water life mar 2007

Charlotte Harbor and Lemon BayCharlotte Harbor and Lemon Bay

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Keeping Boaters and Fishermen InformedKeeping Boaters and Fishermen Informed

March 2007March 2007

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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 F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 7

By Michael Hel lerWaster LIFE editorAt the Miami Boat Show I went out of my way to

ask numerous dealers, manufacturers and sales peoplewhat are the three biggest issues facing boating rightnow. The answer: insurance, noise and pollution.Pollution is last because we can wait until 2008 or 2010before the next set of rules comes down. Insurance isfirst because it’s getting to be a real problem.Boat insurance has doubled, tripled or quadrupled,

depending on who you talk to. Policies are being writtenfor northern boaters that exclude coverage in Floridawaters. Absentee owners (who leave their boats here dur-ing the summer while they go up north) are almostuninsurable. There are three primary underwriters stillwriting policies for bigger (40-plus feet) boats and twoor three companies writing smaller boats. Progressive,Boat US and State Farm were mentioned. I heard thatsome carriers are starting to write boat polices withoutwindstorm insurance and some are writing polices with25-percent deductables. Consequently, there are offshorecompanies appearing on the scene writing insurance inFlorida. An offshore, on the water ‘Citizens,’ but willthey pay? That’s the question. Offshore companies areunregulated.It’s still an issue. Small boats with big engines could

become a special risk. The industry has long looked at50 mph as the dividing line in small boats, today thereare flats boats on Charlotte Harbor that will go 80 mph.So if you have a policy, “renew it now,” was one pieceof repeated advice. We are seeing bigger depreciation,calculated with higher deductables on theft and limitedamounts of liability, one insurance agent told me.Insurance is easier to come by on commercial boats

because the carriers figure those vessels are better takencare of and are operated by licensed captains.Along with the insurance issue is the noise issue.

Gaffrig, the gauge manufacturer, is now showing a lineof exhaust restrictors for offshore powerboats. Stainlesssteel exhaust extensions with manually controllable but-terfly-baffles. ‘Tips’ like the import tuner-car guys wouldcall them. ‘Cut-outs’ like the hot rod guys say.The manufacturers are all building bigger motors.

Yamaha introduced a 325 cubic inch 4-valve/cylinder,double overhead cam V-8 ...outboard – it looks like themotor in my Toyota!Mercury brought its 300Verado, Suzuki had its 300 4-

stroke and Evinrude also has more HP. Bigger, theoreti-

cally more reliable, single motors for bigger boats.In the electronics world, LED technology is coming

to your running and trailer lights, and if you want awaterproof TV (you could mount it on the very back ofyour trailer), there is one available. Redundancy and dou-ble redundancy are making their way into boating elec-tronics just like they did in aviation. And just like avia-tion glass faced ‘multifunctional electronic displays’ arereplacing gauges on the higher end yachts and could becoming to smaller boats soon. That would mean onescreen with engine monitoring, GPS information, afishfinder and a moving map. Maybe even a heads-updisplay for your next flats boat. All it takes is moremoney.

F e b r u a r y 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 3

F R O M M I A M I : N e x t i s s u e s f o r B o a t e r s –N o i s e , I n s u r a n c e & P o l l u t i o n

P a g e 4 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E M a r c h 2 0 0 7

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LETTERS TO WATER LIFE Water LIFEMichael and Ellen Heller

Publishers(941) 766-8180

TOTALLY INDEPENDENTWater LIFE is not affiliated

with any newspaper or otherpublication

© 2007 Vol VI No. 3 Water LIFENo part of this publication may be

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

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

Gasparilla: Capt. Chuck EichnerPort Charlotte: Fishinʼ Frank

Offshore: Capt. Steve SkevingtonTechnical Advisor: Mike Panetti

Sailing Advisor: Bill DixonKayaks: David Allen

Sea Grant: Betty StauglerDiving: Adam Wilson

on the COVER:Anglers ready a redfish for the scale at the

Flatsmasters quallifyer last monthstory on page 10

on our WEBSITE:WWW.charlotteharbormagazine.com

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

WRITE US!e-mail (preferred)

[email protected] MAIL:

217 Bangsberg Rd.Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Letter to the editors:I set out today (02/13) to

spend the morning fishing thebeaches around the BocaGrande area. To my surprise(horror, actually), I found theState Park beaches beingburied alive by a massivebeach "re-nourishment" proj-ect. In fact, my favorite sum-mer snook area was beingburied right before my eyes. Iconsider myself well informedregarding the marine environ-ment in and around CharlotteHarbor, but I had not seen orheard anything about this proj-ect. I'm wondering who isfunding it, and how the StatePark Service received permitsto allow the destruction ofthese pristine beach areas. Anatural sand beach is aporous, living environment, andhome to countless crustaceansand invertebrates. They are

now being suffocated by theoffshore muck and sand beingpumped onto the beaches.This same muck and sedimentwill no doubt be washed off-shore, where it will choke offthe marine habitat there. I'mcurious as to whether therewere public referendums priorto the permitting for this proj-ect. Well, I guess the fisher-man (and other environmen-tally minded people) have lostanother beautiful piece ofnature. What a damn shame.

David KohlmanPort Charlotte

We sent our mangroveaerials to the CCAʼs TideMagazine for a future story.They wrote back:

Wow - that is awful. Howmuch time has passedbetween those two photos?

(ans: 2 years) Is there anythingthat can be done by humans torepair that? I think it is a greatstory, but it sure would be niceto be able to say that the dam-age, though extensive, can befixed by doing XYZ. This is the

kind of thing that people willwant to do something to fix ifthey can, in my opinion.

Best regards,Ted VenkerCoastal Conservation

Association.

The beach at Boca Grande. Dredging is covering all the near shore shallow-water reefs

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M a r c h 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 5

By Capt. Chuck EichnerWater LIFE Charlotte HarborThe evolution of fishing in modern

times finds anglers looking for the newesthot lure or bait. Boats become moresophisticated, rods lighter and stronger andtackle boxes no longer look like theirnamesake but resemble a fancy duffel bagfull of plastic boxes. Fishing lines comein co-polymers, braids, single strandmonofilament, etc. and now they come ina variety of colors. My personal evolutionin fishing has gone the opposite directionthan most tackle manufacturers would like.I rely on a small arsenal of gear and placemost of my attention to reading the waters,studying the signs of fish and adapting themost basic things to locate fish and makethem bite.

Fish are creatures of habit. Thehardest part is usually locating them. Afterthat finding out what it takes to make thembite and how to present it is the next chal-lenge. Of course, the challenge is whatturns most of us on and a tasty meal is justa bonus. Here are a few tips that are part ofmy basic arsenal in my daily fishing. Noneof these tips are a hot lure or unique fish-ing method but they are some commonsense tactics that will help you catch fish.BOAT HANDLINGShal low Water Boat Control -

There is nothing more important in fishingthen this. For shallow water pursuits youwant to be close enough to the fish to castto them but let your boat get too close tothe mangroves or fish holding cover andyou spook them. There is a fine balancewith this. Always start further out fromyour spot and work your way in. Use thetrolling motor as little as possible and dolet the wind push you in whenever possi-ble. Anchor repeatedly as you work into aspot casting your bait or lure.

Deep Water Boat Control- Offshorefishing often requires anchoring over a reef,wreck or fish holding bottom. The tricki-est part of anchoring is setting your boatso that your stern is uptide and upwind ofthe fishing hole. The goal is to float orcast your bait into the area. You have totake an educated guess when you drop thehook as to how the winds and tides willposition you. For the most part if you’re100 feet off the mark than you won’t catchmany fish. Once your anchor is set you cancompensate and steer the boat by turningyour steering wheel right or left. Even atanchor, your boat will respond and steer offof the anchor line. Use this to your advan-tage to make up for wind variations orwhen you simply set up a little off yourfishing hole.

Anchoring- In the course of the daythe winds on Charlotte Harbor and the gulfvary quite a bit. When offshore fishing, awind shift may swing you off your spot.With no visual reference to tell that it’shappened, the lack of fish biting will beyour biggest clue. If your depth meter bot-tom contour differs from when you firststarted fishing then this is also a clue thatyou have shifted off your spot. Onemethod is to power anchor where youengage your motor with anchor down toprobe a short range of bottom. The goal isto not run over your line but take advan-tage of whatever range you have (dictatedby anchor line length) to study your bot-tom meter. You may find you are only 50feet off the spot and by lengthening orshortening your line you may repositionover the fish. In waters less than 50 feetrunning your motor might not be prudentif you have set up a chum line but ifthey’re not biting what’s the difference?

Drift Fishing- I do this a lot whilecasting baits and artificials. I often turn my

livewells off temporarily and position myboat upwind to pass by islands or holeswith no man-made noise. Shallow waterstealth is the single most important thingyou can do to increase your fish catching inwater less than 5 feet. You can steer yourboat by turning your steering wheel rightor left as the breezes push you along. Theremust be some skeg in the water to steer. Itis quiet and the boat will respond to steer-ing changes without the motor running.FISHING PRESENTATIONLine, Leader and Hook- Fish in their

natural environment chase and hunt theirfood. They look for weak, injured or easyto catch prey. Most saltwater fish in south-west Florida have good eyesight and thewater clarity is good. A bait with a hook init, is weighted down by the hook, leader,line and the tension the angler places onthe line. The surface tension of the wateralso plays a role in line behavior. Thesefactors cause the bait to behave differentlythan a natural forage fish or crustacean.The easiest way to improve your catches

are: Use a light running line from yourreel. You will catch more fish with 6# testthen 8# test then 10# test. Yes, you willlose more fish too. Same goes for theleader. Lighter leader more bites. In gener-al, the lighter your connection to yourhook, the less the bait is influenced by theweight and tension and the more bites youwill get. Also,use small lightweighthooks. The modern hooks are strong andwill hold big fish. Red hooks, silverhooks, chartreuse hooks make it easier forthe gamefish to see there is a hook there. Iprefer that the hook does not stand out.However, I am sure there is a time when acolored hook is an attractant- the problemis, I just can’t tell when.Line Color- Line color matters. Is char-treuse or red a natural color in our waters?I haven’t seen it but the tackle manufactur-ers are promoting lines in those colors. Infact, red is the most highly visible color in6’ of water or less. A chartreuse line run-

Fishing and Boating Tips For Better Angling

Capt Chuck with a nice gag.

continued on page 6


ning through the water is easy to see evenwith a clear monofilament leader. Whenyou cast out do you know for sure thatyour running line is not passing over ornearby fish that you want to catch? To meit is very simple. Use a clear or lightgreen monofilament fishing line. Samegoes for your leader color. Braided lines dospook fish- some days the fish don’t careand some days they do ..however I cannottell when this is a factor. Braidsare stronger, more sensitive, cast furtherand are certainly more visible. Braids arealways my second choice in line type butI do use them at times. Fish do have somelevel of reasoning which is more in tunewith natural intuition that goes hand inhand with sight, sound, smell and vibra-tion. There are perhaps other sensory fac-tors that fish have that we cannot com-prehend.

Leader Length- The significance ofyour leader length depends on your fishingpursuit. For braided lines, the longer thebetter for reasons previously stated. As formonofilament running lines, the shorterthe leader the better. A longer leader is eas-ier to grab at boatside when landing a fishhowever. The rules of visibility are sim-ple- larger diameter lines are more highlyvisible than smaller diameter lines there-fore keep your leaders short. For bottomfishing offshore, a long leader may allowyour bait to loft or swim 3-8’ above thebottom if you have that length of leadertied on. If grouper are laying amongstlimestone ledges and looking up for ameal you would want your bait to flowslightly above their habitat. A short leaderwould position the bait near the bottomand not be as noticeable. Sometimes alonger leader may trigger more action justbecause it’s further from the terminaltackle, sinker, etc. Experimentation with

leader length offshore may result in alength that presents the bait at the rightlevel putting more fish in the box.Fluorocarbon is less visible to the fish asits refractive index is close to the refrac-tive index of water. It is an advantage butit comes at a price.

Snaps, Swivels , Cl ips- Leavethem on the shelf at the fishing store andyou will catch more fish. They may beconvenient for connecting lines togetheror quickly changing lures and hooks butthey are highly visible and detract fromany lure action.

Lure Retrieve- Each lure is designedto perform best at a certain speeds. Windit too fast and it might twist or spin.Wind it too slow and it doesn’t have muchappeal. In general, any action bait such asspoons, plugs or soft plastic swimbaitsshould be retrieved as fast as possible.Snook, redfish, jacks, mackerel, tarponand most others will follow or ignoreslower presentations. They have excellenteyesight and the ability to identify some-thing unnatural about a slow movingmeal. With the exception of speckledtrout which often like a slow to moderateretrieve, speed it up to the max. Animportant variation to impart in yourretrieve is a momentary pause 1-3x ineach cast. This variation triggers animpulse strike from a fast moving fishafter a fast moving meal.Simplicity in fishing goes a long way.

Small changes in your approach to fish-ing can make big differences in what youcatch. Give these tips a try!

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

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S taff ReportThe Kids Cup happens on April 28

this year. That’s next month! Yikes! Lastyear we maxed out at 125, so this is themonth to get your entry in, especially ifyou want your name to appear in the offi-cial Kids Cup Tournament Program. TheKids Cup is an all for fun, not-for-profit,event. There are no cash prizes, but theTop 5 kids get to weigh in on the ESPN-2 TV stage in front of what the ObertoRedfish Cup guys promise will be PuntaGorda’s biggest crowd ever. And the over-all Kids Cup winner will get a trip to theKeys to fish.A few things in the 2007 Kids Cup

will be new this year. First off, twomonths after we notified them about thisyear’s Kids Cup the IGFA announced thatthey will no longer hold a Junior AnglerWorld Championship. They will continuewith their Junior Angler program butthere will be no tournament in Key Westfor the 2007 Kids Cup winner. We aredisappointed in the IGFA and in the tim-ing of this announcement and we apolo-gize to our Kids Cup contestants for anyexpectations which may not be fully met.However, we are going to send the 2007Kids Cup winner to Key West to fishanyway, at our expense!This year we are going to tag some if

not all of the fish we release. MoteMarine will do the tagging and the sci-ence they get from this project couldanswer the question: Does a redfish caughtin the Pine Island Sound and released atFishermen’s Village swim straight back toPine Island or does it become a part ofthe redfish population up here?

This year, Ranger Boats will be theKids Cup boat sponsor. Your Kids Cup Tshirt will show a junior angler fishingout of a Ranger Boat. Thanks to SanCarlos Marine and Ranger Boats for that.Also stepping up to the plate to helpwith the Kids Cup is the Fishermen’sVillage Marina and Yacht Basin who willbe the Tagging Sponsor for the 2007 KidsCup.Back on board for their fourth consecu-

tive year of Kids Cup support will be ourmajor tournament sponsors: PalmChevrolet, Laishley Marine and San

Carlos Marine, who provide the hats,shirts and captain’s meeting dinner. Thedinner will again be at Bennedetto’sRestaurant at the Best Western in PuntaGorda. Bennedetto’s is helping by keepingtheir prices down for our kids as well.Ingman Marine will again donate a PowerPole for the captain of the winning Kidand will donate movie tickets for everykid who weighs in a fish. Don GasgarthFord has increased its level of sponsor-ship this year, allowing us to present aBig Fish, Little Fish Award, so even ifyou bring back a little redfish you couldstill take home a big trophy. We want asmany fish weighed in as possible.Mercury Marine will again donate racingjackets for our top five kids, EppingerLures will again donate spoons and othertackle for each angler. There is Exude,Eagle Claw, Shimano Henry’s Tackle, andMORE. The captain’s bags the kidsreceive should once again contain out-standingly useful stuff.Our pal Frank Ruby from Fish X-S in

Englewood will provide the Trophies foreach age group - there is a framed-redfish-print trophy for the biggest fish in eachage bracket (ages 10-11-12-13-14-15 and16 ) and thanks to Lori and Barb atLaishley Marine, S.P.I. will provide thetop 5 bronze redfish trophies.

And the Charlotte Redfish BaseballTeam is going to play a part in the KidsCup as well. They have a Redfish Kidsprogram and we’ll get a bunch of freetickets to ball games at the CharlotteRedfish Stadium. But wait...like they sayon TV...there’s more!At the Miami Boat Show Kevin

Carlson, president of Ocean Waves sun-glasses offered to donate high end fishingglasses for our top 5 anglers. And wehope more good things will come alongfor the Kids this month.This will be the best Kids Cup yet. So

sign up NOW, entry forms are at the localbait and tackle shops and online atwww.kidscuptournament.com.Don’t forget, this is all for a good

cause. The money we raise at the Kids

Cup goes to fund our Don Ball School ofFishing program which has local guidesteaching an eight week course about localfishing and the local environment in sixarea middle schools.It doesn’t get any better than that.

This is an embroidery proof for the Kids Cup Hats this year.

Kids Cup Coming!

MIke

2006 Kids Cup winner Chris Larsen with thewinning 7.4 lb redfish

the weigh in is again at Harpoon Harryʼs inFishermmenʼs Village Punta Gorda

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

Water LIFEStaff ReportFifty teams, 36 degrees, 7

a.m. The numbers were the focusfrom early on. It was calm in thecold. A few teams even came outin their technical skiffs – light-weight, 16-foot, carbon fibreshallow water boats – but whenthe wind came up around 11 andthe harbor went straight to four-feet, the numbers were again the focusand in the end, the numbers told the tale.Out of the 50 teams, 30 were contendingfor the remaining 10 open spots in the2007 Flatsmaster Series. The other 30teams were just out to hone their fishingskills. Reportedly the bite was slow earlyon but by 9 a.m. numerous anglersreported good fishing. “I’ll bet we had

5,000 fish around us,” one angler report-ed. His team weighed in a 5.4 and a 4.55pound fish - out of 5,000.In all 22 teams weighed in two fish –

10 of those teams weighed in 10 poundsor better. Five teams had only one fishfor the scale and 23 teams didn’t weigh inat all. Taking top honors was PaulLambert’s team with two fish weighingan identical 7.3 pounds.

FlatsmastersFlatsmastersQualifierQualifier

By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior EditorThe jig is back in style. The other day

I was out checking a few spots in LemonBay trying to keep up on current fishingconditions. I had to cancel a few tripsbecause of cold and windy weather andexperience has taught me that the fishingwill change as quickly as the weather thistime of year; so it pays to do a little pre-fishing to locate fish when you have fish-ing trips coming up. The next day I wasscheduled to take three of my FishingCollege students on a trip to learn how tojig fish. So I figured I would load theboat with the six rods I was going to useand take them out for a little test drive.Each one was rigged with a different jighead and a different colored tail.Being a lazy sort of fisherman I didn’t

want to spend a lot of time on the waterfinding fish; so I went to the nearest grassflat and started to drift. On the third cast Ihooked a ladyfish; I took that as a goodsign because if the ladies are biting, usu-ally everything else is biting. I grabbedanother rod with a different jig combina-tion and continued. First cast, a nicetrout. Then I started to wonder how longit would take me to catch a fish on each

rod and jig combination. Right then Irealized I just invented a new sport- SpeedFishing a soon to be Olympic Sport. Icould see it now, teams in brightly col-ored jump suits trying to beat the clockand catch the most fish, or maybe relayteams passing the rod from member tomember after catching a fish; how about afast cast contest-fastest cast in the South.Then I took a deep breath; and realized Ihad to really cut down on caffeine.It took me about 30 minutes to catch

six fish on six rods with six different jigcombinations. For some reason this featgave me a profound sense of accomplish-ment. When I have my favorite rod in myhand I feel like Babe Ruth with hisfavorite bat or Michael Angelo holdingon to a paint brush. When I am using thejig I feel I am the equal of any fishermenand if there are any fish around, they bet-ter watch out. For me the jig is my ulti-mate confidence bait; the one lure I wouldwant if I was stuck on a deserted island.(remember this is still the caffeine speak-ing.)The jig is about as simple as you can

get; a weighted hook with a chunk ofplastic on it. What the fish thinks it is ,I’m not really sure but they sure want to

bite it. The jig has several things goingfor it. It’s cheap, portable and effective.Back in the day, everyone used liveshrimp for bait . It’s funny now shrimpis between $2.50 and $3.50 a dozen now,and people back then were complainingthat 75 cents a dozen was too high a priceto pay. If you were fishing for fillets toput on the table economy was everything.For a few bucks you could buy the hotjigs of the day; the Bagley Salty Dog,Mann’s Stingray Grubs, 5 tails and 2 jigheads in a package and of course the local-ly made Trout Touts. No more standingin line waiting in line with your Flow-Trol bait bucket, waiting for the baitshop to open. You could just throw a fewjigs in your pocket and beat your friendsto your favorite fishing spot. Nothingwould break your heart more than waitingfor first light and finding someone stand-ing in the water next to your hot spot-some things never change.Successful jigging starts with the right

equipment. I prefer a 7 foot, mediumaction spinning rod with a 2000 seriessize reel that will hold at least 120 yardsof 8 pound in diameter fishing line.Anything bigger than that just gets youtired that much faster. In a good, all dayfishing tournament, it’s not uncommonto throw that jig a thousand times.Fishing line is critical. I strongly suggestthat you use the braided super lines likePower Pro. Because the line does notstretch like monofilament, you get amuch higher percentage of hook-ups.

When it comes to jig heads the style ismore important than the color or weight.You can get long or short shank, roundhead or bullet head , screw on or stick on;anything you can imagine someone istrying to sell. The most important thingis to match the jig head to the tail. Mostmanufacturers like Cotee and CAL jigsmake both heads and tails so it’s a goodidea to stick with a matched pair. Thebest advice I can give as to techniquewhen you are drifting over a grass flat, isto develop a smooth, machine likerhythm. Cast out as far as you can and letthe jig hit the bottom, give the rod aquick upward thrust, let the jig settle backdown, then reel the handle about twotimes and repeat. The biggest mistakebeginners make is that they jerk and reelat the same time. You have to let the jiggo straight down to the bottom beforeyou reel. Most of the time the fish hitthe jig when it’s dropping. If you get ahit but miss the fish, give the jig a fewmore jerks before you reel. There was areason that fish wanted to eat your baitand just because he missed it doesn’tmean he’s going to give up.These tips are for using a jig while

drifting a grass flat. There are other tech-niques for using jigs in potholes, deepwater, under docks and even top water.Each have there own tricks and tips that Iwill tell you about in future articles.

Capt Ron can be reached for comments orto book a fishing trip at (941) 474-3474


The Jig is Back in StyleOn The Line with Capt Ron

Pompano (top) or trout, easy picking if you fish a jig right.

By Capt Ron BlagoWater LIFE Senior StaffWell this year’s Fishing College is

in the record book. About 50 studentsmade it through the basic trainingcourse for salt water fishing; and ofcourse I have to thank my associateprofessors - Dick Zrudski- the rod man,Bill Lowe- the fly fishing guru andCapt Bob Szymanski-boating safety andright hand man. Capt Ron is no springchicken anymore and now I get by witha little help from my friends. Each yearI always learn more from my studentsthan they learn from me and this year Ilearned that Wednesday is the best dayof the week to fish. The rest of theweek was terrible; as a matter of factout of 10 trips that were scheduled dur-ing the course, 7 were cancelled becauseof cold temperature or high winds ; butevery Wednesday, the day we had ourclass the weather was beautiful.The groups that did get to go did

very well, especially the folks that usedjigs. We caught bluefish, trout, snapper,

Spanish mackerel, sheepshead and pom-pano. We caught more pompano thananything else. We caught so manypompano, I was running out of differentways to cook it. My neighbor , ChuckLange a master smoker , smoked up afew fish for me and with the help of arecipe in an old cookbook, I found thesimplest fish spread. Smoked pompanowith sour cream. Flake off the meatfrom the skin- mix with sour cream-salt and pepper to taste and serve on acracker- that's it. It was to die for. Atthe cooking portion of the FishingCollege that bowl of fish spread disap-peared in a heart beat. No one could fig-ure what it was but everyone liked it.When the weather is good the fishing

is great . I've been cruising the localdock between Manasota Key Bridge andStump Pass and finding a lot of snook,redfish and sheepshead around the pil-ings. To have any chance at catchingthese fish you need high water and amoving tide. Its hard to find both condi-tions this time of year.

Offshore is pretty good. The bignews is that the kingfish are starting toshow up already. People have beentelling me that Capt John Knight of theHooker out of the Englewood BaitShop has been really hot this season.

Remember that grouper is closed inFederal Waters until March 15th.

Capt. Ron can be reached at 474-3474

M a r c h 2 0 0 7 Wa t e r L I F E M A G A Z I N E P a g e 1 3

43' Trojan 13 Meter International, 1985. ManyUpgrades. Twin 450 HP Detroit Diesels. ONLY 75hours s.m.o.h. $139,000

38' PT Cheer Men Sedan Trawler, 1982. Single 120HP Lehman. This is a beautifully maintained vessel.$149,500

30' Sea Ray 300 Weekender, 1987. Twin 260 HPMercruisers Asking $28,000

28' Bertram with new Indmar 275 hp engines in 1991Private stateroom forward with V-berths, lower helmand dinette. Great fishing or cruising boat. $22,500

21' Cobia Center Console, 2004. Single 150 HPYamaha 4 stroke. Includes trailer! $32,900

23' Pro-line walk around cuddy 2001. Single200HP Mercury Opti-Max outboard Only $29,900

30' Mainship Pilot Hardtop sedan. Single 230HPYanmar diesel. Asking $104,900

30' Proline Express 2002 T/225hp Evinrudes Fichtsonly 78 hrs,. autopilot, depth, VHF, GPS, hydraulicsteering $59,900

28' Bertram Sportfish, 1982. Twin 260 HPMercruisers 5.7 liter, 1990. Asking $29,900

30' Luhrs Alura single 350HP gas engine.Asking $43,995

23' Grady White 2006. Twin 150HP Yamaha fourstrokes with only 67 hours. Loaded.JUST REDUVCED to $93,000

38' Bayliner 3870, 1985. Twin135 HP MitsubishiDiesels. $69,500

23' Hurricane 237 Sundeck 2001. Single 200HPYamaha Saltwater Series. Asking $23,900

36' Sabreliner 36 Express Cruiser. 1997 twin 300HP twin diesel Caterpillars Asking $229,000

35' Trojan 350 Express, 1995. Twin 320 HPCrusaders. Lift stored. Loaded with equipment.$89,500

Fishing College Concludes Symester

The fun part of the college is when the students get to fish with Capt Ron. Here part of thegraduating class show off a morningʼs catch.


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By Betty S tauglerWater LIFE Sea Grant

Boating & Waterways: In lateJanuary, the Charlotte County Boardof County Commissioners votedunanimously to participate in theRegional Waterway ManagementSystem (RWMS). The RWMS is asurvey that evaluates waterways andwater traffic in a similar fashion asthat done on the land side. Thegoals are to achieve a base level ofservice and a harbor managementplan that balances the needs of navi-gation and public safety with envi-ronmental resource protection. TheRWMS is a two year survey fol-lowed by a permitting phase forthose areas determined by the studyto not meet the needs of boatersbased on an established matrix. Thestudy which will be completed byFlorida Sea Grant, was previouslydone in Manatee & Sarasota coun-ties, and is currently in the permit-ting phase in Lee County.Charlotte County’s participationwill complete the RWMS for theWCIND.

Arti ficial Reefs: Two possibleartificial reef deployments are cur-rently in the works. One willinclude the deployment of a bargeand culvert material at the NovakMemorial Reef site. The other willinvolve a considerable amount ofdemolition material at either thePalm Island Ferry site or theTremblay Reef site. Roger is cur-rently working on re-opening thePalm Island Ferry Reef permits.This reef site, established in 1998,contains a ferry, a barge and someculverts. The vessels are begin-ning to break down, making thissite a primary candidate for a re-nourishment project.

Waterfront Communities: SeaGrant and the University of FloridaConservation Law Clinic are work-ing with the City of Punta Gorda todevelop a Waterfronts FloridaPartnership Program application.

The Waterfronts Florida Programdesignates eligible communitiesevery two years and provides desig-nated communities with technicaland financial assistance towardsplanning and implementation ofprojects that include hazard mitiga-tion, preserving public access, pre-serving traditional uses & economicbase, and preserving environmentalresources. The application is due inmid March.

Mangrove Habitat: We submit-ted two community based restora-tions grants, with the help of elevenlocal community and/or scientificorganizations. The grants willallow us to re-establish large sec-tions of the hurricane damagedCharlotte Harbor shoreline.

Florida Master Natural istProgram (FMNP): One of ourgoals for Charlotte County this yearis to develop a FMNP. The FMNPis an educational program of theUniversity of Florida available toanyone interested in natural sys-tems. The program contains threemodules: coastal, wetlands, anduplands. Participants attend classesover a 6-8 week period combiningclassroom and field experiences. Atthe end of the program, participantsare certified as Florida MasterNaturalists, and then it’s their turnto give back to the program bypassing the knowledge they obtainedon to others. We will be focusingon the coastal component first.

Lee County: Many of you are

aware that Bob Wasnoleft his position as Lee County SeaGrant Agent. We wish him well ashe moves forward in his careergoals. Bob’s replacement hasbeen advertised and is expect-ed to be fi l led within the nextcouple of months. Bob’sabsence has left many with

questions about some of theprojects he was working onincluding:

REDstart: REDstart’s first releaseof about 1,500 redfish in the springof 2005 left us all feeling greatabout the prospects of future releas-es. However, in the spring of 2006the State hatchery facility that pro-vides the fingerlings discovered aproblem within their own facilitythat forced them to suspend theirreleases of fingerlings to REDstart.Currently the REDstart facility isslated to be used by FGCU andSCCF for their oyster and seagrassresearch until such time that finger-lings may be once again obtained.We do anticipate and are planningfor REDstart to once again raise red-fish.Boca Grande Pass Cleanup:This is the month that we typicallyspend two days braving the ele-ments, cleaning up the pass bottom.This year I am afraid we will be tak-ing some time off. I anticipate wewill see this popular event return,but in the interim, a step back to re-evaluate the event and any lingeringsafety concerns is not such a badthing.


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By Fishin’ FrankWater LIFE Port CharlotteIt is mid-day in the Myakka

cut-off and Cliff Freda is pullingback on his rod while the line ispeeling off. Cliff lowers the tip ofthe rod and then pulls back hardand steady. The snook thrashes hishead throwing water three feet inevery direction and the battle con-tinues. In a last ditch attempt toout wit his adversary, the snookmakes a run under the boat. Cliffdrops his rod tip deep into thewater and as the snook clears thestarboard side of the boat Clifflifts his rod tip and the battle ison again and in his favor. Thesnook jumps trying to throw thehook to no avail. Now he is atthe side of the boat and I have theBoga grip locked to his jaw. Thisis the way to test out a fresh boat.This was the first day out on mynewly refitted charter boat. Cliff,Jeff , and I have been working forthe last three weeks refitting mycharter boat with a tower, newlive wells and all new everything.

I had a little over 6000 hourssince the last over haul on theboat. Six thousand hours in a saltwater environment will corrodealmost everything, so we strippedher out down to the bare hull andstarted over. And holy-outrageous-pricing, Bat Man, this stuff ain'tcheap. B.O.A.T.! (break outanother thousand.) The fish godsdemand to be paid their tribute,yes the price can be extreme, butas on our first day of testing thenew boat systems we ran to the

Myakka River , with the sun set-ting red against the sky, the troutwere biting. This brings under-standing as to why you spend themoney. Cliff had caught andlanded his snook and we hadcaught a couple of trout then thebite really started. It was feedingtime. For some reason fish all gethungry about the same time ormaybe the moon aligns with thesun. Some fish will eat a littleany time, but every once in awhile every fish in the areadecides to eat at the same time.This was it, the bite was on inthe Myakka this night. Jeff, start-ed it off by tossing his bait outfrom the tree toward the openwater, and pow a fish strikes – aswing and a miss. Cliff cast outand hits a line-drive up the mid-dle. A 17 inch trout is in the boatand released and the fun continues.Cliff or Jeff both had keeper sizetrout on or being released. Then itwas over. Only the grinsremained.Another place the trout have

been hitting has been along thewest wall. For those who arewondering where the west wall is,it is the west side of CharlotteHarbor. The name west wall wasstarted simply because people didnot know what to call it.

I found out from Capt. RalphAllen that the real name wasMcCoy Flats, named for a townthat used to be some where in theGulf Cove area. By the time Ifound out it was too late and thename west wall had stuck in my

head. McCoy is listed in the reg-istry of ghost towns, how ever Iam not sure quite where it is, sothe west wall got its name fromlooking at a chart. It is a longmostly flat shoreline from theMyakka River mouth to CapeHaze point. Not a perfect namefor it, but it is the one I use. Heyif your friends call you Fred longenough your name is Fred.Why is it things go wrong at

the weirdest times? I never had aproblem with the starter on myYamaha until we rewired the boatthen tried the motor and click,click, nothing. It had to be get-ting power, it clicked. So wespent hours going over all thewiring and same thing. Finallywe took off the starter and wentto Quality Starter. Yep, Butchsaid it was bad. He sold me anew one and no more problems.We were so sure it had to besomething we did. It did notoccur to us that it could be thestarter. Same thing if you are notcatching fish. Some times thesimplest explanation is the rea-son. Maybe you are fishing the

way you think you should and notwhat the fish think is good. Ifyou are seeing fish hitting andyou cast at them with a sinker onthe line why would you not likelycatch one? Simple – the fish areat the surface and your bait is atthe bottom. Switch the way youpresent the bait, when you are notcatching fish, if you are using a

sinker, switch to a bobber, not allmethods work all the time.Changing is key to good fishing.This cool weather is necessary

to good fishing in CharlotteHarbor, but now that the warmingtrend is coming get ready forsome great fishing. See you onthe water. Frank can be reachedat Fishin Franks for fishing infor-mation or to book a charter (941)


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A friend sent us this and the photos above: Found this gill net while hikingaround Cayo Pelau Saturday (the island that makes up the western edgeof Bull bay). I sent a satellite photo showing the exact location in case youknow anybody that would possibly be interested in retrieving it. Was wayto big and heavy to get in my little boat. It is right at the high tide line justa few feet north of a little beach. – ed.

From Cap. t Robert MooreWater LIFE KayakingTo help set the story up, let me fill

you in on a few details. My wife soldthis gentleman (he is un-named) a newkayak . He was very excited about thispurchase and researched exactly what heneeded and wanted. February 1st was theopening of snook season and it wouldbe his first trip out. Like most hardwork ing stiffs, the evenings was theonly time he had. The problem was thata cold front was upon us. I'll let you readthe rest.

Well, I went out Thursday night. Ifigure you should enjoy my stupidity. Itwasn't the dumbest thing I ever did, butit ranked up there. It was 15-20 MPHwinds and 2-3 foot waves. The plan wasto put in at the beach north of the pierand hit that small bay between thebeach and the canals as there are a fewdocks there with lights, then around thePoint and up a friends canal. I couldn'thit the docks in that bay because thewind was blowing too hard and becauseit had been doing it all day long therewas a ton of grass and seaweed in thewater and my anchor would foul so itwouldn't hold. That was a shame becausethere were a ton of snook under thoselights. By the time I got to the Point Iwas pretty beat so I headed back. Ilearned a few things out there though.The most important was to give every-thing its place, learn where its place is,keep it in its place, and put it back in itsplace when you're done with it. If youdon't you either can't find anything,can't reach anything or it's all piled upbetween your legs, probably tied up inyour anchor rope because you were dumbenough to put that there too. I learnedthat paddle leashes are worth theirweight in gold, however they aren't

worth much if you leave them on yourdining room table. The same goes forrod/reel leashes. They are pretty muchrequired and are also worth their weightin gold, but useless if you don't usethem. There is no good place on akayak to keep those damn rolls ofleader. Talk about the most useless pack-aging strategy. Everything you don'tneed should be stored and everythingyou do need should be within arms reachor at least tied to a rope within armsreach. Putting your light in your fronthatch, paddling through the surf zoneinto 20 MPHwinds isn't the time torealize you left it inside the damn kayak.Paddling parallel to the waves has aslight pucker factor. You won't be pay-ing attention to your paddles, you'll besubconsciously leaning into the paddlebecause your tired, and you won't realizeyour on top of a wave until you go topaddle water and paddle air. The puckerfactor comes from just about rollingover because you are expecting resist-ance in the paddle but you don't receiveany. The rudder is either the best thinginvented or the most evil contraption onthe face of the planet. However, whichone it is depends on if you are goingwith or against the wind and were dumbenough to leave it down and jammed tothe right. Forget dry. Period. I'm start-ing to wonder why scupper stopperswere invented in the first place becauseyou aren't staying dry in a kayak. Nomatter howmuch you try, you're goingto get wet. I didn't even roll the kayakover, but I might as well have. If youare continuously pulling to the right it'scaused by one of the following things:your rudder is jammed to the right, yourpaddling too far from the boat on theleft side. Or you forgot to reel in yourbait bucket. Learn useful knots. A two-half hitch was designed to be used on

tent lines to easily tighten or loosensaid tent lines. That's what we used it forin the Boy Scouts. It wasn't designedto hold a bait bucket in a strong currentto a kayak. Having to turn around ininclement weather against the wind toget your brand new bait bucket back isNOT the right time to figure out the errorof your ways. Rig your poles before yougo out. Trying to fight 2 foot waves, a

drifting kayak, a knife, fingernailclippers, leader, and a kicking jumboshrimp while trying to put your linethrough the rod eyes is NOT the wayto do things. Pay attention to thewater. Read the water. Be the water. Ifyou're just focusing on where you'regoing then youmiss things like theweird section of the beach thatbounces the waves off itself and nowyou're fighting 3 foot waves coming

from one direction and 3 foot wavescoming from another direction. Youcould have simply paddled around it.The mind is willing but the flesh isweak. I don't care how hard I've been try-ing to fool myself, I'm not in the peakphysical condition I was in when I wasin the Marines. Not even close. Noteven remotely. Not in the same galaxy.The good news is that kayaking is quitethe work out. My arms aren't tired, butmy abs are toast from trying to balance,my legs are shot and my back would likea change of address. But, all in all, itwas fun. I learned all the above valuablelessons without killing myself, rollingthe kayak or losing any gear so I guessthere IS a bright side to every trainwreck. I spent most of the night cursingyou and your wife but I had to provesomething to myself. I had to go out in


Kayaking

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SCUTTLEBUTTOften Unsubstanciated, But Sometimes True

Hey Sanibel, look at this Seaweed covers Miami Beach,regularly, and they clean it up at their own expense. Sanibel,quit complaining.

Shrimp Boat Still there The shrimp boat Lady Louise stilllays on a sand bar outside of the channel leading toEdgewater Lake in Port Charlotte. For three months boaters inthe area have been asking us how much longer this boat willbe allowed to lay here and at what point official interventionwill begin to remove it.

Action Craft Missing at Miami Action Craft Boats of CapeCoral was not at the Miami show and is said to have closed itsdoors.They have not returned our call and one dealer told usthey are out of Action.

Mercury Marine will establish a contingency program in2007 for anglers fishing the Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup tour-nament series. The potential total prize money from Mercury ismore than $350,000. Mercury will award a $15,000 first placecontingency prize to the winning team in each division and anadditional $15,000 to the winner of each all-star event.Mercury also will award contingency prizes to anglers whoplace in the top 20. The total potential prize money for eachevent could exceed $33,000. In addition, Mercury will providea contingency award of $25,000 to the overall champion of theRedfish Cup. Mercury will also award contingency prizes toanglers who place in the top 20. The total potential prizemoney for the championship could exceed $66,000. For thefirst time, local anglers can sign up for the event in PuntaGorda up to the captainʼs meeting, if slots are still available.

New Radio Show: Word of Mouth, with Tami Patzer, air-ing Saturdays from noon to 1 and Sunday from 4 to 5 on1530WENG.com. It's a positive look at what is happening inSouthwest Florida.

Bay County FL Officers David Erdman and Neal Gosswere working the Sandy Creek area and observed a vehicleworking its headlights in an attempt to disclose deer. Theywatched as the vehicle manipulated its lights down severalside roads and gated leases. Upon stopping the vehicle, theydiscovered two occupants in possession of high-poweredrifles. While conducting the necessary inspection, both officersnoticed a tow truck arrive. Since neither of them summonedone, they asked who had called. The driver indicated that oneof the violators had called. When questioned, the suspectsadvised that theirfriend had beencaught doing thesame thing a weekago and lost his truckand they figured theywould save the offi-cers some time.

Look Out Hereʼswhat happened when a local Captainʼs truck door took on atriple axle trailer at the Port Charlotte Beach Ramp. Nothing anew door, a fender and a few thousand dollars canʼt fix.


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

Recent area news items:1. Lennar has announced plans to build135 homes in phase I of its new com-plex, West Charlotte Harbor Boat andTennis Club. Their US Homes subsidiarypurchased 65 acres in October '05 for$14.25 Mil ($219K/acre). The complexwill have a marina located directly onCharlotte Harbor North of South GulfCove on Abalone Dr.2. Burnt Store Land Group is lookingto transfer 151 allowable density unitsfrom a property that it owns in CapeHaze to a newly proposed complex on theWest side of Burnt Store Road. This maybecome a landmark test of the intent ofthe County's Transfer of Density ordi-nance. The ordinance allows developersto give up their rights to develop certainparcels in one location in order to obtainthe rights to develop residential unitselsewhere in the County, as long as theyhave similar flood plain characteristics.The issue in this case is that the floodlevel has been determined to be 2 feetlower on the Burnt Store Road parcel vs.the Cape Haze location.3. Venice is informally soliciting pri-vate developer proposals to create an air-port related business park adjacent to itswaterfront location.4. Another sign of the housing slow-down, Heron Creek, on Sumter in NorthPort, will be changing the use of 50 acresof property that had been intended for resi-dential use to shopping and offices.5. County designations of scrub jayhabitats have become even vaguer. Ifthese darling little creatures are even spot-ted within 150 feet of previously unim-paired property, mitigation may berequired. To date no land bank has beenestablished to uniformly deal with thisproblem. The wheels of governmentcontinue to grind slowly.6. Punta Gorda continues its spendingbinge by considering the establishment aWI-FI zone for the downtown businessdistrict and even the entire incorporatedCity. Providing the service to all of theresidents within the City limits would

cost about $2.0 mil to install and $400-$500K to maintain. It remains to be seenwhether staff will try to justify providinga service to everyone (whether they wantit or not) that is already available at rea-sonable prices from private vendors.They've already spent $32K in search of away to do it!7. Punta Gorda is narrowing the field ofarchitect/engineers to design a 300 stallparking garage to be located next to theformer County Court House, now in ren-ovation. Staff is throwing around num-bers of $5-$6mil ($20K/space) for thisyet to be justified project. Other citieshave recently completed beautiful newfacilities for $11.5K per space. Playingthe "planning for the future" card, staff islooking to get $10K for each space fromthe already financially challenged retailand office developers' impact fees. Evenas expensive as land is, the City couldsave money by buying vacant lots to pro-vide necessary parking facilities. Agarage could be built some time in thedistant future when it is warranted.8. The CRA is grappling with protect-ing historic buildings. The owner of astorm damaged home at 41 & Virginia istrying to have it demolished. City staffis trying to determine the size of a moneypit that is necessary to salvage an oldhouse with questionable architecturalmerit.9. County Commissioner TomD'Aprile is back at his flat tax proposalagain. Rather than let 56 MSBU's strug-gle with raising fees to install long over-due drainage and street improvements, hefeels that all 220,000 platted properties inthe County share the burden equally. OurCounty Assessor opined that a propertyowner that an owner of a $100,000 homewould feel unduly burdened if he had topay the same fee as an owner of a$1,000,000 home. How do you arguewith THAT logic? – sometimes, you justhave to shake your head and walk away.10. Punta Gorda hopes to add to ourwaterfront park system. The Trust forPublic Land paid more than $1.9 Mil for1.25 acres on East Marion between Booth& Adrian. The trust received $1.7Milfrom Federal Hurricane Relief funding toprovide the windfall $39/sf to the savvyinvestors that acquired the site over thepast 4 years at an average cost of about

$13/sf. As an aside, our tax appraiser hasvalued a similar parcel across the street(the old professional office building site)at just $273K! ($14/sf). How does thatwork? Taxpayers shell out $39/sf butcollect taxes on $14/sf...? Appraisalinconsistencies, hello...??11. (Gov) Crist's new tax proposals areriling our County Commissioners.Clearly new to the game, the Governor istrying to force local governments to livewithin their means. CountyCommissioner Cummings is outragedthat he would follow through on his cam-paign promises. Commissioners feel thatthe proposals will cut $46Mil of the$156Mil budget AND impose additionalcostly requirements on local governments.Maybe this is not the time to spend mil-lions on wi-fi, a new parking garage,

widening Aqui Esta, buying up demoli-tion deserving houses, hiring hundreds ofnew employees, etc., etc. and just makedo with what we have.Sales Statistics:Lot prices declined another 1.3% lastmonth and median prices are now down47% vs. last year. Only 83 lots wentunder contract vs. 205 in January, 2006.Houses are down 18%. With pricingbecoming more affordable, 22 homeswent under contract in PGI-BSI vs. 10last year. All four waterfront condos atBanyon Point were sold in the low$200s. Coast Bank partially funded theconstruction of 482 new homes inRotonda, Port Charlotte & North Port.The $66 Mil that it advanced to builder,Construction Compliance Corp. will like-ly be far short of completing the homes

RealEstate

NewsParticle board wooden skeletons of a new project on Harborview Road in Port Charlotte.


By Bill DixonWater LIFE SailingMadness IBoth of the local historians here are in agreement that

Ponce De Leon landed at Sanibel and Cayo Costa andexplored Charlotte Harbor, and, not as widely believed,Tampa Bay. Locally, the Royal Order of Ponce De LeonConquistadors supports this belief with a parade float‘Galleon’ at all our local parades and a ‘Landing’ everyyear near a local watering hole. The Conquistadors, ledby the late E. David Johnson created and supported aregatta every year; they continue to do so even after DaveJohnson’s untimely passing.The 14th annual Conquistador Cup will be held on

Charlotte Harbor on March 10th and 11th. Historicallythe largest regatta in Southwest Florida, this event’sorganizing authority is now the Punta Gorda SailingClub. Event co-founder Dave Hansen is no longer ableto do by himself all that a regatta this big requires.

The regatta begins with registration and free beer onFriday March 9th at Harpoon Harry’s Restaurant atFisherman’s Village in Punta Gorda.Two buoy races are planned for Saturday March 10th.

Divisions include Spinnaker, Non Spinnaker, TrueCruising, and Multihull. A buffet and awarding thecopious door prizes which this event is famous for willbe at Harry’s afterward.Sunday will be the all boat, reverse handicap start,

Conquistadors Cup. This is your only chance to be onthe same course with spinnaker flying, hull flying multihulls. First boat across the finish line wins the covetedConquistadors plumed steel helmet and gets their boatpictured in this publication and on next year’s official

race T-shirt. Awards are presented at Harpoon HarrysSunday at 4:00 pm. You can obtain the official Notice ofRace and entry forms on the Punta Gorda Sailing Clubwebsite: www.pgscweb.com

Madness IIWe are expecting up to 75 competitors from around

the world for the Sunfish International Masters Regatta.(Masters are sailors over 40). It is a major regatta in theSunfish International Class Association. The regatta issponsored by the Charlotte Harbor Community SailingCenter located at the Bayfront Center on West Retta inPunta Gorda.The regatta will be run out of the Port Charlotte

Beach Park at the west end of Harbor Boulevard in PortCharlotte. A portion of the beach front area and buildingshave been rented for the event. You are welcome to goto the park early and watch the racers set up, or go lateand watch them return and put their boats away. Racingbegins at 1:00 pm Friday, March 16th, 10:00 am bothSaturday the 17th, and Sunday the 18th. Racing endswhen the wind decides, but on Friday night there is adinner at 6:30 and on Sunday, no race will be startedafter 1:00 pm. Be sure to feed the parking meters if yougo to Charlotte Beach Park. Parking tickets are veryexpensive.Racing will be in the Peace River just south of

Alligator Bay, where the beach complex is located. Thelegs of the race course will be almost a mile long.Depending on the wind direction this could involve mostof the area North and East of Marker No. #2. Sunfishboats will be racing in this area between the 16th and18th of Mach. Spectator boats are invited, even encour-aged, but we ask that all of the boating community rec-ognize the size and scope of this regatta and please

remain clear of the race course area. Contact Dennis Peckat: [email protected] 941-627-1727 for moreinformation or visit the Sunfish web site:www.sunfishclass.org/florida/2006/Master%20Championship.htm

Madness IIIThe Leukemia Cup began in 1993 with one race in

one city and has grown to 50 regattas annually across thecountry. Total earnings have exceeded $20 million forLeukemia/Lymphoma research. Our local 2006 Regattabrought over $90,000 to the coffers and this year wehope to earn even more for this important cause. Newthis year, boats may carry banners advertising local busi-nesses. Banners require a $200 donation in the name ofthe boat.The sailing events will be run by the Punta Gorda

Sailing Club. Registration is Friday the 23 at the IslesYacht Club. Races will take place on Saturday andSunday, March 24 & 25 with regattas for both small andlarge sailboats. On Saturday, March 24 there are plannedtwo buoy races on each of two courses for the PHRFfleets. Multiple short races are planned for the smallboat fleets. After the races there will be a beer and burg-er bash for racers and friends at the Isles Yacht Club.Sunday one buoy race for the PHRF fleets is planned andseveral short races for the Portsmouth small boat fleets.Awards will be presented at IYC at 4:00 pm on Sunday.Notices of Race and entry forms for the big boat

PHRF fleets; Spinnaker, Non Spinnaker, True Cruisingand Multihull classes and for the small boat fleets;Precision 15‚s, Martin 16‚s and Portsmouth can befound at pgscweb.com.For non-racing fund raising events and for ways to

donate merchandise for auction or for tickets to the din-ner/auction contact Judith Harris at :[email protected]. I can be reached at: 941-637-2694 [email protected]

March is The BIGGEST Month

By Dennis PeckWater LIFE / Punta Gorda Sailing ClubIn most of the racing that takes place

on Charlotte Harbor tacking is one aspectof racing that quite often is not of muchuse when it comes to winning a race.However there are certain times whenknowing when and how to use a ‘tackingduel’ is very helpful.

First let me just state that infleet racing as we have most often on theharbor you must be one of two boats thatare clearly in the lead for the win in aseries. In a fleet race if you get into a

tacking duel with another boat and youaren’t in the lead with points that can’t bepassed with more than one or two boatsmay just give the win of the series toanother boat in the fleet. All too often thetemptation with another boat on your hipis just to great to pass up but you mustbe mindful that it could cost the series aswell as give you the win. If you getinvolved in this mode of racing it maycost precious time to the whole fleet andtime is what counts. In fleet racing if itis the end of a series and you feel thatyou can finish in the top three places and

you have done the math and found outwhich boat or boats you must beat to winthe series then it just might be the dayfor a tacking duel with those boats. Nowa tacking duel is considered a boat forboat maneuver. This is where the realchallenge is, get the two boats in a spotwhere you can take them both on and beable to stay in contact with them. Withthe proper planning you can control oneof the two boats before the start to pushthem close to the other boat so that at thestart you are all close together. That’swhere the fun begins, if you can catchthem off guard and get into position atthe start the challenge becomes great.

Now before we start talkingabout dueling with two other boats wemust understand a tacking duel with justone boat. The tacking duel is best usedin Match racing where you only have twoboats and the idea is just to finish first.Many will say that a tacking duel is stay-ing on the other boats wind. That is justpart of the dueling process, it is all aboutcontrolling the other boats actions. Ok,so they can tack whenever they want andyou really can’t control that, not so fast,you can control when they are able totack by being in the right place at theright time. If you are out in front in aseries then you sort of are in a match racewith the next boat but keeping in mind

the others also. If you find yourself toowindward of the other boat you want tostay between them and the next mark. Todo this you will try to stay on its wind tokeep them slower. Be ready because theyare always going to be looking for thebetter wind and tacking to get away fromyour bad wind. Staying on their wind iscalled ‘keeping them covered’. There is aterm loose cover which means you maynot be directly affecting their wind bybeing close but you have gained somedistance and now there is enough spacebetween boats that they can be gettingsome good air. You must stay on youtoes always looking at the wind angle andthe cover angle to maintain a loose coverwithout them getting free. You don’t wantto get too far ahead because then they cansift the phase and you won’t be able tocover them or control them. Then theycan go for a different breeze than you.That can turn the tables as you go backto get in contact with them. You mayfind yourself in the spot that you have toget out of because now they are in thecontrolling position. In a tacking duel itis not always good to just out run theother boat for the game is controllinganother boat that has equal speed. If youare really much faster then forget the tack-ing duel and just finish the race first.

The Sai l ing Duel


The Water LIFEWater LIFE Distributorʼs Club

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Now also at the new Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers at I-75 and Alico RoadNow also at the new Bass Pro Shops in Fort Myers at I-75 and Alico Road


By Capt Steve SkevingtonWater LIFE OffshoreMarch is always one of the months

I look forward to fishing all year.Both inshore and offshore are absoluteparadise, and not every month of theyear seems to offer so many anglingopportunities.All of those opportunities are good

with grouper fishing being closed forthe first half of this month. Thosegrouper really haven’t been missedthat much with all the really greatsnapper fishing that’s been going on,not to mention some monster amber-jack and cobia.It’s been ‘one stop shopping’ drift-

ing over any one of your favorite deepwrecks. Pitching a large live bait outis going to do the trick for both the AJsand cobia.The annual spring run of king

mackerel should be back in full swingthis month. I really like fishing thekings. For non stop big fish actionthey’re hard to beat. This kind of fish-ing involves trolling hardware at fiveto seven knots until a fish blast one ofyour lures, then slow trolling the areawith live blue runners to pull out thebig boys. I don’t like to spend toomuch time on that blue runner if he

doesn't pick a fight with a king within15 minutes. I get right back on thehardware.March is known for its spectacular

fishing on Mangrove Snapper. You cancatch these fish year round, but forsome reason we get the really big

mangs in March every year. Myfavorite way to fish these guys is tochum them up to the top and ‘flatline’them. A flatline consists of the line onyour reel tied directly to your hook,with no sinker or swivel or anythingthat will keep it from falling back inthe current at the same speed as yourchum. It’s a great almost never-misspresentation.You can expect Spanish mackerel to

show up in your chum slick right alongside the mangrove snapper.The Spanish should start there

spring run right now. They should be

pretty easy to find. Just watch for thetell tail birds diving, and set up atrolling pattern. I like trolling smallspoons and buck-tail jigs at about 3-5knots, these fish are great on lighttackle, and on the grill the nightthey’re caught.The black tip sharks are feeding

behind the shrimp boats early in themorning right now. With some reallybig brown sharks and a few hammer-heads. We had three black tips lastweek, all of them over 7 feet. Withfishing this exciting, all we need is amonth full of beautiful South Floridaweather.You can reach Capt. Steve at575-FLAT or at 276-0565

OFFSHORE: Absoloute Paradise

Key West Syle home on PineIsland. Gulf Access water-front. Oversized lot, wonder-full location, room for a pool.

$499,900

Family compound - Two homes on oversizedlots, two boat lifts, large boat house, boatramp on canal that leads to Pine Island Soundand great back water fishing. Private setting.New 3/2 home $975,000. Older 2/2 CBS$550,000. Buy one or both !

Beautiful Pine IslandHome on Back Bay.Community sharesbeach front onCharlotte Harbor.Private dock. 3 bed-rooms, 2 baths, woodfloors. Furnished. Nocondo fees. $995,000.

Directly on the IntracoastalWaterway facing Sanibel's DingDarling Preserve. CBS 3bedroom,2 bath pool home on large cul desac lot. Deep water canal runs

along east side of property with dockage,25,000# lift, jet ski docks and davits. One of a

kind. $1,390,000

Great Land Base. Duplex on75'canal. Room for pool. Greatboating fishing Bokeelia. $625,000


By Capt. Robert MooreWater LIFE StaffCompetitive fishing tournaments in Southwest

Florida are about as common as a sale at the local newcar dealer. If you miss one, don’t worry, there will beanother one very soon. If you’re looking to fish in atournament for $100,000 or maybe just a free rod,Southwest Florida has it. My personal favorite hasbecome kayak tournaments. They are usually inexpen-sive and wading is almost always allowed.Last month I searched the internet and made a list of

every tournament in the Southwest Florida area. The listwas very long. Here is a list of the tournaments I willattempt to compete in. Some are for big money, someare for pure fun, and some are for various charities.1) Redfish Survivor - March 10th through April

7th, 2007 in Charlotte Harbor, FLThis is a new tournament for 2007 and I really like

the different twist on it. With a 64 team maximum, youare fishing for two legal redfish. In the first round, youdraw a teams name and that is the only team you arecompeting against. If you win you proceed to the nextround. Lose and you’re done. The 2nd through the 4thround is the same format until they reach the best fourteams. Round 5 is against the top four teams. You onlyhave to beat one other team each week to reach thechampionship,2) Charlotte Harbor S lam Paddlers – March

25th, 2007 in Charlotte Harbor, FLThis is a fun kayak only tournament put on by the

Charlotte County Visitors Bureau during the 2007Charlotte Harbor Kayak andWildlife Festival. An artifi-cial lure only tournament, the angler is fishing for themost overall inches of a snook, redfish & trout. There isalso a top female and junior angler division.3) FLW/Wal-Mart Redfish Series – April 26th-

28th, 2007 – Englewood, FlA high dollar tournament with a high dollar jackpot.

You will be fishing against some of thebest tournament anglers from around thecountry. This is a nation wide tournamentwith an Eastern andWestern division,with a stop in Southwest Florida. Anyonecan sign up and compete. There are incen-tives if you own certain boats and out-board motor depending on what place youcome in.4) The Water LIFE Kids Cup –

April 28th, 2007I have fished this eventevery year with my son and plan to untilhe is too old to do so. You are fishing forone redfish with artificial lures or shrimponly. My son and I have had a great timeparticipating in this event. The top fiveanglers fish the following weekend andweigh in on the ESPN TV stage with theRedfish Cup. Mark this date on your cal-endar and take your child (children) fish-ing.5) The Ultimate Fishing

Chal lenge –April 17th-18th, 2007 – Goodland, FlMay 5th-6th, 2007 – Placida, FlMay 16th-18th, 2007 – Captiva, FlThis is also a new tournament with a

different twist. Not only are you compet-ing to catch the biggest fish, it also hasthree challenges that you must competein. The long cast competition; the accura-cy cast competition and then a skilledobstacle course competition. You mustfish at least two events to try and qualifyfor the championship to win $100,000.This should be fun.6) Oh Boy! Oberto / ESPN

Redfish Cup – May 3rd -5th, 2007 –

Punta Gorda, FlThis is another high stakes tournament with big

money involved. If you want a chance to fishagainst the best, then this is your chance. TheRedfish Cup now allows anyone to compete injust one event unlike previous years where you hadto compete in all or none.7) S i lver King Classic – May 5th, 2007 –

Ft. Myers Beach, FlFinally a catch & release tarpon tournament

where you do not have to fish in Boca Grande Passonly. There are boundaries, but with plenty ofroom for everyone to do their own style of tarponfishing. The Silver King Classic is the first leg ofa three part series, the other two being a grouperand kingfish tournament. The best part about thistournament series is that the proceeds go to a veryworth while charity. This should be great fun.8) Kayak Fishing Classic – May 12th,

2007 – Ft. Myers Beach, FLA benefit tournament for the Southwest Florida

Boy Scouts of America. Your primary species willbe snook, redfish, trout and snapper. Anglers canlaunch from any location at first, safe light andlines must be out by 4pm. No matter where youlive you have plenty of time to fish this event inyour backyard and return to the tournament site toturn in your score card.9) Charlotte High School Redfish

Roundup – June 2nd, 2007 – Punta Gorda, FlBeing a Charlotte High School Alumni, this is

a biased pick for me. The proceeds will benefit theCharlotte High School Athletics Department andhas a tremendous amount of community support.This is a winning combination that will make afirst class tournament once again this year.10) Richest Redfish Tournament – October of

2007 – Punta Gorda, FlThis tournament’s claim to fame is that it is the rich-

est one day redfish tournament. Most high dollar tourna-ments are multiple days. Two of the heaviest redfish will

take home $25,000. I have fished this tournament everyyear it has been put on and must admit I had a reallygreat time. This is another tournament with great com-munity support with the proceeds to benefit the GoodShepherd Day School in Punta Gorda, Fl.Remember, this is only a small list of what is out

there.

Sailboat Waterfront Bargain 120ʼSeawall, Sailboat Canal with immediate openwater access. Large home, 4 Br, 3 Ba. Over2000 sq. ft. with City Sewer/Water $339,000

Port Charlotte Waterfront Home Justremodeled 3/2/1, 1700sf under air, on extrawide canal. quiet street, with dock $370,000

Tranquil BeachHouse Gulf waters 20minutes away. Deepwater, sailboat, magnifi-cent views, boat house,2 lifts, wood floors$599,900 Bring Offer!

Immaculate 3/2/2on Rock Creek

1838 sq ft under air, Only 15minutes to open water -

Beautiful water views, high ceil-ings, modern floor plan, sky-

lights, tile floors, updatedkitchen, large designer pool, 30foot dock with lift and new boat

house cover! Priced at$329,900!!

Stunning ʻLambert Builtʼ Home,3859sq.ft. under air, 3/3/4, 150-footSeawall, Ramp, Boat House, GraniteKitchen, Wood Floors. A BuilderʼsDream Home- 5 Minutes To Harbor$999,000

Magnificent Pirate Harbor HomeMagnificent Pirate Harbor Home

Blackbeard Blvd.-Saltwater Lot, 100ʼConcrete Seawall,Large Wooden Dock,Deep Water, GreatLocation, Sailboat$345,000

Kings Gate GolfCourse Bargain3/2/2, 1721 sfunder air,Overlooks pondand 6th fairway,Gorgeous!$239,900Deep CreekDouble LotCustomSituated amongstlarge oaks, 3/2/2,over 2100sf, newpool, buildershome,Remarkable!$279,900

Best Priced PoolHome 3/2/2 PoolHome, 1920sf, 2.5Car Garage,Updated, 100 feet ofSeawall, 20 Min tothe Gulf $565,900

BlackbeardBlvd100-foot saltwaterfrontage, short boatride to BocaGrande, $298,000

For Fishing or Real Estate:For Fishing or Real Estate:JustAsk The CaptainJustAsk The Captain

TournamentOptions

Capt Rob e-mailed us this photo and : “Catching a few sharks butnot seeing the numbers we would like to. Will keep you in touch.”He and Capt Mike Mahan are fishing in the ESPN Mad Fin sharktournament in Key West as we go to press.


By Adam WilsonWater LIFE UnderwaterIf you've been on the water after a few days of calm wind this month you have

surely noticed the clear water in the harbor and the gulf. If you have ever wanted todive the harbor, the next couple of months is the only time to do it.

We have been diving from the old 41 bridge rubble out of Alligator Creek to thenear-shore artificial reefs. The Alligator Creek reef is a great Charlotte Harbor dive. It'sa thriving nursery of baby grouper and snapper with tons of quality sheepsheads in themix. It's also a great place to find a truck full of anchors.

Heading towards the gulf, the old phosphate posts, oil dock and Placida trestle

are also excellent dives, full of marine life. Two weeks ago I counted 8 legal gagsthere on a one hour dive. Just be careful of the tides.

Remember, Gasparilla sound, which includes the Placida trestle, is part of theCharlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve and it is off limits to spearing. Recently I have seenguys shooting fish there. Have a different opinion? FWC will be more than happy togive you a citation and you can take the debate to the judge.

Offshore the cold snap has slowed the larger inhabitants of Goliaths and turtlesto a near frozen coma. With the clear, algae free water, and the reluctance of these bigguys to swim, now is the best time to get those close up photos. With water tempera-tures around 60, just make sure you have plenty of wetsuit.

U N D E R W A T E R L I F EAdam Wilson / Water LIFE Diving

I swear this photo isn't retouched. Check out the Mickey Mouse splotch on the redfishʼstail. I took the picture right after letting him go. It aint easy trying to pose a live redfish!I was using sardine chunks and he was too big to keep. I had a few fish come right in onthe sardine chunks just to feed. In the middle photo a sea slug is shown.


Hey, ANGEL BABY... Capt Angel Torrez sent us these three photos of sizeable redfish reportedly caught last month. But look at the photos carefully. Is this the same fish in each one?

MarchMarchFishing ReportFishing ReportCharlotte Harbor:Robert at Fishin' FranksPort Charlotte: 625-3888Anything is possible, due to howwarm

it’s been. Traditionally, this is still agoodmonth for sheepshead. Fiddlercrabs are the best bait, sand fleas andshrimp are good too. El Jobean, Placidaand the phosphate dock are all goodsheepshead haunts. If it stays on thiscooling trend, the sheepshead will move

onto the flats and onto the oyster bars inWhidden Creek and Turtle Bay.Redfi sh have been pretty good. In a

normal winter pattern we should be catch-ing a lot of rat-reds right now, but becauseit’s unseasonably warm there are a lot oflegal and oversized redfish still hangingaround. On the edges of the bars .. . on theeast side and the west side.. . there arequite a few fish. Whidden and Catfishcreeks are holding some very nice fishunder the bushes and out in the sandholes. Live shrimp has been the best bait,but there is also some decent white baitalong the beaches and some right there at

the Intracoastal.Snook are really good at El Jobean at

night. They are not in phenomenal num-bers or sizes, but they are in decentenough numbers to make targeting themworthwhile. Placida also has quite a fewsnook there at night. Bull and Turtle Bayand Pine Island Sound have a very goodnumber of fish all over the place.Bucktails have been working real well onsnook along with shrimp and any numberof soft plastics. The DOAjerk baits workextremely well on those fish down therein the more clear water.Shark fishing has been good. The

bonnet heads and the small bl ack ti psare pretty much all over the flats at themouth of Bull and Turtle Bay. Some largersharks are starting to move into the pass-es and out along the beach. The dusky sand s andbar sharks are still here. Livemullet are still the best bait for those larg-er sharks especially out there along thebeach. Even the offshore reefs like theNovak and the Trembly reefs are goodspots to be looking for sharks right now.There also have been some Spani sh

mackerel and some very nice bluefi s hout on the near shore wrecks

Continued on facing page

Just in case you haven’t noticedhowwarm it’s been, we still haveking mackerel all along offshore– all the way up to Venice. More andmore it looks like they may juststay here until spring. They seem tobe comfortable in that 7 to 20 mileoffshore slot.In that same area, 20 to 25 miles

– we are getting into some nicebl ackfi n tuna and some smalls ai l fi s h.The snapper and grouper bite

is picking up real nice now too.Grouper and snapper should staygood for a while.Trout have been sketchy because

of the warm weather, but some nicerfish are still coming from the deeperparts of the flats in the three to fourfoot depth range. The Intracoastalhas a lot of really nice trout and theyshould be in that 4 to 6 foot depththrough the middle of this month .. .and in good numbers. If it gets a lit-tle colder a lot of those fish willstart coming up this way towards the41 bridges, but that’s if it gets cold-er. Now it may just get warmer.While you are out looking for

trout and reds on the flats, cobi a arestarting to move in. A lot of themhave been swimming with the raysso look for a ray and youmight finda nice big cobia.

Lemon BayJim at Fishermen’s EdgeEnglewood: 697-7595Sheepshead are still biting at

Boca Grande and on the Placida side.Most guys are using fiddler crabs,shrimp or sand fleas. There has beensome pompano are still around andquite a few keeper gag grouperhave been caught on the BocaGrande side. Some guy came in witha laundry cart with a pair of 25 inchgags in it that they caught on pin-fish at the trestle. There are redfi s haround at Lemon Bay. Around PineIsland, guys wading are catching

reds in lowwater. Quite a few guyshave got into big redfish lately, fishthat are way over the slot. In gener-al, redfishing has been good allaround.Trout has been reasonably good

too. Pine Island and up in Turtle Baythere are bigger trout. More so thanin Lemon Bay.And there are a lot of bluefi sh

and l ady fi s h still around; probablybecause there has been so much baitaround. Offshore: king s , boni ta,y el l owtai l s napper, mangrovesnapper, offshore fishing has beenpretty good.I still haven’t heard much about

cobi a or tri pl e tai l . I ask everyguy that comes in my shop aboutthem and they haven’t seen a one.In freshwater there is quite a bit

of crappi e around, there has been


BIG-4BIG-4 Marchʼs Target SpeciesMarchʼs Target Species

SNOOK still in the harbor, afew on the beaches.

COBIA Starting to moveonto the flats in numbers

REDFISH are still around,big and small

SHEEPSHEAD are movingin and big ones are out front

FishingRIGHT NOW:

VeryGood

n March 1, 2007 Mr. Sheepshead hasFleas local inventor Dave Hack, will discusshis secrets! Learn how to rig and use hismagic formula and special sand fleas. Catchmore sheepies and pompanos! Seating is lim-ited, so sign up early at West Marine Venice orcall 408-8288.n March 3-4 Flatsmaster’s TournamentSeries, Grand Slam Plug at Punta Gorda.

n March 8 & 22 Fishing Seminar, free atLaishley Marine Punta Gorda, 6 p.m.n March 15, 2007 Springtime Fishingwith Top-water Plugs. Captain Geoff Pageat West Marine Venice or call 408-8288n April 28 – Kids Cup Tournament, Ages10 through 16, entry fee $100 Phone (941)766-8180 or www.Kidscuptournament.com forentry form

n June 17 – 19, Fifth annual Mercury/IGFAJunior Angler World ChampionshipTournament, Key West, Fla., USA -- Thisevent hosts some 40 girls and boys, ages fiveto 16, who have advanced to this all-releasechampionship by winning one of over 30 qual-ifying fishing tournaments held in the U.S.and several countries in 2006. This will be the

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

KIDSKIDSCUPCUPAPRILAPRIL

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water life mar 2007

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