Fishing Charlotte Harbor Area (Spring Lake: nuclear, cluster, living)

[hockeyboy09]

Hello,

Anyone in the PC/Punta area that does Kayak fishing in and about the harbor? I should be down in April 2019 and purchasing my Florida Kayak. I already have one in Michigan. In MI I fish for Walleye and Bass. Saltwater fishing is quite a bit different.

Mike

PS. Is Y-A-K a forbidden 'word'? I tried that on my first go for this post. It was *** out.

[Skip Cast]

Originally Posted by hockeyboy09

Hello,

Anyone in the PC/Punta area that does Kayak fishing in and about the harbor? I should be down in April 2019 and purchasing my Florida Kayak. I already have one in Michigan. In MI I fish for Walleye and Bass. Saltwater fishing is quite a bit different.

Mike

PS. Is Y-A-K a forbidden 'word'? I tried that on my first go for this post. It was *** out.

With all of the natural shoreline, creeks, canals and inshore bays, it is a very popular activity here. Keep searching the internet and you will see there are social clubs/groups that focus on kayak fishing. These would be good source for you. There are also also shops focusing on this type of fishing, such as West Wall Outfitters. Disclaimer... I've never been there.


p.s. - J.I.G. is also a blocked word... weird huh.

Keep Casting...

[Pau Hana Daz]

Originally Posted by Skip Cast

There are also also shops focusing on this type of fishing, such as West Wall Outfitters. Disclaimer... I've never been there.

I wouldn't say that West Wall focuses on kayak fishing, their main focus is fly fishing but they do also have a nice line of kayaks. Josh, Logan, and Donald are all full of good info and that would be my first stop when looking for a new kayak in the area.

Another kayak shop (no fishing) is Silent Sports on 41 in Nokomis. That's where we bought our Ocean Kayaks (pre-West Wall days).

[Skip Cast]

One of my favorite fishing methods is to work really close and up under the mangroves and docks, hence the handle of Skip Cast. Cooler water temps have helped to increase the fish numbers up into the canals. This makes it convenient to go out and do some fishing in a short amount of time. An afternoon trip around the Spring Lake waterway on Monday yielded a nice black drum, some reds, mangrove snappers, and jacks.

If you have a short amount of time and/or the harbor is choppy, give it a try.

Keep Casting...

[double6's]

nice fish!

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by Skip Cast

One of my favorite fishing methods is to work really close and up under the mangroves and docks, hence the handle of Skip Cast. Cooler water temps have helped to increase the fish numbers up into the canals. This makes it convenient to go out and do some fishing in a short amount of time. An afternoon trip around the Spring Lake waterway on Monday yielded a nice black drum, some reds, mangrove snappers, and jacks.

If you have a short amount of time and/or the harbor is choppy, give it a try.

Keep Casting...

Good job. Thanks for the updates. We used to get some good reports from a poster Messing About, MA. He moved out west but I enjoyed his detailed reports.

[SgtRich]

So, went out to El Jobean bridge with a couple friends visiting from out of state, on Saturday morning.

Fished the Harbor side of the bridge, not much action w live shrimp, caught 1 Speckled Trout, kept it, cooked it, ate it. Pretty dang tasty!

[Skip Cast]

Haven't seen anyone post in here for a while so I thought I would dust off this thread. I fish every chance I get and would like to see how others are doing and how your getting it done.

I've been on some good bites recently. The snook are quite plentiful around the docks and mangrove edges. It seems better at the later stages of a falling higher tide. Quite a few small ones (ain't complaining) but some nice ones mixed in. Soft plastics like Gulp Shrimp and Mirror Lure Little John on a 1/8oz *** head bouncing the bottom or rise and fall in the grass, various jerk baits rigged weedless (nothing but the hook)..twitch twitch pause, repeat. Skip it back in the Mangrove roots or under docks next to the densest cluster of pilings. My two cents... if your'e fishing docks, throw so that your bait comes out under the lift where the boat's stern would be. Pause it a little longer. That slight contour change has made a difference many times for me, Sometimes get a flounder doing this if there is good moving water and structure (more pilings and such the better).

Places I like lately; Docks, flat and channel edge just around the bend east of the PC beach complex. Mangroves and flat edges from where East Spring Lake channel and West Spring Lake channel converge up to the East Spring Lake waterway bridge. Fun to catch the jacks running bait in this area in the morning and evening. Also like the wide open middle of the flats outside of Pirates Harbor in about 3-4ft with outgoing tide focused on the areas with clear water and visible patches and holes.

Good luck all, keep casting and share.
SkipCast

[double6's]

nice fish!..

[josephp732]

Great to see some activity on this thread! (BTW..Nice fish!)