BocaBeacon.comThe Boca Beacon is Boca Grande's weekly community newspaper.
Tarpon research effort focuses on Boca Grande
Want to know where that tarpon you caught last May will be in December? This fall, information will start trickling in from five Boca Grande tarpon that have been satellite tagged that could change traditional knowledge of the megalops.
Court removes TV tarpon tourney from guides suit
A Florida appeals court has barred the Tarpon Anglers Club and its attorney from future participation in a legal action brought by the Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association.
Appeals court rules in favor of guides in jig ban case
A state appeals court has ordered the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to explain why it is refusing to grant the Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association a hearing on the association’s petition to have the so-called breakaway tarpon jig declared a snagging device.
Appeals court to hear guides case against break-away jig
BY MARCY SHORTUSE – The next step in the Boca Grande Fishing Guides petition to have the controversial break-away jig declared an illegal snagging device will be decided by a Florida appeals court.
Zorian to FWC’s Barreto: Outlaw tarpon possession now
The following letter was sent to Rodney L. Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, by Jon Zorian, on behalf of the Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association:
Relative to a conversation you had with Cappy Joiner, longtime multi-generation charter captain and commercial fisherman on Florida waters, regarding the need for the tarpon kill [...]
The jig’s ugly little truth could become clear this spring
By GB KNOWLES – Here’s a good situation for you lesser anglers out there. It’s hard work and time consuming to find tarpon in many places.
COMMENTARY: It’s time for the FWC to tell the truth about its flawed tarpon study
BY GARY DUTERY – During the 2002-2004 tarpon fishing seasons, researchers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted a tarpon mortality study in Boca Grande Pass.
This study has been used and abused by the jig fishing community to create an invented validation of the drive-by carnage they and their motorized surfboards have left [...]
Men of honor speaking out against the jig
BY GB KNOWLES – There is a time when those who side with you mean something. In the ongoing battle against the break-away jig I’ve been called every name in the book by former friends and my name has been fouled by children who play with the Internet under the guise of adults.
Jig anglers threaten Pass fishing traditions
BY GB KNOWLES – As the break-away jig debate continues to rage in saloons, chat rooms and courtrooms, I’ve had a chance to reflect on just what is at stake. In many ways it has little to do with the snagging gear that the “break-away” employs. Nor is simply about reckless boatmanship.
Tarpon need protection in wake of record cold winter
By GB KNOWLES – With freezes and harvest closures and continuing failure by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation to help their own cause as well as anglers, there is another element of trouble brewing on the horizon.
Guides want tarpon possession outlawed
STAFF REPORT – In 1989, the Boca Grande Fishing Guides spearheaded the effort to create regulations requiring anglers to purchase a $50 “kill tag” to legally possess a tarpon. Now the guides are taking the next step, calling on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to outlaw possession and make all tarpon fishing catch [...]
Commentary: Keep tarpon tags, but raise the price
BY GB KNOWLES – Last week there was a meeting of the Tarpon Bonefish Trust conservation group in Boca Grande. This conclave of conservationists has some terrific potential. But there are cautions that should be observed.
Guide admits tarpon tag laws skirted in PTTS tourney; fish fed to sharks
The following was posted by Capt. Scott Hughes on the Florida Sportsman Southwest Florida forum. The comment came in response to a debate over an article published on BocaBeacon.com written by David Futch. The article appears in the January issue of Pirate Coast Magazine and is reprinted with permission. There are two posts here. And [...]
FWC: Saving our fish or saving themselves?
BY GB KNOWLES – They may not know it yet but Florida’s fishery managers and staff may be on the verge of an economic crisis. Part of it is government ineptitude and arrogance. The economy is a trouble spot. Now a devastating freeze has put fishery managers in a position they haven’t seen since the [...]
