It really has been a busy month. Gone are the windy/rainy days of this past May. The last couple weeks have been the best this season has had to offer. We still have fish along the beaches, offshore and in Charlotte Harbor.
We did some filming with Humminbird and Minn Kota this past week. Really cool working with Jason Arnold and the guys. Real professionals in the truest sense. Rob the drone pilot got some awesome stuff. I have never seen a drone in action, except on TV. It was amazing to watch him hover over the fish to capture the jumps from above. Not to mention having the drone run with us when we were running around Charlotte Harbor. We can’t wait to see the final product.
All of the very fake news about the “horrible” red tide affecting our area has been disturbing to say the least. Yes, we did have a minor red tide event a couple weeks ago. It affected less than 5% of our area. All of the Boca Grande/Charlotte Harbor area is clear and full of fish of all species. The event came in around Boca Grande and Venice in a small area within a mile or so of the beach. It killed a bunch of catfish, grunts and pinfish. I did see a couple snook, but not the extent they want people to think. It does not affect tarpon. Most of the photos floating around Facebook and the net I suspect weren’t from this event. The groups pushing all of this doom and glom are fishing guides with failing businesses looking to make a profit. The groups that are doing this want everyone to think the discharges from Lake Okeechobee are something new. That it is getting worse every day. The photos taken off Sanibel of the ugly brown water meeting the green pretty water is a normal occurrence. It does it here around Boca because of the fresh water of the Peace and Myakka rivers push toward the Gulf every year when the afternoon rains of summer start. What they don’t want you to know is nothing has changed since 1929 when the canals to Port St Lucie and the Caloosahatchee to drain Lake Okeechobee were built. Actually red tides happened long before 1929. The first red tide reported in Florida dates way back to the 16th century. Google it.
The groups pushing this rhetoric make piles of money off of people donating to their “cause”. What do they do with the money? Print some flyers and buy new houses, trucks and boats. Amazing. Not to mention they get tons of volunteers to do the work for them. Maybe I should have thought of this…lol
The fishing here in Southwest Florida is as good as it has always been. A quick look at our fishing reports, Facebook and Instagram will reveal the truth.
On a brighter note about the red tide, the giant bull and hammerhead sharks that kill hundreds if not thousands of our tarpon each season have been non existent since the red tide bloom. I have not seen or heard about anyone losing a tarpon to a shark. That is awesome.
I still have a few openings in July. The 18th, 19th, 23rd, 26th and 31st are wide open.
Keep the line tight and bow when they jump!
Capt. Mark Bennett
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