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fly fishing the canals in feb and march. Port Charlotte area.

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ccb

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If at all possible, try to get over to the St James river. As you head north up that river you get largemouth snook and tarpon all in the same place. You may need a kayak.

 

 

You are just a dirty, smelly fisherman. If a hot girl is making eye contact with you, she is probably a hooker.

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Charlotte Harbor is one of the best all round places to fish in Florida , I would go with 8w floating line & something in the 25-30 lb tippet . But a 10 w might not surprise you is needed , Shrimp patterns , Clousers , some gurglers / poppers . A water craft is the WTG if you don't know the area .  

  If it has fins i want to catch it 

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I am going to be in the Lomond dr. area and noticed a big body of water in the water way in back of some houses. It's a man made canal, i believe or maybe it was a small pond at one time? Do you think there could be snook or baby tarpon in there?

I don't want to spot burn. If you have any info and don't want to post it , you could send me a PM

thanks ccb

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Just google earthed the area.  Looks tidal to me, so yes there will be snook/tarpon.  As you head inland on the canals there will be spots where largemouth mix in which can be a blast not knowing what you will hook.  Best bet for hooking up is fishing structure ie. bridges/mangroves/docks/points.  Think of snook as a hybrid between striped bass and largemouth.  Your best bet for bigger fish is fishing structure with heavy current (bridges, especially at night) but dont be surprised if you find them sitting in completely still water in the back end of a canal.

 

I fish for them on the east coast and they can be SUPER spooky in still water so approach quietly.  I'd also imagine people will have bright/underwater docklights on at night and those can be a sure fire way to hook up, but also dont be discouraged if you see them and they wont bite, just move on to the next light.  I generally fish soft jerkbaits with decent success so any minnow imitation fly should do the trick.  They can certainly be caught from the bank, but a boat will be much easier to access the spots and in being able to pull fish away from structure (snook love to wrap you around the nearest available snag).  In clear water you may have to drop down to fairly light leader to hook up, say 20ish lb test, which can easily be rubbed through with their raspy mouths, not to mention their razor sharp gill plates which will certainly cut you off from time to time.  In the dark or muddy water, you can beef up your line and get away with it.

 

Tarpon for me have always been a crapshoot, havent quite figured them out yet and see them sporadically, mainly when fishing near spillways when water is running.  But youre only a few miles from the boca grande pass which is some of the most famous tarpon grounds around, so youre definitely in their neighborhood.

 

Again if you think of them as half striper, half largemouth and adapt to the structure in the area, you should hook up.

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  • 1 year later...

Back again this year, hoping to do a little better this year.  Anyone fish the CoCo Plum Water way?  I saw there was a dam there and someone said they catch Snook there?   I have a Saltwater license and wondered if I needed a freshwater license there . I don't keep any fish. I release them all. 

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On 2/4/2018 at 9:29 AM, ccb said:

Back again this year, hoping to do a little better this year.  Anyone fish the CoCo Plum Water way?  I saw there was a dam there and someone said they catch Snook there?   I have a Saltwater license and wondered if I needed a freshwater license there . I don't keep any fish. I release them all. 

The Cocoplum is fresh eastward of the weir at North Port Blvd.  But the freshwater holds just as many Snook as it does bass.  Yes you will need a freshwater license and FWC keeps a presence at the public ramp just 40 yards east.  Fly fishing has been o.k. in the past but for Mayan Cichlids and stunted bream.  The water quality can run amok from ultra clear to algae stained especially this time of year with the heavy use of herbicides by the snowbird residents along the canal system who always make a truly stupid effort to spray into the canal itself.  The Nile Tilapia have overpopulated the system especially the side canals that see no effective flushing except when a tropical storm comes about.  Contrary to academic experts they receive no real predation by Snook, Bass or the few Tarpon in the canal.  They spawn 5 times a year, dominate all viable bedding areas keeping the bass spawn nearly nonexistent.  They put in so much excrement and take so much oxygen the native species are affected as in all of Florida.  Bass fishing can be good at the rock pile located directly behind the Lowes that is marked by navigational signs.  Pitching under the docks that are in the worst shape(almost all of them are) can be good if water levels are high enough to put depth under them.  This is governed by local utilities as its primary purpose is reacting to up coming rain events.  Snowbirds seem to always troll but I've never seen one catch anything.  The best bass and Snook fishing is usually under the numerous bridges early and deep under the overhanging Brazilian Pepper trees that choke most of the shoreline.  Not fly territory.  Be careful at the Sumpter Blvd. bridge if you are bank fishing as it is used by the homeless as a shelter and as many as 4 or 5 guys might be underneath, quick to beg.  I do not frequent Fishin' Franks as I have never had a good experience there since I came here in 1961.  Fine's Tackle a walk from the Cocoplum can be o.k. as is Capt. Ted's in Murdock but frankly all tackle shops hugely exaggerate their fishing reports/local transplanted yankee guides as if they were the tourist bureau themselves.  Fishing has always been better on the westward end of the Cocoplum system.  East of the Cranberry Street bridge it gets less oxygen more shallow and much warmer in temp. as it is rarely deeper than 3ft.  Fishing in S.W. Fl. is fair at best and mostly like you must have found for yourself last year if you stayed on Lomond Street.  Dirty, stagnant waters full of trash, oil and so in need of flushing that the only think living in it is tilapia, apparently the only species capable of surviving their own oxygen dipleating the water and over nutriating with their own feces, which they like to eat by the way.

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