Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor

Capt. Van Hubbard
February 8, 2006
Boca Grande - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fishing is fine and getting better with spring approaching.

Web for 2-8-06

Experience is fine but you cannot beat fishing luck.

On a recent trip to catch a few pompano for our guest fresh fish dinner Harry Perau showed me how it was done. Harry and father Harold were down from Upstate New York; something about it was too cold up there. And we complain on a day below 70 degrees. Anyway Merry Beth and I were going to teach them how to catch pompano, life’s lessons. Right away Merry Beth caught one, we’re off and running. Then Harry proceeded to take us to school and caught five fine over the next couple of hours. I finally got one so we could go home for that fresh pompano dinner.

Some note on pompano preparation. The most important, is to eat it soon. Always keep any fish fresh and ice dead fish ASAP. Fish taste best the day they are harvested. Add seasoning to your taste with Everglades and Old Bay Seasoning. We filet ours and place em skin side down on an aluminum foil covered cookie pan, under a red-hot broiler. Let them sear and cook for a minute or two depending on how thick the filets are. Pull out the tray and liberally coat with Mayonnaise; continue to cook until a beautiful golden brown. It’s wise to watch this part as they cook fast. If your fish is not quite done just let it sit in the hot oven a minute or two. Do not let it over cook. .

There are many factors involved fishing. It’s easy to stay with what usually works and it’s difficult to break old habits. Apparently Merry Beth and I were trying to hard. We hopped our jigs along as usual and Harry played with his. Ours danced and his lazed along out fishing both of us. Of course we tried to copy his technique, he was out to have fun and we were trying to hard. He let his sit longer than we could manage to and it worked. Harold usually holds his own but today the fish just nibbled and frustrated him too. We also had some ladyfish and bluefish to add some excitement.

We fished with both live shrimp and custom jigs sweetened with shrimp bits. The jigs worked best on this day. Last weekend the bait far out fished the jigs. That’s why we try both methods. Our jig rig is a custom pompano jig with white ½ ounce head and bright yellow short skirt. Then we add a short piece of thirty-pound Fluorocarbon leader tied directly to the hook shank and add a small Doc’s Goofy Jig trailer. I’ve tried many colors and most seem to work as long as parts of both jigs are white. The small piece of fresh shrimp defiantly helps. Frozen shrimp do not stay on the hook as well. Sand fleas are even better if you take the time to dig up a mess. This works well for whiting and sheepshead also.

We do have snook, trout and reds around if you want to put the effort in to coax a bite from them. The cooler water has them slowed down right now but this will change as soon as the weather warms up. When water temps break that seventy degree mark most fish pick up and at seventy-five the snook turn on. Also baitfish and migratory mackerels begin to move into range. Red-hot snook and tarpon fishing are just around the corner. It is time to plan your trips; don’t miss Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande’s great spring fishing.

Let’s Go Fishin’ soon. Captain Van Hubbard.

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