“Generally we had good luck with the concrete reefs; they tend to survive way better than tire reefs. Over 1,000 old tires washed ashore after Hurricane Ivan. They were last sunk offshore in 1990, so these tires were at least 14 years old. They’re unstable and they move,” Horn said.
The very large warsaw grouper prowls above Wickstrom Reef, a small ship sunk in deeper water.
Around Stuart a number of new rock ledges were uncovered by the two hurricanes that hit there. Other ledges, fished for years, have disappeared beneath shifting sands. So, it’s a new ballgame there.
On the Gulf Coast, the Organization for Artificial Reefs (OAR), based out of Tallahassee, with assistance from Franklin County and the Florida Department of Transportation, disposed of the old St. George Island bridges a little more than a year ago. In doing so they created a huge artificial reef off Franklin County’s coast in Florida’s Big Bend.
Which Wrecks are Best?
The Jacksonville Offshore Fishing Club (JOFC) has built over 300 reefs offshore in the last few years, so they know a little something about artificial reefs. They get their share of plane and private boat wrecks, as well.
Captain Dennis Young has been heavily involved with JOFC, and fishes constantly out of Mayport. He may have forgotten about more trips over artificial reefs, than many anglers will ever know. Which types of wrecks are his favorite?
“That depends on the area you’re in, and the pressure,” he explained. “A wreck off Miami in shallow water would be worn out. Here off North Florida, a site in 40 to 100 feet can be great, if it’s kept quiet. Aluminum plane wrecks are best for snapper. Wooden wrecks attract loads of flounder. There are other factors: In July and August, even September, barracuda will ruin any pelagic fishing and trolling with live baits around our reefs. ’Cudas ruin a lot of snapper inshore; sometimes they get half of them. We like it when they leave in the fall.
“If we troll in summer around a wreck, we stay at least 100 yards away to avoid the ’cudas, hoping instead for kingfish, bonito,
AJ’s, even African pompano.
“I prefer smaller wrecks, because it concentrates the fish. You can anchor within a few feet of them every time, with a little practice. A washout hole beside them in the sand can be detected, and that’s usually great for fish. Or a hole in the side of a wreck. Storms
can fill these in, but the tides wash them clean again.”
“With those huge wrecks, the bottomfish move around too much. Can you imagine anchoring on the Oriskany? It will be good for trolling wahoo and maybe yellowfin tuna, or jigging for amberjack, but I’m not so sure about the bottom fishing.”
Sometimes, Capt. Young sees more than he bargains for. “I was fishing in 78 feet of water around Christmas, hoping for amberjacks and a fishfry. Something was cutting off our amberjack, which is unusual in colder weather. Then a sea turtle came up and looked at us. Two white sharks followed him up, and each one was 15 or 16 feet long. They kept trying to take a bite out of him. But he would turn sideways and they couldn’t quite fit their mouth around him. It was quite a show. I see white sharks off Mayport all the time when the water is cold. They’re here through March, following the right whale migration.”
“The bridge project turned out very well,” says Scott Vascavage, who runs OAR. “We took a mile of old bridge and created a reef offshore, that stretches 1.5 miles by a quarter mile wide. We created three lines for trollers, and in between lines we dumped rubble. Often we had continuous lines made up of 50- by 28-foot, solid bridge sections left intact. Each piece weighed 210 to 220 tons. There are 75 of those sections.
“They had to use rollers on the barge; a big crane could hardly pick up a piece of concrete that heavy,” said Vascavage. “Today they’re sitting on rock substrate offshore. They really blew out the sand when they landed. That bridge was 45 years old, and the pH level of the concrete had really dropped off. As a result, macro organisms started growing rapidly. We’re talking about a lot of coral growing there. The snapper population moved in there so quickly, that was the most surprising thing. People were catching fish on one end, before we finished the project. Kings showed up in the summer. When snapper season opened, a lot of fishermen caught reds and mangroves. It was almost impossible not to catch them. Last winter, grouper replaced the snapper.”
Vascavage’s group has been at the forefront of reef-building in recent years, an example of a successful partnership of grassroots individuals with local and state governments. “This year, we’re applying for a new reef off Wakulla County,” he said.
“But that depends on the Corps of Engineers. We’ve picked out a site about six miles southeast of our Marker 24 reef. This one will be Prefab modules—maybe fish havens or reef balls with some culverts thrown in. They may be prefab modules, perhaps made by ReefMaker in Alabama. They’re tetrahedrons made out of rebarb and concrete. They snag hooks, unfortunately, but we’d like to see how they work with fish, and monitor them. We want reef designs that work best.”
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