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 Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Fish Caught: Mangrove Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Catfish
High Tide: 1:00 PM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 6:30 AM 0.9 FT Wind: 0-5 E Air Temp: 70/87 Water Temp: 82 Clarity: murky
My Dad had open heart surgery about 5 months ago so he's been working hard at getting back up to par. He finally felt strong enough to spend a day on the water so he and Mom came out for a few days and today was our fishing day.
I got 4 dozen shrimp from El Jobean Bait & Tackle Shop and we got on the water by about 7:30 AM. My Dad really likes to fish for trout and I'd heard of a spot they were getting them recently. It's out just a little past the El Jobean bridge and we went right there and made a couple drifts through the area. But there was nothing there.
So we moved back to the bridge and anchored so we could drift the shrimp, on the incoming tide, into the it. We immediately started catching mangrove snapper. The first was a monster 14 inch fish but after that they were mainly under 10 inches (10 inches is the minimum limit) and while we got an awful lot of snapper, I was catching one on every cast for about an hour, we only ended up with 5 keepers. A nice supper for 4 people.
I also was just starting to retrieve a shrimp that had drifted past the snapper zone when something grabbed it and I hooked it. It seemed obviously different than the snappers and we finally netted a nice big 18 inch spanish mackerel. We've found these are very tasty when pan blackened so we added it to the cooler.
There were a lot of dolphin in the area and my Mom spotted a couple playing just on the other side of the bridge. They were jumping several feet out of the water and splashing back. They continued to do this several times after Mom pointed them out to us. It must be a good life as a dolphin in Charlotte Harbor.
We went through our shrimp very quickly with all the snapper action and it was beginning to get a little warm so we headed back to the dock by around 11:30 AM. Another great day on the water, one of many more I hope to spend out there with my folks.
I was fishing the Charlotte Harbor reef the other day and caught what I thought was a Spanish mackerel,but something just did'nt look right I checked the fish I D site and it was a cero.the meat was lighter and it tasted very good. tight lines Harry By Harry Mullica, At
June 7, 2009 9:14 PM
Hi Harry, Thanks for the note. I'd never even heard of a cero mackerel before but I also just went to the fish ID site for FWC and you may be right. What I caught may have been a cero. Unfortunately I did not take a photo but I did look at that mackerel a few times to be sure it was not a small king, something just seemed different about it. By twlack, At
June 8, 2009 6:44 AM
Fish Caught: Redfish, Lady Fish, Trout, Sail Cat, Spanish Mackerel, Skate/Ray
High Tide: 7:00 AM 1.8 FT Low Tide: 4:00 PM 0.2 FT Wind: 5-10 N Air Temp: 55/69 Water Temp: 72 Clarity: clear
Finally, the weather cooperates and our plans to take the boat down to Gasparilla Sound for a few days fishing will be realized. It was kind of cool in the morning so I didn't rush out too early, but when I was finally packed and ready to go the boat wouldn't start. Turned out the battery shorted overnight (was fine the day before) so after a trip to get a new battery and installation time we were ready to leave the dock by about 10:30 AM.
The plan was for Karen and Julie to travel by car to meet Bimini and I at Eldred's Marina in Placida. Bimini and I would make a few stops along the way to see if we could catch a few and meet them for a late lunch and then some more fishing.
Our first stop was Trout Creek and our first fish was a small snook on a white Gulp Swimming Mullet. But soon after we started catching trout, lots of trout, but most were 12-13 inches. We caught about 15 trout on shrimp, greenbacks and Gulp with only 2 going over the 15 inch minimum but of course there is now a closed season for Nov-Dec. But it was fun catching them and nice to see so many around.
Next stop was supposed to be Bull Bay but neither of us had been down there for a long time and we made the turn in a little early and passed thru Turtle Bay. We paused in the middle of the pass and caught a few big ladyfish in very shallow water. Just as we passed into Bull Bay there were a couple small islands that really blocked the cold wind so we anchored there for a while. There were a lot of Mullet jumping and after a while we started spotting reds tailing in the shallows just a little out of casting range. Bimini poled us in a little closer and I dropped a Gulp on one of them and boated a nice 19 inch red. It was awful shallow but the site of those tails was more than we could resist. But when we decided to head for deeper water we found we were stuck. It was about dead low now so after pushing and shoving we settled in to wait for the upcoming tide to float us again.
About 2 hours later I jumped in the water and lifted the engine enough to get us going again. We were very late for our lunch date so we postponed it to the next day by cell phone and finished the day in Bull Bay. As we drifted near the entrance to Bull Bay the wind really picked up and clouds blew in from the north, it was cold. But we caught a nice Mackerel on chunked ladyfish and a huge sail cat on a live pinfish and a bunch of other small stuff.
About 4:30 or so it was really getting windy and the sky was dark so we headed back to Eldred's. It was a cool ride back but a nice exciting day on the water.
High Tide: 4:15 PM 1.3 FT Low Tide: 10:15 AM 0.0 FT Wind: 5-10 NW Air Temp: 59/77 Water Temp: 72 Clarity: clear
My Uncle Don and Aunt Nancy are visiting from Connecticut and wanted to see what the Myakka looked like from the water so the 3 of us packed a nice lunch and headed out about 9:45 AM. I wasn't able to net any bait so Don bought a couple dozen shrimp and we went straight out to the El Jobean bridge. I thought the tide would be hitting low and turning in but I guess the wind was against us and for the couple hours we were there it never turned in, it just sat slack. Don managed a couple mangrove snapper, too small to keep and I got a nice 18 inch spanish mackerel on a Berkley Gulp white swimming mullet.
We noticed a pelican kind of floating, swimming and dipping himself into the water in a most unusual way. After watching him for 15 minutes or so we decided he must have a piece of fishing line wrapped around his right wing and right foot. So we got a couple towels ready, a knife and the net and pulled the anchor to go see if we could help the poor thing out of its jam. I started the motor and pulled the anchor and looked back to where he had just been and he was flying away as if he had never been better. We finally decided that he was the same pelican I had tangle in my line on a cast a little earlier. I had only had him tangled for about 20 seconds and he seemed to slip free rather easily so I hadn't really paid any attention to him. But I'm thinking now my braided line may have given him a burn or ruffled or broke some feathers and that his unusual bathing actions had been an attempt to soothe or unruffle those feathers. It sure was odd.
We went out to one of the bays off Tippecanoe Bay and poled way back into very shallow water. I thought Don and Nancy would enjoy seeing the skinny back water and all the birds and wildlife back there. But we didn't find too much activity and no fish at all besides the mullet that were looking for what little sun made it through the clouds.
On the way back home we saw about 5 dolphins really stirring up the water, circling and jumping and splashing. I turned the boat towards them and slowed to an idle. They were in a playful mood and 3 of them turned and came towards us. They swam around and under the boat, stopping occasionally to stare up at us as we hung over the rail and talked to them. People can get pretty nutty in the way they talk to animals in those situations and I can't help but wonder if those dolphins just wanted a good laugh.
I had shut the motor and we slowly drifted away from the dolphins. But when I started the motor again and turned towards home the dolphins came back and started the circling and visiting. It was pretty amazing, they seemed to have something to say. It was at least 15 minute that we chugged along at nearly idle speed and they gave us quite a show. I'm wondering now if they had talked to that poor pelican and he told them of our good, but misguided intentions towards him. Whatever the reason they eventually let us go on alone and went back to their dancing.
The spanish mackerel was delicious blackened with a salad from my garden, italian turkey sausage, sweet potatoes and some good wine Don and Nancy had provided. It was another great day in paradise.
Fish Caught: Lady Fish, Trout, Goliath Grouper, Spanish Mackerel
High Tide: 7:15 AM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 4:45 PM 0.25 FT Wind: 5-10 SW Air Temp: 75/91 Water Temp: 81 Clarity: murky
We left the dock about 6:45 AM and stopped at the end of the Jupiter Waterway. There wasn't much happening and since I'm not a patient fisherman we pulled anchor and headed for the l Jobean bridge.
There were birds diving into what appeared to be Lady Fish attacking bait fish. I stopped half way out to the bridge and caught a couple on a Gulp Swimming Mullet just to be sure. I was right, Lady Fish and they were all over the river northwest of the El Jobean Bridge. Lady fish make great cut bait and spectacular crab bait for a crab trap so I put a few in my cooler.
When I got to my favorite spot at the bridge I could see lots of flashing in the water so as soon as I got anchored I threw the cast net out. It came back with hundreds of 2 inch sardines, I think. They were a little different than what I normally see, thinner top to bottom and they had four or five spots along the top behind the gill. They were also small so I was putting 3 on a hook with a tiny split shot and casting them into the out going tide.
I immediately caught a trout that was a little undersized so I threw it back and got the line out again. Birds were diving all around us and I could see a lot of fish splashing up at the bait. We started catching spanish mackerel, Karen got the first one which was almost 2 feet long, a nice fish. During the next few hours we would see the schools of mackerel moving around attacking the huge schools of bait. We lost a lot more than we caught because they were cutting our lines with their sharp teeth. But we got 5 in the cooler before we started throwing them back. We feel mackerel is good when cooked fresh but we don't enjoy it much after it gets frozen so we figured 5 was enough for the next few days. We would pan blacken it all and have a huge dinner with left overs for sandwiches. I also caught some on my Gulp Swimming Mullet, on a rattle trap wich I finally lost to a cut line and on a silver spoon with a bucktail. I had several hits on my lure within 3 feet of the boat, which was a little startling and there were a couple times when the feeding frenzy was so aggresive that I thought a mackerel was going to jump in the boat. I saw one leap nearly 10 feet out of the water, it landed about 20 feet from where it came out. The bait fish would boil up around us making a sound much like a sudden, short burst of rain. It was a very exciting morning on the water.
I also got a few small goliath grouper drifting by the bridge pilings when the mackerel would let my bait get that deep. It started to get a little warm although there was a pleasant breeze. But by around noon we were ready to head home so we left the mackerel still feeding. It was 2 o'clock by the time I got the boat washed and the fish cleaned. A long tiring day and after cookng all that fish and eating a good bunch of it I was asleep before the sun was down. Can't wait to do it again.
Fish Caught: Snook, Lady Fish, Spanish Mackerel, Catfish, Stingray
High Tide: 5:00 PM 2.5 FT Low Tide: 1:00 AM -.5 FT Wind: 10-20 NE Air Temp: 66/89 Water Temp: 79 Clarity: clear
We left the dock about 7:00 AM, without checking the weather since the evening before. We made our first stop at the Bridge over the Myakka in El Jobean, FL. I bought a new Gulp called "Greenback" which looks very much like a threadfin sardine. It is shaped like a fish but has a lump on its tail that causes it to swim when you pull it through the water.
On my first cast with that lure I hooked a spanish mackerel about 19". Nothing more there for a half hour and the wind started picking up and blowing us around so we headed for trout creek.
We anchored in that first big cove in trout creek, we were watching a bunch of pelicans diving as we approached, thought that was a very good sign. Well they weren’t afraid of us at all and for the 3 hours we fished there they kept up the comical group fishing all around us. I took a video on my little digital still camera, its not great but here it is, Pelican video.
My Mom and Dad are with us on this trip. They were fishing live shrimp, my Mom under a cork and my Dad on the bottom. Plenty of catfish for both and my Mom also got a stingray. I was throwing my new green back Gulp and got a couple ladyfish.
Then, about 11:30 I hit a huge snook on my Gulp. A great fight around the boat, under the motor, passing the pole between the bimini top and finally landed a 28" snook.Unfortunately the season is closed because that 28 inch fish would have made a great dinner, I got 1 more about 23" before we decided to leave. It was getting very windy out in the harbor, there were no boats looking for cobia like we had expected, maybe they checked the morning weather report.
We made our way into the shelter of Hog Island at trolling speed pulling a few lures. About halfway up Hog Island in 7 feet of water my Dad hooked a nice Spanish Mackerel about 22". We got several more bites a small one in the boat and Karen had a nice one on that cut the 35lb florocarbon leader right at the boat.
It was a great day on the water, we were back at the dock by about 2:30 with fish to clean.
We left the dock about 7:00 AM, without checking the weather since the evening before. We made our first stop at the Bridge over the Myakka in El Jobean, FL. I bought a new Gulp called "Greenback" which looks very much like a threadfin sardine. It is shaped like a fish but has a lump on its tail that causes it to swim when you pull it through the water.