Fishing Charlotte Harbor Area (dental, nearby, spring)

[JollyOgre]

The topic for Fishin Franks was the great bait debate, Live vs Lures. It will be the same topic tomorrow night.

[Messing About]

Originally Posted by ArmyChief

Ok..what's a guy to do...who is out of town during the week. I need a fishing buddy/buddies ��

I am usually restricted to weekend fishing. This Saturday looks like good catching conditions.

I missed franks talk Tuesday, as all reserved seats were taken. I will shoot for tomorrow night.

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by JollyOgre

The topic for Fishin Franks was the great bait debate, Live vs Lures. It will be the same topic tomorrow night.

And the winner was...??

[JollyOgre]

Well it depends on a lot of things. What, where, when, how, and for how long, you are fishing, your mood, type of rod and reel set up. And of course what you are willing to do to get the type of fish you are looking for.

[ArmyChief]

Wow..sure glad we waited for THAT answer..lol

[Messing About]

So I spent 30 minutes typing an update and when I changed screens to check the weather...poof. All my work was gone. Ugh. Here's the readers digest version.
Frank touted the benefits of natural baits, both live, dead and cut.
Greg promoted hard artificial plastic baits, both top water and suspending.

Top water, floating baits like the Zara spook and Skitter Walk are only for first light to when the sun is shining on the water or for sundown through last light of day. Suspending crank baits will work all day long and even at night but don't crank too fast. You almost can't crank too slow in winter. White is a very effective color for these artificials.

Live bait, netted in the south part of the harbor, will not live in your recirculated bait well if you bring them to the upper harbor where the salinity is so much lower. Instead, after placing them in the well, hang around the same waters where you caught them for 15-20 minutes, circulating/draining the water they have likely crapped in after you caught them. After some time has passed, be prepared to turn off the intake/draining system in your live well and switch to an air only pump. This way the baits will live for hours inside of the same water you caught them in.

We learned the harbor is full of redfish right now. Some areas have schools with enormous redfish, upwords of 40". Plenty of slot size keepers all the way to the upper harbor. Snook are doing great, especially at night. Spanish Mackerel are back and numbers will continue to grow as the water cools. Trout are coming back in big numbers, a little early for the sizes we are seeing but it's a good thing that will only get better. Grouper and big bull Redfish can be caught in 30' of water by trolling the Gulf just a few miles out. Use a Manns stretch 30 or a Bomber diving plug and drive slow...2-3 mph.

There were quite a few other things I learned but I can't reveal all...leader length, new lures that are catching fish, size of your cut baits, what jacks are good for besides fun catching/releasing...you wouldn't feel the need to go yourself if I reported the whole meeting, right?

It's been 3 years since Frank started these weekly 90 minute chats. He does them monthly, 2 nights in a row. 50 seats per night usually fill up, so you can reserve Tuesday or come early for first come seats on Wednesday. He may be adding another night coming into season. Participation is free and they don't bring anything to sell you. Good sense tells you to buy a meal or at least a couple of the cheap drinks the restaurant offers. Servers work the room and the food/beer is reasonably priced. Next month will feature some hands on work, where we will learn how to tie/rig for live baits.

It mostly feels like gathering at a friend's house to talk fishing and learn new tricks to try. How can you not love that?
Thanks, Frank, for all you do for the community and for the fishermen/women.

[JollyOgre]

Yeah what MA said. I just summed it up.

I am not that much of a reporter and it was better than saying you had to be there.

Oh! Who won the raffle to go out with Capt'n Cale?

[Messing About]

Somebody about 100 tickets before mine last night....don't recall the name. No one in the room won anything last night but the prizes were all awarded. Winners will be notified by phone. FYI to all....Frank raised over $1000 for the family of Sgt Mike Wilson by hosting raffles along with others in the business community.

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by Messing About

So I spent 30 minutes typing an update and when I changed screens to check the weather...poof. All my work was gone. Ugh. Here's the readers digest version.
Frank touted the benefits of natural baits, both live, dead and cut.
Greg promoted hard artificial plastic baits, both top water and suspending.....

Thanks! Very informative.

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by Messing About

....Frank raised over $1000 for the family of Sgt Mike Wilson by hosting raffles along with others in the business community.

He's a standup guy! The community is lucky to have a businessman like him.