I was supposed to fish on Monday with Bob Johnson, on what was to be the first of three trips. But the fishing last week was so bad, and yet another front was on us, and I recommended we reschedule our trip. That's the advantage of being local. You can pick your days.
There wasn't an option for my first trip Tuesday with Joshua Lobe, his wife Sharon, and son Jonas, of South Burlington, Vermont. And, the reports I got from those who had worked on Monday were grim. Tales of lockjaw. It was sounding as if this would be another credibility day.
With everything loaded we headed up the river to Miserable Mile on our way to the Sound. It was in the mid-50's, but cold. There was a brisk NE wind already blowing. In fact, it had been howling all night long, and I had spent much of the night listening to my big wind chimes play hard rock tunes as the palm tree kept rhythm against my bedroom wall. The low tide was to be a -0.3 ft. a couple of hours later, but the wind blowing for days from the north had the tide well below that already. There was land showing everywhere.
We arrived at our first stop which is well sheltered from a north wind. As we began our approach on the trolling motor there were snook scooting in every direction, but they would let us get nearly on top of them before they'd move. That pretty much tells the story of the fishing, right there. The fish don't want to move.
Josh and I went to work trying to figure out if there was a color, speed, or action that would trigger something to eat. Josh did have a couple of follows, and did hook a nice trout. It found freedom right at boat-side. A little later I actually caught a snook on a Baby Bass Exude RT slug. I was shocked a snook had actually eaten.
We stayed there until the tide was almost done, and then used the slack tide to travel to the next stop. I will still feeling confident that we would be able to put some nice trout in the boat, and perhaps get on some ladyfish, too. But, was I wrong. We fished several great potholes that yielded us two nice trout. Lockjaw was again the order of the day.
We turned our attention to redfish. I knew right where they were. Could we get them to eat? We worked the area over well, both potholes and flats, with gold and silver ½ oz. Bagley hammered finish spoons with built in rattles. Great spoons that have been doing well when the fish are willing to eat. It was more of the same. We couldn't buy a bite.
Desperate to put Josh on some kind of bite, we went grouper fishing. The inshore gag grouper and Jewish seem to play by different rules, and will often bite with everything else is shut down. We did manage to get two fish to eat, but that was it. It just wasn't in the cards.
We'd beaten the water to a froth while Sharon read and Jonas mostly listen to a book on his player. It was now around 2 PM, and the tide was done. It had been a fun day with a great family, and Josh assured me that he'd had a blast, and learned a lot.
Wednesday, I was to fish with Martin Wenick, whom I'd first fished with back on February 10th, and had a great time. Martin was a great guy, and fun to have in the boat. We had a good trip, too.
But, knowing that Martin would be here for some time yet, I decided to contact him and see if he had the option to move our trip to Thursday. I figured that moving a day ahead would give us a little warmer day, a little warmer water, a little less wind, a little lower barometer, a little better shot at having bait, and a little better chance the fish would eat. His schedule was clear, and we were able to reschedule to Thursday.
Thursday was supposed to bring northwest wind gusting to 20. But, when Marty and I left the dock it was already blowing pretty hard, but out of the east. I already had my strategy laid for a northwest wind. That would have to be revised.
Marty wanted to take home some dinner for his last two nights here, so I thought it best to begin with trying to put some nice keeper trout into the boat to take care of the food order. Redfish would be much harder to come up with, and we could only keep one. We made our first stop at McIntyre Creek, which will usually have very nice trout along the edges this time of year. It's best on the outgoing tide, and we had an hour so left of falling water. Even trout have been tough to catch lately, but we did manage a few trout, a small jack, and a puffer on our Exude jigs, and put two nice keepers into the well. As the tide came to a stop the bite quit, and we moved on.
Our next stop was at a series of large potholes further north. They're usually full of nice trout and the occasional redfish this time of year. We worked our way half way down one of the holes, anchoring and working the edges, and caught a few more trout, including two more keepers, but the bite I was looking for just wasn't there.
We moved on to a chain of smaller holes that I love to fish. Over the years John Hitt and I have had great success taking big, fat winter trout from them. But, on this day they weren't having anything to do with us. I had one hit, which I missed, and that was about it.
The wind was still strong from the east, and I knew that the tide would never come close to reaching the height it was supposed to according to the NOAA tide predictions. I figured that if we were going to try to catch a redfish we'd better get busy. Marty was all for it, and it didn't take long to get to our next spot.
After motoring in to the flat with the Minn Kota to get the wind at our back and the fish at our front, we began casting our gold and silver Bagley's spoons. My first cast was crushed as soon as it hit the water, and Marty saw the boil from the fish, too. But, somehow the redfish didn't find the hook. A little later Marty brought his spoon in and it was tangled in the leader, which was wrapped behind the weed guard. This only happens when the red swims into the spoon and pushes it forward as he attempts to eat it. If the fish then realizes that it's not the real deal, he'll get rid of it, and the angler rarely feels anything at the other end of the pole.
We made one more move and landed at North Captiva, where we again struck out. Marty had another look or two, but we never were able to get a redfish to commit and eat a spoon. Our tide was now about out of gas, and we were ready to head for home. Marty had an afternoon commitment he had to keep.
Marty was a great partner to have in the boat on a tough day. Marty is a very personable guy, and easy going with a great sense of humor. We had fun chatting and telling stories, and sharing the issues we all face these days.
My Friday trip was to be with Ken Padilla, from Sarasota, whom I hadn't fished with a several years. He's an avid fisherman and hunter, and I had really enjoyed our first trip together. I was really looking forward to this trip, and could not have imagined the weather or fishing could be this crazy when we booked his trip.
I know Ken wants to have a good day of catching if at all possible, and the handwriting was certainly on the wall. It was not likely to happen. So, I went straight to my office to get his numbers and call him, even before cleaning up the Talon. But, all I got was answering machine messages. I figured he must already be on his way down, and had really hoped to reach him before he departed Sarasota.
About an hour later Ken called me, and the cell number he was on was different from what I had. He was indeed in Ft. Myers, but Google had led him on a wild goose chase trying to find his motel. I explained the situation to him, and the prospects of catching, and he quickly decided to reschedule his trip. I felt terrible, but was glad he had the option to do so. I used Friday to take the Talon to Fowler Marine for some routine maintenance that needed doing.
I've received several fishing reports from local customers who were out on Saturday ahead of the big front that is passing through as I write this report. It brought with it some rain and winds to 36 MPH. There goes the fishing for another week. But, the reports I received were more of the same, too. No one caught squat!
I don't have much going on this week, which is probably fortunate. Windy days and unseasonably cold weather will again be the on tap for a good part of this week. I've got a busy month for the rest of March. Gees, I hope this weather settles down by then!