Capt. Dave Stephens
Well what seemed to be one of the driest springs leading into summer that I can remember, might be coming to an end. The past few days I’ve found myself fishing in the rain midday here on Charlotte Harbor. I have to admit, day one I didn’t have any rain gear on the boat. However, that mistake was not made a second time, mainly because my wife has been married to a guide for 20+ years.
I’m sure a lot of people think that a high concentration of salt is a good thing for our local fishery, well it is not. A lot of our fish require salt with freshwater mixed. Not only do some of our top game fish require this, it’s very important for our estuary. Over the past few years we have seen a decline in our natural sea grass beds due to the higher influx of fresh water. During the wet season, too much rain can wash out, and even kill our natural grass beds. However, the same can be said for the rivers that feed into our harbor. I grew up fishing the Peace River and have noticed the loss of reed grass on that river. This is mainly due to the higher salinity levels pushing up the river. These reed covered shorelines are natural habitat for juvenile mullet and crustaceans. Where you have a food source the predators will surely follow. Hopefully with the oncoming rainy season the balance of our estuary will get back to normal. Probably the biggest effect this has on our fishery is the spawn, on the top of that list would be snook. This is the time of year when these fish are spawning, and snook require a certain level of salinity for their eggs to hatch. I know the higher salt levels sound like a great thing for that to happen, but it could also be a bad thing. If we get too much rain in a short period of time while a spawn is taking place, those eggs could be washed out. I know it’s said that all snook return to the beach to spawn. This is a myth, these fish will spawn in areas with the proper bottom, tidal flow and salt content. The one thing that could hurt a great spawn would be a false sense of security. What I mean by this is, a spawn happening then we get an overwhelming amount of rain. We have dealt with red tide in the past and are on the brink of a major come back for our greatest sportfish. I know, I got off topic about what’s biting and forecasting what will be biting in the next few weeks. I just felt like I should share some knowledge about one of my personal favorite fish to target while on charters. If you would like to see why I’m so passionate about this fish call an book a charter with us, I’m sure I can make you love the fish as much as I do.
Back Bay Xtremes |Backbayextremes.com
941-916-5769
