Fishing Charlotte Harbor Area (Englewood: beaches, eat, vacation)

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by Foxrivman1

How big can these type of fish get?

Most of the ones that hang around the pilings are about 5 lbs or so.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Most of the ones that hang around the pilings are about 5 lbs or so.

. . . bigger than a dinner plate.

[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. :-)

[Messing About]

Fishing Charlotte Harbor today:

Awoke this morning at 5AM and pulled the boat off the lift at first high tide of 1.1 feet (above mean tide). Launched at 630AM with my visiting step son (23), from AZ. Air temp 60, water temp 65. Cleared the short bridge with no problem. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning. Marine forecast was not great, 3-4' seas and choppy in the Harbor, but I don't get out very often so nothing short of a small craft advisory was going to keep me in. My 26' walk around handles tough seas and I carry a SPOT personal locator beacon to check in with home and share my position every hour.

Trolled an Xrap 8 in the Auburn Waterway, where I have previously hooked keeper Spanish Macs, but none today. After clearing the Edgewater and Midway bridges we entered the mangroves near Alligator Bay (north of Charlotte Beach complex). We slowed in the mangroves and I planned to stop and throw a castnet for live bait.

Like a true goof, I forgot I had was trolling a line and stopped with it behind me. The winds were picking up and pushing us around and I made the genius decision to reverse throttle. Insert fouled prop here.

The sound of my reel drag woke me to my mistake. Line in the prop or not, I had to get in the center of the channel and drop anchor before being pushed into the mangroves and aground. I dropped anchor in 4' and it held nicely. Thankfully I was smart enough to have brought all of my tools aboard and was able to remove my outer prop without incident. All of the monofiliament was easily removed and properly disposed of aboard my boat. Prop back in place and we were golden again. I tossed the castnet a few times to no avail but with the winds we were to encounter, there'd be no free lining or jigging today anyway. It was strictly trolling weather. Trolling is my favorite anyway, because anytime you get the fish to chase you...as opposed to you chasing them...you're onto something.

We ran the usual course of 180* S to the #5 marker, before turning west toward Boca Grande Pass. My boat will run 35 knots on a flat day but today's winds and waves kept us to about 6 knots. We still got a few soakers over the bow. We trolled an xRap 10 but still no hits. At that speed we took a couple of hours to get to the Pass. There were some very nice sailboats out today, taking advantage of the 15-20 winds.

We had visions of going off shore to troll the Bomber CD30 on the reefs and wrecks but not today. It was my step son's first time on a boat and I was enjoying teaching him to handle the rough seas but I didn't want to push it. We trolled the CD30 from the ICW to BGP channel markers and back several times. I made a big deal to him that he was officially piloting the boat in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a nasty day in the pass and we were the only takers. The good news was it was still warm and just partly cloudy. Sean did great at learning to skipper the ship and I actually allowed him to drive more than me (he didn't even know that was a treat for me, who has to so often solo).

By 3:15 PM it was time to begin a slow troll back toward home. The western skies were getting darker with the predicted late day shower activity. By the time we rounded the number 5 again we had a following sea. We continued trolling the x10 for another hour but still nothing; although the sea gulls had to investigate our lures most of the way. The following sea provided enough respite for Sean to fall asleep sitting at the transom, after I took the helm. I let him nap for half an hour before waking him to reel in the lines. Once everything was secure I was able to throttle up to 24 knots and give him some fun splashing that didn't hit us for once. We crossed Peace River doing 32 knots while dodging the mine field of crab pots, and re-entered the Auburn Waterway at 4:30 PM; back on my lift just after 5. My young protege helped off-load the boat and in true green-horn fashion, as he entered the house with my 4 drawered toolbox...it popped open and hundreds of sockets and small tools danced across his mother's kitchen floor. Personally, I'd rather clean the boat than pick that mess up. Mother and son found every one of them, thankfully.

After showering off the surf, it was time to enjoy the fruits of the turf; grilled ribeyes for the Captain and Crew. Even though we were skunked by the fish, it was a fabulous day of Messing About in Boats.

If you enjoyed this little story, put my blog in your favorites and check in regularly.
Messing About in South Florida

[Foxrivman1]

Messing About that was a good story, have logged on to your blog, very informative and interesting, thanks for the feedback and the post, look forward to the next!

[Messing About]

We're in the midst of a cold front that is expected to last for two days.

My visiting son, Ryan (26), and I launched the boat for what we hoped we be a great day of fishing off shore from Boca Grande. Instead we faced dense fog on Charlotte Harbor that limited our visibility to a quarter of a mile. We had to travel at 5-7 knots, both spotting for crab pots and other boats suddenly appearing out of the mist. I was navigating by compass and GPS and may as well have been in the dark. When a cold heavy shower started falling it only made matters worse.

We spent hours heading south, hoping the fog would lift but it never did. Near the #5 marker we headed west toward Boca Grande and the fog thickened so much I stopped the boat. We received an updated weather broadcast that said the areas near the coast and beaches were the thickest fog and that it was expected to last throughout the afternoon. Areas nearer inland we reportedly clearing. We turned the boat around and headed for the Peace River.

The rumors were true. The further we got from the Gulf, the clearer the air became. By the time we reached the Peace River at Punta Gorda, we could see clearly for more than a mile in each direction. We docked briefly at the Laishley Marina and bought some live shrimp for fishing.

After anchoring down near the US 41 bridge we fished for an hour and I caught and released one small ladyfish. Later we tried our luck in the mangroves near Alligator Bay. Ryan landed one small catfish and hooked several ladyfish only to have them show off their air acrobatics and spit the hook out. At 4:30 we headed home and cleared the short bridge with 3" to spare. Kathy had grilled chicken kabobs for the tired Captain and crew.

The next day, we used our remaining shrimp to fish the canal behind my house. We had many, many shrimp stolen off of our hooks. I suspect the thieves to be notorious sheepshead fish. These clever convicts have teeth much like our own that enable them to nibble bait off the hook in great anonymity. They also, appropriately, have black vertical stripes on both sides of their body making them look like jail birds. They are reported to be delicious on your plate if you can be so lucky as to land one.

Ryan was able to hook and a nice blue crab with his rod and reel. We then loaded our crab pot with the dead shrimp and quickly trapped another blue crab. These would go nicely with our grilled steaks.

I decided to use the castnet to catch more live bait because the shrimp was all dead. I caught a few small pinfish and another live shrimp. This is the first time I caught shrimp in my canal. Ryan continued to have all the luck as he caught another crab with his rod and put him in the bucket with an aerator to keep them alive. But Ryan wasn't done yet. We took a break to have dinner. We grilled our steaks, steamed our crab, drank our beer and ate like kings. Then it was back to work on the docks. Ryan asked me if fish will still bite in the dark of night. I told him that was when one of Florida's most prized fish come out.

The Snook (Centropumus undecimalis) lives in salt and fresh waters, primarily back waters, canals and feeds near structure such as bridges, dock pilings and mangrove shorelines. Snook are so desired, the regulations limit harvesting to only those fish measuring specifically between 28" and 32" long. Snook have great tasting white meat but it is unlawful to sell them commercially, for fear of overfishing. In December, 2009, Florida experienced record freezing temperatures for ten days. The extreme and prolonged drop in water temperatures resulted in a fish kill in the thousands; including snook. After the freeze, snook harvesting was suspended indefinitely to allow the population to recover. The next stock assessment is scheduled for September, 2011. Until then, those lucky enough to land one must release the fish alive and unharmed. My wish for a snook has gone unfulfilled for the 3 years I've been in Florida.

At about 8PM, with temperatures dropping below 50*, I had gone into the house to trade my shorts for jeans and a jacket. When I returned outside Ryan was calling out to me that he had something huge on the line. He was excited but calm and listened well as I told him to keep the rod tip up in the air and allow the fish to work against the reel drag. When it surfaced I was the one who lost my mind. SNOOK! And it was enormous. Ryan worked to keep the fish from getting near dock and boat lift pilings, where surely he would be able to break the 22 pound test line. Ryan fought hard to keep his prize away from the rock seawall as well. Kathy heard the commotion outside and came out. We shouted for a camera and she quickly responded. We very carefully removed the monster from the water so I could get the hook out. We use circle hooks because of their design and tendency to lip hook instead of being swallowed. I explained to Ryan the need to support the fish's head and belly and not hold him vertically. I quickly removed the hook without any trauma. Ryan posed for a quick photo and it was time to say goodbye to our friend. We didn't take the time to weigh or measure him but we estimate him at about 33" and 10 pounds. We returned him to his habitat and we happy to see him swim away.

We spent $68 in fuel to take the boat out and got nothing special with the bait we bought. We come home, stand in my backyard, using free bait I caught myself, and my son catches the elusive snook. This was far and away the largest and best catch anyone has made off of our dock in the three years we've lived here. At least our home record is held by a member of the family.

(author's note) I'm not sure I know how to upload pics to city-data. If you'd like to see the pics with this story, see my online blog by clicking this:
Messing About in South Florida

[Foxrivman1]

Nice Snook, I'll bet Ryan was wanting to fish all the nights he could until he went home!! Good story, need more like that one! Did he get that on a shrimp or pinfish? You can upload a pic by clicking on the advanced feature button once the reply window opens, then click manage attachments and browse and select image for upload. The type and size limit is listed for each type of attachment, so if you want it to upload quickly, make sure it is edited appropriately.

[Messing About]

The snook hit the pin fish. The crab were really active all weekend. Yeah, he couldn't stop talking about it and already wants to come back.
Thanks for clueing me in on the pics. Let's see if this works.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Messing About

The snook hit the pin fish. The crab were really active all weekend. Yeah, he couldn't stop talking about it and already wants to come back.
Thanks for clueing me in on the pics. Let's see if this works.

Nice Fish! It's really cool when you can do that and not spend $100 + on gas for the boat! Success like that will have him chomping at the bit to come back down soon and do it again!

[Foxrivman1]

Messing About how big are the crabs, sound like nice eating size, ever tried a crab net off your dock with a old fish head tied to it?? We did that on vacation a couple of times and it worked well.