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: 6:15 PM 1.0 FT Low Tide: 11:00 AM -0.75 FT Wind: 5-10 E Air Temp: 68/80 Water Temp: 67 Clarity:
The tide was low in the morning and since it's been a little cool we decided to make an afternoon trip with the full sun to keep us warm. We left after lunch with an empty live well. I took some menhaden out of the freezer but I hoped to net some bait in the canal.
We went to the end where our canal meets the Myakka and anchored at the edge of flat where the incoming tide rolls off to a small channel. I threw the Gulp Swimming Mullet and had cut bait on the bottom. There was a lot of bait action on the calm water's surface but nothing wanted any bait we had out there. So after an hour I poled into the real shallow water and chummed to try to draw some of the bait fish closer so I could net them. I didn't have much luck catching just a couple mullet that were awful big for bait so I threw them back. I also got a net full of baby needle fish, but I'm not sure they're all that great as bait, so I let them go.
On the way back out I stopped and threw the net over the deeper channel I'd been fishing in. It came back with an 18 inch snook, kind of a surprise. Of course that is under sized and out of season so he got a quick trip back home.
We drifted the incoming tide between the sea walls throwing the Gulp Mullet. At one time there was an explosion of fish chasing bait against the sea wall. I'm still not sure what they were, they didn't seem to be jacks, which was my first thought, the color and action seemed wrong, too slow. They also seemed to slow to be lady fish, too fat also. I was a little too far to cast into them but I poled that way and shortly after the visible attack ended I got the Gulp in the area. On the second cast I caught an 11 inch mangrove snapper. Would a school of snapper attack bait fish in a group with such ferocity as to create the splashing and noise that I saw? Or was the snapper attracted to the remaining pieces of the attack of another more aggresive fish.
Mangrove Snapper only needs to be 10 inches long to keep and it's very good eating. But since it was getting late and a single 11 inch fish is hardly a snack, I threw him back and we headed for the dock, another peaceful day on the canal.
