Jeff Bergosh Blog: Yes, There Are Blue Crabs in Perdido Bay!

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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1

Monday, October 28, 2019

Yes, There Are Blue Crabs in Perdido Bay!

I was able to pull in multiple Blue Crabs using chicken legs on a string yesterday afternoon in Perdido Bay---despite this being a bad time of year to do this as the females are in the gulf spawning....Perdido Bay is NOT dead!

Even though it is not an ideal time of year in late October to be catching Blue Crabs from shore--a trip I made yesterday to northern Perdido Bay, north of the Lillian Bridge, proves that one can still catch this species even now as the females have moved to the Gulf of Mexico to spawn.

As a kid growing up in Pensacola, my dad and I used to catch these all the time from multiple locations. While perhaps not as plentiful as they were at one point, these crabs are still available.

I used chicken legs to catch several blue crabs yesterday in Perdido Bay, where some environmentalists have claimed there are NO crabs to catch. Of course this is not the case. As a matter of fact, I pulled in two nice sized crabs within 30 minutes of arriving at the site yesterday. While there, I observed mullet, Redfish, lots of minnows, and other wildlife in the area. (Read more about Blue Crab here)

I watched Osprey dive and catch fish multiple times.

A few boats went by, one using a trolling motor, another was a pleasure boat.

Some debris and driftwood at the site and other sites I visited yesterday also had clams attached and I saw sea grass on one of the crabs I pulled in. It was a spectacularly beautiful day, and the water was clear. Glad I got to spend some time here yesterday--it brought back memories of my dad and I fishing!

Meanwhile---some have said that Perdido Bay is dead.

And some say this is all the fault of International Paper. I think some want to blame every problem in Pensacola on International Paper. I just don't get it.....

From what I saw yesterday, I have to totally disagree with the flawed assessment that Perdido Bay is dead. To the contrary, it actually looked better today than it did when I fished it multiple times in the early to mid 2000's when my family owned property on this body of water. And this lines up with what recent accounts about the health of the bay seem to portray.

If you don't believe me, go out and check Perdido Bay out for yourself and see for yourself, just as I have done! Fish and Crab are there!