Fishing Reports

2024

Fishing Report 11/14/2024

I spent some time scouting what I would call winter or cooler month hide out places for snook in Charlotte Harbor. I went out with my silver shadow skiff and was prepared to catch some fish on artificial lures. I started the day out at El Jobean bridge where other than a dolphin there was virtually no fish action at all. I even caught the tide on the beginning of an incoming tide and really thought I would hook up with a couple fish. I threw a lot of different lures at spots around the bridge for the better part of 2 hours and didn’t get a single bite. That was pretty depressing to be honest. I then went to the Myakka cutoff and threw around some of the islands and creeks in that area. Once again…..No bites. Feeling rather disappointed I was literally scratching my head wondering what is going on here. I gathered as much info as I could and thought maybe these fish just aren’t up in the harbor as much yet, I looked at the water temp and its hovering around 78 ( which is good, but still warm) and figured I would have to run a bit more south if I wanted to catch anything. The wind was blowing 15-20 and I had to cross the Myakka river to get somewhere that may be better. I trimmed the boat down and let her eat the waves. I ran up Trout Creek a bit and once I got further in I found a great spot that was holding plenty of fish. For about 30min I was getting hit on every cast. Landed about 6 fish in that time frame and called it a day. So to wrap it all up, the fish really didn’t want to eat on the incoming tide or they just haven’t moved into the upper harbor just yet. Plenty of smaller snook around, but no sign of baitfish or birds diving on anything. We have a cold front coming through in the next day or two and that will surly shake it all up. It will be interesting to see the same spots and my guess is this cold front will start pushing fish further up the harbor and closer to their winter hide outs. Mangrove snapper are around lots of places and sheepshead fishing remains productive around docks and bridges. Snook are holding tight to cover and looking to ambush their prey. Make accurate casts and make sure those casts are in the cover. Tight lines!

Fishing Report 11/9/2024

Recently we have been fishing Port Charlotte from the upper harbor to placida and Cape Haze (Turtle Bay and Bull Bay) and the fishing has been very good! There is some red tide around, but it is not affecting fishing at all. We are landing around 20 snook per 4hr trip even with inexperienced anglers. We had one day where the wind was very high and the tide was not only very low but we also had no water movement and we still had excellent fishing landing approximately 12 snook, a couple reds, a couple trout and a couple jacks. Mind you I prefer to artificial lure fish making fishing that much harder, but more rewarding than slinging bait and cut bait. The lure of choice continues to be the Mirror Lure MR17 with color choices remaining consistently lighter colors in the stained water. The water has been extra dirty with visibility under 2ft, so I have opted for the lighter whites, holographic colors and those are working very well. Bait is abundant not only in Boca Grande but also up in Clearwater there are droves of bait everywhere you look. There are even sardines up to 4 inches long just cruising the intercostal. Off the beach in clearwater black drum and pompano are abundant, however as you travel a bit south by Johns Pass and Madeira Beach the red tide is more abundant where Indian rocks beach and clearwater seem to be on the mend from the recent bloom of bacteria. No respiratory issues and very very few dead fish tells me the bloom is not strong but it’s still there. Snook and reddish have been caught around the mangroves of Calidisi and plenty of bigger snook are still on the beaches around Honeymoon and as far south as Shell Key we found plenty of schools of large snook. Live bait will be nearly the only daytime snack for these bruisers. Shrimp or Pilchards will get those snooks attention! I wish y’all the best of luck and go catch em up!