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: Redfish, Sheepshead, Catfish, Mangrove Snapper, Stingray
High Tide: 11:30 AM 1.8 FT Low Tide: 8:00 PM 0.2 FT Wind: 5-10 NW Air Temp: 75/91 Water Temp: Clarity: murky
A few weeks back I helped my dad install a new door on his back porch. The new door replaced a storm door he had installed just a couple years ago and I had need for a storm door at my house. So my sister Kate was kind enough to bring the door in her new truck and my mom and dad came along for the ride and a short fishing trip.
I went down to El Jobean Bait & Tackle Shop about 6:30 AM and picked up 4 dozen live shrimp and a couple bags of frozen that I decided to try as chum. Mom, dad and Kate arrived, said hellos and toured the house and yard to see all the updates and dad and I rushed them into the boat. Even with two of us pushing it was a late start, we left the dock about 10:30 AM.
There were storm clouds to our south east so we decided to stay in the canal and out of the lightning. We dropped anchor and Kate got the first sheepshead within a minute. In the next half hour we caught sheepshead, mangrove snapper, catfish and a small redfish. All were way under keeper size except one sheepshead my dad caught that was an inch or two over the 12 inch minimum. Then the action just stopped and after a half hour without a bite we moved to another spot.
We tried several other spots over the next few hours and continued to catch small reds, snappers, sheepshead, catfish and rays. My mom hooked one huge ray which acted just like a big red for a while, a little bit of excitement. We even took a short ride out by Bird Key which is just out into the Myakka River. The tide was really rushing out fast out there, I think too fast for any fish to be hanging around, we didn't get a single bite.
So we headed back to the canal, stopped and played with little fish along the way and hit the docks by about 3:30. It's still too hot to be out there for too long. We were all tired and glad to be back in the cool house or pool. Its always nice to be on the water but its an especially a great day on the water when shared with family.
