My full week last week was blown out by hurricane Fay, except for a trip with David Hewitt and his brother Doug, of Pittsburgh, that we were able to move to Sunday. But, things were anything but back to normal on Sunday.
Dave and Doug showed up early, and we were at the B Span flats before it was light. There were a couple of other boats already there. The first thing I noticed was that the water was black with tannin stain from all the rain. Had I tasted it, I'm sure it wouldn't have had much salt to the taste. I was concerned that the fresh water run off (intrusion) may have run the bait offshore, and have the fishing upside down, as well.
A huge high tide had already turned and was screaming out. It was no doubt augmented by all the fresh water coming from down the river and from all the local drainage systems. The water was moving so fast that I had to get Doug to put the chum down at about mid-ship, and I then had to throw the castnet to the end of the rope off the bow to get to the bait. But, after we figured out the dynamics and where the bait was holding in the chum, we caught plenty. I had no interest in filling up the well as I usually do, because the tide was already blowing out, and I knew the best fishing of the day would probably happen before 9 AM. So once we had a couple hundred nice looking shiners and some pinfish, we cleaned up and took off. Sadly, the ballyhoo I've been catching every trip were nowhere to be seen.
We already had more weather brewing as a result of the influence of TS Kay, and had thunder in the area. I don't trust any weather cell or rain shower not to start spitting lightning during August, so I chose my first spot accordingly. The water was so black you couldn't see the bottom in a foot and a half of depth!
This spot has been full of fish, and always is any time there are diurnal high tides, especially when they're assisted by a south or west wind. And, though the fish let us know they were there, they refused to eat our offerings. We had several cells of weather with thunder and lightning brew offshore and fall apart just as they came onshore while we were fishing there.
We moved on to another great big water spot. Oh, the fish were there, and I could see them pushing around. Shortly after we got the boat set up, Dave caught the first redfish. I was a nice slot fish, and just beautiful from the tannin water. We had a couple of missed fish, and then Doug boated the second redfish.
I could see major pushes not far from us, and we fished our way toward them. We offered up free-lined shiners, a shiner under a popping cork, and a cut pinfish. We had a big hit on the cut pinfish, but to my amazement the red didn't find the hook. But, a large cell of rain was about to find us, and I didn't want to gamble on it staying lightning free. We took off north to put some distance between us and the storm. It was very hard to figure the exact track of the storm.
We stopped at South Seas and made one drift of the Wall. But, the tide was blowing out of there so hard it was an exercise in futility. We hit a spot on the other side of the pass, and it was hard to hold position even using the Yamaha! What a tide. It was too much to fish, so we moved on.
I moved on further north, and made a stop looking for snook or redfish. We had some baits scaled, but that was about it. We did have several very nice snook cruise right in front of the boat! The fish were there, alright, but just not interested.
We decided upon a big move, and crossed the Sound to the east side and headed north. I went to a spot I've been back fishing for nearly two months, that has yet to fail to give me good redfishing. But, it failed us on this day. We worked the area hard, and caught mangrove snappers, catfish, and one snook. The redfish just wouldn't come out and play.
We headed back south with the idea of hitting one more spot before going to lunch. We stopped at a spot that always offers up snook, snapper, jacks, trout, gag grouper, and the occasional redfish. But, it was more of the same. There was so much floating turtlegrass that it was almost impossible to fish. We had seen that every where we'd been. We even had a school of jacks swim right by the bow of the boat, and ignore all our baits!
It was time for lunch. We finished our day at the Waterfront Restaurant with a fabulous lunch. Doug and I had the seared Cajun tuna steaks. Oh, man. Is that good stuff! Once we were done, the boys decided that since Doug had a plane to catch a few hours later, they'd better head in. They had to get back to Dave's home in Naples, and then back to the airport in time for Doug's flight.
It had been a hard but fun day with a couple of great guys. I had been talking with Dave for a long time via email, and had fished a few months ago with his sister-in-law. Dave was every bit as nice as I had imagined he'd be, and Doug was great as well.
I was back on the water Tuesday with my old friend, Dr. Ron Kolata. I love fishing with Ron, but unfortunately, only get to fish with him a couple of times a year. We always have a great time.
As we headed out to the B span flats, I wondered what the day would bring. The fish hadn't been cooperative on Sunday, and I wondered if it would be more of the same. Bait came pretty quickly after figuring out the under currents, and we had a full well for just the two of us. It was time to find out what mood the fish were in.
We landed at our first destination and went to work. It's one of the best snook spots in shallow water when there's a big tide, but of late I've been taking more redfish than snook from it. Today it was soon, and we caught several. But, after that they quit biting, and we decided to move on.
At our next stop we managed only one redfish and missed a snook. The area is crawling with redfish, but they just weren't interested. Although the tide was better than it had been on Sunday, it was still a very weak tide, and that was probably the culprit.
We moved some distance to a different neighborhood, and set up shop looking for redfish. And, we found some. We offered up live shiners freelined and under a popping cork, and cut pinfish. We caught reds on all three offerings, and put 1 snook and several redfish into the boat before the bite subsided.
Once again we were on the move, and headed north. This would be our last hole of the day. Again, we managed a few more redfish and a snook, as well as the ever present catfish on our cut baits. It was time for lunch. We headed back south to the Waterfront Restaurant. All in all we'd had a great and fun day. Ron had boated 8/9 redfish, a half dozen or more snook, several snapper, and a ladyfish. Ron was quite happy, and so was I.
That evening Ron, his wife Pat, and I went out to dinner at Origami in Ft. Myers, and then I took them to the airport to return their rental car. They would be taking the ferry to the Keys the next morning.
Two days this week I had trips with folks that have been trying to fish with me for years. Russ Dettman and his son Chris, of Palm Bay, Florida, was the first on Wednesday. Russ signed my guestbook back in December of 1998, and he has been a faithful reader ever since. Finally, we were going to meet and get in a day of fishing together.
As we left the dock that morning I had high hopes that I could put Russ and Chris on a good bite, but we soon found out that was not in the cards. We hit the B span flats again for bait. It had been great. But, today things were different. I was having a heck of a time catching bait with Chris chumming. The water is still pitch black, and you can only see a matter of inches into it. What we could see indicated the tide coming in, as it should have. But, as it got lighter, Chris observed that it looked like the chum was going the opposite direction, back toward us. I told him that it was just the fast moving water at the top of the column that was sheering the chum as it dropped into the water column. But, I soon figured out that he was right and I was wrong. The water below the surface layer was racing in the opposite direction creating the sheer. I realized it when I observed the horn of the net taking off in the opposite direction as the surface water. So, we adjusted where we were tossing the chum and where I was throwing the net, and we soon had plenty of bait.
Our first spot started off OK, but soon fizzled. And, that's the way is went for the whole morning. We had a heck of a time getting more than a fish or two from any hole we fished. They'd bite for a few minutes, then stop. Chumming them didn't seem to make any difference. At our first stop Russ and Chris boated 2 snook and 1 redfish. At the next stop it was 1 redfish missed. Moving on to our third spot it was 2 redfish and 1 snook caught. At our fourth spot it was a hot catfish bite!
We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for an early lunch, and would go back out afterward. After some great food and time out of the sun, we headed back out. At our next spot the boys lost 1 redfish and caught 1 snook. We had some hits on our chum, but couldn't muster anything else. It was coming up on 2 PM, and it was hot, and we headed for the ramp.
I told the guys they could fish along the dock for snook while I dumped bait and got the boat ready to trailer. Russ caught a nice Jewfish there to cap off the day. Chris had told me at the beginning of the day he didn't care if he caught anything. At his young age of 23, he'd already learned the true value of fishing and being on the water. It was a tough day for catching, but we'd had a lot of fun, and I'd finally gotten to meet an old internet friend for the first time.
Thursday was another day of meeting and fishing with old friends I'd never met. I know! That sounds funny, but it's true. My customer Thursday was David LaFleche, of Liberty Township, Ohio, and we've been email friends since February of 2002. We have corresponded over these years, and it was so neat to finally meet him, and share the boat with him. I just hoped the fish wouldn't still be in a funk like they were the day before for Russ and Chris.
David was really wired and excited about finally going on this trip, as well. My hopes were high that with improving tides and weather the bite would be better. We figured out the bait at B span fairly quickly, and loaded up. We were ready to take on the day in about an hour.
As we settled into our first spot I had a good feeling in my gut. After seeing that the breeze was out of the northeast, I revised my gameplan. I hadn't fished at this spot in a long time. It was well covered, and there were mullet everywhere. That's usually a good thing. Well, right off the bat, David had a couple of reds and a couple of snook in the boat. Not a bad start.
But, then they stopped bitting, and we moved on. As I approached the next spot on the MinnKota, I could see schools of redfish moving around out in front of us. We had lots of fish here, and my anticipation level was immediately elevated. If I could get these fish to settle in on some chum and eat, David would be worn out in a couple of hours.
But, as we fished four different schools that came right at us, I was unable to get them to stop and settle in so that we could catch a bunch of them. I chummed them, kept baits in front of them, and showed them several different looks, but they were just on the prowl. Stalking those fish was a blast, though, and David got a big kick out of the hunting element of this kind of fishing. David wound up with 6 reds to 10 pounds and a snook from that spot. It was his biggest redfish, as well as his first snook and reds ever.
WE worked those fish for quite a while. The lure of catching a bunch of them was too great to allow us to leave them. And, David told me earlier that the 2 reds and 2 snook we caught at the first spot had already surpassed his best day of fishing. We were enjoying the hunt, and the quality of the fish was great! Finally, we'd fished our way off the flat, and moved on.
At our next stop we only managed 1 redfish and 1 snook. We didn't stay long, and kept working our way along the cover. Finally, we reached our final destination, where David managed to catch several more snook.
It had been a pretty still morning with very little in the way of air moving. I was overheating after four days in the heat, and we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant to cool down and have lunch. Oh, my. What a lunch it was! David told me that the trip had fulfilled his expectations, and that he had loved every minute of it. By his count he caught 8 redfish, 6 snook, and 1 ladyfish. It had been great to finally meet and fish with him.
The last day of the week was equally anticipated, as it was with my friend Terry Ryan and his neighbor Bill, who had been trying to get out with me again for about three years. We've had some fantastic trips together, and between the great fishing, and Terry being one of the funniest people you can have in the boat, we've always had a blast. He keeps me laughing to the point of my cheeks hurting. But, our last several attempts to fish had been ambushed by bad weather a couple times, and red tide. Finally, it appeared we'd get a trip in as scheduled.
Terry brought along his Florida neighbor, Bill, who I took an immediate liking to. We got everything put away, and took off for B span. Bait came easily enough, but kind of disappeared on us before I had a full well. It didn't matter. We had plenty, and were ready to fish.
A nice early morning ride of about twenty minutes landed us at our first spot of the day. The boys wasted no time in getting fish into the boat, and within ¾ of an hour, had a limit of 3 redfish in the well, and had also caught a couple of snook. But, as I had seen all week long, it was hard to keep a sustained bite going, and we moved on once we felt sure it was over. It was a good start.
At our next stop the redfish wasted no time letting us know they were there. But, I knew that! It was just a question of whether or not I could get on a school and get them to eat. Well, we got on a school, but getting them to eat was no easier than it had been all week long. We worked them hard, and they were nice fish to 10 pounds. Terry and Bill were content to stay right there and keep working on them.
We had attracted some company, and there were several boats now within a quarter mile of us, and one about a hundred yards off my port side. They watched us catch a double of nice reds. Terry went to get a drink from his cooler, which I had set between the seat back and my Yeti cooler, but it wasn't there. I had that terrible feeling in my stomach, as I remembered doing somewhat of a "bat turn" as I approached the area, forgetting their cooler was not strapped down. It was gone!
But, we got to looking around the area and spotted it several hundred yards away, drifting on the breeze. Bill said he'd seen it earlier, but from a distance thought it was a marker, or something. He had no idea it was Terry's cooler.
I felt terrible, and asked if they wanted to go get the cooler. Terry and Bill did not want to leave the fish! I told them that someone would surely come along and pick it up before we were done, and they were fine with that. We stayed.
And, who do you think got the cooler? They boat off our port side apparently found the lure of a cooler full of beer and goodies a greater catch than the fish they weren't catching, and went to retrieve it. Terry and Bill had a good laugh because there was no beer in the cooler. Only water and a couple of sandwiches. Geez. I guess we'd be forced to go to the Waterfront Restaurant.
I guess the talk of beer and food put us all in an eating mood, as the boys decided at shortly after eleven it had been a fantastic trip, and it was time to hit the Waterfront. So, off we went, and boy am I glad we lost that cooler. Once there, we discovered J.D.'s awesome Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad on the special menu, and I swear it was the best taco salad I've ever put into my mouth. The flavors were just wonderful, and the chicken spicy hot. That salad was so good that I ordered another to go, and ate it before 5 PM! And, it's a huge salad.
Once back at the dock, I told Terry and Bill they could pitch some baits along the dock and have a good shot at some last minute snook action while I cleaned fish. They decided that was a good idea, and before you know it Terry had broken off his first one. Shortly afterward, Bill hooked a big one, but it finally managed to cut him off on the dock as he got it close to the boat. Terry then hooked another nice snook and won the battle around the pilings. They had a lot of folks looking on!
It had been a great day with Terry and Bill, and we had laughed from the time we left the dock to the time we said goodbye. It was the perfect end to a great week with some wonderful folks. And, this week just reminded me of why I love this business so much.