Fishing Charlotte Harbor Area (Burnt Store Marina: store, moving, yard)

[Pau Hana Daz]

Unfortunately most everything along the island and around the docks is dead now due to our current K. brevis and cyanobacteria HABs that have once again "coincidentally" bloomed up right after the ACoE releases of toxic water from Lake Okeechobee.

[storm lady]

We experienced similar problems in our NJ waterways 50 years ago. The problem is an overabundance of nutrients in the water. One big piece of the puzzle was seepage from aging Cess Pits and septic systems, especially in south Jersey which has sandy soil. At this point I'm seeing cleaner water in Barnegat bay than in Charlotte Harbor.

I've read that Punta Gorda and Charlotte County are taking action to mitigate this.
First there needs to be a building Moratorium. No Regional Sanitary Sewer connection = no Building Permit.

[SeaRay35]

Let’s keep this thread to Fishing, plenty of other threads to discuss other topics.

[josephp732]

FYI - Posted this morning by FWC:

FWC makes snook, redfish temporarily catch-and-release only in areas affected by red tide

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has temporarily made snook and redfish catch-and-release only from the northernmost point of Anna Maria Island in Manatee County to Gordon Pass in Collier County. This was done through an Executive Order in response to the naturally-occurring red tide bloom in southwest Florida and is in effect until the next FWC Commission meeting, which starts Sept. 26.

“I support Executive Director Eric Sutton’s decision to implement the Executive Order as we continue to manage this world-class fishery for future generations,” said FWC Chairman Bo Rivard. “We will continue working with our partners and will evaluate next steps at our Commission meeting the end of September.”

Sutton has spent significant time in the areas most impacted by naturally-occurring red tide. He and staff will continue to work with local communities and partners as the FWC manages this issue to ensure recovery of the fisheries.

“We’ve seen the devastation to the redfish and snook populations in southwest Florida, and we support the catch-and-release initiative taken by FWC,” said Brian Gorski, Executive Director of Coastal Conservation Association Florida. “In working with the FWC on this initiative, we’ve heard support from members and guides throughout the state who also understand the need for such a change, to ensure that generations to come can enjoy the thrill of catching one of these iconic species.”

The FWC thanks Gov. Rick Scott for his continual leadership and proactive response during this time. FWC staff will continue working with partners moving forward, including local governments and stakeholders.

Regulations outside of those counties remain unchanged, including the Sept. 1 snook season opening that occurs in other Gulf and Atlantic state waters.

For more information, visit MyFWC.com and click on "About," then "Executive Orders".

[SeaRay35]

Thats a great thing for the fishery!

[Pau Hana Daz]

It is. We've been lobbying this for a couple of months now. Hopefully it'll last beyond the meeting next month. I'd like to see it go for at least a full year to give the fish stocks a little breathing room...

[pcozad1]

I used to look here to see what is biting in the area especially the harbor. Most of my fishing the last couple years has been closer to lemon bay stumps pass area. I don't see much fishing talk so let me try.

Headed to lemon bay Thursday the closer to stumps pass we got the smell was rough pulled one red from under the house boat that never moves. left to fish the flats extremely slow.


Friday went to key largo it stunk as bad as stumps pass. Not red tide just tons of rotten seaweed. Took the yaks out on the inside only small stuff. hit the ocean side yesterday windy and rough saw a lobster but he was quicker than me. Caught two bass and a dog fish coming back across alligator alley.

Started this morning at 41 bridge, 1 small tarpon some small trout and one reel screamer that couldn't be stopped or turned around spooled 210 yards.


Headed to east wall islands and mangroves . picked up a couple small red fish and a decent snook, tons of needle fish.


Drifted the flats by pirate harbor and finally the bite was on. Nice trout and two over 20. I had my daughter and her boyfriend with me she had a nice bull shark on for a few seconds. Nothing like a 5 foot bull shark in 3 foot of water to wake things up. Taking them back to the airport in a couple hours.
That's a fishing report

[SgtRich]

Very well done!
Curious, artificials or bait? Guessing cut bait for the bull shark?

[JERSEY MAN]

Great job Pcozad. Here is a site that I follow which is close to our house that is pretty good with updates. He seems to be doing well also.





Rio Villa Bait & Tackle

SpSonSsoSredS

· 3 hrs ·





The fishing here is definitely good! One thing we don't have is red tide in our area. One thing we do have is good tides.
I gave myself 30 minutes to fish last night towards the tail end of the outgoing tide at about 1:15am. In that 30 minutes, I caught 4 snook, 1 of which could've been dinner, and jumped 2 tarpon around 20lbs. All came on a DOA Cal Paddletail in pearl white on a 1/4oz red jighead.
There were snook and juvenile tarpon blowing up on bait in the shadow line w...hile a small group of 20-30lb black drum moved through.
Tarpon are chewing on schools of ladyfish in the harbor. Jacks are cruising the outer edges on the flats up here while juvenile bull sharks are working around schools of mullet. Snook and tarpon of all sizes are on the bite up river.
Long story short, there is plenty of fishable and clean water out there. Granted the weather will be a little snooty the next few days, the fish are here and chewing! We're receiving a lot of positive feedback from numerous well-known captains about how fantastic the fishing is if you're willing to put in the time.
As always, feel free to send in your photos to show off!!
Tight lines y'all!!
Rio Villa

[SgtRich]

Ok, I FINALLY had a really good fishing trip.

Went offshore, a few miles NW of Boca Grande pass, takes me about 45 minutes to get to Boca from our lock, another 20 from lock to dock, so it's not a quick trip.

Did some scouting to find a few reefs not too far offshore and made a beeline for Tremblay. Damn hard to find as it's just a sunken barge, not a big target on sonar.

But once I did, fish on! Caught and released three lovely snook, 23", 26" and 30" roughly, last might have been closer to 32", did a quick measure to get em back into the water.

Amazingly, that was the only thing I caught, Snook. No grunt, no sailcats. Something big, likely a shark. Rod was unattended in holder as I was at the bow, looked back, it's fully doubled over, by the time I got to it, the leader on this and my other rod both got cut. Guess whatever it was crossed over the lines and snap, gone.

Tried anchoring, but could never find the barge doing that, wasted too much time trying, bite turned off. No complaints, three big snook is my new record!

Only 1 photo attached, don't have time to fight the size constraints of this forum at the moment.

And yes, I now know not to hold Snook by the lip, guess it messes with their internal organs, had no idea, figured it was like a Bass.

In any case, they were all released unharmed and swam away.

No idea why the photo is sideways, it isn't on my iMac.