I got a chance to help out with the tarpon and snook monitoring program at Lemon Bay Conservancy.
Great little place if you have never been there, They do net pulls a few times a year if anyone is interested in volunteering.
From my research and understanding it started as the wildflower golf course years ago, with the real estate crash the LBC where able to buy the property at a fraction of the cost. They have since made it entirely into a nature preserve. Luckily they got to this in time and were able to save a valuable snook and tarpon nursery. We pulled over 50 tarpon in one small pond with a seine net, it really makes one think how many of these nurseries are in jeopardy of becoming built on or polluted with lawn chemicals? It is a great thing for any angler to see how these developments directly affect our fishery. I was also over in Vero Beach touring the Dragon Fly Boat works shop, I was talking with anglers there asking them about all their fly fishing opportunities. They have some great fishing there but it is a common fact that the sea grass is gone and they just kind of acted like it was just a way of life that the golf course pollution had killed any and all seagrass so Redfish and Trout are not so common there. We need to protect our beautiful park know as Charlotte Harbor at all cost.
We all need to come together as a community and tourist alike to help our fishery in any way and threat means catch and release along with our actual ecosystem.
There is a new link I came across called found adrift. It post articles trash that they found and picked up in certain fisheries. I think it is a great cause as well and should be practiced daily, it’s also good fish luck!!
Paul Ray
Bocaguideservices.com
(231) 409-4231
