Captain’s Corner: Brent Gaskill

The Tampa Bay Times

Capt. Brent Gaskill
 
 
 

        The hazy hot days of summer are upon us. The meteorologists tell us the haze on the horizon is caused by the dust storms and sand blown over the Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara Desert.  It may be hard to believe, but it’s true.  We live in a global community.  Even harder to believe is that the desert sands from across the ocean are what causes Red Tide blooms to occur in the Gulf of Mexico and our many adjoining bays.  Again, it’s hard to believe, but science backs it up.  It’s much easier on our brains to blame local occurring catastrophes to our water quality such as sewage spills and massive acid runoffs for our Red Tide occurrences.  But, the experts tell us differently.  A friend of mine who works in the insurance industry gave me a good analogy.  He said “it may not have been the big can of gasoline sitting in the living room that caused the house fire, but it sure didn’t help the situation once it was going”. And there you have it.  I’m concerned for our fishery.  The conditions are brewing with the hot summer haze.  While there are still good numbers of fish and various species available, our fishery is not what it should be.  We are still suffering from previous Red Tide occurrences that have happened in recent years.  Areas of hard bottom throughout the bay are not alive with the popping-clicking-sizzling sounds that should be heard from the surface and the fish that inhabit these areas are gone.  Backcountry grass flats and mangrove areas that should be teaming with fish are lucky to host a few at best.  There are still fish to catch, but you will have to work for them.  Many anglers will take the easy route and blame the heat for the lack of action. The meteorologists are saying July may go down in the record books as the hottest month in their history of record keeping. I’m just hoping July doesn’t go into the records as causing another environmental melt down in our bay. Stay hydrated my friends.