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, November 3, 2009
Fish Caught: Redfish, Snook, Jack, Catfish, Mangrove Snapper, Stingray
High Tide: 2:05 AM 2.2 FT Low Tide: 10:20 AM -0.5 FT Wind: 5-10 NE Air Temp: 68/86 Water Temp: Clarity: dark
My two sisters, Judy and Kate, walked for breast cancer (Judy is a survivor) in Tampa last weekend. They were both very tired and struggling to walk on blistered feet, so they spent a couple days with us, one sitting by the pool and one sitting on the boat. As it turned out the day on the boat was not all that physically relaxing. A good thing!
We got Kate up and on the boat by 7:00 AM, a miracle I'm told. And we started right off catching small mangrove snapper and catfish. The bite was light and we fed a lot of those little thieves very well. We tried a couple spots and got a couple keepers one over 13 inches. We ended up by the docks at the end of the canal were we added several small reds and a very small snook to the tally.
It was a nice cool, lazy, breezy morning when an odd noise slowly caught everyone's attention. It sounded like the squall line of a big thunderstorm with the big heavy rain drops hitting the water and racing towards us. The sound increased in volume until we had to raise or voices to speak above it and the water came alive under the far end of the dock. The splashing spread out across the canal and came in our direction until we were surrounded by splashing, roiling water. It was such a vicious feeding frenzy we were actually getting wet sitting on my pontoon boat a good 2 feet off the water. And everyone hooked up with a jack varying from 9 to 12 inches long. Lots of fun. I wish I had my video camera so you could see and hear that approaching wall of white water. I've been around feeding jacks before but never such an aggressive bunch and never that close. You could hear them hitting the bottom of the boat, I'm sure the net would have picked up 3 or 4 per scoop if we'd wanted.
Of course it ended any other fishing as they passed. They continued to resurface in huge schools for the rest of the day. We motored out a short way into the canal and caught and released a few more before a guy stopped and asked what we were catching. When we told him he asked if he would be bothering us if he dropped his seine net next time they surfaced. We were anxious to watch and told him so and about 10 minutes later we got to see him in action. I think he said he's allowed 3 (maybe 4?), 500 ft nets on board. When the jacks showed themselves again he raced off to one side of the school and tossed one end of his net in. Then he circled around the outside of the school letting the net feed out until he circled back to the beginning. He then pulled both ends into his boat, tied one end off and started hauling the other end in. It looked like a tough job. He had a big u shaped area around the back of his boat that he put the net and fish in. It looked like a gill net, the fish were mostly stuck in it. We could see lots of jacks and lots of catfish. When he got the whole net in, about a half hour, he shoveled ice on top of it. We asked a few questions and found out he estimated that haul to be about $200-$300 worth of fish. He said it would take him 2-3 hours longer to get the fish out of the net. Each catfish would have to have all 3 of its sharp spiky fins cut off to get them free of the net. I assume he sells all this as bait to crabbers but we didn't get the chance to ask that. It was interesting to watch but we all had to wonder about taking so many fish in such a short time. But I guess we have the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission taking care of limits and fishing methods to preserve the fish at sustainable levels. I hope they know what they're doing. We wondered back home slowly, got a few more mangrove snapper for the cooler, trolled up a few more jacks and small reds and got back to the dock before 2 PM.
I think Kate and Judy got the kind of rest they needed. I know I had another great day on the water and look forward to seeing them again soon.
Fish Caught: Lady Fish, Sail Cat, Catfish, Stingray
High Tide: FT Low Tide: FT Wind: Air Temp: Water Temp: Clarity:
I just don't have the time to write out a nice pleasant story. But I wanted to keep you all posted on fishing in my end of Charlotte Harbor/Myakka River. We went out on a few short trips over the last week. The last trip was Sunday morning, we left the dock at about 6:30 AM.
On all 3 trips we caught a lot of junk fish, no reds, trout or snook. But we caught lots of cat fish and ladyfish.
But more importantly is for the first time this year the deep water around the el Jobean bridge was full of bait. I threw my cast net once and had to shovel bait back off my boat because I didn't have room to keep so many bait. They were there all 3 trips.
And on Sunday huge schools of ladyfish came in from the harbor to devastate the bait. The bird were diving everywhere. The water, calm due to no wind, was alive with schools of fish and birds were diving as far out as we could see. I have to believe that something worthwhile will be coming in to feed on all this bait. I hope I can find the time to get out there again soon.
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.
Fish Caught: Redfish, Sheepshead, Mangrove Snapper, Stingray
High Tide: 5:00 PM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 11:00 AM 0.5 FT Wind: 0-5 E Air Temp: 73/91 Water Temp: Clarity: muddy
So it's been about 8 weeks since my last fishing trip. That's just way too long, I hope to make up for the missing time in the next few months. I haven't been neglecting my favorite pastime, I started out for a fishing trip a couple times in July only to have problems with my outboard. Apparently the ethanol they now put in gas is not real good for outboard motors. And I own a 2003 Mercury which has a reputation of it's own for less than top quality fuel lines. So the fuel lines started dissolving and the gummy rubber got into all the internal parts of my motor. To make a long story short (and get on to fishing) I had to replace all the gas lines from the tank to the motor and all the internal lines including the fuel pump which also lost a few rubber grommets to the ethanol. I learned two things that might help you if you have a boat and are forced to use gas with ethanol, which you must because its hard to find it without ethanol.
There is a product called "Stabil" which is sold in Wal-Mart and most auto parts stores that you should add to ethanol based gas before using it in your boat. I also found my fuel pump online for half the price that I could get it at the marina. If you're looking for boat parts try ishopmarine.com.
So we left the dock about 6:45 AM with 4 dozen shrimp from El Jobean Bait & Tackle Shop. When we got to the end of the canal by the seawalls the water was glassy and I didn't see any sign of fish in the water at all. The tide was moving out fast so I drifted the length throwing Gulp swimming mullet and dragging a shrimp. It probably took a half hour to get down to the docks and I still had the same shrimp, not good.
So I dropped the anchor and let a shrimp drift under the docks. I started getting action from small mangrove snappers immediately and was pleasantly surprised to get redfish mixed in now and then. But everything was so small, not a single snapper was over the minimum 10 inches and the biggest red was only around 12 inches. But I caught a lot and it was fun.
Our canal was recently dredged and they put up a bunch of new markers on big poles. So the contour of the bottom is very different. I let the boat drift again and threw the Gulp and dragged the shrimp until I got a couple bites. I dropped anchor and threw some shrimp into an area that had never produced anything for me before. But the newly dredged channel comes up very close to the shore here and apparently the fish like the new terrain. I was catching small snapper and redfish on almost every cast. There were stingray and sheepshead mixed in too. It was a busy day but nothing to eat.
We made a run out to the El Jobean bridge for low slack tide to see if there might be some snook feeding when the tide turned in. But all I did there was leave a few hooks in the bridge, not a single bite.
The thunder started booming in the distance so we decided to call it a day. Lightning catches my attention a little more since our neighbors house was struck and burned a few weeks ago. We were back at the dock by around 12:30 just as the first spits of rain came down. It was a great day on the water, many more in the near future, I hope!
I have been waiting for you to post agan.Try the gas at Fishermans Villge marina, they have marine fuel wih no ethanol By Harry Mullica, At
September 7, 2009 11:54 AM
Thanks Harry, but it takes me over 2 hours to get to Fisherman's Village Marina in my boat from my dock. But the new gas lines I installed are of a material made to handle the new fuel and by adding stabil to the gas it stays good as long as gas without ethanol.
High Tide: 2:30 PM 2.0 FT Low Tide: 8:30 AM 1.0 FT Wind: 10-20 SW Air Temp: 73/88 Water Temp: 81 Clarity: normal
We've been kind of busy for the last few weeks so when we found Sunday afternoon free I ran out for shrimp and right after lunch we hopped on the boat for a few hours of fishing. We didn't go far, gas is getting out of control. We stopped at the end of the canal and drifted shrimp under the docks on the incoming tide.
I played with a bunch of small mangrove snapper (I assume) but only got a few in the boat, 2 of them being 11-12 inches which went in the cooler. I am out of the 4 inch Gulp swimming mullet, all I could get locally was a smaller 2 inch version which I was throwing at the shore and sea wall with no luck. Jim, at Fines Bait in North Port said he was able to find a supplier for the bucket of Gulp 4 inch so next time I'm up there I'll pick one up.
About 3:30 I started getting a lot of action, unfortunately it was all with stingrays. Has anybody ever eaten a stingray? I have heard they are actually quite good if properly prepared. one day I'll try it, there are plenty to catch. After I got about 7 of them in a 20 minute period we decided it was another great day on the water and we headed home to a snapper dinner.
High Tide: 7:30 PM 2.1 FT Low Tide: 3:45 AM -0.5 FT Wind: 5-10 NE Air Temp: 59/86 Water Temp: 74 Clarity: clear
The day was so beautiful we rushed around after lunch to get some time to spend on the water. One of the things I needed to do was net some bait, which I did but they were very small, the largest being only an inch long.
We left the dock about 2:30 PM, made a brief stop at the end of the canal to fish under the docks. But when I went to get a bait all my newly netted menhaden had died. I tossed a bunch in the water as chum and put a couple dead ones on a hook. But no luck, I'd really only expect catfish or rays on dead bait anyway. I also threw the Gulp around but no luck at all. After 15 minutes we turned towards the El Jobean bridge.
I started throwing the Gulp at the bridge and on a very slow retrieve I was getting hits. But after losing 3 tails off my swimming mullets I decided it wasn't worth the expense and I went over to get some shrimp by the boat launch.
When we got back to the bridge I started pulling up small mangrove snapper. Obviously the tail eaters I'd been feeding Gulp earlier. I probably caught 8-10 snapper over the next hour or so, most were not legal but a couple went to 10-11 inches. I didn't keep any I usually don't until they get over 12 inches.
I use 30 lb Berkley Fireline with a 2-3 ft. fluorocarbon leader. It gives you a really good feel for what is happening at the hook end of the line. I had a chance a few weeks ago to pick up a pole with 15 lb mono and it felt like I was fishing with a 3 lb weight on the end of a rubber band. The reason I say this is I had one hit, between all those snapper, that I really felt was a much larger fish. With Fireline a small fish is like a tinkling bell of an old phone, but a bigger fish is more of a thud...thud. And it doesn't matter if the moving tide has your line in a long arc, it still transmits that feel to your hands. But I didn't hook that one thudding fish, Karen will say "we'll never know", but I know and that's what matters.
About 5 o'clock I got tired of playing with snapper and we decided to head back to the canal, put some shrimp on the bottom and have our Subway dinner. Of course you can have bait out all day and never get a bite until you pick up your sandwich, I caught 4 stingray in the time it took me to eat my grinder. I don't enjoy unhooking stingray so once dinner was done we headed home. Another wonderful day on the water.
Fish Caught: Jack, Sail Cat, Catfish, Mangrove Snapper, Stingray
High Tide: 3:45 PM 1.25 FT Low Tide: 10:00 AM -0.1 FT Wind: 20-30 SE Air Temp: 64/82 Water Temp: 75 Clarity: clear
Living on the canal, with the boat always there ready to go and being self employed gives us the freedom to take a break and head out to do a little fishing almost any time we choose to do so. So normally when we check the weather and it says 20-30 MPH wind we stay home or at least in our own canal. But today we had friends come down from a snow storm up in CT and it was the only day they could get out and we really wanted to give them a good day on the water.
So Tom and Arlene arrived at 9:00 AM and as planned several weeks ago, we headed out for an adventure. It was perfect timing to catch the low to incoming tide at my snook spot at the El Jobean bridge but with the wind so fast I knew we'd never be able to anchor. So I instructed my fishing crew on where I wanted them to drop the menhaden and told them I'd hold the boat steady under power and they should be careful not to get thrown off in the rough waves. It all sounded like a great idea.
BUT, as they were dropping their bait a huge gust of wind and a giant wave hit us at just the wrong moment and turned the nose of my boat in just the exact wrong direction. I was nose into the bridge piling with the wind blowing us hard towards it and not enough room to swing back out in either forward or reverse. I turned the wheel hard to the right, gave it some gas with the intention of pushing off the bridge with my hands to keep the rear of the boat and motor from hitting the bridge. As I rushed from the captains chair my hand tapped the throttle and everything happened a little faster than I'd planned. I managed to get a hand on the bridge but not soon enough to keep from scraping just a little along the wood bumpers. Of course the extra power sent Tom back pedaling to maintain balance. Lucky for me Arlene and Karen were both seated and Tom was coordinated enough to stay upright and on board. He later sad he saw what was happening and was expecting the get away, although not with the sudden acceleration, but being aware was enough for him to keep safe.
We abandoned the bridge fishing and headed across the harbor for the mangrove bays behind hog island. The wind was whipping straight up Charlotte Harbor and the waves were much larger than any I've been in before. A pontoon boat is a little like a bar of ivory soap in a tub full of kids. It was slow going and we got very wet. Salt spray was in the air in sheets, the wind was almost too loud to yell over and hog island was almost invisible through dripping sun glasses. After 8 hours with no food and water we finally started getting into the lee of the mangroves. Well, I guess it only seemed that drastic.
But once in the mangroves it was calm and quiet and sunny with just enough breeze to keep us cool. We spent the rest of the day idling around from spot to spot catching only a big jack, some stingray, and Arlene caught a catfish AND I LET HER KEEP IT (a private joke). The only sign of the pandemonium whirling outside of our mangrove sanctuary was when you cast your lure up above the mangroves. The wind would grab it an fling it way off it's intended destination, usually well into the mangroves. I've always found fishing in Florida to be much better on those beautiful, sunny calm days we're getting so used to. I always thought it was my state of mind that made it seem so. But over the last few years its starting to seem like the fish also enjoy those nice days to dine. I think even the fish in Florida are relaxed and mellow and choose to venture out only when its a beautiful day on the water!
Our trip home was no less brutal. But we motored very slowly directly across the harbor to the lee of the far shore before turning back north west towards the bridge. It made the trip a little shorter and we only got mildly wet. It was plenty warm enough so being wet didn't bother anybody and with 30 MPH wind we dried fast once we were out of the spray. We stopped in the Apollo canal and played with mangrove snapper, stingray and a sailcat and decided it was time for a still, quiet seat on the lanai out of the wind and a cocktail. I won't say it was a beautiful day on the water, but it was exciting, it was fun, it was a very nice visit with Tom and Arlene and it was a beautiful day amongst the protective mangroves!
P.S. Arlene took some photos she'll email and I'll post them later.
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.
High Tide: 4:30 PM 1.7 FT Low Tide: 11:00 AM .5 FT Wind: 5-10 SE Air Temp: 63/86 Water Temp: 74 Clarity: not clear
Left the dock about 8:30 AM headed for the bridge over the Myakka River at El Jobean, FL. I wanted to catch low slack tide into the incoming tide. I’ve been doing pretty well there with snook just as the incoming starts. Not so today. I did get one small snook, about 20-22". We only fished until about 12:30 but the tide was running pretty good by then.
There were lots of what appeared to be jack smashing bait fish over on the northwest end of the bridge. A few boats headed over there when they hit but I didn’t see anybody catch anything. Hard to believe, I’d be afraid to stick my finger in the water when they’re feeding that hard
At one time a huge stingray jumped about 5 feet out of the water. I just happened to look up as he did it. A little while later I hooked a big one (stingray) and had a heck of a battle to get him to the boat. He was about 3 feet wing tip to wing tip. It was the kind of stingray you see more in open water not the ones that stick to the bottom. He was quite heavy, I’ll guess 20 lbs, very thick body and a very strong aggressive fight not like an old tire like a lot of rays. I thought I had a monster jack.
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.