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: 2:00 AM 2.5 FT Low Tide: 10:45 AM -0.75 FT Wind: 5-10 E Air Temp: 60/84 Water Temp: 72 Clarity: not clear
I still had sardines left from last week and this week we have nearly a full moon and a tide change at around 10:45 AM. And the tide was a huge 3.25 feet difference. I hoped that would work to get some snook hitting at the El Jobean bridge.
We left the dock about 9;00 AM and went straight out to the El Jobean bridge and got anchored in my favorite spot. Not much was happening with the live sardines but I was catching trout on my Gulp Swimming Mullet. I bought the new Berkley Gulp! Alive! 4" Swimming Mullet in a bucket from FishUSA.com, the only place I could find it in a bucket. The bucket comes with a lot of extra juice so you can put used baits back in the bucket to get refreshed, its very convenient.
Finally the time came when the rushing tide began to slow. I was throwing the Gulp Mullet up by the bridge and got a hard slam. It was a very nice 25 inch snook. Of course it has to be between 28 and 33 inches (pinched tail) to keep so over the side it went.
As the tide turned in I switched back to my live bait and after only 10 or so drifts into the bridge the bait got slammed. I new it was big and near the bridge but I couldn't keep it out of the pilings. At one point I could no longer feel the fish, I had a good hold of the bridge though. I held steady hoping that snook would change his mind and swim out and I was pleasantly surprised when she did. Karen and I managed to get that monster into the net and into the boat.
28.5 inches, a keeper. I unhooked her and threw her into the cooler already thinking about dinner tonight. I checked my 30lb Ande Pink mono leader and found it very frayed. I grabbed both ends in my hands and gave a gentle tug and it broke in half, how did it hold to get that fish in the net?
We fished a while longer until my last three bait were gone and then we headed home to dinner. Another great day on the water!
