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Fish Tales: 'Boat Smart' class available

By CATHY COTTRILL (Contact)

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The San Carlos Bay Power Squadron will be offering a "Boat Smart" course beginning Saturday, Jan. 27. The course is recognized by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and each student will receive a certificate from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission upon completion of the course.

The course consists of two four-hour sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27 and Feb. 3. The course instruction will include anchoring, markers, docking and many other subjects to make your boating outings safer and more enjoyable. The classes are free to the public with just a nominal fee ($30) to cover the cost of course materials. The classes are held at the San Carlos Bay Power Squadron classroom located at 16048 San Carlos Blvd., at the corner of Kelly Road (across from Ace Hardware) in South Fort Myers. To sign up for any of these dates or for further information, call the squadron office at 466-4040 or visit www.scbps.org.

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Out on the water, a few more blustery days kept anglers moored, but days with less wind saw catches of snapper offshore and snook and reds in the bays.

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This 40-inch snook was caught Jan. 12 on the north end of Bonita Beach by a guest vacationing at the Seascape Condos. Billy Carroll from Burlington, Conn., caught and released this monster fish off the rocks at the end of the island.

Fishbuster Charters' Capt. Dave Hanson fished a week ago Monday about 28 miles out of New Pass with Andy Ungar, Al Layton, and friends Jim and John. They used mostly live shrimp, along with some squid and cut bait. They caught keeper mangrove and lane snapper, Spanish mackerel and triggerfish, and released a couple of sharpnose sharks.

By last Wednesday, the seas had kicked back up to 4-6 feet, so Hanson rescheduled that trip.

Seas subsided overnight Wednesday, and by Thursday morning, when Hanson fished with Ron Musik, Larry Laudick and Dick Arnett, they had good conditions. The action was good about 20 miles west of New Pass, where they fished with live shrimp. They kept seven mangrove snapper out of about 40 that they caught.

"The grouper bite was hot too, but most of the gags were an inch short of keeper size, and the reds were lacking a couple of inches, so we had to release all but one gag, which was 22½ inches," said Hanson. "We also caught Spanish mackerel to 20 inches, along with other reef fish."

Friday, Hanson headed out to 40 feet, in morning fog, with brothers Bob and Tom Graham and friends John and Don. It was difficult getting anchored, with visibility only about 200 feet, and with winds increasing and blowing a different direction from the way the tide was going. They moved around a good bit, but they did well in the long run, with a 26-inch gag grouper, keeper mangrove snapper, lots of keeper-sized Spanish mackerel, keeper sheepshead, and whitebone porgies. They released lots of red and gag grouper shorts to 19 inches, and also released all the mackerel.

Saturday morning, when Hanson headed offshore with Chris and Yvette Worthington, their young sons Hunter and Peyton, and Yvette's parents, there were rough seas offshore that had not yet calmed to the 2-foot predicted. Hanson stayed in close for a while in about 30 feet, and caught some keeper mangrove snapper. When seas calmed and the snapper bite slowed near shore, they headed out to about 50 feet, where they continued to catch keeper mangrove snapper, bigger ones than they'd had earlier. They caught 20 of those in all, and also a couple dozen big whitebone porgies, all around 3 pounds. They also caught keeper Spanish mackerel to 22 inches and keeper sheepshead. They released at least 50 gag grouper that were 20-21 inches long, and a bunch of red grouper shorts.

"The group also got to see a loggerhead turtle that looked like he was about 125 pounds," Hanson said.

Capt. Ron Kowalyk said good stuff was happening in the wayback bays last week when anglers could get there.

"My crews found slot reds, snook, big sheepies and even a few baby tarpon on the eastern wall of Estero bay," he said. "Big shrimp, Gulps and Dinner Spinners all took a share. We were able to hook a few fish on the close reefs, but it was a tad rough for small boaters and the Spanish and kings hacked our baits and leaders keeping the big reds at bay."

Up north, Kowalyk found fair numbers of reds in the Ding and Matlacha, trout in San Carlos Bay and big fish on the Sanibel Harbor and Sanibel piers. Other bites were hot in the canals and feeder creeks where big sheepies, snapper, juvenile snook and rat reds kept anglers busy deeding them shrimp, flies and scanted softplastics. Pompano are making a half-hearted show on the flats adjacent to the Gulf, big silver s rang up a false alarm as they floated the toll booth drift and sand bars off the Sanibel Light. Hendry Creek and the Imperial River gave scores of juvenile snook and big jacks to fly and bait guys. The best action was on the afternoon high and falling tidal phases.

• Kowalyk's Captain's Corner: Just a note — When fishing around the docks of the Imperial River, be a conscientious, courteous sportsman and refrain from infringing on the private docks and breakwalls. A few of the residents are suffering a meltdown in the mistaken view that their property rights extend out to the navigable waters. Remember, it's easier to put a cork in the hole under your nose than that of another. The Marine Patrol is on the side of the angling and boating public in this case as long as you stay well off private property. You may use private dockage in cases of safety and weather emergencies, but otherwise respect property rights. Progress, I guess. And so it goes!

Submissions to Fish Tales should be made by noon each Monday. Contact Cathy Cottrill at 213-6031 or by e-mail at cccottrill@bonitanews.com. Her fax number is 213-6099.