May 2019 Newsletter

Old Business:

General membership meeting:

The Fish On Club held its regular monthly general membership meeting May 14, 7:00pm, at the American Legion Post in New Port Richey. President Frank Bellizio chaired the meeting. We had 38 members in attendance including 2 new members. Jim Soper led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance to kick off our meeting.

President Bellizio led off the meeting with an introduction of our guests and explained what the charter of the FOC was and how it benefited our members and under priviledged children in our area. We had 2 new members join our club at this meeting.

Steve Singer Craig Meyers

Please welcome our newest members the next time you see them or better yet, ask them to go fishing with you. It’s a great way to make new friends.

V.P. Mark Morningstar introduced our guest speaker, Captain Fred Heidgerken of Freedom Charters out of Hudson. He has 10 years of chartering experience in the area. Captain Fred spoke to the membership on inshore fishing and the methods he uses with his clients. His bait of choice is live bait such as Greenbacks, Mullet, Pinfish, Shrimp or other live baits. He did state that artificials will catch fish but they need to be shiny or flashy and darker during the summer months. Also fish them slow especially when the temperature rises and it gets hot. In fishing the flats, look for moving water and some structure. The fish will be hanging out waiting for food to move past them. He said this is most important. The tides too will make a difference. Fish on the incoming or outgoing tides for best results.

When choosing an area to fish, it’s important that you ease into that area with as little noise as possible. This will keep the fish in that area and not spook them out. Besides fishing for the usual Trout, Redfish and Snook, the Captain said to keep an eye out for the Cobia which will be cruising along with the Sting Rays on the flats. Place your bait out in front of them so they don’t have to leave the Rays they’re with to go after yours. Your chance of hooking one of them will be much greater. When fishing off shore, tides will also be a factor. Again, moving water is imperative for a good bite. Greenbacks work as great bait and chum off shore as well. Are you interested in fishing with Captain Fred? Give him a call at Freedom Charters, 727-457-3303.

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Capt. Fred Speaking to us. V.P. Mark Moringstar presenting certificate of appreciation to Capt. Fred.

The Fish On Club held it’s monthly social at the VFW Post 4412 in Hudson. We had 27 members and their significant others attend and enjoy a great meal and lots of good conversation. Thank you Ernie for planning this social. A good time was had by all. Below are pictures from the social.

The Fish of the month for April was won by Mike Spanhel who reeled in a 25.5” Spanish Mackerel. And Kurt Galaba who reeled in a whopping 45.5” King Fish. Congratulations Mike and Kurt on great catches. Remember, you must fill out a fishing report with pictures of your catch in order to qualify. There’s cash waiting for you. These two winners are now wealthy men.

Tom Loughlin won the 50/50 at the General Membership Meeting. He took home $71.00 just for coming to the meeting. It does pay to show up and participate.

Robert Grover won the drawing for the $25 gift certificate to Tarpon Outfitters. I know for a fact he’s already spent it. Great way to get new tackle.

NEW BUSINESS:

Our next dinner social is being held on Tuesday , June18th at Beef O’Brady’s, 8717 Little Rd., Port Richey,34654 . We hope to see you and your significant other there for an evening of good food and fellowship. Mark you calendars.

The Next FOC General Membership meeting is scheduled for June 11, 7:00 pm, at the American Legion Post 5329 Legion Pl., New Port Richey, 34652.

Our targeted species this month are Speckled Trout, Cobia, and any Grouper Remember to file a fishing report if you want your fish to qualify.

Following is some information on these targeted fish. Good luck!

Speckled Trout: Note Spotted seatrout will be catch-and-release only in state or federal waters from the Pasco-Hernando county line south to Gordon Pass in Collier County starting May 11. This is a proactive change to conserve spotted seatrout impacted by the prolonged red tide in southwest Florida. While these species need additional time to recover, the red tide that was impacting southwest Florida has subsided NEWS RELEASE PLEASE GO TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS FOR MORE INFORMATION, https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/spotted- seatrout/

Here are some speckled trout fishing techniques that have proven to work well: 1. Drift Fishing Drift your boat over sandy flats, oyster beds, rocky bottoms, and wrecks. Recommend is using a double "jig rig". Use split-tail grubs, soft plastic minnows, or a combination of both. 2. Bottom Fishing Bait a Kahle hook with live shrimp (you can also use baitfish like menhaden, pogies, or croakers). Use a Carolina Rig with a light weight to get the bait down, but allow it to swim as naturally as possible. Use this rig in open water or inland bays. 3. Surf Fishing and Wading These are very popular methods for fishing speckled trout, and they lend themselves to fly fishing as well. You want to fish in the "guts" of the surf...the dips between the sandbars off the beaches...especially during high tides.

Do NOT wade into the guts. Stand atop the sandbars and cast INTO the guts. You don't want to disturb these areas. If you see a flock of birds in the water, get ready. Speckled trout and other predators are tearing through bait fish, and the birds are picking up the scraps. Get into position, and cast right into the fray. If you're going to try some lures, try these: Johnson spoons, Zara Spooks, bucktail jigs, and Mirro Lures. Finally, I highly recommend fishing for speckled trout in the winter. You'll find them in slightly deeper water in estuaries, bayous, inland marshes, bays, and canals. Live shrimp is best during this time. The bites will be lighter as well...so set your hook when you feel any resistance at all.

Cobia: How to find Cobia Cobias reside in water depths that range from 120 feet to 3 feet grass flats. When fishing inshore a good tactic is to drag a live pinfish on a bobber behind the boat for a stray cobia cruising the flats. In the spring when the water heats up cobia move inshore to spawn. An area where large concentrations of cobia populate is the flats of Tampa Bay to Keyton Beach Florida and they will hold proper levels of Cobia. Cobia will often swim underneath Manta Rays and Bull Sharks in the spring run and are often located by sight fishing along the beaches. Many boats will have towers for spotting these sizeable brown fish. Cobia often looks similar to sharks in the water swimming close to the surface but lack the large dorsal fin. Another tactic for finding Cobia is checking the channel buoys when heading offshore. Many times they will sit under the large markers in the inlets. However, most cobia are caught offshore around an artificial structure and natural ledges. When bottom fishing they will follow smaller fish up towards the boat when being reeled in. Then a cobia jig or artificial soft plastic lure can be pitched at them for hook up.

Tactics for Catching Cobia Anchoring and Chumming- In an area with an excellent structure such. an as an offshore reef, you can anchor up-current and chum to bring cobia into the back of the boat. One method that works well is freelancing live or dead bait back into the chum slick to catch cobia. Sight Fishing For Cobia- The most popular way to fish for Cobia is by finding them cruising along the beaches or under Manta Rays. Once cobia are located, a live eel, cobia jig, or live baitfish will often yield in hookups when casting towards them. Have several rods ready in case they have friends with them because they usually travel in schools. When casting jigs, have several different colors available in case one works better than another. Some of my favorite colors are green and yellow, orange, black/brown, and pink. Check out the cobia jig selection at Hunting and Fishing Depot. Be sure to make long casts in order not to spook the fish and pull the jig across the Cobia’s face. Deep Jigging When Cobia Fishing- Deep dropping over structure using cobia jigs can be a successful tactic. A lot of times the cobia will follow smaller fish up from the depths and pop up right beside the boat. So always have a pitching rod ready. Drop the jig all the way to the bottom and bounce along the rocks and structure. Tip with a live bait, such as eel, or shiner, or even dead bait such as squid to increase bites. Trolling For Cobia- Slow trolling live bait with or without skirts around ledges and artificial reefs will produce cobia. Water temps around 70 degrees are ideal but cobia can be caught in a wide range of temps. Trolling plugs and artificial lures can produce cobia as well but it is not as effective as live bait. Troll hornbellys, pogies, eels, sardines, and other small baitfish for best results. The use of downriggers or planer boards is also effective when the cobia are deep.

Methodology for Catching Inshore Grouper There are two ways to catch grouper inshore: Trolling for Grouper You can troll live or dead baits, you can troll metal, you can troll jigs (both their personal favorites) and you can troll plugs. Since the fish are living on or very near the bottom (they usually rise in the water column to actually feed) you need to troll near where the fish live, so you either need to use planers or downriggers and a weight. Of these two methods, the downriggers are surely the easiest to manage, but trolling with planers is also an excellent and effective way to fish for grouper in shallow water. Bottom Fishing for Grouper When we say bottom fishing for grouper inside the bay, we're not talking about bottom fishing the likes of what you're familiar with on a head boat or the deep water you'll encounter on boats like those where you drop lines to 220' of water, where beasts live that require electric reels and still do permanent tissue damage to those stupid enough to pay the freight. We're talking here about keeping a bait on the bottom - or near it -- in anything from 8' to 18' of water in most cases. We're talking the areas just before and just after the deep channels. Flat shapes in the water covered with rock, covered with crabs, and covered all year with keeper grouper. That kind of bottom fishing. Both work well. In the case of trolling, carefully drag baits on a horizontal plane using downriggers. Drags the jigs close to the ledges, and close to the homes of the grouper.

Fishing the bottom is another story. It is important that one knows the shape of the bottom -- called the Topography -- and how you can use it to find grouper in our bay all year long. There are keeper grouper on the ledges -- and most importantly on the area immediately before the drop-off into the deep channels -- all year long and always keeper-sized. They're there, and they can be caught, and if you understand the bottom, you'll find yourself in the 10% of people that catch 90% of the fish there are out there to catch.

. Reminder: If fishing off shore, you must have a REEF FISHING LICENSE which can be acquired from the FWC. It is free so don’t get caught without it. It’s a hefty fine.

Reminder The FOC Snapper Tournament starts 6-1 and runs thru 7-12. there is a fee to fish this event. Contact Mike Spanhel if interested.

REGULATION CHANGES

FWC extends red tide: fisheries conservation measures in SW Florida

At its May meeting in Tallahassee, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) extended several fisheries management conservation measures for red drum, snook and spotted seatrout in areas of southwest Florida impacted by a prolonged red tide that occurred from November 2017 through mid-February 2019. The extension for red drum, snook and spotted seatrout will go into effect May 11 and will apply from the Pasco-Hernando county line south (including all waters of Tampa Bay) through Gordon Pass in Collier County. Previously approved catch-and-release measures, including no harvest of spotted seatrout over 20 inches, remain in effect through May 10. Changes effective May 11: Snook and red drum will remain catch-and-release only for an additional year through May 31, 2020. Spotted seatrout will be catch-and-release only, including no commercial harvest through May 31, 2020. The approved changes will give these important fisheries additional time to recover from red tide. Staff will continue monthly monitoring of local red drum, snook and spotted seatrout populations throughout the coming year to help determine whether these species are rebuilding under the temporary management measures.

Staff will also revisit the snook extension in early 2020 to determine if that species may be reopened to harvest earlier than May 31, 2020.

Gag Grouper open June 1, 24" minimum, 2 per person and American Red Snapper opens June 11 thru July 12, 16" minimum 2 per person

STAR - LARGEST FISHING COMPETITION IN FLORIDA!! The CCA Star Tournament is on the horizon. Get involved and win some great prizes.

The combination of conservation, data collection, education plus prizes and scholarships valued at nearly $500,000 makes STAR a summer long fishing sensation. There is not another fishing competition in Florida that has the ability to engage so many different types of anglers from youth, women, novice, hard core, inshore and offshore, there is something for everyone, even those who don’t fish can still participate and win something by picking up and disposing of garbage in and around our coastal waters.

The last four years of CCA Florida STAR, a family friendly angling competition, were a huge success. This is thanks to the blueprint developed by CCA Texas and Louisiana and a few modifications made by CCA Florida which combined technology and conservation. The new competition format provided Florida STAR a proven formula of success for not only recreational anglers, STAR sponsors but most importantly our marine fisheries. For more information on STAR, or to register, visit our Facebook page or ccaflstar.com. FISHING REPORTS

Fishermen and their catches. We hope to see yours next time. Let’s do our part gang and support the efforts of the FWC and obey our laws and limits. Our fisheries will benefit from your care and concern.

Want to know more about these catches? Go to the Website and look in Fishing Reports and read all about them. It’s a great way to keep up with who’s biting, what they’re biting and where they’re biting.

PLEASE submit a report EVERY time you return from a fishing trip. We want to know all about your outing if you did more fishing than catching. The more information shared with your fellow members helps us all become better fishermen. Information like time of day, tide movement, weather conditions, bait, general fishing locations, species & size caught is all pertinent. Picture(s) would be great. Even if nothing spectacular was caught this information would let other members know what is or isn't going on. As of 5.26.2018 Gary Melton will be handling the posting of fishing reports on the Fish On Club website. Having Gary do the timely manner. It also provides a club member back up in the event Frank is not able to maintain the website. Frank will be assisting Gary as he gets familiar with the program and will remain being your webmaster as he has been for the last 5 years. If you have any questions or problems regarding the fishing reports, contact Gary first. Gary's email is [email protected]. We are sure this will be a seamless transition but wanted you to all be aware of what is going on in case you have a problem with a fishing report. All other website problems please contact Frank. We want to thank Gary for stepping up to the plate and assisting us with the fishing reports.

Targeted Species Rules  click this link to see detailed rules

Members Area  click her to go to members only area to see our members. If you have trouble getting to Members area or need the password call Frank Bellizio at 727-597-0741 or Mike Brumley 808-265- 0740

Website Update: Frank Bellizio has worked hard on the website www.fishonclub.us and has been adding recipes, merchandise and fishing videos. Want to know what’s going on? Check out the calendar on the website. fishonclub.us Is a great place to direct people interested in knowing more about our club. Lots of information is available for anyone to see and if you go to the Members Area and put in your password there is much more information available. If you forgot the password you can call Frank @ 727-597-0741 or Mike Brumley 808-265-0740.

President: Frank Bellizio Secretary: Robert Grover Vice President: Mark Morningstar Sergeant at Arms: Jim Soper Treasurer: Mike Spanhel Member at Large: Bill Herr Immediate Past President: Larry Mock Advisory Council – Jack Hexter, Chet Jasak

2017 Committee Chairpersons: Wish-to-Fish – Chet Jasak Club Picnics – Jean Uffalussy Dinner Socials – TDB Club Tournaments – Mike Spanhel After Holiday Party – Butch Kaelin Fund Raising – Dave Gillickson Report violations online

If your information results in an arrest, you may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. See Reward Categories for details. Report violations via text message. Most cell phones allow users to send text messages directly to an email address. You can [email protected]; standard usage fees may apply.

Enjoy your next day on the water!

Let’s all start the new year off right by fishing more.