Mike is the guy who bought my Talon, and I couldn't be more pleased that he owns her. He has a plethora of boats, but loves the Talon, and has made many changes to her since taking ownership. He uses the Talon every chance he gets. We've gotten to be friends over the last few months, and this would be my first time with him in the Talon.
But, this was the night before the trip, and we headed out for Red's for dinner not long after I arrived. I've never been there, and was shocked at how busy it was. It was packed, and there were people stacked up around the bar having cocktails while waiting on their tables. The cocktails were good (great bloody Marys) and the food was excellent.
We wound up back at their home on the canal on Patterson, and were up pretty late sitting around a fire in the back yard on the canal. It was a great evening. We weren't going to be in a big hurry to get up on Sunday morning and get going.
Sunday morning Lindey had breakfast snacks and plenty of coffee for us. After more coffee than I've had in a long time, and stuff I'm not supposed to eat, we made our way to the boat. Gear loaded and crew ready, Mike lowered the Talon into the water. Mike eased the Talon off the lift and we headed down the canal toward the mouth of St. James Creek. There, Mike gave me the helm.
We had a long, sixteen hour groaner of a tide to fish. Those tides are tough. Mike wanted to learn about fishing the winter tides, and wanted to catch some fish and show Joe a good time. Mike told me he'd gotten pretty good at taking the Talon shallow. He'd repaired the jack plate, and moved the controls to the binnacle. But, I suspected he'd never been as shallow as I was about to take him, getting to our first sport for the day.
I positioned the motor at 3", which is where it had been for years while I fished the Talon after the jackplate quit working because I never used it. As we approached the area, I pushed the nose down with the trim tabs, and trimmed the motor up until I could hear open exhaust and the water pressure dropped to a couple of pounds. The final approach was across bottom that looked barely wet. Mike and Joe were white-knuckled, and Mike couldn't believe the boat would actually do that. He said he would never have imagined going that shallow. I told him he'd learn how to do it with time.
We were looking for big winter trout, redfish, winter flounder, and maybe snook, but I didn't really expect to catch any snook, even if they were there. Joe struck first blood with a puppy redfish. Then is was flounder galore. We caught flounder at nearly every hole we fished, but we pulled the majority out of that first hole. The hole was also full of large snook, as well as smaller ones, but they weren't about to eat. I was actually surprised they were there, already. By the time the bite fell off at the first hole we were well on our way to a well full of flounder and trout.
At the second stop we got into the large trout, and of course, some more flounder. By the time we were done with that spot, I was so hungry I couldn't think. I had eaten all that sweet stuff that's not part of my normal diet, and had lots of coffee, and I had the shakes. I needed food. We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant, which I've really missed since I've been kayak fishing. Lindey, Jeff, and Betty came and joined us. It was just what the doctor ordered, and after an order of the best Calamari I've ever eaten, we were ready to get back out there.
Back on the water, we worked our way from pothole to pothole, catching trout and flounder in most of them. The well of the Talon was looking pretty full. But, we weren't done. I asked the guys if the wanted to go see if we could get on some redfish. They were all for it.
After a short ride of a couple miles, we were at my chosen flat. I saw fish push as we came in, and knew the reds were there. We worked the hole with jigs and spoons. Mike and Joe both caught small redfish, and some big trout, but the prize came when Mike stuck a beautiful redfish on his favorite spoon, and put it in the boat. Our day was complete. The well was full. Literally!
The ride home was a good one. We estimated we'd caught over three dozen flounder, and lost I don't know how many, and put back lots of flounder that were just a bit short. We caught lots of trout, and had some big, fat 5 pounders in the well. And the frosting on the cake was Mike's keeper redfish.
It had been a great day, and a great visit with Mike, Lindey, and the gang. It was late, and I left them cleaning fish until God knows when. They were happy.
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Tuesday, I was back with Neil Conklin, along with his friend Jamie. We launched from Castaways on Sanibel, and headed out. We had an extremely low tide, a big barometer, and bluebird skies, as well as cold water. Once out on the flats we went to work on the potholes. But, most of them were nearly full of seaweed blown into them by the winds and tides that come with the fronts. They were hard to fish on such low water, and they weren't working. Worse, after a couple of hours Jamie had to head back in. He has some compressed disks in his back that make it very difficult for him to sit very long on anything. He stayed at Castaways until we returned hours later. I felt bad for him.
Meanwhile, the fish were lock-jawed big-time. There was now barely enough water to float a kayak on a large expanse of flats that would lead me to more great potholes. I told Neil I was going to go see if I could find some fish that would eat. The water was way too shallow to run a trolling motor or paddle, so I decided if was time to see if I could stand all the way up in the Ultimate and pole it. My balance certainly isn't way it used to be, but I found that it was easier than I had anticipated. The trick is to relax, and not try to compensate for every little move.
I poled myself about a quarter mile across the flat to the first holes, and was soon on action. I wanted to make sure it was a pattern before calling Neil and having him come all that way. I didn't want him to come join me to find out I'd only caught one fish! But, I had a good bite, and called him in.
We caught fish, and finished the day in that area. Neil didn't manage any trout on fly, but caught them on the CAL jigs. The tide, pushed back by the constant 15 MPH northeast wind most of the day, never really came in. We did stop at our original holes and catch some nice holes before going in. It was not a good combination for catching. Still, we caught plenty of trout, and took home our two limits of nice fish.
Jamie was there waiting on us when we returned to the ramp. He was able to help me load the kayaks, and explained that his injury didn't effect his ability to lift; only to sit. All in all, it was a pretty good day under the conditions we had to fish.
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Wednesday morning it was beautiful. My customer was Kick Westrate, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. We had an extremely low tide, almost no breeze, and the big barometer. We launched at Estero Bay in Lovers Key State Park.
I told Dick I wanted to troll our kayaks south to explore the myriad of oyster bars there. From a mile or so away they looked like a strange mountain range. Dick was good with that, and off we went. We trolled out jigs down the edges of the main channel, as that was about the only water deep enough to fish. And, the fish love those deep edges. We caught lots of trout and ladyfish.
Once we were at the oyster bars, I went exploring and found redfish tailing in a small sort of lagoon between two sets of oyster bars. They were extremely spooky, and I never got a shot at them. From there Dick and I spent some time exploring the very skinny water around the many bars there looking for tailing redfish, but never found any more.
As the tide continued to come in, I suggested to Dick that we head back north to the area I was familiar with, and had had a good day in a week or so ago. We struck out for the most part for a while. I hit a big redfish in the same hole I'd caught plenty in a week earlier, but it took off so hard it managed to pull the hook about 30 feet away from the boat. Arrgh! I couldn't get another one to eat.
Finally, I went back to my bar hopping roots and took up position on a flat just off an oyster covered mangrove key. Immediately, I was on redfish. They were smacking my silver spoon, sometimes with authority, and sometimes with no commitment. I called Dick to come join me, which he quickly did. We caught 9 redfish, but if we'd caught all that hit our spoons, we'd have caught 30. They were hitting our baits on practically every retrieve, but just weren't aggressive.
Finally, the tide was done and it was time to head in. We hadn't set the world on fire, but we'd had a good time, and it had been a beautiful day to be on the water.
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Thursday, I was back at the little ramp at Tropical Point Rd. on Pine Island, with Allen Harris, whom I'd met the day I fished there with Suzanne King. He was the guy who was nice enough to help me put the boats into the water.
Allen was already there when I arrived. It had taken me nearly an hour and a half to drive the 30+ miles during morning traffic hour. We chatted and eventually got the boats into the water. It was another beautiful morning, and again there was no water. There were big oyster bars sticking up everywhere. And, once we got out there fishing, I realized there was this dense seaweed growing up off the bottom some 3 to 5 feet, that was making it impossible to fish. I've never seen that anywhere else in this area.
We trolled around trying to find some kind of action. We first found loads of ladyfish off one of the bars. They're a blast to catch on the light tackle from a kayak. We also found trout, but I don't think we got one keeper that day. Everything was small but the ladyfish.
I went off exploring while Allen fished the bar. I found redfish tailing three different times, and got one hit, but never got one to eat. Toward the end of the day we got on more trout, but overall, the full moon had the fish shut down. Still, it was a fun day with a great guy, and as soon as Allen figures out how to carry one of the Ultimates vertically on the back of his motor home, he'll be buying one. He loved the boat.
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My Friday trip was with Rick Bardowell, an old friend I hadn't seen in at least seven years, and his long-time friend Dexter Lee, of Weston, Florida. Rick had been in the Ace Hardware business back when we fished, and had sold out and started a company that manufactures custom sized A/C filters. Rick said he hadn't been fishing since. I was excited to see him after all these years, and excited that he was willing to give the kayaks a go. I knew in my gut he would love it.
We still had the same conditions we'd had all week; basically the extreme low tide, big barometer, and the full moon. But, we did have nice weather. We launched out of Castaways, and headed out to the flats. This was one serious low tide!
Once at the fishing grounds there wasn't even enough water to get across the barrier bar. I suggested Rick and Dex cast along the edges for a while. I got out of the boat, and had a snack and did some poking around. I wanted to pull the boats across the flat to the first holes as soon as they were floating well enough to do so.
Once the tide turned, it came in with a vengeance. It was time to fish. I showed Rick and Dex the lay of the land, and told them to fish anywhere there was green, clean bottom. Dex connected with the first monster trout that morning. He got it to the boat, and I got to see it half out of the water. It was a 5 to 6 pound trout! But, it managed to earn its freedom while Dex was trying to get it off the line an on to the stringer. I lost 2 trout in the 4/5 pound range. One was actually in the boat with me, and jumped out. But, it didn't matter. We had a good bite, and through the course of the trip we filled 3 stringers with 3 limits of big trout. We also caught 3 flounder.
Late in the tide I saw what I was waiting for. Suddenly, as if on cue, the mullet began flipping and jumping everywhere on a part of the flat. Porpoises showed up. Instinctively, I knew it was time to go fish in those mullet for redfish. I told the boys I was going to go check on the redfish, and took off. It only took a couple of minutes to get to the school, and make the first couple of casts. I had a redfish on the second cast. I called Rick and Dex in on the reds.
Not long after the guys arrived, the wind flipped around to the west/northwest. I moved around to the upwind side of the school and went to work. The reds were all over the place. I called the guys in. We caught 23 redfish on DOA CAL swimming minnows in Stark Naked color, as well as a bunch of big trout. Rick was really hot on the outsized trout for a while. We didn't keep score on the trout, but we caught a bunch of them, and filled 3 stringers to the limit. Nearly every one of the redfish were the typical winter fish, all around 17 to 17 ½ inches. They're sure fun, though.
And, that was our day. Rick and Dex both had a blast. Dex admitted that when we first got out there and had to wait on the water, he though it would be a dud of a day. He was really happy with the results, and loved the boat. Rick told me he really didn't know what to expect, but had loved every minute of it.
It was a great way to end the week; having a great day with an old friend. It was also new for Rick because he'd never fished artificials to speak of. He got to see how well they can work, and I believe his interest in fishing has been rekindled.
