Fishing Charlotte Harbor Area (Holiday, Englewood: rent, mobile home, neighborhoods)

[Salty Dave]

Originally Posted by bbronston

Alot of people will pull up to pilings with a bucket and a shovel and scrape off the barnacles right into the bucket. It can be messy and you can mess up your gelcoat if you're not careful but the sheepies love that stuff. The trick is to hook them before the bite. :-)

That is the same thing I was told about mullet. Caught them in the canal at the
place we had in Weekiwachee pulled the lips off the first one.

[Foxrivman1]

Here is one I have not heard anybody talk about or bring up yet so let me be the first. Has anyone ever dug up sand worms from the beach or an inlet beach area and used these creatures for bait? Seen a guy on a TV show catch Reds, Snook, little Tarpon, Drum and just about everything else around the Tampa Bay area and actually in canals and neighborhood canal areas with lagoons for boats to turn around and so fourth. The way he located the worms was by looking at the sand as water receded back and fourth for air discharge vents (holes) created by the worms. He made a vacuum hand pump out of PVC plumbing supplies and PVC 2-3 inch pipe. Sucked the sand and worms up in one shot then pushed them out on an open area to find the worms. The worms are about 2-4 inches long, then puff up to about an 1"-2" wide when handled. He set up a carolina type rig with a 3 foot leader and a 1-2/O hook at the business end of the rig. The weight above the swivel is 1-2 ounce depending on tide, current, so fourth. Dragged along the bottom in the areas described above and caught numerous fish when other stuff was just not working.

Anybody ever tried such a thing??

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Foxrivman1

Here is one I have not heard anybody talk about or bring up yet so let me be the first. Has anyone ever dug up sand worms from the beach or an inlet beach area and used these creatures for bait? Seen a guy on a TV show catch Reds, Snook, little Tarpon, Drum and just about everything else around the Tampa Bay area and actually in canals and neighborhood canal areas with lagoons for boats to turn around and so fourth. The way he located the worms was by looking at the sand as water receded back and fourth for air discharge vents (holes) created by the worms. He made a vacuum hand pump out of PVC plumbing supplies and PVC 2-3 inch pipe. Sucked the sand and worms up in one shot then pushed them out on an open area to find the worms. The worms are about 2-4 inches long, then puff up to about an 1"-2" wide when handled. He set up a carolina type rig with a 3 foot leader and a 1-2/O hook at the business end of the rig. The weight above the swivel is 1-2 ounce depending on tide, current, so fourth. Dragged along the bottom in the areas described above and caught numerous fish when other stuff was just not working.

Anybody ever tried such a thing??

Nope, I haven't even seen any of them. I have used eels, and have screened for sand fleas, and used them. My brother walks along the beach and finds hermit crabs, and he has a lot of luck with them. The other day, I caught a little spider crab on my dock - tossed it out, and had a big hit on it. Bam! Gone! no fish and no spider crab.

[Foxrivman1]

BH, the worms are usually found in low tide conditions from what I saw on the show. They are kind of ugly, but fish seem to love the he** out of them! I watched the guy look for bubbles coming up from the bottom in areas that water just washed over the stick the pipe (suction pump) into the sand a good 4-6 inches and withdraw what he thought was something. He found a worm about every fourth of fifth attempt.

[Messing About]

Originally Posted by Harbor Hopper

Two options:
1) To use the cradle as a work platform: hook a chain from the cradle beam to the top I-beam, then let the motor down to remove the slack from the cable. Then you simply adjust the cable however you wish (obviously you can only adjust it in full round-the-shaft increments).
2) Lower the cradle all the way until the cable goes slack. Adjust the same as above (this method requires a ladder or other method of reaching the top I-beam since the cradle is sitting at the bottom)
Good luck!

It worked! I didn't have chain but I used a 2" wide ratcheting strap. It worked brilliantly. Thank you soooooo much Harbor Hopper! I posted this on multiple web sites and you were the only one with any sort of good idea.

I looped it around 2x and that was perfect. The dock side was a piece of cake. I used the boat as a working platform to do the outside. Boat drains exactly the way I hoped. And best of all it's clean now. I owe ya a drink, friend. Thanks again. Here's a photo of the finished job. You can see the front of the cradle is now higher than the rear. The cockpit and casting platform drain automatically to the scuppers.

[Foxrivman1]

MA, congrats on getting the boat lift fixed, looks good, good job HH! This thread rocks!

[Harbor Hopper]

Glad it worked out! I had to do mine last year (16,000 lb lift) for the same reasons as you MA.

[Foxrivman1]

Here is a picture of a sandworm pump, one that is offered from an sporting goods place in Australia. Just wanted everyone to get the idea, I think with a little yankee ingenuity and some pvc plumming supplies one could put together something pretty cost effective to do the job from say the Home Depot or Lowes. This one is made of Stainless Steel as you can see. Anyway here is the pic:

http://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/webshots/alvey_king_size_bait_pump_bp30_stainless_steel_216 8_1271752436_L.jpg (broken link)

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Harbor Hopper

Glad it worked out! I had to do mine last year (16,000 lb lift) for the same reasons as you MA.

Mine needs adjusting as well, so maybe when we get together next time you can show me what you did.

[Harbor Hopper]

Originally Posted by Big House

Mine needs adjusting as well, so maybe when we get together next time you can show me what you did.

Can't you follow my instructions like MA did? It really doesn't take an engineer to get it done
J/K BH, if you don't feel comforable with it I can show you.