There was no fishing report last week, but one important thing did happen. I reluctantly sold my Maverick 17 Master Angler backup boat to a great father-son team of Gary and Garret Parker. Although selling her was the only thing that made sense in the economy we've had for the last year, I was sad to do so. But, I have to tell you, when I saw 17 year old Garrett's eyes light up, and the expression of marvel on his face when I showed him the Power Pole and trim tabs, I suddenly felt much better. She has a good home.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
WINTER FISHING FUN!
The week was supposed to begin with Gary Conover and his son on Monday. But, when I found out that Gary would be here until nearly the end of March, I suggested we try to grab a later day. The water was so cold, and conditions overall very tough, and I knew there would be very little caught. Gary's trip was to be an instructional one, and in order to properly teach someone about snook fishing there needs to be fish to catch.
My Tuesday trip was with Al Joswick, his daughter Jessie, and son-in-law Josh, of Winonna, Minnesota. Josh is married to Jessie's sister. I met Al about ten years ago when my good friend Capt. Mark Bess was still guiding, and referred Al to him. He had a great time.
I knew this trip would be tough, but everyone was up for it regardless of the conditions. I had a baitwell full of hand-picked shrimp, and we went straight from the dock to the first fishing spot for the day. There was not another boat to be seen or heard for a long time.
We went to work free-lining the shrimp along the edges of the mangroves and tossing a variety of jigs in an effort to figure out what the fish might eat in the very cold water. To my surprise, we found much better action than I would ever have anticipated. We were there in that spot for several hours, and through the changing of the tide. We caught a potpourri of fish including 2 big, fat trout that weighed in at five pounds each, a black drum, 4 sheephead, a redfish, half a dozen snappers, and 6 or 7 snook.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
The snook was where it got interesting. Al had told me that they needed to feed at least 18 people from the trip. Well, under current Florida fishing regulations that's a tall order even on a hot bite, because you can only harvest one snook per person 28 to 34 inches, 1 redfish per person 18 to 27 inches, and 4 trout per person 15 to 20 inches. But, to that point we had done pretty well, and had probably 9 to 10 people covered.
Josh was holding the hot rod. He'd already caught several of his snook and they would have been keepers not long ago at 25 and 26 inches. But, the rule now is 28 inches. Suddenly, all hell broke loose, and Josh had the fish of his lifetime on the other end of his line. It ran him all over the place while I stood close by coaching him. People who have never experienced a big snook on light tackle, especially in a close quarters situation, rarely land that big snook. Josh had never hooked a fish that was fitted with a NHRA top fuel engine, but he had one now! Josh listened to his coach and executed well, and won the battle of freedom vs. food. His fish was 32 inches long and 10 pounds. If it weren't for it being a cold winter, the fish would have been quite a bit heavier and a lot more powerful, but she had no doubt been living off her own fat, and was also sluggish in the cold water. Josh didn't think so, though.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
There was lots of celebration in the boat, because I'd told the gang that the fish would feed 8 people easily. Jessie was really happy! After we got our pictures taken, I turned to Josh and asked him to consider releasing the fish, which had put them over their food goals, explaining that she would surely be full of roe very soon and spawning out on the beach making lots of new snook. I explained that because Florida law allows him to keep the fish, I wouldn't demand that he release it, but I petitioned him to do so in hopes of catching a smaller legal fish. It was a shame to kill a fish that had made it this far along in life. At that point I think I turned into public enemy number one for Jessie. She was Jones'n for some snook. But, after some careful consideration, and I'm sure some mental waffling, Josh agreed with me that the beautiful snook should swim another day. We released her into the dark waters, and I'm betting Josh felt the same satisfaction that I did in doing the right thing.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
Now, don't you know that for the rest of the day it was very tough? Once the bite was over there we had a hard time finding anything that would look at a bait. I visited another hole that was full of snook, some very large ones! Everyone got stood up in time to see them. It was amazing for the gang to see so many big fish in one place. But, we only managed to catch 2 or 3 small ones. We wound up going home with a lot of fish, but had not met our goal. Al said they'd just stop and buy some more at a market, but I'm probably on page one of Jessie's Black Book for taking Josh out of that snook.
As it turned out, that was the best fishing day of the week. Even though the water was warming, it is a very gradual process, and we were far from hitting what is our magic number; 70 degrees. We also were now moving into a period of very poor tides that by week's end would be a flat lined as a heart monitor displaying cardiac arrest.
Although Wednesday's tide was still pretty good, my customer Sonny Stelmak canceled because his father-in-law had fallen very ill. He had to return to the north country. I still haven't heard anything further from him.
It was Thursday. Time for my first trip with Tim Rice and his lovely gal Lori, of Proctor, Vermont. I'd heard nothing but reports of locked jaws and few fish caught save for those who were going out in front of Sanibel in the gulf to fish for ladyfish, mackeral, bluefish, and some pompano. Those fish had been biting fairly well earlier in the week. But, our glamour fish up in the Sound, snook, redfish, trout, etc., had other ideas. So, when I met Tim and Lori that morning I discussed the options with them, explaining that we might be able to get some pulls on their lines out off Sanibel, or we could go into the beautiful backcountry and take our chances, knowing we'd likely see much action. Tim and Lori were both quick to agree that they wanted to go into the backcountry. Lori wouldn't be fishing, but she wanted to enjoy the beauty of the surroundings. Tim would be the angler, but it was dittos for him.
So, decision made, we were off to chase fish with a well full of shrimp. I headed right straight to where I knew there were lots of snook. Once we were there and settled in, IT happened. I hate when IT happens! On about the second cast, Tim's shrimp was inhaled by a big female snook. She hit Tim's bait on a shoreline that was to our port side. In not much more than a blink of the eye, the fish had turned on afterburners and jetted across and straight at us, and under the boat to the other mangrove shoreline.
Now you have to understand that Tim had never tangled with anything more powerful than a smallmouth Bass. They are fun fish, but not even remotely as hard to catch as a large snook on light tackle. Tim nearly got turned on his head when the snook blasted under the boat. I was yelling, "Stop her! Stop her! Stop her!" But, Tim having never had anything with that kind of speed and power on the end of his line, had no idea of how to stop her. I hate IT when the first snook of the day for a first time customer is a big snook. If a customer has had the benefit of catching a few smaller ones, during which time I am able to teach them the tricks of stopping and turning them with light gear, they are much more likely to land the big one when she eats a bait. But, when IT happens, there's only one thing that can get that fish to the boat! LUCK!
After it was over, Tim was in a state of shock and disbelief. He'd never tangled with anything like that. And, even though it was over quickly, it's a moment he'll never forget! He did manage to catch the only other snook that ate, but it was small by comparison. We fished the spot through the last of the outgoing and into the incoming tide, knowing we were on lots of fish. But, all we could muster was a few small snapper and sheephead. We did have one keeper snapper, though.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
So, once we established those fish weren't going to eat, we went in search of action. The inshore gag grouper will often play when the cold has everything else shut down, but on this day they wouldn't even come out of their rocky homes to eat. It was all lockjaw!
We moved on, and turned our attention to redfish. I took up position on a flat that most always has schools of big redfish on it. We were now hunters, and even though Lori wasn't fishing she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying every minute. It didn't take very long before I spotted the first fish. It was a pod of two big redfish lolly-gagging toward us some distance out at about eleven o'clock off the bow. Tim had just launched his gold spoon a good 150 ft. an instant before I spotted them. I told Tim to reel as fast as he could and drop the spoon out in front of the approaching fish in their path so that he could begin retrieving as the fish got close to make it look like a fleeing bait. But, in the excitement and adrenaline rush that comes with seeing your first big redfish swimming at you, Tim didn't realize what he was supposed to do, and reeled the spoon all the way in.
The fish were easing closer. I knew that it wouldn't be long before they'd spook, as I was sure they could see us at least as well as we could see them. But, we were very quiet, and I'd instructed Time to crouch down to make a low profile. They kept coming. It instructed Tim to flip the bait a safe distance in front of the fish with as little rod movement as possible. I knew we were at the critical point of spooking the fish. But, again just from inexperience with this kind of fishing, he made too much of a sweep of his rod and the fish took off like they'd seen the ghost of Davey Jones!
Once the adrenaline wore off a bit we reviewed what had happened, and I explained what I was looking for Tim to do, so that if we got another shot, Tim would understand my instructions. And, it wasn't long before I spotted a small school of redfish numbering maybe 30 fish. There were mullet milling about with them and close by, but the reds are easy to spot in the gin clear water by their dark bronze backs and wide profile. They have broad shoulders.
We chunked silver and gold spoons at them, around them, through them, and in the middle of them, and all they did was ignore them. They just weren't about to eat anything. But, it was fun seeing the fish and casting to them. It was also casual to the most obvious observer that those fish weren't about to eat, so we elected to try to find some different fish.
At the next spot I spotted several pods of very large snook, some of which were easily 4 feet long, and several pods of redfish nearby. Yes! It was the same old tune. Lockjaw sung to your favorite melody. But, it was still cool for Tim and Lori to see all those fish, and they knew there were plenty of fish around.
Finally, our appetites got the best of us, and we decided to end the day with one of those famous Waterfront Restaurant lunches. We had fun recapping the day, which had been great fun with great people even though we'd put few fish into the boat. I was sad to see the day end, but it always does.
I was at the ramp shortly after 5 AM Friday morning, just to be sure I could get a descent parking place. I had a two boat trip with the Honorable Brian Quinn and his family, of Lubbock, Texas. My good friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez would be the second boat. We had Brian and four kids in the 10 to 12 age group. Rey would take the three boys, and I would take Brian and his daughter Alex.
When there are kids involved in a fishing trip, the trip must be for the kids. It's great, really. Kids don't care what they're catching. They're happy with whatever pulls on the end of their line. Knowing we faced extremely tough conditions, Rey and I new the thing to do was take them outside to see if we could put them on some of the ladyfish, mackeral, bluefish, and perhaps pompano that HAD been biting earlier in the week.
Brian warned me that he was not a good fisherman, and usually didn't catch much when he went. But, the enjoyment is not in the catching as much as it is in the time spent with loved ones out in a wonderful environment. Rey and I were among the first boats in the area, but within the space of an hour or so the waters off Punta Rassa looked like the shores of Iwagima about to be assaulted by a naval fleet. There were boats everywhere, all with the same goal. But, there were very few fish being caught. The tide was now so bad that even these offshore fish weren't interested.
We began our efforts with Brian working a pompano rig, and Alex and I fishing different jigs, trying to figure out what, if anything, the fish would eat. And, it was a challenge. We fished for some time, getting little bumps, but no takes. They were there. They were interested. They were lockjawed.
But, finally we stuck the first fish, a large ladyfish, which was just in time to cure Al's oncoming case of boredom. She was thrilled with the fish as it ran and jumped all over the place. She'd never encountered anything like that in her short fishing career. After landing that big ladyfish, Al's interest was suddenly rekindled.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
It was still a very slow bite. Al caught perhaps 6 or 7 fish. She was as thrilled with a little lizard fish as she had been with the ladyfish, because it was such an odd looking creature. There was a jack and other ladyfish, but it was very tough.
I knew Rey would be growing impatient with the slow bite, and would soon be moving on. Eventually, he did. He stuck around longer than I thought he would. Finally, we decided to move on as well, and see if we could find some willing sheephead and small trout.
But, when I started the Talon's Yamaha it didn't sound right. I soon had confirmation that she was missing on a couple of cylinders as I tried to roll on the throttle, and she wouldn't get on step. We had a hard miss that didn't want to go away.
Suddenly, the main issue turned from fishing to safety. I wanted to get us off the big water in case we got a kick in the wind or current. I didn't want to be stuck out there with a motor barely running, and the bouncy water was no place to be trying to hang over the stern and work on an engine. So, we limped at idle the couple of miles back to the ramp, where I could safely check things out.
The first and easiest thing to check is the fuel filter on the engine. It's a small filter, and it doesn't take a whole lot to plug it up. I carefully removed it, and was surprised to see sediment laying in the bottom. I poured it into a white towel for a closer look. I hoped it had been the problem. And, after getting the filter back on and the system primed, the Yamaha lit and sounded just fine. We were good to go. We headed off to Long Cut to see if anything would play. I noticed as we passed under the causeway that we all began hacking and coughing. I thought it was because of the fumes from a twin engine boat up ahead of us. I didn't realized until Saturday that it was the red tide bloom back in our waters.
Sheephead are a real challenge. They are such masterful bait stealers that it takes a real knack to catch them. Learning how often becomes a contest of wills. Al caught a few right off the bat. She though the black and white stripped fish were pretty cool. But, Brian, who had begun jigging for trout, was now becoming befuddled with trying to hook one of those sheephead. Although I was ready to move on, I realized I would have to stay there until Brian caught at least one sheephead. He was now defending his honor! And, he would not be denied. He finally got his sheephead. It was time to move on.
I had found a hole the day before that was occupied by some of the largest sheephead I'd ever seen. These fish had to be 10 to 12 pounds each. Monsters for sheephead. I figured my guys were ready for them, and wanted to see if we could get them to bite.
But, we had no more than gotten there and put out baits, when Rey called wondering why we weren't back at the dock. We had set a 1 PM return time for Brian's wife Abby to pick everyone up. I figured Rey would call me when he was leaving for home, and hadn't given it another thought. It was time to head in.
Back at the ramp it was obvious that although it had been a slow day of catching, all the kids had a great time, and were excitedly telling their Mom all about it. It had been fun for me. I always love fishing with kids, especially when they're as nice as Alex.
I was at the ramp around 5 AM Saturday morning to insure I got a better parking spot than the day before. I almost wasn't able to get out of the spot Friday afternoon because of people parking where the shouldn't behind you, leaving little room to negotiate with a long trailer. Infuriating.
I was to meet my dear friend Alison Ward, of Bound Brook, New Jersey, and her uncle Bill Cruickshank, at 7 AM. I had a long time to wait, and spent most of it drinking coffee and listening to early morning radio in my van. It didn't take long for the ramp to turn into the usual weekend zoo that it always does.
Shortly after I launched, Capt. Randal Marsh launched. I knew he'd found some bait the day before, and offered to pay him for a few dozen baits to fish with. I was ready to try some shiner fishing, but not eager to break my bad back throwing the net thirty times for bait that nothing was going to eat. Beating my back up would come soon enough. Randal is a great guy, and said there was no way he'd take my money, but that if I'd meet him on the water at 7:30, he'd give me enough to fish with. Great!
I hadn't seen Uncle Bill since my first trip with Aly a few years ago, but now at the young age of 81 he was looking fit, trim, and great. Hell! He's in better shape than I am! I explained to Aly and Bill how the week had gone and how I saw the prospects of the options we had, and they decided they'd rather be up in the Sound fishing in the mangroves, even if it meant catching nothing. Aly and Bill both just love being out on the water. And, Bill is an accomplished fly fisherman who's fished in many exotic locations, so you know he's patient.
After our rendezvous with Randal at 7:30, we were off to the first fishing hole. Once there, the water told the story. It was a rare March day with not a whisper of wind, and the leaves floating on the water were stationary. There was no movement at all. And, there wouldn't be until late in the day after we were long gone. We would have to summon our patience, for sure.
But, you know what. We had a blast. We fished and chatted and Aly and I caught up on her upcoming move to Florida. It was a nice relaxing day with friends, and it was great to be with Bill, again. Not only is he in amazing shape, but he has a great sense of humor, and we had lots of laughs. Bill managed to catch one very nice winter trout.
We finally moved on. I knew the results weren't likely to be any different, but I figured it would be nice to show Bill and Aly another beautiful spot in the mangroves. I decided that since I had some beautiful shiners, and nothing was biting, it was unlikely that I would run myself out of bait by doing a little chumming. But, we never got a pop on the first chum. Aly did manage to catch one more big winter trout, which went into the well with the other one.
Aly and I decided to take Uncle Bill to lunch at the Waterfront. He hadn't been in fifteen years. It was very different, now. Aly and I have been there more than once. We knew that we'd better beat the rush that would come on a beautiful Saturday, so we were there at around 11:30. Although there were quite a few folks there, we were ahead of the rush. Aly had her first bronzed cobia, while Bill and I pigged out on oysters and corn on the cob! Oh, man. Two of my favorite things.
Once we were done we were back at it in a beautiful spot closer to home. I knew there would be plenty of snook there, but I also knew they weren't about to eat. I hope that we'd run into some jacks that might. But, there was no sign of any jack activity for a while. Then, shortly after a couple of thoughtless anglers came charging between me and another boat that was nearby, I heard a loud noise that sounded like waves crashing against the shoreline. But, when I turned to see, I was elated to see a huge school of jack crevalle blasting bait along the mangroves and moving rapidly in our direction.
The guys in the other boat were anchored and didn't seem interested. I took off at full throttle on the trolling motor, hoping to intercept them before they disappeared. I knew we would likely get only one shot to get hooked up, and I wanted to do it right. We finally intercepted the fast moving jack within casting distance of the other boat, and by this time they were ready to get into the game, as well. Suddenly, we had jacks thrashing all around the boat! My God! They were all at least 3 feet long. They were huge fish. The largest I've ever seen in the area. Aly missed her fish as it ate her shiner. The adrenaline monster got her. But, the excitement of all those fish even got Uncle Bill. A veteran of many bonefish, he forgot to open the bait, and slung his shiner off. One of the guys in the other boat hooked up, and while we were trying to get re-baited, his monster jack swam far beyond our boat, and his line was now sawing back and forth across the cradle of my trolling motor. I didn't want him to loose such a great fish, and we quickly had it freed, and he was back in the fight. He later lost the fish, but he'd gotten a great fight out of it before losing it. Our big jacks had disappeared, not to be seen again. Bill was apologetic, saying that he was usually cool under fire. And, I know he is. But, it just goes to show that anyone can get rattled with an adrenaline overload in the excitement of a great moment like that.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
We'd had a great time and some great excitement, and were ready to head home so that I could hopefully get in ahead of the pandemonium that was sure to come at the ramp. It had been great fun to spend the day with Bill and Aly once again. I hope we have many more. As we passed under the B span of the causeway and neared the A span, we all began hacking. It was then that I realized that we had another bloom of the red tide algae. For now, it seems to be concentrated off Sanibel and at the mouth of the river. If something doesn't happen to blow it out of here, it is sure to be more bad news for our fishery.
WINTER FISHING FUN!
That was the week. It was a week that proves you don't have to be catching lots of fish to have a grand time on the water with family and friends. It's a lesson well learned, especially when things are gloom and bloom.
Be sure to check out my new eBay Store BarHopp'R Fishing Finds!
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