Snapper in the Bush; Canoe Fishing the Harbor

The backwater skinny bite is phenomenal with stellar action on trout and snook, followed by skinny water shark on light tackle of twelve/fourteen pound test using Gulp 2” Peeler Crabs and live pinky sized mullet under a Bullet Bobber. Using pinky mullet hooked either in the nostrils or under the dorsal, suspended from Bullet-Bobbers makes the bait dance in a characteristic oxygenating roll on the surface, thus announcing their presence. Mullet is the bait of choice as most of the backwater shorelines, the channels and grass flats are full of them. If on the other hand you are targeting bigger game, do not forget the live crabs, reds to tarpon, snook to shark,” They just love eat the crab," and "They don't have to bat it around, they just swallow it!” However, we are getting ahead of the story. As Edwin and I launched into a mangrove-lined creek, we wondered if the switchbacks further down stream could handle our 1978 16’ Mohawk tandem canoe. The canoe slid through the overhang of roots with ease, it was the two of us who found ourselves doing the wig-wham as the Snapper was in the bush. The long trek down stream had birds of all kinds and at each opening, out of the snags were graceful white Herons fishing the shallows of mirrored glass water. Looking over the gunnels, under the Snapper were hordes of Mangrove and Lane Snapper darting out in chase of a meal onto the balls of glass minnows dancing down the incoming current. High tide would be in at 2:30 PM. We had launched around ten in the morning and found our struggle out to the channel took about twenty minutes for not very much creek. Next time the Snapper is in the bush, I will bring along some dead shrimp as that ought to bring home a snapper supper, without the dance in getting out to the Harbor.
Breaching the last of the overhang, the canoe slid over a small bar and out of the mouth of the creek. Pinky sized to six inch mullet were everywhere in pods only broken as monster snook plowed through the balls in a feasting folly. Ed pulled the cast net out and began the chore in filling the bait bucket, as I placed a Gulp crab onto a quarter ounce green headed jig and cast with a slow to jerk steady retrieve. Wham-Bam thank you Mame’ “Fish On!’ with the first cast, as Ed shook his head and exclaimed, “Why am I catching bait?” To this, he stopped and asked, “Keeper for the table or tag, Dad?” I though about it, fumbled through the tacklebox and said I guess we are having Blacktip for dinner, our shark tags are home in the other box. Generally speaking, we tag all sharks we catch with an “M” tag. Edwin and I have been tagging sharks for three years now with the US Dept. of Commerce/ NOAA & the National Marine Fisheries Service. They use the information such as type of shark caught, the location, type of tackle, its sex and length along with the weight. The angler who catches this species again, sends in the info asked from inside the tag. This information is vital in shark research.


We hammered snook, reds and undersized trout all day while out in the open water of the Harbor. Moving back in to the beach and mangroves as the high hot sun was baking us dry, so to were the sharks and Gafftop, (sail cats). A couple of waders approached and I asked how the bite is? Raising a couple of shouldered trout, I mean real bruisers, I asked to what they were using, the same as us except they were hanging their baits around eighteen inches below a Bullet Bobber. Ed changed out his rig and still our day was to hit it big on the sail kitty’s and medium to small shark and I had no tags! With plenty of fish around if you are not on the bite, move! It is not uncommon to try a couple of holes to drifts before you find the perfect spot. The most reliable bait for skinny water or inshore Florida right now are minnows; mud, mullet, greenbacks and croaker, everywhere and the bite is on. While drifting the open water channel down mid-harbor way, we hooked it up with a Sabalo on my Gulp Crab. This tarpon was better than a paddle, moved faster than a small outboard and danced to the tune of my almost spooled fourteen-pound test Cajun Red fishing line. I was really surprised how elegantly this fish pulled our heavy craft. It had to weigh at least the same as the Snapper when empty. As the fish leaped on the starboard (right) side of our craft, at around fifty yards out, I was leaning to the port (left) as Edwin looked as if he were fall out into the water and snap, she was gone. Between my balancing act and trying to catch a snap-shot of this silver Megalops walk on the water, all I succeeded in doing was taking a picture of the diving bird of prey in tune to the diving tarpon. Great bird shot but where’s the fish?