Red tide anyone??

gtodude

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
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255
Location
Punta Gorda, FL
So the red tide bloom on the SW Florida coast has been in my area, Charlotte County, for weeks and it’s looking like it’s been slowly spreading North and South.

Have any of you Florida guys been to the beach lately? My daughter and her friends went to Boca Grande, Englewood and Venice to go try and catch some rays and relaxation but she said it was pretty bad. There were dead fish everywhere and it stunk horribly.

In all of my years here, this is the worst I’ve seen it. It sucks!! I’m thinking of heading to the beach this morning to see how bad it really is with my own eyes. I’ll bring the MXt along for Aural support 😁. I’ll report back and post some pics later. Here is a map from FwC showing where the red tide was as of this weekend.

Eric
 

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That's a big mess. For some reason not only do they let a small number of huge farmers pollute Okeechobee they subsidize them to do it.
 
We had a trip down there next month to ft Myers next month but canceled. I'm not going to chance wasting money if they tell me I shouldn't even breath the air if it's coming off of it.
We have a similar problem here on lake Erie with the toxic algae blooms this time of year. Looks like pea green soup. Can't come into contact with it or breath the air on the beaches if its blowing off of the lake. It's a real shame.
 
I live on the Caloosahatchee and this has been the worst I've seen. I have some videos of it on my Youtube channel. But I don't believe; according to the experts, that it is related to red tide. We just got a double-wammy this year.
 
I was in the water up to my neck yesterday (sunday) in Sarasota. Plenty of red tide. The media hypes this stuff up so much but unless you're an asthmatic it isn't going to hurt you. It's just algae. Even smoked a cigar when I was in the water. Get out there and swing that thing.
 
I’m not too terribly worried about it myself, just wondering how stinky it was. I ended up going to one of the less popular tourist keys and there were barely any dead fish, a little stench and the water wasn’t too bad either. I wish I hadn’t drowned the Beachhunter, I really wanted to go deeper! I did go up to my knees with the MXT while being extra careful and found $3.47 in clad change, a small ladies 10k Gold ring, a sterling bracelet and a 12k gold necklace with a plated silver dollar (Shellfish, not coin) and a bunch of the usual junk ie bottle caps, slaw and rusty crusty nails. Not too terrible for 3 1/2 hours of swinging. I had to leave to bring the youngest to the dentist and now I’m trying to talk him into going back with me. So far it’s not working ☹️

I’ll post the finds of the day later today. 👍
 
Venice area........ ya its pretty nasty smell and rusty in color. Chased most everyone off the beach recently ..... and some of the restaurants even closed. I got in the water today..... farther N. I wouldnt drink the stuff like some were doing........ but not to bad. Venice area S. can be unhealthy...... it has a deeper drop off and dead fish tend to lay out there and decay. as the Red tide settles it also gets in the sand....... so you could be getting a good dose for a few months if you are digging out there. I worry more about the bacteria from the decay than the red tide. I spent 8 hours in it........ still here.:lol:
 
Very slight in my area, but we just had 870,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into our Indian River lagoon this past week. Should be very interesting. The .gov gave the "all clear" as it being safe to go back into the lagoon and enjoy yourselves. LOL

Anything for those tourist dollars. Just sweep it under the rug, or wait until it sinks to the bottom.
 
You need a good Cat 5 to blow thru and do some housecleaning.
 
I just bought a condo on Siesta Key. Was down there in July doing some detecting and it was my first experience with red tide. I got in the water and within about 20 minutes my eyes were burning. I tried to stick it out but soon I couldn't open my eyes. Staggered off the beach and it took a couple hrs to go away. The water looked ok and a lot of people were in it. Not sure why others weren't bothered.

By the way you guys keep that place clean. I've found a few goodies there but lot's of detectors in the water on Siesta everyday.
 
Looks like pea green soup. Can't come into contact with it or breath the air on the beaches if its blowing off of the lake. It's a real shame.

I've water hunted in it, near Toledo and wasn't bothered at all by it..

<°)))>{
 
I just bought a condo on Siesta Key. Was down there in July doing some detecting and it was my first experience with red tide. I got in the water and within about 20 minutes my eyes were burning. I tried to stick it out but soon I couldn't open my eyes. Staggered off the beach and it took a couple hrs to go away. The water looked ok and a lot of people were in it. Not sure why others weren't bothered.

By the way you guys keep that place clean. I've found a few goodies there but lot's of detectors in the water on Siesta everyday.
:no:
I spoke to a few police oficers that said they responded to two guys fistfighting over who had the right to hunt siesta, I hope they got sent to jail so I can be the early bird:laughing:
 
Was in ft Myers last month and they were saying it was going to be pretty bad even inland waterways


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The red ride hasn't been a problem down here but seaweed has been pretty bad for over 2 months. Worst I have seen in all my life living down here! There are beaches where it doesn't move much and it just sits there and rots. The smell has been horrendous at times. There was one beach closed for over a week due to bacterial infection dangers.
 
I was at Manasota Key, it seems like the red tide may have migrated North and South. It was a little fishy crossing the bridge onto the island and at the beach but it was nothing horribly bad. The water was fairly clean too, typical of the summer Gulf water there.
 
I just bought a condo on Siesta Key. Was down there in July doing some detecting and it was my first experience with red tide. I got in the water and within about 20 minutes my eyes were burning. I tried to stick it out but soon I couldn't open my eyes. Staggered off the beach and it took a couple hrs to go away. The water looked ok and a lot of people were in it. Not sure why others weren't bothered.

By the way you guys keep that place clean. I've found a few goodies there but lot's of detectors in the water on Siesta everyday.

Lol, yeah, you know a beach gets pounded hard when you spend 4 hours somewhere and all you find is one pull tab.
 
Lol, yeah, you know a beach gets pounded hard when you spend 4 hours somewhere and all you find is one pull tab.

Yup, PI's work great in the keys for that very reason! Seems that is why you need a different detector for each Florida beach.
 
I have hunted in it down here, the only danger I saw was that it was forcing all kinds of fish and rays close to the beach that were trying to flee the nasty water. We saw many types of fish that we had never seen before, and even a tourist with his kid trying to pick up a live stingray, i just shook my head. I have been barbed by rays before and know the pain involved.
 
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