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 Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Fish Caught: Sail Cat, Mangrove Snapper
High Tide: 9:00 AM 1.3 FT Low Tide: 2:00 AM 0.0 FT Wind: 0-5 NE Air Temp: 72/91 Water Temp: Clarity: murky
I forgot to go buy shrimp yesterday so we decided to fish the Gulp and green backs if we could get them, which we did. We left the dock about 6:00 AM and spent about a half hour netting a couple dozen rather small green backs.
When we hit the sea walls at the end of the Apollo Waterway about 6:45 AM there were fish popping all along the walls. I started throwing the Gulp and about the 4th cast I got a small mangrove snapper. I dropped the anchor and threw a green back with a small split shot. But it was the Gulp that produced everything this morning. I had a lot of missed hits and got about 5 snapper in the boat, the biggest went 13 inches but only 2 were over the 10 inch limit. Some where in there I got a small sail cat on the Gulp too.
I did lose a few fish that picked up the little green backs but none appeared to be of any size and a few may have just been crabs. I tried them on the bottom and under a cork, under the docks and in the shallows in the reeds but the Gulp was definitely the producer for the day. And the day was very entertaining but about 10:00 AM it slowed down and started getting hot so we called it a beautiful morning on the water and headed home.
High Tide: 2:00 PM 2.1 FT Low Tide: 7:15 AM 1.2 FT Wind: 0-5 SW Air Temp: 74/96 Water Temp: Clarity: murky
I got a couple dozen shrimp the day before and soon after leaving the dock at about 6:15 AM I was able to net about 10 small greenbacks in our canal. We had decided not to travel too far, gas is getting to be an expense to consider even with our little 40 HP Mercury.
When we got to the end of the Apollo Waterway the sun was still low and the water was glassy calm. There were fishing popping and slapping the sides of the sea wall all up and down it's length. I hadn't planned on stopping there but I dropped the anchor and put out a shrimp, a greenback and I threw the Gulp around. I had a couple small hits on the Gulp Swimming Mullet and the shrimp but the fish were small and I never got one to the boat to see what they were. I saw a few break water and at a glance I would say some kind of small jack, tall flat body with a bright yellow tail.
We moved down a little farther and fished under the docks. Shrimp were getting stripped from the hook shortly after hitting the bottom and I got several small mangrove snapper to the boat. The small greenbacks sat in the water a lot longer between bites but they did produce a keeper snapper and a lady fish which I kept for crab trap bait.
There was a lot of action all morning but nothing too exciting. A lot of small bait in the water, at some time there will be some bigger fish after them and I hope I'm there to get a couple. About noon it starting getting way too hot in the sun so we headed home. Another relaxing day on the water.
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.
