September in S. W. Florida it is full on summer. The afternoon lightning storms can be some fun if you try and outrun them. That to me is when you get caught in the worst part of the storm, just get close to some cover and hangout for a few minutes and it will pass. Then usually you have the waters to yourself everyone else went to the dock, and now the waves have calm down. This is a great time it is cooler. This is when you pull up to your best spot and toss a bait in and thump you have a fish on. This time of year it could be a nice red fish , snook , snapper or even a flounder. White bait would be my bait of choice, this time of year the shrimp are shrimpy shrimp yup small. You can find some pompano along the edges of the grass and sand bars , we have caught them while fishing for trout in the same areas. Cobia could be found swimming  around the pilings or along the ICW or the deeper holes in the harbor. Looking offshore now the snapper bite is good out to 50’ lanes, yellow tail , and mangroves. In some of the same areas you could find a keeper red grouper too. I mostly fish natural bottoms not artificial reefs , what I like to do is start with your frozen baits first. Yes frozen shrimp, sardines, squid, and some squirrel fish leftover from last trip. Or you could catch some squirrels on the sandy bottom close to your natural bottom spots and cut them up. The red grouper will eat that, and later when the bite slows put one that is still alive a couple of feet off the bottom and you may get the gag that is laying out in the sand to come over and play tug a war. And for you guys that like to fish at night check the full moon and do some snapper fishing it is a little bit cooler then. Depending how the bait is the king mackerel will follow them and some Spanish I like to troll for these guys, it is the most efficient. Or if you can find them hanging around a artificial reef where the bait is hanging get some of the baits they are eating. You can use a 30lb. setup with a little wire on the end they have some sharp choppers. You could drift or anchor to do this you need to set your drag a little light so the hook does not rip out, and no fish. So if you are new to the area and have your own boat or you do not I can help. Give Capt. Bart Marx a call 941-979-6517 or e-mail captbart@alphaomegacharters.com and remember singing drags and tight lines make me smile. <*(((((>{

September in Charlotte Harbor is one of the busiest months of the year. There are several species to target, snook, reds, trout, cobia, snapper, pompano and flounder. The main thing is you need to find and be able to catch bait , greenbacks ,white bait or pilchards, whatever you want to call them. Those are what you need to catch most of the species that were mentioned. I use a 3/8 10’ bait net that I purchased from Fishin Franks in Charlotte Harbor. I go to the feed store and buy tropical fish food in a 50 lb. bag the one with more fish oil than the others. There are several ways to find the bait fish look for the pelicans crashing the water , watch them and see how long they take to toss there head back to eat the bait. If it takes them a long time it usually is glass minnows if it is a short time it can be scaled sardines or pin fish. If you have electronics on your boat like a depth/fish finder that is a tool to use to find bait too. Using  a depth finder that has a fish alarm you can drive around markers and that is your underwater vision color or black and white work just as well for this purpose. You need to know how deep it is to know if your net will reach the bottom fast enough, with my 10’ net approx. 15’ of water is the limit where the baits swim under before the net reaches the bottom. If the bait is very thick you could just take a toss and harvest all you may need, if not it is wise to anchor the boat to be able to chum and throw the net without snagging on pilings or whatever. The next important thing is you have a live well that pumps in fresh sea water and it drains out over board. This has been proven to be the most affective way to keep bait alive. Some have gone as far as to put oxygen aerator’s in the well to keep baits and fish alive. In the summer too the water gets hot and the oxygen content gets low this makes it difficult to keep large amounts of bait alive. Some anglers like to get extra bait to use as chum yup just throw a few scouts out where you want to fish and if there are fish there things should light up. This would be the time you hook one of these baits and toss it into the strike zone and keep a firm grip and keep an eye on you line if it is moving sideways fairly quick take up you slack and be prepared for a battle. There could be snook, reds, snapper, trout, or flounder attacking your live one with the hook in it. I use only circle hooks on my boat, there may be a learning curve with setting the hook do not use your bass tactics popping the hook to set it. I tell anglers to just lift the tip of the rod like a cane pole without using the reel, this pulls the circle hook to the corner of the mouth and it sticks there.  Then you can start to reel the fish in and have some fun. This is the time of year you need to keep your eyes peeled for the schooling reds and if you get on one, chum and catch fish till your arms are rubber. If you would like to come along with Capt. Bart Marx or you would like me to go on your boat with you call 941-979-6517 or e-mail captbart@alphaomegacharters.com And always remember that singing drags and tight lines make me smile. <*(((((>{

September and most kids are back in school so there should be a few less boats and anglers on the water. For me there is not quite as many anglers to compete with for some fishing spots in our area. This brings us to some Charlotte Harbor fishing, where we can target snook, reds, and trout up on the flats and around the islands. You may use live bait that takes a cast net to catch, or lures that work too. Moving out to the edges of the bars there you may find cobia and pompano searching the edges for a meal. If you want to target silver kings aka. tarpon search the mouths of the rivers and deep holes in the harbor, and in doing this you may encounter a cobia too. For those that like to head out into the gulf to harvest some species for a fish fry or to stock the freezer. Lets see, grouper talking about gags and reds can be targeted in sixty to eighty feet. Trolling for gags over structure is my favorite way to harvest these great eating fish, structure can be artificial or natural, both will produce. One of the methods of harvesting red grouper is drifting with chunks of cut baits like squirrel fish. This can be accomplished by drifting over hard bottom and swiss cheese bottom. As you drift and hook up check your electronics maybe mark that spot and return to it and anchor up and fish it for a few minutes it may become one of your go to spots. In the forty to sixty foot range you can harvest some snapper, mangroves, lanes, and yellow tails. I like to start with frozen bait to get the bite started and as it slows send down a live one and be ready, shrimp or white bait work well. I grew up in Charlotte County where I have lived for over fifty years, my grandpa taught me to catch shiners in the canal with dough balls and a cane pole. As I got older we fished Charlotte Harbor in the boat, and after I graduated high school, CHS I learned to scuba dive in the Gulf of Mexico so it is a part of my life. If you would like to come along with Capt. Bart Marx or you would like me to go on your boat for instruction. Call 941-979-6517 or e-mail captbart@alphaomegacharters.com Always remember that singing drags and tight lines make me smile. <*(((((>{