by Fishin’ Frank
Hidi ho neighbors, with all of the gloom and doom out there in the media social and inter-web, I am here to tell you the truth, red tide has NOT been in the upper Harbor at all this year and the fishing is not bad. Is it a normal August fishing pattern. If you’re lucky you’ll hook one of the schools of monster black drum or tarpon. Capt. Karl landed 9 out of ten hook-ups on tarpon. Schools of Spanish mackerel and ladyfish are in the Harbor and the redfish on the north end of the West Wall and Myakka Cutoff are in good numbers; reds by the skating rink are mostly over-size. OK, yes, there are plenty of snook, but the larger ones are way up the Peace or Myakka Rivers; a lot of smaller ones on the flats.fort m
This was by no means the worst red tide we have had; 2006 and 2009 were way worse. Maybe because there was no social media back then and this was our first Social Media Red Tide event that it seems so catastrophic. The red tide comes and it goes as it always has. As I write this today I have had several reports of bait fish along the beaches. Schools of pompano are going through Boca Pass and have been running the sand bars on the west side of the Harbor and from Pirate Harbor to Two Pines just outside the bars. For everything being dead in the Harbor, there is an awful lot of fish being caught. If you can get on them Jacks in the 5-pound range off Turtle Bay and up towards the mouth of the Myakka River, they’ll test your rod and the drag on your reel. To be truthful this is a fairly normal September fishing.
I guess a young angler’s thought turns to snook at this time of year so, Snook Fishing. What I love about snook fishing is that a boat could make snook fishing harder, as snook like the piers and dams and more live in the canals and/or under bridges than anywhere. A great way to catch your snook is to take a “Shrimp for a Walk”. Now remember to keep your shrimp on a leash. I would use a Med. heavy 7′ spinning rod with a 4000 size reel, 30-pound braided line with 40-pound floro leader and a boxing glove jig head at least 3/8 once. I like pink, Hey it’s pretty and I catch a lot of snook with pink, so there! Ok, place the point of the hook on the underside of the shrimps mouth; when you are ready it should look like the shrimp is following the jig head.
Let the shrimp jig go to the bottom, right off the side of the pier and then very slowly and quietly walk out the pier. Trying to keep the shrimp 1 foot off the bottom. And hang on! When you get hit, the whole fight is right there at your feet. If the snook goes 5 feet to the left or right it will wrap the piling and break off, so tight drag, set to hate, and hang on.
Lots of fishing and fun to be had in Southwest Florida and I am doubling the size of my store in Port Charlotte! Which would be “not smart” if the fishing was not good and I am weird, but not quite that dumb.