# Red tide - Stump / Little Gasparilla Pass / Cayo Costa area?



## PropGunOne

Captiva last week. Definitely in the air. Offshore was rough, big patches of algae on the surface. Didn’t catch a thing until the tide turned and blew it out of there. Inshore was fairly good along Wulfert. Some monsterous snook in there.


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## Indoman

How far out were you? We usually run 10-20 miles out.

Thx


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## PropGunOne

Just five. Father-in-laws new boat and he was too nervous to run that far...


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## Guest

TV & newspaper reports had Manasota Key south thru Boca Grande beaches with north west winds pushing red tide into Pine Island. 
http://www.nbc-2.com/search?qu=red tide&num=5


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## Indoman

Dang. 

Once it blows out, how fast does fishing return to normal? 

In almost 20 years we’ve been lucky and have never had it affect fishing. ...that we could tell. Looks like we may have to deal with it this year.

Thx


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## 7WT

I fished Boca thru Captiva last week. Boca beaches very bad red tide and in lemon bay. Better at Captiva but some evidence in water clarity. 10 to 20 miles out though I think would be clear.1 mile out on Boca we found a large tarpon school well over 500 fish. Zero fish or boats in The Pass. Read info on Okeechobee article under flyfishing forum


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## Indoman

Will check it out. I’ve read a couple of discussions on here about the issue.

Looks like offshore in my buddies CC will be our back up and if it’s calm I’ll take my boat out in the gulf early AM. A mile out would be no problem.

Thx for the heads up.


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## Guest

Indoman said:


> Will check it out. I’ve read a couple of discussions on here about the issue.
> 
> Looks like offshore in my buddies CC will be our back up and if it’s calm I’ll take my boat out in the gulf early AM. A mile out would be no problem.
> 
> Thx for the heads up.


A mile out is probably too far out for tarpon fishing, but could find a reef or ridge for bottom fishing.


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## Guest

Last nights evening news had Boca beaches with dead goliath grouper, manatees, dolphins & tarpon added to the Red Tide wave......http://www.nbc-2.com/story/38516587/dead-manatee-dolphin-and-fish-wash-up-on-boca-grande-beach


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## Indoman

Wow. Thinking we run to the south end of Cayo and try Captiva. 

Also read Turtle Bay still had fish. May try that as well.

Current info welcomed

Thx


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## Brett

I'm on the fwc email list for red tide reports
and you can check on the fwc red tide webpage

http://myfwc.com/redtidestatus

Keeps me from wasting a trip


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## 7WT

Read this article on red tide: https://robertscribbler.com/tag/hydrogen-sulfide/ 
Carbon! Regardless of how it gets into the atmosphere its the main culprit and will be getting worse for a long time before/if it gets better. This is a world problem showing itself today on the Boca beaches. The oceans and the planet have had mass extinctions before most due to global warming including volcanoes setting coal on fire and oceans dying leading to planet life extinctions. It doesn't really matter how the carbon gets there- industry, cars, boat motors, coal, oil, gas or volcanoes- the result is the same. I am responsible along with...


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## Guest

Indoman said:


> Wow. Thinking we run to the south end of Cayo and try Captiva.
> 
> Also read Turtle Bay still had fish. May try that as well.
> 
> Current info welcomed
> 
> Thx


They interviewed a guide who said it was the worst red tide fish kill ever seen in a few decades.


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## Indoman

Hmmm. Not looking good.


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## EdK13

The first recorded outbreak in Florida was in 1844. The fewest episodes in recent decades seemed to occur in the '70's and 'the 80's - not exactly the most pollution-free years.

There is a book called "Fisherfolk of Charlotte Harbor, Florida" by Robert F. Edic. Institute of Archaeology and Paleoenvironmental Studies, Univ of Florida, Gainesville, 1996. ISBN 1-881448-10-X. It is a book of oral histories taken by Mr. Edic of the old-timer fishermen and women of Charlotte Harbor. A portion of the book deals with red tide. It is obvious that the worst red tide any of them remembered was in 1947:

"...in 1947 it wiped the grouper out. It just wiped them out, and they are just now [1990] starting to come back..-_Tom Parkinson, commercial fisherman and guide 1914 - 1994._

"The fish were that high [knee deep] all along the beaches--on these island beaches--piled up dead." _-Bill Hunter, 1907 - ? commercial fisherman, guide, net maker_.

"The red tide wiped us out...there were so many dead fish floating...you would be running in there [in your boat] and just plowing the fish aside. There were just millions of them. Just as far offshore as you would go, you would be in them." -_Bo Smith, 1929 - 1991, fisherman, sport-fishing guide. from beachfinder.net - I think.

https://www.leisurepro.com/blog/ocean-news/3-devastating-red-tide-events-world-history/_


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## firecat1981

Weird, so what's the correlation? I always thought it was fertilizer and fresh water outflow spawning the blooms.


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## EdK13

firecat1981 said:


> Weird, so what's the correlation? I always thought it was fertilizer and fresh water outflow spawning the blooms.


I do not know but apparently this crap just happens. FWC used to have a red tide history section that has been taken down for whatever reason. It included analysis from around the world. I do know this - I cannot stand the stench, eye watering and coughing that accompany's red tide.


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## Indoman

My understanding has always been it’s a natural occurance, just made worse by fertilizer/freshwater releases. ...But, it sounds like the old timers had to deal with even worse cases of it long before the population boom. Like so many things in nature, as much as we think we know...we don’t know sheet.


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## 7WT

Please do more research so you understand the current causes of red tide. Take a look at Hydrogen sulfite and how CO2 and warm temperatures create what is called red tide. Look at historical data on how carbon has caused significant red tide and eventual extinction multiple times. It doesn't matter how the carbon gets into the atmosphere- natural or man made. Look at the red tide fiasco in Chile in 2015. Then begin to see this is a much larger problem and one that is just starting. But research this on your own and come up with your own understandings. I believe we are in serious trouble.


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## 7WT

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424153809.htm


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## Guest

What gets me is we will spend money making and seeding artificial things to clean the water but we won’t spend that same money on preventing the pollution that is detroying our water in the first place!


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## 7WT

Look I don't mean to stand on a soap box but I think all of the organizations: CCA, Tarpon Trust, Audubon, there's a ton of em and also all of us at Microskiff, Orvis, Sage, Boca dollar folks etc. We all have to lobby for recognition and addressing this. I'm sure I am not in agreement with all here but in the end we are talking about Global Warming and yes pollution.


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## Guest

I agree we need to start a lobby to stop the pollution! We can’t stop GW because it’s a natural cycle of the earth, “I am not saying that we aren’t speesing up that natural cycle though”. We can stop pollution, we can stop feetilizee companies feom dumping crap in our water, we can redirect the water back to the river of grass, we can make people understand that grass don’t need all that crap to grow “I can’t keep mine mowed and never fertilize it”, we can make those that live near the water go on public sewer, force golf courses to stop draining the aquifer and poisoning the groundwater and water ways with all they’re chemicals! Don’t get me wrong here, I am not for writing a bunch of new laws... but we only get this one planet and only a small oppurtunity to do the right thing before it’s too late to fix! All it takes is money and if our government would stop doing tests to clean the water and put that money into stopping the pollution from reaching the water it would solve a lot! Rant over... for now.


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## Indoman

Terrible conditions last week end from Tom Adams Bridge all the way to Boca. The flat just inside Stump looked horrible. Brown/Grey water, dead fish and slimy sea weed everywhere. Stunk bad. Had to run to Turtle bay to find some snook. Water there was even a bit stained.

As the week progressed it got better. By Friday we did pretty decent on small snook (14”-20”) just south of Tom Adams. Interesting note. 80-90% of the dead fish we saw were catfish/trout/pinfish. The snook reappeared first and, although it was a very slow week, 95% of what we caught were juvenile Snook.


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## 7WT

When I was fishing in mid June I saw hundreds of dead large snook, grouper, trout. 1000's dead on beaches and lemon bay.


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## firecat1981

This is all heart breaking as Englewood is our favorite vacation spot. We are heading g to Marco Island for a week at the end of the month. I've only heard of a few fish floating up dead there. Any chance this will be gone by then?


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## Marker10

I’m fishing Pine Island this week, and while it’s well south of Stump’s Pass, not a dead fish to be found except for those intentionally put on ice. Bait is very tough to come by though. It took 3 hours to get enough greenbacks to make it count. Hopefully the bait situation improves.


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## slewis

Marker10 said:


> I’m fishing Pine Island this week, and while it’s well south of Stump’s Pass, not a dead fish to be found except for those intentionally put on ice. Bait is very tough to come by though. It took 3 hours to get enough greenbacks to make it count. Hopefully the bait situation improves.


Where in Pine Island are you fishing, exactly? A week ago I stayed in Matlacha/CH to avoid the BG area. I ran over just to scope it out, and there was still a bunch of fish floating on the inside of Cayo.

Bait was all over Charlotte Harbour when I was out last.


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## slewis

firecat1981 said:


> This is all heart breaking as Englewood is our favorite vacation spot. We are heading g to Marco Island for a week at the end of the month. I've only heard of a few fish floating up dead there. Any chance this will be gone by then?


I'm heading to Chokoloskee on Saturday and may run North a little bit. I'll keep an eye out for any sign and report back.


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## Indoman

How long does the overall fish population take to bounce back to normal after and event like this? Seriously considering skipping next years trip and heading elsewhere.


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## firecat1981

It varies on how hard they are hit. Some a few months, some years.
Remember the freeze a few years ago, think it took the snook up this way about 2 years.


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## Indoman

Maybe the fact that the Snook started showing back up so fast is a good sign.


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## Backwater

This is all caused by the Army Corp of Engineers opening up the locks in the Caloosahatchee river to drain down Lake Okeechobee to get ready for this years hurricane season. Those water suck out organic rich water from the farm fields, including so phosphate residue from the phosphate plants and run it all right into the gulf where the red tide laid dormant from the winter months. This excess of freshwater with those nutrients caused the red tide algae to bloom as soon as water temps reached 80 degrees and the tides brought it back inshore, which is causing all this damage to marine life. The biggest thing that red tide does is zap all of the oxygen out of the water and the air just above the water in those "hot spots", hence the reason the fish die, not because of a toxin.


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## 7WT

Karenia Brevis is the algae responsible for "red tide." It has been around and impacting the oceans for a long time. Starts 10 to 40 miles offshore. Pollution via nutrients can increase growth of red tide in coastal areas. Most alarming and what now and increasingly in years to come is how carbon impacts the algae. From science direct: At higher _p_CO2 concentrations _Karenia brevis_growth rates are significantly increased. For the complete article see:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988314000961


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