Here's To Matlacha

Well, it seems that a month has passed while only a few days since my last posting.  Never made it back to fish at Tropical Point as my last posting had eluded to the possibility.  I did stop there with some thoughts of fighting the winds but, discovered a school bus there (parked illegally) and a class or two from the local school out in the picnic area -- all parking spaces taken already perhaps by the local teachers/instructors or FWC reps.

So, I continued over to the small town of Matlacha to the east just to check it out and see if there was access to the water or fishing from the couple small bridges I crossed on my way into Pine Island.  The heart of the little town is a small art community with colorful little shops on either side of the road (Rt. 78) and always a crowd of people walking along the narrow, busy road.  I tried stopping at the local bait store but, it had a closed sign in the window so I drove the little town roads behind the shop and found lots of dead-end streets and private property but, nice homes on little canals with most every house having a boat.

Modern Fishing Pier

After trying all the little roads there, I started to head back to Pine Island but, as I did, I passed a little opening between a couple of the buildings which seemed to have a parking area beyond the canal behind the shops -- maybe a little park too.  Near the end of town, where there were no cars parked along the street, I made a u-turn and went back to check and low and behold this little town had a little hidden gem there with a free fishing pier, playground, modern restrooms, free boat ramp with about 2 dozen parking spots for vehicles with boat trailers, and a kayak/canoe launching area (with another small pier on the canal).  The fishing pier had a fish cleaning station, pole pockets on the railings and even had lights for night fishing -- though only open from 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Matlacha

Since discovering this little gem of a place, I have been back there each day with a dozen or two dozen shrimp -- mostly feeding the fish and crabs but, hoping to catch a keeper or two.  I have seen some good fish taken from the waters around this small pier and it has a constant flow of people to and from it -- most with fishing gear and bait (shrimp, squid or cut bait).  Yesterday, I stopped there in mid-afternoon to see if anyone had been catching anything good and most spots were taken so, I stayed to watch for nearly an hour before heading to the Walmart in nearby Cape Coral to restock on catfood and other essentials.  On the way back, I stopped at another bait store and all they had were the jumbo shrimp for $5 a dozen so, I decided to get a dozen and go try my luck -- could cut these jumbos into three pieces (some were about 4 or 5 inches long).  The guy at the bait store said there had been some kind of fishing tournament so, all the regular size went quickly to those in the tournament.

While I watched earlier in the afternoon, some people were catching a mixture of things such as Catfish, Puffers, Blowfish, Ladyfish, an occasional trout and one guy had a nice 16 to 18 inch Flounder by the pier but, his hook broke off as he tried to lift it from the water.  Since I had already given Tiger and Molly some tuna fish earlier and turned on some night lights, I decided I might stay until a little after dark.  My first cast with a piece of the tail from one of the jumbos got an instant reaction after it hit the water and I landed a nice 12 inch trout -- 3 inches too small.  A cute little girl beside me caught her first fish (a huge Blowfish) on her tiny little pink pole and reel with a bobber and piece of small shrimp -- when she wasn't looking, I noticed something was biting and told her, her mom and dad.  Her dad caught a little tiny batfish earlier and her mom had caught a Puffer too but, her fish was much bigger -- she thanked me when she was leaving and gave me a big smile.

The biggest thing I caught there the other day was an 18" catfish and I had seen a couple different small sharks and one stingray caught.  I also had seen a guy the day before yesterday come to the fish cleaning station after being out in a boat and he had about a 20 inch trout and a couple of Redfish -- one about 2 feet long (it looked like a Carp to me and he said it fought like a Carp but, much better eating).  He apparently had been fishing the flats across the channel we could see from the pier.

The evening started with a complete changeover in people trying their luck and most seemed to be using bobbers and mostly catfish were being caught so, I decided to head back to the RV with about 8 of those jumbo shrimp still in my bait bucket -- they made a nice appetizer before cooking a few of those Tilapia fillets.