I live in Port Charlotte, FL on a canal with access to the Myakka River near El Jobean, FL and Charlotte Harbor. I own a boat and I love to fish. I'm new to Florida so I'm learning a new kind of fishing and I thought a record of fish caught, weather, tides, etc. for each trip would help me to learn quicker. That record is what you'll find in my blog which I post as soon as I possibly can so check before you're going out, my success or failure might help make your trip more productive.
High Tide: 5:15 PM 2.2 FT Low Tide: 10:15 AM 1 FT Wind: 0-5 NW Air Temp: 60/85 Water Temp: 75 Clarity: clear
We drove (by car) over the El Jobean Bridge at about 9:00 AM and saw glassy calm water so we decided to get right home and go out fishing. We made the bridge at about 10:30 AM and I got a small (20") snook on my second cast with a Gulp Swimming Mullet. I also fished some small bait we netted from our dock and had one nice hit on one but missed it.
After an hour with nothing else we headed to the bays behind Hog Island. There's a little hole not to far into what I call First Bay, it's the bay just to the north of the Myakka Cut Off. I was throwing my Gulp at the mangroves in about 3 ft of water when there was a huge swirl and sudden tug on my line. The line snapped instantly, I suspect I'd nicked it on the barnacles at the bridge. One of the reasons I'd moved on from there was I got snagged in the bridge pilings and although I got my hook free I was missing the Gulp. But whatever it was that snapped that line was very big. I wish I had a chance to at least see it. The way the water was disturbed I was thinking it could have been a tarpon. But tarpon don’t get into that shallow water too often. So a tarpon sized snook? I can always dream.
I also got a nice redfish on and lost that. Got it close enough to see before it spit my gulp. Just one of those trips when a little better luck would have completely changed the out come and made for a much better supper!
