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Bradenton Icon Dies After Illness

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By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 22, 2009

Jerry Hill Sr., the Bradenton Herald's outdoors columnist for 32 years, died March 13 at Manatee Memorial Hospital after a long illness. He was 69.

Hill, an icon among west coast outdoorsmen, was an avid hunter and angler. He founded the Florida Fishing College - the inspiration for the Frank Sargeant Outdoors Exposition, now known as The Tampa Tribune Outdoors Expo & Boat Show.

Hill was a powerful voice for conservation and one of the strongest proponents of the 1995 gill net ban, which is now credited with restoring mullet populations statewide.

GRANDE COVERAGE: The May issue of Outdoor Life magazine includes a story on tarpon fishing at Boca Grande Pass. It includes information on the numerous sharks of the pass, and quotes area captains Bucky Dennis, Artie Price, Ray Van Horn and others.

The Boca Grande tarpon fishery is among the best in the world, with an estimated 10,000 adult tarpon feeding in the area from late April through early July. The giant sharks, according to Dennis, are attracted by the tarpon, and sometimes eat hundred-pounders in a couple of bites.

Dennis holds the world record for hammerhead sharks with a fish in excess of 1,200 pounds caught in the pass from a flats boat.

DRUM ROLL: As of midweek, schools of huge black drum continued to mill around lower Tampa Bay, tearing up tackle of anglers. The drum, which look much like dark, gray redfish, are usually found on the shoulder of the flats in 3 to 5 feet of water. The fish can weigh in excess of 50 pounds.

They readily eat dark-colored, half-ounce jigs slow-hopped on bottom, but live crabs are the can't-miss bait. Finding a school is hit-or-miss, but by early June many of these fish will settle in around the pilings at Gandy Bridge, where they can be caught after dark on fresh-cut blue crab.

Large black drum are usually not eaten. Their flesh is coarse and often has worms.

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