FISHING REPORT
WANT TO SEE SOME GREAT PICTURES
OF CHARLOTTE HARBOR SCENERY?
HOW ABOUT PICTURES OF SOME NICE
SNOOK , REDFISH , SPOTTED TROUT, TARPON
CREVELLE JACK , PERMIT , COBIA, AND MORE ,
ALL FROM CHARLOTTE HARBOR?
WANT TO SEE SOME CLOSE UP PICTURES OF MANATEE?
STAY RIGHT HERE AND TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE
SIGHTS, FISH AND SCENERY WE SEE ON
CHARLOTTE HARBOR DURING EACH TRIP.
We truly enjoy going out early in the morning.
The summer air is humid but cooler early and with a slight breeze
it is much more tolerable than midday summer heat.
After a ten minute run in safe light we can be right in the midst
of some of the best fishing and scenery in southwest Florida.
We want to get a few casts in as the sky begins to brighten.
We usually can boat a fish or two before taking time to view
A BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE.
This sunrise is viewed east of BOCA GRANDE, FLORIDA on Gasparilla Island.
East of the Intracoastal Waterway
The location above has a mean water level of about18 inches with plenty of sea grass.
An excellent location for Spotted Trout, Redfish and Snook.
The fish like to bury down in the grass and wait for food to swim over them.
A good food is a quiet grub, tube bait, or spoon worked just fast enough to keep
it above the grass.
If your bait is weedless ticking the top of the grass can be like ringing the breakfast bell.
Caution must be used here though.
Too much noise of any kind will spook the fish from their hiding place,
and all you will see of them is a surface wake as they turn tail and disappear.
A couple more words of warning.
SHALLOW WATER , SAND BARS AND OYSTER SHELL BARS
ARE WEST OF THIS AREA.
For the sake of the environment and your own safety
once you leave the marked channel of the ICW please assume the water is one inch deep.
Either pole in, or use an electric motor to get into areas like this.
Far too often we see dummies trying to go across grass flats like this one
using their big motor to push their boat through, just destroying the grass bed.
If I see someone doing this I always call in their vessel registration to the
Florida Marine Patrol and I am not bashful about telling them to shut down the big motor.
Enough lecturing for now.
On a recent outing K managed to out fish me and came up with a real nice eating size
REDFISH.
KEEPER SIZE SLOT IS MIN. 18" MAX. 27"
BAG LIMIT ONE / DAY / PERSON
In the summer Redfish are often found under the Mangrove trees.
Mangrove trees provide shade and cooler water, food, and cover for many fish species.
A good cast with a plastic weedless bait or, my favorite, a flashy spoon
as far under the overhanging tree limbs as possible, with a moments hesitation before
slowly retrieving is likely to get a redfish's attention.
They will often follow the bait out from under the trees and can be seen by a trained eye.
If you see a redfish following your bait, slightly reduce the retrieve speed.
This change of speed will likely trigger a strike.
If so, hang on, keep the redfish out of the tree roots, and only apply enough drag
to boat the fish as soon as possible without breaking off.
Remember the water is very warm in summer (88ºto 95º) and overplay will probably
KILL an exhausted redfish.
DO NOT LAY THE FISH ON THE DECK OF YOUR BOAT. IT IS TOO HOT!!!
You must revive any fish caught before releasing by gently holding it as you move it forward
and back forcing water into it's mouth and over the gills.
When the fish is revived it will quickly swim away from you and your boat.
If you are lucky maybe the fish will splash some water on you to cool off with.
On the same outing, K also managed to catch a beautiful 26-1/2 inch
SNOOK.
KEEPER SIZE SLOT IS MIN. 26" MAX. 34" Mine was only 22 inches and had to go back into the water.
BAG LIMIT TWO / DAY / PERSON
$2 SNOOK STAMP REQUIRED
TWO CLOSED SEASONS
DEC. 15 THROUGH JAN. 31 AND JUNE 1 THROUGH AUG. 31
Captain and crew on for-hire vessels are prohibited from retaining snook.
K was quite suprised when this snook hit her spoon. She let out with a "whooaa!!!
What in the world?? I've got something big this time!!!"
I quickly turned to enjoy the action (and of course offer my best back seat orders on how to play the fish).
She does not need my advice, but I think I still need to offer it.
This snook made several runs attempting to get into the Mangrove roots,
but K managed to keep him out. When he could not get to the trees he
made a mad dash around the front of the boat, but K was up front as fast as Mr. Snook.
I helped catch up to it some with the electric motor and we netted the snook in about 6 or 7 minutes.
K had played the fish perfectly. Even when he took a dive under the boat
she had her rod tip in the water, near the bottom, and let the rod bring him back out from underneath.
I was very impressed with the way she played Mr. Snook. Also very jealous.
Mr. Snook took a pass on my cast to the same spot but hit her spoon right away.
K says the snook didn't like the way I held my nose when I made my cast.
This one went into the ice chest and was the only fish we took home that fantastic day.
We had caught several keeper trout, one keeper red, and plenty of other fish
but K's Mr. Snook was more than a meal for K, her dad and myself.
YUMMIES FOR THE TUMMIES!!
We had more excitement on this particular day too. With the falling tide taking the water level
lower we headed out of the backcountry area into Turtle Bay.
Fishing some grass humps we managed to catch a dozen trout on some plastic tube baits,
got into a school of Crevalle Jacks that went nuts for our top water baits,
and tied into 20 or so Lady Fish. Lady fish are a relative of Tarpon but much smaller. The action just didn't want to stop that day.
Some real fun came along about 11 AM when we heard a Manatee blow nearby.
We looked around for about 2 minutes and heard it again.
Lo and behold!! There was Momma Manatee and Junior
MANATEE.
K and I fell in love with this "little guy". We snapped some pictures, rubbed his nose,
and splashed water with him for five minutes. Momma stayed about 10 yards away.
"Little Guy" was about 6 feet long and perhaps 250 to 300 pounds. Twice he put his
snout against my trolling motor shaft, wrapped his "flippers" around it as though
he was hanging on and pushed the bow of the boat around. No Problem with that.
The third time though he was pushing hard enough to make me think it was going to break
the mounting or worse yet, the deck. K managed to draw his attention again to the side
of the boat and once he was away from the trolling motor I engaged the motor at a slow
speed to move away from "Little Guy". Even though the trolling motor was at a slow speed
"Little Guy" spooked. He took off for Momma's side like a flash. I have always heard how
slow the manatee moves, but was impressed with "Little Guy's" speed.
Manatees are an endangered species and as a rule do not interact with humans. Want a list of This Charlotte Harbor Fishing Report is proudly sponsored by
Around Charlotte Harbor, they are often found during warm water periods in 2-1/2 feet
of water and deeper. If you are motoring anywhere around Charlotte Harbor please
keep an eye out for a manatee. Many Manatees are killed each year by boats.
In fact, roughly 25 % of manatee deaths are caused by boats. While other causes kill more
each year, caution needs to be taken when speeding over the water in a boat.
One more thing. If you live in Florida, I must ask you to reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizers
you use on your lawn. Especially if your home is on the water. Natural deaths are
also estimated to be about 25 % so that means 50 % are killed by something else.
Think about it, please. Perhaps we can save more than we kill.
Florida fishing laws, size and bag limits