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.
