Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

The Redington Long Pier extends over 1,000 feet into the gulf. Pier owner Tony Antonious charges $2 to walk out there, and $10 to fish along the pier.

In the 4th of July edition of the St. Pete Times, Outdoor editor Terry Tomalin says he was kicked off Redington Long Pier by some tarpon fishermen.

“Hi,” I said to two anglers fishing off the end of the pier. “Are you guys in the tarpon tournament?”

“What does it look like?” one of them responded.

After a moment of awkward silence, a second angler, who also refused to give his name, asked, “Do you feel welcome?”

“Not really,” I responded.

“Good …” he said. “Time for you to leave.”

With only a notebook and pen in hand, I clearly wasn’t there to fish. Instead, I began interviewing 14-year-old tournament angler Dustin Gable of St. Petersburg about a 98-pounder that he released.

That’s when another tournament angler called the pier manager. “Get the (expletive) off the pier,” the angler told me.

Tomalin was there checking it out after another fisherman complained that he was “asked” to leave the pier.

Pier owner Tony Antonious says anyone is welcome to fish from the pier but added that the West Coast Anglers have “exclusive rights” to the “T” area at the far western end of the pier. And just who are these West Coast Gangster Anglers?

Apparently, there has been a split among local tarpon fishing enthusiasts. Used to be that when you fished for tarpon, it didn’t matter if the fish died or not. But in this day of “love all, kill nothing,” all the local tournaments switched to no-kill. St. Petersburg’s 74-year-old Suncoast Tarpon Roundup was the last local contest that went to the all-release format.

That didn’t sit well with a group of mainly pier fishermen, so the West Coast Anglers Association (BEWARE: Auto-Audio!) began their own brand new Killing is OK With Us tournament. They want you to know that…

Florida’s tarpon population is not considered endangered because most anglers who target the species have been practicing catch-and-release for more than a decade. State regulations require anglers to purchase a tarpon tag to kill a tarpon. .

So the West Coast Trawl & Brawl aim to protect their turf (& surf!?!) as well as the right to murder the tarpon they catch:

“We kill tarpon,” said Paul Herrington, a member of the West Coast Anglers, the group hosting the Redington Shores tournament. “That is what we do.”

This brainiac also explains the “exclusive” rights to the pier: “It costs $150 for members to enter the tournament, and we give (Antonious) 15 percent of all the entry fees.”

So pier owner Tony Tony lets some chuckleheads police his property for a couple hundred bucks. And then he wants to pretend he’s not responsible:

“I go down there when I get a complaint, but the troublemakers are always gone. Nobody will tell me anything. It is like a mafia line.”

This is the same guy who complained that the city was out to get him AFTER he attempted to strong-arm Redington Shores into buying the pier for an inflated price.

This is nothing but a bunch of fishin’ hillbillies defending their right to kill and enforcing their turf while a greedy pier owner claims that his hands are tied. Losers all around.

Our friend Trevor knows fishing.  Especially fishing in and around Tampa Bay.  In fact, he’s the guy behind the great Tampa Bay fishing site called Tampa Bay Fish.  But even better than a website about fishing would be a map of where to catch some dinner.

So TrevorOK created a googlemap of Fishing Hot Spots in and around Tampa Bay:

View Larger Map

We especially love the use of images of fishies to mark the spots. 

Go get ‘em.

I recently rediscovered the Courtney Campbell Causeway. You rarely hear about this bridge’s beauty these days. Normally the only mention that you hear of it is when there is a fatal crash or a well known figure is arrested there. The causeway is the northernmost bridge over Old Tampa Bay linking Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and is typical of the Floridian idea of a bridge.

Actually composed of several small islands linked by bridges, the causeway is a beautiful stretch of road for a driver. I prefer to go at night when the temperature is more reasonable and the traffic lighter. You can blast along at high speed with the windows down like Crockett and Tubbs in Miami Vice, palm trees zipping by and the night air thick in your hair. Or you can lope along at a comfortable pace enjoying the beauty of the last rays of the western sun hitting the tops of the palms trees and the hotels while down below the cars and restaurants have long since turned on their lights. You can pull off at several points where an access road and parking areas are open all night.

Fishermen launch boats off of the Causeway. Kids come out there to race and show off their modified cars. It’s a popular place to watch or set off fireworks. Couples come out do, uh, couple things. Other people come for the solitude and, I suspect, there are more than a few clandestine meetings here.

North of the causeway is a tangle of mangroves and salty marsh that hide troves of fish. South is the bay, laid out in dark blue splendor reflecting the city lights. Past the water you see the amber necklace of the Howard Frankland Bridge which is a few miles south of the causeway and far more heavily traveled. At either end of that necklace are clusters of city lights from offices, hotels, skyscrapers, malls. The other bridges, the simple two lane Gandy and the massive soaring Sunshine Skyway, are invisible at this elevation.

So the next night you have nothing to do and are thinking of going to Ybor or find a movie that you don’t really want to see anyway remember that there are a lot of fun places to go in Tampa Bay. Take a drive out to the causeway, bring a cooler and a couple of chairs and watch the sunset with somebody you care about because having fun does not always mean you have to pay a parking fee and a cover charge.

Rivercrest Park is located in the South Seminole Heights neighborhood north of downtown Tampa.

From the City of Tampa website:

Rivercrest Park runs along much of the Hillsborough River as it winds its way from Hillsborough Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard. Park amenities include a pier, playground area, picnic tables and grills.

One of the best features of this park is its location on the Hillsborough River. Since I have been going there I have seen alligators, bald eagles, manatees and osprey. There is a decent sized gazebo in the middle of the park and is often used for birthday parties. The children’s area has two playgrounds which are both shaded by many oak trees. That shade helps to provide many great spots for picnicking, too.

Rivercrest includes a nice walking and jogging path that goes around the majority of the park. There is also a long dock on the water, where you will find numerous options to take nature photos without having to leave the city.

While there are not any basketball courts or softball fields, the city has added new in-ground garbage cans and the park is kept relatively neat. The number of parking spaces are few, but there is a handicap space with a ramp in close proximity. Your best bet when driving there is to use West Osborne Ave from Florida Ave or Nebraska Ave.

Overall grade: B-

If a National Park was being devastated by 15,000 tire tracks slashing up an ecologically valuable area, we’d put a stop to it. So what are we going to do about our own Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve? Its shallow seagrass meadows are being chewed UP by motor boats which have caused an estimated 15,000 propeller scars. And every day irresponsible boaters do more damage to the magical mud flats and seagrass beds which are crucial to the health of Tampa Bay.

I’ve already posted details about this issue and since then Saturday’s Trib explained it well. (See also the Times.)

Now I just want to remind everyone of the public meeting this week:

Thursday, May 31, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
South Shore Regional Library
15816 Beth Shields Way
Ruskin, FL 33573

This is our chance to discuss and help shape the draft seagrass management plan for Tampa Bay. Proposals include a new “pole & troll zone” and stronger enforcement of current speed zones and other laws.

While everyone can see we have a serious problem, not everyone agrees on the solution. If you care about Cockroach Bay I hope I see you at this meeting so we can work something out to protect this precious piece of Tampa Bay. If you can’t make the meeting, you can send your comments to Barbara Motte, at the Environmental Protection Commission.

A vocal few are opposed to any new regulations in Cockroach Bay, so if the public doesn’t back a plan for better management, nothing will change, and the destruction will continue until this critical marine habitat is obliterated.

Ever since we stopped pouring raw sewage into Tampa Bay, the seagrass has been gradually recovering. But that rosy bay-wide picture (reported in the Tribune) misses the cancerous devastation spreading through the Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve. At Thursday’s meeting of the Agency on Bay Management (ABM), scientists displayed ghastly photos documenting the extensive damage done by motorboats ripping up the preserve’s seagrass with their propellers. Thousands of “prop scars”—some coalescing into large bare areas—are a serious problem.

If the damage continues, whole seagrass meadows will be wiped out, impacting Tampa Bay’s marine life. Cockroach Bay’s seagrass beds provide critical habitat for fish, crustaceans & shellfish. They stabilize bay bottom, clarify the water, and provide important manatee feeding grounds.

Dr. Nick Ehringer, who has studied Cockroach Bay’s seagrass for decades, told the ABM that the crisis is worse now than it was in the 1990’s when it got so bad we closed off certain areas to motor boats for a few years, allowing the grasses to recover. Although some boaters oppose any regulations, two fishing guides at this ABM meeting heartily agreed that tough measures are again called for to save the resource.

One proposal is to make a “pole & troll zone” in the area between the boat ramp and the Little Manatee River, called “Little Cockroach Bay.” Anglers could still fish there if they turn their combustion motor off and use a trolling motor or push pole instead. Commercial crabber Gus Muench said Little Cockroach is only part of the area that needs protecting. He’d like to see the rest of the preserve made into a pole & troll zone, since it is all suffering severe scarring. Gus has put his money where his mouth is, and pulled his crab traps out of Cockroach Bay after 30 years of fishing there.

Columnist Frank Sargeant notes even fishermen opposed to the regulations admit there are benefits to no-motor zones which become prime fishing areas as “snook, reds and trout stack up in areas where they’re not constantly being buzzed by high-speed boats.”

Contrary to an inflammatory e-mail circulating among local fishermen, no one is proposing we close off Cockroach Bay to all boaters. We simply have to find a way to enjoy the Aquatic Preserve without destroying it.

What do you think? The EPC is hosting a public meeting to listen to suggestions before making a recommendation: Thursday, May 31, 6:00 p.m., South Shore Regional Library, 15816 Beth Shields Way, in Ruskin.

EPC’s Draft Seagrass Management Action Plan outlines proposals to protect and restore seagrass throughout Tampa Bay, with LOTS of information.

This topic is dear to my heart. I attended the ABM meeting, and I’ll attend the EPC meeting because I live on the preserve and my family & I are frequently out on its waters, enjoying Cockroach Bay.

If you can get through the smoke, you can find the fish.

Early morning and afternoon fishing are going to be your best bets this weekend. Tarpon are still a great target for some real excitement. In the coming days we should see an increase in the Tarpon activity under the Gandy Bridges. Kings and some Cobia are still on structure offshore in about 25-30ft of water. The bite on the shore near Dunedin will be good late afternoon under both causeway bridges. Also Mangrove Snapper near the skyway and in the ships channel have picked up.

Flounder and Trout seem to be the best bet. Snook have been very active in the strong outgoing currents on almost all beach passes but remember they are out of season so release them if caught. Trout will likely be the primary table fish this weekend, with most taking live shrimp and DOA or Gulp baits.

For daily fishing information and photographs, visit TampaBayFish.com.

Tarpon

If it’s May in Tampa, we’re catching Tarpon. Tarpon are showing at Gandy Bridge with a few catches reported between 60-80lbs. Morning and afternoon are best time to chase these great fighting fish. Tarpon Fishing will pick up all throughout the entire month of May, and with the temperature beginning to rise we will be seeing a lot more action from the silver kings.

This early month full moon saw a lot of activity at Egmont Pass. Redfish are hot and heavy near the DeSoto flats and the fishing there is always good. Just find the schools of Mullet, and the Reds hiding are under them. Spanish Macks are a favorite near all the bay bridges this time of year and will continue for a while longer. Snook are out of season but some early morning and late afternoon catches can be made in most passes and nearer to the beaches. But remember to catch and release gently.

For all your local fishing information, daily reports, and photographs, visit TampaBayFish.com.