I laid listening for what seemed hours early Monday morning to thunder and watching the lightning lighting up my bedroom. I finally crawled out just before 4 AM and fired up the technology center to check several different radars and weather opinions. The weather was coming in off the gulf from the southwest, but it appeared that it might be clearing out early in the daylight hours. By the time I got to the ramp things were looking pretty good.
My Monday trip was with Herb and Beth Smith, a wonderful couple from Baltimore I'd fished with back in December. I was to pick them up at the Waterfront Restaurant in St. James City at 0630 hrs. They arrived there shortly after I did, and we were off as we discussed the weather.
After a short ride we were at Chino Island chumming for bait. The bait came in very well, and we loaded the well pretty quickly. But, as we did so we could see what appeared to be another round of weather building in the gulf. I decided we'd do our fishing in the area of Wulfert Keys and Buck Key, where we would be in easy hearing range of the lightning alert at the gold course at the north end of Sanibel.
WE managed to fish a couple of quick spots without so much as a bite before we were looking at lightning and hearing thunder. What was north was already out of our weather picture, but what was southwest was a big concern. I didn't like what I was seeing, and it was moving quickly. I decided to call it a day, and headed back to the Waterfront. I much rather err in favor of safety. There's no fish worth dying for, and I'm sure not lightning proof.
Back in the relative safety of my office I monitored the radars all day long, and it appeared to me that I had made the correct call. Tuesday I received an email from Herb and Beth applauding my decision.
I didn't attempt to get back on the water until Friday morning, with my friend Ken Padilla, from Sarasota, and his son Ken Jr. The forecast was for a 60% chance of storms after 2 PM. Imagine my surprise when I was again awakened in the wee hours by thunder and lightning. Again, I crawled out early and fired up the equipment, and found there was a large area of storms coming up from the south. It appeared that things would clear out after the storms went through, so I began my morning drill. I rode my bike down to the boat yard in the rain, and it rained as I made my preparations. It rained as I drove to the ramp and put the Talon in the water. And, it rained, and rained, and rained. So much for forecasts! We sat in our vehicles and waited.
Finally, with the rain ended but bad weather still threatening, we decided to go straight across the river and catch bait. That way we would be close to the ramp if the weather kicked up, again. If it looked OK when we were done, we'd go fishing. Ken Jr. had driven down from Mayport Naval Station in JAX, and we had no alternate dates. We had to try to make this work. Fortunately, by the time we were done with bait just after 8 AM, things were looking pretty good. We were going fishing.
We all agreed to my previous strategy of fishing close to a lightning detector, and headed back to the same area to do our fishing. We were well into the tide, and by the time we got to our destination there was plenty of water everywhere. We settled on our first spot and went to work. The first bait that hit the water was eaten, and Ken Jr. (Kenny) soon had a redfish in the boat. It was just short of keeping size, though. The problem is that often catching a fish on the first cast is a jinx. I hoped that wouldn't be the case after all we'd gone through to fish.
It took a while to get to the second bite, but finally we broke the ice. We did not have the hot bite that I and my fellow guides were expecting. But, we kept at it, and eventually caught fish. We caught several snook at that spot before moving on, but never could get another redfish to bite. And, we wanted a couple for dinner since snook season is closed, and the boys didn't care for trout.
We moved on to the next spot, and again caught several snook. Then it was over. At the next spot it was more of the same. Several snook and then it was over. And, then again at the next spot. The last spot seemed the charm, as we were immediately in to fish. Both Ken and Kenny hooked and lost nice redfish. After that, it was all snook. We couldn't get the reds to bite, again. By this time we were fishing on the first hours of the falling tide. It was nearing 2 PM. We'd managed to put together a descent day of fishing, and now had a decision to make.
We could see some big cells bubbling up back toward home, and they were building quickly. From experience I knew that if we left right then and they kept building, we'd be lucky to make it to the ramp before the weather hit. Ken had also been watching them on our backside with great interest, and had no problem with heading toward home.
By the time we got to York Island one of the now developed thunderstorms lit the sky with the first big bolt of lightning! I picked up the speed a little at that point. As we rode across the front of St. James City and down Miserable Mile we watched frequent lightning out in front of us. I added a little more speed. Finally, we were safely at the ramp, and I quickly got the Talon trailered. Ken and Kenny were starved, as they'd not brought any snack or drinks, and they were anxious to get to the closest restaurant. We said our goodbyes.
It wasn't long after I got to the boatyard and began my cleanup routine, that the thunder faded away. Apparently, the sea breeze had stopped the weather right at the coast, and pushed it inland. I was still happy with the call we'd made, and it had been a good day that ended well.
I was actually almost surprised that it wasn't storming Friday morning when I awoke. I'd gotten used to the pattern. But, after firing up the pooter, I soon found that there was weather brewing just offshore and to the south. I had a feeling that it would be a factor by departure time for me and my friend John Wodjak, and his friend Mandy Arnold. I hoped I was wrong, as this trip was special. John's wife Vicky had arranged this trip for John's birthday which was earlier in the week. Vicky's best friend Mandy's birthday was on Sunday. Because Vicky had to stay home and take care of their beautiful baby Maddie, who is about a year old, she decided to have Mandy join John on this trip as a present to both of them. Now, is that a great gal, or what!? Better yet, Vicky had saved all this as a surprise at the last minute.
Seeing the weather brewing to the south tempted me to call and ask John and Mandy if they wanted to cancel and reschedule. But, this was supposed to be a special day, and I wanted it to work, and decided against it. I hoped that it would clear out quickly if the weather did become a factor.
By the time John and Mandy arrived the skies were indeed threatening. It was good to see John. It had been a while. John is always great, and a lot of fun to have in the boat. Vicky had told me that Mandy was very pretty, and a whole lot of fun. Mandy was indeed a beautiful girl, and I could tell right from the introduction we were going to have a fun day no matter what.
We decided to again stick close to home and catch bait. My friend Capt. Pat Burns told me he'd gotten good bait on the Punta Rassa flats the day before. We decided to head out there to see if we could load up and thereby keep a safe eye on the weather as we did so. The bait was great, and we were loaded and ready to fish in less than an hour.
We headed back inside and up toward the Sound. But, as we approached St. James City we rendezvoused with a big nasty looking storm coming on shore and spitting lightning and heavy rain. I quickly turned toward St. James and the Waterfront Restaurant. Shortly after we arrived G. arrived to begin setting up, and let us in. He cued up the weather radar for us. The storm was now raining itself out, and it appeared to be clear sailing behind it.
As we headed to our first spot John and Mandy told me that they had to bring fish home for dinner. We'd all be in big trouble if we didn't. That meant we needed to catch some keeper redfish. We had beautiful shiners, pinfish, and ballyhoo with which to try to persuade them to eat. Fortunately, it didn't take us long to strike first gold. We had a keeper red in the boat. And, we had a bite. Wasn't a hot one, but it was a descent bite.
We'd not been at it long when a flats boat came in behind us and parked right off my port side the length of a cast away and began fishing. We couldn't believe the nerve. There is no way I'd come in on someone without an invite, or without previously having permission to do so. The boat had a large graphic on the side the read "Johnny Dollar". I think I could give it a better name. I told John and Mandy that the best revenge we could take would be to catch fish while they caught none. And, that's exactly what we did. Mandy caught a beautiful trout of nearly 5 pounds, and the both caught half dozen redfish and some snook.
Once our spot slowed down we moved around to the port side of Johnny Dollar and again got on snook action. Predictably, they left. I love it when a plan comes together. After a few snook there we moved to another spot where we caught a few more. But, the best bite of the day came when our chum got blasted a short distance away from us while it was trying to escape. There were obviously a lot of snook there that were willing to eat. I made a small move with the boat and we caught a bunch of snook and one last redfish out of that pothole.
We had our limit of redfish and a big trout in the well. Our fish order was covered. And, John and Mandy were starved, as was I. We decided that we could call is quits and head to the Waterfront Restaurant for a birthday lunch. The unknown was whether we'd even be able to get a place to dock, or a table inside if we did get a dock.
As we made our no wake approach to the canal it appeared there was a big goat screw going on at the Waterfront, with a number of boats jockeying around in the canal. But, by the time we got there, it was over, and there were actually several slips open. John nor I could believe it. We were even more shocked once we got inside to find plenty of open tables. That's a first for a Memorial Day weekend at the Waterfront at noon. I guess it speaks volumes about the economy.
Well, as luck would have it the Bahamanian Cracked Conch was on the special menu, and Mandy and I were happy campers about that. I love that stuff, and it's the best I've ever had.......Anywhere! Mandy agreed once we were served.
It was a great and memorable lunch. We told stories on ourselves as we ate and had lots of laughs. It was obvious that John and Vicky, and Mandy and her husband Jeremy had a great friendship, and a book full of good times and great memories together. It was a wonderful day, and I know I had every bit as much fun as John and Mandy. Well, I hope they did. It had been a better day of fishing than I expected on a Memorial Day weekend, too.
The real challenge will likely come on Memorial Day itself, with my old buddy Terry Ryan. The weather will be cleared out and back to normal. Every trip with Terry is a laugh fest. I had dinner with Terry and his family at Pinchers Crab Shack Saturday evening after fishing with John and Mandy. As if I had already laughed enough all day, by the time we split up around 8 PM my cheeks and sides hurt from laughing so much. Monday will be a good day, and I've only got one day to rest my cheeks!