water life june 2006

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P a g e 2 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J u n e 2 0 0 6

J u n e 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE Editor

“He called me around noon and said hehad her on,” a friend of Bucky Dennis’ said,standing in the darkness outside the Fisheryrestaurant on an overcast night. The air waswet and it just felt like a good night to befishing. “We were going to go out tomor-row, but you know Bucky, he just couldn’twait.” So it was, that on Tuesday May 23Bucky Dennis was fishing the Pass at BocaGrande, alone in his 23 foot flats boatwhen the big hammer appeared. “I saw hercome up and eat a tarpon. She came backand I threw a stingray wing in front of herand she took it,” Bucky said. It was a fivehour fight he added. Friends came out tohelp with the fight. Little by little Buckygained line on the big fish until finally hehad her at the boat. “We dragged it twomiles, tail roped - backwards, to kill it,”Donny Lambert, one of the men whohopped onto Bucky’s - boat said. Wordspread throughout the fishing communityeven before they were back at the Placidaboat ramp. An older lady, perhaps in herlate 70s - short, with graying hair,approached them at the ramp and offered tobuy the fish right then and there for cashbut they turned her down. Later the menspeculated it may have been the ‘shark lady’herself, Eugenie Clark from Mote Marine;but Bucky, at the time, had other plans for

his fish. Earlier last month another largehammerhead was caught, a world class linerecord for 80-pound test, but the angler whoreeled that fish in had no idea of what to dowith it so he reportedly buried it in anorange grove. Bucky hoped to be able tosell his catch to Cabelas or the Bass ProShops. Stories were going around thatthose big-business big-game shops had puta bounty on record fish to mount and dis-play in their stores. But Bucky had to fig-ure out what to do with the fish that night.

They loaded the fish on their boat trailerand brought it over to the truck scale at theBoca Grande causeway toll plaza andweighed it. Then they dumped the fish backin the water at the boat ramp, went backand weighed the trailer empty. Deductingthe known weight of the trailer, the fishweighed 1280 pounds. A world record,soundly exceeding Allen Ogle’s all-tacklerecord of 991 pounds set in 1982.

Bucky’s next plan was to take the fishto the wharf at the Fishery in Placida andhoist it aboard one of the shrimp boatswhere it could sit overnight on ice, but thatplan fell short when they found the fishwas too big to fit into the hold. “I guessI’m just going to have to take it home andwrap it in a tarp until morning,” Buckysaid.

Looking at the fish, on first take it did-n’t appear that big. Fourteen feet four inch-

es overall from head to tail. The width ofthe hammer, three feet across. What made itso big was its belly. From the side, thefish was of monstrous girth, perhaps eightfeet around. “This fish just ate a tarpon,”Bucky said, “and she’s pregnant, loadedwith another 200 pounds of babies.”Pregnant animals have made it into therecord books before. Collateral damage, Ithought to myself. They cut two teeth fromit’s mouth, souvenirs about an inch and ahalf long. I thought back to the six inchfossilized shark’s teeth I have seen dug up

locally and the size of those pre-historicfish back then.

Only an official line test would keepBucky from the world record. The IGFA’sline-limit for ‘sporting tackle’ is 130 poundline, but Bucky was using Power Pro. Ifthat breaks at over 130 in a line test, whichit probably would since it was reportedly150 pound line, the record would not stick.According to the IGFA, Bucky has not yetsubmitted an application for the record.“There are three other big sharks out therenow that I know of. All are bigger than

One Question RemainsBig Hammerhead Caught on Line Perhaps too Heavy

Bucky Dennis with the 1280 pound hammerhead that was later donated to Mote Marine.


Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

with any newspaper or otherpublication

© 2006 Vol V No. 6 Water LIFENo part of this publication may becopied or reproduced without the

written permission of the publishers

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonTechnical Advisor: Mike Panetti

Sailing Advisor: Bill DixonKayaks: David Allen

Local: Capt. Andrew MedinaTournament Report: Capt Jerry Cleffi

Sea Grant: Betty Staugler

on the COVER:Kids Cup winner Chris L arsen of Port

Charlotte holds up the winning fish. Chrisfished with David McHugh and weighed in 6.47pounds in the tournament and 5.21 in the final.

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

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

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By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE Editor

Last month we put onour Kids Cup Tournament– 125 out on the waterfishing, a captain’s meet-ing dinner for over 300people and a weigh in atHarpoon Harry’s that net-ted them one of their bestbusiness days of the year.We had hundreds of spec-tators, hundreds of partici-pants, smiling family andfriends. Easily, 1,000people knew of and wereinvolved with the event.But, did any local dailypaper or TV station reporton it? I Think Not.

So what does that tellyou about how in touchwith the local boating andfishing community thelocal media is? We noti-fied them. I personallyspoke with both newspa-pers. We e-mailed them.They knew about the KidsCup but apparently choseto ignore it. To me that’sunsportsmanlike conduct.

We have had calls andquestions from mothersand fathers of the Kids

Cup anglers wanting toknow why this happened.I tell them: The dailypapers don’t really careabout what the boatingand fishing community isdoing. I go so far as tosay I believe they don’tlike the idea we are teach-ing kids about fishing. Ithink they’d rather kidsdidn’t learn to fish.

And ditto for theCounty’s Visitor Bureau.

At the captain’s meet-ing dinner for the RedfishCup (run by the Visitor’sBureau) someone took ourKids Cup banner and putduct tape over the namesof our two main spon-sors: Laishley Marine andPalm Chevrolet and then,to make matters worse,they balled up the KidsCup banner and stuffed itbehind the stage.

How petty! What adownright slap in the faceto every parent and kidwho took part in the KidsCup event.

Last month I predictedthe Visitor’s Bureauwould try to get out of

having the Redfish Cupcome back to Punta Gordain 2007. As they werepacking up, David Healythe Redfish Cup’s publicrelations director told me“The Kids Cup is aninspiring part of our stopat Punta Gorda,” so Iasked if all was set for theRedfish Cup to comeback again next year.

“We love Punta Gorda,this is a great venue forour event, we want tocome back here everyyear,” Healy said, “... butthe Visitor’s Bureau hastold us that next year theconstruction at LaishleyPark will not be finishedand the auditorium sitewill also be under con-struction so they would

not make a commitmentto us for 2007.” “If theRedfish Cup wants tocome to Punta Gorda nextyear there is still a way tomake it happen. Youcould have your event atGilchrist Park and theweigh-in at Fishermen’sVillage,” I suggested. ThePort Charlotte BeachComplex would alsowork, for that matter.

So it appears we areresented and ignored byliberal know-it-alls in thelocal media and politicalworld and loved byinformed parents, childrenand national TV. That,evidently, is a recipe forour success.

We will continue tosupport this community

and its children. We willchampion CharlotteHarbor and it’s resourcesand campaign for accessand education on thewater.

And when good thingshappen we will continueto demand support andrecognition from the localmedia, not for ourselvesbut for the community’sparticipants.

Children are our futureand tomorrow’s keepers ofthe environment. Theyneed to learn how to fish,how to spend time on thewater and how to take careof it. And their effortsneed to be recognized.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct Can t̓ Tarnish the Kids Cup Image

Who dared to tape over the names of Palm Chevrolet and Laishely Marine?


By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Inshore Editor

You may be thinking this article mustbe about offshore fishing. For certain it isnot, but it is a backcountry story thatunfolds into a fishing day I will never for-get. Southwest Florida experienced adrought for countless months and with lit-tle freshwater entering Charlotte Harbor,the salinity increased. This year the extrasalinity must have lead every baitfish off-shore to the inshore waters or so it seems.Schools of threadfin herring are on justabout every flat and backcountry area Iknow of. Stands to reason that just abouteverything that swims might follow themin.

This was a special trip because mybrother Bob and best friend Capt. TimReichenburg, who charter fishes off ofPalm Beach, and I met for a couple days offishing. Putting 3 captains into a boatwho were friends from childhood is boundto result in a great day regardless of thebite. The trip started with a run to thebaitfish grounds. A bit of chumming anda mix of Spanish sardines, threadfins andpilchards blessed our livewell. We hopedto have some larger baits mixed in for tar-pon fishing for later in the day but nonewere found so on we went. The plan wasto backcountry fish a low incoming tidethen switch to Tarpon on the higher out-going tide.

This day the tide was extra low justbefore the full moon and we fished aslightly deeper trough adjacent to a shal-low flat. Setting up on the spot involvedme on the trolling motor and the 3 of usdisagreeing on how to position the boat.This is typical of experienced fishermenthat think they know more than oneanother on how to fish, however I ruledsince I was in control. The hook wasdown and we began flicking free-swiminglive baits into the water for chum. Ourexpectations were high and we pitched ourbaits a short distance from a mangrovebush. Wham, I was on with a respectableredfish, a grunt from Bob and he was tan-

gling with a snook. And so it went forthe next 1.5 hours with trout added tomake for several legal backcountry slams.The rising tide changed the spot and thefish catching dried up. Fishing andexploring several other spots within a mileor so, we never had a bite and it was timeto head to another part of the harbor. Aswe motored through a large trough on ourway to the next spot we spotted a tarponfree jumping. Backing down on the throt-tle and peering into the water our eyesblinked in unison and shouts of tarpon,tarpon, tarpon everywhere rang out in har-mony. Yes, we accidently found the moth-er-lode and if another boat was nearby hewould have known about it too from allthe hollering! To say the least we wereexcited and adrenaline was pumping as tar-pon from 60 to 150 pounds were stackedlike cordwood in 4-6 feet of water. Somewere free jumping, some were greyhound-ing and some popping the surface. Ofcourse, this is only going to happen whenyou don’t have tarpon bait aboard. Adebate rose as to what to do next; go getbig bait, fish the small baits- drift, cast oranchor. We chose to anchor and began dic-ing up threadfins and pitching live onesout. Hooking up 2- 30# class tarponsticks with medium pilchards didn’t feelright but that was all the bait we had. Tenminutes into it and I sat my rod in a hold-er and turned away to hear a line rippingso fast through the water it sounded like asmall fighter jet going by. As I watchedmy rod buckle and go limp we knew thefish were coming in and I had better notput the rod down. Next, a school of lady-fish came in, followed by a school ofbluefish. Add to that a few Spanish mack-erel and light tackle action was just plainfun. Into the well went the ladies and theblues and macks stayed for chunking. An8/0 gorilla ‘j’ hook was nose hooked intoa ladyfish, put under a float and flickedout. About 5 minutes later Tim hollersout “a big tarpon is headed towards yourbait- grab your rod!” Tim had the bird’seye view from -foot’ tower and with a

commanding voice screamed “he ate it” andwith that a large swirl and a raging hook-set from Bob sent the silver king into ahigh jump, twist and splashdown as lineburned off under heavy pressure. Excitingwas not the word for this event that endedabout as quickly as it started with the kingshaking free. A hundred and twentypounds of silver lightning was the guessedweight. One more bite was had later witha brief connection and the tarpon left thearea on a quickly falling outgoing tide.

The next decision was to locate andcatch some large threadfins and go back totarpon fishing. An hour later we weredrifting in deeper water just outside wherethe tarpon were found earlier. The lateafternoon winds were really cooking andwe went streaming across open water withonly 8-10 feet under the boat. One rigfree-lined and the other with a float. Tenminutes into it and the free lined rod buck-led deep. Bob raced to the rod and strug-gled to get it out of the rod holder with thehard pull on the other end. The fight wason as he applied huge pressure but nojumps from the tarpon. It didn’t fight likea cobia or shark but it was big. Peeringinto the crystal clear harbor waters after a10 minute battle the distinct markings of agag grouper lead me to the gaff and 25pounds of grouper went into the cooler –one fish! So here we are fishing shallowwaters adjacent to flats and land this ìjimdandyî on a surface bait, go figure.Luckily, the ol’ skipper quietly pushed inthe waypoint save button upon hook up

and we set the boat adrift and followed thesame course. Our second drift and thirdproduced whopper grouper. Who wouldbelieve it? At that point my 96 galloncooler was stripped of food, beverage,chum, etc. and we closed the lid and headedfor the barn. There was no more room forfish and why be greedy.

Old salts, extra salty water and bigsurprises. The harbor is full of fish andone can only wonder what other offshorespecies have followed the food trail in.Can’t wait until next time!

Extra Salt and Big Surprises

By Capt. Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior Guide

Tickets are still available for the big manatee fightJune 7th at the Marriott Hotel in beautiful West PalmBeach. The fight, sanctioned by the Florida Fish andWildlife Commission will determine whether the manateewill be reclassified from endangered to threatened. Thisfight has been 5 years in the making with plenty of badblood between the opponents and is sure to be one for therecord books. Before we go to the ring, let’s look at someof the history that has shaped this massive manateemauling.

1903 – A live manatee was shipped fromFlorida to the New York Aquarium for exhibition.He died 4 months later. His death was probablyclassified as ‘undetermined.’

1907 – Florida passes a law making it a $500fine or 6 months in jail for killing a manatee. Firstmanatee protection plan.

1948 - Snooty the manatee is born in captivity. He isstill alive today, living in a resort in Bradenton. Why do Icare? Because I was born in 1948 and he seems to be hav-ing a better life than I have.

1966 – The Federal Endangered Species Act makes theWest Indies Manatee an endangered species.

1968 – The United Nations decrees: “By being a high-profile species, the manatee may function as a catalyst toelaborate comprehensive conservation plans. Manateesmay be instrumental as well in the establishment of sanc-tuaries and attainment of the overall goal of preservation.”

1972– The Federal MarineMammal Protection Act,

designates the manatee a marine mammal (Iguess there must have been some confusion about

what kind of mammal it was). The penalty for killing amanatee became a federal offense with a $20,000 fine anda year in jail.

1978 – Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act declares entireState as a refuge and sanctuary for manatees. First boatingrestrictions go into effect.

1981 – Save the Manatee Club is founded.1984 – The Florida Dept of Natural Resources declares

the manatees in Florida are actually a sub-population ofthe West Indies Manatee. All manatees henceforth shall becalled Florida Manatees. So it is written, so it is done.

1989 – Gov. Bob Martinez requires 13 counties inFlorida to produce Manatee Protection Plans

1990 - The DNR establishes the Office of ProtectedSpecies Management lead by Patrick M. Rose who lattergoes to work for the Save the Manatee Club.

* The Save the Manatee License Plate begins* $1 is taken from every boat registration in Florida to

help pay for ‘manatee recovery.’1999 – Bureau of Protected Species moves into the

newly formed FWC. The SMC looses a lot of their con-tacts and friends in the State manatee business.

2000 – SMC threatens to sue everyone. FWC, ArmyCorp of Engineers and the DEPT of the Interior. Everyonegets scared and reaches an out of court settlement. Majorboating regulations are part of the deal and go into effect.

2001- Aerial survey finds 3276 manatees in Florida.Everyone who signed the settlement is super embarrassed.SMC says you can’t trust aerial surveys. They say theyare not accurate. Just because you see them and can countthem, doesn’t mean they are there.

2001 – CCA asks the FWC to do a Biological StatusReport on the manatee.

So in one corner you will have the SMC, self appoint-ed defenders of the manatee. In the other you will have theStaff of researchers for the FWC who for 5 years have rec-ommended the down listing of the manatee.

It’s going to be a fight between science and politics,reason vs. emotion. Who will win? I don’t know. Theymight even fight to a draw. I think I’ll invite my good


Ready to Rumble: Manatee ʻSmack Downʼ Coming this Month

42' Post Marine Sportfish 1978 -T/310hp Detroit dsls6-71N, depth, fish finder. VHF, GPS, 3 bats. New7.6KW gen. A/C all gauges, and more $229,000

30' Pro-Line WA 2004 - T/225hp Mercury Optimax,well equipped, very nice condition. Asking $119,000

26' World Cat 266SF 2000 -Twin 130hp Hondas, cus-tom T-Top. Asking $51,900.

26' Sea Ray 260 Sundancer 2001- 5.7L EFIMercruiser, low hours, full canvas, A/C VacuFlushhead. Asking $49,900

26' Boca Grande 1986 - 350hp Crusader 1997 450hours, depth, fishfinder, GPS, VHF, 2 batts, bimini,gorgeous condition. $29,900

25' Proline WA Cuddy 1998 -225hp Mercury EFI.Clean boat, lift stored. Asking $28,500

25' Carolina Classic 1997 - 300 hp Volvo Duoprop,clean boat thats ready to fish! $46,900

30' Proline Express 2002 T/225hp Evinrudes Fichtsonly 78 hrs,. autopilot, depth, VHF, GPS, hydraulicsteering $79,900

30' Luhrs Alura 1988 -S/220hp Cummins New 2001,VHF, depth, fish finder. Loran, GPS, 2 batts, freshbottom paint, original owner. $29,900

28' Scout Abaco 2004 - T/225hp Yamaha 4 strokes,very low hours, like new. Asking $95,000.

28' Prokat Prosports CC 2003 - T/225 Yamaha 4-strokes, only 227 hrs., fully rigged for offshore fish-ing. Tri-axle trailer included. Asking $84,900

38' Bertram Convertible 1986 - T/375hp CATs model3208. Loran, radar. VHF, GPS, TV, 8kw gen., halftower. $169,500

34' Cruisader Flybridge 2002 -Custom made boat tospecs of a SW FL offshore capt. Reef permit andcommercial fishing gear available. Asking $150,000

33' Cruisers Inc. 3370 Espirit 1990 - Twin 330hpMercruiser 7.4L IB Port engine. 1990/Starboardengine new in 2003. Asking $49,500

32' Albermarle 325 Convertible 1988 - Twin 300hpCummins 1992. Asking $95,000


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WHY WAIT TO BUILD!! This 3/2/2 pool home overlooks a lovelywaterway, has 1614 sq ft and was built in 2005. Home features manyupgrades including Granite kitchen countertops, wood cabinets,ceramic tile, walk-in shower and more. This home also comes fullyfurnished with beautiful furniture. This is a must see!!! Bring all offers!!.MLS # 634989 $399,900 Call Gerry at 268-4249

Sailboatcanal poolhome inprestigiousbeach com-plex area, 4bedrm, 3baths, 2 cargarage. This home has all the bells and whistles with 2,777 sqft, built in 1998 and shows pride of ownership. Magnificent inte-rior with niches, alcoves, arches, transom lights, roman show-ers, garden tub, walk-in closets, wood cabinets, and more. Thishome will fill pages of upgrades, call to see today. Offered at$798,000 MLS # 635844 call Ellen at 235-5648

Still under construc-tion, Beautiful 4/3.5/3pool/spa home that sitson an oversized cornerlot, 2589 sq ft of livingarea, this home has allthe bells & whistles,solid honey oak cabi-nets, solid surface counters thru-out, hurricane code windows, seamlessglass window at nook, 8ft sliders, corner garden tub in master bath, 2A/C units, plant shelves, great landscaping with curbing & gravel and thelist goes on. MLS #628706 $549,900 Call Ellen at 235-5648

3/2/2, 1621 sq. ft.built in 2003. Homeshows like brand

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SaltwaterCanal Home

WHY WAIT TOBUILD!!!JUST REDUCED.Two beautifulBRAND NEW 3br,plus den, 2 ba, 2car garage, 1974 sq ft homes featuring porcelain tile floorsthroughout, except bedrooms, wood cabinets with sylestonecounters in these real quality homes. MLS # 485276 & 485277,$279,900. Call Gerry at 268-4249

ParadiseLiving atits Best!!Elegant 2s t o r y5 / 4 . 5 / 2pool homethat sits on awide sail-boat canal with only minutes to the Harbor. home has 3734 sqft, and features Travertine marble stone floors, solid surfacecounters, eat-in kitchen, crown molding, French doors. mas-ter bath w/ dual sinks, jetted tub & separate shower. 3 A/Cunits, waterfall in pool, new roof and more. MLS#630679$999,950 Call Ellen at 235-5648

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Nice and neat pool home in great area, This 3/3/2 with 1696 sq ft wasbuilt in 1982 and is ready for you to move in. New paint inside and out,newer berber carpet, new hurricane code garage door and the list goeson. MLS # 617135 $ 244,900 Call Ellen at 235-5648

Beautiful 3/2.5/2 pool home on Saltwater canal, with 1937 sq ft, built in 2001.This home is located in Collingswood Pointe area, and has 108 feet on the inter-secting canals, Only 20 minutes to the Harbor. Some of the features include , solidsurface counters, breakfast bar, walk-in closets, intercom & security systems, sprin-klers, storm shutters, jetted tub in master bath and more. Don‚t miss this one!!. MLS635104 $549,900 Call Ellen at 235-5648

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C o m p l e t e l yremodeled 3/2/2pool home onSaltwater canal.1432 sq ft, built in1970. Featuresnew roof, gutters,soffit, pool cage,A/C, water heater,appliances, wood cabinets, interior doors, carpet, tile, jetted tubin master bath, and more. Electric & water at dock. Great homeat a great price. MLS #632617 $379,900 Call Ellen at 235-5648

Beautiful 3/2/2with 1392 sq ftbuilt in 2002.Home shows like

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Beautiful 2/2/2 home in HeritageOak Park, 1162 sq ft, built in 1999,This custom built “B” model shows likebrand new, home features upgradedcabinets with pantry, built in computerdesk, filing cabinet, & counter, Tilethroughout with carpet in bedrooms,Extra shelving in closets & garage, 10

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3/1.5/1 pool home with1344 sq ft in a very privatesetting, home is on 2 lotswith privacy fence aroundboth lots, 12X12 workshopwith electric, living & family

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Gorgeous 3/2/2 pool home, 2060 sq ft, built in 1989. This home has somuch to offer including hardwood floors thru-out except for tile in baths &foyer, 2 breakfast bars in kitchen, bay windows, 4 walk-in closets, masterbath has jetted corner tub with a view, dual sinks,& vanity, beautiful land-scaping and the list goes on. Great home for entertaining, You won‚t wantto miss out on this one!!!!. MLS # 634149 $259,900 Call Rieka at 235-5648.

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3/2/2 home inNorth Port,1479 sq ft ,built in 2001.Living & fami-

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3/2/1 on oversized corner lot, 1566 sq ft, built in 1971, home is locat-ed in Charlotte beach complex area. Stroll to the sandy beach, enjoypool, tennis, fishing pier and more. Home features new roof, A/C, paintin and out, tile in kitchen, foyer & hallway. A great retirement, seasonalor year around home. This is a must see at a great price. MLS#635847$249,900 Call Ellen at 235-5648

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Nicely updated 3/1.5/1 pool home built in 1960, with 1031 sq ft. Homefeatures updated kitchen & Baths, separate dining room, eat-in kitchen,fenced yard, tile throughout with carpet in bedrooms, workshop ingarage, large pool area great for entertaining. A must see at this price!!MLS # 637636 $149,900 Call Rieka at 235-5648

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By Fishin FrankWater LIFE Senior GuideAnglers are getting better at environ-

mental issues, like picking up their trash,not throwing old fishing line in the water,and not killing fish for no reason. But canthe same thing be said about our conserva-tion of bait? What about bait fish? Shouldnot bait have the same status as other fish?Bait are thread fin herring, green backs, sar-dines – the fish we call white bait. Is it OKto catch them with cast nets by the hundredsper boat? When you multiply that by hun-dreds of boats and by the month that equatesto millions of bait fish taken in a year. Isthat too much?We, the charter boat captains and the

weekend warriors, have become the nettersof the 2000s. One of the first things we cando is change the way we talk. Instead of say-ing things like ‘the bait has moved,’ tell thetruth. The truth is, we wiped them out. Theonly place the bait moved is into our livewells.How many times have we seen people

load their boat on the trailer and then throwwhat ever bait is left in the wells out on theramp, like it is nothing. It is now consid-ered a sin to kill a snook for no reason, butis it OK to starve a snook to death? A bitdramatic? Maybe, maybe not.Back in ‘93 the net ban had not happened

yet and fishing sucked. No one bothered tofish the upper harbor because there were nofish here. But in only two years after the netban fish reappeared better and faster thananyone could have dreamed.Catching more than 10 snook or redfish

in a trip happens often today, it is trulyamazing – the recovery.Large schools of thread fins (those are

the bait you see on the surface of the harbormost often and and the ones that die quick-ly in your live well) used to cover the sur-face of the Peace River from the 41 bridgesout past Marker No. 2. Schools of threadfins were often miles long and just as wide.In 1968 Zapata foods did a survey along thewest coast of Florida. The bait fish werecontinuous from Marco Island to TampaBay and at no point was the school less than

a half mile wide. It is true that commercialfishing did take the majority of them, but ascommercial fishermen were stopped fromnetting, recreational fisherman started castnetting bait and not just a little. Manyanglers get as much as they can get. In myopinion, this is absolutely the worst thingwe can do. This is not the 1950’s and thereare not more fish than can ever be wipedout.I am as guilty as the rest. At times I have

overloaded my wells and killed many baitsfor no other reason than greed. I could getthem so I did. Maybe if I can change thenone more person can change too, and so on.Maybe it will not come to the point wherefor six months a year it will be illegal tothrow a cast net with a mesh of less then 1-inch – one inch would let the small onesescape to reach breeding size at least oncebefore being caught.This spring we have been blessed with

the best shark fishing anyone has seen inyears. Records are being broken by theweek. Many sharks have live births, theygive birth to three to six young, not hun-dreds or thousands like some fish. If youwant to eat shark meat it is a good thing.Shark meat is healthy and tastes great, butafter you have the one you are going to eat,please use your pliers to flatten the barbdown on your hooks. This lessens theimpact of catch and release fishing onsharks since sharks, unlike regular fish, donot have a membrane around their mouth,which on most other fish heals rapidly.Catch and release on sharks can cause moredamage. Flattening the barb on the hookmakes the damage minimal and thosesharks can grow make babies and be therefor you and your grandchildren to fight, eat,and enjoy.

Now on to the record sharks that havebeen caught lately. Records are set so theycan be broken, but has the ‘want to breakthem’ overridden the good sense of theangler? In the case of the guys from PineIsland who caught a record shark in May, Iwould say yes. I know them and I know ofthem. Good guys, but the truth is they didnot think. Burying that shark in an orange

grove was wrong, it should have gone toresearch. Scientist do not really know muchabout sharks that size because there are notthat many caught that size. It should havebeen necropsied. There is still a lot to belearned about big sharks. Killing them isnot the problem, wasting them is.

Bucky Dennis and friends just caught a1200 plus pound shark last month. I sayfriends because no one does this by himself.On a fish this size it is the guy driving theboat, the guy on the gaff, the other guy onthe other gaff and the guy trying to holdonto the fishing pole. It is a team effort.Without each person doing their job it justis not gonna’ happen. After they landed thisshark I got a lot of calls, most of themtalked about how cool it was to land a fishthat could eat you in one or two bites oreven damage or sink the boat you are in.The other callers wanted to talk about thefact that it was pregnant.To Bucky’s credit he and his friends gave

the fish to Mote Marine for study. Way togo guys, but the debate is raging aboutkeeping a pregnant fish. At first I agreed itis troublesome, but then I began to think(yes, I know thinking is not good for me).

I was thinking that all the large mouth bassthat have been records were most likely fullof roe, "pregnant," and I am almost certainthat to get a record snook it would have tobe full of roe, eggs, pregnant. Is it some-how ethically or emotionally different whenone animal has live birth and one has eggs?If I was on the rod and I had just caught

a record shark would I care? Could I tell ifthe shark was pregnant? Would I care if theshark was pregnant? I hope the answerwould be to my credit, but I am not sure itwould. Congratulations Bucky, I know youhave spent years chasing this record.I am the least perfect person on the plan-

et and one of the reasons I know so muchabout these mistakes is I have, and in somecases still do, make them. As a commercialfisherman I worked with long lines, purseseines, beach seines, and other methods.While I was doing it, it seemed right, laterlooking back I think about the thousands offish we threw overboard dead just becausethey were not worth enough money to haulin. Wasted. I have seen both side of theseissue and do not know where the truth lies,all I can do is call it as I see it now.

Fishin Frank can be reached for fishing at625-3888 or at: www.fishinfranks.com

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 6

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Fishinʼ Frank is working on a new boat, one that he will use to set, maintain and remove pil-ings under a federal contract to maintain regulatory signs in Floridaʼs Rivers. The boat, anow highly modified deck boat with a boom, winches and stabilizing pontoons was lastowned by Charlotte Countyʼs late Sea Grant Agent Rich Novak who was rebuilding it into acustom recreational flats fishing boat at the time of his death.


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By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE EditorA familiar thing

happened last month.I took off my shoesand went boating.Things have been sohectic, with the newhouse, the Kids Cupand an ongoing familymedical problem thatmy boat has satunused since lastDecember. But I need-ed to be on the waterfor the Kids Cup, soearly in May I ran theextension cord to thedavits, screwed in thedrain plug and loweredmy trusty Paramountinto the canal. You could hear the sound ofa happy boat as the water lapped at her sharpedges and she rocked gently from side toside. I climbed down, released the davitcables and pulled the old girl up to the dockand tied a line onto the console grab rail asI have done so many times before. One sin-gle line in just the right place holds the boatat the dock in all but the roughest condi-tions. I’ve tied that line a thousand timesbefore and it felt good to do it again.Before I even moved the boat I bumped

the trim switch on the motor just to makesure the battery wasn’t dead, but now Itrimmed the motor down to vertical andwent aft to the primer bulb. One thing Iknow for certain is my trusty 200 carburet-ted Merc doesn’t like to start if the motorisn’t vertical and the float bowls are not sit-ting level. A couple of squeezes and thebulb was tight. Back to the ignition. Holdthe key in to prime for the count of eight.Not seven, not nine or ten, but the count ofeight-one-thousand. Out of gear, throttleadvanced about 1/3, Key on start andvroooom! Thank you West Marine for a bat-tery that hadn’t done a thing in 5 monthsbut was there for me when I hit the key.Water pressure up, amps charging, pee-

hole squirting. Life was good. I ran theengine for a couple of minutes, idled outinto the river, jumped up on plane andburned a couple of tight doughnuts in theflat morning calm. I remember this. I likethis. Power up, 5,000 - 5,800 ...6,000 righton the rev limiter. Speedo up to 60 and a lit-tle above. I’m loving this! Fresh gas willprobably get me that other 3 mph I ammissing. Still, I am happy.Back at the dock I tied the boat up and

the next day pulled her out again. Just to besure we swap in a fresh water pumpimpeller and a set of thermostats. Freshlube in the lower unit, grease everythingand now we’re good to go.On Kids Cup day the boat performed

flawlessly. Then, the next day, Sunday, wewent boating ... like we used to. Wife and

dog and me, cruising up the river. I am sur-prised at how green everything has gotten.Trees cut short by the buzz-saw that wasCharley are actually growing back.Sawgrass and weeds are thriving. There isnot much boat traffic on the river, just freshair and solitude. Along the shore most ofthe little beaches and spots where peopleput ashore to camp are occupied. Peoplewave and are as friendly as ever as we pass.Up at the Fort Ogden trestle the middle

of the span is now a clear passage and a pairof jet skis come through. They wave andwithout thinking I wave back.This ‘feeling good’ thing is starting to getthe better of me. I never wave at jet skis.We cruise back down the river and head

over to the beach complex. The kayak festi-val is going on. Not a lot of people, but it’sa watery event never-the-less. I swingaround to the ramp side of the beach andslide the bow up on the sand. Molly Brown,our springer spaniel is off the bow and intothe water in an instant. My wife followsand we flop around together sitting waistdeep while Molly swims around the stern ofthe boat and then back again. We play therefor a while and then climb back aboard andhead across the river to Marker No.1 for alook around. There are a few boats near thedeep-hole to the south where tarpon fishingis in full swing. We drift in the outgoingtide and have a cold drink while one of theboats jumps a big fish near by. Molly seesit and starts to whine a ‘let-me at-em’ noiseof frustration.In a while we are back on plane and head-

ed for Harpoon Harry’s for a late lunch. Thesea breeze has come up out of the west likeit’s supposed to at this time of year and wecut across the top of the chop effortlessly;just like we have done so many timesbefore. It’s a trip back in time, De Ja Vu allover again as Yogi used to say. This is whywe live here and why we have boats and gofishing. The Harbor is what makesCharlotte County all worthwhile and I’mglad it’s right in my own backyard.

Barefoot Boating is what Summerʼs all about

The Fort Ogden Trestle has a wide spot in the middle now, but weʼrestill not sure if there are any piling stubs underwater when the tideis low.

J u n e 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E P a g e 1 3

BaitTamer offer solution for live bait wadingBy Capt Robert MooreWater LIFE Senior GuideIf you’re fishing with live bait while your wading,

fishing from a kayak or just need to separate yourbait in a livewell, Lindy Legendary Fishing Tacklehas come out with a series of products to make yourlife a little easier. Bait Tamers by Lindy are mesh baitstorage bags that have numerous applications depend-ing on your needs.My first experience with a Bait Tamer was while

fishing from a kayak in Pine Island Sound. I used the5 gallon size for keeping my shrimp alive. I had thetackle shop put the shrimp in the bag and then placedthe bag into a 5 gallon bucket with water in it. WhenI began kayaking, the bait bag easily tied-off to mykayak with very little drag. The small holes in themesh allow plenty of fresh water flow to kee my baitlively. I also used the same bag in my boats livewellto separate shrimp and pinfish. If you mix pinfishand shrimp together in your livewell, pinfish willusually eat the legs of your shrimp, killing them.Separating my baits with the Bait Tamer has becomestandard practice for me when fishing with several dif-ferent types of live baits.The construction of the Bait Tamer is mesh and

will collapse easily and requires a small amount ofstorage space in your boat or kayak.The same five gallon Bait Tamer also worked awe-

some for me while fishing in the FlatsmastersTournament last month. It easily held 50-75 pieces oflively sardines while I was wade fishing. In the past Ihave always used the donut style wading mesh bags.One complaint I have had is their mesh constructionis not stiff enough and it collapses on the bait whilein the water and causes a high percentage of your bait

to die. When you place the Bait Tamer in thewater it in effect becomes a floatinglivewell. The mesh is strong enough tomaintain its shape allowing the bait to swimfreely.For me the most exciting application I

have seen for the Bait Tamer is when Capt.Mike Mahan, one of my fishing partners inlast months tournament, pulled out the 30gallon size Bait Tamer to keep his redfishalive while wading. For the past 12 yearswhile fishing in wading tournaments I wouldtake my catch, poke a huge hole through itsmouth with a stringer and then drag the fishall over the flat with me until I got back tothe boat. I have seen a lot of fish expire while doingthis, especially trout and snook. I watched Capt.Mike catch his first redfish of the day. He immediate-ly placed it in the bait bag and then removed thehook. The fish looked like it was in a livewell. Hewas able to continue to fish without having to worryabout his fish being over stressed. With most tourna-ments deducting up to a 1/2 pound penalty for a deadfish, a lively catch at the end of the day might makethe difference between getting a pay check or not. Theicing on the cake was that even the large collapsiblebag took very little room to stow in my boat whennot in use.Bait Tamers come in 1, 5, 10, 15 and 30 gallon

sizes. You can find more information about BaitTamers on Lindy’s web sitewww.lindyfishingtackle.com, or check one out in per-son, locally, at Fishin’ Franks in Charlotte Harbor.

Capt Robert Moore can be reached for comments,

Left: Capt. RobertMoore shows off a BaitTamer bag full of livebaitBelow: The bag trailsbehind when the fish-erman wades.

P a g e 1 4 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E J u n e 2 0 0 6T h i s N e w H o u s e P a r t 1 3Electrical Connections ... If you think gas is expensive, wait till you price copperBy Michael Hel lerWater LIFE editorThis has been a month of

small projects and little detailscoupled with one single massiveundertaking. In the realm ofsmall projects, our stucco con-tractor Paul Hart sent a couple ofhis ‘guys’ back to finish up thestucco work on a few ornate deco-rative walls we built around ourswimming pool. We’ve decidednot to put up a new pool cage sothe two and three foot high walls,along with a full height wall sur-rounding the pool filter, neededstuccoing.Where the main stucco crew

worked with a mixer, these two‘grunts’ mixed stucco for two anda half days by hand on a sheet ofplywood with a shovel, but even-

tually they got the job done.Another detail was the clean

up. I had to get all the stuccowaste and other concrete debrisout front where we could scrape itinto a pile with a tractor and loadit up with a back hoe. Thirtythree wheelbarrows of concretelater it was all in the right placeand I went home that night tosoak in a hot tub. Next we wereready to move inside and attend tocaulking, foaming and then theelectrical work.Bugs are a part of living in

Florida, but to what extent theyshare your accommodations is upto you. At this phase of construc-tion a hundred dollars worth ofexpandable foam and siliconecaulking goes a long way towards

keeping bugs fromgetting aroundbehind the finishedwalls.We noticed the

prime highwaywhere bugs cantravel was behindthe baseboard back-ing, below the wallinsulation. So wedrilled holes in theboard every 10inches all aroundthe perimeter wallsand filled thecrevices withexpandable foam.We ran a bead ofsilicone around thewindow frames andcaulked the perime-ter openings aswell. Then when allthe wiring was in Iwent to Auto Zoneand got a case ofrubberized automo-tive undercoatingand sprayed the the tie beam toseal the area on top of the rigidinsulation so no bugs could enterfrom above. Right before weinsulate the ceilings we’ll havethe whole house sprayed profes-sionally by an exterminator andbefore we drywall the interiorwalls we’ll spread borax on thefloor plates inside the walls. Youcan’t not have bugs come intoyour house in Florida, but youcan minimize their stay.Small projects done, we

moved on to the electrical workwhich broke down into severaldistinct phases. First up was theboxes. Outlets at one foot abovethe floor, switches at four feet,we went around the house locat-ing the electrical boxes andinstalling them. In addition to theoutlets and switches (almost 70

boxes in all) we had fan boxesand ‘can lights’ to install in theceilings. It doesn’t sound likemuch... until you realize someboxes are recessed into the con-crete or saber-sawed into the 3/4inch plywood sub walls. Someare surface mounted on the studsand others require additional woodsupports to be cut and installedfirst. It took me almost a weekto get the house ‘boxed out.’Then it was on to the realwiring. We are using almost allnumber 12 wire, one step upfrom the code required number14. We ran 25 ‘home runs’ offeeder cable from the panel toeach area of the house.Wire, copper wire, is going up

in price faster than gasoline. A1,000 foot roll of wire that wasaround $150 a little more than ayear ago is now almost $360.You’d think 1,000 feet would beenough, but it was more like1,500 feet of wire when the jobwas done. That’s over a quartermile of wire in our house and itdoesn’t include phone or TVcable. Yikes!Wiring isn’t all one size in

any house. The wire that feedsthe bigger stuff like the 220 voltoven or the heat strip in the airconditioners needs to be heavier.I’ve learned a lot about wire

and the circuits required in a newhouse in the last month. Thingslike we needed two small appli-

ance circuits in the kitchen, aseparate circuit for the refrigera-tor, dishwasher, disposal oven andand kitchen lights. The smokedetectors needed to be on a loopso if one goes off they all go off(that uses a three wire cable) andall the bathroom outlets in thewhole house need to be on onecircuit and that must be a groundfault circuit as well. The bed-rooms have to be on a computer-chip arc-fault circuit to keep thechances of a fire starting in thebedroom area to a minimum andthere has to be an outside outleton the front side and the backside of every residence – the rea-soning being that most fires arestarted by extension cords andoutlets placed appropriately out-side the house eliminate the needfor a long extension cord on thehedge trimmer or weed eater.We’ve got a dedicated circuit

for computers, an attic fan and acircuit for the davits and the dock.Then there are the phone linesand the cable for TV. Two weeksof wiring and I still wasn’t done.Wire for the main 200 amp serv-ice was the real surprise.Wire sizes, like fishing hooks,

are gauged in numbers The num-

ber- sized wire (like #14 or #12)goes up in size as the numbergets smaller (#12 is bigger than#14) until you get to #1 wire.Then like fish hooks they add aslash-zero and the wire gets big-ger. 1/0 is smaller than 2/0 wireand so forth. Our 200 amp serv-ice required 3/0 wire for the feedsand 2/0 for the neutral with a #6for the ground. Since the serviceneeds to be 220 volts, thatrequires two of the 3/0 wires. Bigwire is sold by the foot. 3/0 was$3.40 per foot, 2/0 was $2.75per foot and #6 was 80 cents afoot. Do the math. 90 feet fromthe meter to the panel and it

comes out to almost $1,000 forthe wire to feed the house. Add inthe inside wire and the switch andoutlet boxes and you’re over two-grand and that doesn’t include thehigh end switches and outlets wewant to use nor does it take intoaccount the $60 cable cutter, $30Klein pliers and a slew of connec-tors, pigtails, standoffs, a ripperand other ‘electrician stuff’ thatwill make it hard to keep theelectrical outlay for hard suppliesunder $3500 when the house isdone ...and that won’t include anyfixtures.My neighbor Ronnie used to

be a commercial electrician inNew York, so Ronnie showed mehow to rig up the heavy 4-wireservice cables and pull themthrough the 2-inch conduit fromoutside to the panel. That took acouple of hours a 3/8 inch ropeand some special goop to makethe whole wire bundle slide. Nowthe wiring is almost done. All Ineed to do next is hook up thepanel and get my electricalinspection and then we’ll be onto insulation and drywall – andsometime, I’m going to get a dayoff.

Top Left: The wires feeding eachcircuit come to the breaker paneland each one is labeled. Middleabove. Attic wires (not yet stapleddown) run to the kitchen area.Above: Before pulling wires, everyreceptical box had to be mountedfirst.Throughout the house, wherethe circuits come in, each box iscoded red for future reference.We drilled the baseboard backing and filled the area behind with foam

J u n e 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 5

NaplesJune 12 thru June 22

Cape CoralJune 5 thru June 15

Cape CoralJuly 10 thru July 20

By Robert Lugiewicz / Fishin’FranksSpecial to Water LIFEThis past month as has been a great

fishing month and with this drought thefirst half of June should be just as good.Because of the drought, salinity is high

in the harbor, resulting in bait movinginside in numbers we have not seen in tenyears. Like all things, it may be abundantnow, but it will change. I have been for-tunate enough to have been able to takeadvantage of some of this great fishing andhave had the rare chance to actually get outon the water a few times this month. Ihave had the opportunity to see that won-derful look on a person’s face when theycatch their first fish, their biggest fish, orbest of all, a really big first fish!My aunt Susie was visiting from San

Francisco and Captain Mike Mahanshowed us a great time in the harbor.After seeing some tarpon rolling we set upa drift. Susie hooked a 120+ lb tarpon butit spit the hook – that’s tarpon fishing foryou! Fortunately she was able to see anamazing few jumps before it got away.Next she hooked a spinner shark. Spinnersharks can jump and roll, resulting in anoutstanding fight and an awesome sight.After a good fight we took some photos

and released it back to the waters. As ifthis wasn’t enough for Susie, she thenfought and landed a 30 lb cobia. All ofher catches were her first and biggest. Itwas an great day.About two weeks later my cousins

April and Elyse arrived from Indiana.Captain Angel Torres took the three of usout for yet another awesome day. Elysehad several break offs and caught a 4 ftspinner shark. She also jumped a 150 lbtarpon. You should have seen the look onher face with that one! Elyse’s sister Aprilfought and landed a 120-plus lbtarpon. Considering the fishmatched her in body weight,April did an incredible job withthat one. Along with all ofthat, we jumped 3 more tarponand hooked 8 sharks, one ofwhich straightened out thehook. What a great day!Fishing with family is such

a blast. It gives you an oppor-tunity to spend some qualitytime together that you mightnot otherwise get in this busyworld we live in. It is a uniquebonding experience that youjust can’t get while passing theturkey across the holiday dinner

table. For many, the barriers comedown when a fishing pole is in theirgrip. You might learn that yourwife is stronger than you think, oryour son is incredibly patient,maybe your aunt has a trucker’smouth (not you, aunt Susie!). Youmay hear stories of of ‘back in theday’ that would otherwise have neverbeen told. There are endless lessonsto be learned and memories to be hadwhen you go fishing with family, sograb a pole and get out there!

By Kristie LugiewiczSpecial to Water LIFEFor a period of time every summer my husband

becomes distant. He spends more time away from me andtakes a shower as soon as he gets home. Most womenmight become suspicious at this point, but not me. Hismistress is no tall blonde. She happens to be scaly andsmelly and I am full of confidence that I am much cuter.But still he loves her. Yup, my husband has eyes for atarpon or, as I like to call her, the bitch!I like to think that I am fun to spend time with, that I

am capable of keeping my husband happy, that he doesnot need to find his joys elsewhere. Apparently I shouldthink again! Believe me when I tell you, I knew what Iwas getting into when I married him. I even got a whole

speech about how important fishing is to him and that ifthe fishing is good, don’t expect him to be home on time.And I still married him! Don’t get me wrong though.He has tried to involve me in his favorite pastime to noavail. I don’t like boats and my attention span is ques-tionable. I can’t bait a hook and usually need help cast-ing. I think I might talk too much too!Somehow I think even if I did like to fish, I would

still pale in comparison to a night with the mistress.You see, when he is fishing for tarpon he is indulging aside of himself he almost never lets out – his selfish side.He is out to please no one but himself.His days consist of making other people happy, and

more importantly, making me happy. But when the bitchis in town that all goes out the window. This is hisopportunity to take care of himself and do something thatmakes him happy. If he has an opportunity to go out onthe water he will take it no questions asked. Tarpon sea-son is his ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’. Dinner plans can be

cancelled and there is no pouting allowed. I will not givehim ‘the look’ when he leaves me alone to entertain thein-laws.Some might ask why I am so tolerant. Many ‘fishing

widows’ will tell you the same thing I am about to say –they deserve it! When my husband comes back from aday of fishing he is happy, smiling, and relaxed. It is hismental therapy to get out there on that water and think ofnothing other than the big one. He can put his problemson the back burner and worry about nothing more thanwhether he has enough bait to get him through the day.Although she can be a bitch at times, I am happy my

husband has the tarpon to set his sights on. Tarpon sea-son gives him something to look forward to and giveshim a great outlet for de-stressing. I know that I willhave a happier husband when he returns from a day withHer, and that’s all that is important in my book. (Plus,when I want a new purse it helps my case when I bringup tarpon season!) I love the power of guilt!

The Mistress

Fishing is a Family Affair

Above: April shows her muscles with the 120pound tarpon she caught and Capt Angel Torresbehind.Left: Elyse with Capt. Angel and a blacktop sharkshe brought aboard.

2006 Water LIFE Kids Cup

At 5:30 a.m Saturday anglers began to idle past the dock to check inBy 6:45 a.m. we had 102 boat on the water

First there was the Friday CaptainʼsMeeting where we went over the rulesand showed kids how to use the de-hooker that was in every captainʼs bag toun-hook their fish.

It was a perfect day. It had been windy every dayfor two months, but on May 6 the winds lay downand the sun was out. There were no shrimp in bait

shops for a month bu this weekend there wereplenty. We had 126 anglers between the ages of 10and 16 registered, 102 boats and a captainʼs meet-ing dinner for 300 people. And when it was all over73 kids had caught fish and brought them back tothe scale to weigh in. We gave away three pick-up

truckloads of prizes, equipment shirts hats andtackle and trophies. Everyone came away a winner.

Left: Roland Martin presented Zach Lozano with the Kids CupSportsmanship Award. Zachs boat motor broke but Zach keptfishing and brought a nice fish to the weigh in dock.

After Saturdayʼs fishing the field was paired down to the top five anglers and the following Saturday they fished again for the Kids Cup trophy.which was presented on the ESPN stage. (Top 5 anglers, in the order they weighed in, From left to right below)

We were overwhelmed with happy kids, happy parentsand a lot of good sized redfish.

By 2 p.m. the weigh in line began to stretch out. To qualify for the weigh in

Top 5Jake Brandenberger 4.91 pounds Zack Grainger 4.84 pounds James Daughtry 4.93 pounds Chris Larsen 5.21 pounds Nic Marshall 4.0 pounds


Boats were released in order and kids got a fast ride down the harbor to their fishing spots

Handling fish properly was important

Fish were measured for legal length and then weighed

Left: This fish was just slightly past the 27 inch limit.Above: Every fish swam away alive

The weigh in scales opened at 9 a.m. and a few boats came in early to weigh fish

gh in anglers had to be inside the channel markers by 2:30

Kids watched the leaderboard intently

Fish bags were use to had fish up to the weighmaster

Hundreds of Kids Cup photos and the complete final standings are on the KidsCupTournament.com websiteJ u n e 2 0 0 6 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 5

By Michael Hel lerWater LIFE PublisherIt’s all about smiles. At no

other time during the year do somany guides, parents and chil-dren interact, and smile. It’s easyto get the kids to smile but tosee the parents and the die hardfishing guides smiling is whatit’s all about. The Kids Cup wasconceived as an introduction totournament fishing for kids age10 through 16. Through thisevent we foster environmentalconsciousness, resource manage-ment and sportsmanship. It isour goal to instill a sound foun-dation for the sport of fishingthat will last a lifetime.This tournament is a

fundraiser for a fishing programthat we have in our county mid-dle schools. For the past fiveyears seventh graders in PortCharlotte, Murdock, PuntaGorda and Englewood have beenoffered an extra curricular courseon fishing and the environmenttaught by local fishing guides.Next year the 7th graders inNorthport will have this courseas well. In the future we hope tocontinue to expand this conceptto other coastal communitieswhere professional anglers caninteract with grade school chil-dren and teach them first handabout their local fishing andenvironmental resource.The class size for this eight

week program is limited. If youare interested in having yourchild enroll for the coming yearvisit our website at kidscuptour-nament.com and click on theDon Ball School of Fishing formore information and classschedules for the fall.


PROVIDED BY: Dave & Marlene HoferRE/MAXHarbor Realty(941) [email protected] [email protected] area news items:1. It's official, Stock Development hasbeen awarded the opportunity to developMurdock Village. They've set an ambi-tious time table to begin constructionwith phase one in 2008 and complete allby 2013. They will be attempting toacquire some key commercial sites notincluded in the current eminent domaincondemnation. Hopefully, our Countygovernment and affected property ownerswill embrace their noble goal of doingthis major redevelopment right!2. While Punta Gorda citizens ratified apetition to require major City invest-ments to be put to a ballot vote, theauthor has withdrawn the demand. Thisreferendum was a thinly veiled attempt toprevent the expenditure of any more Cityfunds for the reconstruction of the oldCounty courthouse. The point hasbecome moot, since the council has, fornow, voted to not throw any more Cityfunds at this County owned property.3. Frustrated with modest progress in thedevelopment of downtown Punta Gorda'skeystone retail development, CityMarketplace, the Artistic Gourmet hasdecided to relocate their business closer tofamily in Georgia. This is still one morewake up call to our city fathers that weneed to create incentives, not hurdles, andobscene financial burdens on our smallbusiness proprietors to provide usefulretail establishments here.4. Punta Gorda Housing Authority settledits dispute with would-be developer CEDCompanies to rebuild its complexes atMyrtle Street and East Marion Street.They have subsequently signed on withNorthstar from Buffalo to rebuild thesecomplexes. Assuming that the trusteesactually read the contract that theysigned, the eyesore on the river shouldcome down soon. HUD's new guideline isto avoid the "public housing" look andencourage developments that blend into

the

surrounding residential developments.This is where TEAM Punta Gorda and theCity council needs to exert its influencein approving the architectural and land-scape aesthetics of this highly visiblelocation.5. Punta Gorda's attorney has advised thecouncil that a private/public developmentof Laishley Park is in keeping with thesubmerged land lease with the State ofFlorida. While the development applica-tion must be amended to reflect the pro-posed Crab House restaurant and fountaincourt, it can be done without slowingdown the installation of the marina infra-structure that is now under construction.In the hard to imagine category: In theMay 15 issue, Business Week analystMichael Youngblood proclaimed thathousing prices won't drop in areas whereemployment and personal income are ris-ing (Personal FInance Q&A-"Why theBubble Won't Burst"). In a truly mind-numbing exhibition of irresponsiblehype, he singled out just four communi-ties, two in California and, believe it ornot, Ft. Myers and PUNTAGORDAinFlorida as likely to have the greatestincreases in prices this year.. . 35% andup! No, I'm not kidding - read it yourselfat:www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_20/b3984102.htm?campaign_id=searchSal es Stati s ti cs :Vacant lot sales stalled again as 1,680new listings came out while only 50 wentunder contract in the entire market.Median prices suffered their largest onemonth drop of 5percent. New askingprices are still 3percent above a year ago,so listers appear to still be in denial.Home sales volume is still relatively nor-mal. 267 homes actually went under con-tract during the month, well above the240 sold in April, '04.. . . . those salesdon't seem like much when the inventoryof available homes now stands at 4,190vs a modest inventory of 398 in the tightmarket of just two years ago!

Area Real Estate News


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By Capt Dan CambernWater LIFE OffshoreIt was about time. I had been putting

off getting the bottom of my boat repaint-ed for various reasons and excuses toonumerous to mention. Keeping antifoulingbottom paint below the water line isabsolutely necessary in order to keepunwanted marine growth such as algae andbarnacles from attaching themselves to thebottom of your hull if you are going toleave your boat in the water for any lengthof time.Fortunately I dive and can check out the

condition and clean the hull and service mysacrificial anodes myself when it is neededbut I knew I was fighting a losing battleas the water temperature started to rise. Antifouling paint has a short life and

must be reapplied every 12 to 24 monthsdepending on the type and quality of paintyou use. Basically there are two kinds ofbottom paint to choose from. The oldestand probably more common is a copperbased non-ablative paint that allows thecopper to leach out of the paint whichkeeps marine growth from attaching to thehull. After the copper leaches out you stillhave a few heavy coats of paint left on thehull which must be sanded down so youcan reapply the new paint. Sanding bottompaint off of a hull is one the most miser-able and dirty jobs in the world and youmust wear a filtered mask and a jump suitto keep the dust off and out of your body.

The second type of paint is calledablative, which means that the paint itselfslowly wears off as the boat movesthrough the water keeping a fresh supplyof active ingredients on the surface of thehull. Ablative bottom paint can also bekept out of the water for extended periodsof time which makes it great for a boatthat spends part of its time on a trailer orboat lift. Non-ablative paint cannot beremoved from the water for very longbecause the anti-fouling ingredients willquit working. Why? I don’t know exactlyand to tell you the truth I already know

way more than I ever wanted to aboutpainting the bottom of a boat.

I chose to use the ablative paint onthe bottom of my boat so that next time Ican avoid most of the nasty sanding andkeep from adding extra layers of paint tothe hull. I also applied it to my 24’Aquasport that is almost completed from atotal makeover.

Keeping the bottom of your hullclean and smooth is probably the mostimportant thing you can do to get themost performance and fuel economy out ofyour boat. Also keeping your enginemaintained with regular tune ups as wellas oil and filter changes will go along wayto peak performance.

Other things to consider are trimtabs to keep your boat running on plane atan optimal angle and to help compensatefor an uneven load. They also help keepyour boat from porpoising and will getyou up on plane faster.

Take weight off of your boat byremoving extra items that you don’t needto have on board. Every little thing addsup and before you know it you can removea hundred or so extra pounds. Too muchweight kills performance and fuel econo-my, so lighten up.

The last thing I can suggest is touse a fuel flow meter so you know exactlyhow much fuel you’re burning. I have usedthem on my last four boats and I swear bythem. Most engine manufacturers are offer-ing them as part of a gauge package oryou can have one installed on an olderboat. They start at less than $200.00 for abasic 2-inch gauge kit for a single gasengine and will set you back about$800.00 or so for a large diesel engine.

Once it is installed and calibratedyou can be sure of what your engine isburning and how much fuel you have usedso far on the totalizer. Most units will tellhow much fuel is remaining in your tankif you put in how much fuel you startedwith on your last fill-up. The main pur-pose of the fuel meter is to find your opti-

mal fuel economy at cruise speed. You canfine tune your economy by adjusting yourrunning angle with your trim tabs and try-ing different cruise speeds until you findthe right combination.

Because boats are so poor on fueleconomy and the current high fuel pricesit’s important to save every drop you canand all these things will add

up to 5-10% on fuel savings. Every littlebit helps. Be safe and have fun.

Captain Dan Cambern runs HammerheadCharters out of the Placida Fishery boatdocks and can be reached at 941-625-6226 /941-380-6226 orwww.hammerheadcharters.com

Keep Your Boat in Top Shape

Tom Bracicerdoe came from England to catch this tarpon with Capt. Dan off of Boca Grande

By Bi l l DixonWater LIFE Sailing EditorIt is only June 1, the year

is not over. The snowbirdsare gone, the Kids Cup andthe Redfish are over and hurri-cane season has not reallygotten started. This is anexcellent time to day sail,cruise, and race. PGSC offerslots of sailing opportunitiesfor June.Summer Series races are

June 4 and June 18. Firststart is 2:00 not 1:30. CallBob Anderson 505-8933 forinfo. For the summer, as anexperiment, we have com-bined Non-spinnaker andCruising fleets and split thecombined fleet by size/ speedpotential. I am in the small slow groupand I love it. The big fast boats run offover the horizon like they always did, but,it doesn’t matter, I have many more slowboats around to compete with.The Club is cruising to Palm Island

Marina on the 10th and 11th. This isalways a fun place where you can hook upyour power cords and sleep in air condi-tioned comfort if you choose. Call SueFuller 505-0215 for more information.Small boats will be sailed Wednesday

afternoons except the 14th, instead, thatweek sailing will be Saturday the 17th inthe morning. Call Dennis Peck 627-6650for details.If all else fails, come to the meeting at

the PGI Civic Association at 7:00 p.m.on the 14th and talk about sailing. Thephoto above is really slippery. It is The2007 Conquistador Cup T-shirt photo of2006 Cup winner Bahama Hunter, that mypublisher lost. Twice!!

e-mail [email protected]

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By Capt. Andrew MedinaWater Life Charlotte HarborThis is time of the year when, I guess, you could say my

priorities are pretty messed up. You can ask anyone. For me,it’s all about the ‘poons.’ Work can wait, but the Silver Kingswon’t. This is the time every year our fish show up. If youhave never caught one, you should go give it a try, then youwill understand and in the early morning the words “your goingfishing again?” won’t seem so silly.There are a couple ways to catch these fish. The most popu-

lar is pass fishing. Boca Grande Pass is world famous for hun-dreds of tarpon in one spot. If you have never seen the Pass dur-ing tarpon season you should go at least once, not as an anglerbut a spectator, and watch all the anglers jockeying for posi-tion, as if it were the start of a horse race. The idea is you vertically jig fish with heavy lead and tiger

tail bodies. These rigs are round weights secured to a circlehook by a zip tie. Yes the fish will eat them. With new lawsout in the Pass you can no longer use a zip tie, unless it’sbreaking strength is greater than the line weight. If your notsure, use a hog ring, or add a piece of heavy fluorocarbon, thatexceeds the line weight. This is the rig you need to use becausethe state just doesn’t want the lead to come off. Every year thepass bottom cleanup takes place and you would be surprised atthe lead they find. Also, their can only be three anglers withlines in the water. If your gonna’ go give it a try, do some research on fishing

in the pass. There’s more to it, than drifting the Pass with aline on the bottom. The captains out their have been doing thisfor years and a whole lot of unwritten rules exist. Tempersmight show themselves if you accidentally break off a captainwho’s hooked up. This fishing is their bread maker, and theirclients are paying top dollar to be out there with them. Thereare also a lot of tarpon tournaments for large money, so checkyour dates, the chase for the gold adds to drama. I myself don’t usually fish the pass. The fish around the

bridges and in the harbor are easier to catch. Your day shouldstart around 6 a.m., in the harbor netting big flappys, (largethreadfin hearing) for bait. If you don’t want to go that route,pass crabs are often available from bait shops. If you go to thebridges just watch for rolling fish and play the patience game.They will eat either bait. Circle hooks and 50-to 80-pound fluo-rocarbon leader is the key. Harbor fish are also great for the artificial angler. I can usual-

ly carry my favorite artificial baits in one zip lock bag. I call it‘the harbor collection. First is the Mirrolure, TTR11 a hot redand white sinking lure. It’s simple to use: look for rolling fish,cast it out, let it sink and retrieve it slowly - simple. Anothergood bait is the D.O.A. Bait Buster, cast and retrieve. Samedeal. Another is the Culprit /Riptide Crab, free lined on a circlehook it mimics a pass crab very well. For you fly fishermenold faithful comes into play. Red and white or straight black.These are proven colors. There are phrases like, ‘bow to theking’ (drop the rod tip when the fish jumps) and straight linethe fish. But it’s all trial and error. Best way for first timers isto hire a local guide you will be amazed at what you can learnin a half day trip. Schools out, Tarpon 101 is over. Go fishing.

Screaming ReelsTarpon 101


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REDUCED!!REDUCED!!


By Adam WilsonSpecial to Water LIFETwo weeks ago we decided to do a nearshore day, start-

ing at the south-pocket ledge. Before we even rolled intothe water it was apparent the visibility was incredible.The darker color of the ledge was easy to see from thebow of the boat against the surrounding white sand desert. We scrambled to get our gear on. Viz’ over 20 feet is

great this close to shore, and it was looking more like 60to 80 feet! Excitement was high dropping down the 58feet to the bottom, but something wasn't right. Once on the bottom you could see a thick layer of

green algae growing over the entire ledge. So thick it cov-ered all the swiss cheese holes where the larger grouperand snapper usually hide. There were very few bait fish, and fewer larger fish. I'd

heard of this happening around the Tampa area over the

past few years where they have been dumping phosphatewaste. Other divers refer to the carpet of algae as "gumbo",

and it literally chokes a reef to death. A little research onthe subject online reveals it to be a normal algae thatgrows at an incredibly high rate when exposed to excesslevels of fertilizer in the water. Unfortunately, the greatvisibility and water clarity we enjoy so much this time ofyear allows more sunlight to reach the bottom thus creat-ing more ideal growing conditions. Fortunately, as fast asthis algae outbreak appears, it is supposed to die off justas quickly with the murkier summer rain water and thecooling off in the fall. After doing three other drops that day, the Palm Island

Ferry reef at 60 feet was the best, but anything closer toshore proved to get worse with decreasing depth. The M14reef seven miles out of stump pass was the worst. The

concrete rubble was so covered it looked like rolling hillsof algae, and of course no fish. Talking to a couple ofgirls later that day I got a story of "no bites" and nothingbut "green slime" on their baits after fishing the Tremblyreef. We had planned on diving that last but now I'm gladwe skipped it. If your doing any diving soon, do yourself a favor and

get out past the 60 foot contour. The visibility is as goodas it gets right now, and will stay that way until thosefirst big rains come, sending coffee colored water downthe rivers and out into the gulf.

If I see any change to the near shore conditions overthe next couple of months I'll let you know. It's down-right depressing seeing reefs we've been diving for yearsthat have always been so healthy and alive looking so dor-mant and dead. Sure hope they make a rebound this fall.

SCUBA: Shallow Reef ReportDr. Martin Arostegui, Coral Gables caught the heaviest fish ever documented on a fly tippetbeating out a nearly 40 year old record. The catch-and-release of a 385 pound lemon sharkon fly has officially been approved as a world record by the International Game FishAssociation (IGFA).

Capt. Andy Whitebread ofFort Myers caught a 13

foot 750 pound hammer-head on 80 pound line to

capture the IGFA worldclass record. The shark

was caught at BocaGrande. The old record

was 620 pounds. Theshark took a 12 pound jack

crevalle.

More Shark Records from Florida in May

T h e y ʼ r e B a a a c k !T h e y ʼ r e B a a a c k !a n d t h e y ʼ r e r e a l l ya n d t h e y ʼ r e r e a l l yB I G t h i s y e a r ! !B I G t h i s y e a r ! !

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Summer is here and the fishing couldn't be better.With the abundance of bait fish in southwest Floridathe snook, redfish, and tarpon are feeding on greenbacks and thread fin's. With the lack of rain, the waterclarity is excellent. This is the time to match the hatch.Try fishing the Skeleton Shad paddle and ribbon tails inbright colors like the Clear/blue glitter core. Anotherbait to try are the Mud-mino in Firecracker and ClosingNight. Use with a 1/4 oz. jig head. Focus on mangrovepoints and pot holes for redfish and snook. For tarponuse a 1/2 oz. jig head and fish near the passes andalong the beaches.


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REDUCEDREDUCED

By David AllenWater LIFE Kayak EditorOnce every two or three months, the

Port Charlotte Kayakers plan an extendedweekend of paddling at some distant loca-tion. Sometimes we paddle in the Keys orthe Everglades; this time our goal was topaddle in the spring-fed waters of CrystalRiver about 90 miles north of Tampa.Twenty-one club members had signed upfor the trip.

Crystal River is famous for twothings; clear spring waters, and manatees.There are about 30 springs in the CrystalRiver Group, most of which are in KingsBay. Many of the river's springs are 20 to30 feet deep and the water is clear enoughto see a dime resting on the bottom!Coming from deep within the limestoneaquifer, the spring water is 72 degrees year-round.

Because of the water clarity andwarmth, the Crystal River has become amajor habitat for manatees, particularlyduring the winter months. It has beenestimated that about 15-percent of the totalFlorida manatee population reside in theCrystal River each winter. There are manyscuba diving shops and kayak rental opera-tions in Crystal River that can provideguides, equipment and maps for the areassprings.We planned to arrive in Crystal River

about noon on Friday, check into theresort hotel, and then paddle in Kings Bay.When we arrived at the launch site behindthe hotel, the day was pleasantly warm,but overcast, with a moderate wind out ofthe northwest. As we paddled out into theBay, we stayed along the south bank, head-ing for the Three Sisters Springs.Three Sisters is a complex of three

spring areas with several large and smallvents, with a total flow of about 12 mil-lion gallons a day. The land around thesprings is private and posted so no landfallor tie-ups are permitted. And the entrance

to Three Sisters is blocked with pilings toprevent most access; only kayaks, canoesand swimmers can enter. The spring sys-tem is one of the most attractive manateesanctuaries in the Crystal River.We paddled through the pilings into the

spring area, and were amazed at the clarityof the water. A shoal of silver fish swamby as we paddled from the entrance to thelargest spring at the end of the chain.As we paddled back out into the main

channel, a manatee was making his wayout into the Bay. The manatee was a largeadult of about 13 feet in length and weigh-ing about 1000 pounds. He kept a slow,regular pace with our kayaks on the trip tothe Bay.We turned west, as we reached the Bay,

heading toward the next spring, IdiotDelight. The map showed the springabout .75 miles west of Three Sisters andalong the south shore, east of BuzzardsIsland. We paddled to the area, made sever-al circles where the map showed thespring, but didn’t see anything resemblinga spring. So we turned back east towardthe launch ramp and had an easy paddle

with the wind partially behind us.Saturday dawned bright and sunny. After

breakfast we drove north to the Dunellenarea. The plan was to launch from K.P.Hole County Park, paddle to the RainbowRiver springhead, then down stream toDunellen, a total distance of about 10miles. The ramp was very busy withkayaks, canoes, powerboats, and inflata-bles getting ready for a day on the water.There was a $3.00 launch/parking fee atthe park.Again the water was warm and very

clear as we paddled upstream to the spring-head. Our group of fifteen kayaks arrivedat the north end of the Rainbow River,about 2 miles from the launch ramp, nearnoon. We took a short break by the roped-off area forswimmers, andthen headedsouth toDunellen.There are manyspots on theRainbow whereyou can rent an

inflatable for a very relaxed float down theriver. Floating time is about 3-4 hoursaided by the 1+ knot current.As we paddled past the floaters, the

river widened and there were more homesalong the banks. The river is quite beauti-ful in this area, with tall, stately trees onboth banks, draped with Spanish moss.The Rainbow River is clear all the way toDunellen, where it intersects the darkbrown Withlacoochee River, which is notspring fed. We could see to the bottom ofthe river, maybe 5 to 15 feet, and watchthe fish below. Along the east bank, agroup of three or four otters played and fedalong the bank.We reached the Dunellen area after pad-

dling downstream about two and a halfhours. We paddled past a children’s beach,the last point on the clean, clear Rainbow,entered the brown Withlacoochee River,and followed the channel under highway 41to the ramp. Some of our friends, who hadnot paddled the extended trip down toDunellen, were on hand to shuttle us backto K.P. Hole where our cars were parked.I highly recommend a kayak trip to this

general area, as there are many spring-fedrivers, which are delightful to experience.In addition to the Rainbow and CrystalRivers, the Homosassas, Chassahowitzkaand Silver River are equally enjoyable.

The Port Charlotte Kayakers meet eachWednesday evening at Port CharlotteBeach, at 5:30 PM. Come to a meetingand see what we are about. For moreinformation email to: [email protected]

KAYAK CLARITY: Paddl ing the Crysta l & Rainbow Rivers


Place Capt Name Team Name First Event Second Event Total Points1 Meredith, Miles Waterproof Charts 150 151 3012 Latham, Dan Team Latham 144 147 2913 Whitney, Brian 145 140 2854 Rowan, Ryan King Enterprises 142 142 2845 Hoke, Dave Taco Bell 132 146 2786 Bradshaw, JB New Beginnings Construction 139 139 2787 Lambert, Paul Bent Rods 141 136 2778 Rebol, Clay Ken-Rite Construction 130 145 2759 Jones, Mark Fish Hounds 138 132 27010 Mason, Patrick Team Parcell Express 143 124 26711 Boudreau, Bob 129 130 25912 Landry, John Team Waterproof Charts 2 140 117 25713 Little,Kevin Family Boating Center 123 133 25614 Harris, Brain Renegade 149 107 25615 Bryant, Scott Shallow Minded 110 144 25416 Padgett, Doug Aint' It Rainin Irrigation 109 143 25217 Simes, Jeff Fort Myers Marine 99 149 24818 Bevis, Colby Moon Doggie 134 110 24419 Osbourne, Owen EZ Skankin 135 108 24320 Suomi, Jim Tails Up 126 116 24221 Eggers, Steve Vicious Strikes 136 106 24222 Wallin, Dave Knot Right 106 135 24123 Brown, Brad MoonLite Charters 133 101 23424 Davis, Eric Team G. Loomis 147 87 23425 Locke, Rob Team Tropic Trailer 98 129 22726 Grennell, Gary Beaches Family Restaurant 114 113 22727 Beye, Jesse Cape Fear Rods 117 109 22628 Reynoso, Jason JTM Team X 137 88 22529 Morris, Bruce Thomas Ryan & Associates 93 127 22030 Liscum, Ron Harpoon Harry's 115 103 21831 Fulton, John Fulton Pools 79 138 21732 Leiberman, Mark Team Yellowfin Yachts 102 115 21733 Larosa, Jason Larosa Plumbing 127 86 21334 Burson, Kelbi 92 118 21035 Lewis, Mark Skinny Dippin' 86 121 20736 Koza, Jeff Galloway Ford Fishing Team 80 126 20637 Russell, Jimmy 1-800-Plumbing 101 102 20338 Tucker, Travis Team PC 113 90 20339 Susko, Brian Red-Jay Kitchens 118 85 20340 Blackburn, Bing Cabinets Plus of SW Florida 71 131 20241 McCard, Jason Team Best Western 96 104 20042 Tanksley, Joe Ft. Myers Marine #3 108 91 19943 Smith, Josh Sacabum 85 114 19944 Lopez, Javier Flatsmen 73 125 19845 Ingman, Jordan Ingman Marine 100 96 19646 Taylor, Jim Keetchin' Keepers 107 89 19647 Stephens, Jim Team Cracker/Seacoast Supply 66 128 19448 Robinson, Roy Sea Hunt 88 105 19349 Myers, Mike Team Gator Water 70 122 19250 Opsahl, Brad Polk's Badcock Furniture & More 75 112 18751 Weeks, Keegan Austin Blake Investments 90 97 18752 Jordan, Rick Totally Plastered 104 82 18653 McCauley, Jimmy Florida Panther Conservation 77 98 17554 Santini, Gene Soggy Flats 63 111 17455 Morningstar, Dave Team Morningstar 74 100 17456 Beerbower, Blake Quantum 81 93 17457 Vaughn, Tim Team Extreme Crackers 68 99 16758 Kerry, Wayne Team Big Hit 87 79 16659 Chancey, Ben Chew on This 78 80 15860 Burnett, Dave Warden's Worry 76 78 15461 Crawford, Jim Reel Shore 69 83 15262 Lombard, Jarrett Team Lombardo Tile 0 148 14863 Hurst, Michale Team VIP Commercial 148 0 14864 Withers, Jay Team Maverick/Pathfinder 146 0 14665 Bevis, Lyn ReMax Harbor Realty 0 141 14166 Roe, Scott Doghouse 0 138 13867 Brantley, Terry Copy Concepts 0 134 13468 Nickel, Glen Blind Hogs 131 0 13169 Jones, Phil Exotic Pools 128 0 12870 Whitbread, Andy Landlubbers Marine 125 0 12571 Stokes, Brent 124 0 12472 Kirkpatrick, Jeff K x 4 Construction 0 123 12373 Jacobsen, Derrick Famous Craft 122 0 12274 Rush, Lacey 121 0 12175 Stover, Mike Team JTM 0 120 12076 McCarty, Mike Team Haul' n Reds 120 0 12077 Wedell, Mike Motley Crew 0 119 11978 Parry, Noah Team Shearwater 119 0 11979 Thomas, Wally San Carlos Marine 2 117 0 11780 Stover, Bub J & E Contractors 112 0 11281 Page, Geoff Team Mirrolure 111 0 11182 Stephens, Dave Back Bay Xtremes 105 0 10583 Miller, George Predetors 103 0 10384 Goodwin, Eric Goodwin Electric Inc. 97 0 9785 Branch, Robin Team Harbor Imaging 0 95 9586 Clemens, Scott Vecchi Nonni Pizza 95 0 9587 Lotz, Mike Team Long Shot 94 0 9488 Jekonski, Ron Shallow Balance 0 94 9489 Kersey, Keith Tail Chasers 0 92 9290 Miller, Mike soldbythebay.com 91 0 9191 Smith, Carl Bar Hoppers 89 0 8992 Rodriguez, Juan Two by Juan 0 84 8493 Tydings, Bryan Carter Concrete 84 0 8494 Rossi, Bill Charlotte County Ford 83 0 8395 Sechrist, Rick Red Storm 82 0 8296 Blake, Christopher Charlotte County Custom Cycles 0 81 8197 McKeever, Rick Reel Mojo 72 0 7298 Brandal, Robert It Aint Easy 67 0 6799 Thayer, Greg B & R Color 65 0 65100 McHugh, David Hendricks & Assocs. 64 0 64101 Hoff, Al A&M Electric Heating & Cooling 62 0 62102 Paukune, Jason Just One More 61 0 61103 Gorman, Owen Gene Gorman's Auto Sales 0 0 0104 Brooks, Matt Brooks Quality Stucco 0 0 0105 Achilles, Les Venture Out 0 0 0106 Fernandez, Al Team Adwraps Plus 0 0 0107 Lopinski, Chris 0 0 0108 Lehman, Matthew Casting Charters 0 0 0109 Harris, Roger San Carlos Marine 0 0 0110 Stephens, Chris Team Redneck Inc. 0 0 0111 French, Dwanye Ranger Boats 0 0 0112 Johnson, Todd Team Pool One 0 0 0113 Cress, Chuck Cresswood 0 0 0114 Laugois, Philip Fishin Fools 0 0 0115 Bunkley, Krista Bunkley 0 0 0116 Mathias, Mike Fishy Business 0 0 0117 Rehbine, Randy High -N- Dry 0 0 0118 Calderone, Frank Fish on Line 0 0 0119 Stegenga, Mike Back in Action 0 0 0120 Forrest, Bill Team Justice League 0 0 0121 Buckley, Melinda Italiano Insurance 0 0 0122 Cyr, Thomas gohuntingandfishing.com 0 0 0123 Johnson, Dyron Mangrove Bay Outfitters 0 0 0124 Reynolds, Frank 0 0 0

By Capt. Jerry CleffiWater LIFE Tournament EditorFlatsmasters photos on facing pageThe Maverick Boats Flatsmasters

Series, second event of the year, TheRedfish Classic was perceived as the easi-est of the four Flatsmasters events bymost early season anglers. All that wasrequired was to catch two legal reds on anybait of theirchoice.

But alate seasoncold frontand howl-ing 15 to25 knotwinds onday 1 madethe fishingtough andeven get-ting back tothe weighin a chal-lenge. Inall 113teamsbrought 80 redfish to the scales. Soonafter the scales opened at 1:30pm, teamWaterproof Charts - Miles Meredith, Ericand Mike Carstensen - brought 2 heavyreds to the scales with the bigger oneweighing in at 8.10 pounds. Several teamsweighed in early, most with good fish bylength, but short on the weight size.There were lots of 5 to 6 lbs fish and afew 7 lbs. but team Waterproof had thelone 8-pounder. It took 11.30 lbs. to fin-ish in the top 30 and take home a check.13.50 lbs. was needed to make the cut andfish on day 2. Team Lombardo Tile, teamLatham, team Taco Bell, and team Ft.Myers Marine rounded out the top 5. Allheaded for a Sunday shootout.On the second day, the top five teams

from day one met at Harpoon Harrys at6:50 am for the shotgun start, each teamstarting day two with zero weight.Sunday's weather was about the same,northeast winds 15 to 20 knots, and a littlecooler than Saturday. The finalists wereup to the challenge and as the 3:30pmdeadline approached the first team at theweigh in dock was team WaterproofCharts, quickly followed by the otherteams. In all Flatsmasters Shootouts thefive teams tie up to the dock lined up intheir positions from day one. The weighin starts with team number five and worksit way to the number one qualifiers. Eachteam brings up their first red on the firstround, the weights are updated and then thesecond round of fish are weighed for each

team's total weight of two fish. It's eachteam's decision which of their fish toweigh first, they can bluff a little andweigh their lighter fish first or go forbroke and put the heavier red on the scaleright away. For the top two teams, thatwas a hard decision as both of their fishwere equally good. After round one, JeffSimes, Wayne Quick, and Ralph Jones ofTeam Ft Myers Marine had a slight leadwith 7.00 lbs even followed by teamWaterproof Charts at 6.95-pounds. TeamLombardo Tile and team Latham were notfar behind with 6.55-pounds. and 6.40-pounds respectively. Team Taco Bell put abig fish on the scales hoping it wouldmeasure but came up short, or long as it

turned out, astheir fish wasjust over theline and wasturned backwith noweight.Round

two had teamTaco Bellweigh a lightredfish for asportsmanlike effort tofinish infifth overall.LombardoTile and

team Latham both put up smaller 5+pound reds for third and fourth place finish-es. But Team Ft Myers Marine backed uptheir first fish with a slightly larger 7.05pounder to finish with a total of 14.05-pounds The last redfish of the day was tobe weighed by Team Waterproof Charts.They were the 2005 Flatsmasters Team ofThe Year and started 2006 strong with afirst place finish in the Grand Slam Plugtournament in March, but did they haveenough to ‘finish off’ Ft. Myers Marine.They needed 7.15-pounds from their secondred to overtake Jeff Simes and Crew for thewin. As Miles brought up the weigh inbag with their red it appeared to be a goodsized fish, after a quick measurement itwent on the scales. After the scale settledthe weight was 7.40 lbs. and Miles and histeam had a total of 14.35. A .30-poundmargin and an enough to be crowned TheRedfish Classic Champions.The next event in The Maverick Boats

Flatsmasters Series is the new RedPlugChallenge on July 22-23. Two redfish onartificials only with the same shootoutstyle weigh in.

SunSports TV NetworkFlatsmasters Schedule for June6/10/06 12:00pm6/15/06 9:00am6/16/06 7:00am6/18/06 4:00pm6/19/06 6:00pm6/22/06 12:00pm

Current Flatsmasters Tournament Standings after the first two events

Miles Meredith and the Team Waterproof Charts winning fish


ScuttleButtSometimes Unsubstanciated ... but often true!Lowes Becomes Crossties After 13

years in local business the family ownedLowes Livestock has been purchased byformer employee Kerry Bowers. Kerry wasthe former owner before selling the busi-ness to Lowes. For the time being, thestore will remain essentially unchanged.

Traditional Boca Grand Guides - Hada turnout of 30 anglers for their late Maylive-bait tournament. Cappy Joiner theorganizationʼs leader reportedly has hisboat up for sale and is thinking aboutmoving to trhe mountains.

Sunday Noon: The Kayak Festival reportedlyhad 1,000 people attend. Can you find them?


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Fishing is goodin Englewood

I got to go fishing down in the harborwith an old friend the other day, Gary ‘thesnookman’ Hoffman. Gary has been livingand fishing in Charlotte County for 30 yearsand knows all the secret hot spots on thewest side of Charlotte Harbor. Like many ofmy old friends, Gary has put his house on themarket and will be moving to greener pas-tures, but before he leaves he had promised toshow me his favorite spots. We put in atPlacida and worked our way through CatfishCreek, Widden Creek, and Bull Bay and even-tually found ourselves in the back of TurtleBay.

I haven’t spent a lot of time in the harborbut I was amazed at all the dead mangrovesthere are as a result of Hurricane Charley. Youwould think that after almost two years theywould be starting to come back but it lookslike it will be a long time before the shore-line there is green again. Gary and I have twototally different styles of fishing. He’s a plug-ger and I’m a jigger so we compliment eachother pretty well. I’ve never seen anyone‘walk the dog’ with a top water plug as goodas Gary. Things were pretty slow until we gotway in the back of Turtle Bay and started to

fish one of those dead looking shorelines. Wefound the fish stacked up back there and wewere catching snook and redfish as fast as wecould cast. All the fish two guys would wantto catch in just 100 yards of shoreline. Iguess even though the harbor looks kind ofdevastated the fish are still there.

Fishing is good in Englewood. LemonBay is suffering from an embarrassment ofriches. The dredging of Stump Pass is aboutfinished and the water is crystal clear. There ismore bait in Lemon Bay than I have everseen before. Threadfin, sardines and what Ithink are small cigar minnows. Actually thereis too much bait. It’s like you throw a bait ata fish and he looks at it and says ‘thank youbut I’m full, I’m stuffed, I can’t possibly eatanother bite.’ I’ve been catching most of myfish on artificials. The last charter I had wecaught two reds each a little over 8 pounds. Inever do that in a redfish tournament.

Trout are full of roe in Lemon Bay rightnow so mostly small males are being caught.The big ones will be back next month.Tarpon fishing on the beach is picking up.From what I hear, tarpon crabs are in shortsupply this year so get them while you can.Most of my friends in Sarasota are fishing offof Long Boat Key and are having good luck.Local folks have had some luck off ofEnglewood Beach. Of course there is alwaysBoca Grande Pass but remember they havedifferent rules there, no breakaway tackleallowed this year.Capt Ron can be reached at (941) 474-3474

for information or to book a charter.

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June Fishing ReportJune Fishing ReportCharlotte HarborRobert at Fi shin' FranksPort Charl o tte: 625 -3888Tarpon and sharks are without a doubt going to bethe most popular fish this month. Tarpon, for the restof the month, will be all over the harbor and in thepass. Then, towards the end of the month they shouldmove out along the beaches in good numbers. As longas the drought sticks around we will have plenty ofthreadfins here and the tarpon will stay in the harborfeeding on them. Look for any pod of threadies and tryto catch some larger ones or use sugar trout as live

bait for tarpon. D.O.A. Bait Busters are still anothergood option if you want to throw artificials at the‘poons. Because of the lack of rain, small blue crabshave been very hard to find for tarpon bait. The rainbrings the small baby blue crabs into the feeder creeksand onto the flats and without the rain the little crabsseem to stay away and become impossible for thecrabbers to catch.Sharks, because of the abundance of bait in the harbor,are all over the place. Continued on facing page

In the Redfish Cup it was Bo Johnson and Mike Del Ducaout of Cape Coral who took the Punta Gorda stop with25.01 pounds for the first two days and then had these twofish on the final day to win.

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Eight foot bull sharks are in the har-bor right now all the way up to the41 bridges and will be here until weget some rain that is measurable ininches. Drifting in the harbor oranchoring with chum using mulletbonita or jacks for bait is the way toproduce sharks of all different sizesso be prepared. Talking to the passfishermen, they are not seeing asmany bull sharks in the pass this year andit may be because they are up in the har-bor. We have more bait in the harborright now than we have had in the last 15years.

In addition to drifting for sharks or tar-pon there are a lot of really nice cobiaaround. They are here a little earlier thannormal. Usually they would be here inJuly or August, way up in the harbor sothis month and next month should bephenomenal for cobia. If you are driftfishing keep a spinning pole ready to castbecause the cobia seems to be swimmingin ones and twos and will come up tocheck you out.

The Spanish mackerel are stillunbelievably abundant and they will beuntil the rain pushes the bait outside.Drift fishing is most productive formacks. Hang out a shrimp, cast lures ortry a got’cha jig, Clark spoons or throw abottle cap with a hook in it. If it’s silver,

and flashes a mackerel will eat it.Tripletai l are starting to move up

into the harbor too. If you are patient andlooking for a tasty prey keep an eye onthe crab trap buoys and the channel mark-ers, casting a small bait-shrimp or a smallcrab (if you can find either) and you willget them. A small D.O.A. or Baysideshrimp imitation on a worm hook or asuper-light jig head or under a float shouldwork too. Most of the tripletail in theharbor are large, in the 10 to 15 poundrange now. Another off species that arenear now are permit. They will be on theclose in offshore reefs like the Novak,School Bus or even the Boxcar reefs.Early morning, when the wind is calm, isthe time you will see them tailing thesurface or they will appear as big silverdiscs underneath. Light bucktails, artificialshrimp or crabs are the right permit bait.If you’re really lucky you might dip upsome pass crabs at Boca Grande on theway out.

Snook will be along the beachesspawning and redfish will be bigger insize but their numbers are fewer rightnow.

Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595Tarpon fishing is real good right now.

From 80 to 90 percent of the people wesee in our shop are tarpon fishing. Tipsare broken, guides are popped and the dragis gone... that’s tarpon fishing for you.And there are plenty of tarpon in thiswhole area: out on the beach, in the Passand up in Charlotte Harbor. Hopefully tar-pon fishing will last another month.Tarpon are being caught on just abouteverything, pinfish, crabs, jigs, squir-relfish, you name it. We don’t alwayshave the perfect size tarpon crabs for bait,but we have had crabs since april.

Speaking of bait, there are no shrimparound again. No peewees and the few we

do have are onlythe big ones.Something is upwith the shrimp.Snook fishing

in the bay is prettygood. Back countrytrips for snooktrout and redfishhave been goodeven over the

Memorial Dayweekend, with all theboat traffic, they werecatching fish.

Everything else isstill around too.Spanish mackerelare here and of coursethere are plenty ofsharks and a cobiaor two. There’s been alot of inshore reef fishcaught: snapper,yel lowtai l , and evenpermit are around.

There have beendolphin 16 to 18miles offshore andsome of my customersare doing well withthem. The dolphinwere swimming rightup to this one guy’sboat and he was catch-ing them. At leastthat’s what he said.The only thing Ihaven’t heard aboutoffshore is kingfish.

On the beach,whiting, drumand somesheepshead areout there for thepeople who justwant to surf fish.

n June 1: Hurricane-proofingYour Boat Tips and techniquesto save Southwest Florida boatsfrom storm damage. West Marinein Venice. call 408-8288.n June 3: Peace River CleanUp 10 a.m. from NavAGatorDesoto Marina 627-3474n June 15 Introduction to GPSNavigation West Marine, Venice408-8288.n June 29 Redfish and Snookon Artificials West Marine,Venice 408-8288.

n July 20, 2006 Tarpon Tacticson Artificials West Marine, Venice408-8288n July 22-23 Flatsmasters RedPlug Challenge and Top5shootout Punta Gordan August 12-13: Redfish NationTournament, Jacksonville,Florida Register at 888-698-2591www.redfishcup.comn October 7: Richest RedfishChallenge, benefit for GoodShepherd Day School, byLaishley Marine, at FishermenʼsVillage 639-3868


BIG-4BIG-4 Juneʼs Target SpeciesJuneʼs Target Species

TARPON are in the Passand in the harbor

TRIPLETAIL are on the crabtraps in the harbor

COBIA are all around theharbor

SHARKS are all over the areaand they are Big

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