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.
Fishing Myakka River/Charlotte Harbor, Florida Monday, May 28, 2007
Fish Caught: Redfish, Sheepshead, Jack, Mangrove Snapper
High Tide: 1:30 PM 1.8 FT Low Tide: 7:30 AM .8 FT Wind: 5-10 NE Air Temp: 61/93 Water Temp: 79 Clarity: murky
This time of year I sleep with our sliding glass doors open to our screened in pool area. I was half awake this morning when I heard our neighbor’s boat engine start. A few minutes later Karen was calling from outside relaying the invitation to go out fishing with Bimini. I really wasn’t awake as I was pulling on clothes and running to the dock with two fishing poles and a PB&J sandwich for breakfast, dripping coffee down my arm. We were halfway down the canal before I wondered what time it was, 6:15 AM.
I normally travel out of our canal for my fishing grounds but Bimini and Julie, our across the canal neighbors, love fishing closer to home. And I must admit they eat more fish than we do. So I was excited to get the chance to learn a few things from Bimini. Julie is not an early to bed early to rise woman so she was sleeping in this morning, hence my chance to keep Bimini company for the early morning trip.
We went to the end of the canal (Apollo Waterway) just in sight of the Myakka River. Bimini anchored us in 2 feet of water pointing to an area just in front of us which she said had a little trough which fed the back reed filled waters. She said the big fish would move through this area to get to the bait in the shallow back waters. She was right, I hooked a huge jack shortly after starting to cast my Gulp Swimming Mullet, what a battle, as usual for a very large jack. Bimini had many hits on some white bait she had netted the evening before from the fishing pier in Placida. The sun rose while we were in that spot, while we had some action we didn’t get much in the boat. The tide turned in about 8:30 or so and we decided to move to a spot she liked on an incoming tide.
We anchored at the near end of a large dock were the tide woulld pull our bait under the dock. Since I was fishing a Gulp I was able to get a couple casts before Bimini got her bait ready and hooked a very nice 22” redfish. My first in quite some time, I was impressed. I went on to get a couple 12-13” Mangrove Snapper, at that size they are very good eating fish. Bimini was switching back and forth between live shrimp and the white bait. We were each catching mangrove snapper and sheepshead, letting smaller ones go but putting plenty in the cooler.
As you can see from the photo we had plenty to clean, it was an excellent supper with some left for the freezer for the less plentiful times. It was a very nice morning of fishing, I look forward to many more.
Fish Caught: Snook, Lady Fish, Spanish Mackerel, Catfish, Stingray
High Tide: 5:00 PM 2.5 FT Low Tide: 1:00 AM -.5 FT Wind: 10-20 NE Air Temp: 66/89 Water Temp: 79 Clarity: clear
We left the dock about 7:00 AM, without checking the weather since the evening before. We made our first stop at the Bridge over the Myakka in El Jobean, FL. I bought a new Gulp called "Greenback" which looks very much like a threadfin sardine. It is shaped like a fish but has a lump on its tail that causes it to swim when you pull it through the water.
On my first cast with that lure I hooked a spanish mackerel about 19". Nothing more there for a half hour and the wind started picking up and blowing us around so we headed for trout creek.
We anchored in that first big cove in trout creek, we were watching a bunch of pelicans diving as we approached, thought that was a very good sign. Well they weren’t afraid of us at all and for the 3 hours we fished there they kept up the comical group fishing all around us. I took a video on my little digital still camera, its not great but here it is, Pelican video.
My Mom and Dad are with us on this trip. They were fishing live shrimp, my Mom under a cork and my Dad on the bottom. Plenty of catfish for both and my Mom also got a stingray. I was throwing my new green back Gulp and got a couple ladyfish.
Then, about 11:30 I hit a huge snook on my Gulp. A great fight around the boat, under the motor, passing the pole between the bimini top and finally landed a 28" snook.Unfortunately the season is closed because that 28 inch fish would have made a great dinner, I got 1 more about 23" before we decided to leave. It was getting very windy out in the harbor, there were no boats looking for cobia like we had expected, maybe they checked the morning weather report.
We made our way into the shelter of Hog Island at trolling speed pulling a few lures. About halfway up Hog Island in 7 feet of water my Dad hooked a nice Spanish Mackerel about 22". We got several more bites a small one in the boat and Karen had a nice one on that cut the 35lb florocarbon leader right at the boat.
It was a great day on the water, we were back at the dock by about 2:30 with fish to clean.
High Tide: 5:45 PM 2 FT Low Tide: 2:00 AM -.25 FT Wind: 0-5 E Air Temp: 62/89 Water Temp: 79 Clarity: clear
I netted a few bait yesterday from our dock. Went down early this morning, about 6:00 AM to put the bait in the live well on the boat and decided to throw the net once more. I got an 11" sheepshead which was a little shocking.
So we left the dock by 7:00 AM, stopped at the bridge in El Jobean, FL, no fish but we did see a big manatee. Decided to head to Trout Creek since the tide would be rising all day. We weren't the only ones that thought Trout Creek would be a good place today. But we drifted into the first main cove and I dropped the anchor. Lots of tiny bait in the water and big swirls. After 3 dolphin came splashing through and things calmed again we started catching trout.
I lost count after 10 but I'd say at least 15 trout, mostly on Gulp Swimming Mullet, white, 4". When I ran out of those I tried the Gulp 3" shrimp, white and got a Lady Fish but no more trout. I switched to a Berkley Glass Minnow and got a couple more trout. But in all 15 or so I got, only 1 that was a keeper at 16" the rest were 12 to 14.5" and I had to throw them back. But a great time.
From Trout Creek we could see a bunch of boats anchored about a 1/2 mile SE. We got curious so we went to see what was so interesting. Everyone was fishing but we didn’t see anyone catching. So we tossed the Berkley Glass Minnow out and trolled around. Most boats (there were about 10) were in 10-12 feet of water. We headed back towards Hog Island and in 8 feet of water Karen yelled, her indication she had a fish. I looked at her rod and saw it was a large fish and then the line snapped (I think it was my fault for getting it into the mangroves a few times, Fireline is not great for abrasions). We’ll never know what it was, I noted the time at about 12:30, we trolled for another half hour and headed home.
Added 5/16/2007: Found out that there are cobia in Charlotte Harbor out by marker 8. That's where we were when Karen hooked and lost that big fish. Must have been a cobia, see you out there Saturday.
This time of year I sleep with our sliding glass doors open to our screened in pool area. I was half awake this morning when I heard our neighbor’s boat engine start. A few minutes later Karen was calling from outside relaying the invitation to go out fishing with Bimini. I really wasn’t awake as I was pulling on clothes and running to the dock with two fishing poles and a PB&J sandwich for breakfast, dripping coffee down my arm. We were halfway down the canal before I wondered what time it was, 6:15 AM.
We left the dock about 7:00 AM, without checking the weather since the evening before. We made our first stop at the Bridge over the Myakka in El Jobean, FL. I bought a new Gulp called "Greenback" which looks very much like a threadfin sardine. It is shaped like a fish but has a lump on its tail that causes it to swim when you pull it through the water.