First up on Tuesday was my old friend Dale Grantman, and his twenty-one year old grandson John, of Urbandale, Iowa. Dale and I have been fishing together since back around 2000. He's a wonderful guy now eighty-one years young, who's easy going and has a great sense of humor. This was my first time to meet John.
We left the dock at 0600 hrs. and headed to the Tarpon Bay flats for bait. I started things off and showed John how to dispense the chum so he could take over. The first throw of the net was pretty good, and I thought we would quickly be done and gone fishing. But, with each throw of the net, bait got scarcer and harder. Eventually, we loaded the well, but by then I was bushed.
We headed to the McKeever Keys to see if we could find some redfish. Dale wanted some meat for dinner, and with mostly small trout left around, and snook closed until September, redfish is the name of dinner. Once we settled in on the flat at McKeever, we were barely floating. I was a bit surprised, as the tide was starting from a point of half high.
The first shoreline we fished, which has been good over the years, gave us nothing. A move to another shoreline nearby gave John his first redfish. It really attacked the bait, and didn't give John a chance to yank before he cranked. A few minutes later John had another nice redfish in the boat. We were fishing live shiners under a popping cork. If I remember correctly, we also missed a couple of fish there before it was over.
From there we had a long dry spell. We hit spot after spot without so much as a hit. And, we were in places that I know always have redfish in them. Then, we found out what as going on. Nearly everywhere we went we were visited by big blacktip sharks of five to six feet long. They are the kiss of death on redfishing on a flat. Those blacktips will ravage a school of redfish, killing and eating indiscriminately. No fish is safe. The redfish instinctively know how the sharks feed, and will quickly disappear, probably not to be seen again on that tide
Finally, as we neared the end of the tide, Dale was practically yanked out of the boat by a 26+ inch redfish when it savaged his shiner. It gave Dale a great fight, and best redfish of the day honors. Dale was tickled that he had bested John's redfish.
We fished a while longer and hit a few more spots, but the fish just wouldn't eat. So, we decided we would eat, and headed to the Waterfront Restaurant. After a great lunch and some time to relax, we decided we'd hit another spot or two on the way home. We had some hits on our chum, and had a hit or two that were missed. As we fished we watch with great interest as some cells of rain quickly built to our north. It wasn't long before they were dumping heavy rain, and I anticipated lightning at any time. We took it too the ramp. The rain came right in behind us, and Dale commented that he was glad we headed in when we did. A short time later, back at the house, it really cut loose.
We only had three fish for our efforts, but Dale and John did manage to take plenty of fish home for dinner. It had been a fun day with Dale and John, albeit a bit frustrating from the guide's standpoint.
Wednesday brought my first trip with John Hunt, his daughter Rachael, and friend Guy Casper, of Tallahassee, Florida. John has the distinction of being the first aircraft salesman I've ever met. He also has the distinction of being the first customer I called by the wrong name all day long!! And, he didn't tell me.
I was a bit spooked by how the bait had acted at Tarpon Bay the day before with Dale and John, and decided to stop at B Span flats for bait, instead. Although we did get a couple of dozen baits right off the bat, it quickly dried up. And, we couldn't get it back, much to my chagrin. Finally, I conceded the point and headed back to Tarpon Bay. Ironically, John quickly had the bait chummed up, and we loaded up quickly. Go figure.
With a pretty brisk breeze blowing out of the east, I decided to stay on the east side of the Sound. We headed north toward a series of flats I like to fish for redfish, intently watching the water as we went. We wound up settling in right among a bunch of redfish who didn't even seem to mind that we were there. The stayed amazing close to the boat, and never really spooked and ran. They weren't a bit bashful, and we saw a lot of them. They also weren't hungry, and wouldn't eat. We didn't even get a bite.
After giving the reds longer than we probably should have, we moved on. We hit a number of spots, but only one broke the ice with a quick jack attack. Finally, I wound up back at McKeever Keys where we'd scored redfish the day before, confident we would again catch a few. It's the way redfish are. But, it wasn't to be. The fish wouldn't eat. We moved on.
After hitting a number of spots without seeing any action, I finally settled on a great spot that has been producing redfish every time I've been there this spring. We got set up, baits in the water, and did some chumming. Soon, we saw fish pushing behind out baits and heading our direction. I wasn't sure if there were reds among what was mostly mullet, but once they began chasing some of my chum, I knew we had fish in front of us, and it looked like they might eat.
It wasn't long before the big redfish were swirling on our baits, and blowing up on them. It's so natural for people to want to strike what they see, instead of what they feel. And, John and Guy did some of that, and missed a few fish. But, once the reds began really slamming the baits, it was a done deal. John and Guy wound up with four beautiful redfish in the boat. Rachael didn't fish.
It was somewhere along that time line somewhere that I realized that I had thought we were fishing on a new moon, but were actually fishing the full moon. It was something John (Tom) said in response to a comment I had made that tipped me off. I felt like an idiot. In my whole career I don't recall ever going out there not knowing exactly what the tide was doing. And hell. At this point I still didn't have a clue I'd gotten hung up on calling John, Tom! Get my rubber room ready for me, gang. I might be needing it!
Well, anyway. We hit a couple more spots after the bite quit there, and had some scaled baits and missed a couple more fish, and that was the day. I was amazed that Rachael had not complained one time about the heat, and she never seemed to be bored. Amazing for a twelve year old. John and Guy were great, and very patient with the slow bite. The day was over, and I still hadn't realized I was calling John, Tom, and he hadn't told me.
Later that evening, I went to make some notes for the fishing report to John's file, and that's when it hit me. "Damn! I've been calling him Tom all day, and his name is John!" I don't know how I got off on that tangent. But, before I could put together an apology and send it to him, he wrote me an email letting me know, and told me I could call him Tom for as long as I wanted! What a great guy!
After Thursday off, I was back out with Dale Grantman and grandson John, on Friday. I could not possibly have imagined how tough a day was about to transpire as we left the dock. I headed to Tarpon Bay fully expecting bait to come easily. Well, that was the first surprise of the morning. It didn't! It seemed almost a repeat of Tuesday morning, as we started off with a couple of good tosses, and then things got tough. We wound up with plenty of bait for a day of fishing, but I worked hard for it.
Things didn't get any better from there. It turned out to be a day of complete and total lockjaw! We did manage one trout and a hardhead catfish at our first stop, went a long time without any action at all other than snook scaling our baits for us, and then caught a jack and lost a redfish at our last stop. And, we found out late that we had another big blacktip shark cruising the area. Not much point in talking about all the lack of activity for most of the morning. It sucked!
We went back to the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch, where I told Dale I'd be happy if he'd just give me some gas money and we'd call it even for the day. I didn't feel right charging him for such a slow day. But, Dale being the man of honor and great character that he is, insisted on paying me. I did get him to reduce the amount he paid me, but I thought it should have been more.
Back at the dock, Dale even told me to call him if I had an opening next week, and he'd love to go. I explained to him that the tides next week are horrible, and the fishing may well be even tougher than it had been on this day. I am blessed to have to have such a loyal customer and friend as Dale.