News:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon Link

Main Menu

Oh black water keep on rolling

Started by ptfranze, January 03, 2017, 11:58:14 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

ptfranze




Headed down to Florida with the family for Christmas with our Grandmother.  I was really excited to get into some snook and jacks.  Dad, John and Chris got down there 2 days before my wife and I.  Texted them to see how they were doing.....Not good  b';

Dad told me to go check the venice pier fishing report- to sum it up basically "fishing sucks ass no fish at all, don't waste your time"  http://venicefishingpier.com/dyn_pages/papas.html  They had been hit with red tide in mid to late October and were still recovering. 

We had to call an audible.  Dad and Chris headed out the day before we got there to a place called Snook Haven and rented some canoes to paddle and fish the brackish Myakka River.  If you are friends with Chris on facebook you saw they had a pretty good day, plenty of LMB and Snook to hand.  Cemented the deal this was our fishing for the rest of the trip. 


DAY 1

My wife and I got there and headed to the river with Chris and Jessica to hopefully repeat the day he and Dad had.  Expectations were high for the day, and they quickly came tumbling down.  The morning started off cold (yes in Florida) and cloudy but the sun quickly burned through the clouds and was extremely intense and hot the rest of the day with no wind. 

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Fish are friends not food!!! Apparently the fish forgot this was the case

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Chris and Jess managed to catch 2 LMB and 2 Gar on the day.  All my wife and I managed was a single bite- didn't even see the fish before he spat the hook.  Got off the water ate and had some beers and enjoyed the cool atmosphere at Snook Haven.   0:0 

DAY 2

Really hot and no wind.  We decided to give the beach a try.  Headed out with my wife, Chris and John.  Should have listened to the reports, lots of casting and walking.  Did manage one 5-6 inch lizard fish but thought it wasn't even worth the picture. 

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


No luck so we headed off to the jetty to talk to the fisherman and see if it was even worth trying there.  They had been having no luck at all either so we just walked the jetty and enjoyed the birds fishing. 

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Saw one of these pelicans catch a massive fish.  Took him like 5-10 minutes of holding it in his mouth before he could swallow it.  Best picture I have of it (will see if someone else has better):

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


On the way home spotted a bald eagle from the road at the ponds near my grandmothers house.  (will get better pics off my camera later- these are all the phone pics)  These things are massive  :o

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


DAY 3

My wife and I headed back to the Myakka with Dad and John.  Another hot day with sun and not alot of clouds but we had some wind which was nice.  Paddled alot farther down river this time.  Ran into a kayak fisherman as we were pulling out that said he had been killing the LMB almost every cast up one of the side creeks.  1lb to 6lbs he said, but he also ran into about a 14 foot gator.  We had been warned alot about gators on the river and steering clear of them, but hadn't seen any yet.  Still we decided to skip that detour. 

Morning started off much better than the previous day.  A lot of tugs on the streamer but nothing really sticking.  John managed one of his best LMB

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Soon I was hooked up on something big

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


He pulled us down river a while before I could finally boat him

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


First gar!  Sucked we weren't catching salty fish but this was a new species for me!

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Had a few other bites as we were going and had a gar chase the fly all the way until his snout came out of the water right beside the boat. 

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Ran into a 8-10 foot gator out sunbathing, we gave him as much room as we could

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Ended up losing a LMB close to the boat and a small snook that went airborne a few times before tossing the hook.  Besides that just enjoyed the scenery and wildlife (sorry shitty phone pics)

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Baby Gator (no scale but about 1- 2 feet long) 
Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login




We never were able to replicate Dad and Chris's day.  Assuming the sun had alot to do with it as they had full cloud cover all day.  Still had a great time!





Dougfish

Shitty fishing is better than not fishing! Good family fun.  'c;
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

Dee-Vo

Nice bass, gar, and gators. Good stuff.

driver

Hell the wildlife viewing would have been plenty enough for me

Woolly Bugger

Needs more cowbell and food / beer pics, otherwise a damn fine family vacation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

tomato can


BrookieHunter

That Gar looks like he would be a blast to catch. Nice trip for sure. 'c;


Onslow


benben reincarnated


Jfey

QuoteFist gar!

What did you do to that poor gar?  Hopefully it was consensual...


Good trip all around 0:0
Yup, going fishing

ptfranze

Quote from: Jfey on January 04, 2017, 08:43:59 AM
QuoteFist gar!

What did you do to that poor gar?  Hopefully it was consensual...


Good trip all around 0:0

Haha what can I say....gars apparently like it dirty  -+;

hcrum87hc

Looks like a great time to me, even with the slow fishing. 
Jeremiah 17:7