Charlotte Harbor | Boca Grande Fishing Report

Well just a short time ago I had the opportunity to fish a couple of great guys from Colorado. Brad and his friends decided to come down and do a little Tarpon fishing as well as some inshore fishing for Snook and Redfish.

The first day we decided to fish inshore and try and catch some numbers of Snook , Redfish and whatever else we might find on the flats of Charlotte Harbor. Well we did just that. The fishing was pretty good with multiple hookups on snook and redfish all day. We had a decent tide that was coming in all day and the fishing was steady for most of the day.

On day two however, we wanted to try something else. The weather really has put a damper on our Tarpon fishing but it was still worth a shot to see what we could make happen. After trying for some live Threadfin Herring and only catching some Spanish Mackeral we decided to switch gears and go fish for Sharks in the Harbor.

Well after a short drift we managed to catch a couple of small Blacktip Sharks and then I decided to put the offer on the table for some Goliath Grouper fishing.

I can still hear them saying “Goliath” what? I said ”yeah Goliath Grouper , you the fish that can reach over 500 pounds”. I had brought along my gear just in case they decieded to go for it and they did.

We made a short trip to some large structure in the Harbor and caught some bait for this type of fishing. However, the bait this time consisted of 5 lb Bluefish and Ladyfish along with a few Jack Crevelle.

Now the rod and reel I use for this is impressive enough, but when you see the 400 pound mono line it’s rigged with you start taking some deep breaths.

After going over some rules and safty precautions along with a little “how to” the guys were ready.

I rigged the first Bluefish on the 16/0 circle hook and got us into position. within 30 seconds I hear “Fish On” and Holy @#%#$. I started slowy backing the boat away from the structure so Brad could work this monster and within a few minutes the beast was boatside.

His first Goliath Grouper and it was a good one. I figured around 150 pounds. Definatly a good start.

When all said and done all three guys had their chance and all of them landed the Goliath.

Certainly an experience we will all never forget.

Thanks Guys.

I thought I would share some of the great news down here in sunny Florida.

Over the weekend the first Tarpon tournemnt of the season started with the “Ladies Day” event which is part of the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series (PTTS). My team consist of my wife Amy, our friends Denelle Winnan and Melissa White. Tim White was the mate on the boat and we put together a pretty solid team.

The event is only 3 hours long and within that time we hooked 4 tarpon and the second fish we leadered and got a release for points. That fish was only around 60-70 pounds. Definatly not big enough to win the tourney.

About 8:30 am my wife hooked up with another tarpon. When she hooked the tarpon we were sitting right in the middle of about 10 other boats. The fish was running very eratic and makeing quick darts back and forth through the boats. After about 10 minutes the fish finally got out into the open and the fight begain. All three ladies on the team fought the fish that took us over 2 miles into Charlotte Harbor.

After nearly an hour we finially got our hands on the the tarpon. With no time left in the tourney we made our way to the scales. I told the ladies that this fish was probably going to be around 120-130 pounds and we knew the top weight was 134 at that time.

Once we made it to the scale we had the fish hoisted up in a sling for it’s weight and then we heard the news. Team Reactor Watches weighs in their fish at 135 pounds.

Needless to say everyone was very excited and maybe a little shocked that it tipped the scale at 135 pounds. With the narrow win over the 134 pound fish that was leading, we feel luck was finally on our side.

We brought that fish to the scale with only 10 minutes of time in the tournement.

Talk about your finish in the “REACTOR TIME”

My partner Capt. Michael Manis and I fished the Flatsmasters Grand Slam Plug Tournament in March and finished 14th respectively. The big hit of the day was the 25 lb Snook I caught using the Sebile Flatt Shadd. Mike and I caught fish all day, however in this tournament we needed to get all three species with included Snook, Redfish, and Trout.

We started the day by wading a shallow flat and were targeting our redfish and trout in the same area. After just forty minutes of fishing I caught a very nice redfish which was upper slot and I look over at Mike and he is netting a nice trout.

A short bit after that we decided to finish the day by fishing for our slot snook. We had an area during pre-fishing was loaded up with big snook, so that’s were we went.

Less than 20 minutes in to fishing I hook a snook that I could not even turn it’s head. I tried to turn the trolling motor away from the shoreline and still the fish never stopped pulling drag until it broke off.

Obviously very disapointed I sat down and retied the same 66 mm Sebile Flatt Shadd and made two more cast and ”Wham” another BIG Snook.

Once landed nearly 25 lbs and my personal best on artificial.

We fished the rest of the day and caught several other snook but not the fish we really needed.

One thing we can take from that day is snook in mid March will really chew on some Sebile Flatt Shad’s.

Ok, now the fishing is in full swing and the fish are feeding like there is no tommarow. My trip today started about 7 am and the target was redfish and snook. I made a quick stop to get bait, and with only a couple throws of the cast net we were off to catch some fish. At first the bite was a little slow with a few snook early, but once the tide started to really move the bite went off. With only two guys on the boat we managed to boat 27 redfish and 15 snook. Of cource now the bait of choice was “whitebait” (i.e Pilchard) but we had the fish boiling the water 15 feet from the bow of my Pathfinder.

It was awesome.

Today I was joined by a friend to do some scouting on a very low tided day. We really did not plan to do much fishing but the site of tailing redfish got the best of us. After several oppourtunities we finally hooked up with about 5 nice redfish from 3 1/2 pounds to about 6 pounds. At first we were thowing the Sebile Stick Shad in the large sand holes when the water was crazy low. As the tide came in we tied on a couple of 3″ Berkley Gulp Shrimps to fish the tailers. Overall the fishing was a little tough with the cold from quickly approaching.
Anyway, check back often for more updates and stories of life on the water.

Well the tarpon have invaded the entire area. With huge numbers of tarpon rolling into Boca Grande Pass and large groups of fish on the beach if your target in Tarpon now is the time. Since mid April we have been putting tarpon in the air with live bait and artificials. Many of the fish have been in the 90-150 pound range with some in excess of 200 pounds.
Each new moon and full moon of both May and June will see great tides from what is known as the “Hill Tide”, we have a very strong outgoing tide that flushes crabs out of Charlotte Harbor through Boca Grande Pass and the tarpon are there to feed like lining up at a buffet line. Most of the tarpon will be taken by heavy spinning outfits and many trips will jump as many as 20 fish in a trip.
Now our morning tarpon bite has been off to a great start. We have seen some big females taking jigs at first light. During the daylight hours between 6 am and noon the jig bite is strong with sometimes 10-15 fish on per trip.

One thing that comes along with the tarpon are the sharks. We have lots of sharks, probably to many sharks and not enough shark fisherman. Everyday we see ten foot plus hammerheads and prowling bull sharks just waiting to pick of a tarpon. Last year the world record hammerhead was caught right here in Boca Grande Pass. That hammerhead measured out at 14.5 feet long and 1280 pounds, defiantly more shark than I would ever want. However if you are in the mood for shark the toothy beast are here. Just about every drift through the pass you will hook up with a bull shark and if your lucky your get to see a 10 foot plus hammerhead chewing on you bait.

Our backcountry or flats fishing certainly can not go without mentioning. The redfish have been a steady bite with good numbers of 20-30 fish per trip. We have been fishing some nice groups of fish that seem to have gathered around oyster bars and some broken bottom. Most of the fish haven been taken on cut bait but they are also suckers for a well presented artificial.

Snook on the other hand have been on fire. The snook bite is pre-spawn and they are feeding on what ever comes there way. For the best bite we are loading up the livewells with fresh whitebait and chumming up the snook. In many cases we get the snook feeding so well the water looks as if it is boiling. Just about every cast when the bite is on is how we like it, and this time of year is when it’s easy snook fishing.

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