Good morning,
I was out of town for the last few days fishing the IFA Redfish Tournament in Punta Gorda. It was a lot of fun but I feel like I’ve been run over due to the long runs and 3′ seas in Charlotte Harbor. We ended up in 27th place in a field of around 130 boats. We broke off a great fish first thing in the morning and found some other perfect upper slot fish at the tail end of the day but couldn’t get them to eat. It’s always frustrating knowing your in the right spot to win but not pulling it off. We had a blast trying and thanks to the IFA for putting on a great and well run tournament. Geoff filled me in this morning on the fishing here and it sounds like I didn’t miss much. Offshore has been blown out and we haven’t heard of anyone who ventured passed the jetty for a few days. It looks like it is going to get pretty decent this week so you should be able to get out and give it a try.
Snook fishing is still the hot item inshore. Live bait guys have been doing great at the bridges as well as the hawk guys. There have been some nice fish caught in the inlet on plugs, although many have been a bit on the large size. There are still plenty of nice trout on the flats and a few redfish have been caught almost daily.
Get out there and give it a try, have a great day!
-Scott