Enjoying Local Wildlife,
LBC Members Experience a Number of Firsts
While Boating, Kayaking, Fishing, and Wildlife Watching
Sunday night, January 11 – watching a football game with eyes half closed.
“Wake up,” my wife Sandy says.
“I’m gassed.”
“The week’s caught up to you,” she says. “Think of all you’ve done.”
All I’ve done. We’ve done. She’s right. The first full week of ‘26 had been busy, recreational, wildlife-eventful.
It started Monday morning, January 6th, with a Lemon Bay Conservancy-coordinated group paddle. Launching at Oyster Creek, crossing the Intracoastal Waterway, paddling roundtrip to Milton Pass. Calm water, bottlenose dolphins, white pelicans, ospreys, beach walking, a dozen other paddlers. A fine trek.
LBC paddlers in Lemon Bay. Ken Schultz photo
In the afternoon, LBC member John Mauser and two of his visiting Pennsylvania friends motored in my boat for a few hours of Lemon Bay fishing – landing twenty seatrout, four ladyfish, a bluefish, lizardfish, and catfish, all casting lures in the shallow flats. As too often happens, we were pestered by a cormorant or two, accustomed as they are locally to anglers, boats, and opportunistic fish-grabbing. It’s a constant struggle to keep from unintentionally giving them a free meal of released fish but we succeeded.
Tuesday, Sandy and I spent a few hours at Wildflower Preserve with Preserve Manager Chad Lyman. Salvaged from a golf course by Lemon Bay Conservancy, of which we’re both members and volunteers, its 80 acres host a plethora of flora and fauna, the latter principally birds and butterflies but also gopher tortoises, coyotes, a recent bobcat, and some unwanted wild hogs. We set up a motion-sensing game camera in a promising off-trail spot and hope to be rewarded with interesting images to share.
Wednesday, John Mauser and I braved dense early fog in Lemon Bay to catch more than forty fish, mostly seatrout and ladyfish, again casting lures in shallow grassy locations. Off Oyster Creek early we attracted two cormorants while landing fish, which grew to three and then an encirclement of seven, the most either of us ever had to deal with while fishing. We gave up and moved.
A spotted seatrout being released. Ken Schultz photo
Ladyfish. Ken Schultz photo
Later, not far from Lemon Creek, our catching attracted a single dolphin that zoomed in on a thrashing trout. I haven’t experienced dolphins grabbing lure-caught fish, as cormorant will. Rather, they swiftly come to, and stay around, the boat, waiting for a release. It’s hard to fool them, so I flood my livewell, put fish in it, and gently release them as soon as the dolphins are far enough away. But this dolphin soon attracted another, then three more. Encircled by five dolphin, also a record for us, and with the fishing ruined, we moved away. That evening, Sandy and I went shelling and swimming at Stump Pass Beach State Park, and watched a terrific sunset.
Sunset at Stump Pass Beach State Park. Ken Schultz photo
On Thursday we returned late in the day to the park for another sunset, encountering a new wildlife experience enroute. Near the corner of Gulf Boulevard and Coquina Street we spotted two gopher tortoises by the sidewalk in front of a house. We watched for 10 minutes while the pair fought with each other, pushing, head-butting, raising their forebodies, and loudly colliding. A passing dog walker said they’d been doing this for over a half-hour. Evidently a territorial dispute, something we’d not witnessed before.
Gopher tortoises on Manasota Key sidewalk. Ken Schultz photo
Friday provided another first and a wish-I-had-video-moment. While solo fishing on the flats east of Stump Pass, an osprey attempted to grab a small trout I was landing. The fish was thrashing on the surface about 25 feet from me when an osprey suddenly dive-bombed and slammed the water atop my fish with a mighty splash. Fortunately, I was pulling the trout toward me, the bird missed it, and the fish was unscathed. Possibly perplexed, the osprey briefly circled overhead.
On Saturday, Diane Coll, who heads up the BayWatch and clam research programs for Lemon Bay Conservancy, joined Sandy and me on a seagrass-scouting trip in Lemon Bay. The highlight of our jaunt had nothing to do with submerged aquatic vegetation, but rather bottlenose dolphins.
Courting dolphins near Stump Pass. Ken Schultz photos
Close to Stump Pass, and a flotilla of moving and beached boats, we spied a pair of dolphins, one of which at first seemed distressed, but they were mating or having pre-mating courtship. One dolphin was frequently on its side, the other often had its mouth open, they were often over and cross-wise to each other, swimming somewhat in an S-pattern, and with many flips, all of which later research indicated was typical for courtship displays and mating. The dolphins were unfazed by our presence, as they often came by or under our drifting boat. None of us had witnessed this behavior before, but since dolphins mate year-round, and are locally numerous, this is probably more commonly observed than we knew.
Sunday morning provided a more normal dolphin-observing experience as LBC member and volunteer Barbara LaCorte joined Sandy and me for a paddle from Indian Mound to Lemon Bay Park. Three dolphins were working a long seawall along the eastern shore. Lone or multiple dolphins are often observed actively pursuing and catching baitfish along seawalls, even those with little depth. We watched one unlucky fish, probably a mullet, be swiftly chased and caught along the wall, and spent a while just floating in the vicinity as the dolphins cruised about. Apparently they chase fish toward and then along the wall, where escape options are limited, and will stay in such a spot for a long period, although there was no activity here when we passed the seawall afterward.
Dolphin by seawall in Lemon Bay. Ken Schultz photo
Later we met two other paddlers returning from Blind Pass, where they reported seeing two manatees as well as several dolphin.
Not every week in and around Lemon Bay is as eventful or notable as this, nor will every week wear you out. But this one provided a good sample of the things to appreciate and enjoy locally, amplifying some of the reasons why Lemon Bay Conservancy works to protect the wildlife and land and water habitats of this area.