Page 6 - Stuart Exposure - March '20

Page 6, Stuart Exposure
Treasure Coast Mutt March Festival from page 1 and services. Follow the HSTC on Facebook at https://

Outdoors About The Humane Society Of The Treasure Coast www.facebook.com/humanesocietyTC and Twitter at
https://www.twitter.com/hstc1. For more information, visit
https://www.hstc1.org or call (772) 223-8822.

The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast (HSTC)
Water Use Conflicts Could Be is a no-kill animal
welfare organization
Avoided With Common Sense located at 4100 S.W.
Leighton Farm Ave. in
And A Little Decency Palm City, FL. Since
1955, it has been the
By Jim Weix leading advocate for
It is depressing when animal protection and
I hear stories like the well-being in the Martin
recent one about the boat County area. A 501(c)
full of anglers that were (3) private, nonprofit
anchored over a small piece organization, the HSTC
of structure and fishing is independent and
for cobia. They had been locally operated and
fishing for about an hour, relies on donations to
when a boatload of divers support its programs
pulled up next to them,
grabbed their spear guns,
and jumped into the water. When the anglers complained,
the divers taunted them about what great spearing they
would have by diving in the angler’s chum line.
Water conflicts are nothing new, but cobia fishing
seems to bring out the worst in people. That is because the
cobia like to congregate over such spots as the “Sandpile”
and “Bull Shark Reef.” This results in a high number of
people fishing, or spearfishing, in a concentrated area.
For the most part, everyone tries to get along and deal
with the situation. Last week, while cobia fishing at the
Sandpile, my anchor got stuck on something when I tried
to pull it up. A diver saw my situation, asked if he could
help, then dove down and freed my anchor. He even hand
delivered it to me.
There is also the common conflict between recreational
and commercial anglers. This is probably the aftermath of
the gill net controversy. Before gill nets were outlawed,
the fishery was severely impacted by the commercial use
of gill nets. Years later there are still a lot of bad feelings
on both sides.
I’m fortunate enough to know several commercial
anglers. Since they make a living catching fish, they are
better at it than many recreational anglers. So, instead of
cursing them, I ask them for advice. My success rate has
increased by following their advice.
Unlike the intentionally rude behavior of the divers
that pulled up to the boat of anglers, most water conflicts
are the result of operator error or crowded conditions.
Most of these things can be dealt with in a mature matter.
A tangled line can be untangled. There is no need for a
shouting match.
So how do we deal with situations like the divers? My
first thought would be to drop a few weighted quarter
stick firecrackers into the water. Although the underwater
concussion might fix their personality defects, it would
also land me in jail, so toss that tempting idea.
The unfortunate fact is that there isn’t really a legal
way to fix people that are intentionally rude. There have
always been these types of people.
As for the cobia fishing, I’ve chosen to avoid these
situations by fishing lesser known structure. Thanks to
the advice of a commercial fisherman, I downloaded and
printed a copy of the numerous reefs in Martin County.
This way I can find uncrowded spots. Another plus is that
the cobia at these spots haven’t watched three dozen baits
pass by them in the last hour, so they are more likely to
hit your bait. Go to https://www.martin.fl.us/resources/ Call Now for Your
martin-county-reefs-coordinates-list-pdf. AC TUNE-UP
Editor’s note: Jim Weix is an avid hunter, angler,
conservationist, as well as an outdoor writer. Jim is
included in the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s Hall of
Fame for his work in helping restore thousands of acres
of wetlands. Jim is a Broker Associate with The Keyes
Company. He can be reached at (772) 341-2941 or by
email: jimweix@jimweix.com.

673 SW Carter Avenue, Port Saint Lucie, Florida 34983
www.millerscentralair.com
March 17 See answer in this paper.