Revenge of Killer Turtles Haven from Regular Angling

500 E. Venice Ave., Venice, (941) 485-7221.

Take I-75 south to exit 191 and go west about a mile, and then turn left onto East Venice Avenue.

River tours run Wednesday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., $10-$12 person.

Don’t let the dirt road fool you, just keep on trekking and you will dead end into the river or parking lot, and they both are at the end, next to Snook Haven.



At Snook Haven little has but changed but the faces and styles; all that remain of a day from our past. If you sit back, you can still hear Johnny Weissmuller ordering a cold can of brew from over the bar back. Old style pictures still hang at crooked angles and if you listen carefully, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the modern world down the road, you will hear a raptor’s cry as Marlene orders the same, waiting from a break in the rain, before filming again begins with Revenge of the Killer Turtles (1947). As an old Florida, bayou-style restaurant and pleasantly primitive entertainment venue, Snook Haven Restaurant & Fish Camp has been a fixture in Venice for more than 50 years. Even before that, fishermen traversing the fish-filled waters of the Myakka River in the early 1900s camped in the area. Used as everything from fish camp to fish house, this journey back into time is well worth the time to visit. Back when I first moved to Venice, Florida, Snook Haven is where I set up my head quarters and rendezvous for ReelnFish Charters. Running clients up the river for a chance to mingle with our Florida wildlife and catch Bass to freshwater Channel Catfish. Big cats in the twenty pound plus range on light tackle to cane poles. Camping on the banks or overnight pack-ins. Moving down stream we would catch everything from Snook to Reds and if the tides are right, you can catch Bull sharks on one side of the river and Bass on the other, along with an occasional Blue crab too. Now retired to angling and writing about it I enjoy my visits back where “Tarzan” slept lazily along an out stretched branch of a giant oak draped with Spanish moss beyond the restaurant's waterfront, back deck. There one can find a canoe tucked between a fleet canoes to kayaks loosely tied to the aging dock. Here you can elect to explore the slow-moving waters by powerboat or as Snook Haven's slogan states - "You and a Canoe" – paradise to me! In the canoe, the river is yours, at eye level with the crocks, the beauty is bountiful.

Snook Haven is on the sun-dappled shores of the winding Myakka River in Venice. Think giant oaks draped with Spanish moss, graceful cabbage palms, and tea-colored waters flowing by. Two movies have been filmed there, the most famous a Tarzan flick called Revenge of the Killer Turtles. On Thursdays, the public is invited to hear the Gulf Coast Banjo Society practice from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., and every Sunday the place overflows with weekend bikers and other regulars who gather round the shaded outdoor picnic tables to listen to live music. For overnight stays, you can bring your own RV or rent one of the fully furnished cabins. Call first, though, as many are undergoing renovation. Snook Haven also offers guided pontoon boat charters up and down the Myakka River. Bring a camera; one November afternoon, one of the largest alligators the boat captain said he’s ever seen charged the charter and dove straight under. Even grown men shrieked. But the boat also meanders down some spectacularly scenic stretches of pristine county-owned lands that will never be developed. River tours are available Wednesday through Sunday. You can eat indoors or dine outside at a wooden table overlooking the river. Lunch is served from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; dinner runs from 4-9 p.m. seven days a week. Specialties include gator bites (of course!) and grouper, fried, grilled or blackened. Try it stuffed with crab or with the shrimp and clam platter. December, when the early mornings and evening are cool, is a splendid time of year for this experience. Bring bug spray, as the mosquitoes can be vicious.

Some of our Favorite Links:
Florida Nature Lover

Myakka River State Park

Friends of the Myakka River

The True Florida Cracker Meal

A Florida Combo Delight;

Your favorite saltwater fish plus a combo of:

Choice of the fish that you caught today plus the crabs you also caught today in making your Spicy Florida Crab Cakes and Florida Fire Cracker Cornbread topped off with a green salad and ice cream. And if you really want to eat like an ole' time Cracker, try out a ole time taste before supper with a tasty treat of Fried Snook Baits? The Lunkers eat em...

Sheepshead on a Bite Means…

Sheps on a bite means heads on for winter and a smorgasbord in delights of November inshore fishing. Heads, drum, flounder and bass, bluefish, ladies and mackerel too, join in a party of reds to snook with sea trout thrown in for good measure in making for a boiling pot of hot inshore action for our southwestern Florida waters.

Medium spinning tackle with 20-pound fluorocarbon leader will handle nearly all these species. If you encounter blues or mackerel, add a piece of 50-pound leader to reduce "sharp teeth" cutoffs. One- quarter to one-half ounce jigs will catch all of these species, if used with the right presentation or use a plug or spoon. For sheepshead and black drum, use live shrimp hooked through the horn or fresh dead shrimp covering the hook or fiddler crabs hooked through the back of the shell, on a #1 hook and just enough split shot weight to sink it to the bottom.

Diving birds are a sure fish finder of feeding fish. No need for electronics’ when the birds are around for they tell it all whether it be bluefish, mackerel, ladyfish and speckled trout. As for snook and redfish, they are now located in the backcountry areas. Creeks and rivers hold will be holding more of these species than open flats with winter-like conditions upon us, look for deep channels and ridges to hold fish. Gags, Sheepshead and even some Porgies will be on most bay reefs by now in the area. Sheepshead and black drum also will be around bars, bridges and barnacle-ridden docks. Flounder are on the move and found near structure, such as submerged rocks, oyster bars, bridges and such on the out flowing tides. Silver trout and whiting can be intercepted off beaches and in gulf passes with your best bets on the piers and jetties using dead fresh shrimp.

Grab Your Partners Two by Two, Ladies and Trout the Duce C Due;

Grab Your Partners Two by Two, Ladies and Trout the Duce C Due; Onward tournament CCA and Redfish angler’s doe c doe, the toe to toe! The cool to cold weather action has brought on a much-needed change to both fresh and saltwater alike in both feeding patterns as well, strikes to bites as well! I find wither angling Lake Okeechobee to the flats of Lemon Bay to the Harbor, angling with a single hooked spoon by itself, under a Carolina Regina knocker rigging or a bobble is a deadly combination in catching redfish to largemouth bass, kings to Spanish, cobia to tarpon and dancing ladies to dip diving trout. Single-hook spoons have been ideal lures for fall fishing throughout Southwest Florida since the last arrivals and departures of our fall hurricanes. Almost all game fish, from redfish to king mackerel, strike minnow-imitating spoons to shinny mirrored like plugs and jerk baits with reckless abandonment to their own safety. Toothy fish, like the mackerels, rarely cut a metal spoon off a line. Out-of-season fish, like spotted Seatrout (November-December) and snook (December-February) rarely are seriously injured by single-hook lures and in general never fall off or are foul hooked as is the case with a Gotcha or similar lure or plug. Spoons dictate a cutting of the edge technology for all generations as they can never be improved, just imitated, casting through stiff fall breezes with ease, trolling with fish-catching flash that’s hard to beat and hook up ratio’s to far exceed those of its revivals the treble. Speaking of Lake Okeechobee, them Big Mouths were over heard a bragging about not being caught somewhere around the Rita Point Island area around em weeds and reeds. They say they cain’t be caught but they sure be tempted by them frogs skittered through the grass, mmm, mmm. Makes ya ungary! Crickets are the tickets for all else with minnows fallen a fast in-between back up baits for bass to specks but for this ole boy it is back to the bays; just thought I’d bring it up because I use to fish with Roland back in the day every once in a blue Sunday. Now it is rare to none but you never know, we just might go back to church some day.

Kingfish VS Spanish; a Tail of Two Fish…

To the untrained eye, a Schoolie (young king mackerel usually fewer than thirty inches) looks much the same as a large Spanish mackerel. Not knowing the difference can land you a citation or worse, a night in the poky. Large Spanish and Schoolies run together this time of year and the only real difference you need to know is that the king must be 24 inches in length to the fork for possession. The ways to tell the difference is either one is a smoker at 40 inches plus in size or has a quick break at its lateral line in the shape of a “L” slanted to the side; generally speaking. Also, the dorsal of the Spanish is usually darker in color than that of the infamous kingfish whose colors are generally a grey to whitish in shade, with a gentle sloping into its head vs. the straight up and down of the Spanish on the start of its dorsal. These are fine points to remember for a clean and responsible trip angling upon our inshore Florida waters. Edwin below holds a 26 inch Schoolie King on the left caught on a red head and silver Gotcha on a Pflueger with Trilene 12-pound test on an Ugly Stick. The Spanish on the right was caught on the same tackle except I was using an Orange on clear plastic Gotcha bounced off the bottom. Ladyfish were abounding with large smokers and Cobia hitting threads and Greenbacks; go figure.
“FISH ON!”