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Three Days For Atlantic Snapper PHOTO BY CAPT. BLAKE RIGBY COURTESY OF TRIPLETAIL CHARTERS WWW.TRIPLETAILCHARTERS.COM VOLUME 26 • ISSUE 316

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very once in a while a timepiece comes along that’s so incredibly good looking, masterfully equipped and jaw-droppingly priced, that it stops us stone cold. A watch that can take you seamlessly from the 18th hole to the board room. A watch that blurs the line betweens sports watch and dress watch. We’re talking the Blue Stone Chronograph, and it sits at the top of the discerning gentleman’s watch list. Striking in appearance and fully equipped with features, this is a watch of substance. The Blue Stone merges the durability of steel with the precision of crystal movement that’s accurate to 0.2 seconds a day. Both an analog and digital watch, the Blue Stone keeps time with pinpoint accuracy in two time zones. The watch’s handsome steel blue dial seamlessly blends an analog watch face with a stylish digital display. It’s a stopwatch, calendar, and alarm. Plus, the Blue Stone resists water up to 30 meters, making it up for water adventures. A watch with these features would easily cost you thousands if you shopped big names. But overcharging to justify an inflated brand name makes us blue in the face. Which is why we make superior looking and performing timepieces priced to please. Decades of experience in engineering enables Stauer to put quality on your wrist and keep your money in your pocket.

Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Experience the Blue Stone Chronograph for 30 days. If you’re not convinced you got excellence for less, send it back for a refund of the item price. Time is running out. Originally priced at $395, the Blue Stone Chronograph was already generating buzz among watch connoisseurs, but with the price slashed to $69, we can’t guarantee this limited-edition timepiece will last. So, call today!

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n the era of the coronavirus, outdoor recreation has become an important survival tool. Last year, the boating industry saw a record number of new boat owners. Both new boaters and seasoned boaters changed their habits to social distance while making the most of their love for the recreational outlet. According to a survey of 3,500 boaters by Sea Tow Services International, this trend is expected to continue into the 2021 summer season. Pandemic-influenced boating behavior: • 52 percent of boaters surveyed anticipate their boating activity to increase this summer compared to last. • 20 percent cite the pandemic as the reason for extending their boating season again in 2021. • 24 percent plan to vacation on/by boat (versus other forms of travel) because of the pandemic. • 35 percent plan to use their boat primarily for cruising near their home. • 16 percent upgraded to a larger boat in 2020 or plan to do so in 2021. • 52 percent plan to use their boat primarily for fishing (65 percent inshore/30 percent offshore/5 percent freshwater). • 30 percent have found it more difficult to find dockage and/or marina space. “Our member survey has typically been a very strong indicator for seasonal recreational boating trends,” said Kristen Frohnhoefer, President of Sea Tow. “Last year, Sea Tow saw a 34 percent increase in requests for on-water assistance in the summer of 2020, and our nationwide network of captains are anticipating another busy season for 2021.” With the sale of a record number of new boats in over a decade and an influx of new boaters, Sea Tow noted that in 2020 owners of new boats were 142 percent more likely to need ungrounding services, 108 percent more likely to need fuel delivered to them and 11.2 percent more likely to need a battery jump. Alternately, new boat owners are 22 percent less likely to need a tow. “These numbers are very interesting,” Frohnhoefer said, “They reflect the fact that new boaters are not yet familiar with things like shifting sandbars and hard to navigate channels, or how to manage their fuel, like their more seasoned counterparts–which is getting them into trouble and causing them to call us for assistance. But likewise, these stats demonstrate what we’ve been saying all along—that when it comes to new boats, on-water assistance typically is needed due to user error, not mechanical failure, as newer boats and engines are more reliable than ever before.” With the number of new boaters recreating on the water, the need for boating education has never been more important. Sixty-nine percent of boaters surveyed are looking for more advice on local navigational assistance, mishap prevention and general boating basics. “2021 is sure to be another banner year for boating,” said Frohnhoefer, “We’ll find out real soon if these trends for recreational boating activity are in fact here to stay.” For more on Sea Tow, visit www.seatow.com.

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JULY 2021

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TIPS TO DIAL IN RIVER-RUN BASS S

By Nick Carter

triped bass don’t stay in the same place long. Huge spring runs up the Atlantic Coast and into freshwater rivers to spawn is natural behavior for stripers. Even fish trapped by dams in inland reservoir systems retain a strong urge to move. Across the east, wherever reservoir striped bass exist, the movement begins as a spring spawning run. Fish push out of the lakes and as far up creeks and rivers as they can go. This spring run is followed by a larger summer migration, when stripers pile into the rivers seeking more comfortable water conditions. Here are a few tips from the pros for dialing in river-run stripers. • Make Shots Count: “Fish good water, and fish it well,” said Bill Stranahan. Stranahan guides with Southeastern Anglers, and the striper run on Tennessee’s Hiwassee River is a summertime staple. Fishing the Hiwassee run is like deer hunting. You’re fishing hard for a few bites from monster fish that get up into the 40-pound range. “Look for good structure, whether its wood, shoals or rock faces,” Stranahan said. “When you’re on that good structure, don’t rush it. You can spook ’em with a bad throw, so take your time and make good shots.” Whether you’re throwing streamers with a fly rod or swimbaits with conventional gear, Stranahan warned against locking into the big bait, big fish theory. “We all know stripers will chase down big 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-inch skipjack and gizzard shad, but don’t forget your smaller baits,” he said. “A lot of their forage base is 4 inches or less. There’s a time and a place for fishing small stuff.” • Fish it All: Rob “Mustache” Smith, of The Fish Hawk in Atlanta, has guided the Chattahoochee River striper run for two decades or more. He knows all the hotspots where there are always fish. He also knows those spots

PHOTO COURTESY OF GARNER REID

get a ton of pressure. Smith said to slow down and fish all the likely structure instead of rushing to areas where you’ve caught fish before. “If you’re on the river, fish everything,” he said. “Those fish are constantly moving, and you’d be surprised at the fish you’re passing when you’re rushing to get to that one little area. Fish it all, and fish it like you expect a fish on every cast.” • Move Some Water: “When they’re in the river, those fish are laid up in ambush,” said Garner Reid, who made his name guiding fly fishers to big Georgia stripers on the Etowah River. “You’re drawing reaction strikes, and what triggers them is a fly that looks like it’s wounded or fleeing.” Reid said it’s easy to get sloppy with the retrieve when you’re blind casting all day. He reminds anglers that it takes an aggressive presentation to move some water, cause a little commotion and trigger a striped bass’s predatory instinct. “Use the current and the swing to enhance your strip,” he said. “Make that fly hunt for you.” Visit Southeastern Anglers at www.southeasternanglers.com. See The Fish Hawk website at thefishhawk.com. Call Garner Reid at (770) 866-0301.

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JULY 2021

NATIONAL 7

THREE CLUES TO

Mahi Mahi By Capt. Quinlyn Haddon

ahi fishing can be tricky in some places and times of year. They congregate under floating material adrift in the current, leaving them with no fixed address within an area of greatly variable depths. If you are fortunate enough to be able to target dolphinfish along the Gulf Stream this summer, you are in the right place at the right time. You shouldn’t have much trouble filling your cooler and even maxing out on the generous daily bag limit of this species. Head out to target mahi with a full tank of fuel. Assume you will have to run far and wide to find them, but hope to get lucky along the way. Recruit everyone on board to remain on the look out for the three telltale mahi hangouts: weeds, birds and floaters. Weeds can be productive whether they are formed tightly in a line, or even a tight patch. Birds can be a great sign of actively feeding fish at the surface, but they can also just be birds being birds. Learn to read them properly to avoid wasting time. A group of circling birds or diving birds is what you want to look for, and the more the better. Sometimes, a bird that’s on fish will flicker in the sun, reflecting the sunlight in a sporadic pattern as it moves its body to stay on top of something it has spotted under the surface. Circling frigate birds are always a good sign. If you see one even attempt a dive, start trolling immediately. Floaters can be anything floating in the water, from debris to sea turtles. When you find floaters in open water, it doesn’t take long to feel out if it is productive or not. If you happen to see all three of these goldmines come together, with birds diving around debris sucked to a weedline, troll the ever loving shi…mano out of it. When trolling for mahi, you won’t need to run more than four lines. Troll two small lures long, ideally on the outriggers, to draw in smaller dolphin. Troll one medium lure or ballyhoo at mid-length, and one large lure close. Dolphinfish have the mentality of a toddler. When you reel one to the boat, leave the fish in the water, put your rod in the rod holder, and cast out behind the hooked fish. The school should have followed your mahi to the boat, and with their mahi-see, mahi-do mentality, they’ll all want to partake in snack time. Continue hooking mahi and leave them in the water until you run out of available rods to cast. Start by putting one fish in the boat, but don’t take the second out of the water until the first rod has gone back out and hooked another fish. Try switching from live bait to chunk bait to keep them eating. If they don’t slam a bait as soon as it hits the water, try twitching the bait. Even a completely healthy and well-presented live bait sometimes isn’t as enticing as one that’s getting yanked away from them. Mahi will eat nearly anything, especially if you know how to taunt them properly. One of the biggest challenges in catching them is trolling through weeds. Weeds that cling to your lures is a pain to manage on the deck, while constantly clearing lines, and you also miss a lot of opportunities to catch fish. All lures catch weeds, the determining factor is whether they shed those weeds. Deep diving lures that never breach the surface are not your friend in this situation. Lightweight, squid-skirted lures do an excellent job of popping out of the water when bogged down with weeds. Most times, they clear themselves of weeds. Blue Magic Charters makes their own 3D-printed lures designed to troll in weeds. Visit them in Marathon, Fla., and ask us about their DR. BUBBLES lures. Capt. Quinlyn Haddon fishes with Blue Magic Charters in Marathon, Fla. Contact her at (504) 920-6342 and visit CaptainQuinlyn.com.

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RHODAN: TOTAL GAME CHANGER FOR GROUPER

Tim Barefoot

here was a time—not too long ago— when only a select few would consistently come home with grouper, and not just “bottom fish.” There were several reasons for this. First and foremost, not everyone wanted to learn and spend the energy it took to learn to anchor. Anchoring accurately is an art form not mastered by all, but when mastered, it is the gateway to consistently catching grouper. Rhodan trolling motors, with their GPS Anchor systems, have made it so anyone can have a shot at catching grouper and not just all the other species down on the bottom. It’s one thing to have a trolling motor with “Spot Lock” that will hold position in a small bay boat, but Rhodan made the tool for serious offshore

boats to sit on the same place without using the anchor. Partner this Rhodan with a couple 36 volt lithium deep-cycle batteries, like Dakota, Ionic or Lithium Pros on a battery switch, and you have the tools it takes to score. Rhodan is just one aspect of what it takes to go grouper fishing, and not just “bottom fishing.” The way I set the dinner table for a grouper on every ledge is to have everyone on the boat sending down whole squid on the first five or six drops. I don’t care what they’re catching during this “chumming exercise,” because chumming is exactly what we’re doing. We’re getting one spot on the bottom chummed up with little pieces of squid swirling around. The smell and sound of an ongoing feeding

frenzy draws in the top of the food chain in no time at all. This is the point when we start to grouper fish. Yes, I’ve caught a lot of grouper on the whole squid, also, but this part of the routine is strictly to get the party started. Once it’s going, we drop live baits that none of the grunts, pinkies or sea bass can fit in their mouths. The smaller fish just hang out looking at these bigger baits and hoping for scraps. This is when grouper see four or five live baits on the bottom attached to Squid or Crab Decoy Jigs. To them, it’s a no-brainer. The sight of a grass grunt, pinfish or sailor’s choice struggling against the weight of the jig is more than a grouper can understand. They are hardwired to eat these fish that eat their eggs. The live bait and Decoy Jig combo gets the bite because a struggling bait is a “gimme.” Also, while you’ve got those grouper lines on the bottom, don’t forget to send a light out near the surface. Bait it with a live or frozen bait to catch pelagics like kingfish, dolphin, wahoo or tuna that happen to be swimming past. What does this all have to do with the Rhodan? Well, Rhodan’s powerful and precise GPS anchoring eliminates drift without all the aggravation and hard work of anchoring. Let Rhodan change your game by allowing you to concentrate on the fish while it keeps the boat in place! See more from Capt. Tim Barefoot, of Barefoot Cats and Tackle, at barefootcatsandtackle.com.

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LIFE IS A BEACH S By Richard L. Matteson

The

Weeds G3 Sportsman 1810

argassum is a brown seaweed with berry-like bladders that at times covers the beaches and is washed into the lagoon around the inlets. Recent fishing at the beach has proven difficult because of the large mats of sargassum. Piles of sargassum are dumped on the beach at high tide and those same piles are pulled back into the ocean with the next high tide. The good thing is baitfish like to hang around sargassum—it protects them from predator fish. Sometimes the fishing is better with sargassum in the water. Conventional crocodile silver spoons with treble hooks do not work at all; they get hung up and you drag seaweed in on every cast. All your conventional crankbaits with treble hooks won’t work either. What to do? You simply have to fish lures with single hooks and use weedless spoons. The Johnson 3-inch weedless spoon is a regular bass and redfish lure. If you want to spice it up, use a pork rind or plastic trailer. This is a deadly lure for any saltwater fish. I like gold, but silver works too. Yo-Zuri makes crankbaits with a single hook, and you can also take off the front hook and put a weedless hook on the back of any crankbait. This might affect the action and takes some tinkering, but it keeps you from catching so many weeds. My favorite lure is a DOA 3/16-ounce jig with a 4-inch shad tail. Surprisingly, unless you fish it deep or hit a large mat of seaweeds, the jigs do not get hung up much. I just caught a nice snook in the weeds this week by popping the jig off the bottom. Sure, you’ll get hung up sometimes, but the jigs can be fished near the surface and usually come up clean. Try a topwater. Now is the time for great topwater action. Most of the time you can maneuver your topwater lures around the weed masses. If it’s bad, just take off the front treble hook and replace the back hook with a single hook. You can use a weedless hook, but it’s usually not necessary. You won’t have many weed problems with topwater, anyway. I like Skitter Walks in trout color and gold Zara Spooks. Lots of Sargassum on the beach? No problem. Switch to weedless or single hooks and catch the big ones feeding on the bait in the weeds. Richard L. Matteson Jr., of the Stuart Rod and Reel Club, is a regular contrinutor to Coastal Angler Magazine. Call him at (336) 414-3440.

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First Winner Named in State’s Largest Fishing Competition

n just the second week of this year’s STAR competition, CCA Florida has named the first verified winner in the CCA Florida STAR West Marine Tagged Redfish Division. After catching his tagged redfish, Ken Clarke, of Fort Pierce, selected a prize package from Contender Boats and Yamaha Outboards valued at more than $80,000. It will be awarded to him during the STAR Awards ceremony on Oct. 9 in Crystal River. A CCA Florida STAR registrant and CCA Florida member, Clarke caught the 20-inch redfish while fishing from a dock with live shrimp near St. Lucie Village on June 10. Clarke immediately notified the organization to begin the verification process. “I read the rules and knew I needed to follow them. Only after I submitted my catch through the STAR app, did the real excitement begin to set in,” Clarke said. “I’m still in shock and incredibly fortunate to be the first registered angler to win. I can’t wait to take out my new Contender 2200 Sport with 200HP Yamaha motor on the water.” This year, 160 West Marine Tagged Redfish were released across Florida’s coastal waters on average four per coastal county with Brevard, Charlotte and Citrus counties being Destination Counties with eight tagged fish each. Remaining prizes in the division include a Pathfinder 2200 TRS with Minn Kota trolling motor, Humminbird

electronics and a Spyder FX19 Vapor all powered by Yamaha. Additionally, STAR’s other tagged division, the Tigress Outriggers & Gear Tagged Dolphin Division, will award $10,000 to the first registrant to catch a tagged dolphin. Unlike traditional fishing competitions, CCA Florida STAR presented by Yamaha focuses on conservation and offers $500,000 in prizes and scholarships during the 101-day event. As a “catchphoto-release” competition, STAR’s smart phone app eliminates the requirement for anglers to harvest or capture and transport fish. “Our state’s fisheries are here for everyone’s enjoyment, and CCA Florida understands that smart fishing can help restore, preserve and improve marine habitats and water quality for today and tomorrow,” said CCA Florida STAR Director Leiza Fitzgerald. “Implementing a catchphoto-release competition is just one way to continue fulfilling our organization’s mission and protect our coastal waterways.” STAR is also focused on youth participation, with its Youth Scholarship Division presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors offering more than $100,000 in scholarships. Youth anglers (ages 6-17) can register for free with a current CCA Florida youth membership. Prizes for the first two youth anglers in the West Marine Tagged Redfish Division include a Salt Marsh Skiff 1656 powered

with a Yamaha 40 HP motor and trailer, and the first registered youth angler who catches one of 20 tagged dolphin (mahi mahi) is eligible to win a $10,000 scholarship in the Tigress Outrigger & Gear Tagged Dolphin Division. The STAR competition includes 17 divisions and 12 species, and most winners are determined by random drawing, giving anglers of all ages and skill levels the opportunity to win. Registration is $40 for current CCA Florida members or $75 for non-members.

Because every ﬁsh could be a winner!

CATCH. PHOTO. RELEASE. WIN. MAY 29 TO SEPTEMBER 6 inner First W home to take ER! TEND CON NEW

CCA Florida STAR is the largest family-friendly saltwater ﬁshing competition in Florida, and it’s unlike traditional ﬁshing tournaments.

• $500,000 in Prizes & Scholarships

• West Marine Tagged Redﬁsh Prizes Include Boat, Motor & Trailer Packages • 1st Tagged Tigress Dolphin/Mahi Mahi Wins $10,000 cash • 101 days of ﬁshing $40 entry for current CCA members. All others add $35 for one year membership.

• Prizes for Additional Non-Tagged Non Species Snook, Trout, Redfish, Grouper, Kingfish, Dolphin, Tarpon & Lionfish

CCAFLSTAR.COM A CCA FLORIDA EVENT

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27th Annual Sebastian Exchange Club Blue Water Open Results By Karen McElveen

Top King – First place kingfish, 46.49 pounds, caught aboard Easy Drinkin, captain Joel McKenney and Rocky Polfa.

The Other Woman – 31.38 pound first place dolphin. Crew aboard The Other Woman Doug Relick, Blake Relick, Code Scholer, and Clayton Schlitt (not pictured, Rory Mueller). PHOTOS CREDIT: Sebastian Exchange Club.

Dolphin and kingfish dominated the board until near the end when several nice grouper were recorded. The main-board fish included dolphin, kingfish, grouper and wahoo, with four places in each category. Also included was a bonus board with an additional 15 places, giving anglers who didn’t quite make the mainboard another chance to collect some winnings. The boat The Other Woman took top dolphin with a 31.38-pound beauty, followed by Tormentor with 25.67 pounds, third place going to Miss Possum with 18.40 pounds and Mixed Emoceans in fourth with 18.29 pounds. The biggest kingfish weighed in at an impressive 46.49 pounds, caught aboard Easy Drinkin. Second place king was 34.43 pounds caught on Sundance Kid, third place was 33.94 pounds caught on Little Debbie, and Fish Reaper with a 26.07 pounder rounding out fourth place kingfish. First place and second place grouper were only separated by two-and-a-half-ounces, top winner going to Signed In with a 20.63 pounder. The 20.36 pound second place grouper was caught on Reef Affliction, third place went to Big Country with a 17.19 pound fish,

LOCAL OFFICE

he annual Sebastian Exchange Club Foundation’s Blue Water Open Charity Offshore Fishing Tournament was held on June 5, with a field of 122 boats vying for the $20,000 guaranteed payout. The bite was a little off due to a confused sea with three-to-four-foot seas and a stiff 10-to-15 knot wind out of the southeast. Trollers had a tough time because of very scattered weed, and bottom fishermen had a strong current to deal with. Only 44 boats weighed in fish at Capt. Hiram’s tournament headquarters, although there were some nice catches.

® © © _

SEE OPEN.......................................PAGE 3 COASTALANGLERMAG.COM • THEANGLERMAG.COM

JULY 2021

TREASURE COAST 1

Florida Fish and Wildlife

FWC

PHOTO CREDIT: MyFWCMedia.

news updates

TWO-DAY MINI LOBSTER SEASON SET FOR JULY 28-29, 2021 One of Florida’s coastal traditions occurs every July when the official mini-lobster season kicks off. Coastal areas are flooded with “bug-hunters” trying to find their share of these tasty crustaceans. Keep in mind, there are two Florida lobster seasons, the two-day mini season and the eight-month regular lobster season. The mini lobster season is always the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July. This year the mini season falls on July 28th and 29th. The regular eight-month lobster season opens August 6 and runs through March 31. Spiny lobster must have a minimum carapace length of at least three inches and must be measured in the water. The carapace is measured from the forward edge (between the rostral horns) to the

rear edge of the carapace, and all harvesters must have a measuring device while harvesting. Lobster must be landed in whole condition. Separating the tail from the body is prohibited in state waters. You’ll also need to know how to identify an egg-bearing female. Female lobsters carry eggs (you will see them directly under the tail) for about a month anytime between April and August. An egg-bearing female is said to be "berried," and under the regulations they must be released unharmed. During the short sport (two day) season, the recreational daily bag limit is 6 per person in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, and 12 per person per day in state and federal waters off all other counties. During the regular season,

FLORIDA SPINY LOBSTER SPORT SEASON Season Dates

Bag Limit

Possession limit - on the water

Possession limit - off the water

Minimum size limit

July 28-29, 2021

6 per person per day for Monroe County and Biscayne National Park

Equal to the daily bag limit

Equal to the daily bag limit on the first day, and double the daily bag limit on the second day

Carapace larger than 3", measured in the water

(Last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July each year)

12 per person per day for the rest of Florida

Possession and use of a measuring device is required at all times

FLORIDA REGULAR SPINY LOBSTER SEASON Season Dates

Bag Limit

Possession limit - on the water

Minimum size limit

Aug. 6 - Mar. 31

6 per person per day

Equal to the daily bag limit

Carapace larger than 3", measured in the water Possession and use of a measuring device is required at all times

Information provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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the daily bag limit is six per person in all state and federal waters. If you’re headed south, keep in mind that harvest of lobster is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the sport season and in Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, no-take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and in the Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary during both the 2-day sport season and regular season. (NOTE: Night diving is prohibited in Monroe County during the 2-day sport season.) Lobster harvesting during either season requires a resident or nonresident saltwater fishing license and a special lobster permit, unless you are exempt. And remember, a “divers-down” flag (red with a white diagonal stripe) is required while in the water. Visit MyFWC.com/Boating and click on “Boating Regulations” for more on how to snorkel safely. For information on lobster harvesting, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Lobster.” For an overview on measuring lobster, visit http://bit.ly/2RldGGi.

TREASURE COAST

and fourth place was 14.93 pounds caught aboard Reef Thief. That two-and-a-half-ounce lead for top grouper also landed Signed In the Capt. William Charles Memorial Largest Grouper Award of $1,000, donated by Carol Knapstein. That’s fishing for you! There were no wahoo caught. The Top Boat Award is based on an aggregate weight of three fish in at least two main-board categories. The 2021 BWO Top Boat Award went to Knot Scared with an aggregate weight of 43.97 pounds, for a nice $2,500 prize. Two “Bonus” Fish, amberjack and cobia, pays out $1,000 each for the single heaviest fish. The Top Amberjack Award went to Legal Limit this year, with a hefty 45.47 pounder. No cobia were Top Lady Angler Crissy caught this year. Shoonmaker with her 33.94 The Top Junior Angler went to pound kingfish, caught Gavin Carter aboard Knot Scared, aboard Little Debbie. who caught a 14.89-pound kingfish. PHOTOS CREDIT: Sebastian Exchange Club. Top Lady Angler went to Crissy Shoonmaker with a 33.94-pound in the local community with a kingfish caught aboard Little Debbie. special emphasis on the prevention Crissy also took third place kingfish of child abuse. with that fish. The Sebastian Exchange Club For complete tournament results, visit www.bluewateropen.com or has raised over $750,000 over the like Sebastian Blue Water Open years through the Blue Water Open. on Facebook. All proceeds go to worthy charities

COASTAL ANGLER PUBLISHERS GARY & MISTI GUERTIN SALES GARY GUERTIN EDITOR/DIGITAL CONTENT MISTI GUERTIN GRAPHIC DESIGN LAURA KELLY CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jayson Arman Capt. Gus Brugger Capt. Rocky Carbia Capt. Charlie Conner Michael Conner Capt. Scott Fawcett Capt. Colton Hester Capt. Michael Mauri Capt. Giles Murphy Brian Nelli Jim Oppenborn Capt. Nate Shellen Cammie & Capt. Joe Ward Capt. Terry Wildey Steve Wood

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JULY 2021

TREASURE COAST 3

FISHING FORECASTS

MARTIN COUNTY OFFSHORE

Capt. Scott Fawcett Off the Chain Fishing Charters (772) 285-1055 fishscottyf@bellsouth.net offthechainfishing.com

e’re going to be celebrating Independence Day all month long off the Treasure Coast this year. Explosions from blackfin tuna, skyrocketing kings, tail walking sails and tackle busting bottom fish should keep you and your crew at attention and shouting for more this July. Let’s start with the big news of the year, we get THREE! days of red snapper fishing. If you’ve been out on the water in the last 10 years, you probably know that the red snapper fishery is as healthy as it’s ever been and that catch and release probably only exacerbates the growing shark problems we’re experiencing. Anyways, July 9, 10, and 11 are the days we get to harvest one per person. If it’s anything like the last few snapper seasons there’s

our Cannon downrigger, which a good chance it’ll be choppy, we usually use as a dredge rod so bring your Grundens foul and reel. Speaking of dredges, weather gear to keep it fun. just because your live baiting Grouper season is open, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be so while you’re going for the pulling one. StripTeasers work snapper, I would definitely great while you’re drifting, and recommend a bigger bait on a the new rubber fish shads from stout rod with heavier leader RonZ are amazing while bump in hopes of catching a big gag trolling and slow trolling. or black. Heavy drag and nonThis June provided stop reeling is the key to keeping incredible sailfish action and them out of their dwellings. Each last July was good too, so I’m day I see larger and larger boats betting this year we’ll have it with trolling motors mounted again. I use 12-to-20-pound test on them; myself included with Blackfin circle hook rods with an 87 Minnkota Terrova on my 15 pound mainline and 50- or 31 Contender. This is the perfect 60-pound mono for leader. If month to utilize this technology we’re targeting kings, add a little and bring your catching game to trace of that titanium wire from the next level. From bait fishing AFW. to kite fishing and obviously One of my favorite things to bottom fishing, even motoring do in July is sliding out to the along a weed line, having a swordfish grounds in search of trolling motor up front will unicorns. There are some big double your fishing time and fish that show up in the summer, probably triple your catch. so be ready and be careful. When Leading up to this month, weather permits, I definitely we’ve had some incredible Albert Rodriguez and guests with a great recommend bringing the Weber kingfish action with some of six-hour trip releasing eight sails and also and making it a party, but always the largest kings I’ve ever seen. catching a couple meat fish for dinner have someone watching that tip. AFW Titanium Tooth Proof while fishing aboard Off The Chain. If you have any questions or wire provides an excellent PHOTO CREDIT: Capt. Scott Fawcett. would like to book a trip please connection when targeting these razor lipped speedsters. We’ve baiting using a light or medium SFE give me a call. I hope your next outing been seeing most of our fish live kite and also sending a bait down on is Off The Chain.

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or many reasons, July is one of the best months for light tackle fishing, so here’s a rundown. Some big tarpon can be found rolling in the Indian River early morning and are best caught freelining with 8–10-inch silver mullet on a 7/0 circle hook. These tarpon can also be found rolling along the beach north or south of the St. Lucie Inlet. The most important factor is getting out early. The

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he anglers of July will rise and shine early with their game faces on, to take on their scaley opponents upon the salty, summer playing field, offshore of the Treasure Coast. The ocean’s allstar roster of fish adversaries will include bottom species like snapper, grouper and amberjack, along with summertime surface pelagics like mahi, king mackerel, and sailfish, just to name a few. Cobia will also

juvenile 10-to-70-pound tarpon can Steve Murphy be found back in the St. Lucie River caught a nice snook along oyster beds and bridges. For fishing with his them, we use slightly smaller mullet nephew, Capt. Giles. 5-to-7-inch length on a 5/0 circle hook. The big female snook start to school up in July and make their way to the inlet where they spawn through August. So, during July, any dock or bridge between Hoggs Cove and the inlet can be worth casting live pilchards or bouncing a D.O.A. Baitbuster along the bottom. The calm summer mornings are great for walking the beach for snook, jacks and more. We typically use artificials only when walking the beach such as Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows, spoons, and Clouser flies. These calm conditions also make it possible for any size boat PHOTO CREDIT: Capt. Giles Murphy. to get a few miles offshore and try for kingfish, dolphin, sailfish, and great for dropping knocker rigs lookout for birds as there is lots of snapper. The shallow wrecks and while freelining live bait to cover bait moving down the coast with fish artificial reefs 3-to-6 miles out are top-to-bottom. Always be on the following.

jigs will work best for sight casting to a “trailing” cobia. Early morning starts to one’s fishing day will be essential during the hot days of July, as Florida’s rain-soaked tropical season and daytime heating will spawn the potential for dangerous afternoon thunderstorms which frequently pack killer lightning and high velocity down draft winds, that can turn a calm ocean into a frightening maelstrom of large, steep waves in a matter of minutes. Knowing this, fishing crews will keep a wary eye to the sky and monitor available radar loops to best make strategy decisions in relation to approaching Cobia will be caught during the toasty days of July, like this sturdy summertime storms. cobe caught aboard the Safari 1 by Tyler and Dennis Baum. With safe fishing strategies in PHOTO CREDIT: Safari 1. place, anglers will be able to enjoy be found throughout the water sharks, rays and turtles near the the versatile fish games of July and column this month and are likely to surface. Live baits, as well as four- attempt to come out on top of their be seen swimming along with large ounce green/chartreuse lead head fish rivals.

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TREASURE COAST 5

JULY FISHING CONDITIONS July 1

POOR

Evening

July 21

GOOD

Capt. Charlie Conner Capt. Charlie’s Fish Tales Charters (772) 284-3852 captaincharlie@fishtalescharter.com www.fishtalescharter.com

POOR

Morning

July 22

GOOD

Morning

July 3

FAIR

Morning

July 23

BEST

Evening

July 4

FAIR

Morning

July 24

BEST

Evening

July 5

POOR

Morning

July 25

BEST

Evening

July 6

POOR

Morning

July 26

BEST

Evening

July 7

POOR

Morning

July 27

BEST

Evening

July 8

GOOD

Morning

July 28

POOR

Evening

July 9

GOOD

Evening

July 29

POOR

Evening

July 10

POOR

Evening

July 30

FAIR

Evening

July 11

POOR

Evening

July 31

FAIR

Morning

July 12

POOR

Evening

July 13

FAIR

Evening

July 14

FAIR

Evening Evening

July 15

POOR POOR

Evening

July 17

GOOD

Morning

July 18

GOOD

Morning

July 19

POOR

Morning

July 20

FAIR

Morning

SOUTH INDIAN RIVER LAGOON

Morning

July 2

July 16

FISHING FORECASTS

What do the ratings mean? POOR day basically means the fish will either steal all your bait or will not even touch your line. FAIR day means that you catch one or two fish but you will have to work hard to do so. GOOD day means that you will catch enough fish to feel gratified. BEST day means that you will catch something almost every time you cast your line in the water.

uly arrives on the Treasure Coast! This year has gone by so fast already. Enjoy the Fourth of July this year and get out fishing. Look for hot weather as things heat up for summer and water temperatures will approach 90 degrees. Redfish like the shade and a D.O.A. Shrimp can help you hook up on a nice red. Docks are usually very productive all year for us. I like to fish docks and mangroves in July. Top water lures are good to use early on the flats. There have been some nice trout this year and it is a great way to fish for them on the grass flats. Snook season being closed, I generally try not to target them in summer. It will be catch

SOURCE: The Old Farmers’ 2021Almanac

FORT PIERCE’S PREMIER INSHORE FISHING TOURNAMENT SERIES

and release until fall. Watch for the glass minnow schools to flood into the river and you will find lots of action surrounding these small baitfish! Jacks, Spanish mackerel and bonito are a few of the fish that love to feast on the glass minnows. Bridges will be producing snapper, drum and sheepshead during July. Live or dead shrimp will be hard for them to resist. There will be larger snapper in the river around structure and along channel edges. Watch the tides and fish the slower sides of them for best results. Whiting will continue to be in the surf with the occasional bluefish and Spanish mackerel. I like channel edges for a variety of species as the water temps get into the upper 80s. Incoming tides will bring in cooler water and that’s a good time to fish! Try Harbor Branch, Queen’s Cove and Bear Point this month for some good action early and move to deeper water as it heats up. Enjoy fishing in July! Remember, as always, fishing is not just another hobby……it’s an ADVENTURE! David landed this nice snook on a recent charter. The bite has been good with milder weather as we move into summer.

Backcountry Fishing Association Fort Pierce, FL

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Capt. Joe Ward Capt. Joe’s River Charters (772) 201-5770 or (772) 461-1335 CWard11605@aol.com

he inshore fishing should be in full swing for trout, tripletail, redfish and snapper. The trout action should be best at first light with top water baits or a live pilchard or greenie. Free line it with a 2/0 live bait hook. As the sun comes up you will want to try a live shrimp and fish it under a popping cork in three-tofive-feet of water. You will want to try places like Harbor Branch, Bear Point or the Midway Road area. Look for the tripletail around the

channel markers to the south in the river starting at the 191 and working your way south. Use a live shrimp the bigger the better - on a ¼ ounce troll-rite hook. The best bite for the redfish should be around the docks along both north and south Indian River Drive. Again, live shrimp fished under a popping cork should do the job. The snapper fishing should be best around the full moon along the channel edges and around the area bridges. These fish will be taking live shrimp or small white baits fished on a #2 hook and a ½ ounce weight. The catch and release snook action will be good in the Fort Pierce Inlet for anglers using a live bait like a pinfish, pigfish, mullet or a pilchard and fish them on the bottom.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY OFFSHORE

PHOTO CREDIT: Capt. Joe Ward.

to mark rocks on the bottom with bait around them. This is a great indicator that predatory fish such as kingfish, cobia, mahi, and even wahoo this time of year may be around. There is always a resident sailfish or two roaming around as well that love to come eat a slow trolled live bait. When bait fishing,

Capt. Colton Hester Sonna Girl Fishing Charters (772) 293-5342 colton@sonnagirlfishing.com www.sonnagirlfishing.com

emperatures are rising, the wind is calming down, and we are headed full swing into our summer weather pattern. This means that we are also jumping into our summer fish patterns as well. Nearshore during July, you will find schools of bait along the beaches that will have hungry snook, jacks, and even large tarpon lurking around. For those who enjoy a challenge, these fish can be caught on a fly, or just simply with a live greenie or pilchard. I recommend a stout rod with 30-pound braid mainline and a 50-to-80-pound fluorocarbon leader in order to land these beasts once you hook them up. I have been getting reports of jacks over 30 pounds and tarpon in the 50-to-80-pound range. There will also be some kingfish mixed in with these bait schools which are a blast to catch on light tackle. However, do not forget your wire leader! These fish are large in the 15-to-35 foot of water area and can range from 20-to-60 pounds. Therefore, being prepared with the right tackle is critical. If you have any questions about what tackle to use make sure to stop by Whites Tackle in Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, Stuart, or even Jupiter. They will be able to get you fixed up to land these nearshore

Capt. Joe Ward with an over slot snook caught and released inside the Fort Pierce Inlet.

also keep your eye out for sardines around the #2 sea buoy outside of the Fort Pierce Inlet and the 12A buoy south of the Fort Pierce Inlet. These are my bait of choice for slow trolling and for bottom fishing this time of year. If you cannot find

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beasts. Offshore on the 80-foot reef I will be mainly switching to a full live bait operation. I do not do much ballyhoo trolling after June as the fish seem to come in closer to shore due to the Gulf Stream heating up to temps in the low 80s. There are not as many changes in temperature as well out there, which makes targeting weed lines and rips much more difficult. While fishing 70-to90 feet of water I am always looking

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FISHING FORECASTS

SEBASTIAN INSHORE

Capt. Gus Brugger Pattern Setter Charters (772) 360-6787 www.WelcomeToSebastian.com

he near-shore waters of the Atlantic and Sebastian Inlet are the focal point for most Sebastian area anglers in the month of July. There are the kingfish, cobia, bonito and jack crevalle within a couple miles of the beach. The Spanish mackerel, bonito and jacks can provide fast paced run and gun options when they are breaking on bait pods. The little tunny (bonito) have been gorging themselves with glass minnows every morning and will usually hit a small diving plug ripped through the feeding frenzy. When the surface is not boiling with frenzied action, slow trolling live bait is a great way to cover some ground and get connected to a large specimen of one of the above mentioned species. Slow trolling

as inlet predators will take artificial lures after dark. Look for snook of all sizes along the shorelines of the lagoon, especially around docks and oyster bars. Topwater plugs, jerk baits and D.O.A. shrimp are all good bets for fishing snook around cover. Trout can be found scattered around in troughs on the flats and around deeper water structure. One thing I have some success with in the summer when I can’t get in the ocean, is drifting open water casting jigs and plugs for anything that bites, such as ladyfish, jacks, and blues. When we catch a ladyfish, I put it out on a steel leader and let it drag behind the boat for shark. It is amazing, how quickly Bull reds like this one caught by Vicky Kaiser should be available the sharks find the struggling day and night in the Sebastian Inlet in July. ladyfish. Most are bull sharks from 50 to 100 pounds and are PHOTO PROVIDED by Capt. Gus Brugger. released without attempting to bring in the boat. live mullet and greenies is a proven basking turtles. The Sebastian River should Sebastian Inlet is a great place to method to catch kings pushing 40 pounds and anything else prowling find action from redfish and snook continue to provide a tarpon fishing the nearshore waters. Dolphin and in July. Live bait is the way to go options. Hooking several juvenile cobia also move into small boat during the day and pigfish, croakers tarpon is an achievable goal most range of Sebastian Inlet and can or pinfish, can pay off in the form of mornings on D.O.A. TerrorEyz, flies be slow-trolled up or cast to when photos of oversized reds and snook. and live bait. Tight lines! sighted around floating weeds or Night fishing is cooler and easier,

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Capt. Terry Wildey Big Easy Fishing Charters (772) 538 - 1072 captwildey@bellsouth.net www.bigeasyfishingcharters.com

ed snapper season for our South Atlantic federal waters will open on Friday, July 9 and end Sunday, July 11 at midnight. The bag limit will be one per person, unless you’re a shark. They will be eating more than their share. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to up your leader size to 80- or 100-pound test. You may get fewer bites, but you’ll be able to get the bigger fish up fast and lose fewer to the sharks. July should bring some good catches of cobia on the larger pieces of bottom in the 85-to-90-foot reefs. So have a rod rigged with a cobia jig ready to throw when one pops up behind the boat while you are bottom fishing, or when you spot a manta ray on your ride out or in. Too often I hear of someone that just missed a shot at a big cobia because they didn’t have a rod ready. Look for big amberjack to move

ABOVE: Big Easy Capt. Terry Wildey with a great red snapper catch. RIGHT: Charter guests snappin' them up! PHOTOS CREDIT: Capt. Terry Wildey.

into the 85- and 90-foot reefs as well, especially if we get a cold-water thermocline move in. Expect kingfish to be consistent up and down the reefs, as well as around bait pods within a few miles of the beach. Live threadfins, pilchards or blue runners for the bigger kings work the best but even trolling a drone spool or ballyhoo will work.

The dolphin bite offshore was weak this May and I don’t expect it to improve much but I’m hoping to see some schoolie dolphin to come through on weed lines and color changes from 90 feet to 240 feet. If you are fishing during the threeday red snapper season, be aware of

rules about descending devices. Also, the use of circle hooks north of the 28-degree north line. You’ll find all the regulations on the FISH RULES app on your phone, or iPad. FWC will be out there protecting our resource so expect to be checked. “Fish On, Gotta Go!”

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FISHING FORECASTS

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ishing in July is interesting. Windows of opportunity can be small but also very productive. Understanding fish patterns when the heat factor is through the roof is important. Some fish will prefer the heat. Snapper fishing around some of your jetties and bridges can be amazing during the heat of the day. It will drive fish to structure and to deeper bodies of water. Fishing low light mornings or evenings can spread out fish. Understanding these patterns will help you focus on different locations during the day. Snook and tarpon on the beach will sometimes feed all day. The snook are getting fat for their spawn so please treat them with care supporting their belly during a

photo and trying not to fight them for long periods of time which will stress them out and increase the possibly get them being eaten by a big shark. Tarpon typically migrate and are always on the move. Following the fish and keeping up with them moving from beach to beach will be important for you to land the silver king. During this time, they can be focused on some of the smaller forage that will be around. Threeinch to four-inch baits will be what you want to use. There will also be some sharks following the tarpon so be on high alert if you are in the water with some of these fish wading. Nighttime fishing around the bridges and jetties for flounder, snapper and grouper will be something I try to focus on this month. These fish will follow the migration pattern of baby turtles. Fishing in the river along some of the flats close to an inlet will give you great opportunity for lots of different species of fish, as lots of bait will be flushing through the inlets. This is That's R-Man Land-Based Fishing over and out. Good luck on your next adventure.

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Beach fishing for tarpon will always be exciting. especially when you get the hook-up! This tarpon ate the No Live Bait Needed swimbait in the purple color. "GAME ON!" PHOTO CREDIT: Jayson Arman.

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INSH

main lights at nig linesid switch with g are a find a and ta great early south beach snook

OFFS

Beach the la goggle

top choices. Sailfish will of course still be in the mix as well. For mahi look to run out four to eight miles to search for some weed mats and lines. Trolling a daisy chain or Yo-Zuri plug attached to your Crowder rod will help put a fish in the kayak. Most will be small, but there are chances for a big bull. Wahoo bites should become more regular around the summer full moons. Most of our wahoo bites come on the downrigger with a live goggle eye. Try to target 60-to-80

KAYAK FISHING FORECAST

Brian Nelli Pushin’ Water Kayak Charters (772) 201-5899 Brian@tckayakfishing.com www.tckayakfishing.com

INSHORE: Snook are still our main targets in July. Fishing dock lights and bridge shadow lines at night is a great way to catch a linesider. When the sun comes up, switch to fishing seawalls and docks with good current. Topwater plugs are a great alternative if you can’t find any live bait. Chasing snook and tarpon along the beach is also great during this month. Get out early and launch at places like the south side of Jupiter Inlet. Run the beach looking for rolling fish and snook in the surf line.

LEFT: Brian with a nice-sized mahi mahi. ABOVE: Pam nabbed a respectable kingfish on a recent kayak fishing excursion. PHOTOS CREDIT: Brian Nelli.

foot below the surface to hopefully pick off one in that deeper water column. Check us out Pushin’ Water Kayak Charters on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for all the latest adventures my clients and I get into. See you on the water!

OFFSHORE: Fishing off Palm Beach and Jupiter will produce the larger kings this month. Using goggle eyes and blue runners will be

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TREASURE COAST 11

FISHING FORECASTS

Adam and his grandmother from California came to fish with Okeechobee Bass Fishing Guides on Headwaters Lake and boy did they catch some bigguns! The largest being this 9 lb. 1.oz. monster!

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Capt. Nate Shellen Shellen Guide Service Okeechobee Bass Fishing Guides/Charters (863) 357-0892 sjmike7@aol.com OkeechobeeBassFishing.com

ome of the best bass fishing of the year occurs every summer when there are few people aside from locals around to enjoy it. Bass fishing in the summer is a little different, we get on the water well before light and make our way to our favorite fishing spot, attempting to arrive when it’s just cracking light. The lake level is around 12.69 feet, a level that forces the bass and the baitfish toward the Kissimmee grass lines that form the outer lake edges on the north end of Okeechobee. Due to the huge numbers of shad, shiners, and other baitfish that have been forced toward the outside edge by the low water, we attempt to “match the hatch” with a double willow leaf spinner bait fitted

PHOTO CREDIT: Capt. Nate Shellen.

with chrome blades and a white skirt. This baitfish imitating bait will draw vicious strikes from bass that are roaming around in the Kissimmee grass and the outer edges of the cover. On those mornings when all conditions are perfect, you can catch 30 to 40 fish in the first few hours of light on that spinnerbait, although varying blade sizes, skirt colors, and trailers may be necessary. Once the early bite wanes, we adjust by changing over to an old school Texas rig worm, which is as basic as it gets,

call it Bass Fishing 101. Once rigged, toss the Texas rigged worm (black/ blue) into the grass edge and slowly work it through the grass letting it sink into holes around the edges or holes in the cover, and hang on! This incredible fun usually lasts until somewhere between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., you’ll know when they are done, the bites just quit coming. Shiner fishing is still a viable option for those anglers looking to catch big numbers of bass, as well as possibly hooking up with

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an Okeechobee giant. Live bait or artificial bait is the biggest question of the day, it’s a toss-up. Pan fishing has been very good, especially around this full moon phase. Look for bedding fish. The water is ultra-clear and shallow in many areas. Both the beds and bluegill both can be easily seen when wearing good, polarized glasses. The method used to catch them varies, either a fly rod and teeny popper or cricket on a hook under a tiny bobber, they both produce terrific results.

July means mini-season, midnight madness and lobster dinners!

DIVING FORECAST

Steve Wood Deep Six Watersports - Stuart (772) 288-3999 Stuart (772) 562-2883 Vero Steve.wood@deepsix.com www.deepsixintl.com

iving in July is all about getting ready for and participating in Lobster Mini Season. This two-day ‘sport season’ allows a recreational diver a chance to collect spiny lobster for the first time since the end of March and is considered a tradition by many locals. Consider the following ideas to ensure a successful and safe experience out on the reefs. Night divers always do best by splashing right at the stroke of midnight partaking in what is affectionately known as “Midnight Madness.” For many, this is the most anticipated dive all year. Consider scouting dive sites during the day and ensure you’ve got alternate spots picked in advance in case your honey hole is already taken by another boat. Peck Lake and the shallow reefs off

the beach north of Fort Pierce Inlet are usually PACKED opening night, and being considerate of others while out on the water after dark can go a long way. Consider running outside the reef and idling into the ledges versus running the beach/inside of the ledge to keep proper distance from other boats; divers in the water are hard to see, especially at cruising speed. Conditions should be ideal with an overnight high tide around 1 a.m., allowing for incoming tide after midnight. Beach divers have their best chance all year to clean up on lobster since easy access locations like

PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Wood.

Bathtub Reef have been untouched for months. Interestingly, many are surprised to hear that some divers never even leave the inlets to bag a limit; especially this year, local waterways have been blessed with clean conditions and minimal freshwater releases. Rocky channel edges and structure in the river have been known to hold big lobsters if you know where to look. Be advised that boat traffic can make these areas hazardous and strict adherence to dive flag laws is a must. If you launch from public ramps close to the inlets. like Sandsprit or

Stan Blum, consider an obligatory stop by FWC par for the course this time of year. Everyone knows about basics like boat safety gear and proper licenses, but consider rechecking lobster for eggs, correct size, and bag limits before heading back to the dock. This should be done underwater, but couldn’t hurt to double check. Don’t forget to bring down your dive flag before heading in. July is a great time of year to dive and provided tropical activity remains low, conditions should be spectacular. Whether it’s offshore or off the beach, the summer dive season is here.

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TREASURE COAST 13

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Fly Fishing Corner By Capt. Michael Mauri

QUESTION:

What Should Fishing Really Mean?

aving a good time; it is really what fishing should be all about! I love chasing and catching big fish! The bigger the better regardless of if it’s me, who’s fishing, a friend, or especially with a charter customer. Bigger is better - right? I agree, and trying to make it happen almost every single day can be pretty darn exhausting. This puts a lot of pressure on me as a guide, but also helps to push me to new levels and, as crazy as it gets, I love it! But… How much fun is it just to let go and not worry about your casting or the size of the fish? A few days ago, my wife Emily

Emily Mauri with a lookdown caught on a fly while “fun-fishing” with husband Capt. Michael Mauri.

Don

and I dropped off our daughter and a bunch of her friends on a spoil island for a night out camping. On the way back to the boat ramp I asked my wife if she wanted to fish because we had a night off and the rods and gear were in the boat. A few minutes later Emily was on the casting deck with rod in hand and ready to go. That night we caught a ton of random fish and definitely not the “fish-of-a-lifetime,” but we had so much fun! Lookdowns, little river jacks, ladyfish and all kinds of small and medium size snook kept us busy until way after midnight. The fly-fishing action that night was just insane, and it really reminded me what fishing is about.

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Bonito Blast Scheduled For August 13-14, 2021 Don’t Miss the Pre-Party Fri., Aug. 6 at Pirates Cove

he ninth annual Treasure Coast Bonito Blast (TCBB), which works with various Treasure Coast businesses to create an event that brings our quaint community (with a serious fishing problem) together in appreciation and support of the Wounded Veteran’s Relief Fund (WVRF) returns Aug. 13-14, 2021. Substantial prize money, dinners, live music, auction items, raffle and family fun has made this one of the largest one-day tournaments on the Treasure Coast. To date, the TCBB has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the WVRF, which has provided assistance to hundreds of veterans (https://wvrf.org). Come on Treasure Coast anglers, do your part to give back to those who gave so much by supporting the TCBB. This a way to give back, especially for those of us who did not serve. The WVRF was founded in 2009 to support and assist our Florida

veterans and to serve as a bridge for transition into civilian life. The organization provides immediate emergency financial support to these much deserving veterans. More than 85% of all funds donated to WVRF go directly toward veteran assistance, earning them GuideStar’s platinum level recognition for performance and serving Florida’s veterans. WVRF assists in getting veterans lives back on track by helping with job training, housing, transportation, past-due bills, child needs and other forms of assistance. For example, the WVRF has recently developed a new and separate dental program that will not only improve the physical and mental health of our Florida veterans, but also improve their quality of life. The WVRF mission is to save lives and keep these families together. We enjoy the many blessings of freedom, which are not “free”, secured for us by these heroic veterans’, and their

families’, many sacrifices. Home of the free because of the brave. As Mike Durkee, Executive Director of WVRF has said, “The veterans’ stories are why we do what we do. When they return home after fighting for our freedom, a new journey begins, often fraught with hardships. We are grateful to the community for their incredible generosity and support of these heroes after all they’ve done for us”. New this year is a pre-event party scheduled on Fri., Aug. 6, 5-7 p.m. at Pirates Cove Resort and Marina, located at 4307 SE Bayview Street, Stuart, where early registration and tournament t-shirts will be available for purchase. A captain’s meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Fri., Aug. 13, 2021. It will include dinner, tent events and entertainment. The tournament will take place Sat., Aug. 14, 2021, and an awards party on Saturday night will

PHOTO COURTESY of Treasure Coast Bonito Blast.

include dinner, a silent auction and music. Event organizers expect over 180 registered boats with over 100 veterans fishing in the tournament. Pirates Cove Resort and Marina, 4307 SE Bayview Street, Stuart, Florida, will host the Aug. 13 captain’s meeting, weigh-in on the dock Sat., Aug 14, from noon to 3 p.m., and the post-tournament awards party, which kicks off at 5 p.m. To register or for more details, visit www.TreasureCoastBonitoBlast.com.

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wenty-three boats fished the Backcountry Fishing Association tournament held on Sat., June 5. A total of seven trout and six redfish were weighed. Morning fishing conditions started off great and the wind came rolling in the afternoon. BFA member Justin Carnes fished with his alternate, his wife Shellie. Shellie caught a trout weighing in at a whopping 6.87-pounds carrying the team to a first-place finish. They also won an additional $190 for the trout calcutta. Shellie also won Lady Angler of the month, which earned her a pair of Danco pliers. Second place went to TJ Keifer and Tony Vercillo with a 6.42-pound redfish, which earned the team $280. The two also walked away with an extra $180 for the redfish calcutta. Charles Ludwig and his alternate, his brother Paul, took third place with a 6.20-pound redfish, and earned $186. The only boat to bring two fish to

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Backcountry Fishing Association Fort Pierce, FL the scale were Tommy Wagner and Bill Smiley. They took fourth place with a 1.09-pound trout and a 4.35-pound redfish, a total weight of 5.44-pounds, which earned them points. Fifth place went to Lewis Arnold and his alternate Zach with a 4.30-pound redfish, which earned Backcountry Fishing Association June tournament's first-place team the team points. and trout calcutta winners, Justin and Shellie Carnes. Shellie also The Backcountry Fishing won June's BFA Lady Angler of the month. Association tournament is a ninePHOTO CREDITS: Backcountry Fishing Association. month circuit which runs from January thru September, with a gives two-person teams and solo Redfish, trout and snook two-day Classic held in October. anglers the opportunity to win cash (seasonal) are the qualified species. The artificial lure only tournament and gain points. Anglers attempt to bring one legal

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CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE: TJ Keifer and Tony Vercillo took second place in the Backcountry Fishing Association's June tournament; Third place winner Charles Ludwig; Fourth place team, Bill Smiley and Tommy Wagner.

fish of each species to the scales for weigh in and live release. Teams must participate in at least five tournaments to be eligible to fish the Classic which is a two-day event. The top five eligible teams with the highest accumulated points from the season are given a bye from day one. The remaining eligible teams compete on an elimination basis the first day, where only the top five teams of day one progress to day two to compete against the season point leaders for the grand prize and cash for the top four teams. Membership fees are $25 for the year. To enter the tournament each

Let us help with your Air Conditioning & Heating needs. month, the fee is $60 per team. The next tournament is Sat., August 7, with a captain’s meeting on Fri., August 6, at Little Jim Bait and Tackle, 601 North Causeway, Fort Pierce, Fla. For more information, visit the Backcounty Fishing Association on Facebook.

SLC OFFSHORE.................. FROM PAGE 7 shallower is 30-pound braid mainline sardines, live pilchards and greenies will work for trolling and bottom fishing. Some bigger baits that I use to slow troll are blue runners, and goggle eyes. These bigger baits will result in bigger bites. Lastly, fishing the bottom deep in 120-to-200 feet of water will show some rewards of grouper and amberjacks as they should be hanging around large rocks and artificial reefs. Do not forget the dates for this year’s red snapper season are July 9, 10 and 11. These fish can be found in 70-to-90 foot of water around rockpiles and ledges, as well as in 150-to-200 foot of water near large rocks and wrecks. Recommended tackle for red snapper when fishing

with a 8-to-10 foot, 40-pound fluorocarbon leader. When I am fishing the deeper water, I like to use a large bent butt rod with a TLD 50 reel. I use 80-pound mono backing to fill the reel up and save some money. I then spool on about 250 yards of 65-pound braid mainline. This allows me to break off once or twice and not have to respool my reel. I then use 10 feet of 80-pound fluorocarbon with anywhere from a 5-6/0 circle hook. I have this all connected with a threeway swivel with 20-to-40 ounces of lead depending on the current. Bait of choice is squid, live sardines, live pilchards, fresh grunts, and even frozen cigar minnows. If it will stay on the hook, the red snapper will eat it. Good luck and tight lines!

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Summer Blooms Loom Heat and summer rainfall increase nutrient pollution on the Indian River Lagoon.

id-summer conditions have not been kind to much of the 160-mile-long Indian River Lagoon (IRL) in the last decade, as heavy rainfall creates both stormwater and ground water runoff that carries in copious amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus that are at the root of cyanobacteria blooms and other planktonic blooms. The worst blooms have occurred from Melbourne north in the Lagoon, and in the extreme southern IRL you can also factor in the Lake Okeechobee discharges which can turn the St. Lucie River fresh and even usher in toxic microcystis with blue-green surface mats. Luckily, a long dry season has allowed the big Lake to recede to manageable levels (12.7 foot elevation as of mid-June) so has for now spared the St. Lucie of damaging Lake discharges. The luck may run out however, should heavy tropical rains arrive and bring the Lake back up to the 15-foot mark any time after August 1.

The Best Lake Okeechobee Plan for Coastal Estuaries

The Army Corps (USACE) will have released its “preferred plan” under LOSOM (Lake Okeechobee Systems Operation Manual) for Lake Okeechobee management and water distribution on June 29, and anglers are encouraged to keep track of the Corps’ public comment periods after that date.

Of literally thousands of water management models and five final iterations, the Corps has arrived at plans AA, BB, CC, DD and EE. Each plan has its “winners and losers” so far as balance (harm versus benefit) of the Lake’s freshwater distribution is concerned, and Indian Riverkeeper has repeatedly stressed to the Corps that the St. Lucie River and lower IRL gets no benefit, and only harm from releases from the Lake to the estuary. Therefore, we strongly support plan CC which eliminates the need for the Lake discharges. The City of Stuart also supports plan CC, and endorses the June 1, 2021 letter sent by Congressman Brian Mast, Congressman Byron Donalds, and other east and west coast stakeholders to USACE regarding Plan CC from Iteration 2 of LOSOM. The City further concurs with its stakeholder partners that utilizing Plan CC as a baseline upon which to improve relevant performance metrics would benefit the most amount of parties while doing the least amount of harm. In the City’s own words: “The City thanks the Army Corps and your team for all of the hard work in getting the 2022 LOSOM process to where it is today. Our interests moving forward to the conclusion of this process is to facilitate the very best water management strategy that at its foremost, ‘does no harm’ to our community. Our message of ‘zero discharges’ could not be more

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Broken-up bits of lyngbya coming ashore in the Lagoon just north of Jensen Beach. Many residents and anglers mistake this cyanobacteria for native seagrass when it is laying on the bottom. It flourishes in saline water that has high levels of nitrogen, iron and phosphorus--typical ingredients found in groundwater, and yard fertilizers.

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“Local” Blooms in Treasure Coast Waters

Indian Riverkeeper (IRK) will draw a winner at 4 p.m. on July 4 for an 11-foot Crescent Kayak donated by Jensen Beach’s Native Watersports. Tickets will be available until midafternoon at Stuart’s Fourth on Flagler event at Flagler Park, but you don’t have to be present to win. Get details about the kayak, and buy your ticket(s) early with your credit card at theindianriverkeeper. org. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit IRK.

While watching the process with Lake Okeechobee, we are monitoring and documenting a troubling bloom of a Cyanobacteria known as lyngbya. Lagoon-side residents south from Fort Pierce to Jensen reported it in mid-May and it has persisted, in places forming odorous drying mats in the shallows and on the shorelines of the IRL. Much of it originates on the bottom, over shallow flats that have seen a decline in native seagrasses such as manatee and shoal grass. In time, it floats to the surface in grey, brown and black clumps and is carried by tide and wind. A common type here in the IRL and elsewhere in Florida coastal waters is Lyngbya majuscula. The blooms flourish under rising water

LAST SHOT AT IRK KAYAK RAFFLE Lyngbya is a large-celled, filamentous, mat-forming cyanobacteria that can compromise marine ecosystems and cause so-called "seaweed dermatitis," a rash in humans. it can also block sunlight needed by more beneficial seagrasses. PHOTOS CREDIT: Mike Conner.

temperatures and increasing inputs of nitrogen, iron and phosphorus— common nutrients found in septic seepage, sewage, groundwater and yard fertilizers. The blooms form in sediments and can eventually crowd out seagrasses. The blooms photosynthesize rapidly and produce oxygen that is trapped in its own filaments, and it rises to the surface and floats. This is when it accumulates, decomposes and smells badly. If the blooms are extensive, they can smother bottom habitats,

including seagrasses, which are already low in number in much of the IRL. Chronic lyngbya blooms can even cause seagrass stress and dieoffs by restricting light availability. The only way to decrease such impacts is to reduce our nutrient inputs into the IRL. Many Florida Indian Riverkeeper invites businesses counties and cities have established to support them with merchandise voluntary fertilizer bans during the donations for further raffles. If wet months of June through October interested in this, or in becoming a due to rainfall carrying nutrients Supporting Business Owner, contact into water bodies. Anglers are asked Executive Director Mike Conner at to comply with the bans, pick up (772) 521-1882 or email keeper@ pet wastes on walks especially near theindianriverkeeper.org.

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Dear Boating Neighbor…

s your sheriff, I am committed to keeping your family and your property safe. That’s why it’s important to provide you with the latest information on the crime trends affecting our community. As we move into the summer months, we can expect more than perfect boating weather, and an increase in traveling criminals targeting your boat motors, fishing equipment, and boating electronics. These crimes usually happen in the middle of the night. Thieves target boats parked in private driveways or garages, docked at marinas, and vessels parked at storage facilities. These costly crimes usually go undetected until the following day. We know by past arrests and through regional intelligence that the suspects in most of these crimes are from out of county. To combat this traveling criminal phenomenon we plan to utilize directed patrols and increase tactical surveillance measures, but we need you to take an active role in monitoring your property and utilize all crime prevention methods possible. We live in paradise, and with that comes those who want to take from us what they haven’t earned. If we work together, we can send them home empty handed. Be safe and let’s all enjoy our piece of paradise.

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The Martin County Sheriff ’s Office will continue to address this current crime trend, but we need your help to make it as difficult as possible for these criminals to succeed. Here are some tips to help protect your property. • Store your boat and trailer in a locked garage or storage warehouse with security cameras that have video recording capacity. • Always use a “tongue lock” on your trailer hitch. • If you park it in your driveway, turn the trailer so that the “nose” faces in rather than out, or park a vehicle in front of the trailer so that it makes it harder for a thief to move it. • Use a high-security chain and quality lock to secure the boat and trailer to a tree, post, or other fixed object. • If you have an outboard motor, it is a good idea to lock it to the boat. • If you store or dock your boat, make sure all electronics and fishing gear is either removed or locked up. • Mark your boat electronics and any personal items using your hull number (HIN). • If you mark the trailer, do it on the underside or axle. • Videotape or photograph all of your equipment and keep an updated inventory list. • Consider putting an alarm on the boat. Make sure the alarm you purchase is specifically designed for marine use. For more information, call (772) 220-7000 or visit www.mcsofl.org. #WrongExit. COASTALANGLERMAG.COM • THEANGLERMAG.COM

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Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup Ready to “Clean the Decks”

he Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup will hold its 14th annual event on Sat. July 24, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This year, a Peck Lake Reef Dive cleanup will also be included. Since 2008, the yearly cleanup has removed 91.5 tons of trash from Treasure Coast waterways. “We accomplished amazing numbers with our week-long virtual event last summer and are excited to keep this element in place this year,” said April Price, event coordinator. “We learned that students could significantly increase their volunteer participation hours and many groups that only connect during the business days were able to participate because it was an outdoor activity. However, our logistics last year were extremely challenging, so being able to work our traditional sites and connect with our friends is a vital link to this annual effort. Our cleanup week will kick off on Sat., July 17, with the start of our annually proclaimed Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup Week and will run through Sun., June 25.” With the goal to reduce the event’s carbon

footprint, the Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast (aka MIATC), encourages online registration and data reporting. And organizers are taking steps to replace disposable gloves and bags with reusable options and encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable cleanup tools if they have them. Clean up supplies will be available for all volunteers at the designated sites on Sat., July 24. Volunteers are asked to preregister and choose a cleanup option that best fits. All volunteers are eligible for a collectible t-shirt and if joining the effort via a boat on the water, the annual commemorative burgee too. “This is the perfect summertime activity for community, youth and civic groups. There is no limit to the number of folks you can have participate on your team. If you have questions, just give us a call and we are happy to coach you on how to get your group engaged,” says Price. Event organizers encourage cleanup participants to photograph their efforts so they can be shared on the cleanup website and Facebook

Alexanda Allen-Vallely retrieving a garden hose from the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. PHOTO COURTESY of Allsports Productions.

page. Corporate sponsorships are available. The Marine Industries Association of the Treasure Coast, Inc. (MIATC), is a not-for-profit trade association representing recreational marine businesses in Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River and Okeechobee counties. MIATC is dedicated to the promotion of pleasure boating and its related industries. For more information contact April Price, (772) 285-1646 or visit www.tcwaterwaycleanup.com.

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St. Lucie County Artificial Reef Program:

TUG SINGLETON DEPLOYMENT LIKELY THIS SUMMER P reparation of the Tug Singleton for reefing continues. McCulley Marine Resources, Inc. continues to care for the vessel in order to prevent any damage to fish habitats. Fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids have been removed to prevent contamination of the environment. Broken glass that could present a hazard to people has also been removed and automatic pumps have been installed to keep the vessel afloat until the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners can vote on a contract for the boat’s cleanup and deployment.

Cleanup and deployment of the Tug Singleton is being supported by an artificial reef grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The FWC notified St. Lucie County of conceptual approval of a grant application to help with this project. If St. Lucie County accepts this grant, the tug will most likely be deployed in August. Additional funding for the deployment is being raised by the Marine Cleanup Initiative, Inc (MCII), a 501(c)3 non-profit that was formed in 2001 by Don and Dyana

If fundraising for the Alois is successful, the program will try to acquire ships like the 180-foot United States Coast Guard Cutter Bramble for future deployment.

Voss to help keep waterways clear of trash and marine debris. MCII is partnering with the St. Lucie County Artificial Reef Program to help create fish habitats. If a sponsorship and fundraising agreement with St. Lucie County can be approved before August, MCII will raise funds to help deploy the Tug Singleton. The partnership with MCII will

influence the future of steel vessel deployments by the St. Lucie County Artificial Reef Program. After the Tug Singleton is deployed, the program will focus on cleaning and deploying the Tug Alois, a 120-foot United States Navy submarine tender that is heavy enough to be stable at shallower depths. If fundraising for the Alois is successful, then the program will

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fishing gear from the catwalk to impact fish species in the area, MCII is planning to conduct underwater cleanups of this area. MCII is also working with Shelli Associates, LLC to restore hardbottom habitats in the Fisherman’s Wharf Area nearby. Juvenile fishes caught and released from the Fort Pierce City Marina breakwater islands less than 100 yards from the catwalk include juvenile black seabass (Centropristis striata) and yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus). Juvenile Florida spiny lobster (Panulirus Argus), juvenile Florida stone crabs (Menippe mercenaria) and other juvenile fishes have been detected on restored oyster reefs near the breakwater islands. PHOTOS PROVIDED by St. Lucie County.

ABOVE: Juvenile lobster recruiting to Reef Site D. LEFT: Juvenile stone crab at subtidal oyster reef Alpha.

try to acquire ships like the 180-foot United States Coast Guard Cutter Bramble which was part of nuclear testing at the Bikini Atoll in 1947. Scuba Diving International, which provides dive training courses, is partnering with MCII to provide

video coverage of the deployment of the Tug Singleton and Bramble. Although the St. Lucie County Artificial Reef Program is focused on partnerships to help deploy large steel vessels offshore, the program remains concerned with habitats in the Indian

River Lagoon and Fort Pierce Inlet. Discussions with MCII have centered on restoration of habitats and water quality in the Fort Pierce Inlet, a main pathway for juvenile fishes that recruit from the Indian River Lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean, including St. Lucie County artificial reefs. One area of the Fort Pierce Inlet that MCII is looking to help with is the new catwalk along the South Causeway in Fort Pierce. Because of the potential for derelict

For more information on the St. Lucie County Artificial Reef Program contact Jim Oppenborn, St. Lucie County Coastal Resources Coordinator, at oppenbornj@ stlucieco.org or (772) 462-1713. To get involved with the Marine Cleanup Initiative, contact Arnie Stirzinger at info.marinecleanup@ gmail.com or (772)207-6775. To learn more about Shelli Associates, LLC’s work in protecting the Indian River Lagoon, contact Chris Shellli at info@fortchristophers.com or at (518) 858-1790.

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1TH 2:28 AM 8:38 AM 3:01 PM 9:00 PM 2F 3:16 AM 9:31 AM 3:57 PM 9:56 PM 3SA 4:06 AM 10:22 AM 4:53 PM 10:49 PM 4SU 4:56 AM 11:10 AM 5:46 PM 11:39 PM 5M 5:46 AM 11:56 AM 6:36 PM 6TU 12:26 AM 6:35 AM 12:40 PM 7:23 PM 7W 1:10 AM 7:22 AM 1:23 PM 8:08 PM 8TH 1:52 AM 8:08 AM 2:03 PM 8:51 PM 9F 2:33 AM 8:52 AM 2:43 PM 9:32 PM 10SA 3:12 AM 9:34 AM 3:22 PM 10:13 PM

2.23 0.1 2.1 0.29 2.11 0.12 2.05 0.39 2.02 0.12 2.04 0.45 1.97 0.1 2.06 0.46 1.96 0.07 2.11 0.45 1.99 0.02 2.18 0.41 2.03 -0.03 2.25 0.37 2.08 -0.08 2.33 0.33 2.13 -0.12 2.38 0.29 2.17 -0.14 2.42

H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H L H

11SU 3:51 AM 10:17 AM 4:01 PM 10:54 PM 12M 4:31 AM 11:00 AM 4:42 PM 11:34 PM 13TU 5:12 AM 11:45 AM 5:25 PM 14W 12:15 AM 5:56 AM 12:32 PM 6:12 PM 15TH 12:57 AM 6:44 AM 1:23 PM 7:05 PM 16F 1:42 AM 7:37 AM 2:18 PM 8:02 PM 17SA 2:32 AM 8:34 AM 3:18 PM 9:05 PM 18SU 3:27 AM 9:35 AM 4:23 PM 10:09 PM 19M 4:28 AM 10:37 AM 5:28 PM 11:12 PM 20TU 5:33 AM 11:37 AM 6:32 PM 21W 12:12 AM 6:36 AM 12:36 PM 7:31 PM

0.25 2.2 -0.14 2.44 0.21 2.22 -0.12 2.43 0.16 2.24 -0.07 2.41 0.11 2.25 0.01 2.37 0.05 2.26 0.1 2.32 -0.01 2.28 0.19 2.28 -0.08 2.31 0.26 2.25 -0.16 2.36 0.28 2.26 -0.25 2.43 0.26 2.3 -0.34 2.53 0.2 2.39 -0.42 2.63

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22TH 1:10 AM 7:37 AM 1:32 PM 8:27 PM 23F 2:04 AM 8:34 AM 2:26 PM 9:18 PM 24SA 2:57 AM 9:27 AM 3:18 PM 10:06 PM 25SU 3:48 AM 10:18 AM 4:08 PM 10:52 PM 26M 4:38 AM 11:07 AM 4:57 PM 11:37 PM 27TU 5:27 AM 11:55 AM 5:46 PM 28W 12:19 AM 6:15 AM 12:42 PM 6:35 PM 29TH 1:01 AM 7:03 AM 1:29 PM 7:24 PM 30F 1:43 AM 7:52 AM 2:18 PM 8:16 PM 31SA 2:27 AM 8:43 AM 3:09 PM 9:10 PM

0.12 2.49 -0.48 2.72 0.04 2.58 -0.5 2.78 -0.02 2.63 -0.47 2.79 -0.05 2.64 -0.38 2.75 -0.06 2.6 -0.24 2.67 -0.03 2.52 -0.07 2.56 0.03 2.42 0.12 2.42 0.1 2.31 0.31 2.28 0.18 2.21 0.47 2.16 0.25 2.13 0.59

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PHOTOPROVIDED by NOAA Fisheries.

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Stuart Sailfish Club Junior Angler Tournament July 30

alling all junior anglers! The Stuart Sailfish Club Foundation is gearing up for its next youth fishing tournament, the 43rd annual, on July 30-31. The event will take place at the club’s new home, The Tiki Hut Pavilion, at 3867 SE Evans Terrace, FL 34997. Captain’s meeting is slated for Fri., July 30, and an awards luncheon will be held Sat. July 31. The tournament is open to members and non-member youth; ages 6-to-18 years old. The club sponsors children from the Florida Sheriff ’s Youth Ranches in Live Oak and Bartow as well as local groups of disadvantaged kids in the Stuart and Fort Pierce areas. Over 60 kids are expected this year. The tournament offers kids a real offshore experience that includes going through a true weigh in, training on catch and release, fishing ethics, safety, knot tying and more! The children are given a rod, reel and tackle boxes and fishing backpacks filled with goodies and a sponsored Stuart Sailfish Club Jr. Angler baseball cap, courtesy of Creech Technologies. Another great part of the experience is each child is given a

raffle ticket for a chance to win some great prizes. A lunch is also provided for the participants and volunteers after fishing. “This is one of our favorite events of the year,” said Richard Shoup, President. “Being able to offer the kids a fun day of fishing and boating, means a great deal to the children of the Florida Sheriff ’s Youth Ranches. Some of these children have never been on the water, let alone be on a boat. The support of our sponsors and volunteers is amazing because it is such a rewarding day. Even the SSC Member’s kids who won prizes in the past, have donated them back to the children at the various organizations. Just seeing that kind of generosity and love is really heartwarming.” Donations are being sought for the event, including bikes, skateboards, helmets, and other age-appropriate items. Cash contribution are also welcome. To donate, please contact Caresse Chase, Executive Director, at (772) 286-9373 or email Sailfish@StuartSailfishClub.com. The Stuart Sailfish Club Foundation is located at 3867 SE Evans Terrace, Stuart FL 34997.

Peyton Williamson with her winning kingfish, caught aboard Ocean Outlaw, caught during last year’s Jr. Angler Tournament. PHOTO CREDIT: Stuart Sailfish Club.

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DIRECTIONS: In a small mixing bowl, combine diced peaches, lime juice, diced red onion, cilantro and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Stir ingredients to combine. Taste salsa and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Keep refrigerated until use. Preheat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the sauté pan. Lightly season both sides of the swordfish steaks with salt and pepper. Carefully add the seasoned swordfish steaks to the sauté pan and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until swordfish is cooked throughout. Remove swordfish from pan and let drain on a paper towel. In a medium-sized mixing bowl add the arugula, lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Toss the arugula to coat and season lightly with salt and pepper. To serve, place an even amount of arugula on each of the four plates. Place a swordfish steak on top of the arugula on each plate. Top the swordfish steaks with an even amount of peach salsa. Serve immediately. SOURCE: www.followfreshfromflorida.com

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SAWFISH NEWS By Tonya Wiley, Havenworth Coastal Conservation

Public-Reported Sightings Leads to First Two Sawfish Tagged in Tampa Bay

saw the email first thing Friday morning; a sawfish had been sighted in the Tampa Bay area. A man walking the beach in Redington Shores the day before had filmed a very small sawfish swimming in the shallow surf zone. Thanks to all the outreach and public education I’ve done in the area (including posting signs at fishing piers and boat ramps, manning booths at outdoor expos and fishing shows, hanging flyers at tackle stores and bait shops, and writing these monthly Sawfish News articles for magazines, newspapers, and blogs) he knew to share the details of his sawfish observation with us and submitted the video and location information to sawfish@myfwc.com. Andrew Wooley, who facilitates the

sawfish hotline for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, promptly forwarded the email to me since the sawfish was observed in my study area. Since reports of sawfish on the Florida Gulf Coast north of Charlotte Harbor are rare, especially of small ones, it was critical to respond quickly. I promptly loaded my car with all the gear needed to catch, measure, and tag the sawfish if we could find it; though experience suggested this would be a proverbial needle in a haystack situation. Adam Brame, the NOAA Fisheries U.S. sawfish recovery coordinator, and I were at the location within two hours to start our search. We hit the beach and walked in opposite directions to

Tonya Wiley (right) and Adam Brame (the NOAA Fisheries U.S. sawfish recovery coordinator) with the first sawfish tagged in Tampa Bay, a newborn located in Redington Shores in April 2021. PHOTO CREDIT: Tonya Wiley.

maximize effort searching for the tiny sawfish in the shallow, coastal water. Within minutes Adam called me, he had found it!! I raced to his location and was astonished to see this little 28-inch-long sawfish in front of me. After easily catching it in a dip net*, we quickly collected several measurements, determined it was a female from the absence of claspers at the pelvic fins, tagged her with external and internal identification and tracking tags, collected a small piece of fin tissue (about the size of a pea) for genetic analysis, and released her. Later that night we celebrated,

after all we had just tagged and released an endangered sawfish in the Tampa Bay area! But that was not the end of the story as more good news was on the way. A couple days later we received another report of a small sawfish in nearly the same location. So, my intern Matt Bernanke and I went back to the beach and repeated the search. Luck was again on our side, and we caught and tagged this second sawfish, a 24-inch male. Now, in addition to the dozens of sawfish colleagues have tagged in south Florida, we have two sawfish in the Tampa Bay area to track and learn from! These transmitters will

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“On the Water at the Manatee Pocket” Open Daily for Lunch & Dinner • Happy Hour: Mon - Fri 3-7pm Sun-Thurs 11:30am-10pm • Fri & Sat 11:30am-11pm Tonya Wiley prepares to release a tagged sawfish along the beach in Tampa Bay in May 2021. PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Bernanke.

last about two years and we will hopefully get movement data when these sawfish pass within range of stationary receivers placed in the Tampa Bay area and beyond. Our receivers are but a small part of a vast network of these listening stations throughout Florida through the iTAG and FACT programs. The fin clip samples will be processed by our sawfish geneticist, Kevin Feldheim at The Field Museum, to determine if the two sawfish are siblings and to provide additional information about their relatedness to other sawfish in our U.S. research database. To find sawfish pups north of their typical nursery areas (Charlotte Harbor to Everglades National Park) was remarkably interesting and exciting; but it also raised several scientific questions. Why were these sawfish born in the unprotected, highenergy waters of a Gulf of Mexico beach instead of the safe, calm, mangrove-lined shorelines of Tampa Bay backwater areas? Although the two sawfish were the size we know them to be when born, did the mother intend to drop her young there or did something cause her to give birth early? Did she drop her entire litter

of pups or only a few on her way to more suitable nursery habitat? Could this be a sign that smalltooth sawfish are expanding northward and are reestablishing in Tampa Bay? All are exciting questions that additional research will help us answer. This story highlights the importance of citizen science and prompt teamwork communication; but citizen science only works when successful outreach campaigns educate the public. In this case, years of outreach in the Tampa Bay region finally paid off resulting in the multiple public reports of sawfish sightings. If you ever catch or see a sawfish anywhere in the United States, please share the information by visiting www.SawfishRecovery.org, calling 1-844-4SAWFISH, emailing sawfish@myfwc.com, or submitting the information through the FWC Reporter app. Your encounter report just might lead us to tag the next endangered smalltooth sawfish! *All research activities were performed under the authority and guidelines of NMFS ESA permit #21857. Tax-deductible donations to help us continue sawfish research in the Tampa Bay area can be made at https://havenworth.wedid.it/. COASTALANGLERMAG.COM • THEANGLERMAG.COM

JULY 2021

TREASURE COAST 31

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Justin Lewis with a stud permit caught on the flats of East End Grand Bahama. PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Lewis.

Capt. Brian Godwin, Savage Pursuit Charters, with Holly Maggi and Frank Orio, who took first and third-place snapper in the recent 2021 TCBA Memorial Day Weekend Fishing Tournament. PHOTO SUPPLIED by Frank Orio.

Coastal Angler Treasure Coast publishers’ daughter Heather Lynn with a nice mahi caught fishing the Saltwater Shootout with Team Reel Fantasea. PHOTO SUPPLIED by Heather.

Will Howard, representing team No Idle Hands, with a beautiful 20-pound mahi mahi caught in 150 feet of water out of the St. Lucie Inlet. Fish ate a flatlined ballyhoo. PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Kmiotek.

Shannon Beltz caught this nice blackfin tuna while fishing aboard the Safari 1. PHOTO CREDIT: Safari 1.

Josh Shell and Bryan Twombly with a mahi caught while slow trolling live bait in 160 feet of water out of the St. Lucie Inlet. PHOTO CREDIT: Dani Shell

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It’s Bay Scallop Season! W ith most of the regions for bay scallops opening to harvest this month, Gulf Coast divers are hoping for the weather and clear water that pushes these tasty bivalves shallow and makes them visible. • Fenholloway-Suwannee River Zone: The season opened early, on June 15, for the Fenholloway-Suwannee River Zone, where preseason scouting trips were already reporting scads of scallops in shallow grass at Steinhatchee. Bag limits for this zone change as the season progresses,

so pay attention to the dates. From June 15-30, the per-person limit is 1 gallon whole or 1 cup shucked. The vessel limit is 5 gallons whole or two pints shucked. From July 1-Labor Day, the per-person limit is 2 gallons whole or 1 pint shucked. The vessel limit is 10 gallons whole or 1/2 gallon (4 pints) shucked. • Franklin-NW Taylor County Zone: Open July 1-Sept. 24. The per-person limit is 2 gallons whole or 1 pint shucked. The vessel limit is 10 gallons whole or ½ gallon (4 pints) shucked.

• Levy, Citrus, Hernando County Zone: Open July 1-Sept. 24. The per-person limit is 2 gallons whole or 1 pint shucked. The vessel limit is 10 gallons whole or ½ gallon (4 pints) shucked. • Gulf County Zone: Open Aug. 16-Sept. 24. The per-person limit is 2 gallons whole or 1 pint shucked. The vessel limit is 10 gallons whole or ½ gallon (4 pints) shucked. • Pasco County Zone: Open for a 10-day season beginning the third Friday in July, which is July 16 this year. The per-person limit is 2 gallons whole or 1 pint shucked. The vessel limit is 10 gallons whole or ½ gallon (4 pints) shucked. For more information, including regulations pertaining to boating and diving safely, go to myfwc.com.

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ype in the coordinates; a new artificial reef will be deployed off St. George Island and Apalachicola later this summer. Franklin County commissioners recently awarded the contract to construct and deploy 35 offshore artificial reef modules within a site named the Buddy Ward Memorial Artificial Reef in memory of longtime seafood industry advocate and businessman Olan “Buddy” Ward. The Ward memorial site is located within state waters and in sight of St George Island, approximately 8 nautical miles offshore of Apalachicola in about 40 feet of water. The project is expected to be complete by summer. The Ward reef joins more than 60 artificial reefs already located offshore from the Franklin County shoreline. These fish hotels stretch from Alligator Point to Apalachicola and are responsible for providing valuable habitat for hundreds of fish species that migrate through the region. Once deployed, the Ward reef GPS coordinates will be available online, along with other existing reef coordinates, through the AARA website www.apalachicolareef.org. For more information on fishing Franklin County, visit Floridasforgottencoast.com.

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TRIPLETAIL AND TARPON By CAM Staff

ummertime is tripletail and tarpon time along Florida’s Forgotten Coast. Each summer, these two species invade inshore fisheries in numbers. They stick around for a while and add spice and size to fisheries normally known for redfish and seatrout. The Forgotten Coast is a stretch of the Florida Panhandle from roughly St. Marks on Apalachee Bay to Mexico Beach, southeast of Panama City. It’s about 130 miles of sparsely developed coastline that features an embarrassment of riches when it comes to inshore fishing. There are also great nearshore and offshore options, but the system of bays and barrier islands in this stretch of Gulf Coast is an inshore-angler’s playground. Tripletail started showing up in the bays in May this year, and they should stick around through the summer. With their large, rounded anal and dorsal fins, these odd-looking and great-tasting fish have a peculiar habit of hanging near the surface around any sort of floating cover. This makes them a ton of fun to target, as they can be sight fished around crab trap buoys, channel markers, drifting weed mats or really anything floating in the water. Shrimp and baitfish are attracted to cover, and tripletail post up like another piece of rubbish to let food come to them. They can be spotted free-swimming, too, which is why it’s smart to take a closer look at anything floating in the bays. They range in size from 2 pounds to nearly 30 pounds on the Forgotten Coast. They’ll hit live baits, artificials and even flies. Tarpon can be a little more difficult to target, but the rewards can be huge when you find them. With a westward migration up the Gulf Coast, giant tarpon show up in shallow bays from St. Marks to St. Joe starting after the first full moon of June and petering out in August most years. In early summer, fly anglers, armed with 11- and 12-weight rods, can be seen watching patiently from the decks of skiffs for pods of tarpon that move up into the shallow grass flats. When they’re not shallow, big tarpon can be targeted in the passes and coves. In late summer, live pinfish or grunts under a float or even cut mullet on the bottom will test your tackle with tarpon that weigh in excess of 100 pounds. For information on lodging and fishing on the Forgotten Coast, go to www.floridasforgottencoast.com.

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COVERING WATER WITH A BLADED JIG

TYLER WOOLCOTT

s you approach a new lake or even one you have been to a thousand times, it’s always a good idea to throw a confidence bait you know will get bites. The bladed jig, aka chatterbait, is my confidence bait. It is extremely versatile and can be thrown around any type of cover. It allows you to cover a vast amount of water and locate bass that might take days to find with other tactics. The market is flooded with different brands, sizes and colors of the bladed jig. I have experimented and found the Z-Man Jackhammer is the best performing bladed jig out there. In a variety of colors and sizes, they run perfectly out of the package every time. To me, it’s worth the expensive price tag. Let’s talk about matching the chatterbait to natural forage. Depending on the time of year and what kind of bait the bass are feeding on, there is a color to match the hatch. If shad is the prevalent forage, I stick to a white or a baitfish-color like pearl and silver with a silver blade. If its bluegill, you can get by with a green pumpkin or anything with some yellow and orange mixed in with a darker blade color. Sometimes water color can play a factor in color choice, as well. If the water is very dirty, use a color that will stick out so fish can see it coming by. Something like a white and chartreuse with a white blade, for baitfish imitation, or even a bright orange with a black blade, for crawfish imitation, can do the trick. Sizes and weights are important, as well. Ranging from ¼ oz. up to 1.25 oz., the depth you are fishing should decide what you tie on. I typically start with a 3/8- or a ½-oz. jig, which allows me to cover water depths from 1 to 10 feet, depending on the retrieve. If I find some deeper cover, I will go a little heavier. Attaching a trailer enhances the allure of a bladed jig. I try and match the color of the trailer to the color of the skirt. The type of trailer can be more complicated. When fish are aggressive, I use a swimbait-style trailer with a boot tail like the 13 Fishing Pleasure shad. When they want something more subtle, I use a twin-tail trailer like the 13 Fishing The Jerk. When throwing a bladed jig, it’s important to have the correct gear. I use a 13 Fishing Omen Black Chatt-R-Crank rod paired with a 13 Fishing Concept A 6:8:1 reel. I spool up with 17-lb. Seaguar Abrazx line. This set up is perfect for the job! All across the country, I rely on a chatterbait any time of year to put fish in the boat. Next time you hit the lake, tie on a chatterbait to cover some water. Tyler Woolcott is a professional tournament angler and guide. Check out his website at www.tylerwoolcottfishing.com.

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FEDS ALLOW THREE DAYS FOR ATLANTIC RED SNAPPER

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PHOTO COURTESY OF LARRY MCGUIRE/SHOW ME THE FISH CHARTERS

t hardly seems worth the boat ride to catch one red snapper per person, but if you happen to be out bottom fishing in federal waters of the Atlantic and catch one, there are three days this year when you’re allowed to keep it. NOAA Fisheries Service, the federal entity tasked with setting seasons and limits, announced in early June that it will allow recreational harvest of red snapper on July 9, 10 and 11, 2021 in federal waters of the Atlantic (3-200 miles) off the coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. This year’s season is a day shorter than last year’s because anglers exceeded the total allowable catch last summer. The bag limit is one per person, per day, with no minimum size limit. Anglers are required to use dehooking tools to minimize damage when unhooking snapper and grouper species. A descending device is also required to be onboard and readily available for use. Hook requirements north of 28º North Latitude, which is a line roughly between Vero Beach and Cape Canaveral, Fla. are for non-offset, nonstainless steel circle hooks. South of that line, anglers may use any style hook, as long as they are not made of stainless steel. The season for the commercial sector opens July 12 and will remain open until Jan. 1, or until the annual catch limit is met. That occurred in about a month and a half last summer. For more information, see www.fisheries.noaa.gov.

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18 NATIONAL

JULY 2021

STRIPES ARE BLITZING OFF MASSACHUSETTS

ack Murphy, of Lucky Jacks Fishing, said the season for striped bass started with a bang and is progressing well off the coast of New England. “There have been and will be larger striped bass on pogie schools in Buzzards Bay,” he said. “The similar schools of striped bass will soon be harassing offshore pogie schools, and the resident striped bass will be moving into their nearshore haunts chasing mackerel and smashing lobsters.” The offshore bite is where many of the monster 40-plus-pound stripers are caught each year. In low-light conditions, pods of big fish harass big schools of pogie found 5 to 10 miles offshore of Massachusetts, both north and south of Cape Cod. If you want to get in on the action, you need to make plans now. Check out Lucky Jacks Fishing at www.luckyjacksfishing.com.

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G o to An ch or Pu lle ri st he W ay or Be lo w ,E -Z D ec k Ab ov e Above-deck on the 3025 GFX or below-deck inside the rope locker of the 35’ Sea Chaser HFC, the Rebel drum anchor winch is included as the standard or optional upgrade feature on these and other 2021 models. The compact design and 316 stainless steel components ensure E-Z Anchor Puller drum anchor winches can be retrofitted into tight spaces and perform in harsh, saltwater environments.

E-Z ANCHOR PULLER MFG. CO. America’s Anchor Winch Since 1990 Call 1.800.800.1640 | ezanchorpuller.com E-Z Anchor Puller’s drum anchor winches are complete 316 stainless steel with patented motors. This jam-free, hands-free solution neatly stores any diameter rope and chain right on the spool - no more tying off to a cleat!

Y EARS ANNIVERSARY

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROSEMARY J. WHITE

TARPON NOW CATCH-AND-RELEASE IN NORTH CAROLINA

ffective immediately, tarpon fishing in North Carolina state waters is now catch-and-release only. The new regulation was implemented after an appeal from North Carolina pier operators failed during the legislative review process. North Carolina now joins Florida as Atlantic states with no-keep regulations for the highly migratory species. Florida sells a permit that allows anglers seeking a state or world record to keep one tarpon for that purpose. South Carolina has a limit of one tarpon per person per day with a 77-inch minimum length limit. Georgia allows angler to keep one tarpon per day with a 68-inch minimum length limit. “Protecting this magnificent fish while it spends time in our North Carolina waters is a great move by the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Commission Board,” said Capt. Jot Owens, who is a guide and BTT Conservation Captain. “Thank you to everyone who supported this amendment and a special thanks to the commission board members who voted in favor of this ruling.” For more on North Carolina marine fisheries, visit http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/home.

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1/12/2021 12:00:28 PM

Sizzling Hot Deals From Suzuki’s Summer Sales Event Suzuki’s Summer Sales Event is finally here! It’s time to get to your local Suzuki Marine Dealer for a sizzling hot deal on the Ultimate Outboard Motor. You can get Low-Rate Financing on the all new DF140BG with Drive by Wire Technology, or our Flagship DF350. Get all the details at your participating Suzuki Marine Dealer.

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*REPOWER FINANCE is available through Synchrony Retail Finance, as low as 5.99% APR financing for 60 months on new, unregistered Suzuki outboard motors, subject to credit approval. Not all buyers will qualify. Approval, and any rates and terms provided, are based on creditworthiness. $19.99/month per $1,000 financed for 60 months is based on 5.99% APR Hypothetical figures used in calculation; your actual monthly payment may differ based on financing terms, credit tier qualification, accessories, or other factors such as down payment and fees. Offer effective on new, unregistered Suzuki outboard motors purchased from a participating authorized Suzuki dealer between from July 1, 2021 through September 1, 2021. †5 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY applies to qualifying purchases of Suzuki outboard motors sold and delivered to the retail purchaser, for pleasure (non-commercial) use only, from April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022. See Suzuki Limited Warranty for additional details. The Suzuki “S” and model names are Suzuki trademarks or ®. Don’t drink and drive. Always wear a USCG-approved life jacket and read your owner’s manual. © 2021 Suzuki Marine, USA, LLC.

SAVOR THE SEASONS in Upcountry South Carolina

Every season is the best season to explore the many treasures in the Upcountry.

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