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captain · 12-12-2001, 05:59 PM

Fishing Report for Charlotte Harbor / Boca Grande Weekending 12-09-01 Sorry to be out of pocket for most of November, however, The Redfish Tour’s Venice, Louisiana and Titusville Championship events have kept me off my home waters and away from action. Before proceeding to our local fishing report, I just want to add a few words about Louisiana and their Redfish fishery; It is DOWNRIGHT AWESOME. John Oliviero of J.L.Marine (Power-Pole) and I fished the event. We ran the Hewes 35+ miles to Lafitte, Louisiana, in the heart of LA’s Redfish rich waters. Through the shrimp boats and oil platforms we made our way to the backwater marshes and ponds. Upon arrival, we were greeted with Redfish. Redfish everywhere. Every pond, cove, creek held cooperative Redfish. Everywhere we looked in these areas we saw dozens and dozens of Redfish. The majority of which, were high slot fish pushing 25 – 26”. At first I was skeptical when fellow tour members told tales of catching 30, 40, and upwards of 100 fish per day, all on artificials. At the end of the day, we lost count of exactly how many Redfish we caught in the couple of hours we spent fishing on Tourney day, but will say it was definitely in the 30+ fish range. These fish ate everything thrown at them and did not spook like their Florida cousins. Long cast? Stealth approach? Not needed! A jig tied to a cane pole would have landed double-digit fish in these waters. We were swapping fish in and out of our live well all morning with the hopes of putting together a cumulative weight of 15+lbs. Due to trolling motor battery failure and increasing winds, we cut our day short by noon and headed back to Venice via a 3 ½ hour long journey through the area’s maze of creeks, ponds, locks and through the Mississippi River. Upon approaching weigh in, we felt confident we would have finished in the top 25. After all, 13lbs can easily win you a tourney in Florida waters. To our surprise, 12.82 lbs finished us in 36th place. Top five teams all weighed in over 18lbs! Need I say more? Now to get back to the real world; these past couple of weeks have been quite busy for me. Several trips, all of which resulted in a diverse menu of fish and fishing methods. The very first day back from the Redfish Tour Championships, a father and two-son team from the Nebraska booked an inshore trip, which set the tempo for a very productive next several weeks. Spanish Sardines littered the upper reaches of the Harbor and perfect size Pilchards were found within sight of the Boca Grande Bridge. We immediately went to work on the Snook deep into the preserve and worked our way toward the sound/harbor with the outgoing tide. Redfish and Snook were found on many of the holes and small cuts bordering the islands and Trout filled the potholes on low tide. Certain areas required a little bit of live chumming in order to turn the Snook into feeding mode. The next several trips all resulted in identical days. Redfish topped the scales at 27”, Several Trout to 24” and dozens & dozens of Snook from 20” dinks to fish well within the slots. The consistently warm and clear weather combined with an abundance of forage has kept the fish in a feeding mode for several weeks straight, regardless of the tides. Tides simply dictated where we could and could not get the boat into to fish. Later in the week we found acre size schools of 1 – 2lb Bluefish just outside the markers of Boca Grande. While live bait produced the larger of the small fish, Spoons and Top water Lures accounted for the numbers. Spanish Macks, Ladyfish and Jack Crevalle added a little twist by taking a bait/lure every other 10 Bluefish. Eric Theurer and guest took a trip out with me last week and as with the preceding trips, the fish were still on a feeding binge. The warm weather has kept most of the Snook in their spring and fall staging areas. At the end of the day, we ended up with 17 Snook releases, the largest of which went 32”. All were caught on live Pilchards netted up on the northwest end of Captiva Pass. That same weekend I encountered an acre size school of Bull Redfish just west of Boca Grande. The school consisted of a hundred plus fish ranging in size from 35” mini-bulls, to fish well over 40”. Needless to say, we had a blast fighting these bruisers on light tackle. The past several days were spent concentrating on Pelagics. While Kingfish has been unpredictable at best within the few short miles of our beaches, schools of Bonita (Little Tunny) crashing glass minnows were everywhere. For those of you who have not tried it, do not under estimate the fighting capability of these swimming bullets. They will tear off line further and faster than any Kingfish twice their size, and will bulldog their way all the way to the boat like a Jack Crevalle. Once located, they can be very easy to tempt by throwing live bait, cut bait, spoons, top water plugs and even minnow imitating flies. Just look for the birds. Once you find a concentration of birds, look for signs of feeding fish and approach quietly. Shut down in the path of the feeding fish and either drift or use your trolling motor to get within casting range. If you have problems getting within casting range, drift and live chum with sardines or pilchards. That will most definitely get their attention. If you do not have any live chum or any chum for that matter, try trolling a spoon or plug far behind the boat (200’) and drag the lure through the feeding fish. Although feeding, at times these fish can be skittish and will dive down to an approaching boat only to rise again once the boat has passed. 10 – 12lb tackle is plenty. Just make certain you use a high capacity reel, as a 10lb Bonita will smoke 100 yards of line before you can say “Fish On!” This past Saturday, I booked a trip out of Clearwater. We immediately netted a well full of Blue Runners, Threadfins and Sardines just west of Pier 60 in 20’ of water, and immediately began working hard bottom in 25’ of water. It was non-stop Kingfish action until about 8:30 am, at which time the bite tapered off to about a Kingfish every 30 minutes. This warm weather will keep these fish stationary. Once another front or drop in temp rolls through, these fish will be headed south with a hopes of a week or two long layover in the waters of Boca Grande. In short, fish are literally everywhere. Snook, Trout and Redfish dominate the inshore scene. Spanish Macks, Blues and Bonito can be found working bait just off the beaches, and Kingfish are headed our way. Decision, decisions…. Sorry for the having to consolidate several weeks in one report, but now that I’m back, expect a report of the Boca Grande area on a weekly basis! Tight Lines. Capt. Allan B. Beraquit Coast II Coast Fishing Charters, Inc. 1-866-4-TARPON / www.fish-fla.com Captain Allan B. Beraquit Coast II Coast Fishing Charters, Inc. www.fish-fla.com

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