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 Thursday, October 18, 2007
Fish Caught: Lady Fish, Trout, Goliath Grouper, Spanish Mackerel
High Tide: 7:15 AM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 4:45 PM 0.25 FT Wind: 5-10 SW Air Temp: 75/91 Water Temp: 81 Clarity: murky
We left the dock about 6:45 AM and stopped at the end of the Jupiter Waterway. There wasn't much happening and since I'm not a patient fisherman we pulled anchor and headed for the l Jobean bridge.
There were birds diving into what appeared to be Lady Fish attacking bait fish. I stopped half way out to the bridge and caught a couple on a Gulp Swimming Mullet just to be sure. I was right, Lady Fish and they were all over the river northwest of the El Jobean Bridge. Lady fish make great cut bait and spectacular crab bait for a crab trap so I put a few in my cooler.
When I got to my favorite spot at the bridge I could see lots of flashing in the water so as soon as I got anchored I threw the cast net out. It came back with hundreds of 2 inch sardines, I think. They were a little different than what I normally see, thinner top to bottom and they had four or five spots along the top behind the gill. They were also small so I was putting 3 on a hook with a tiny split shot and casting them into the out going tide.
I immediately caught a trout that was a little undersized so I threw it back and got the line out again. Birds were diving all around us and I could see a lot of fish splashing up at the bait. We started catching spanish mackerel, Karen got the first one which was almost 2 feet long, a nice fish. During the next few hours we would see the schools of mackerel moving around attacking the huge schools of bait. We lost a lot more than we caught because they were cutting our lines with their sharp teeth. But we got 5 in the cooler before we started throwing them back. We feel mackerel is good when cooked fresh but we don't enjoy it much after it gets frozen so we figured 5 was enough for the next few days. We would pan blacken it all and have a huge dinner with left overs for sandwiches. I also caught some on my Gulp Swimming Mullet, on a rattle trap wich I finally lost to a cut line and on a silver spoon with a bucktail. I had several hits on my lure within 3 feet of the boat, which was a little startling and there were a couple times when the feeding frenzy was so aggresive that I thought a mackerel was going to jump in the boat. I saw one leap nearly 10 feet out of the water, it landed about 20 feet from where it came out. The bait fish would boil up around us making a sound much like a sudden, short burst of rain. It was a very exciting morning on the water.
I also got a few small goliath grouper drifting by the bridge pilings when the mackerel would let my bait get that deep. It started to get a little warm although there was a pleasant breeze. But by around noon we were ready to head home so we left the mackerel still feeding. It was 2 o'clock by the time I got the boat washed and the fish cleaned. A long tiring day and after cookng all that fish and eating a good bunch of it I was asleep before the sun was down. Can't wait to do it again.
High Tide: 4:15 AM 2.1 FT Low Tide: 11:50 AM 0.1 FT Wind: 5-10 E Air Temp: 69/89 Water Temp: 82 Clarity: murky
I missed my first fish before we left the dock. We got off to kind of a late start, the sun was brightening the sky as I was getting the bait from my bait basket into the live well on the boat. There was just enough light to see there were some big fish feeding, the wakes they left while in pursuit of bait fish was exaggerated by the low light reflecting off the glassy water. I figured another 15 minutes until we were ready to leave so I put a sardine on a hook and tossed it in the canal and put the pole in the boat's rod holder. It was only a few minutes until I saw the water swirling around the area I figured my bait should be and sure enough when I got to the pole I felt a good tug. My line was leading under the overhanging pepper trees so I figured I'd better get this fish hooked and get him out of that brush. I tightened the line and when I felt him tug again I set it and the pepper tree started shaking around as that big fish pulled on the line which was wrapped in the tree. He pulled that bush back and forth as I tugged from the other side until the line gave. Seemed like a snook but I guess we'll never know for sure.
I baited up again but we were ready to leave so the bait was in the water for only a few minutes with no other action. We left the dock a little before 7:00 AM. Our first stop was at the end of the Jupiter Waterway where we anchored and threw bait and Gulp Swimming mullet in the deep hole along the east edge of the canal. I hooked 3 small snook which all managed to jump out of the water until they shook the hook. Snook is a great fish if you like a battle and a great dinner.
When it got slow there we went out and drifted the sea wall at the end of the Apollo Waterway. I lost a few bait to something small, probably mangrove snapper which are very talented bait thieves. It was pretty breezy but we took a trip out to the El Jobean bridge anyway, knowing we would be struggling with some choppy water. But it was worse than expected so we anchored far enough away from the bridge to allow evasive maneuvers when the wind and waves dragged us off the anchor and towards the concrete pilings.
I put a little lead on my sardine and tossed it into the fast outgoing current and within minutes I battled a very large sail cat into the boat and another followed only minutes later. But it was so wavy that it was uncomfortable to move around on the deck so we headed back to calmer water.
We sat in the Apollo Waterway with the intention of fishing the incoming tide under a dock that seems to hold a lot of fish under those conditions. See the May 28, 2007 post. We sat a long time still with an outgoing tide before I caught a 23" snook on a sardine. It was very hot and the tide just wasn't showing signs of turning out even though it was after noon so we gave it up for the day.
I did talk with a young man that came by throwing what looked like a blue rapala. He claims to have caught a 38" snook this morning in his canal which he seemed to indicate by a wave of his head was the Venus Waterway. If you read this, my friend, please send me an email.
We were back to the dock by about 12:30 PM. Another great day of fishing!
Fish Caught: Redfish, Sheepshead, Snook, Mangrove Snapper
High Tide: 5:45 PM 1.75 FT Low Tide: 11:15 AM 0.25 FT Wind: 5-10 N Air Temp: 71/88 Water Temp: 81 Clarity: murky
I was working on my computer this evening after dinner, it was dark so it had to be near 7 PM. I kept hearing the faint sound of kids yelling out on the street. Florida homes are made of concrete and quite sound proof so it takes some noise to be heard inside. I didn't pay much attention but the noise got louder and louder until I realized someone was trying to get my attention. It was our across the canal neighbor Bimini, in our back yard where she had been trying to yell from her boat tied to our dock. Well, when its hot and the air is on and the doors are closed its almost impossible to hear someone outside, so by the time I noticed her she was at the top of the stairs making a lot of noise which I could just barely hear until I opened the door.
Once I realized it was Bimini I knew there was a big fish involved. She asked if we would take a photo for her which is a silly question since we are always very anxious to see whatever they might catch and learn when they caught it, where and with what. I ran for my camera.
When I got to the dock Bimini, Julie and Julie's cousin Sandra were hauling 2 nice fish from the cooler. There was a lot of excitement and too many people talking but I finally determined that Sandra was the real fishing person in the group, at least for today. She got both the Snook and nice redfish you see in the photo. She also got a bunch of other stuff like snappers, a couple nice sheepshead and a jack but all were unimportant next to the snook and redfish.
Now I wasn't on the boat with them but I will tell you that by the level of excitement and by the way the story was told from 3 separate mouths almost all at the same time that I am sure this is true and not a fish story. Here's how I understood the very exciting battle of the snook against three fisherwomen. There's kind of a contest on their boat to see who can catch the most fish with a single shrimp and the game was on. Sandra had one fish boated on her shrimp which she described as "half a mashed shrimp" when she cast it back out to her "secret flat rock." She claimed that she had to cast over the rock then drag her shrimp back over it stopping just as the shrimp was ready to drop back off the edge and thats where the fish were waiting, hard to argue when she caught most of the fish. So I guess a snook found "half a mashed shrimp" on top of a flat rock, ate it, got hooked and the battle began.
The snook went straight for the marker pole and around behind it trying to snap the line, but Sandra deftly maneuvered it back around and into the open, the snook gained some advantage and went back behind the pole and Sandra muscled him out again. So the snook gave up on being saved by the marker pole and headed into the mangroves driving deep up under in the shallow water where his tail was slapping at the mangrove branches and the line was threatening to tangle and break. But Sandra, once again triumphed over the monster snook and coaxed him back into open water leading the beast with quick accurate swings of the pole applying tension and giving slack at just the proper moments.
Then, as if to give Sandra the chance to display her most masterful fishing skills in the face of extreme adversity, her fishing pole snapped in two. Shit.
This is where the story was told with such pure emotion that the following is as close as I can get to the facts.
Now I'm sure Sandra would have managed alone but when the pole snapped there were 2 more pair of hands close by that couldn't resist helping. That's six hands, in case your math is bad, all holding parts of the 2 piece fishinng pole, each pair with its own mind. From what I can tell Sandra maintained control of the reel and alternated the other hand between the two pole halves as needed. Julie had a firm grip on the lower half of the pole while Bimini had the top half. I also got the impression that Julie tried to control Sandras reeling hand with sharp commands to reel faster and Sandra was trying to get Bimini's hands to hold the top of the pole higher or lower or left or whatever. It wasn't mentioned but I'd bet there was also a lot of laughing and yapping (Lilly and Tater, the dogs) going on. And I'm not sure if anyone remebers who got the net but some how that snook got into it and into the boat.
Amazing.
The redfish was caught in a normal way and both were caught at sunset which is the important part of the story if you want to get one yourself. But I am sure it won't be half as much fun as Sandra's was.
Sandra is here during a short break before heading off to Orange Beach, AL where her and her husband, FLW Outdoors Redfish Series, Tournament Director, Dan Grimes are back to work.
High Tide: 11:15 AM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 8:00 PM 0.2 FT Wind: 5-10 NE Air Temp: 73/91 Water Temp: 81 Clarity: clear
I managed to net about 5 dozen good sized sardines from a local canal Thursday afternoon. Having that much nice bait made me anxious to get fishing so we left the dock early, before 6:00 AM. I fished a short while at the end of the Apollo canal but I was to anxious to get to my snook spot at the El Jobean bridge, so we set out while it was still dark.
But that was disappointing. Almost no action at the bridge. A few lady fish that never got to the boat but ripped up my sardines and my Gulp Swimming mullets.
I'd been looking at the satellite images at the Charlotte County GIS System and the top of the Tippecanoe Bay. It seemed like a lot of water passes through that area when the tides are changing so I decided to try some snook fishing up there.
We cruised around that area throwing the Gulp and live lining the sardines. There was a lot of action but the fish all seemed small and I couldn't get anything to the boat to see what I was dealing with. I lost the tail off mt gulp several times, which seemed odd in that shallow water. It's usually trout, lady fish or snapper that do that. I saw a small shark cruising around us for a while but I couldn't catch his attention.
I finally hooked a redfish on my Gulp in one of the little shallow coves. He was 18.5 inches, just enough to keep for supper. We blackened it with some cajun seasoning, excellent.
On our way back we saw ladyfish busting up the bait near the El Jobean bridge so we stopped a got a few for the crab traps.
We did have one exciting find on our way in to the dock. The story starts on our trip out around 6:00 AM. I spotted something floating in the water and I shined a light on it. It appeared to be a cooler and I wondered why it would be in the water and if there might be something still in it. On our way back in I recognized it again a little farther up the canal so I pulled over to see what it might be. I at least thought we might get some garbage out of the water.
But, we were surprised to find it was a safe. The kind you might have in a closet in you home to keep valuables. As I tried to get it on the boat it popped open, apparently it had been damaged. But it was near full of stuff, the most obvious were a couple check books on the top. Karen pawed through enough to find some keys and she read an address in the check book. We decided to not look any farther and call the police when we got it home.
The police woman was able to determine that a report of 2 stolen safes had been filed by the person whos's name was on the check book. She was contacted and the safe and contents where returned. I have since heard that a safe was found in a canal in Punta Gorda a few weeks ago. If you're the vandal, be warned that there are good people that will try to get you. I hope there are finger prints on that safe that will get back to you.
We got back to the dock at about 1:30 PM. A very long day on the water but a great day. Seems like every day on the water is a great day!
