Fishing tips, and Fishing talk.
You can find how to tie knots, or rig baits here.
Also terms and phrases use by us in describing the Fishing we do here.
Maps which show local names of places.

I will add to the list as I can.
Thanks Fishin Frank

Blue Crabs for Bait 

Brackish water- Simply Salt water diluted by fresh water run-off.
From rivers, creeks, ditches, Raining on salt water dose not change it.
 A river running into a bay, which collected rain from miles and miles will change the salinity,  making it brackish,
As far as the Law is concerned there is Salt or fresh Brackish is salt water rules. Brackish water is not a type of water it is a mixture.
 

Bull Red- As you would guess this term means an over size redfish. legal size is 18" to 27" most redfish in the slot are 2 to 8 pounds,
 these are lets say teenagers. adult reds go up to 50 pounds or more.
 Adults live in the gulf or Atlantic ocean and only come back to Charlotte harbor to spawn,
this usually occurs in October for two months or so you can catch and release giant Redfish..
Either in the lower harbor or by trolling in the near gulf best depth 30 foot.

Butter-fly cut for bait - Lay the fish on it's side place the knife at the point where the tail meets the body
cut down towards the back bone then slice towards the head to the ribs. do this on each side.
you have the center of the fish with back bone intact and the side will flap under water in the current.
giving sound and movement to your dead bait.
"Note" this is a legal method for cutting size limit fish to make them better bait, once again they must remain whole length wise.

Damn-it fishin .  This is a style of fishin in where you are cast at or under the mangrove trees. When the water/tide
is high the Red fish & Snook will go way back under the branches looking for food, small crabs & fish which hide
among the roots. So in order the catch them you have to cast as far under as possible,
So it is either Damn that's a good cast or Damn stuck in the trees again.

 Discourteous - what other people are on the water. Of course we are never discourteous.
And if we should happen to be, it's  just a mistake, an oooppps if you will.
 But them other darnmn jerks should know better !!!!!!!!!!!!

Cast net Repair,

Here is the basic knot used in net repair.    Every basic repair to holes in your cast net starts with this knot.
We sell net needles here at Fishin Franks.

 In the guys left hand you will see another net needle, this is being used as a spacer bar to keep the holes the same size.
 The one in his right hand is the same tool only filled with line. You wrap the net needle with line so you do not have to pull 10 feet of line through the knot each time. the needle holds the extra line and makes it easier to get the line in to and through the loop. 

Cast Net Throwing

Charlotte harbor- Is a huge bay, What makes it different is the surrounding buffer zone. This keeps almost all of Charlotte Harbor, Natural shore lines. The other distinction is it is one of the largest natural aquatic estuaries.

Cut-bait- Fish that has been cut into chunks. Laying the fish on it's side and cutting straight down to make pieces,

Fishing the bars. Is quite simply fishing along the sand bars that line the outer edge of Harbor. Almost too simple there should be more to it.

Free lining - This is a style of fishing where you just use line mono leader and a hook, no-swivels, sinkers or floats.
True free lining is no leader but it only works in fresh water, In salt water you need to have a leader.

Green backs
Hard scaled sardine,
is very hardy in a live well,
but is difficult to keep
in commercial tanks
they do not like changes in the levels
of salt, ph or temperatures making then almost impossible to sell in bait shops
this is one bait better caught when you go. This is the fish originally called white
bait, or salt-water shiner,  Now many fish have been lumped into the name of white Bait.

Hook set- This is a sharp jerking motion of the rod, An arc motion which is meant to pull the point of the hook into the fishes mouth,

Hooking a dead shrimp.                                                                                               

 Here is a properly hooked shrimp the eye and shank
 of he hook is hidden inside of the tail. By starting
 the hook at the tail end, the point of the hook and
 the thicker part of the meat end up together.

 If the head should come off peel some of the shell
 back exposing more of the meat.

Knots The site which has the cool animation knot is called netknots.com
They sell knot books , cards and more, great web site.

Knot tying   

Leader - this is something on the end of the line to keep the fish from biting or wearing thru the line. Shock leader is not meant as
the shock absorbers on your car to smooth out the hit, it is for the shock of the attack. when the fish is fighting it's meant to keep the fishes teeth or gills from cutting, breaking or wearing through, so you have time to land it. Leaders may be made from Mono, steel, or fluorocarbon. Leader also help when using braided line, which is very visible to fish the leader will make a break of invisibility between the line and the hook helping you to get that bite.

Local names of places.
 

Pot holes are just as you would assume, depressions along the bottom of the flats which are deeper. This causes some confusion because when you say deeper you would assume 3,4,5,  feet deeper this is most often not the case. Most often it is a matter of inches and seldom as much as a foot.

Rats- This is a common reference to juvenile Redfish, Small reds are commonly called rat-reds I believe because it rhymes

Rocky Creek  fishing spot

Secret spot- A spot you just found, but every one else already knew about, but now "YOU" can be mad when you see some one else fishing there.

Slot Fish - This means that the fish has a minimum as well as a maximum size,
So the fish could be too small to keep as well as too large to keep.  "Note" Some fish like Trout or Black Drum have one exception fish,
While your most of the fish have a slot one of them may be as long as you want over the minimum, without the upper slot.

The Flats Most of the harbor is surrounded by a sand bar behind the sand bar is a shallow area, know as the flats, simply put the flats are just that shallow most flat sandy or weedy bottom, averaging about 3 feet of water, tide dependant.

Tides for charlotte Harbor - This is very confusing for people who lived by an ocean. On an ocean you have four, tide changes a day. Simple every 6 hours or so it changes. NOT here in 24 hours there could be 1-2-3-4-5- changes in a day none and six are possible although I have not seen that yet. This has something to do with water currants in the gulf, or maybe, when the tide comes in from the Atlantic it simply sloshes back and forth.
Ok lets get to the tide we exchange about 2 feet of water during a 24 hour period, in Charlotte Harbor. The term "HIGH" is used to describe the most water during that time, Not implying that the water will be high, or deep. The same applies to "LOW" this is the lowest the water will be for that time. Highs and lows are only for reference. High is the most water for that time then it is "outgoing" until it reaches it lowest point then when "low" it is "incoming" until high.
To know how much water you will have look after the time. 0.0 is MLLW= mean lower low water. All charts depths are at 0.0
Your house and land based objects are measured from High tide, in our case 2.0 is the normal high for our area.
0.0 is the same every where. The high changes every place you go, as said ours is 2.0 the water can be higher or lower than these heights. 1.0 is the average. Keep in mind that high tides may be lower than some lows or vise versa.

   Threadfin Herring

 or Soft scaled sardine. Which is often mistaken for Green backs,
because of their bright green back with back spots
Thread fins have a thinner lighter body and will die very easy in a live well.
 Threadfin Herring get their name from their dorsal fin which has
a long thread like extension, much like a Tarpon.
 Soft scaled sardine because their scales fall off very easily, just hold one in your hand,
when you set it down your hand will be covered in scales.

Top-water lures- This is almost to easy. A lure which dose not go under the surface of the water, However!
Some top-water lures when you jerk them, will dive a short distance under water usually 6 inches or less.
Different types of top water lures. Poppers, top twitch, Double prop, single prop "Tail drop", walk the dog,
Walk the dog is the most difficult to master, Rub your stomach, and pat your head, this is REALLY yes really,
the skill you need to walk the dog. Reel slowly while at the same time shake the end of your rod, to create slack in the line then snap the front of the lure causing it to slap to the other side. the front end of the lure goes side to side. either violently of softly depending how hard you work the rod tip.

Two Pines, Fishing spot

Weed-less Rigging a hook or lure to pass thru weeds or plants to resist snagging, When used in soft plastic lures you run the hook
into the nose, 1/4 inch then bringing it out on the bottom side run the hook back into the body of the lure, Do not run the hook all the way thru leave the hook just inside the plastic so it will not snag, when the fish hit sat the hook hard, this will bring the point out of the plastic and set in the fish. ,

West wall - This is the west side of the Harbor from trout creek to cape Haze

  This was originally called Mc coy flats,
  However in the 1980's information was
  hard to get, No internet. When I looked at a
  chart of the harbor, That shore line was
  pretty much flat like a wall and it was on the west side.
  Sooo "West Wall" it was. I had to have some name for this
  area for the newspapers and magazine, articles.
  It is not the technically correct name but by the time
  I found that out, It was the "West wall"
 

  The West Wall is a shallow Flats, sandy to weedy bottom
  With a trough that runs along the shore line, This trough holds
  Red fish. The main feature of the Wall is the many creeks
  which run into the Shore line these creeks are Home to
  Small reds or "rats"
  Look close at the chart you will see a sand bar that runs the full
  length of the Wall. Trout, Cobia, Sharks, all use this as a
  passage way from the lower to upper harbor.

White Bait, this is not a certain fish, it is a name given to a group of fish,
     Mojarra,               Hard scaled Sardine                     Bunker                                 Soft scaled sardine
    sand brim                 "Green Backs",                         0Pilchards,                            "Threadfin Herring".                Spanish Sardines