January Fishing on Charlotte Harbor is Quite Predictable
By Capt. Chuck Eichner
January fishing in southwest Florida is quite predictable. If you pick a day to go fishing there is a good chance of strong winds so the best plan is to watch for lighter wind days and take advantage of it.
Offshore fishing is quite good in January and you don’t have to go too far to find a big fish pulling on your line! I find that this time of year when the winds are light enough to feel safe our local reefs hold a bunch of drag burners including Bonita, Amberjack, Cobia, Shark and an occasional Kingfish! Of course, there are snappers, grunts and an occasional grouper but these other fish are quite predictable and easy with the right approach.
The key is live bait and frozen bait. The frozen bait part is easy so plan on bringing a few boxes of sardines, squid and perhaps some chum. Once you get outside of Boca Grande Pass cruise over the bottom in 20-35 feet of water and watch your bottom machine for a cloud of small marks near the bottom. With a sabiki rig in hand, cut small pieces of squid and bait each hook and drop it down. You can expect in short order you will have a variety of small fish swimming in your livewell. Bluerunners and Pinfish often make up the majority but grunts, squirrelfish and others will round it out.
With that, choose your public reef depending on sea conditions. The amberjacks prefer deeper water structure so in general reefs in 50’ of water or more will often hold the AJ’s. All reefs have the potential for the other species previously mentioned. I generally start my day early because catching bait takes time. When arriving at the reef the first thing to do is drift and cast lures to catch the early morning aggressive feeders. Bonita will jam a bucktail burned near the surface and jigging spoons often get a quick reaction- a great wake up call to the day! Some other species seem to like the warmth of the late morning sun before munching such as cobia.
My approach to all the reefs is the same after fan casting the area, set up anchor, put frozen chum in a weighted chum box and drop to the bottom. Now chop up frozen sardines and sprinkle into the water column. This brings many fish within reach of your boat but then you need to offer different species different things from the menu and offshore species definitely show a preference for specific baits. Amberjacks just love pinfish freelined with just enough weight to have them heading to the bottom. Shark, Kingfish, Jack Crevalle and Goliath Grouper will munch a bluerunner in short order. I often fish the “runner” 7-10 feet under a float. Do expect to use wire of some sort to keep the toothy critters on the line.
Other bonus fish around the reefs include flounder which prefer squid and just about anything and everything will eat a live shrimp. Placing a small hook into a piece of frozen sardine and drifting in the chum line is a devious way to trick snappers. Mangrove snapper are plentiful in January but reeling them in faster than the Goliath Grouper will be the biggest challenge of the day!
Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action Flats Backcountry Charters and can be reached at 941-628-8040.
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