TBO.com, 14 January 2010
Eric Mahoney hasn't taken his charter fishing boat out this year because of the record run of frigid weather. "It definitely affects the fish, and it's not good,'' said Mahoney, who operates Daisy Mae Fishing Co. out of Clearwater Beach. "I have been here 15 years, and it's the worst stretch people can ever remember."
The string of freezes since Jan. 1 has taken a toll on more than fruit, farmers and residential landscaping. Fish are taking a beating, especially species more suited to tropical water temperatures, said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Reports of fish kills are coming from both coasts after the brutal cold swept the state and spread freezing temperatures as far south as Homestead. Snook, a favorite of sport anglers, were especially hard hit in the waterways around the Tampa Bay area, Morse said.
"Tampa Bay is about the northern end of the range for snook," Morse said. Two other popular sport species, redfish and trout, are doing fine because their native range runs farther north than snook, and they can survive colder water, Morse said.
But the cold is also killing other species, such as ladyfish and jack. The temperature for the Gulf of Mexico at Clearwater Beach dropped to 49 degrees a couple of days ago. It has since rebounded a couple of degrees.
The same was true for water temperatures well to the south. In Venice, the Gulf temperature also dropped to 49 degrees. The lowest prior reading noted since records have been kept there was 53 degrees in 2001.
"Most of the time, the coolest it gets is about 57 degrees,'' said Logan Johnson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin. "It's certainly below normal. It's extremely unusual, to say the least.''
"I've never seen it this low,'' Mahoney said of the water temperature. "The fish don't hold up good in this kind of weather. It's just extremely cold.'' The boats that are going out have to go way offshore to find slightly warmer temperatures in deeper waters where the fish might be biting, Mahoney said.
Closer to shore, snook are indeed taking a hit. "You will see snook be belly-up,'' the charter boat operator said. "They look like they're dead, but they're not. As the water warms up, they will come back to life. A lot of people think they are seeing dead fish floating, but they're not.''
The cold snap has affected business at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach, where people normally line up to fish from the end of the pier. That hasn't been the case lately. "I've seen no dead fish at all, but as far as the impact on fishing, it has had quite a devastating impact,'' said Ron Melton, marine facilities supervisor for the city of Clearwater.
"Very few people have come out,'' Melton said. "It's just been too cold, too windy and the water is too rough and murky.'' Most of Florida's freshwater fish, meanwhile, are doing fine. They have adapted to periods of cold, and their range also covers much of the country.
Non-native species such as tilapia and armored catfish, however, are being hammered by the cold. "They're not doing well, and that's good," Morse said. "It thins out the non-native fish that compete with the native species." Some of the fish seen floating may be just stunned by the cold and might recover when the water warms.
"This is just a natural part of the environment," Morse said. As the temperature has been warming up this week, so has the Gulf. "Once the sun comes out, it is pretty quick to respond and head back up,'' Johnson said of the water temperature.
The cold temperatures of the Gulf, however, mean coastal areas will remain cooler over the next couple of days compared with inland areas.
Source: TBO.com
