Fishing Tips

How do I fish florida Canals? Nothing has worked?

Hey. I live in sarasota county, fl, and I have tries fishing in the canals to pass the time. I see the fish and they are over 1 ft long. I have tries baite like worms, shrimp, and other home made baits but nothing worked. Yes, I did go out at dusk and dawn to do so. I sat there for hours and got nothing at all even when I cast where the fish is. Can someone please help me.

More than likely, what you are seeing are fully grown Mullet schooling and jumping on the surface of the water. Peacock Bass are a freshwater fish. Sarasota has few freshwater canals.

I’m guessing your fishing a Brackish/Saltwater Canal??

Do you own a boat?

If NOT, here are some tips to help you catch better and more fish in a FL canal:

CHUM it UP!: Go to Walmart & get some Salmon/Fish-flavored DRY catfood and MIX IT with Brine shrimp ,(from the pet section in Walmart), and mud from your canal. Make “balls” of chum with this concoction and distribute it every 4-6 FT down the shore of your property, AT LOW TIDE.

Chumming helps to “concentrate” baitfish, shrimp, & gamefish near your property. Your odds of catching better/bigger fish go UP when all the fish in your canal are swimming in front of your property! If you chum 3 times a week, Game-fish will start showing up even when you DON’T throw out chum ball’s.

Try to fish the first 2-3 hours of a “flood tide/high tide” & the last 2-3 hours of the “out-going tide”. Those will be your best “times”. Slack tide will be the worse time to fish.

If your canal bottom isn’t covered with shells to “snag” you, try throwing a CAST-NET for your bait. If you use a cast-net wisely, you can always be assured to HAVE bait AND know exactly what any gamefish in your canal are “hitting on”.

Fresh Pogey’s, Shrimp, & 4″ Pinfish/Mullet are easy target’s for a cast-net and make EXCELLENT bait. If you need baitfish and don’t want to “cast-net” them, either go buy some live Mud-Minnow’s or live Shrimp, OR get a “scoop-net” and catch “Grass Shrimp” from under your “floating” dock. Use the Grass Shrimp to catch small pinfish and then use the PINFISH to catch anything ELSE!

If you have the time, and want a “project” to improve the fishing on your canal, make fish attractor’s. An easy fish attractor is made from PVC pipe, put together into a 4 FT 3D “pyramid”. Fill the PVC pipe with concrete cement ,(to make it sink), and cover it with 2-3 layer’s of heavy gage chicken wire. Sand down the PVC to make it “rough”,(Oyster’s find it easier to attach themselves to “rough” surfaces), and submerge in an area that will not obstruct boater’s. When I was a kid, we made these and put them on either end of our property line so we had attractor’s in either direction.

Rules to Know: Live bait work’s best for gamefish, PERIOD. Lures would be a close second. And dead bait LAST.

If you use dead shrimp, cut bait or squid on a Sinker/Sinker-Slide Rig in a canal, your odds on catching something “good” are next to nil.

Saltwater Cat’s, Crabs, ‘Ray’s, Grunt’s, Sailor’s Choice, Toad Fish, small Mangroves, Etc, will be what you catch 90% of the time. Although you CAN catch gamefish on dead bait, your odds go UP 80% if you use fresh LIVE bait.

Live bait should be on a “Float Rig” of your choice, (I like the new “Popping Cork” system, but any float rig will do). Using a float rig keeps your bait off the bottom, (where most “trash fish” linger).

A good idea is to have a live Pogey, Mud-Minnow, Shrimp or Finger Mullet on a Float Rig sitting in a rod-holder. THEN, be casting LURES with another rod : White Cotee 1/4 OZ Jig-head with Berkley Powerbait saltwater Power Grub in “Glass Minnow”. Or a 1/4 OZ white Cotee Jig with Berkley “Gulp” 3″ “Pogey” in “Smelt” or “Anchovy”.

“Gulp” lures sometimes out-fish BAIT! That’s how GOOD they work.

Yozuri “Crystal Minnow’s” & “S.S. Minnow’s” that mimic Mullet and Pogey’s work WONDER’s on Snook & Reds. Make sure to “sweeten” your hard-plastic lures by spraying them with Saltwater Fish attractant, (like “Scent’s of the Sea” Pogey & Shrimp spray, which you can find at Walmart & K-Mart).

If you have to use a “wire” leader, use “Low-viz” wire.

Above all, just enjoy being outside and getting to go fishing!

Good luck! Hope this info help’s ya out? Later.

Canal Fishing, West Plam Beach, Florida

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