First up on Sunday was my good friend Dr. John Hitt, of UCF. He was over from Orlando for some quick R & R, and was returning on Monday. We had no moving water for most of the morning, but would have to be back in fairly early so that John could get his boat dried out. John's primary interest was taking a nice limit of top 'o the slot trout home, and we would work on that goal first.
We pointed the Coastal down the river at around 6:30 AM toward Tarpon Bay. Bait had been good there last week, and I expected if would be good this morning. There were only two other boats in the area already working on bait when we arrived.
We went to work chumming, and we had just enough water movement to carry our chum and call the bait. It wasn't long before we had plenty of bait in front of us, and within an hour the well was loaded with beautiful bait. We were ready to fish.
We headed north into the Sound, and stopped at McIntyre Creek to see if the trout were hanging there on the crawling outgoing tide. We had a descent bite for a while, but the fish weren't the big yellow mouths we were looking for.
We moved on, and settled into a beautiful spot in the Sanctuary. Although we had no moving water until noon, we did have a good big trout bite. We limited out on beautiful trout, and caught a jack crevalle and a mangrove snapper, and lost a redfish. We didn't see any snook action until the tide turned and began moving in. It was then that with chumming, we managed to catch some nice snook, including two keepers at 28 and 30 inches. The bite was good enough that we spend the whole morning right there, steady catching fish. It was a good day, but then any day fishing with John is a good day.
Monday brought my second trip with Gary Owens. Gary and I had a great trip last week, but my gut and the tide chart told me that this day would be tough. The water would be laying flat-line for most of the morning.
I had learned a few things about Gary on our first trip; that he is an avid angler, a skilled angler, and an extremely nice, easy going guy. He was great to have in the boat, and today his wife Susan was joining us. I hoped she was patient.
We headed straight to Tarpon Bay for bait, and although with no moving water to speak of, we did manage a full well of beautiful shiners in an hour. We were right on schedule. I allot an hour for catching bait. If it takes longer than that, something is wrong.
We headed up into the Sound with our full well, fully prepared to do a lot of chumming. We were met with what I'd expected; lockjaw. I had hoped beyond hope that we'd at least have a bite or two, but all we got was scaled baits. After working the area well, we moved on. I needed to find some moving water, which means cuts, channels, and flats that go from deep to shallow in a short distance.
Our first fish came at our second stop where we immediately tagged a jack crevalle with the chum. We had a bunch of them around for a short time, but they don't hang around long. After a few missed hits they were gone. Soon afterward, we had some snook action, and caught perhaps half a dozen of the line-siders before moving on.
Our next stop at a pretty mangrove key gave us some more action. The first fish was a redfish, followed by several more snook. It wasn't a big bite, and didn't last all that long, but at least we got some fish!
With that bite over we moved on north in search of redfish. We settled in an area that I had began fishing again last year after years of not fishing it. It was time for it to be full of redfish, but if they were there, they were having no part of us. But, the only water movement was from the wind on the surface. We kept moving.
Our next stop was at a snook spot pretty far north in the Sound. Again, I hadn't been there since last year during the summer. Holy smokes! Was this place full of monster snook. They were everywhere, I we (I) saw many that were is the 3 to 4 ft. range. But, as you might have guessed, we only got a couple to eat. Mother Nature just wasn't ringing the dinner bell!
Our next stop was a similar experience. The spot was full of snook, and the largest I saw as we left was some 4 ft. long. But, we couldn't get them to do more than pop a few of our chums. It was time for lunch for some hungry anglers.
We headed back down the Sound on what seemed a very long ride to Gary, to the Waterfront Restaurant. You don't realize how many miles you cover on the water when you do it in short legs, going from spot to spot. We had run a long way. After a great lunch, we decided to hit a spot or two more, looking for a bite. But, our efforts only netted us one more snook, and one missed. It was getting pretty late, and it was time to call it a day.
We had worked hard for what we'd caught, and done all right, but by our standards it was a tough day of catching. But, having great folks in the boat always makes the tough days easier to accept.
After taking the next two days off because of the very poor tides, Gary, Susan, and I were back at it again on Thursday, hoping that the sixteen hour crawling tide would be enough to at least give us a bite.
Bait was hard to catch at Tarpon Bay. We managed to get bait, but I really worked hard for it, and we didn't have the big load that we'd normally have. We'd have to be careful not to chum ourselves out of bait, later.
Our first stop up in the Sound was a dud. It is full of snook and big winter trout, but we couldn't get them to bite. It wasn't the beginning I was looking for. Things quickly improved at our next stop, though. We had a hot trout bite, and they were very nice fish. Susan was wrecking them. For some reason Gary wasn't catching them like she was. All bites eventually end, though, and once that one did we moved on.
Our next stop put us on tons of snook, and there were plenty of big ones. But, we couldn't get them to eat. We moved less than a mile to a redfish spot, and got one hit, which didn't find the hook. We couldn't get another fish interested after that. Another stop gave us one gag grouper, and a couple of break-offs, but the gags weren't in much of a mood to play, either.
The last stop of the day was the coup de grace. We found a pretty steady snook bite for quite a while, and Gary and Susan even got a small snook double. We were close to rapping it up for the day, as Gary and Susan had to be back at a reasonable hour to begin packing for an early trip in the morning, when I heard from my friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez. He was doing an afternoon trip, and had not had much luck catching bait. We told him where to find us, and gave him all but a dozen or so of our shiners to help him get through his trip. We caught another snook or two, and called it a day.
Although it had been spotty, with a couple of good bites along the way, it had been a pretty good day with plenty of trout and snook to the boat. And, Susan had really gotten the knack of setting up on the fish, and done well.
The week ended Friday with a trip to Port Manatee, and a long wait just to pick up a TWIC ID card. Oh, don't get me started on that deal!
Next week brings five trips and much better new moon tides. There are also rumors of late season cold fronts coming. We'll have to see how it plays out, but if the fronts don't mess with us too badly, it should be a good week of fishing.