A Look at Boca Grande

 My story for The Drake on jigging in Boca Grande. A condensed version ran on the website.

After months of discussion and debate, bickering and banter, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission delivered a firm message: No more jigging in Boca Grande Pass.

Last week, the FWC voted 7-0 to ban bottom-weighted jigs. The new rule, which goes into effect Nov. 1, was celebrated by a handful of conservation groups following the Sept. 5 meeting in Pensacola, Fla.

“There’s not going to be a huge impact from this one ruling,” Save the Tarpon spokesman Tom McLaughlin said. “It is kind of groundbreaking for the FWC. It paves the way for more appropriate management of the tarpon fishery with a focus on pressure that comes not just from attempting to catch the fish, but how we attempt to catch the fish.”

Last week’s ruling provided closure to an issue that has divided Boca Grande residents and those who visit the water referred to as the tarpon capital of the world.

“The actions taken today by the commission represent a historic move to further protect this iconic fish,” FWC Commissioner Kenneth Wright said in a statement. “One day, there will be a chapter on these conservation measures in a book on proactive fishery protection.”

Conservationists hope that the no-snagging rule will allow tarpon to resume their pre-spawn ritual, which may have been in disrupted by jigging and excessive pressure on the popular fish.

“During the last 10 years the Boca Grande jig became popular and extensively used, the behavior of the tarpon in the Boca Grande/Charlotte Harbor area definitely changed,” said Aaron Adams, director of operations for Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. “Fishing, more importantly catching, wasn’t as good with each passing year. The thought was the way the jig was fished vertically and using fish finders to stay over the fish didn’t really give them any down time and that affects their behavior.”

Still unclear is the fate of the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series, which has held its big-money event in Boca Grande the past 10 seasons. Many of the PTTS competitors use weighted jigs to hook tarpon, but since the FWC has implemented gear restrictions and re-defined snagging, will the PTTS continue? Apparently so.

PTTS spokesman Joe Mercurio said tournament anglers will merely adapt their rules to conform to state guidelines.

“Our 2014 schedule is set, and our events and (the PTTS) television show will continue,” Mercurio wrote in an email. “In anticipation that the rule would be passed, many of our world-class anglers began developing new lures and techniques that would be effective vertical presentation baits. Many have created new designs.  Others have used current lures and techniques such as butterfly jigs, traditional jigs, drop-shot rigs, and carolina rigged soft plastics. All have proven to be effective. I’m confident as time passes and we enter next year’s season more designs will be unveiled.”

Mercurio disagrees with the FWC’s decision and believes “political positioning” and “propaganda” dictated its thinking, not scientific proof.

“This regulation will do little to solve the user-group conflict that exists in Boca Grande and even less to preserve tarpon,” Mercurio said. “It is a widely held belief the greatest impact on the sustainability of tarpon has little or nothing to do with fishing methods and rather hinges on water quality and stemming the further loss of habitat.”

The no-jig rule is the second tarpon ruling the FWC has implemented since last spring.  In April, the FWC proposed that tarpon be catch and release, eliminating all harvest except in pursuit of an IGFA world record. The proposal was formally approved in June, the first of several recent victories for BTT and its supporters.

“It’s definitely been an improvement in conservation,” Adams said. “Even though they’re primarily catch-and-release species, there are impacts that we as anglers can have on them. As long as we address those impacts, we should have a healthy fishery for quite some time.”

Remembering One of the Best

Legendary Keys guide George Hommell, Jr. passed away. Here's a tribute to the angler, who fished with Ted Williams and guided presidents.
Obit

Close To Home

I've made a change to my strategy to streamline my quest for sight fishing redfish. No more Caladesi Island. No more Fort Desoto. No more traveling an hour for the best turtle grass and tides.
I'm staying close to home. Legion Flats and Picnic Island are less than 20 minutes from my house. It makes sense that I fish those places. And if I want to cross the Gandy Bridge, Weedon Island is just about as close as Picnic or Legion. After fishing consistently for the past year and a half or so, I've realized one thing: Find water close by, and you'll get out more and if you get out more,  you'll become a better fishermen, because you'll eventually pattern the fish --- where they move and why. And you can't do that in the car.
Put it this way: If I got to Caladesi, it's an hour drive (each way) and a 30-minute paddle. That means I've invested three hours driving or paddling without so much as a roll cast. Trips to Picnic and Legion involve far less time in the car, which means more time on the water. And time on the water is what matters. I don't care how good the habitat is.
I hit Legion hard Saturday and Sunday. The first day I fished the last of the outgoing in the early a.m. The second day, I hit the incoming in the early afternoon. All told, I put in roughly 7, 8 hours on the water. My conclusion: It's still to damn hot and because of that, the fish are holding deeper. Can you catch them with a fly rod? Yes. Is it ideal? No.
For a few more weeks, it's a early morning/late afternoon gig. The windows for sight fishin' success are tight, maybe an hour or so. Schedule accordingly.

One of my favorite early-morning oyster bars at Legion.

Birds get ready for breakfast.

Summer at The Fort

Fished near Fort Desoto with my good friend Joe Sefchick. The forecast called for light East winds. The wind was out of the East, but pushing double digits. I assumed it would subside.
Wrong.
I launched near Jackass Key; I should have put in at Sawyer Key, which provides more cover from the East blow.
It's a tough call. It's dark and your window for tailing reds is narrow, so one wrong move can mean the difference between getting multiple shots or going home without seeing nary a tail.
On the other hand, I don't know the water around Sawyer that well, so even if I had changed my plan, I'm not sure it would have mattered.

A Fort Desoto sunrise.

Joe scouts the mangroves.

It's Official

As expected, the FWC approved legislation that eliminates jigging in Boca Grande. I'll have more on this later.
Tarpon

Mud flats and Oysters

Special thanks to Tim Boothe, who was nice enough to take me fishing for a few hours Sunday afternoon south of St. Augustine. We took his Gheenoe out for a spin in search of backing reds. I had two shots. Neither fish ate, but I wasn't disappointed. It was the first time I had seen a backing redfish up close and in person. In Tampa Bay, they tail and cruise the turtle grass. I haven't figured out why they don't get as skinny as the NE Fla. reds.

Things You Never Expect to See

 You never know what you might find while on the water. The photo on the right is a picture of an old car stashed in the bushes on the banks of Tuckasegee River near Sylva, N.C. I'd like to think the pieces of heavy metal help keep the banks intact, but my guess the previous owner simply needed a place to dump his old car. It's a bit trashy, but nevertheless, the Tuck is a great river. It's got smallmouth in the spring and summer and trout in the fall and winter. There's no better place to spend a day with a fly rod.