Easy 2 Hook on Knot 2 Kinky Line; Spring has Sprung!

Well, you know Spring has sprung when everything from small sharks show up at El Jobean to big Black Tips and Kingfish are starting to make a presence at Sharky's on the Pier, in Venice. We have been fishing everywhere this week with the exception of the freshwater action; to which we will do some ultra-light spin tackle Bass fishing on Tuesday morning and kite angling from the beach on Wednesday. Last week, Ed & I were slaying the Snook and caught two in the thirty-inch plus class but could find no trout. I even posted on Florida Sportsmen to which, one of the others showed me a picture of one and a little advice. Hm, got to try that too! Mean while, we angled the canoe through the skinnies of the upper harbor in catching baby Black tips, hordes of dancing Ladies and Ed caught a small one foot Tarpon to make it a bonefish triumph for that day in Tippy Canoe Bay. Setting up a trolley, earlier this week on the pier, as the water temperature was hovering around sixty-eight degrees, we use a live Ladyfish with a 3/0 no tie hook, Easy 2 Hook, plus stinger, tied to three feet of knotable, Knot 2 Kinky nickle-titanium leader wire, at 25# test, tied to 30 pound Cajun red with the new evolution of fishing swivels, the invisible, 'invisaswivel' ,which is the greatest concept since the wheel. It can go through your rod guides with no harm, no foul. Sinks slower than the line it is attached to and the fish cannot see it, so no more cut offs at the swivel! It is also great in tying two different lines together, leaders, like braid to fluorocarbon; using your favorite knot in a not undo mess and loss of that fish.

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“FISH ON!”

Positive Mentoring through Fishing

Venice, Florida to Charlotte Harbor Report

SOUTH FLORIDA INSHORE OFFSHORE
Reports from dockside at the Crows Nest stated drift boats at the Venice reef, inshore Florida, were catching a small kingfish, porgies and lane snappers, along with some Cobia. Further out in the sloppy waters offshore the inshore, reported of one Wahoo this week, along with some kingfish, a few small sailfish and blackfin tunas being reported.
Piers & Jetties:
The Venice Pier at Sharky's, had scattered Spanish mackerel, some bluefish at night and a few mangrove snappers and some jacks. Head action was pretty good this week on the North Jetty at Nokomis, so I would speculate, the sheepshead action was probably pretty much the same on the south side of the inlet at Venice, as I could see rods bending and fish coming up from their rocks also. Snookering in and out and up through the Alley under the lights around the piers has been hot as we used Luv lures and Storm soft bait jigs. Lower Harbor at El Jobean Pier, Tarpon were biting live shrimp at night at El Jobean along with a few black drum, small redfish and sea trout.

Freshwater Bite:

Monster in the making!

Believe it or not? The bass in Charlotte County ponds, lakes or quarries could be bedding up. As Edwin & I slid the Snapper into the waters of a sinkhole/old quarry, the edges along the ridges to drop-offs and up against the lee side of most of the cattail islands were littered in beds with big bass moving about. Live baits, like shiners worked but what really turned on these bucletmouth bass were Zoom 4 inch lizards in the purple with blue specks. The crystal clear waters of most artisan to deep water ponds/sinkholes, require stealth in approach if angling from the shoreline but when in a canoe, it was like we were one of them. The small want to be trophies were caught on just about every other cast. The Billy Bass, those trophies you see on the walls, only followed or hit and spit before one could set it up. In the blink of an eye, the lizards were in and out of their buckets before you could even think, “set the hook!” Under normal conditions, where there are oak trees around or along side the banks, the water has that appearance of cloudy to dark, though it is still clear in the fish environment, from atop, it looks dark and deep. These sinkholes, on the other hand often than not have no trees around them and thus are clear as can be; Ed and I felt as though we were fishing in an aquarium at Mote, rather than out in the boonies of the county. Twice, we saw what I believe to be a couple of bass in the State record size of at least fifteen pounds or more with a number of smaller ten pound Largemouth in tow! Our day consisted of, no fish story either, catching somewhere around three-hundred bass ranging between six ounces to three pounds; all small and all a photograph moment with a release to get bigger. The genetics of this pond was impressive, to say the least, with every sort of Pan fish one could find and a Bass on every cast.

Cooler weather this weekend will likely slow the bass bite, so flipping and pitching soft-plastic worms, crawdads and creature baits around the outside grass lines, along deep drop-offs is probably the best bet for big fish. Live medium shiners in the North Port canals have produced lots of small bass, with perch were biting live minnows and worms under a slip cork. With the cooler weather, try to fish later in the day and use a worm or lizard with a black or dark purple or flip a creature bait into the vegetation lining the canals.

Huge Goliath Grouper Mel Larson EmmRod

Mel Larsen works his equipment, loves to fish and is a friend. He is a genuine Anglers angler...Good job Mel!

Spanish Blues

As that cool brisk wind slapped you in the face with a Northwest blow and the whitely caps churned about as far as the eye could see against the Blue sky, I knew this could be a day for a great bite on a King or at least a novel day with the Spanish to tarpon as the sun set to the west on this hot mid eighties May day here in Sunny south Florida. Armed with a small Aqua Float on an eight foot Star with thirty pound Cajun Fire on my ancient Mariner, I drifted out a small Spanish caught earlier on my first cast with a yellow and white Gotcha from atop the boards here at Sharky’s on the Pier in Venice Florida, in hopes of tempting a cruising King Mackerel from out of the blue water and onto the shallows of the sandbars. With a trailer hook a dangling, the mackerel proudly displayed a thrashing under the float on the thirty-five pound steel wire with a flashy DE nickel-plated attractant above it in wait for bigger prey to come. As the wind increased in strength so did to the abundances of a blow up of Spanish to Tiny Tuna or Bonita as they may be, in schools of the hundreds; though they were not on a bite of most any tackle. Those caught snagged, as the grouping was so thick it was the only way. The mackerels were charging into the wind, onto the surface, across the wave tops like that of surfers catching a curl and riding the tube in an attempt to catch tinny minnows invisible to the eye unless grouped together in a ball and then only forming a grey like color under the ever so clear water below. Schools of Jack Crevalles guided by, with a few taken by trolley to show a presence at the “T” on the end of the pier, but overall the day ay the end was pretty much just a bunch of blow. After awhile a lone smoker took a likeness to my bait under the Aqua Float but by now, it was dead meat and the King went on by in search for a more lively prey. On the end, just before the sun set to bed, a youngster hooked it up with a small fifteen or twenty pound king to proudly take home as a prize to all to see. We went home for pork chops and tatters and to get ready for another day out on the water to play. Remember to Keep’em Wet, CPR and “Fish ON!”

Anderson Florida Fishing Shorts: Saturday, March 28, 2009

Zippity Do DA, Zippity Day, My Oh my what a windy ole’ day; Winds continue to be heavy, setting back any coming of kingfish by at least a week। Anglers should be using a variety of baits, such as white bait to straws in bagging bragging rights to some of the biggest Spanish mackerel seen in years just off the beaches of inshore Florida। Larger mackerel have invaded the artificial reefs 5 to 7 miles offshore along with scattered kingfish. During the daytime, pompano and nice-size sea trout are being caught in the holes adjacent to the flats, and Reds are found tailing falling tides along side channels to docks.

Kahula Fishing Kites Catch Fish!

Hot Tips on a Cold Bite Inshore the Offshore of southwest Florida

The limestone ledges and hard-bottom areas along the 10-fathom (60-foot) curve, located on nautical charts inshore the offshore, have always been productive for pelagic and benthic fish. Amberjack moved onto the 10-fathom wrecks and provided drag-pulling action for anglers trolling large plugs or anchoring and fishing with large live baits. The biggest surprise was scattered schools of kingfish feeding near the bottom in several areas in the 60-foot depths. Linking your line to your downrigger ball with a short length of monofilament leader material of a pound-test appropriate to the size of the bait, the depth of the weight and your trolling speeds to get plugs and spoons deep enough, but once found, bag limits filled the box. You could use a No. two or three planner but Downrigger releases suffer from a notoriously undependable reputation. Rubber bands fail on their own capricious schedule, and mechanical devices succumb to problems caused by immersion in salt water. When you are ready to use your downrigger, start by setting the bait back the desired distance and wrapping a sturdy rubber band (at least number 32, but 64 is sometimes better) to the line and thread one rubber-band loop through the other to secure it. Now attach the mono release loop to the rubber band with a loop-to-loop connection. Finally, attach the other release loop to a snap on the downrigger ball.
To make the link, use a 10-inch section of mono with the breaking strain that you desire and tie a loop in each end. (A double surgeon's knot makes a good loop.) When deploying the rig, lower the ball to the water carefully so you do not break the nylon link in the process. Now when the mono link breaks, you know that you just got a strike and not just another release failure.

BIRDS TO THE RESCUE ON A COLD BITE...

The usual method of looking for baitfish on the surface to locate schools of kingfish underneath will not work this time of year because of the absence of the bait and colder waters. An alternative is to begin deep trolling wherever several cormorants, those deep-diving ducks, are in the area submerging. Their presence usually indicates that schools of smaller fish are in the area along with the larger predators that feed on them.

Shell Drops Plus Plastic Yield Lunker Trout

Wait for the passing of a good front, as we get every week this time of year. Move out into the ICW and look for shell drops to either side of creeks entering the area or grass flats approach. If wading, just work, the ledges against the rocks and under the bridges and you will find fish too. The key is finding the shell drops from eight to twelve feet deep. Like cordwood the fish generally stack in these areas for forage as well a shelter from rouge currents and boaters or such. If you do not get a fish after six or eight casts then move to a new area. As I said once, you find them, it is on and it is some of the easiest fishing I do all year. I use a quarter ounce jig head with white 4-inch curl tail plastic bait; Luv lures are my favorite. All you have to do is bounce it off the bottom very slow. Once you get the first few fish and figure out how to work it, you will catch a Trout almost every cast as well, any stacked snook within them. They will pick up the baits on the drop and you will feel an ever so slight twitch to your line. Reel in your slack quickly and set back that rod tip high to the sky with “Fish On!”

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