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.
Fish Caught: Snook, Lady Fish, Goliath Grouper, Catfish
High Tide: 6:45 PM 1.5 FT Low Tide: 11:45 AM -0.5 FT Wind: 5-10 NE Air Temp: 73/82 Water Temp: 76 Clarity: murky
Left the dock about 6:45 with a live well full of nice big sardines I netted from a local canal yesterday. We went straight out to the El Jobean bridge with the intent of anchoring on the West side of the bridge so we could drift our bait under the old section of bridge. But the tide was so fast I was worried about the anchor pulling free and crashing into the bridge before I could react, so we went around the other Charlotte Harbor side.
Hard to fish with the tide racing at you but I was casting up under the bridge and letting my bait drift along the pilings. When I could keep from snagging the bottom I usually managed a Goliath grouper and caught about 4 or 5 the biggest was about 20 inches or so. Nice fish, strong fighters, they don't like coming up from the bottom and they let you know it. Karen was letting her line drift out and sit and she was catching an occasional cat fish.
I also managed to boat a snook about 23 inches long on one drift. At this time the tide was slowing a little so this one snook was a good sign of things to come. As the tide went slack I repositioned the boat to fish my snook spot on an incoming tide.
Once the tide turned in with a little force I started hooking snook. I got 2 more one going to just under legal at 27 inches. And then finally a keeper at 29 inches. Remember our slot limit is over 28 and under 33 inches with a pinched tail.
It was about 1:30 PM when I landed that keeper and since we'd left in the dark it was already a long day so we left them biting. A great day when you can hit that tiny slot limit and bring home a nice fish dinner!
We cooked the whole snook on the grill. I make a foil tray and seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic and spritz it with lime, lemon or grapefruit juice. I cut rosemarry from our plant and place the branches on the flavor bar in the grill just before putting the fish on. It adds that smokey flavor missing from most gas grill cooked foods. We sliced an eggplant from the garden and brushed it with olive oil and lime juice and put it in the smokey grill too. Topped with a salad of arugula from the garden, it was delicious and we had leftovers for lunch.
