Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Gator Trout

Red Fish

Juvenile Snook

Juvenile Spotted  Sea Trout

Gag grouper
Happy people fishing with the guides of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team this week in February.
A variety of species and sizes of fish can be expected when fishing in the beautiful waters off Captiva Island.  Like much of the country we are setting records for high temperatures and sunny days.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Captiva businessman John Dicky shows off his family and their catch.  John is a frequent customer of Capt. Rob McKay and the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team.
The fact is John only goes fishing when he can charter with Capt. Rob

Friday, February 17, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Alex

Children love fishing with the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team.  No angler is to young to enjoy time on the water fishing .

The Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team offers experienced and friendly guides to make anytime on the water  the highlight of your vacation in Florida.

Forget Micky, Donald and Goofy...come see  Jim, Jimmy and Rob

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Steve Rinella fishing with Capt. Rob McKay of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team, took time out from catching red fish to have a picture snapped.
Steve is visiting Captiva from Brooklyn, NY

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Capt. Josh
This might be the reason the Deer are still safe in Florida.  

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Seth

Nancy
Seth Merkins and family vacation on Sanibel each year, and always make time for a couple of trips out with Capt. Jim Burnsed of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team.
In these pictures Seth and mom Nancy show off some nice grouper.  The Merkins live in Minnesota, where I hear the winter wasn't half bad......I guess everything is relevant including weather.

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family


George and Becky Nolan of Orlando, FL

 George Nolan,  fishing today with Capt. Jim Burnsed of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team boated this big  Gag grouper.
 While I know Becky's mouth was watering, she will have to get her Grouper sandwich at the Old Captiva House tonight.  Gag is still out of season

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Frankie Williams treated her husband to a birthday surprise.  She chartered a fishing trip with Capt. Jim Burnsed of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team. 
 Frankie did such a good job, keeping the secret , that she never told me her husband's name........so........
Happy  Birthday  to Mr. Williams who was celebrating his 30th birthday today.   
Its was a beautiful day on Captiva today, the perfect day to turn 30.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Oh yes, sometimes the fish are small.  
Capt Lamar is one of the very capable co captains with the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team and the Burnsed family. 

Joan Vatterott and her family fished with Capt. Lamar, Monday February 7. 
February fishing is never predictable.  Pan fish is very normal for this time of the year.
Fishing is always BIG FUN even if the fish are small.

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family


The weekend of February 10,11,12 and 13 the wind huffed and puffed and blew my guides right off the islands.  Capt. Jimmy Burnsed of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team along with retired Capt. Duke Sells, take time out from hunting to enjoy "Biscuits and sausage gravy". Now you might think that a "Shell" gas station  would not be the spot for hot food, but in Arcadia Florida you would be in for a surprise

Capt. Jimmy. Capt Jim , Capt Lamar and Capt. Duke (ret.) said the only hog they seen was in the gravy.
Sorry guys no more time off,  next stop...Captiva Island and Pine Island Sound

Friday, February 10, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

John
John Weaver, Denny Boatman and Mike Hall are all winter residence of Sanibel. The men enjoyed a warm February afternoon of "catching Reds" .

Tonight we expect  a short cold front arriving for the weekend. Temperatures are expected to dip into the high 40'ds overnight for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Highs in the 60'ds
Mike

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family

Other Names :Convict Fish, Baitstealer, Sheephead, Sheepshead
Range & Habitat :Sheepshead are found Gulfwide, primarily in saline to near-fresh estuarine waters. They are very common near rock jetties, piers, pilings, and weirs. They are also found in nearshore waters outside the beaches during the spawning period of February-April.
Identification & Biology :This is an easy fish to identify, with its very broad body, boldly marked with 5-7 wide, grayish-black vertical bars set on a light gray or white background. Any confusion can be set aside by inspecting the teeth, which look a great deal like human (or sheep) incisors. The dorsal and anal fins have large, very sharp spines.

The most interesting thing about sheepshead biology is their food habits. In a nutshell, they eat everything. A study in Texas showed them eating mostly plants and algae with a few crabs. In the Florida Everglades, fish over 3 inches long ate mostly mollusks (mussels, clams, etc) and barnacles. In Mississippi, researchers found that fish 6 to 14 inches long ate mollusks and plants. Larger sheepshead ate mollusks, crustaceans (crabs, etc), bottom worms and quite a bit of fish, mostly anchovies. They did note that when sea grasses or algae were plentiful, that sheepshead will occasionally feed heavily on them. A Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana study showed that by volume, 54% of their diet was plants, 19% mussels, 10% sponges, 8% clams, 3% croakers and other fish, and almost 2% mud crabs. Barnacles and blue crabs made up less than 1% each of their diet.

Sheepshead spawn in February, March, and April, with most spawning taking place during the last two months. Spawning takes place offshore, but near the coast. Some males and females begin spawning at 2 years old, but not all of the fish are mature enough to spawn until males are 3 years old and females are 4. Sheepshead will spawn several times during each season. Females will lay 14,000 to 250,000 eggs per spawn, with the average being 87,000 eggs. Sheepshead have been recorded as old as 20 years. Females grow more rapidly than males. At 20 years old, males average a little over 4 pounds and females about 5½ pounds. Growth is rapid until 6 to 8 years of age, after which growth slows dramatically, especially for males.
Size :Sheepshead are common at 2-8 pounds, but can reach 20 pounds.
Food Value :Excellent, but care must be taken when cleaning the fish due to their sharp spines.
Description

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family


**NEW** Gag and Red Grouper Commission Update:


The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will discuss gag groupermanagement in Gulf of Mexico state waters at the upcoming Feb. 7-9 Commission meeting in Havana. saltwater_groupgag.jpgView agenda.
At the November 2011 Commission meeting, the Commission voted to change how red grouper is managed in Gulf of Mexico state waters. They also decided to extend a gag grouper closure.
The following changes are in effect:
Gag grouper will remain closed in Gulf of Mexico state waters through March 31, 2012.
Patrick Field of Springfield, Ohio chartering with Capt. Jimmy Burnsed of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team had great fun fishing for and catching  Gag Grouper last week.  
Gag in the Gulf of Mexico provide a really good fight for the angler, but REMEMBER catch and release ONLY.
Its important to the future of fishing that all anglers know and obey the fishing laws.


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team - The Burnsed Family



 On a beautiful February day,  the Heather Cook family of Rogers, Arkansas chartered with Capt. Jim Burnsed of the Santiva Saltwater Fishing Team.  The Cook family had a great morning fishing and catching .
                                          Everyone wants their picture took with a puffer fish.

 Just knowing that something can blow its self up by choice , than return to normal  without a diet,  doesn't seem fair