Most people interested in buying a home in our area focus on how well the waterfront property fits their boating interests and of course, finding a house that matches with their boat needs. Sailboaters have lots of options in PGI and BSI as do all boaters.
What many don’t realize is that the canal systems are a host to many fish species! Imagine fishing off your dock and cooking your catch the same day. How about catching your own Blue Claw Crabs off your dock and have a crab feast? Yes, this is all real and will be right in your back yard, right off your dock.
Your lanai will often be a host to lots of parties and get togethers. Part of the party fun is having some of your guests fish off the dock! When someone hooks a fish it creates a lot of excitement and fun! There are fish everywhere in these canals! This is a year around fishery.
Here are the species you can expect to catch that are all great table fare:
Redfish
Black drum
Snook
Speckled trout
Sheepshead
Snapper
Grouper
Spanish Mackeral
Blue Claw Crab
Non-edible species like tarpon are frequent visitors and some are over 100 pounds! My first experience with tarpon was about 20 years ago when I lived on a sailboat canal home off of Tropicana in the old sailboat section. I was working on real estate, looked out the window and saw tarpon rolling in the canal. I grabbed a rod and threw a lure out and hooked a 5 foot 75 pound tarpon! The tarpon ran a lot of line off heading towards the end of the canal and jumped 3 feet into the air. It landed with a huge splash and every dog in every house within 2 streets started barking! A most wonderful memory that I still revisit in my mind. Of course, this fish broke the line and got away but not before a final splash down creating chaos in nearby homes with dogs 😊
Other non-edible species include: jack crevalle, gafftop sail catfish and hardhead catfish.
Many fish roam the seawalls particularly ones with rocks. Fish love the pilings as well. Fish also love boats that rarely move and in particular sailboats. Catamarans and deep draft large keel sailing vessels offer hiding places for fish to ambush from. Often huge goliath grouper will call these places home as do big snook. Snook are great eating and similar to grouper.
The best canal baits are live shrimp and live minnows. A variety of lures will work including spoons and plastic swim baits as well as diving plugs.
Buy a couple of crab traps and put chicken in them for bait. You will enjoy checking the traps daily and collecting large delicious crabs.
I tell all of my customers if they ever have trouble catching fish off their docks to call me and I will show them how. Hopefully, you will enjoy this extra benefit of waterfront living in Punta Gorda!
