Wanaflatsfish Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 My daughter has had a busy schedule with school (completing her Doctorate in Nursing) and work....and we can't seem to get the stars to align. Yesterday was the first time we could spend a full day on the water and we decided to go to Choko.....we fished together when she was younger and when I had the Pathy..we'd fish off Islamorda for yellow tails...but, since I bought the Skinny Mini...we had not had a day to go........I had not checked the tides that closely and realized the night before, we had a strong east wind and negative low...combined with a full moon....so, I figured it would be an adventure....and adventure it was. She was able to see the sights of Choko and EC - bait babe Alana at EC Bait and Tackle, the docks, and then we fished up with a nice lunch at the Fish Market on the water on the Barron River. We hit the water at about 0730 and the water was low, but, manageable at the ramp at Outdoors Resort; however, I realized very quickly, once we made the turn that things were going to be different.... I decided to make my way South down towards Clam Point to see what was going on.....at New Turkey, boats a beached....as we passed pavilion key, boats a beached....we continued down toward Wood Key and Bogges and Bird....boats were beached upon Wood and we couldn't get within 1 mile of the bights....there was NO WATER OVER 1 MILE OUT in some places. We began fishing once the tide changed...around 1000 hrs, but, no water was moving....several hours later, we had a strong wind jump up and some black clouds down south so I headed back North to my haunts near the Chatham River and Storter Bay.... We arrived there about 1300 hrs and by then, we enough water to begin fishing....we had caught some trout down south so he target was Reds and Snook....and we found them. Ivette was amazed at how we'd cast to a specific spot and I'd say "there's reds here...move 20 feet to the right or left"... two 25" and 26" slots and a half dozen later, we were ready to head home.....the bite turned on and we decided to head home early after about 30 minutes....the day's tally: 8 reds, 9 trout and one snook....fun day, 60 miles run. I decided to show her the back and we ran the ENP through the Wilderness Parkway...she's never seen it and was amazed....it was still a bit "skinny"....and we bumped a few times....but, no worries.....the tides coming in....she never realized this was my playground and wants to return soon. Here are some pics of the day IVETTE AND HER SLOT RED - FIRST RED SHE'S EVER CAUGHT IMG_2666 by Dino Cardelli, on Flickr UNDERSIZED TROUT RETURNED HOME...... IMG_2667 by Dino Cardelli, on Flickr GOING HOME FOR DINNER.... IMG_2668 by Dino Cardelli, on Flickr Until the next time...... dc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEM Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Nice fruitful day in the salt! Sounds like it was a lot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Awesome! Yall wont forget that trip. Every day on the water with our kid(s) should be treasured! The good ole days are right now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 3 hours ago, conocean said: Awesome! Yall wont forget that trip. Every day on the water with our kid(s) should be treasured! The good ole days are right now.... And who says I need a bigger boat ? (LOL)..... dc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubble Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Did you come back in on the Turner or Lopez? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted January 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 4 hours ago, rubble said: Did you come back in on the Turner or Lopez? I usually run the Turner....it's a bit easier and has less turns and bars that just jump out and bite you once you know it....the Lopez can be hairy coming into Chokoloskee Bay on a low tide.... DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted January 16, 2017 Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 17 hours ago, Wanaflatsfish said: And who says I need a bigger boat ? (LOL)..... dc Bigger? No. More comfy ride and room for the wife?? Yes! lol Theres plenty of peeps that use tin boats in the ENP and catch plenty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubble Posted January 17, 2017 Report Share Posted January 17, 2017 On 1/15/2017 at 11:59 PM, Wanaflatsfish said: I usually run the Turner....it's a bit easier and has less turns and bars that just jump out and bite you once you know it....the Lopez can be hairy coming into Chokoloskee Bay on a low tide.... DC After getting checked by the LEOs we made a wrong turn headed toward Turner and stopped to checkout our charts. The LEO stopped again and asked if we were okay and we told them we were headed to CIP via the Lopez and made a wrong turn. They said to be really careful as the Lopez was extremely shallow. We went anyway. I thought my BiL knew the way but as it turns out, he had never gone in on the Lopez so he wanted to try it. We followed the WWW and went by the Chickee and got stuck on the north side of that Island so we turned back and went a different direction to get into the Lopez. We had agreed to not come off plane unless absolutely necessary because we knew we'd never get back up. We bumped in one spot but it was a long bump. I can recall running the Turner in a MA21 and bumping in 2 spots with an experienced guide who would tell us when the bump is coming. When we finally made it across the bay and were inside the poles, we noticed the LEOs sitting over by OR. They had made it all the way up and around the Turner in the time it took us to get thru the lopez but they would have had a short run to get to where we were so it may have been a wash. It was a really low, negative tide day. If I read correctly on my GPS, it showed the Shark at a -4 Tide. I'm guessing that means 4' below normal tide levels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatsdoctor Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 bright beautiful daughter that out-fishes you... that is perfect!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conocean Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 Rubble- I believe the day you're referencing was a -.4 low tide. That tide combined with a northerly wind component can easily turn it into a -1.5' low tide. You should see the big moon tides when it's a -1.1' low tide; seriously scary no matter what boat you have. If tides in the Glades were -4' then there wouldn't be any water to run any where, even at high tide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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