Charlotte Harbor Fishing Report 9-09

Summer/Fall Fishing Report 2009

The summer heat has kept the fishing hot. As fall approaches the fishing will continue to produce a good bite. One sure fire fish this summer has been the snook. They have been eating just about anything an angler can throw at them all summer long. Snook of all sizes, small, medium, and big. The top water bite as well as a soft plastic jerk bait in the white color has been the ticket. For he live bait angler that can chum the water with a lot of pilchards, well lets just say you should have no problem. The east side of the harbor along with portions up river and on the west side of the harbor have been fantastic. Strong outgoing and incoming tides have these snook stacked on points and under shady mangroves. You find one and there are usually plenty more swimming with it.







White bait has been abundant on the flats. Both the outside and the inside of the main sand bars have been holding white bait. When they are thick, you can pole or troll and throw the cast net on various schools. If that doesn't seem to be working for you, anchor up or drop down the power pole and chum them to you. Most of the bait is of a very fishable size, not huge, but you will get some good bait mixed in.



Redfish redfish redfish. What more is there to say? Though the redfish has been fickle throughout the summer, the bite is turning on. They will start to school in large numbers over the next month or so. Open flats, sand bars, and on high water under the bushes will start to hold pods and schools of redfish ranging from 20-500 fish strong. You can't go wrong with live or cut dead bait. They will readily eat a top water lure or a jerkbait, hard or soft. The tide hasn't mattered lately as far as the bite, only where they are roaming.







The trout bite is gaining integrity. The bigger fish are starting to show on deeper grass flats with mixed bottom. Where you find the bait and the snapper on the flats, the bigger trout are following. The west wall, Pine Island, and the east wall are all good bets. Shrimp under a popping cork, a top water lure, spoons, soft plastics, they are all working. Of course it is hard to beat a top water strike. Small schoolie trout have been holding mixed in with ladyfish on the outside of sand bars. With the trout are bluefish which can always be fun to just bend a rod.





Tarpon are roaming in most of the deep holes in the harbor. They are also around the main bridges. Smaller tarpon will start to show on the flats near deeper mangrove shorelines on high water. Live threadies will do the trick but the artificial bite is going quite well. Large swim baits and DOAs are the ticket right now. One pod of tarpon in the 80-100 pound class recently would not stop crushing a top water lure. They were on the feed with a hard incoming tide and a light easterly wind.

The temperatures will soon start to drop little by little. Look for these pressure changes in the upcoming months to turn the fish on.

Tight Lines

Posted on 26 Aug 2009 by Charlotte Harbor Outfitters

Charlotte Harbor Outfitters

Captain Tim White
941-916-4009
tqwhite@hotmail.com

Captain Chuck Jenks
239-825-8791
chuckjenks@hotmail.com

Captain Jason Dill
941-628-2847
jdill30@hotmail.com