THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

With that in mind, he arranged for us to to rent a berth at Tarpon Point Marina just beyond the exit lock,
which while it made a huge difference, still left us with a lot of very slow speed restricted travelling
time.
Manatee's are the 'problem' here. For although we didn't see any, the area is supposedly alive with the
things, hence the mandatory low speed limit for miles through the winding creeks until you reach the
road bridge between Punta Rassa and Sanibel Island.
Only then can you turn up the power and run for the open sea, unless of course the weather is bad, in
which case there is lots of shelter all over the place, and potentially still lots of fish.
None the less, a very frustrating and time consuming place to fish compared to say Islamorada, where
within literally minutes, you are straight onto some of the best fishing grounds around.
Counter balancing this, as I've already alluded to, is the degree of shelter and richness of inshore fishing
within that potential area. The drift under the road bridge for example is the spot where live-baits
regularly connect with huge goliath groupers.
Goliath's were on the protected list until recently, but have made such a good come back that they now
appear to be everywhere. Not that I would recommend fishing for them.
With weights up to five hundred pounds, spending a couple of arm wrenching hours connected to one
of those things where the eventual outcome pretty much always goes the way of the fish, is just one
more waste of more profitable time. A way of changing the line on your reel at best after getting spooled.
On top of that, there are lots equally interesting fish out over the offshore reefs and wrecks, and in the
would famous Boca Grande Channel, which every man and his dog seems to make for in search of
tarpon.
But once again, we are talking huge distances, which in turn relate to travelling time. It's all very well
for local people, and indeed for Paul who visits regularly, with the time to explore, to travel, and to try
different things.
Our situation was different. We didn't
know where we were going and were
very much time limited, so confined
ourselves to exploration of a different
type, splitting our options between
running out to fish a number of reef
marks off the west side of Sanibel
Island, and working the channels on
the sheltered side, finishing up with a
reasonable variety of fish.
Dave Devine playing a Nurse Shark
Nothing big, and none of the headline
species such as tarpon. But plenty of
speckled trout, sharks, and spanish
mackerel, plus a whole swath of lesser
species
We also put in a bit of time fishing the canal itself from our boat dock in the evenings. The four hundred
miles of city canal system there, which is said to be the largest in the world, was excavated and
connected into the Caloosahatchee River after Cape Coral city was planned and built starting back in
1957.
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