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 Sunday, September 14, 2008
Fish Caught: Sheepshead, Lady Fish, Trout, Catfish, Mangrove Snapper, Skate/Ray
High Tide: 3:45 PM 2.1 FT Low Tide: 9:45 AM 0.5 FT Wind: 5-10 S Air Temp: 75/91 Water Temp: 83 Clarity: coffee
Hurricane Ike has had our tides running very high with lots of wind and sudden bands of thunderstorms which kept us off the water. Our dock actually had water on top of it a couple times this week, I've never seen that before. What a storm, we watched the broadcasts from Galveston with some relief but also with a great deal of sympathy.
But it was finally a more normal September day so we decided to get out for some fishing. I went out early to get shrimp and when I brought it down to the dock a little before sunrise there was a lot of action in the water. I put on a Gulp and cast at some of the noisy spots only to scare some large schools of mullet. But there was something bigger out there but I never did get a hit except for something very small which appeared to be a small trout. I never got it out of the water except that it jumped to get lose of the hook.
So we left the dock about 8:30 AM stopping a couple times along the way to cast a Gulp with no luck. We finally anchored near the docks about 9:30. The tide seemed to have turned in a little early so we were already on the incoming. I started getting small, snapper like hits, immediately. I got about 3 small snapper and 4 or 5 nice sized sheepshead in the boat while missing quite a few. The sheepshead went from about 10 inches up to about 13. We don't like sheepshead so we didn't keep any even though at least 3 were over the 12 inch minimum.
I caught several large rays which I wished to be redfish as I was yelling for the net, but they were rays everytime. There were a few catfish and the lady fish were around most of the day but they did their aerial displays and spit the hook everytime. I would have kept a couple for my crab traps which have been drydocked far too long.
Another fun day on the water, plenty of action but nothing to show for dinner. Next time!
Fish Caught: Sheepshead, Mangrove Snapper, Skate/Ray, Snook
High Tide: 5:30 PM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 11:30 AM 0.5 FT Wind: 10-20 E Air Temp: 79/93 Water Temp: 83 Clarity: coffee
Had to go back to see if that big fish my Dad missed a couple days ago was still there. We left the dock about 8:30 AM, a little late because the tides were late and I really wanted to catch the turn to incoming tide at about 11:30. We made a stop up near the end of the Jupiter Waterway where I threw the Gulp Swimming Mullet at the pepper trees while letting a shrimp drift with a tiny split shot.
The shrimp didn't get much action but was picked apart after 15 minutes by some tiny fish. I really wanted to save them for that big redfish. But I did get a nice snook on the Gulp. Although well below legal size at about 22 inches long, but they are still fun at that size.
About 10:00 we moved out towards the end of the Apollo Waterway and drifted the sea walls, still on an outgoing tide. I got a couple taps on the Gulp but not much action. At about 11:00 I moved to the spot where I hoped to find some redfish when the tide turned in. I like to get anchored and quiet a half hour early. But, because of the east wind the tide was late and it turned out we were very early. I got a couple small sheepshead and mangrove snapper, especially when the tide had slowed to almost slack. But it hung there for a long time before finally turning back in. That's when the action started.
I had just lost a shrimp to a small fish when I saw tail swirls and a wake under the dock. I got a shrimp back on and into the current which had finally started moving in with some pace. The split shot wasn't enough to hold bottom so I let the shrimp bounce along the front edge of the dock and about 25 feet down I felt a nice hit. It was another snook right around 20 inches. For the next hour or so I played with feeding mangrove snapper, sheepshead and snook. I got 3 more snook into the boat before the action just stopped. One of our neighbors, Bob, fished his way down to us just before I got the last snook. He anchored a ways up and I saw him catch a similar snook, it looked like on some kind of lure, but I couldn't see what kind. But I was down to 2 shrimp and those 2 lasted quite a while. I think the tide just got moving too fast. So about 2:30 we headed home, again with no fish for supper but an exciting day on the water.
