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: Trout, Goliath Grouper, Blacktip Shark, Lane Snapper
High Tide: 11:53 AM 1.5 FT Low Tide: 5:45 AM 0.5 FT Wind: 5-10 NE Air Temp: 66/95 Water Temp: 81 Clarity: clear
I was invited out with friends, we took Dave's boat down to the launch in El Jobean and got underway by about 7:30 AM. Bimini had heard there were cobia in the harbor and she had a plan so the three of us set out to catch some fish. We started out towards Punts Gorda to catch some bait. There were greenbacks in the water but we didn't have any luck netting them. Neither did several other boats that stopped near us with the same thought. But we managed to catch some small sand trout (a favorite food of cobia and shark) and a few pinfish. Dave also got several small lane snapper, which he says is a first for him in Charlotte Harbor. They were all in the range of 4 to 6 inches so of course we didn't keep any. But 8 inches is legal size so maybe in a few months?
So we took our bait to this secret hole to see if we could get a few cobia. When we got there we saw several big schools of greenbacks in the area. We tried to chase them down to get the cast net over them but they're very aware of boats and they scatter long before you can get a net over them. So we anchored up and put a few sand trout and pinfish out.
I had a small cajun thunder cork on my sand trout while Dave and Bimini live lined a trout and pinfish. I was the first to hook up with a small black tip shark. I was using a 30lb mono leader but we managed to net the shark just before he cut the leader. Probably because he was so small. I hooked 2 more in the next couple hours and both cut the line before we netted them.
As we sat at anchor schools of threadfin herring would occasionally pass within net range and we managed to get a dozen or so in the live well. But by about 1:00 o'clock or so we hadn't had any action for a while and decided to head home by way of Trout Creek. There was a lot of action in the water and we fed a few greenbacks to something. I was throwing a Gulp Swimming Mullet and, after a few good hits, I finally hooked a small Goliath Grouper. Of course he went back in the water ASAP since they are Federally protected and carry a huge $5,000.00 fine.
It was about 2:30 when we called it a day. It was really a great day, many thanks to Dave and Bimini. Hope to do it again soon. Karen and I enjoyed the shark.
