Harry: I have lived in N Fl for most of my life and rarely have any
problems with religious zealots. Maybe you somehow invite problems..
I am about as irreligious as I can be but although I am aware of some
religious extremists they rarely bother me at all. Just what is it you
had to fight?

Harry Krause wrote:
wrote:
Harry: I have lived in N Fl for most of my life and rarely have any
problems with religious zealots. Maybe you somehow invite problems..
I am about as irreligious as I can be but although I am aware of some
religious extremists they rarely bother me at all. Just what is it you
had to fight?



As one example, I waged a year-long battle to get my polling place out
of a backwards, fundie church where voters were subjected to hallways of
religious horsecrap on their way to cast their ballots. Totally
inappropriate. Finally got the polling place moved to a fire station.
Got lots of hate letters.

Also had religious fruitcakes knocking on my door when I lived in Duval
County, looking for converts. There was no end to these idiots.

Harry, you have too much time on your hands.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..

Several times a week, representatives of different sects patrolled the
neighborhoods, banging on doors and demanding whether those who answered
had "found Jesus."


Just say, "Yes, but I am sorry, he's sleeping right now".


RCE

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 04:01:32 -0600, Skipper wrote:

You're sitting back when all of a
sudden the peace is broken by a powerful commotion on the surface. You
rise to observe these monsters attacking a school of baitfish.

I can see that right in front of my house when the Jack Crevalle start
feeding. Have you ever seen a mullet jump 4 feet straight out of the
water?

I support Skipper for different reasons. I moved my sailboat back to the
Great Lakes, after over 20 years in the Florida Keys. All the reasonably
priced motels are either full up or overpriced. Who wants to pay for a
fancy place with a swimming pool, if you are spending your time getting your
boat in and out of storage. I have also seen prices go up much faster than
in other parts of the country. This includes lodging, restaurants, marinas,
boat yards, etc. I have noticed that fishing in
Florida Bay became a waste of time. I'm glad I did my cruising years ago
down there. It still has many advantages for cruising over say the Great
Lakes, but now I
get more use out of my boat, and it is not taking me to the poor house.

Sherwin D.

Skipper wrote:

Floriduh was once the place you set world land speed records. That honor
has long since passed to western states. Floriduh once had great fishing
and freedoms, not any more. The best fishing is now found on the West
Coast and Pacific waters. Would seem Floriduh has been religated as a
place for retirees and the non adventurous. Those with real
get-up-and-go, with true adventurous spirits, the non whoosies with real
drive, well, they go west and really live. Of course, that just my
personal observation.

--
Skipper

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I support Skipper for different reasons. I moved my sailboat back to the
Great Lakes, after over 20 years in the Florida Keys. All the reasonably
priced motels are either full up or overpriced. Who wants to pay for a
fancy place with a swimming pool, if you are spending your time getting
your
boat in and out of storage. I have also seen prices go up much faster
than
in other parts of the country. This includes lodging, restaurants,
marinas,
boat yards, etc. I have noticed that fishing in
Florida Bay became a waste of time. I'm glad I did my cruising years ago
down there. It still has many advantages for cruising over say the Great
Lakes, but now I
get more use out of my boat, and it is not taking me to the poor house.

Sherwin D.



"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." (Yogi Berra)

BTW--If you can't catch fish in Florida Bay or the rest of the Keys, you
need to hire a guide, because you're just not doing something right. The
first time I ever went there, I caught a 125 lb. tarpon, numerous barracuda
to 6 feet, grouper, snapper, cero mackeral, blackfin tuna, and various reef
fish.

"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I support Skipper for different reasons. I moved my sailboat back to the
Great Lakes, after over 20 years in the Florida Keys. All the reasonably
priced motels are either full up or overpriced. Who wants to pay for a
fancy place with a swimming pool, if you are spending your time getting
your
boat in and out of storage. I have also seen prices go up much faster
than
in other parts of the country. This includes lodging, restaurants,
marinas,
boat yards, etc. I have noticed that fishing in
Florida Bay became a waste of time. I'm glad I did my cruising years ago
down there. It still has many advantages for cruising over say the Great
Lakes, but now I
get more use out of my boat, and it is not taking me to the poor house.

Sherwin D.



"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." (Yogi Berra)

BTW--If you can't catch fish in Florida Bay or the rest of the Keys, you
need to hire a guide, because you're just not doing something right. The
first time I ever went there, I caught a 125 lb. tarpon, numerous
barracuda to 6 feet, grouper, snapper, cero mackeral, blackfin tuna, and
various reef fish.


Another thing:

They stopped the freshwater releases down the Caloosahatchee River on
January 16th. The water has cleaned up, the salinity has increased again,
and the pelagics are back on the nearshore reefs.

Just yesterday, we caught a 20 lb. permit and 25 lb. cobia...and hooked up a
125+ lb. tarpon that jumped and threw the hook. Those are three very
peculiar catches for this time of the year. You usually don't see those
fish until April/May/June...but there was a lot of warm water blowing north
from the Keys, and water temps were just a couple of degrees below 70 F.

wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:51:11 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:

They stopped the freshwater releases down the Caloosahatchee River on
January 16th. The water has cleaned up, the salinity has increased again,
and the pelagics are back on the nearshore reefs.


How much do you think the salinity was affected 6-8 miles out in the
gulf?

I've been out 8 or more miles and have seen a distinct line where the
Caloosahatchee brown water runoff meets the green/blue water of the gulf.
And it wasn't a tide line, because a regular tide line would not reach that
far out into the gulf. The contrast from the brown to the green was
astounding.





Let's not assess blame for every bad day of fishing to the
Caloosahatchee problem.

Of course not. But ask any angler who goes out on a regular basis whether
they see a correlation between when the Corp dumps water down the river, and
when the water quality and fishing decline.

The evidence is anecdotal at worst, and empirical at best...but the fishing
is undoubtedly affected by the amount of freshwater dumped down that
river..and how long the dumping continues. Depending upon the volume, it
pushes most of the fish to deeper water.

It doesn't affect certain fish as much, because they're accustomed to
brackish water. But permit aren't going to show up when the water salinity
is low. The fact that I found permit and cobia inside 5 miles just 2 weeks
after they stopped the heavy freshwater release is more than a coincidence.





When you are out on May Reef you will be as impacted by garbage from
Tampa Bay as you will be by the Caloosahatchee.

I don't agree. There is a lot more chance for dilution through diffusion
once the water from Tampa Bay travels 160 miles south.


If low salinity was a problem you wouldn't catch any fish in the
Estero bay in the summer since it seldom gets above 16 on an outgoing
tide.

Snook, tarpon, and redfish are accustomed to brackish conditions. Permit,
most sharks, cobia, and many reef fish are not. How many permit, sharks,
and cobia do we find in Estero bay in the summer months?


People seem to seek the places where the fresh water is flowing the
fastest. My summer numbers in the Estero River cruise in the single
digits.

I will agree 100% that San Carlos Bay and Pine Island sound are
impacted by low salinity and have been for 40 years.
The main problem with the water is still tied to nutrients. We have
the same problems with all the fresh water streams entering the
estuary, some worse than others. Finding out where they come from is
one of the objectives of all that water testing we do.


Here's a post I snipped from another forum:
" I launched kayaks at Ft Myer's Manatee Park yesterday. we didn't see any
manatees and I didn't fish much. I took my hydrometer with me and checked
the salinity/specific gravity of the surface water just below the power
plant outflow. Salinity measured at 6 ppt, specific gravity at 1.004. That's
virtually salt free and also the reading I got during the peak of last
summers rainy season on the Peace River.
We paddled about a mile east- farther back into the Orange River. I measured
the surface water again and got a salinity reading of 0.0 and specific
gravity of 1.0. That's the normal reading for fresh water.

The Peace and Myaka Rivers within a couple of miles of the harbor are
measuring between 14 and 22 parts per thousand for salt content. Normal Gulf
water usually measures salinity about 36 ppt/ specific gravity 1.027.

Surface water usually reads more fresh than water below the surface but I
would think the power plant outflow water having been drawn from the
Caloosahatchee river and being well mixed before being added to the Orange
River should have been much more salty. Especially considering that they are
saying the Caloosahatchee river is too salty right now.

What is healthy for the Caloosahatchee river?"


Did you see where he said that the normal gulf water measures around 36ppt
and 1.027? I can guarantee you that for the past 5 months, the water
flushing over May, Wiggins, GH, Doc Kline, etc. reefs (all within 10 miles
of shore) has been nowhere near that number.

Skipper wrote:

NOYB wrote:


OK. Later today, I'm going fishing at the 5 mile reefs to
target...sheepshead.


Sheepshead? Jeeze, that's like pullin up discarded bicycle tires.
Triggerfish put up a real fight and are worth eatin. Down Mexico way the
boys filet em for ya soon as the boat hits the dock. Triggers are
probably the fightenest fish pound for pound you can sling aboard.


Tomorrow, I'm hooking up the smaller boat to tow an hour and 50 minutes
across Alligator Alley and fish for Sailfish.


Would seem you have a truly trailerable boat then. Wouldn't want to lug
a Parker 25 that far.

--
Skipper

I guess there aren't any jacks in the "Cortez"...

What "truly trailerable boat" do you pretend to have these days, Dave?

Dan

Skipper wrote:

NOYB wrote:


Sheepshead? Jeeze, that's like pullin up discarded bicycle tires.
Triggerfish put up a real fight and are worth eatin. Down Mexico way the
boys filet em for ya soon as the boat hits the dock. Triggers are
probably the fightenest fish pound for pound you can sling aboard.


Pound-for-pound, the lowly pinfish outfights all others...
I've caught plenty of triggerfish. They are excellent eating, but a bear
to clean. But I never pulled one up and said to myself "damn, that was
one tough fish". I'd put their fighting ability on par with a small
black drum or a sheepshead.



Yep. The pinfish is like a small bluegill. But pound-for-pound, it's a
heckuva fighter.


Good gawd these Floriduhites have a lot to learn. Must be sompin in the
water.

http://www.mexfish.com/fish/fstrig/fstrig.htm

--
Skipper

We could scoop those into the boat with a landing net behind a chum
line. I've caught hundreds, literally. A jack in the same weight class
will run for its life. Triggerfish don't compare.

Dan

***Disclaimer: Mt experience is limited to triggerfish and jacks caught
in Florida. I have no experience with triggerfish or jacks from Kansas.***