The Blue C

When identifying fish it is best to use the shape of the fish not the color.
The color of a fish changes with the color of water and/or their surroundings.

These are fish you could catch here in Charlotte Harbor and not all
of them are listed here yet. This is not an offical list or any thing but my opion
about these fish. and When it comes to taste well, this is my opion.

    The C.B. means this fish is commonly used as cut bait and is legal to cut up for bait,
      Keep in mind that some edible fish are also used as bait.
     If a fish has a size or bag limit it can not be cut into pieces.

This is for the strange fish, the what the heck is that fish!

Fresh water fish, of south west Florida.

Black Drum

Good eating
The meat of a Black drum, is as close to steak as a fish can get.

Small Back Drum are know as bearded Sheeps head,
A favorite for F.W.C. because they look so similar but have different size limits

Sheeps head have teeth drum a beard.

Small Drum also have stripes when young, which fade as they get older.

Really big 30 pound or more Black Drum, May have parasites.
which look like, little white worms. They are not harmful to humans and do not
have any flavor, you can not taste them. Even uncooked they can not hurt you.
it is just a little disgusting. Just cut them out, being tuff gets you a great tasting

meal.

Blue Runner / C.B.
Can be eaten if really hungry

Blue Crabs
Charlotte Harbor is one of the last best places for these angry Crabs
They are sold as food or as bait.

For bait uses click here->

as food you can eat the meat from the body & the claws.

Blue Fish

Good eating if you are from

the northeast. Not so good for the

rest of us

Bonita / C.B.
No way, tastes like a tin can

Cat Fish
These saltwater Cat fish are the most dangerous fish in Florida waters
for every Dollar spent on Shark bites $10,000.oo daollars are spent on Catfsih wounds
The dorsal & pectoral fins have a very hard spine / spike on them, this sharp
serrated edged spike can easily pierce a leather work boot.
Never, ever, never kick a catfish !!! it will end up hanging from your foot
only to be surgicaly removed. Scary huh ggod just be careful and you will be fine.
the only time you will have a problem is when you lose respect for what they can do.

Hard Head / C.B.

Poor eating “mud flavor”

Now haveing said that well it is not quite true. hard head cats are much like Large Mouth bass,
as far as one will taste great & the next will have a strange muddy flavor. This is why I say they are poor eating
the meat is white and can be quite good, then the next one is just lets say YUUUK. wierd huh well thats life.

Sail-cat “Gaff-top” / C.B.

Good eating

          The thing about salt water cat fish is they have Bards not ordinary Barbs
           barbs that will go through a leather work boot!
          To clean a Sail cat for dinner you fillet them not skin them.

Start your cut just back of the ribs, then basically you fillet the tail section.

Good meat, but can be wormy like a Spotted trout.

Cobia

Really good eating

Cobia are one of the best fighting, good eating, dumbest fish. I have ever fished for. Cobia curise the sand bar and the surface
waters of Charlotte harbor looking for food. They eat shrimp, fish, crabs, they have many nicknames "Ling" the crab eater. as well
as many other, but this should give you a clue they like crabs. the porblem with useing crabs for bait the crab likes to hide,
when it hits the bottom, so you will do much better with a crab under a float. Cobia can be caught on the bottom or at the surface
>Lets get back to Dumbest fish thing, Cobia like to relax in the shade on those bright hot days, "who dosent" think about it
if you are fishing the reef or anchored up somewhere where would a Cobia find Shade to lay in ? Thats right under your boat !
yes many times I have had my lines way out from the boat looking for Cobia only to notice one stickin his nose right out from
underneath my boat. It will make you crazy when you are outsmarted by a fish this dumb. Happens every day.
Oh yeah when you are fighting a Cobia you will notice make a hard run way off into the distance, then settle in to fight you,
from about 30 feet away you gain a little it will move away a little, madding.

American Eel

Common name - American Eel (pencil eel, yellow eel, black eel, silver eel, Boston eel, Atlantic eel or common eel)

This eel is very common to Charlotte Harbor, alto few are landed. It is the most common rock in the Harbor.
What I mean by that is when an ell takes a bait they will turn and go down into their hole "burrow" and when you pull it is
stuck on the bottom. and the upper harbor there are few if any rocks or snags, when you snag bottom in the Open harbor,
chances are you hooked a eel.

Goliath Grouper (can not)

"Jew Fish” endangered ( keep )

Round Tail

         Goliath's can get to 600 pounds
     The tail tells the difference between the Gag and the Goliath
      Fish change color to match their surroundings. So the colors
      on these fish might be very similar.
     Jew Fish is believed to have gotten it's name from the white almost
     Blue meat of the fillets, like looks and tastes so good it's "kosher"

If or when they become legal to keep it is one of the best eating fish
even when they are 400 pounds or more.

      Goliath grouper can be found in most all canals and even in the peace
      and Myakka rivers, fish in excess of 150 pound are caught or hooked
      inside of Charlotte Harbor.

Gag Grouper

Great eating

The flat tail edge of the Gags tail helps I.d.

This tasty fish regularly comes into Charlotte Harbor
The reef off Alligator creek or the Cape haze reef
will often produce keeper size Gag.

Red Grouper

I have to say one of my Favorite eating fish.
Found mostly in the gulf sometimes you can catch them in the Harbor
but it is rare to catch a keeper in the Shallow waters of the Harbor
Live bait or dead. even jigs work work when trying to get them to bite.
A true Game fish of Florida waters.

         Grunt
     very good eating
         easy to fillet,
      My Dad's favorite.

Lady Fish / C.B.

Edible, must be starving
First cousin to the Tarpon
Pound for pound one of the
best fighters, Jumping, thrashing
Crapping all over you and the boat.
What more fun could you Have.
side note is that most of us have eaten lady fish at one time or another
"Fish Stix" yes many fish stick are made from them. the oil from these
fish are used and the rest is sold for animal feed.

Lizard Fish,

Some-times you will catch these in Charlotte Harbor.
Lizard fish are often caught in the Gulf when trolling spoons,
They hit lures sometimes as big as they are.

This Lizard fish is about 12 inches long which is good size for them.
I am not sure if you can eat them. I do know they make great Grouper bait.

They have a triangle shaped head, and a mouth full of teeth.

Lizard fish are not poisonous that I know of.

a fairly common catch in our area.

Mackerel

King Mackerel

Good eating

Rarely found in the Harbor, but fish don't know the rules so every once in a while they come in.
Kings like 68 to 72 degree water and pass by here in the spring and fall as they migrate,

The slower the water changes temperature the slower they move north or south.

They can be caught with live bait, or with lures,
most often they are a fish you would troll lures behind the boat, to catch.

Spanish mackerel

Good, better smoked

The most prevalent Mackerel in the Harbor
Lots of conflicting, about how good eating these fish are.
One person says great the next says lousy, keep a couple and see hat you
think, great fish for blacken or heavy spice reciepes.

Mullet / C.B.

Great eating.
One thing they are not vegetarians,
They eat bugs, worms, fish, shrimp, alga, plant or animal,
they eat every thing. The kicker is that they have a gizzard
just like a chicken, which adds to their nick names
like chicken of the sea. When I first moved to Fla. Mullet gizzard
was a favorite of the local rednecks.
Mullet is one of the best eating fish you can have while visting Florida
whether baked, broiled, grilled, or even steamed it is quite a tasty fish.

Red fish / Red Drum

This is a slot fish

Very good eating

      Red Drum is one if the most sought after fish in the southern salt waters.
    But I remember when I first came here walking up to a guy with a pile of fish
    behind him what are they I asked, Damn Slat water carp no good for anything
   just trying to kill as many as I can, get them useless fish out of here.
   you guessed it they were Red fish. it was not until the late 1980's that Red fish became a
Game fish. and was considered a good catch or even good eating. Try to keep
this in mind when you catch a fish that is considered "Not good" maybe in a few years
It will be a highly prized great tasteing Game fish, It is just that no one told you Yet.

Sand Bream / C.B.

Great eating

Other names, Silver Jenny, Mojarra,

         Striped Mojarra, sand perch, goat, sand brim,
      Easy to I.D. because the mouth pulls way out from it's face.
      Easy to clean & fillet white meat, Mild flavor do not add
      much spice or you will not taste the fish at all.
      Best way to catch on rod and reel is with a bobber a # 6 gold hook,
      And peeled shrimp meat you must remove the shell of the shrimp,
      readily found around docks in the canals,

Snook

One of the absolute best.

Yes great eating but must be filleted if eaten with the skin on
they taste like soap, Hence the nickname soap fish, once thought to be
inedible, and sold for cat-food,

Snook are common in the canals and around
docks and piers. They are an ambush feeder laying behind

Pilings or in the roots of Mangrove trees, waiting for the next meal
to swim by.
Snook eat Shrimp "live is better", Any bait fish, " live or dead",
Snook also hit Spoons, jigs, lures of almost any type. That is
when they are in the mood,

They do have a weird trait if they see you, often they will not swim away
they will just lay there and not eat, It can be madding to bounce a bait on their nose
and nothing they just look at you and chuckle, You've been Snookered.

Star Gazer

    Squirrel Fish
considered a bait fish, but is good eating on it's own.
    Many think of them as Grouper candy.
    Caught on sandy bottoms in the near Gulf.

Triple Tail

Great eating

Tarpon

Nasty, do not even bother you would have to be Starving to eat.

This is one of the most beautiful Game fish,

Great fighter, known for, it's ability to jump.

Sea Robin ,
Yes it is a edible fish, but it would have to be quite large more than 14 inches
to really have any meat, It uses it's legs to smell, much like the whiskers on a catfish.
These are a rather common catch in Charlotte Harbor. The average size is 6 to 8 inches here.

Here is the Eye of a Sea Robin
spectacular color.

          Spotted Trout     Good eating
     This Fish also may have parasites
     warmer weather seems to make
     the worms appear.
     Great game fish readily caught
     on live bait or lures. Jigs are the
     but for me it is Top water lures .

       Silver or Sand trout / C.B.
   This is almost the same as a Spotted Trout.
   The big difference is no size or bag limits or the Sand Trout.
    No spots same vampire fangs on the top of the mouth.
    purple on the mouth makes I.D. easy.
    I am not sure but I don't think they get worms.
    Oh yeah, very good eating.

Sugar trout

             Good eating   C.B.
          A really big one would be 10 inches.
          This is more, of a perch than a trout,
          Good bait, cut into pieces or as live bait
         Fillet this little guy, with 20 or so of his
         buddies and you have a great meal.

Hard Head / C.B.

Poor eating “mud flavor”

Sail-cat “Gaff-top” / C.B.

Good eating

Start your cut just back of the ribs, then basically you fillet the tail section.

Good meat, but can be wormy like a Spotted trout.

Sting ray /C.B.

OK eating, “fillet like flounder”

The cookie cutter is a myth.

Hammer Head Bonnet or shovel nose

Good eating Great eating

Whiting / C.B.

Good eating
Best way to catch these guys is with pieces of shrimp
It is amazing how big of a bait they can get in their mouth
But if you tear a shrimp in half, or peel the shell from a
Frozen shrimp, you will catch more.
Use a slip sinker rig for whiting as they are smaller.
if the sinker is tied in place they find out about you,
before you find out about them.
the sliding or slip sinker will let you feel the tiniest bite
so you and the fish find out about each other at the same time.
So you can set the hook before they steal your bait.

Jack Crevalle / C.B.

Ok eating, best smoked

   Jacks are also known locally as Charlotte Harbor yellow fin tuna, amber jack, pompano,
    of course this is a little silly but we hear all the time I caught a tuna in the canal, It is too disappointing
    to them to tell them what it really is. So we try to suggest they look it up here. Sorry guys no tuna in the canals.

        Jacks are one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound
        They are battlers, Anything is good bait for Jacks, you just have to get it in front of them
       Jacks are often mistaken for tuna or pompano by new comers, They are in most of the canals
       and shallow and deep waters of the Harbor.

Pompano Permit

Great eating Ok eating

Atlantic spade fish Lane snapper

Good eating Very good eating

Sharp nose shark Grey or Mangrove snapper

Good eating Great eating.

                                                          This is the only snapper caught
                                                         in the upper harbor or canals.
                                                    When in the harbor they have a red belly,
                                                     that fools people into thinking they are
                                                       Red Snapper. They aint.

Flounder Sheeps-head

      Great eating                                 A pier fisherman's delight
                                                       easy caught around pilings of docks
                                                       tough to clean, but worth the work.

Toad fish

Gulf toadfish - Opsanus beta This is a weird fish you have probably
caught while fishing from one of the
local piers.

The most common names
Toad Fish
Mother-in-law fish
Oyster cracker.

A really big one would be 10 inches
They are all mouth, then the body
goes sloping down to the tail.

If his belly is full. "and they will eat anything"
it will protrude.

It's mouth is full of teeth.

Commonly used bait fish

Bally-hoo Menhaden

Pin fish Green back

Spanish Sardine Thread fin

Glass minnow
This is too small for bait, but it is what fish eat.

Salt-water bait fish do not live well in captivity and are only available in stores as frozen bait. You must catch them yourself
if you wish to use them alive.

The / C.B. means often used for cut bait.

If a fish has a size limit it cannot be cut up for bait. Size limit fish may be used whole as bait if they are of legal size. "I don't want you getting a ticket."

The eating rating is my opinion. Most fish are filleted the same as

a bass. They just taste better.

Check the F.W.C. Regulations booklet for size and bag limits.

Have fun fishing and enjoy beautiful Charlotte Harbor.

Fishin Franks
941-625-3888