Coming your way - where to go?

S.S.Tupperware · Post by **S.S.Tupperware** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:47 pm

I will be headin down to the in laws a the weekend before x-mas and am gonna bring the yak... I normally fish mosquito lagoon for the most part. I did launch at punta gorda isles once, but only did fair at best. Where would be a good place to launch to give it a try, I will gladly trade info for anyone intrested in fishing the goon. feel free to IM me if need be. I also launched at the eljobean bridge last time, and fished around the bridge for a while, but it was kinda slo then too. Any help would be appreciated...

mudfish · Post by **mudfish** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:52 pm

TIP; It would help if u mentioned where u were going.

mikeB · Post by **mikeB** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:57 pm

Matlacha/Pine Island

Kingslayer · Post by **Kingslayer** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:12 pm

This time of year the Matlacha/Pine Island area has a ton of redfish. They're stacking up and getting ready to head offshore. And I'm talking big bull reds in schools of 200+ fish.

Depending on the tide you can launch at Ponce Park and fish PGI, but you should be fishing inside the canals. Fishing the flats outside of PGI this time of year can be a little tough. With big tides and cooler water, it can be hard to find them. If you paddle down to what's known as the barge canal, south of Ponce Park during an extremely low tide, you can find a ton of fish locked in there.

Right now the El Jobean bridge is going off at night. Big snook. Also, the 41 bridge between Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda is going off at night now that the lights are there. Big snook and there are still some tarpon there. They've been slowly getting harder to catch because people have been hammering them.

You can launch at Darst park and go down to the 75 bridge, there are a lot of big snook around it and around the docks on the south side just below the bridge.

Another option is Boca Grande. I want to put in somewhere out there and fish Little Gasperilla Pass, there is a ton of fish in there. Another option is Tippecanoe bay which is right beside the El Jobean bridge. You put in on 776 just past the old Ranger stadium in Port Charlotte and fish that natural canal down. You probably won't make it to Tippecanoe bay it's a long paddle and there are plenty of fish along the way.

If you want, give me a holler when it's closer to the time you'll be down and I'll give you a better report.

S.S.Tupperware · Post by **S.S.Tupperware** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:19 pm

Thanks for the info I will be staying around harbor heights, I don't mind driving a little though. Is there any flounder gigging happening down there, I managed one around 7 lbs on the last trip, I am gonna be in New Smyrna for a few days and hope to get a few more... Where is darst park?

Kingslayer · Post by **Kingslayer** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:00 pm

If you're staying in Harbor Heights, Darst park is almost directly across the harbor from you.

Flounder are always tough down here, but that may be because nobody really fishes for them. We catch mostly by accident.

If you're up for a paddle, another option is to launch at Ponce Park, and paddle about 3 miles south to Alligator Reef aka Charlotte Reef. There are a lot of grouper and cobia there now. It's hard to find legal grouper but there are plenty of legal cobia there now.

I don't think I have anything going that weekend and if you'd like company give me a shout.

The river there isn't a bad spot. There is a park in Harbor Heights that you can launch from too on that side. The islands in front of Harbor Heights hold some fish as do the docks on that side. Some of the small canals inside the Heights have a ton of small snook in them and the larger snook should be moving in.

I also have a secret spot on one of those islands in front of Harbor Heights. There is a cut through one of the islands that appears to be man made and dredged to about 8 feet deep in the middle. When the tide is low there is a sand bar on either side of that cut and it's like shooting snook in a barrel...

0119 · Post by **0119** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:38 pm

Theres also the county canoe/kayak ramp off Acline road just off US41 in Punta Gorda. It'll take you down Alligator Creek. If you put in at Harbor Heights Park you can hit the spartina grass shoreline on both sides of the I75 bridge. That man made canal off SR776 at Tippicanoe is whats left of Sam Knight Creek after the yankees got through with it. Lots of good Snook fishing at this time of year especially with the water being saltier than usual because of no rain. But watch the tides there, it gets close to empty at times.

Kingslayer · Post by **Kingslayer** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:40 am

It was empty this past weekend. There was NO water out there with Sunday's tide.

I've always wanted to put it at Acline Road and go down Alligator Creek but it's a heck of paddle to get to the harbor though. I've always wanted to fish between Alligator and Pirate Harbor.

0119 · Post by **0119** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:16 pm

When you follow the creek out towards the harbor, there are alot of places to fish when the tide is right. It fingers out inside the buffer preserve. All the times Ive fished it, Ive never seen another person.

S.S.Tupperware · Post by **S.S.Tupperware** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:51 pm

Got back from NSB, managed 3 reds a few small trout, but my friend caught a trout the size of his leg!!! it was huge. I will be arriving in PG on thursday afternoon, and plan on fishing fri, maybe sat morning, but thats x-mas with the family. I will also be fishing sunday. If anyone wants to show me around that would be greatly appreciated. Could you provide a lil more info on the location of darst park, cant find it on google earth... thanks.

Alnorito · Post by **Alnorito** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:55 pm

Wish i could help but not familiar with that area.But im going to make plans to go to the east coast.Read a lot about mosquito and indian river and would like to go on a little trip for a change.

S.S.Tupperware · Post by **S.S.Tupperware** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:00 am

just hit me up, I have been doing good out there...

Kingslayer · Post by **Kingslayer** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:12 pm

I'm game for Sunday.

Let me know where you want to go and we'll go. Hope you don't have an aversion to live bait.

Here's the info on Darst: http://charlottecountyfl.com/parks/Park ... tpark.html

We can fish up there if you'd like or we can try the flats below Ponce Park. I wouldn't recommend fishing PGI that weekend as with all the people heading out in boats for XMas rides with the family make it pretty unsafe.

Or we can fish Tippecanoe or Alligator Creek or the back side of Boca Grande. Doesn't matter to me. I haven't been flats fishing for a while out of the kayak so I'm not really to up to speed on where the fish will be, but I'll start asking around some of the charter captains that I know.

S.S.Tupperware · Post by **S.S.Tupperware** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 8:52 am

Kingslayer... I am up for what/where ever is best... I am bring the cast net just in case, but I usually fish artis. I sent you my # on your IM get it? I won't have internet when I get down there I don't believe.

Kingslayer · Post by **Kingslayer** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:58 am

S.S.Tupperware wrote:Kingslayer... I am up for what/where ever is best... I am bring the cast net just in case, but I usually fish artis. I sent you my # on your IM get it? I won't have internet when I get down there I don't believe.

Yep, I got your IM and your number, I just haven't had time to call and probably won't until Thursday or Friday, but we'll definately go.

If you're going to bring a cast net, I'll grab some chum from the bait shop. There are a ton of pinfish below Ponce Park, I don't know what is up river. There are threadfins all over the place, but they usually don't live long in the live well.

The local bait shop has pinfish and I usually get them much cheaper than everyone else.

We'll have to really think about where we want to go because the tides are NOT in our favor for most of the day. High tide is Sunday morning at 12:30 and it's a 2.20 ft tide. Low Tide is 9:22 am and is -0.86. The next high tide isn't until Monday morning at 1. If the wind is blowing down the harbor like it has been for the past 2 weeks, we're looking at low tide being probably an hour earlier due to the wind pushing the water out the harbor.

So it's a two tide day and there isn't going to be any water anywhere. Most of the islands upriver aren't productive on tides that low. I think we should contemplate putting in at Ponce and heading directly down to the Barge canal. It's a deeper canal that I think will stack up with fish. If it's empty, we can head out to the edge of the flats and see if that's holding any fish.

The bad thing about that is that by the time we get to the barge canal, there isn't going to be any tide and the water will be slack. If they're in there, the chances of them feeding will be pretty slim.

It's going to be a tough day of fishing, I can guarantee that.