I managed a trip on Tuesday this week with Troy Halford, his ten year old son, Chance, and his dad, Roger, of Dallas, Texas. Troy told me they had promised to bring some fish home for dinner, and this time of year there isn't a lot you can actually harvest. Trout are closed. Snook will soon be closed, but the current regulations have pushed the slot limit higher and made it smaller at 28 to 33 inches with the tail squeezed. There are some flounder around, but I'd hate to count on a bunch of them for dinner. Inshore grouper are usually below the size limit. So, that leaves redfish as the most likely fish for success. With bait all but gone for the winter, steaked ladyfish would be the best bet to get some lethargic redfish to forget about warming and think about eating. All of this would be the foundation for our strategy for the day.
With the boys loaded as dawn was breaking, we headed out under the A span and to the flats off Punta Rassa. Here I hoped to find plenty of ladyfish. When we first arrived there wasn't much happening. No birds. No fish busting anywhere. No bites. But, as the boys cast their lures I watched the water, and soon spotted some bird action. As we eased closer, I could see what appeared to be ladyfish busting and finning on the surface. Quick hits on our TerrorEyez proved me right, and we had three ladyfish in the well in short order. That was all we needed for a morning of red fishing. After catching a few more ladyfish we voted to move on in search of trout. We wanted to sample all that might bite.
Once up in the Sound we skimmed across some seriously skinny water to get to our first trout spot. And, there were some trout there, but the hole was full of more ladyfish, and the trout were not the big ones I've been catching. Actually, I think the ladyfish were not giving the trout a chance to get to our jigs before they did. So, we caught some of each, and voted to move on and see if we could get the gag grouper to eat.
As we arrived at our spot we got the first bit of breeze of the day, and it was right in our face when casting. The tide was weak, and not enough to keep the boat turned to the breeze. The water was also gin clear, and we were very visible, as were the fish. And, boy we saw a lot of grouper, sheephead, snapper, and such, and quite a few very large gags. But, gags that big are all but impossible to dig out of the rocks with light tackle. The grouper weren't in much of an eating mood. We did catch a few small ones, and Chance got the best one at about 18 inches.
I'd been watching the water closely, and it wasn't quite to the level I like it to work on redfish, but it was close, and we decided we'd go get an early start. As I made my approach to the area on the trolling motor, I could see individual redfish pushing in response to our presence. There were also some small pods of several fish moving. So, I knew the fish were there. But, would they eat?
I went to work carving ladyfish, explaining as I did that if the fish would bite it would be lots of fun, and if not, perhaps boring. I put out three steaks, and we waited. As we waited, I watched the water around us carefully. There were lots of mullet, redfish, sheephead, and others around. Troy broke the ice with a nice snook on a ladyfish steak. But, aside from a couple of hardhead catfish, that was it. The redfish were there, but were NOT interested. I needed to make a change.
My move would advance us an hour on the tide, effectively shifting the time for us. I hope it would make the difference. But, aside from Chance catching a very nice speckled trout, we were still without redfish! I had to find some hungry reds!
I cranked up and took off to run a short distance, but farther than I wanted to go on the trolling motor, especially considering the wasted time. Low and behold, as we approached the area we ran right into a big school of redfish, and had them scooting all over the place. I killed the Yamaha and stopped as quickly as I could. I knew we could reach undisturbed redfish with our ladyfish cannonballs, even with a slight breeze working against us. And, we did. It only took a couple of minutes and we had our first redfish on. And, then another. And, another. And, another. We had some doubles, and I think a triple hookup as well. We were having fun, and quickly had our limit of four redfish in the boat. The boys were having fun, and relieved that they didn't have to consider stopping at a market for fresh fish!
All of a sudden, we had a sea breeze out of nowhere right in our face. I was going to be forced to move the boat, and I didn't want to do that for fear of spooking our fish. But, I had to. So, I slowly took us up wind and behind our school and got the breeze at our back. And, we were back in the fish. We had our bite going quickly again, and then a couple of clowns in a small genoo invaded our flat and were coming right for us. I managed to wave and vocalize them off a safe distance before they could completely ruin our fishing. We managed to catch a handful more before the tide quit moving, and the bite with it.
We had ended what had been a good day in fine fashion, and now it was our turn to chow down. We headed off to the Waterfront Restaurant, where we enjoyed a fantastic lunch. It's the perfect end to a day of fishing.
That was the week for fishing. The outlook for next week isn't great, as I'm sitting here writing this report and watching a major cold front moving into Florida. It is bring a lot of wind and weather, and some seriously cold weather by mid-week. It's not holding lots of promise for fishing in southwest Florida, but we'll see.
If you missed my e-flyer last week with my new discount rate program, be sure to check it out at http//www.barhoppr.com/rates.htm . It's a great chance for everyone to save lots of money in the coming year while still getting out for some great BarHopp'R fishing.
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your friends and family.