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: 4:00 PM 2.2 FT Low Tide: 12:01 AM 0.0 FT Wind: 5-10 S Air Temp: 77/91 Water Temp: 85 Clarity: murky
Well, over a month with no fishing. I've got to stop letting that happen. But finally, we took the time to get back out even though it was only for a short time.
I ran to El Jobean Bait & Tackle Shop to greet them as they opened at exactly 6:00 AM and picked up a couple dozen nice fresh shrimp. So by 6:30 we were on the way down the canal.
As we got to the end of the Jupiter Waterway there was a lot of action on the water surface so we anchored and threw a Gulp Swimming Mullet at the swirls. But nothing was interested so I put a shrimp on with a small split shot and cast it in the deeper water. After catching 2 small catfish and not a lot of action we decided to move on.
I worked the Gulp hard passing through the sea walls and under the docks along the way but the only action was from very small Ladyfish. So we anchored and threw some shrimp at the docks.
That's when I started getting plenty of action. But only from very small mangrove snapper. I don't know how many I got in the boat, a lot. But only one was over the 10 inch minimum and that was only by 1/2 inch.
By about 10:00 AM I'd used up my shrimp and it was already getting hot, even though the south wind was really picking up and we got a few light sprinkles of rain. So we turned towards home, another nice day on the water.
As I was writing this I got to talk to one of my neighbors that is on vacation this week. And he spent a lot of his free time out on his boat. He has been having no luck with fish all week. I checked the Waterline Magazine and it seems its been a tough week for fishing for almost everyone. But, that usually turns around with a great day of fishing, I hope I'm on the water for that!
