough tournament sized redfish for this tobe a real problem. What about all the taintedfood and additives coming from China? Petfood, human food, doesn’t the FDA have any-

Fish in a padded cell andother ʻcurrentʼ events.

Look closely at the Redfish Cup winnerʼs livewell. It appears to be filled with partiallyinflated plastic bags, perhaps they provide a soft cushion for transporting fish with-out injuring them.

30' Alura Classic,1989, 310 HP Marine Vortec,low hours. Ready to cruise and priced tosell. Asking $36,900

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26' Shamrock Express, 1996. Single 250HPInmar IB. Asking $29,900

20' 6" Sea Pro 206 Center Console 2004.Single 150HP Yamaha Four Stroke. Trailerincluded. Low Hours. $27,500

32' Albin 32 + 2, command bridge, 2001.Single 350HP Yanmar. Asking $175,000.

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By Fishin FrankWater LIFE Tracking teamWith this project I realized a goal

come true. I was able to track taggedredfish.The Kids Cup Tournament implanted

20 redfish with electronic tags thatgiveoff a sonar pinging signal every 60 sec-onds. On board was my spouse Terry(she entered the information into to aTrimble unit), my dad Frank Sr. (hewas holding the sensor) and Nate fromMote who helped Betty Staugler ourlocal Sea Grant agent, interpert the dataand fine tune the receiver.We were the second tracking boat.

The first boat out started with the firstreleased red fish, following it from oneside of the dock back to the other, outin front of the rocks at Fishermen’sVillage marina and then upstreamtowards the 41 bridges. It was slowgoing and it was interesting to note thefish did not hug the shoreline as Iwould have expected, but stayed 200yards from shore, slowly, slowly fol-lowing the fish as it made its way withthe tide, up river.After a number of fish were tagged

and released, our boat went to look inplaces the fish may have taken refuge.We checked in the canals next to the

village, going in and shutting off theengine, using a sensor mounted to theend of a P.V.C. pipe we watched for thetags electronic signature to ‘ping in’.It’s kind of like sonar pings and eachping contains a coded number. Thereceiver makes a clicking sound andthen a number shows up on the screen.We searched a mile-wide area around

Fisherman's village and found one fishjust to the up-river side. By dark we hadfound 16 fish, all of them staying rightaround the release point at HarpoonHarry’s. Some were out front along therocks and some up in the boat basin.All 15 fish kept steady in the place wefound them.

A couple of fish made an impres-sion on me: 4403 a 2.55 pound redfishcaught by Jamie Leibman, that fish washanging around the back end of the boatbasin, from our first trip to the lastpass we made Saturday there it was.However on Monday, ole 4403 wasnowhere to be found. Likewise for fish4405. 4405, James Daughtry’s 6.66pound monster had moved from thedocks to the front of the rocks. 4405had made it as far as the conor of therocks but like 4403 by Monday morn-ing was nowhere to be found. Luck toya’ 4405.

Monday morning Terry and Iheaded back to Fisherman Village tosee if we could find any fish. Afterlooking by the bridges and making afew stops to listen we ended up backin front of the Village and startedpicking up tags. After finding 10 ofthe 20 tagged fish still there, westarted thinking the worst, maybethese fish died right there whenreleased. That was when we startedpicking up the same fish in differentspots. The fish were moving aroundin the basin, not holding in place asthey had on Saturday night. So 10 ofthe twenty did not leave. It could befrom trauma or it could be there is alot of bait – glass minnows andsome thread fins – right there.Maybe they just liked it there. Why

leave if the living is easy right whereyou are?

Fish 4389, Brandon Dignam’s 1.98pound fish was pinged out front by thedocks first pass Monday morning witheight other fish. Teri and I made a passdown the backside of the village andwhen we passed the front we onlypinged four of the 9 we first recorded.Making our way inside we pinged sevenmore fish making a total of 10 fish.Fish 4408 Zane Smith’s 3.31 poundfish, and 4388, Kaylea Burlew’s 3.77pound fish, had moved to the fueldocks. Fish 4404 Nicholas Marshal’s4.89 pound fish was found on the insideof the basin. So they were staying.Fifty percent of the fish were movingaround but just did not leave the releasearea.

We did not track any fish goingtoward the harbor, the only fish we didtrack were going up the river, but thatis not to say some did not turn later andstart heading for deeper water, south.

So as time goes by we will learnmore about where they go and perhapsbetter understand what the habits of theredfish are. This in turn may give usclues to releasing captive raised redfishinto the wild, and giving a better chance

What we know about redfish tracking so farMy TakeBy Michael HellerKids Cup Tournament DirectorDon’t be in a hurry. This is fishing,

data fishing, and like any other fishingyou have to give it time. Right off thebat the project received a setback whenwe discovered that two of the underwa-ter listening devices could not bedownloaded in the field with a laptopcomputer (like the rest of them) sincethey had some special ‘bluetooth pro-tocall.’ That means they have to becarried to Gainesville and downloadedat the University of Florida. We won’tget that data for a while. This is par-ticularly unfortunate since those twolistening devices were the ones at theU.S. 41 bridge and at Colony Point.That means, at least in the short run,our first two ‘ears’ are useless.Thenthe weather went windy and we lostthe fish.Looking at the early tracking infor-

mation I saw fish retrace their paths,then I heard they moved upriver. Sowe have now placed a second trackingdevice further upriver and we will beable to monitor that one in the field.The continued wind hasn’t helped

much either. Manually tracking ourreleased fish has been impossible onmany days and since the pingers onlygo off for about 20 seconds everyminute we could just miss them orpass them by when manually tracking.Don’t despair, we have to give the

fish a chance to swim past some ofthe stationary receivers. This couldtake more time than we thought.Keep watching the website address

at the top of the page or drop us anote to [email protected] if youwant to sign up for tracking updatesvia e-mail.

Fishinʼ Frank with wife Terry, father Frank Sr. and Nate from Mote Marine, tracking redfish.


Redfish TrackingNotes from the Field

By Betty S tauglerSea Grant / Water LIFEIt’s been one month since we began tracking the 20

sonically tagged redfish weighed in at the Water LIFEKids Cup. We’ve observed 17 of the 20 at least once sofar. All of our fish recordings have come fromFishermen’s Village or Bass Inlet to date. Our trackingproject has had its highs and lows, interesting observa-tions and this last week a lot of love bugs – mobiletracking occurs at a whopping 2 knots.We started out actively monitoring on May 3rd. This

was the first data download from of our underwater sen-sors (VR2s) and mobile tracking event. Two boats, eachequipped with a mobile tracking unit cruised the shore-lines of the Peace River, Hog Island, the fat point ofPunta Gorda, and inside some of the canals betweenColony Point and Bass Inlet. The mobile tracking crewsfound four fish still hanging out at Fishermen’s Villageand two up in Bass Inlet. While the two mobile trackingboats looked for fish, the third boat was downloading datafrom the VR2s located around Fishermen’s Village, insideBass Canal, and down by Alligator Creek. From Apri l28-May 3rd, 17 redfish were recorded aroundFishermen’s Village, seven were recorded inside BassInlet, and no redfish were observed at Alligator Creek.

On May 8th, VR2s located near Hog Island, on theWest Wall, East Wall and Bokeelia were downloaded. Noredfish were recorded on these units from April 28-May8th.

May 15th was another data download day forFishermen’s Village, Bass Inlet andAlligator Creek. Oneredfish remained at the Village until the 11th (#58). Onehung around until the 12th (Fish #2), and a third is stillbeing recorded there (#4).

May 17th, a 15th VR2 was added to our study. Thisone is upstream of U.S. 41. Data was also downloadedfrom the remaining VR2s. No redfish were recorded.We beefed up our mobile tracking efforts this last week

spending Tuesday May 22nd through Monday the 28thout on the water. We covered the Peace River fromHarbor Heights to Grassy Point, including every canalalong the way. We covered the south side of the PeaceRiver from around the Justice Center to Pirate Harbor,including all of the canals except the side canals off of

Ponce and Colony Point.We have however done Colony Point to Ponce, Ponce

to the rim canal, the mosquito ditch over to AlligatorCreek and the main stems of Alligator Creek north andsouth fork. We covered the entire West Wall and we wentall the way around Hog Island. All this and we foundtwo fish. One still out in front of Fishermen’s Village(#4) observed on the 26th and 28th, and the other insideBass Inlet (#28) observed on the 25th.Below is a summary of a few of our fish that will be

displayed on the website as soon as our web specialistrecovers from some unplanned surgery last week. Fishnumbers are random numbers assigned to the angler’sfish. It is not their angler number. Anglers, if you didnot receive a letter with your fish number, call me and Iwill get a letter out to you.

Fish # 50: Swam inside the marina basin between Band C Docks (two furthest from shops) and through thecut-through at C Dock (furthest docks near rocks) on the28th. On the 29th, #50 swam along the rocks outsidethe marina basin, went back into the marina, this timebetween A and B Dock, swam under B Dock down by thefuel dock and went out the cut through at C Dock, turnedaround, returning the same way he came in. On May 3rd,#50 swam over to Bass Inlet, but on May 4th #50 wasback over at Fishermen’s Village.

Fish # 65: Also went to Bass Inlet, only this fisharrived on May 1st. Fish #65 was also observed in Basson the 3rd. Prior to arriving at Bass Inlet, #65 hung outin front of Harpoon Harry’s.

Fish # 58: Hung out around Fishermen’s Villagefrom the 28th-30th and then disappeared until the 9thwhen it was recorded over by the cut through at C-Dockof Fishermen’s Village Marina. On the 11th #58 wentover to Bass Inlet.We will be keeping the underwater sensors in the water

at least through June and will mobile track through Juneas well. Hopefully our data download next week willunveil some new fish observations. All of the dart tagdata (from all of the fish weighed in) was sent to the Fish& Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) last week.If an angler catches a tagged redfish and calls the Hotline,FWC will let us know. Mote should also have theresults of the fin clips very soon. The fin clips are beinganalyzed to determine if a redfish is from wildstock orhatchery stock.

Betty Staugler is the Sea Grant Agent for CharlotteCounty. She can be reached at 764-4346.

Check the Fish on the InternetCheck the Fish on the Internethttp://charlotte.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/kidscup.htm

A lot of work has gone into this website and since itʼs allʻnew groundʼ itʼs taking some time to tweak the presenta-tion.TOP: In an animated presentation the tracks for the 20fish with implanted tags will be able to be connected andput into motion

ABOVE: The idea is to have a map showing the quadrantthe fish came from (shaded pink area) and where it wasreleased. Then as it reappears its position will be updat-ed.


Screaming ReelsBy Capt. Andrew MedinaWater LIFE Staff

You all may have heard other anglerstalking about fishing ‘depressions’ or‘pot holes. What this refers to is deeperholes on the flat, or off the mangroveswhere the little bit of deeper water is.And I agree with this in certain months.This is mostly important during winterand fall months. But this is summertime, and with a tide pattern that is justabout always above norm, fish, such asredfish and snook will find refuge in thebushes along a shore line. Not just alongit, but way back in it. Some of the man-groves around our harbor extend out 15ft. or more. That’s more cover than a pothole can provide any time. This is whenyou really find out, if you’re the trueangler you thought you were.Artificial baits are the choice for me at

this time, and there’s good reason. Livebait, such as green backs, swim so youprobably will end up in the bushes morethan a few times. Artificial baits, such asjerk baits or jigs, can be rigged weedlesand you won’t be retying as many times.Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothingwrong with live bait, some anglers justdon’t like lures, and live bait still catchesfish – it always has, and always will, butin the end you have to fish what you’refamiliar with.It’s my opinion, the best way of fish-

ing the bushes – by far – has to be wadefishing. This allows you to pick a shoreline, and fish it correctly. Correctly moreoften than not means slowly. My viewon this is simple: if you fish a shore linetoo fast, you’re leaving fish behind. Iknow this to be true because I sometimesfind myself getting in a hurry and miss-ing the chance of a ‘fish sitting in a win-dow.’ Windows mean openings orentrances into the mangroves.Fish will usually sit in these windows

waiting to ambush smaller prey, such asbait fish or crabs finding their way intothe bushes. The bushes provide cover forsmall and large fish alike.

With jerk baits rigged weedles youwork the shoreline by flipping the baitinto the windows. Then allow the bait tosettle before slowly working it back out.If that does not produce a fish, movedown a couple feet and make anothercast. This is where ‘skipping baits’ getsto be important. By skipping baits acrossthe top of the water you can get it muchfurther back in the bush.Bush fishing takes some getting use

to, but once you get the hang of it, Ipromise you, you will catch fish.My preference in color for jerk baits

right now has to be white or watermelon.These are always my go-to baits; baits, Ifeel comfortable throwing. Gold spoonsalso work really well, mimicking a pin-fish in the bushes ... and we all knowwhat happens to pinfish!Now about fishing in our harbor; it’s

on, that’s all I can say. There are fishalong the east and west walls. Redfishand snook are willing to eat. Matter offact, they jump at the chance, and for theshrimp dunkers who like action, allalong the 41 bridges there are more silvertrout and ladyfish than you can catch.This provides hours of fun for kids andadults, and it don’t take a whole lot ofmoney. A bag of frozen shrimp and ahook is all you need. Fishing rods areeven optional.In the harbor, around the 20 ft. hole,

their have been a lot of tarpon, but withthe wind blowing it’s been rough and thebite has been hit or miss.A lot of tarpon funneled into Boca

Grande pass with the recent hill tides andthe shark and cobia are wide spread andare really on a feed. Cut-bait has to bethe choice for them. Some real big ham-merheads and bulls are back. Reports ofsharks taking hooked tarpon beforeanglers can boat them are in the air. Willwe see a world’s shark record brokenagain this year? I say there’s a real goodchance. Maybe even Robert from Fish’nFranks will get his wish this year. I hopeso!

Capt. Andrew Medina can be reachedat (941) 465-1540 or on the web at

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By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte HarborIt’s the oldest fish story in the

book where the big fish eats the littlefish. I have provedthis to myself manytimes and in manyplaces from hugenorthern pike tohuge largemouthbass to big snook,trout and tarpon.Use a big bait tocatch big fish.The subtropical

fishery we haveholds lots of what Iwould call big baits.Mullet, menhaden, blue run-ners, threadfin herring and ladyfish toname a few. Funny thing is, we usu-ally use a 3-4 inch pilchard to catchmost of our fish and for that reason itis often more luck to catch the bigone than skill. Step up to a big baitand with some time invested you willcatch monsters. The difference beingthat a good day will be measured byperhaps one or two fish as opposed to20 or 30.

The rules are simple: Fish heavytackle, large hooks with heavy leaderand position your boat to interceptmigration routes of the fish you areafter. One key ingredient I find for

big fish is that there hasto be deep water nearbyif your fishing shal-low. The big boysneed an escape route.Big snook will munchthose 6-8 inchthreadfins that are rov-ing the harbor.Cobia and tarpon areeating them also.But how about a 2pound ladyfish?

You’re more likely to catch a monsterwith that. Rarely do I see anyonefishing mullet on our waters. Theytravel in packs just about everywhereand run 1/2 pound and up. In theFlorida Keys, they get $3-$4 a piecefor a 1 pound mullet and they’reworth every penny of it.When I set out to write this article

my intent was to tell you a fish storyabout a big fish eating a smaller fish.After reflecting on this, I thought the

idea may inspire a fewanglers to pursue thetruly huge fish thatswim here and believeme they are here.Bigger fish like biggermeals because theyhave to expend lessenergy in their insa-tiable pursuit for food.My big fish eating

the little fish storystarts in CharlotteCounty. On a recentouting into the gulfmy itinerary was thesame as usual- get myrod bent with whateverwants to bite.Chumming over struc-ture and man-madereefs is pretty much aguarantee to action.My day started with

bait catching of white-bait and pinfish. Itwas pretty easy workas my fishing buddyMickey Kieferle washurling a 10-foot netat roving pods of baitwhile Chuck Taylorhelped empty the net. Iwas the watchman situated on mytower motoring to skittish pilchardsand threadfins.With the well full, our first stop

was not overly productive, but pro-duced a few bites, many bite-offs anda couple of decent kingfish. Twoother boats set up for trolling afterseeing the action and circled us like10 little Indians. They too bowed upwith kings and cuda’s and eventuallyshut our bite down. Trolling over afishing boats chum line is not exactlygood manners so we moved on.Another 10 miles out and we

searched the bottom for nearly 20minutes and found a tall piece ofstructure just laid up with fish. Overwent the buoy and we set up a driftwith pinfish on a bottom rig upwindof the buoy.Looking over to our left in the dis-

tance, a boat coming our way seesour buoy and rides right to it and overit. Seemingly everyone left theirmanners home this day and this fel-low now has my spot in his GPS.The short story is that drifting did-

n’t work, but after we set up a chumline of fresh chunked bait the fish

came a running. With the fish finderlit up with fish layered in mid depthsand a bottom reading of 60 feet, wehooked countless kingfish. A fewmonsters got away and a few made itin along with some bonita. We alsomanaged to hook some nice grouper,most of which got the best of us andbroke us off on the bottom .... andthen it happened.Mickey was reeling in a small

kingfish of about 6 pounds. Then the

P a g e 1 0 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J u n e 2 0 0 7

Takes Big Baits To Catch Big Fish

It almost looks like a bottlenosed dolphin but itʼs a barracuda,a big barracuda

Mick reeled inhalf a kingfishand down belowwe peered into thecobalt blue watersand spotted a

monster barracuda.


light tackle fight with a peeling dragcame to an abrupt halt. Mick reeledin half a kingfish and down below wepeered into the cobalt blue waters andspotted a monster barracuda.This was no average cuda for

around here – pushing 6 feet. Withthat I grabbed a heavy rod with wireand a stinger hook rig and floated thekingfish head behind the boat.Accidently we knocked a white bucketoverboard which floated away, whichin turn attracted the cuda to come overand nudge the bucket with his nose.The fish then looked down, swam

over to the bait and munched it up. Ireared back and for close to 15 min-utes I put heat on this fish and finallybrought him boatside.The photo session proceeded very,

very carefully. One mistake and thetoothy fangs would send one of us to

the hospital emergency room for sure.This fish had a huge body that waspushing 6 feet in length with guessti-mated weight at 70-80 pounds per-haps more. We released the fish, butit thrashed and got away before wecould completely revive it. Then, asit floated aimlessly behind the boat,we were mesmerized by the magnifi-cent creature as he held his head at thesurface gulping water and recovering.Then, a huge shape submarined fromthe port side and a monster shark

attacked the barracuda. It was anexplosive strike, with water spray-ing and in a few bites the 6 footcuda was history!What happened this day will

stay with us a long time, but theshort story was a small pilchardstarted the food chain, which waseaten by the kingfish. The king-fish was eaten by the barracuda andthe barracuda was eaten by the shark.The big fish eats the little fish. Gocatch a monster!

Capt. Chuck Eichner is a local chartercaptain. For information or to book a guid-ed fishing trip call 941-505-0003 or go tohis website: www.backcountry-charters.com

This was no average cuda for around here – pushing 6 feet. I grabbed a heavy rodwith wire and a stinger hook rig and floated the kingfish head behind the boat.


By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffSometimes I feel I should try my hand

at being a songwriter. They say you shouldwrite about what you know, and I know alot about boat ramps. After all, I liveacross from the Ainger Creek ramp onPlacida Road in Englewood. I can look outmy window and see how busy things areand find out who’s fishing and what’sbeing caught. Most mornings, I awaken tothe sound of boat trailers bottoming out atthe entrance to the park.(bad design). Twicea week I get the fragrant smell of the port-o-potty being emptied; and of course thereis the endless stream of county vehiclesdoing their various jobs picking up trash,cutting non-existing grass, trimming trees,picking up money from the parkingmachines and above all giving out parkingtickets. Each employee is a specialist intheir field.I was quite surprised a few weeks ago to

see a large travel trailer towing a boat stopby the ramp and set up a tent in the park-ing lot. You would think that this wouldbe an unacceptable practice; but the onlysigns there basically say pay to park and nopets. When it comes to boat ramp rules inCharlotte County we have a ‘Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell’ policy. If you don’t ask for per-mission to do something, we won’t tellyou you can’t do it. I’m sure that duringthe time that tent was there, the peoplewho give out the parking tickets wonderedif you can ticket a tent for illegal parking.At least they had no pets.Just last week I woke up about four in

the morning and noticed about a half adozen trucks going into the boat ramp. Alittle early for a weekday, but not unprece-dented. By the time I stuck my head outagain, every parking spot in the ramp andthe overflow lot next door was filled witha truck and a trailer. At first I thought oneof the local car dealers was having a truck-a-thon sale, but it turned out to be a pro-fessional redfish tournament at a localmarina. I don’t know what kind of notice(if any) was given to Charlotte Countyofficials , but it doesn’t seem fair to

monopolize a public boat ramp for twodays and leave the local folks, who paid forthe ramp andwho buy a yearly parking per-mit out in the cold.May I suggest that next time the organ-

izers of the tournament (the guys makingthe money) make arrangements for off siteparking. Try offering Cedar Point Park alittle money to use their parking lot for afew hours. You can still launch at the boa-

tramp and then park a few hundred yardsaway. That could make everyone happy.Charlotte County has an unusual man-

agement structure when it comes to boatramps. The Parks and RecreationalDepartment is responsible for findingsites, buying land, designing and buildingfuture boat ramps. They are also responsi-ble for maintaining the existing boatramps and collecting parking fees. Themoney to do that comes from varioussources including boaters themselvesthrough boat registration fees. As a matterof fact at the recent budget meeting of theCharlotte Marine Advisory Committee,

Parks and Rec was the largest single userof boater funds with $375,000 in variousboat ramp projects requested and approved.That’s 40% of all the money allocated.Some of the boat ramp projects that

should happen within the next year includea major renovation at the El Jobean boatramp and a place for non-motorized vesselsat the Port Charlotte Beach Park. This

should help out the handicapped folks whoparticipate in the sailing program theyhave there.Two new boat ramp projects are begin-

ning next year. One near Cattledock Roadwhich is west of the El Jobean Bridge andanother between So. Gulf Cove andGarparilla Marina. Remember that it willbe years before these ramps are completed,but at least they have started.With all the time and money spent on

boat ramps I think its time to get seriousabout making a set of rules and regulationsthat we want people to follow. Make surethey are posted, and then enforce them.One last boat ramp story. A few years

ago, before you had to pay to park, a friendof mine was taking his wife and grandkidsfor a day on the water. He put in at thePlacida ramp and left the boat and family atthe dock while he parked the truck. It wascrowded that day so he had to park in theback. As he was walking back to the dockcarrying a few fishing rods and the familydog following next to him, a county vehi-cle pulled up next to him and told him thatpets were not allowed in the park. Myfriend explained that he was just going tothe boat, but the official said the dog’s feetwere not allowed to touch the ground.Without batting an eye my friend said, “ifyou want to help I’ll carry the fishing rods,you can carry the German shepherd.” Theofficial said he would ‘let it go this time.’

Capt. Ron can be reached [email protected]

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Here's a picture from the May SarasotaShark tournamant. The Angler is 14 yearold Paul Wagenseil of Englewood. Hetook 2nd place in the junior divisionwith a 17 pound blacktip. He won aPenn 9/0 reel w/rod, and it couldn't havehappened to a better kid.Paul gets good grades in school and evenworks at night bussing tables near hishome at the Coconut Grove restaurant.He is saving up now for the entry fee inthe St. Pete Open spear tournament. Iknow he is going to do well in that onetoo. – Adam Wilson

Sarasota SharkTournament

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S taff ReportJeff Totten, Ozzie Lessinger and Jeff Fisher took home the $16,00 first prize money

in the Flatsmasters Redfish Challenge, May 13 at Fishermen’s Village. The trioweighed in two big fish (7.44 and 7.55) to post a tournament winning 14.99 pounds.The 2nd. place Cape Tool and Tackle team took home $4,500 for its posted 13.07weight, while team 4M2B’s third place12.73 weight was worth $4000. In all 119teams competed in the two day event. In the Saturday quallifier, 104 teams made itback to the scale with 96 teams weighing-in two fish.

Flatsmasters Results


By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editorIt was over a year ago. We were finishing our new

house and I had hired a tile contractor to do the bath-rooms. The Kids Cup for 2006 had just ended and whilethe ‘tile guy’ worked his magic he and I talked aboutfishing. He knew some of the other fishing contractors Iknew and after a while he toldme about his then 10 year oldson, Wyatt, who loved to fish.“I’m going to see if next yearhe wants to fish in the KidsCup,” David Carter had said,standing in my unfinishedupstairs bathroom.Fast forward to 2007. Entry

number 91 comes in the mail.That name sounds familiar,Wyatt Carter. ‘I know him,’ Isaid to my wife, ‘that’s David,our tile guy’s son.’ Father andson, fishing together – Cool!That was the last thought I had about them until I sawthem at the Captain’s meeting.The next thing I remember was being on the weigh-in

dock. It was a little after 1 p.m. on tournament day. Thebig rush of boats had not arrived yet. A dark hulled olderHughes pulled up to the dock. I recognized the boat driv-er, it was David Carter. His son Wyatt wore a happyface. They took the lines from our dock crew and tied up. We don’t use weigh-bags at the Kids Cup. We use a

laundry basket to transport the fish from the boat directlyto the scale and we weigh the fish right in the basket.David pulled what would later measure as a 26.5 inchredfish from the live well and Wyatt handed the basket upto us on the dock. ‘Big Fish,’ I remember thinking tomyself. ‘Nice, big fish.’ Weighed in, it was 6.81pounds. Way to go guys! Father and son, fishing togeth-er. David was beaming that proud-father glow of affec-tion and joy while Wyatt basked in the accomplishment.By the end of that day Wyatt was in the Top-5. A week later, Wyatt and the other Kids Cup Top-5

anglers took off at dawn from Laishley Park Marina fortheir final day of fishing. This was the big time, part ofthe Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup, complete with aweigh in on the ESPN2 TV stage.Because of the TV timing the Kids had to be back at

the dock at 12:45, a full two hours before the pros had

to weigh-in. Austin and Ernie Oskey were one of the first teams I

met at the dock. Ernie, the dad, casually whispered tome. “We got another big one,” or something to thateffect. In the Kids Cup the week before, his son hadweighed in a 7.77 pound fish – the heaviest of the tour-nament. Ernie, a propane distributor from the Keys wasone of three Top-5 fathers fishing with their sons, fatherswho were not professional captains and were gainfullyemployed in a business other than marine. The thirdfather and non captain was local businessmanBruce Laishley, a longtime local fisherman whowas driving the boat for his son Brian. Brian’s fishwas the second heaviest on Kids Cup day, butlooking in their livewell their Top-5-day fish did-n’t look quite as big.“We had a great day,” Bruce said as Brian tidied

up the boat. They knew.Capt. Doug Creek, one of the professional

guides who was driving for Thomas Polk, was thenext to tease me with a prediction. “We mighthave the winner,” Doug said, noting that they hada ‘really nice fish.’ Capt. Robert Barham, driving the boat for Jr.

Angler James Daughtry kept a poker face and saidnothing. I love drama.Like in the big-boy’s ‘Oberto Cup’, the Kids

Cup anglers weigh in in the reverse order that theyfinished for the Top-5. Thatmeant Thomas Polk, JamesDaughtry, Wyatt Carter,Brain Laishley and AustinOskey - in that sequence.For the TV weigh-in

they bring the fish to thescale in a black weigh-inbag. The Kids hold theirfish up for the camera, itgets weighed and then thefirst angler sits in the seatof a Lake and Bay boat thatis part of the stage set up.When another angler

weighs in a heavier fish he takes the first anglersplace in the boat. Last one in the boat, is theangler with the heaviest fish. The whole produc-tion builds drama and makes for great TV.Thomas reached down and pulled out a monster

red that weighed 7.37 pounds. The crowd wentwild! Thomas went and sat in the boat.Next up was James Daughtry. Five and a half

pounds. Nice fish, but not nice enough. Good try.That 7.37 is going to be hard to beat, someone

in the crowd said. I was thinking that too.And then Wyatt Carter came on stage. At 11

years of age Wyatt was the smallest angler instature among the Top-5 group. It didn’t matter.Wyatt reached into the bag and pulled out a whop-per. The crowd stood up and you cold feel the elec-tricity in the air as announcer Bob Sealy read the7.42 pound weight. Five hundreths of a poundheavier than Thomas Polk’s fish. Go sit in theboat Wyatt! The pressure was on, and poppaCarter was almost as nervous as his son.Brian Laishley was next up. Nice fish, but

clearly smaller. Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief.Poppa David, backstage, stood frozen, as if anymove could break the spell. Next up was AustinOskey, another Top-5 angler fishing with his dad.

Butat

Wyatt Carter Wins the Kids Cup

Wyatt Carter 7.42

Thomas Polk 7.37

Brian Laishley 2.99

James Daughtry 5.50

Austin Oskey 6.21


6.21 pounds Austin’s fish wasn’t the one and the daybelonged to Wyatt Carter, the 11 year old fishing withhis dad.In addition to the Top-5 trophies, rods and reels and all

the other prizes the Top-5 received the week before, theTop-5 kids also all got new Lowrance GPS units, jacketsand hats from Mercury Marine, lures from Strike Kingand Mirro-Lure, and Wyatt, of course, got the Kids Cup2007 trophy. Wyatt’s dad, for driving the winning boat,received a Power Pole anchoring system from IngmanMarine.The Charlotte Redfish mascot stopped by and Keith

Allen, the announcer, in playing around, managed to geta big treble hooked lure stuck in the mascot’s mouth. Then the skies opened and it was seriously inclement

for about an hour. Then it cleared and it was time for theOberto Top 5. It’s old history, by now you probably know the team

of Keller and Faulkner weighed in their two-fish-total of12.69 pounds and took home the big $40,000 check, butdid you know if you paired them up, team for team, theKids Cup anglers beat the pants off the Oberto Cup pro-fessional Top-5. Yes, the kids were fishing with shrimp and the pros

fished with artificials, but they’re kids fishing againstprofessionals and the kids have to cast and catch the fishall by themselves.

Here’s the wayI figure: TheOberto Top-5teams weigh intwo fish per team.The Kids weighin one fish each.So I took the onefish that eachKids Cup anglerweighed in onKids Cup day andadded that to theone fish weightthey weighed inon TV day. Ourkids kicked theirbutts, team for team, right down the line. It was all good. Congratulations to the Kids Cup

anglers, captains and parents. This was the best KidsCup yet! And a big thanks to the local and national spon-sors! We couldn’t have done it with out each and everyone of you! And thanks to Fishin’ Franks and Robert.And finally, thanks to Betty Staugler, Sea Grant andMote Marine and the 20 redfish tagging sponsors. We areall helping to shape the future, together.

The Watts brothers Oberto team were back back before therain started, while other teams waited it out under the bridge

Kids Cup Top-5 Fi sh wei ght Oberto Top-5Fi sh wei ght Wyatt Carter 14.23 Al Keller – Bill Faulkner 12.69Austin Oskey 13.98 Gregg Watts – Brain Watts 12.48Thomas Polk 13.92 Dan Latham – Mike Friday 12.44James Daughtry 12.16 Craig Johnson – John Ochs

Kids Cup Jr Anglers Kids Cup Jr Anglers VsVs The Oh Boy! Oberto Top-5The Oh Boy! Oberto Top-5

The Charlotte baseball Redfish mascotgot a lure stuck in itʼs mouth and hadto have it extracted with a plyers,while on stage. The fish was goodspirited, and it made for a good show!

With Adam WilsonWater LIfe DivingMay's diving was not exactly as great

as it could have been. Seems like everytime I talk about how great the upcomingmonth is going to be, the weather makesa liar out of me. Late season north windskept near shore visibility down. A deep,cold water, upwelling, well offshore, hasdropped visibility to zero out past 160feet. Reports from the wreck of theRoatan Express 1 talked about a murklayer at 150 feet that was pitch-black allthe way to the bottom at 190 feet ... butat least the surface temperature shouldnow be near 80 degrees.

Until the near shore reefs clear, seemslike the place to jump in is around the100-foot area. We have done some greatdrops as far south as the Stoney Point andas far north as Sarasota county's D9 andhard bottom beyond. All spots in betweenshould remain clear and fishy all month.We are still seeing huge Aj's, cobia,

mutton snapper and permit at thesespots. This has been one of the best yearsfor cobia in a long time. My dive buddyCarl shot a 54 pound cobia just a fewweeks ago.

If you are shooting fish this monthwatch out for the goliath grouper. Theywill start to make a huge showing at alllarge structures in June to begin theirannual summer spawning ritual.Southwest Florida has the largest pop-

ulation of breeding goliath grouper in theentire state. By mid summer it won't beuncommon to see as many as 100 matureadult goliaths on one wreck. We havealready seen the year round residentgoliaths start to move considerably fasterwith the warmer water. These big guysrarely leave the safety of their bottomstructure, but recently on a dive at thetwin barges, I was followed all the way tomy safety stop at 15 feet by a goliathlooking for a handout, or for me to turnmy head for a moment.If you keep your stringer attached to

yourself when diving amongst goliaths,make sure it is attached with a quick dis-connect. They will sneak up behind you,swallow your stringer of fish and dragyou around.

When you feel like leaving the gunin the boat, there should be plenty of sub-jects to shoot with a camera. Turtles arehere now, Preparing for their beach runsto bury the eggs of future generations. It

seems like they willingly pose for thecamera. Napping while tucked under aledge or grazing along the bottom theyare usually too busy doing turtle stuff topay attention to divers, but they are pro-tected animals, so don't try to hitch aride. Besides, a large loggerhead turtle canweigh 350 pounds, have a head the sizeof a soccer ball and if upset could easilydo serious harm to a diver with theirhawk like beak.We have also run into several pods of

bottlenose dolphins. Sometimes they willhang out long enough to get some greatshots too. And if your taking pictures itis hard not to snap a few of the menacingbarracuda on your way back to the sur-face, unless your in Frank's tournamentthis month, then you should befilling the cooler with the stinkyfish robbers for bait!

If the wind does finally turneast and lay down, the Tremblyand Palm Island Ferry reefs will begreat for beginners this month.You will see cobias, small jacks,snappers, groupers and schools ofbarracudas patrolling both spots. Ifyour going to dive from the beachor around the old railroad and phos-phate dock remains, rememberstone crab season closed on May15th. I've heard the sand that waspumped up on the beach at BocaGrande is already starting to shiftand reveal rocks and ledges withinswimming distance. It will beinteresting to see how the Marker

Light reef holds up to all theexcess sand dumped so close.

From novice to the mostexperienced, Venice offers a greatday of easy diving. Visibilityhas been averaging 10 feetrecently. That's more thanenough to sift across the bottomand hunt for giant shark teeth.Always have your tow behinddive flag when beach diving. The boattraffic can be busy off Venice and it's thelaw. If you have to get offshore and areboat-less, Capt. Jeff Steele from SpairTime charters is the guy to call. I spokewith him recently, and anybody thatloves to dive the Bayronto will be veryinterested in his special guest coming all

the way from England just to dive therein September. You can reach him at spair-time.com or 941-380-5313.

Adam Wilson can be reached for com-ments or diving information at

(941) 766-1661 or via e-mail at:[email protected]

Underwater Report



Above: Mother & young spotted bottlenose dol-phins that came to check us out on a safety stop.There were several others, maybe 20 in the pod,but these two seemed to be the most curious.Bottom Far Left: A sea turtle that was munching

seaweed off the Bayronto, until I disturbed her.Lots of turtles are around now with the nestingseason approaching.Top Far Left: A diver ascending from the wreck

of the Stoney Point, surronded by amberjacks.Below Left: is my buddy Carl with a 54 pound

cobia hangin from his stringer on his way up.


By Capt Stev e Skev ing tonWater LIFE OffshoreThere’s been a great Spanish mack-

erel bite that's been going on allmonth. These fish are hitting early inthe morning right on the beach andthey’re super easy to find since thebirds are just all over them, diving andchirping like there's no tomorrow. Wewere only five minutes from the dockyesterday and these fish were allaround the boat. My morning cup ofcoffee was still piping hot, and wewere pulling up fish left and right!With all that action first thing in

the morning, we decided to take abreak and try some tarpon fishing just

off the beach.We managed to load a cast

net full of large threadfins, thatwe put out on 50-pound leadersand 5/0 circle hooks. Thesewere almost immediately gob-bled up by small blacktipsharks.Looking for a bigger shark,

we put half of a Spanish mack-erel out on a wire leader. Thisresulted in a hundred pound tar-pon!The permit are still on the chew, but

for some reason they are a little harderto find this year than last. Once youfind them you get a few, then you have

to go hunting again.Kingfish are still aroundwith lim-

its of them being caught out nearfifty feet of water. Live bait hasworked the best on those fish.I haven't done a whole lot ofgrouper fishing in the last fewtrips, but what we have done hasbeen great with limits of redgrouper, and a lot of nice gaggrouper as well.Snapper are a nighttime fish

right now, if you can pull yourselfaway from those full-moon tarponlong enough you should get yourlimit of mangrove snapper prettyquick.Hard to believe, but there's a lot

of other great fishing going onright now.Blackfin tuna are still blasting

live baits fished on top and thedeeper wrecks are still holdingsome respectable amberjack and‘cudas.

OFFSHORE: lots of great fishing

Nice Blackfin Tuna (above) and a healthy permit (left)are indicative of offshore action.

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SCUTTLEBUTTSometimes Unsubstanciated, But Often True

Tough Break The IGFA has rejected a world record application for a 16-pound, 3-ounce bonefish caught by Bob Schroeder. The 10-pound braidedfiber fishing line used by Schroeder broke at more than 20 pounds.

Everglades Restoration Regulations One of the Federal plans on thebooks for the Everglades restoration is to limit travel in 3 feet or less ofwater to electric motors or push poles only. Public comment time is coming.That could mean most of Florida bay and traveling from the mid Keys toFlamingo would take days.

DQʼd Bucky Dennis, the local IGFA record holder for hammerhead sharkwas DQʼd from the Sarasota Shark tournament last month for allegedlystarting his fishing too early. Dennis reportedly had a 400 pound hammerready for the scale when he was cut.

Going and Coming Shallow Water Anglers store from Ingman Marine.Coming soon: Capt Tedʼs Tackle.

NG in PG and 2-cents worth. The city of Punta Gorda is talking with sev-eral businesses about revenue sharing. The city also appears to have anotion that is should be ʻrevenue sharingʼ with shrimpers who will be basedat the new marina and selling shrimp. We say the city should be thankfulfor businesses who want to invest and locate here and be more boater andfisherman friendly. Make the marina a truly functional marina. Allow chartercaptains to be based there and quit trying to be everyoneʼs partner. Isnʼt abusiness license enough? And if you need more money cut some of thefat out of your operating expenses. Look at Hampton Va., if you need amodel city for restoration of a waterfront community.

A Footer in the Door Contractors have poured the foundation on Fishin'Frankʼs new house, almost a full three years after Hurricane Charley. Alsostarted last month was the new county auditorium in Punta Gorda, thoughwe canʼt see the dust from that project quite yet.

Predicting the PredictionsThe National Hurricane Center says there is a 75-percent chance that their2007 hurricane predictions are 100-percent right.

Love Bugs It is against Charlotte County water restrictions to wash yourcar more than once a week. Ar you breaking the law?

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S taff ReportEighteen boats presented a respectable turnout, especially

considering the night before there were only six boats signedup. “We sign ‘em up right at the dock in the morning,”tournament Director Andy Medina explained. “It’s theExtreme Fishing Tournament,” he added. Andy, also theweighmaster and fish handler, arrived with a scale, a sink, ameasuring board and a table.It all happens right on the dock. No tent, no stage, no

resucitation tanks or tagging. They weigh the fish and dropit back in the drink. It took about a half hour to weigh-inall the boats. After they weigh-in, a anglers find a place totie up and mill around on the dock. In all, 14 teams weighedin fish. The biggest fish was Paul Lambert’s 6.89 pounder,backed up by a 5.52 pounder that was enough for Lambertand partner Brandon Varney to collect the $915 first placecheck. The 6.89 pound fish was also the biggest fish of theevent and worth an additional $180. Overall second placewent to Jarred Davis and Chuck Smith with 11.79 poundsworth $380. Third went to Mike Mahan and Bob Boudreauwith an 11.11 worth $145.Stories on the dock continue to revolve around other

anglers who were discourteous to tournament anglers (sur-prise, surprise!) and checks from another tournament that hadnot yet cleared.One fish weighed in exhibited a perforated lower jaw

which weighmaster Andy Medina attributed to a knock-offstyle ‘Boga-grip’ fish scale. “They are just too square andtoo sharp,” Medina said of the tool.A crowd of perhaps 30 people gathered at the Best

Western Hotel in Punta Gorda to watch the weigh-in.

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Risky business – the livewell in this boat is underwaterfrom all the weight and the fish could easily swim out!

Holes in the lower jaw left by an off-brand Boga?

Blue crabs are a popular redfish bait right now

Paul Lambert (right) and partner Brandon Varney


By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE ExpertSpring is a time for urban legends, lets take

ol' Hitler for example. Some of the local guidessaw a large shark – one of the many large sharksin the pass at Bocxa Grande – and started callingthe large shark Hitler. In thier greed and lust tosell property, the General DevelopmentCorporation, who built Port Charlotte, needed tohave a colorful history for Charlotte Harbor, andthe stories about ol' Hitler and Gasparilla thePirate fit the bill, so the leg-ends grew.Love Bugs were invented

by the University of Floridato eat mosquitoes. That isanother myth. Love bugscame from South America viaTexas, mostly expanding theirterritory by riding on thefront ends of cars. The mostcommon theory is, lovebugs, stuck to the front ofcars, but not dead, fly off anddeposit thier larva in the thickdead grass build-up along theside of the road, where theyeat and to some degree, helpwith the break down of plantsthere-by improving the ecosystem. When the larva reachadult hood they fly away tomate. The larger female maymate with more than onemale as they live only 7 days. The males die within 3days, the swarm grows asnew adults replace the dieingones for the four week cycle,each May and again inSeptember.Love bugs were first seen

in south Florida in 1971 andwere first found in the U.S. in Louisiana in1940. The reason the roadways are so crowed withlove bugs is the exhaust fumes and sunshineattract them. So while we cuss them as the clogour radiators and muck up cars, take a little com-fort in the fact at least they don't bite.While there are no legends about Redfish, per-

haps we have a lot of misconceptions aboutthem. Myself and many others thought redfishwould move along the shoreline when releasedand head back towards the places they werecaught. While it is not certain, it would seemfrom the data collected so far in the RedfishTracking Project being done by SeaGgrant andWater LIFE, that the once released the reds movefor open water, and take thier sweet time about it.As long as there is food and a comfortable

place to hang out, like a bad house guest, theyjust do not leave a spot until there is a reason.Tarpon are another fish we are trying to learn

about. It would seem that tarpon always comeback to the place they were born and it is possi-ble they bring others with them on thier journeyhome each year. Places like the Amazon Riverthat used to have a tarpon season much like theone we enjoy here in Charlotte Harbor, now donot get the ‘sliver visitors’ anymore. Apparently,the native people fished the local fish into extinc-

tion, and now they are gonefrom there. Here the tarponcome each year to spawn andgorge them selves on the passcrab migration. It was alwaysthought the tarpon came toBoca Grande each year for thefood, but maybe it is that theones born here are returningand bring the big schools withthem each year.Nature is complicated and

we are just scratching the sur-face of understanding the fullimpact of what happens. Onthe up side, we are trying.

Fishin’ Frank @

Legends and Fish StoriesSchematic view of a Split S:

(Blue plane)1. 180° turn2. Half loop3. Exit level

A Thought:Fish live in a 3D world just like aviators. The photo to the

right shows the patterns left in shallow water by a snook, hit-ting on a live free-swimming greenback. Of interest are the bub-bles and underwater ‘eddies’ left by the fish. We wonder, do theysomehow correlate to an aviator’s combat maneuver called the

Split-S?In the water, this fish’s tail made an almost perfect 180-

degree circle before an abrupt movement was made, probably toattack the greenback.And since snook suck in their bait, withhelp from a long lower jaw, they often come up from undertheir meal if they can. That means this fish was coming out of

a turn and changing altitude....coming up.In aviation, the Split-S is a 3D style evasive

tactic used by pilots to disengage from a dog-fight. By entering a hard 180-degree turn andthen rolling out (splitting the ‘S’) into a halfloop, (either up or down) the pilot has a goodchance of shaking his attacker.For the a fish, turning hard, then coming

down or up on it’s prey, could be a lot like theaviator’s Split-S.The fish appears to use this tactic offensive-

ly, which is even more impressive, since thefish has to be right on target to hit its prey,while the aviator only has to be facing some-where in the opposite direction to successfullyescape.

The Split-S (also called a reversedImmelmann turn) is one of the oldest air com-bat maneuvers, but could it be, fish have beendoing it longer?

Snook Swirl: an aerobatic maneuver?

A snook comes out of a turn to smack a sardine in shallow water. One theory has itthat fish in the Northern Hemisphere turn left to attack and that is why so many fishare hooked in the right side of the mouth, but clearly, this fish doesnʼt know that.

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Just as many boats as ever, maybe 75 on this day, May 27

No shame! The Suzuki sponsored boat running a Yamaha

Plenty of non-tourney anglers hooked up as well

One of the fish released on Memorial Day weekend.

Artie Price and his team weighed in this 160 pound fish towin the first round.


PROVIDED BY:Dave & Marlene HoferRE/MAX Harbor Realty(941) 575-3777 [email protected]

Recent area news items:Recent area news items:1. Real estate tax reform takes center

stage in June. The Florida Legislaturewill reconvene for a special session todeliberate the sticky issues of lesseningthe burden to homeowners. They aremindful of the widening inequity of nonhomesteaded property owners vs. owneroccupants. A lot of different ideas havebeen kicked around in local newspapersaround the state, most indicating that thecommittee is at an impasse.But, here is the real story of where we

stand with proposed legislative bills thathave been negotiated by the respectivecommittees as of April 24:

Florida House ofRepresentatives:

Cap on property tax collectionslimited to collections of 2001 plus infla-tion and population growth since then.

To make up for this rollback, a 1%statewide sales tax will be added.

Florida Senate:Cap on property tax collections

limited to collections of 2007 plus infla-tion and population growth.

Neither House or Senate bills limit thetaxes collected by school districts. Thistypically amounts to about 1/4 of residen-tial real estate taxes collected.Only the Senate proposal makes any

changes to the basic homestead exemp-tion. They are asking for an additional$25,000 for first time homebuyers. Thisextra exemption will be phased out asproperty valuations increase.Some of the outlandish proposals con-

sidered severely cutting back homesteadedproperty taxes with varying degrees ofincreased subsidy from non homesteadedproperty owners and sales taxes. Theydon't appear to be headed for the final leg-islation.County assessors will finally be given

better instructions for determining value

for commercial prop-erty. In the past,assessors have beengiven the latitude tovalue commercialproperty on the basisof what it couldPOTENTIALLY beused for. InSouthwest Florida,assessors have blindlydetermined marketvalue of most com-mercial properties onthe basis of what a similar piece of prop-erty sold to a speculator that may havesubstantially overpaid for their invest-ment. Now assessors will be limited to avaluation based on its current use, in thewords of the Senate, the use must be that"which is reasonably probable, physicallypossible, and legally permissible as wellas FINANCIALLY FEASIBLE and maxi-mally productive".All of the proposals appear to attempt

to curb government spending rather thansimply creating an artificially lowassessed valuation in order to providerelief to long suffering homeowners.

2. Charlotte County School Districtwill likely spend $200K for a ballot pro-posal to add another .5 per cent to oursales taxes. They are seeking to raise$200 million for various capital expendi-tures to rebuild outdated and storm dam-aged schools throughout the county.Rather than the traditional means of fund-ing school projects with bond issues tobe repaid with ad valorem taxes, a salestax would have two unintended conse-quences to our community. Not onlywill more of the burden be shifted toshoppers spending money on food andclothing, but big ticket sales like cars andfurniture may go to surrounding counties.3. The current Florida state highway

budget contains $6.7 mil for improve-ment of Aqui Esta from Ames to BalHarbor. Depending on whether the cityand/or county will add to this budget, thestreet may get widened but will undoubt-edly be raised to reduce flooding.4. Punta Gorda is contemplating

construction of an offline reservoir of 166

acres to store up to 1 billion gallons ofwater. Since no damming of ShellCreek will be required, regulatory red tapewill be minimized.5. The first phase of construction

on Thomas Ranch in North Port willbegin with 1869 units in IslandWalk and2000 units in Gran Paradiso. North Portannexed the 8,000 acre ranch in 2002. Itmay be five years before constructionactually begins and some 20 years beforethis phase is completed.6. Punta Gorda Housing Authority

will be rebuilding 170 units over the next18 months. 85 public housing and 85lower income market rate units will bebuilt on the site that Hurricane Charleydestroyed on Myrtle Street in 2004.7. The Charlotte County Event

Center broke ground on May 24.8. Construction on the Super Wal-

Mart on Jones Loop Road and Taylor roadis moving along. Should be open for

Christmas selling season and will kickoff the enormous shop-ping/office/residential development spear-headed by the Loop Development.Sales S tatistics:Median price of lots and condos rose

modestly last month and single familyhomes slipped a little. Volume was toolow to give any true indication of a mar-ket rebound.

These statistics are intended to assist inanalyzing trends in supply and demand andnot to indicate specific market values.Ending inventory is not always beginninginventory plus listings minus sales sincemany pending listings are held over frommonth to month, some listings expire andare withdrawn and, therefore, do not appearas sales and new listings includes pricechanges.

Please v isit us atwww.harborparadise.com to v iew any avail-

RealRealEstateEstateNewsNews

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By Capt RonBlagoWater LIFE SeniorStaff

Fishing activityhas really picked upthis last month. Theboatramps are fillingup, even on theweekdays. On theweekends don’texpect to find aparking spot afternoon unless youfind someonepulling out and youslip in right inbehind them.

Weather has beenreally nice, exceptit seems to be a lit-tle windy mostdays. I’ve been try-ing to improve myfly fishing skills,but the winds havemade that impossi-ble most days; soback to the jig andlive bait.

We had an algaeoutbreak here inLemon Bay last month. Not red tide, butthe blue-green type algae, I think.

It started right after the first good rainwe had in a long time. Large gobs of thisgreen smelly gunk appeared floating onthe surface, particularly around the creeksthat feed intoLemon Bay.Because of the fullmoon there wasn’tmuch tidal flow andthe westerly windpushed the stuff intothe backwaters andcanals, especiallyaround Cedar Pointwhere I live.

For three daysthis stuff was in mycanal just decom-posing. I actuallywatched white moldgrow on the stuff,and the stench wasunbelievable. Youknow that low tide smell we all love?

I did learn something new. There are alot of small minnows in my canal thistime of year and the floating garbage did-n’t bother them one bit. As a matter offact, they actually ate the stuff and seemedto enjoy it. And when the tide started torun stronger and the wind changed direc-tions, the garbage moved on and the min-nows went with it.

Tarpon season is in full swing andalready at Boca Grande it looks like it’sgoing to be a good year in the Pass. Thelast two years have been slow with rulechanges, sharks and red tide, but every-thing seems to be coming together thisyear. This would be a good time to book

a charter with oneof the tarponguides that fish thepass.

Judging by thenumber of redfishtournaments wehave had in thearea , I would saythat redfish hastaken over fromsnook as thespecies mostsought after. Thereare still plenty ofreds to be had, butif you fish onweekends don’t besurprised to see a

hundred fast moving, floating billboardsflying by, trying to beat you to yourfavorite hot spot.

Don’t forget that this is the time ofyear in our area for big trout.

I’m talking 4 pounds plus. Each yearI try to get a 7 pounder. I havn’t had anyluck yet but last year I caught 2 that wereover 6 pounds.

On The LineF i s h i n g w i t h C a p t R o n

I could usea few folks

who are willing tovolunteer

their boat and timeto take oneor two kids

fishingRead this story!

When the rains come, the gin clear waters of spring will turn tothe chocklate milk of summer.


continued on facing pageContinued from facing page

These ain’t your normal – lets float a shrimp over the grassflat – trout. These are big mean, tough trout that you findaround oyster bars and in deep fast running water. My favoritebait is a 5 inch grunt with a 5/0 hook. It’s a lot like night-time snook fishing.

Offshore fishing is still pretty good. There are still somebig kingfish out there, but the season is pretty much over.With the price of gas approaching $4.00 gallon, I don’t see alot of amateurs going too far offshore. I expect that the nearshore reefs will be seeing a lot of use this summer. Rememberthat June and July are always good mangrove snapper months.Just lighten up on the tackle and bring a few home for dinner.

Each year I run a Kid’s Fishing Camp in Englewood duringthe summer. This years camp is July 30th – Aug. 3rd . Everyday I take the kids to a different spot around Englewood to trya different style of saltwater fishing. One days it’s wading, thenext beach fishing, then pier fishing etc. On the last day,Friday Aug. 3rd I plan on taking them fishing on Lemon Bay.Leaving from Indian Mounds boatramp at 8:00a.m. and return-ing by 11:00 a.m. I could use a few folks who are willing tovolunteer their boat and time to take one or two kids fishing.The kids are both boys and girls between the ages of 8-12 . Ifyou can help out please give me a call. You don’t have to be aprofessional captain, just someone that likes to help out a kid.

Weʼre still trying to savethe terminally stupid:Smoke and MirrorsThe PGI Waterway Maintenance DIstrict is in theprocess of installing new mirrors in the PonceDe Leon Inlet channel and at itʼs intersectionwith the Rim Canal. The mirrors are supposedto allow boaters to better see approaching traf-fic. Didnʼt they try this before?

By Bil l DixonWater LIFE SailingI am writing this on Sunday

on my laptop in Pelican Bay.Mrs. D re-retired from her musicminister job and for the firstSunday in memory, didn’t go tochurch.

We all are guilty of forget-ting that we live in Paradise.We (me too) need to do it more.Yes, go!! Boat!! Please don’tanchor too close to me, but doenjoy the beauties of CharlotteHarbor. Life is good here, seabreeze, 80’s, sunshine, but weare not sailing today. We aregetting acquainted, talking aboutthe future, and soaking up thebeauty that is Charlotte Harbor.Friday, we pumped out,

dieseled up, 10 gallons, a year’ssupply for a sailor, and anchored off Fishville/GilchristPark. Interestingly, the Redfish Cup was on, and laterFriday afternoon, dozens of flats boats went by at a hun-dred miles an hour to hurry and get weighed in.Saturday morning, it was hazy and the boats came

out of the smoke at over 100 mph, but singly, I was upearly expecting a solid wall of boats. Both days, the

tournament fishermen were verycourteous and gave us a wide berth.At the speed they were going, onlythe blades of their propellers touchedthe water, so there were no wakes tospeak of.Later Saturday, we set off down

the harbor for Pelican Bay (1). Otherchoices could have been up theMyakka (2), by the mouth ofAlligator Creek (3) or Matlacha (4).We could have gone to Useppa, (5)or Boca Grande Bayou (6), but thedog likes the sandbar at the mouth ofPelican Bay.A front is forecast for tonight and

20-25 knot northerlies for tomorrow.Maybe another 15 or 20 feet ofchain, maybe not. Gorgeous sun-sets, ospreys, pelicans dolphin, andeven some tarpon rolling in the back

of Pelican Bay.Spring race results are not available to me andwe are

not going back for a while. Sailing is just starting forthe summer. Check the web at www.pgscweb.com andyou will find a summer full of races, cruises and othergood stuff. Go!! Boat!!

Bill Dixon. 941-637-2694, [email protected]

You can reach meat Pelican Bay

Colorful FruitSome people look at June as thebeginning of hurricane season. Welike to look at it as the beginningof fruit season.Although Florida oranges have beenharvested for several months already,by June the sweetest fruit seems totrickle down to the retail store level.The oranges (and tomatoes) shownhere are straight from the shelves ofthe local Publix and they are thesweetest and tastiest we have comeacross yet this year. For oranges, thecompression juicer is the only wayto go

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By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editor

We live right off the Peace River at the top of CharlotteHarbor. We’ve had high water, low water, sometimes nowater. We’ve had dolphins, manatees and spotted eagle raysin our canal. We’ve had an alligator or two. An osprey hadher nest in the tree next door. We have ibis on the lawn and(at the old house) an osprey flew right through. Woodstorks, blue herons and even a kingfisher have stoppedhere. We’ve caught snapper and catfish and snook and red-fish and trout and tarpon and a baby goliath grouper. We’vecaught baitfish and whiting and mullet (with a net) andjacks and sheepshead and spadefish and black drum andstingrays all from our dock. We are truly blessed to be ableto live in such a wildlife-abundant spot. And we’re right offthe main road in Port Charlotte. Living on a canal is likeliving next to a schoolyard, only quieter and better andthere’s is always something happening. You can slide akayak into the canal and paddle around, trying to blendwith the wildlife.

This past winter, with all the wind, a flock of migratingscaup ducks took up residence in our canal. We’d hear themcome and go in squadron like formations, their wings beat-ing the morning air, leaving at sunrise and coming home atdusk. They wouldn’t accept us even if we were asleep anddrifting. If we got close, they’d leave.

Two months ago those migrating ducks packed up andwent back up north, much like our snowbird neighborsacross the street did last week, but some of the bigger onesstayed around. Coming and going daily, they are now per-manent residents of our block. They won’t let us close butthey don’t fly off in a flurry either.

In the past years we have stumbled across duck eggs inthe thicket that used to be my neighbor’s vegetable garden,and in the bushes beside the house. This year I didn’t seeany eggs, but still, we have a pair of little ducklings that

follow momma duck around all day long.They travel primarily by water and their ritual includes

coming to one of the culvert pipes that drain runoff fromthe street into the canal. Every day for the last few weeksthey have arrived just as the pipe is awash with the fallingtide. Momma hops up on the top of the pipe watching as

her little ducklings float in and out of the pipe. They stay-ing inside until the tide falls below the lip and then theirafternoon’s fun is over.They hop out and paddle awaybehind momma.

The falling tide is an interesting time. A month ago wehad a pod of dolphins that made a daily appearance in ourcanal – about the same time every day; 4 inches into thefalling tide. Every day the dolphins would come to thecanal, forage around my dock and my neighbor’s dockacross the canal (I think it had something to do with thefact we both had underwater lights on at night), then sever-al of the dolphins demonstrated a behavior which I have yetto have explained to me. Nose first they would pushagainst the seawall, their bodies angled 90-degrees into thecanal. They wouldn’t all do it at the same time, but a num-ber of them on any day could be seen doing it) Theywould arch their bodies with their dorsal fin out of thewater and thrust with their tails pushing them head firstagainst the wall. They do it for 15 or 20 seconds at attime. That went on for about three weeks and then one daythey never came back. Yesterday it was jacks. They don’tmind a kayak, they simply swim around you. A maraudingschool of big jacks got on some unfortunate school ofbite-sized baitfish and the jacks tore them up, thrashing thewater so hard that several neighbors came out to see whatthe ruckus was. Then a flock of seagulls came in fromnowhere to pick up the pieces.

Today it’s stingrays, appearing like a faded checkerboardbeneath the surface. They are cool to watch from waterlevel in a kayak or from the elevated vantage of our newsecond floor deck.

There are any number of reasons I like living on thewater. It’s great to keep your boat out back. It’s calm andtranquil and you can feel the tide and the breeze at night.But watching the unending and often amazing displays ofnature, that’s what keeps me here. That and the fishing.

Kayaking: Where wildlife and city-life share the same canal


By Capt. Rob MooreWater Life StaffWe are now in the peak season for

shark fishing here in Southwest Florida.If you want to do battle with the ultimatepredator, now is the best time. Even withthe great numbers of sharks here alongthe Gulf Coast, it doesn’t necessarilymean you can pull up to just any spotand drop anchor and expect to catch ashark. Looking for the right conditions,chumming effectively and having theright gear will enhance your opportunitiesgreatly.First, I will start with the right condi-

tions. The closer you get to the openGulf the more your opportunities willincrease. Higher salinity will hold morebait therefore holding more fish likeSpanish mackerel. Spanish mackerel arethe best sign that sharks are not farbehind. The smaller sharks up to four feetwork hand- in-hand with the mackerel totarget the baitfish. The larger sharks arethere to eat the mackerel. My shark fish-ing over the last 5 years has revolvedaround finding large feeding schools ofmackerel, either in the back bays or in theopen Gulf. The greatest part is when youfind the mackerel you have also found thebest bait of choice. Spanish mackerelmake great bait for sharks. Just rememberin order to use one for bait it must meetthe minimum length required by law. Youare also responsible to obey the limit youkeep, even if you do use it for bait. I liketo use a 6-7 inch filet of a mackerel. I usethe carcass for chumming later on.As for chumming, this can be the

most important part of the trip. Sharkshave a really great sense of smell. Theywill smell bleeding fish miles away. In

order to attract those fish from far away,you must make sure your chum is effec-tively getting to them. Current is yourbest friend when chumming. The strongerthe current, the better the results you willget overall from chumming. Decide whatarea you want to draw fish from and thenmake sure you are up tide from that area.If the wind is blowing against the tidethen anchoring in a single spot may notbe the best course to take. The best wayto see if your chum is getting out is topour a little fish oil such as Menhaden oilover the side of the boat and watch thedirection the slick drifts. If the slick staysaround the boat, then that’s as far as yourchum is going to go. In situations wheremy chum is not being effective becauseof an opposing wind, I will chum while Iam drifting.The best chum will be the freshest.

Old or frozen chum will work, but neveras well as fresh chum. I like to catch my

limit of mackerel and place the carcasseson a stringer and hang it over the side ofthe boat. You may not see your chumworking like an oil slick, but trust me, itis chumming. Frozen chum blocks willwork, I like the ones that have oil mixedin with them so I can see how far thechum is dispersing from the boat.Next, your gear will determine whether

or not you land a shark. I generally use arod and reel set up for the size shark Iintend to catch. My leader will consist ofa minimum of 6 feet of 150-200-poundmono shock leader. This is for keepingthe shark from wearing through the linewith its abrasive body and tail. The leaderbegins with a 200-pound barrel swivel,then 6 feet of 150-200-pound mono, thenanother barrel swivel. I then crimp on 18inches of coffee colored single-strandstainless wire, usually 100-pound test.This will be plenty of leader to stop ashark from biting through the leader with

its mouthful of sharp teeth. The finaltouch is a 7/0 -to 10/0 circle hook. I havefallen in love with the Circle LightChuck hook made by Daiichi. Once thathook is set, there is no losing the fish.My line of choice is 80-100-pound testbraided line. That size line gives you theopportunity to handle any size shark upto 400 pounds.I am personally a catch-and-release-

only guy when it comes to sharks. I justcan’t bring myself to killing one of thesemagnificent beasts. So I leave my gaff athome and simply cut the leader when theshark is brought to the boat. If you dodecide to keep a shark for the dinner table,be sure to bleed the fish as soon as possi-ble to preserve the meat.If you’re looking for some great action

and a battle with one of the most fearedcreatures in the sea, try hooking up withMr. Shark and enjoy the adrenaline rush.

Capt. Robert Moore can be reached at

A shot of adrenalineA shot of adrenaline

UltimatePredator


J u n eJ u n eF i s h i n gF i s h i n g

R e p o r tR e p o r tCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888Most of the predictions have failed at

least to some extent. The east windblowing so hard dropped the water tem-perature 15 degrees in 10 days. Now,hopefully, the cooler wind should laydown after the full moon, and if allgoes as in the past, Frank’s SharkTournament could cure the drout. (italmost always rains on Franks SharkTournament - so much so it has becomeknown as Frank’s Severe WeatherChallenge – ed) The cooler water couldmake for a longer summertime of fish-ing, keeping the fish around the passeslater. That’s if the rain comes and if itdoesn’t drive them out! Like I said,most predictions have failed.In the beginning of June the tarpon

should go offshore to spawn after thehill tides. The crabs and shrimp willflush out the passes and the tarpon willfollow. Shrimp has been incredi-ble...when they are running...at least sofar this year. The key is when.

Of interest, sharks may have backedoff this year and have not been as bigof a problem as they have in the pastthree years. There are plenty of sharksin the harbor right now and will be forthe next couple of months. Black tipsare pretty much everywhere.You canfind them from the U.S. 41 bridges tothe Myakka to Alligator Creek. Thatwhole triangle has been very productivefor small to mid-size sharks like 2-to 4-footers and some 4 to 5 foot spinnerswhich are big sharks, 80-90 pounders.They don’t usually get up this far, theystay out in the open water but there arequite a few larger sharks up in the har-bor now. There is so much shark food;spanish mackerel , ladyfish ,jacks and bluefish, the sharks don’thave to go feed out in the passes. Itshould stay this way at least anothertwo to three weeks until the river startsto move again.June can be a fairly decent month for

redfish. Anywhere there is shade orsome deeper pot holes, you can usuallyfind reds, especially on the eastside. White bait and shrimp willwork, but the early morning top-waterbite is, and should be, really good fromnow through the rest of the summer.Dead-baiting will be a real key factorfor reds. They will east cut sardines, cutladyfish and frozen shrimp at this time

of year. It’s a lazier way to fish, butvery productive. The good part is youwill end up with cobia and snook asbycatch since they will both take yourcut bait.Snook is closed. Let’s stay away

from snook this summer, it can be hardto keep them alive.Spanish mackerel should be here

for another couple of weeks, then theywill start to head back out to the beach-es. We’ve also got cero mackerel ,

they look like Spanish in the 6-7 poundrange, but they are different, they arebigger fish.There are a lot of Bonita mixed in

offshore with the Spanish and cero. Thebonita seems to be a little more pickythis year. Trolling through them hasbeen more productive than running upon them and casting. The local guidesare all going 1 to 3 miles offshorelooking for them.

Continued on facing

Plenty of Big Ones Capt Jarret Lombard holds an oversize redfish caught during theKids Cup by Jr. Angler Trey Llewellyn. Trey later weighed in another fish.

pageContinued from facing pageThe wind has been moving the

permit around a lot this season.We may see more of them movingin because I think with the windthey are staying in the rougherwater where they are safer.Trout has been inconsistent,

normal summer stuff, a few goodstories, but not much trout rightnow. Along the beaches, whitingand pompano are still out alongthe shore.With the shark tournament

this month, here are a fewSpecial Reports:Sharks: If you’re looking for a

tournament shark, larger ones likelemon sharks will be hanging outin the intracoastal, along the deeperdrop offs, but normally they eatmullet from along the mangroves.Larger bul l sharks will be

concentrated on the schooling tar-pons in the pass and in the harbor,on the ladyfish and Spanishmackerel schools. Throw themjacks, bonita, or mullet.S tingrays: will be along the

edges along the outside of the bars.They are all pregnant right now,

they are notorious for late May andearly June births, so they will behanging at the shallow ends of thesandbars, especially along the westwall. Throw them dead bait on thebottom. Threadfins are workingwell, that or squid.Catfish: are a little tricky.

When you want them, they seemto be hard to find. The Peace Riverfrom the 41 bridges to Nav-A-Gator and out at El Jobean seem tobe the catfish hot spots right now.That plus every canal in CharlotteCounty.

Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595Tarpon is the biggest focus

here. They are not biting as wellon the beach, but guys are still

getting a couple of fish a day.The majority of the tarpon are

being caught in the pass, some realbig ‘toads’ like 160 to 180 pounds!There are a lot of fish in the passright now, but it has been reallyrough, and that’s been a real chal-lenge for the guides. The live baitguys caught 58 fish in one 4 hourtournament a week ago. That’s arelease every six minutes, but itwasn’t too rough that evening.There are a lot of big snook

around the area. Snook fishing isgood and redfish action is goodtoo – guys are still fishing anddoing well in the back country. Alot of mackerel are around inBoca Grande and at Gasparilla pass.There’s good pompano and a lotof whiting around. Offshore, ifthe weather is good, there are good

catches of grouper and snapper.There are aj’s at the Bayronto, andCobia on all the wrecks. Cobiaseems to be good this year a friendgot 7 keeper sized cobia in the har-bor. Every cast into a pod of tar-pon got a cobia. He called from the


BIG-4BIG-4 Juneʼs Target SpeciesJuneʼs Target Species

SPANISH MACKEREL aregood for another few weeks

SHARKS are all over, untilthe rains come

REDFISH continue to beconsistent

TARPON are here, in thePass and in the Harbor

FishingRIGHT NOW:

Excellent!

n June 2, Charl o tte High Schoo l Redfi shRoundup benefit, 941-637-5953

n June 2, Wi ldl i fe Expo Fishermen’s Village,Punta Gorda.

n June 3,10,16,17, Pro fes s i onal TarponTournament Seri es at Boca Grande, entry:

$1000

n June 9, Fishin’ Franks 22nd annual, Shark,Sai lcat and Stingray Tournament. Go outSaturday afternoon, fish all night and weigh inSunday morning. (941) 625-3888n June 9-10, Peace River Clean Up starting

at Nav-A-Gator 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free enter-tainment and dumpsters for river trash.n July 7, Pirate Redfish Tournament, $400entry, Punta Gorda at Harpoon Harry’s, 941-637-5953, a Port Charlotte H.S. Benefitn Aug 18 Northport Bobcats Benefi t Redfish

C a l e n d a r o f E v e n t s

THE ALL NEW 2008 F-450 KING RANCH SUPER DUTYTHE ALL NEW 2008 F-450 KING RANCH SUPER DUTY

October 6, see P-2

15 year-old Hunter McCarthy with anice Deep Creek-caught bass

WaterLIFEJUNE07

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