Charlotte Harbor Fishing Snook season is open and the outlook is great with good numbers of keeper fish hanging out close to the passes and in deeper holes around the harbor. I found snook at the mouth of peace river south of Colony Point readily taking top water plugs early in the morning. Later in the day we switched to live bait and continued the action. Remember to release the fish you are not going to keep carefully and its one fish per person 26-34 inches. I usually only keep fish under the 30 inch mark. Redfish are schooled up on the outsides of the bars and eager to take most anything thrown there way. Incoming tides are the best and the action will heat up the higher the tide gets. Most of these fish will be to big to keep, slot is 18-27 inches and these fish tend to be larger than the 27 maximum. Redfish are very hardy and will take the catch and release better than most but these bigger fish are the ones getting ready to move offshore and begin breading so take a little time when releasing them and make sure they swim away. Catch and release doesn't work if you don't insure a good release. There are still some Tarpon to be had for the hard core poon-a-ticks so scout around and you will find a few pods still hanging around. Some of these fish are resident fish and have seen everything in a fisherman's arsenal, so finesse them with artificials or hunt down some larger live bait, threadfin herring works best. "Good Things Come To Those With Bait" Capt Andy Boyette
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