Capt. George Tunison

If planning an early inshore trip for this coming weekend, be aware that we will experience very low morning tides. Saturday’s Pineland prediction calls for a -0.3 at 8 a.m. and a 9 a.m. -0.4 tide on Sunday. With lots of floating and still submerged items out there waiting for you, backing off the throttle this weekend makes good sense.

Many don’t realize that just one relatively small piece of floating wood can take out a prop or lower unit, which will also take a sizeable wad of money out your wallet. On Saturday, the outgoing afternoon tide offers very slow moving water conditions so you’ll probably have to hunt and peck for your inshore fish. Sunday afternoon will be tougher.

During extreme low or negative tide conditions and also depending on where you put in, be careful not to back your trailer wheels down over the end of the ramp possibly stranding you there. Sometimes you can pull the trailer up and back over the end of the ramp with horsepower without causing damage, but if the ramp is slick, you probably aren’t going anywhere. Recovery services are expensive. Keep a close eye on others launching before you to gather clues.

Good numbers of small snook and redfish up to 24 inches are still hanging around shorelines on both sides of Charlotte Harbor but with very low tides this weekend, morning bush hunting may be out. Look to deep cuts, channels, creeks, deeper docks, passes even marinas to score, which is also where you’ll often find your schooling seatrout. Experienced, patient sight anglers might do well on the flats this weekend chasing waving redfish tails, especially when quietly poling their skiffs into casting range.

With water temps dropping, slow down your high speed summer retrieve and adapt. Clearing water also calls for lighter lines and thinner fluorocarbon leaders. Lures that can be worked slowly such as suspending hard baits and soft plastic shrimp will help you be more successful.

Using pre-scented plastics like GULP products or adding commercial scent products ups your game. Don’t be afraid to apply these scents to your hard baits as well. Letting your scented soft plastics “stop and drop” occasionally for a five to 10 count sometime during the retrieve may be too much for a cold weary fish to resist.

Non-casters will find fish using live or dead shrimp and cut ladyfish chunks. Determined trophy snook hunters could catch the snook of a lifetime this month and next while patiently passing the time soaking a whole dead mullet or ladyfish on the bottom in a warmer Cape canal, creek, dock or nearby bridge.

While on the flats, never pass up casting in and around moving schools of mullet. Redfish, trout, snook, pompano, jacks, even small cobia will often be right in there with them feeding on whatever bottom creatures are stirred up as the school continuously covers ground.

Weather permitting, a large variety of near and offshore fish are looking to eat your offerings. Good news! On the Nov. 22, Gov. DeSantis announced a weekend 17-day extension of our red snapper recreational harvest season. The 28th through the 30th is the second in a series of dates with the one last occurring Dec. 24th through the 31st.

Delicious red snapper and turkey for Christmas? Please pass the plate!

Continued cold fronts will add to the kingfish numbers now arriving so scan the skies for birds and skyrocketing fish that will show up around bait schools.

Wear those life vests and be sure to attach your ECOS or emergency engine cut off lanyard to your vest or person. Chopped up by your own prop? Not pretty.

Here’s hoping your turkey is tip-top, your snapper is scrumptious and your ham is hogalicious. For your thalerophagous guests, a fresh salad and a big bowl of raw broccoli will keep them at the table.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.