Fishin Franks Blog

Well, as of right now everyone is on an even keel as far as fishing goes. The tropical storm has pretty much wiped the fishing slate clean. Before the storm we were enjoying what was probably the best May for fishing I have seen in a long time. It was nothing to head out to the middle of the harbor and catch shark, mackerel, cobia and other various fish without much work. Those days are gone.

The water temperature in the upper harbor (at the 41 bridge) was 90 degrees yesterday late afternoon. We also have a ton of freshwater coming down the Peace and Myaka Rivers. Now, I say freshwater with a grain of salt (or lack thereof) because it was the first major rain to our north which is rinsing down our first big load of river sediment and contaminates. So not only is our water temperature going up, but our water quality is going down. Hotter water will hold less oxygen and those contaminates will also cause algae blooms which will further drop the oxygen levels. All that means that the fish will move.

The baitfish, which don’t like fresh water or water without oxygen will go find better water. Fish that can’t handle that water quality will too. Fish that can handle that water will still move because all their food has left. That means you need to start running further down south to find bait and our larger summer fish like shark and cobia.

Now, one thing to keep in mind is that the bait fish will follow the tide so you can still fish the middle of the harbor on an incoming tide. The quality of the fishing won’t be what is was in May but they will be there in smaller numbers. Remember though, those fish will retreat with the outgoing tide so plan your day accordingly.

Cobia are still a hot topic. Because cobia can easily circumnavigate the globe, water quality doesn’t affect them very much. Keep an eye out for cobia following stingrays on the east side. The stingrays are starting to give birth and the cobia will follow them for an easy meal. It’s a swimming Pez dispenser.

It is gonna be hot, So by noon the fish will be in the shade, Look for the Reds under the Mangrove Branchs

woman wrote that one of her family was sinking by mile marker 1, Which I understand because if you are not used to the water it would sound like a place. But no it is not. Mile markers are highway / land based markers.
On the water they are channel markers, Here is the confusing part is that every channel starts with #1 which includes private channels, Canals openings, Each and every channel. That is a lot in this area where we have so many canals,
From what She said I would assume they were at Marker #1 off Ponce De leon which is the 1st in the Peace River series.
The reason I wrote this is so if someone has a problem, get more information where are they close to, “Like a mile west of Punta Gorda” by marker #1 . I have had to look for people and that little extra info can make a huge difference in when help arrives. Frank
By the way Sea tow show up, & all is good

Black Drum are back doing the baby dance in the 20′foot hole.
Hundreds or thousands of drum boiling and rolling.

Steven One of the owners of a new “local” lure company, Is here at Fishin Franks Today!!!
These lures were invented here for and About Charlotte Harbor, & were also tested on Our fresh water canals,
Lick-em-lures new Tongue Slapper is great for skippin way under the mangrove branches for big Red fish & Snook. Open flats and sand bars for Flounder.
Stop in and Meet Steven and see a lure design & manufactured here in Port Charlotte,

Waste or have your hands a little dirty. To live as clean as possible means to think like a real person, I saw a person write that {they don not kill animals, they buy their food at ( Micky D’s) where nothing dies}
yes this is a real quote, but what the heck kind of a person thinks this way. Really!!!
do they really think those hamburgers are grown in fields, where they pick them from the hamburger plant.
I eat there but at least I know where my food comes from.

People buy fish oil tablets, and of course no fish die they just hug the fish to get the oil from them.  I am not a fan of this, I think that is horrible, exspecialy when it is Krill.
Krill were never harvested as they could not make anything from it, nasty acid tasting little fish. The south pole was cover with them. Until a few years ago. then the fish oil tablets started. and they found ways of making it work for food. This is what the penguins eat! now because of people and the oil tablets the penguins are having a hard time. Having no food sucks. Just ask any Penguin

So, Yes, I eat a fish,  I get fish oil and healthy food, and do not waste any more than I have to. And yes I have some fish blood on my hands but I know how it was handled and no other fish which has no commercial value dies and was tossed away, because I could not get money for it.

Sometimes to have your hands with fish blood on them, means you live cleaner and waste less resources than anything bought from a store. average 7 pound of marine life have to be killed/wasted to get one pound to the market, seems like a waste to me.

I am not perfect I sometimes eat fish in restaurants, my dirty secret is at least once a year I sneak off to Mickey D’s and eat a fish sandwich Sorry I can’t help myself I think it is the sauce. But as a rule I tend to eat only the fish I catch, kill, & clean myself. And I also buy cows and hogs raised locally,  grain feed them a bit and have them processed “Butchered”  So it is a life style and a choice, I know what I am eating, and what I am wasting. It is not about saving money it is about understanding how real life works

This is was my bitch session for the year.
Fishin Frank

Tarpon yes let’s talk about Florida #1 Trash fish, Oppsy I meant to say Florida #1 money fish, dang scratch that, I really men t to say Florida Silver king the number 1 game fish.
Ok I guess I should explain, Tarpon is not edible, nor does it make a good mount, what do you call a fish that you can not eat, or even mount? trash fish? even a sail-cat is less of a trash fish, sail-cat are really pretty tasty, So that explains my dig on the trash fish part, money fish is the most correct name as I believe Tarpon account for about 300 million a year in Florida, Game fish Silver king is only when it is on your line. Then the 150 pounds of bright silver shinning muscle jumping and ripping line off of your reel, at that time it is the Silver king. One of the most beautiful fish there is.

Now that I over explained myself I will get to the point, If you try to remember that Tarpon are just a fish while trying to hook one, you will have much better success, Live bait, dead bait, they are just wanting a meal.  If you want to play with Tarpon don’t over think it

The last few days, the storms had pushed most of them out into the gulf, yes they are afraid of lighting, lets add wuss fish to their name list. So right now during the day best bet is out deep, But here is the weird part,
Tarpon are a wuss when it comes to lighting but they are not afraid of the dark, darkness seem to empower them, During our Cat-fish, sting ray & shark tournament which is an over night tournament, lots of Tarpon were hooked, they are all through the inter coastal, around the bridges in the deep holes of the Harbor.

Saturday night while trying to catch sting-rays and Sharks in the middle of the Harbor several teams had to put up with these Tarpon hitting their lines and trying to get rid of them was a problem at the Pirate Harbor hole I think they had seven tarpon in their way of catching Sting rays.

Near Placida a lot of Tarpon were hooked after midnight while trying to catch Cat-fish, yes dead bait live bait did not matter. The tarpon were in the way of real fishing all night.
So if you want to play with these nuisance fish try after dark, pick a bridge a hole,

Hey if a wuss like a Tarpon can be out playing in the dark, why aren’t you, what are you afraid of ??
A long winded way of saying the tarpon fishing at night is great right now. But just this sentence would have been boring

Writing with a smirk, another man’s treasure….
Fishin Frank

See you in the morning, every thing starts at 8;am

Robert and I were just talking, it is really the coolest thing, these big tough guys standing at the counter getting their stuff, and as you would expect kind of stone faced, you can tell they are the real deal, work harden, tough as nails and boot leather, But just watch their face as they go through the door with the entry in hand, that instant when they think no one is watching, and for a moment they are 10 years old and what a smile.

yes years ago it was leagle to have guns, and shot sharks when you caught one, Funny thing is you could also drink with out fear as there was no B U I either. mix those two and a guy who watches TV where a plaster wall is protection from bullets, he shot the Shark on the deck of his boat, thinking about shooting the shark and the bullet passed through the shark, through the deck, the through the bottom of his boat. No he did not sink the hole was not that big but he still get a ration for that. Now you know why thee is laws. I sometimes think natural selection was the better choice

Yes fishin franks sever weather challenge aka Cat fish sting ray & shark tournament is under way, Over 200 people have sign up & out so far with more still in line.
Right now the Cat fish is between 800 & 900 first prize and the is 1st thur 4th place in each. But it is living up to the bad weather reputation.
One year it was on in a full out tropical storm. there is no rain date unless it is cat 1 or higher. 7 boats down that night 15 or so people in the water, one heck of a year that was. It was the year after a guy shot a hole in his boat

Today is the day, the 28th year of the Tournament.
We are expecting a lighter then usual turn out of the tournament with the nasty
weather we have had this week and which continues today, So I would
guess 250 people. a week Which had better weather and there would be closer to 500 entries

On a positive note the prize money for the Cat fish, should be about
$1,000.oo for first place, Yes somewhere in south west Florida there is a
one thousand dollar Sail-Cat-fish swimming around right now. We will
find out which one it is Sunday morning before 9:am
There are 4 winners in each Category 1st -4th in Shark, Cat-fish and sting ray 12 winners in all.

Each person may win in each category, 1 ray, 1 cat, 1 shark per entry.
During the years we have had 3 people win in all of the categories, But
we have never had a single person take first place in each one yet.

Some one will make the money fishing from a pier or sea wall, I am
going to say the winning Cat-fish will come from Placida or Stump pass
this year maybe the tom Adams bridge pier. there have been monster cats
out there, but it is hard to count out P.G.I. as those canals have
produced a lot of winners.

Sign out start today at 3:30 the contest ends Sunday morning judging 8:am to 9:am
You can enter the Tournament until 8:pm tonight as there are a lot of people who travel to get here, Many from out of state,

Well good luck to all and one last thing, the polygraph guy will be
here Sunday morning and sad to say we will be holding the pay out until
after the lie detector has been done,

This tournament is an old
one and I believe more kids have fished a tournament for the first time
in this Tournament than any other, I would guess more people have had
their first south west Florida nighttime fishing experience, during this
event. Times have changed a lot over the 28 years of hold the S,S,S,
some better some worse. The one thing we have tried to keep the same is
having a tournament which the family Mom, dad, Kids, Grand parents can
do together, This is going to be the focus for the up coming years,

I have been asked to keep the tournament going as it is the best way
for the research people to get data on the Larger sharks, Did I mention
this has been a research tournament for almost 20 years now, and the
Sharks must be kept in edible condition, This is a thing we started at
the first Tournament, 28 years ago  before the word ECO was invented,
So until it become illegal to keep Sharks they will stay as part of the
Tournament. The rules and focus fish will change but to have a
Tournament which is Historic, fun, and benefiting the Sharks Scientist
need the data from the vertebra, skin, and muscle tissue, hard to get
from a live shark, Life can be messy,  the right thing to do is just
that the right thing to do. Even when not politically correct.

Again Good luck , Have fun & be safe out there
.Frank

There is a lot about fish we don’t know, but one thing I do know is that they are already wet, So rain would not make a difference to them.
Lets leave aside pressure issues with the water, and just look at why would fishing in the rain be better?
1 if you get in your car and look through the windshield easy to see every thing, but when it starts to rain you can not see. Same with fish under water when they look up through calm water it is easy to see you sitting there in your boat.
Have you ever been under a aluminuin roof when it starts to rain, you cant hear each other, same with fish under water the rain makes so much noise hitting the surface they don’t hear you.
So rain makes it easier to sneak up on the fish, they can not hear or see you as well during the rain.

did you notice it is raining and the peace river went from .8 feet to 3.8 feet in less than 24 hours. but has now gone down to 2.6 feet. this is important to know how much fresh water is coming into the harbor.

The first rains get all the fish excites as a huge amount of food bugs, nutrients for the bait fish, bait fish, even good size fish get pushed over dams or just taken down steam by the heavier flow of water, from the canals & rivers, So all the salt water fish move into the canals & river, as the dinner bell is being rung.

Went fishin today, Got a 60 pound est weight Bull Shark, Some Spanish, a nice Jack and not a lot else, But had a good time, the rain surrounded us & kept pushing us farther up river, but none the less a good day. made it to the dock as it started to rain. The first fish my grand nephew ever caught was a bull shark Not bad. I was lucky today, with all the rain & storms. I was heading towards a spot, then saw fish, The hardest thing when going fishin is to change your plan. It works for me I have plan A, which is I am going to fish at a certain place, But now i watch for plan B, look there’s fish right here stop! I say this but have passed by schools of fish before thinking I it was better further away, Hey I paid for the motor, and the fishin is always better on the other side of the Harbor. Glad I used plan B today we caught fish and stayed dry

All things cool are at the 41 bridge right now. Yes indeed if it is cool big fish you are looking for try the bridge between Port Charlotte & Punta gorda, I would think the Caloosahatchee is doing the same thing but I am not sure, There is the tiniest bit of fresh water coming down river, and the overcast skies are making the upper Harbor “The bridge” the place to be Cobia average size 40 inches, Sharks, Goliath, Even the bait is fun to catch, First off you need a bag of frozen shrimp, small hooks #4, then catch a Silver Trout or Sugar Trout maybe a whiting, once you have one of these Put it on a larger rod, a 7/0 hook and you can free line it or use a sinker, but if you are going to use a sinker, put a sinker on it at least 4 ounces. Toss it off the bridge and watch the joggers run by, the waves the cloudy over cast skies threatening to rain any second. until BAM big fish, you will need a bridge net which cost about 29.95 to get these fish up. it is a net on a rope. You are 15 to 40 feet up off the water so reeling them up is not an option. There is a couple more days of cloudy weather so you still have time to get in on the best fishing the bridge has seen in 20 years.
Good luck, have fun, and be safe
Fishin Frank

Found this from Jose, He was a great guy and a great fisherman

Snappers, Well there asre NO dog Snappers in Charlotte Harbor, Lane, Mangrove/Grey, Once in a blue moon some Yellow Tail, Mutton, or Bee liners which is Small vermillion snappers. So the whole Dog snapper thing was a Myth / mistake/ Wrong. As I have manitianed for years if you caught a Small fish wich looks kind of like a Small mouth bass with teeth like a ally cat. It is a Mangrove Snapper. These are a Tricky Snapper with a red belly dark back how could they possibly be called a Grey snapper? Well if you catch them out in the gulf they are compltey Grey no other color. You will not know that it was a mangrove Snapper until you put it in the ice chest, then all the colors come out. This does stand to reason as a dark color fish would stand out in the clear waters of the gulf of Mexico, and would be eaten by larger fish. So they snappers change colors to match the water they are in. Clear water they turn Grey, Dark waters reds, browns & Black. so anyway what I worte before was wrong, and now I am eating Crow, i should never type anything until I check into it first. But then why shold typeing be different than talking? I am usally somewaht surprised by what I say, most of the time.
Fishin Frank

Ahh the wonder of being on the water, the peace, the tranquilty, the fisherman yelling nasty things?? Well Yes this seems to be the thing out at Boca Grande Pass, Mike asked me to drive his boat while he took Pictures during one of the P.T.T.S. Tarpon tournaments, It had the extra incentive of the Boca Grande Guide Ass, or STT people protest going on that day, We got out there about 6:30 after a beautiful ride down Charlotte Harbor The sun low on the Mangroves this is such a amazing place. We got there and with nothing to do I started counting and there was about 100 jig boats and 4 protest boats, By 9:30 or so there were about 200 jig baots and 18 protest boats, that I could see. I guess identify that is, I have since leanred that there were protestsers who were just sitting in thier boats somewhere around the area but did not want to have signs or be in the pass, but were protesting by being near the area? No I dont get that either.

I did see something really funny to me, this boat had a sign on it, No skill useing jigs. Me being the sick indvual I am could not help but think, The Pass is the largest fishing lottery there is. When you have a couple hundred boats all with in Yards of each other, Please bite mine fishy, is the realaist thought. hundreds of boats dropping jigs, bait, and every type of fish catching contration type thing you can think of, so you drop a jig down and hold it there with “here fishy fishy” going through your head, then you drop a bait down, here where the skill level increases you need to say here fishy fishy with a deeper voice. I have since been told by no skill they mean that the jig snag fish. Well ok if that is true and maybe it is or maybe it is not. dose it really change the here fishy fishy lotto aspect, still just too funny.

There is only a handful of people who have the pass figured out, they do it day after day, year after year, Most use Bait, Jigs, Lures, what ever it takes to get hooked up. These are mostly Charter Captains trying to give their customers that moment in thier life they will never forget, the fight with a fish as big as they are, who can jump-into the sunlight and smasgh down back down in the water with a magnifcent crush of white water pounding.

The guys fishin the Tournament well I did not find too interesting, But the trouist guy all sunburned hooked up to a what looked like a 140 pound tarpon arms like limp noodles haveing been on that fish for over 30 minutes, face Red shoulderd bent mouth breathing, grinning from ear to ear. so busy fighting and trying to stay with that Tarpon I doubt he even was aware of anything but that fish. Finally it was next to the boat, the hook was removed, and the fish held then released. Mike was taking pictures and you could see the monment when all of a sudden he realized. “HEY I DID IT” the exhastion was gone and he was all but dancing on the deck. That is to me the cool part, right after that we followed a young man about 11 years old, bystanders to his first Tarpon, Witness to what he will remember until the day he passes on, this is an important monment, I realy dont care about a bunch of Tournament anglers, or fishing guides, worried about who is hireing who.  I find that after all these years,
My biggest kick is the people who are just out their having fun, That is fishin.

My final thought to that day was a surprising lack of Non-professional boats, 200 plus jig boats, some which could have been phantom protesters, a couple dozen protesters, but only a handful of people out there in their boats just looking to enjoy fishing in the world famous Boca Grande Pass. I belive the fighting has got to the point where regular people just dont want to get in the middle of it. I will go on record here, I belive if all we can do as fisherman is fight and call each other names, lets ban all fishing in the pass April, May & June. Boca was the Tarpon captiol  of the world, bow it is just the place where people yell nasty tuff at each other. I would rather see it closed off completely. This is embarassing for the whole of south west Florida. How did we forget the fun part?

Frank

Like many things about fish, I continue to learn, after all the more you know about what you are trying to catch, the more successful you will be. When I think about it there are really only a couple of months in which you can catch really nice size Snapper in Charlotte Harbor over 14 inches. by far the most common are smaller fish, & the larger sizes are much more common in the deeper waters of the gulf. Maybe they should be thought of like Red fish, Tarpon, Shrimp, or Goliath & Gag grouper, only using the Harbor to get big enough to brave the adult world of the Gulf. Yes the more I look into it the more this seems true, the larger Snapper only come into the Harbor to spawn then head back out,
A really weird thing is that Snapper seem to get a secret message and all over the world they spawn, Yes from what I am learning all the Snappers in the world seem to get a signal and start spawning at nearly the same time. How weird is that?

Right now in the Harbor we are in the 2 to 3 week window of big snapper. They are being caught at the 41 bridge, the concert reef, cape haze reef and even larger sizes in the passes.
so get some shrimp and some white bait, because one day they will eat one and the next the other, and Snappers are some of the tastiest eating you will ever have, fresh snapper can be cooked any way and will come out great. Keep in mind they like to hug the bottom but you can raise them off the bottom by taking advantage of their greedy natures, yes they will follow at chum line right to the surface.

As a foot note to this, I have heard that many of the Snapper in Charlotte Harbor are mis-identified as Mangrove or Grey snapper, Same fish two names and are really Dog snappers which the only real difference is they have thicker teeth. I may have been wrong all these years, I am going to be checking this out this year.

Well have fun out there the weather is great the fishing could not be any better. Why are you sitting reading this, grab a pole and get your butt out there.

Frank

This was on a cardboard sign, leaning on the front of a boat protesting Jig fisherman in Boca Grande Pass. While I understand people who don’t like fishin for Tarpon with jigs. Everyone has a right to an opinion, But this just tickled me. I have fished the pass as a fishin guide and as just another goof ball wanting the thrills & NASCAR style excitement that only comes from being in a small boat one of 200 trying to vie for a hook up with a silver king in the pass, amongst the darting moving controlled Chaos which is jig fishin in Boca.
While there are a chosen few, who weather it be with Jigs / artificial lures or even with bait, seem to catch more Tarpon, get more Hook ups than most all other boats combined, I am not sure if it is talent, experience or they made a deal with the devil, but catch a lot of Tarpon they do.
The rest of us poor slobs are kind of in the lottery, we put down our rigs and the thoughts which race through our mind are that of Here big fishy, here fishy fishy, SO when I saw this sign claiming that fishin with a Jig for Tarpon requires no skill at all, My first thought was, Ok you drop it down and wait for a Tarpon to bite, Hopefully. Now If you have a hook with a bait on it you drop it down and ???? hummm wait for a Tarpon to bite?? I think maybe because you are on a bigger boat you have to say here fishy fishy in a deeper voice???? That would require more skill. Come on that’s too funny!
I completely understand not liking a style of fishing, this I get, But if you are going to hold up a sign for the world to see think about what it says. It should not imply you are not so bright. Maybe he just had the power turned off to his bulb when he wrote that sign. Tooo darn funny I mean, HERE fishy, as everyone knows it is much harder to get a fish to eat meat instead of lead and plastic.  come on!

Lot of tado about the protests at Boca over the week end, I got the at about 6:30 there were 80 to 100 jig boats and about 4 Protest boats, By 10 O’clock there were 200 Jig boats and 12 to 18 protest boats, This was a protest I could respect weather I agree or not with what they are protesting, Civil & nice to each other no name calling, no threats, Just showing disapproval for what they don’t like. The Save the Tarpon group started as a hate group and no good will come of anything where you have to hate someone / blame someone for what you no longer do.  Tom and his buddies are beginning to get the idea, that hate begets hate, this is not good. Differences should be talked about with reason and when you discover something you think is doing harm, If you tell others and work together things get better when you tell people to hate each other and point out people saying they are Evil, bad, because they are doing what you have been doing. What type of person dose that make you?

While maybe the save the Tarpon has a point, or maybe not. It could be true that as they say the scientist who did the studies are over worked under payed people who do not care about the environment, and just want to publish anything to get it over with. I have known several marine biologist and they seem to deeply care what is going on with the fish, I also belive most would agree they are under payed.  But it may be true they don’t really care. I admire people who feel deeply about what they believe in, and there are many in the Save the tarpon who do. In my thoughts maybe they should be running this group. because the people who started it with a massage of hate and blame will not do the Tarpon any good.

But when you start talking about fishin styles make sure what you write on your sign is not just plain goofy sounding. still chuckling about that one.
Frank

Ahh spring is in the air and a Young man’s thought turn to what else Cobia, Yes these enticing prehistoric not sure if they are a cat-fish or a Shark fish type fighting machines from another dimension time are here and very fish-able numbers through out Charlotte Harbor and the near gulf. Almost any bait Can catch one but, which bait they want that day is the question? Yes for a fish that will eat anything from a fish, crab, Shrimp, Live or dead bait, they can be fussier that a teenage girl on a diet.

One of the best ways to fish for Cobia is on that bright sunny day, drop a line with any bait you have right next to the boat, putting the bait about 2 feet below the hull, Cobia like most creatures prefer to hang out in the shade, and your boat provides the biggest shady spot around.  I like to look over the side of the boat on very bright hot sunny days to see how many Cobia are stacked up there.

For you lure enthusiast old school is a gold spoon or a buck tail jig with a 7 1/2 inch bass worm as a trailer. color of the worm can vary but tomato w/ green is a good one right now.

Well good luck out there I hope your Cobia fantasy all come true
Fishin Frank

Hiyamac
Lobuddy
Bineralong
Cuplahors
ketchinany
goddafew
Enysiztoem
copulapounds
Hitinhard
sortalite
watchausin
gobaworms
fishinondaboddum
Rydondaboddum
wepgottago
seyalater

Well the TV says that we are in for a week of thunderstorms each day, not all day but possible storms each day, which leaves us 1 of 2 possibilities.

1-the first is that a front moves across the Harbor and the fish move and quit feeding, or we get a couple inches of rain, and it lower the salt level of the Harbor, which would move many of the fish back into the gulf, Not good at all as we have been in the magic zone, every thing from Black fin tuna , Bonita, Spanish Mackerel, King Mackerel Shark, Cobia, Tarpon, Snook, red fish, & more all biting What can I say but WOW what a week.

2- the second possible out come, is that these afternoon rains and cloud cover will hold the water temperature steady, providing we get less than an inch of rain so the salt level remain constant in the Harbor, and if the clouds keep the water from heating up, this magic week could turn into a magic month. & HOW cool would that be!!

So here hoping for door number 2 and the magic remains

Fishin Frank

Spanish Mackerel, Black tip, bonnet, Hammer head, Bull, Lemon, Sharks, Cobia, Pompano, Trout, Lady fish,
These are all here in the middle of the Harbor. Now is the time to let the Red fish rest, it is hot amazing fishin.
And you do not need special boats or rigs or to go in shallow water, pretty much a anchor some bait and a fishin pole.

It does help to put out a chum bag, For bait I would suggest some shrimp, & frozen sardines, White bait or thread-fins if you can catch them,
other wise use the frozen stuff, put a big chunk of mullet or Lady fish, or even a sardine, on the bottom, and under a bobber use the a haldf of a
sardine or shrimp or bait fish.

I am not trying to confuse you I am just saying what ever you have will work. the weather is perfect the water is clear and the fish are biteing
what are you waiting for, get out and have fun,

Everything is coming together nicely. The red tide is gone, the water temperature is up and the harbor is full of bait. Our summertime fish, tarpon, shark, cobia, mackeral are all starting to show up in the harbor in good numbers and it’s only going to get better. Now is the time to get out there and get catching. Not fishing, catching!

The 20 foot hole (the upper hole) in the harbor seems to be the hot spot. Good reports of tarpon, shark, cobia and spanish mackeral. There was even a kingfish caught in the 20 foot hole! I’m also hearing reports of cobia on the markers and on both the east and west sandbars. Tarpon are also starting to show up at the 41 bridge at night.

And don’t forget the usual suspects either. Snook, redfish and trout are all doing extremely well and so are flounder. There is plenty of bait to be found at the markers, in the middle of the harbor, the skating rink and even in the mouth of the myaka river.

Each year I get a lot of people wanting to sell us bait. Pin fish, or lady fish & other things
It can seem like a dream job Just go out catch some bait and make money, All good right?. To do this you first must get a Salt water products license OK that is easy $50.oo and a form to the state. But an S.P. only allows you to sell to a licensed wholesaler.
You can not sell to bait shops or the public.

In order to sell to a bait shop you must have a whole sale license,
which is between $300 to $400 and as a wholesaler
you are required to send monthly statements to the state
with anything you have caught/ Bought / or sold.
this allows the state to know what has been taken from the water commercially.

TO sell to the public you have to have in addition to the S.P.
and the whole sale a retail license.

It can get expensive, and filling out the monthly paper work is a pain.

So if you are getting your Salt water products license
You will only be able to sell your catch to a wholesaler.
If you get caught selling to anyone else, with out it, you & the person you sold to can lose your right to fish, Yes you may not be able to have a fishing License at all
not for fun or profit, ever again for the rest of your life, plus fines and jail time.
Not quite worth it for the money you would make on a few pin fish.

Sorry but there are a lot of false information out there
about what is legal and what is not. It might be easier just to mow lawns
and you will most likley make more money, Sad & weird but true

but it is all there somewhere and it kind of makes sense
the commercial take of fish should be recorded properly.
Now this is what I understood, it could have changed again, best thing
is to look it up your self. Think about it, They cant even figure out how to count votes.
Frank

Bass fihsin is gettin more and more popular again, We are resetting a section of the srore to fit this trend, By the end of this month our selection of bass products should triple.
From the Canals in Port Charlotte to the lakes in the center of the state, Bass fishin is doing well, many of the bass are on the beds now and lizards, real or plastis, dropped into or next to the beds are very effective, June bug seems to be the color of choice

Sharks are moving into Charlotte Harbor.
Sharp nose, Black tips, Nurse, Lemons, Spinners, and Bulls & Bonnets, which to be fair are here all year.
But we do see increased numbers as the water warms up. each year as the water hits 75 degrees Cobia, Tarpon
and shark move up from where ever they are during sown bird season, Crazy but each year as the Snow bird leave the big fish show up, How crazy is that, but just like their human counter parts the go south during the colder months and return as the waters warm.

Shark fishing is like sailing hours of boredom punctuated by moments of shear excitement or terror.
simple procedure anchor your boat or cast your line out from the dock better if you chum and wait for the rush of a screaming reel.

This is just a long winded way of saying the Sharks are back n the Harbor and the numbers are growing, the numbers of Sharks will peak out in May the prime month for Sharks, But you may want to consider Catch & release during may as that is when the Sharks are going to give birth. By June they are done “Pupping” and dinner time may resume,
Yes I eat Sharks it is some of the best tasting meat and very healthy for you. Why buy fish oil tablets, ok some one else kills the fish for you, but when you do it your self no waste is the key. and I never take one while I still have meat from the first one.
Any way good luck out the have fun, and watch where you put your finger, It is Shark fishin after all
Frank

Last night at Luigi’s I belive a good time had by all, each person got a few lures to take home, and as several said we are going to be getting into pee-wee shrimp season soon, know how to use different types of soft plastic baits as really save the day.
We are doing one more of these classes this Tuesaday the 16th we have 12 seats open. Free meeting and you keep the lures you rig.

Cobia, Mackerel & Red fish galore this is what has happened over the week I have been under the weather, I try to up date at least weekly, I am not sure if I got sick or just ran out of get up and go, But either way the fishin has been smokin out in the Harbor and near gulf
Cobia are doing the spawn thing and have been thick near Hog Island & marker 1. Schools
of Cobia about a mile off the beaches. Jigs with a bass worm tip or Rat-L-Trap 3/4 once
seem to be the lures of choice
Spanish are moving in, I have heard a lot this year about how thin the fish were and it occurred to me that maybe the barrier of Red tide across the passes this year had  a lot to do with so few fish like Trout, since the Red tide has backed off the fish are pouring into the harbor.

Maverick lures are the trolling lure of choice for Spanish, just hold the rod and keep the baot moving about 2 to 3 miles per hour,

Red fish are feeding back around the Mangroves the crabs or I should say the baby blue crabs spider crabs are what they are feeding on, So when the tide is higher a 1.3 or better cast under the branches shrimp or crabs if you can catch them and hang onto the rod. when that red hits it is a hit.

Good luck have fun and be safe
Frank

This month at Luigi’s the fishin club is about riggin soft plastic lures,
each person gets a jerk bait & weedless hook, as well as a paddle tail & jig head,
we are going to teach you how to rig them,

This is the time of the year when soft plastic lures are really the thing. weather you are
fishin for Cobia, Red fish, Trout, Snook, these soft body baits are the trick. But getting them to do what they should can be very difficult unless you know how to put them together.

So eat early be ready to start riggin by 7:pm meeting starts at 6:30 and we want you to have your hands free for this one, A big plate of Spaghetti is usually one of the best things about the meeting or Dinner & a show as the wife calls it. This month you will need your hands free so if you get there by 6:pm eat and them you have time to enjoy the meeting
See ya there
Frank

Today Sunny, with a high near 72. North northwest wind 17 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Good day to play on the Rivers, N.W. winds means it should be good to go from P.C. beach to The cut off, or maybe explore the Red fish in West spring lake canals.

I know it is too close to have any good fishing, to catch any fish your outboard must run at least 5 gallons through it or the fish just wont bite, It is always better on the other side,
but today lets try and break the over there curse. The bends in the canal as you go from the Edgewater bridge to P.C. beach is usally good fishin this time of year. shrimp free lined into the deeper water of the bends and nooks & coves of the canal will or at least should give you a good day of fishing.

somehwer between 2 & 3 thousand people came through Fishin Frank
to meet the owners of some of the largest tackle companies. getting a chance to talk to these people is very cool, and we had a great time. success is my word for it, now how do I make it better next year, I am working that out now, I was wondering what peoplle were thnking then I kept meeting people who were coming back for the 2nd or 3rd time to talk to someone or brought a friend to meet somebody, If I have to say so my self, this day rocked! it was fun interesting and people enjoyed themselves. Thank you every one as usal the big topic after the event was how nice the people are. you all are really the best people on the planet.
thanks again, Frank & the Bait bandits