I managed two trips during Christmas week. Could have worked Christmas Day, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The two days were Friday and Saturday, and the fishing was great!
I met my old friend Dr. John Hitt, president of UCF in Orlando, at his dock Friday morning at 6:45. The forecast was for a beautiful day with winds to about 10 MPH, and a high of 80. Glorious! But, John and I had both decided a light jacket was in order for the early morning ride.
We headed out with the rising sun hoping to catch plenty of bait at the A span of the causeway. There were several boats around already at it, and it wasn't until that moment that I realized, "Geez! It's the day after Christmas, and it's going to be a zoo out here!"
John lined me up on the first chosen bridge pylon, and the first throw came back empty. A move to an adjacent pylon gave us some bait on the second throw, but the third toss on the next pylon was the charm. I had so much bait I could hardly drag the net over the side. We were done, and I estimate there must have been a thousand baits in that big well.
We had about an hour left of an outgoing tide, and I have a favorite spot I like to fish in this circumstance. We also had a -0.5 ft. low tide, and there was land showing everywhere. It would be a challenge to get to my spot. But, I figured that if we could get there we'd be free of any visitors to the area while we were there. We did touch the bottom in a spot that has shoaled up since last winter, but we made it.
Before I could even toss the first live chum we were greeted with fish erupting on bait along the mangrove shoreline. Wow! Would it be snook or jack crevalle? Well, we never did figure out for sure what it was because the first cast to the fish turned out to be a big, fat winter trout. Yes. We caught everything there. We caught several fat trout, several trout, several jack crevalle, and snapper, too! We had a great bite for a while, and it was a mixed bag. But, what John was interested in was the big trout. John's favorite table fare is our speckled trout, and I love them as well. We were taking notes for the opening of trout season on January 1st. We fished that spot and caught a lot of fish until the tide was done.
Our next stop was a place I love to fish on the lowest of low tides just as the tide begins to come in. You can't be too concerned about the bottom of your boat, your prop, or your lower unit if you're going to attempt to get there on a negative tide, though. Most of the time I'm sitting hard aground once I'm there and in the right spot to fish.
There were more snook and trout at our spot, but it was also overrun with ladyfish. We were getting tagged on every cast by one of the three. We wanted to do more big trout scouting, though, and moved on after a while.
Dittos for the next stop. Very shallow and touching bottom. The wind had really kicked at the last spot, and we were wondering about the ride home. It was making it a bit difficult to fish the spot, but we were immediately on another good bite. John had tied on his favorite while curlytail jig, and was on the trout. I was tossing the small shiners we had left. John was outcatching the shiners at first, but eventually, the fish favored the live bait, and the biggest trout came with those.
It was noon already! It had been a great morning with lots of action, and had just zoomed by. We decided we'd head home before the wind got any worse, and John also had to find about forty gallons of gas somewhere along the way. We wound up at the new marina back in Tarpon Point, and were the fifth boat in line for fuel. But, it moved quickly, and we were soon back at John's dock. Even with all the live chumming I'd done all morning, and all the bait we actually used, I dumped a truckload over the side. I'll bet we're going to have some great bait in early spring!
I met Tom Miller and his two sons, Grant (16) and Ben (14), of Plainfield, Indiana, at 0630 hrs. on Saturday morning. We had another great weather forecast, an even lower tide, and I fully expected a mob on the water at some point. I wanted to get my bait and get to fishing, and have most of our fishing done by the time the traffic got really bad.
Tom told me he'd been coming to the islands for years, and that they fished from the beaches but never managed to catch much. He'd never been out with a local guide, and had tried in vain to connect with me this time last year. Tom and the boys were eager to learn and catch some fish.
The boys were a few minutes early, and it was still dark when we idled out to the A span. Man, the water was blowing out of there so hard my trolling motor would barely move us against it. I repeated the drill from the day before, working from platform to platform. I'd hoped to load up with bait in three throws as I'd done Friday, but the first couple of throws came up empty. But, the next two gave us some nice bait, and the last toss was the charm. Again, it was so full I struggled with my back to drag it over the gunwale, and by the time we got the main haul into the well, there were shiners and threadfins all over the boat. The Talon's large well was as full as I've ever had it, I think. We were ready to fish.
I headed right back to where John and I had found all the trout, jacks, and snook the day before, knowing full well they'd be right there. But, when we got there and got set there was nothing popping bait. All was quiet. Until I threw out the first bat full of chum, that is. Then, suddenly, we had fish busting all over. The first cast was eaten immediately, and Ben brought a slab of a 5 pound trout to the boat.
It was obvious we had a lot of fish willing to eat, and I didn't even have the boys checked out on the gear. But, we managed to get everyone up to speed and catching fish pretty quickly. The big trout were really turned on, and the boys caught a bunch of them. Every time one of the guys brought in another big trout I couldn't help but think of John. He would have been in fishing heaven.
We caught snook and snapper, too. I saw some jack raid some of my chum, but we never actually caught one. But, we had some big snook blowing our chum as only a big snook can do. That big loud popping sound they make as they suck a bait at the surface is the greatest sound in fishing. And, once you've heard it, you never forget it, or what it means. I hoped it was just a matter of time before one of those females let down her guard and ate one of our baits with a hook in it.
And, then it happened. All hell broke loose at the end of Tom's rod. He was about to experience the joy of fighting a big snook on the best light tackle money can buy; a Shimano Stella mounted to a G Loomis Greenwater Series rod. An awesome combination. The fish was ripping line from the reel at an alarming rate, and had run right down the shoreline. I knew that without some quick tutoring, Tom had no chance of landing that fish. Actually, no one would have much of a chance without a healthy dose of luck on top of their angling skills. The fish was in perfect position to make a quick turn into the shoreline and cut Tom off on all the barnacle encrusted mangrove roots. I took the rod from Tom just long enough to show him what to do to avert that situation, and then put it back in his hands. He had a lot of line to get back, and the snook had a lot of dangerous shoreline to work with.
But, all the knots held, the line held, and Tom's nerves held, and the snook eventually came to the boat. Tom won the battle and landed a beautiful 9 pound snook. That's no mean feat with such light gear fishing the mangroves. Ben's trout was the biggest fish he'd ever caught, and he was not believing the snook his dad had just landed. I don't know if it was Tom's biggest fish, but it was certainly his biggest snook ever!
We stayed with out spot until the inevitable end of the tide and end of the bite. We waited on the incoming tide to kick to see if we'd get another bite, but the bite was slow, and we elected to go search for faster action.
Water was still an issue. There wasn't any. And, the wind had kicked a bit, although not as bad yet as Friday. The spot I wanted to fish was block from access by a couple of boats. They weren't fishing there, but I would have had to break all the rules of etiquette to get there, and I didn't want to do that. I just kept on going to another spot.
The combination of wind and current there made it next to impossible to fish with three anglers, and the fish weren't biting well, either. The boys did catch a few more trout, and Tom got another nice snook to the boat, but not into the boat.
We moved on, and I decided to see if the grouper would eat while we waited on the water. I couldn't believe how hard the water was running now that it was coming in. It had a full head of steam, and it's been my experience that when the tide moves that fast, the fishing suffers. True, we must have moving water to catch most inshore species, but this was too much of a good thing. We only caught two gag grouper, and of course Ben got the best one. But, it was obvious the grouper weren't in much of a mood to dine, so we moved on.
We would finish the day at the next stop. It was a good one, and the fish were biting and busting chum along the edges. It was just hard to get our small baits to the fish without getting dangerously close to them. The boys caught more trout and some nice snook there. Tom got another nice snook, as did Ben, and Grant got into the game, as well. It was a great end to the day. And, it had been a great day with a great father and sons team. They had done very well.
And, now! It was time for us to bite well at the Waterfront Restaurant. I wondered if it would be so busy we couldn't get a table, but although they were pretty busy, there were still plenty of tables, and we enjoyed a great lunch.
Back at the ramp Tom told me the trip was perfect, and everything he'd wanted it and hoped it would be. I was very happy. Those are the best words a guide can hear. And, I had thoroughly enjoy spending the day with them, too.
I've got a couple more trips coming up next week as we bring in the new year. If the weather holds, they should be good ones, too.