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Opinion


November 6, 2025
BY CAPT. WILL WATERHOUSE The 30th annual Gasparilla Island Fly Fishing Tournament (G.I.F.T.) presented by Gasparilla Outfitters is only a few weeks away and coming fast! This year all proceeds wi…

October 30, 2025
BY ARLENE HALL BGSTA SECRETARY I was trying to hold off as long as I could before writing this week’s turtle column and weekly stats, hoping that MAYBE our single remaining incubating green sea t…

October 30, 2025
On Saturday, Charlotte Commissioner Joe Tiseo came to Cape Haze to talk to residents about issues and see the newly renovated Cape Haze Community Center. It was the unofficial re-re-opening of that…

October 30, 2025
BY KAREN GRACE, BOCA GRANDE HISTORY CENTER Whether hauntings are real or not, Gasparilla Island and its surroundings have a history of ghost stories. The earliest involve Cayo Pelau, an island to…

October 30, 2025
To: Charlotte County Commissioners Ken Doherty, Christopher Constance, Bill Truex, Stephen Deutsch and Joseph Tiseo Dear Commissioners: I write respectfully as a long-time resident of our smal…

October 30, 2025
Anyone can pirate a fishing honey hole. Why not find your own spot? No one owns our local fishing spots, but are you a leader or a shadow? Unless you have a private pond, you don’t own your fa…

October 30, 2025
If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into…

October 30, 2025
BY CAPT. JOE LECLAIR With the cooling air temps and beautiful dry breezes blowing in from the west, fish are on the move. This fall we have already seen large schools of reds moving onto the flat…

October 23, 2025
BY DENISE JUERGENS, ARLENE HALL BGSTA SECRETARY If you are comparing the BGSTA’s weekly turtle stats listed each week in this paper, you may have noticed a slight increase in both the loggerhead…

October 23, 2025
From Illinois, turtle appreciation BY RICK MUSGROVE When I first arrived at the west side of Gasparilla Island in Boca Grande four and a half months ago, the beach was littered with stakes. Up…