The Master Slam – The Peace River Slam
I would speculate that there are few places in the world that have as big a variety of saltwater gamefish within a short boat ride as Charlotte Harbor. As an angler I always feel I am in the middle of a learning curve on our local waters with no end to the discoveries in nature and in ways to catch fish. As this angling journey continues I wonder why there are not more fishing accolades for amazing catches. We have the Backcountry Slam (redfish, snook and trout in the same day) and the Backcountry Grand Slam which adds a tarpon to those three fish. That is one big feat to accomplish in a day of fishing!
How about a new type of Fishing Award- The Saltwater Master Slam and May would be the month to go for it. The beauty of this is that you can create your own challenge. For instance, how about a Grouper and Tarpon in the same day. For this challenge you could use the same tackle for each species which makes having a dozen rods on board unnecessary. Add a Cobia and call it the Super Master Slam! There could be many other variations of the “Slam” depending on your boat and your interests. You could go for the Peace River Slam as I call it which includes a tarpon, snook and largemouth bass and a simple Jon boat is all you need up river.
The fishing at the end of April was epic! Just in the harbor alone I caught cobia, tarpon, sharks and tripletail. Sometimes all in one day! Offshore was red hot with Gags, Red Grouper, Kingfish and a variety of snapper. So with so many fish available at one time make the day just a bit more challenging by focusing on only certain species or perhaps chose only one type of lure to pursue those fish with. How about the Tripletail Challenge using only DOA artificial shrimp! This is one I am planning for myself. The plan is to go outside the beaches and run crab pot lines sight fishing tripletail in the clear blue water and casting artificial shrimp to them. Tripletail hang around any floating object and use them as an ambush point. If you see floating trash don’t just drive by it, pull up to it and watch it, you just might see a tripletail using it for cover and after catching the fish do mother nature a favor and pick up the trash!
Capt. Chuck Eichner operates Action Flats Backcountry Charters and can be reached at 941-628-8040. Come live the waterfront dream with 30 species of fish easy from your waterfront home doorstep.
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