First up on Sunday were David Twigg and his dad, Clayton. I've known David since 2002, and we've fished together several times. I always remember him as the man with the million dollar smile. This was our first time in the kayaks together.
Mother Nature was conspiring against us. We had a terrible sixteen hour tide that would just crawl all day long. We also had a very big barometer from the front that had come in the previous Thursday, and if fact it remained in the 30.20s in to the next week.
Predictably, the fishing was tough. The fish didn't want to bite early in the trip, but we did get a few trout, and managed one keeper. I didn't know until we got out there that we would have one more obstacle in the way of our catching. The big front that had passed Thursday and brought big winds and rain, had filled the potholes that we fish on the low water, with seaweed. I call it tumbleweed, as it rolls along on the shallow flats in the tide and current just like a ball of tumbleweed. When it rolls into a pothole, it often stays right there. Eventually, the holes fill up and disappear, making fishing them very difficult.
Later, after getting a little bit more water on the flats, we managed to catch four redfish. We couldn't get any more of them to the boat. So, as I had done so many times before, we returned to our original holes to see if the big trout were ready to eat. They would be easier to fish, as the water over the holes would be deeper, now. We got a much better reception then, and put some nice trout on the stringer for the family's dinner. Clayton got a beautiful 23" trout for the best of the day. We put 21, 19's on the stringers, and kept five fish.
David and Clayton were great to be with, and we were blessed with a beautiful weather day. It was good to see David, again and meet his dad. We had a great time!
Monday was the first of the trips with Kelly Mack. Actually, he had a party of about 30 family and friends staying on Captiva, and two fine young men, James and Braden, were the first to go kayak fishing.
The tide was a bit better than the previous day. You could actually make out a curve on the chart. It was another beautiful day weather-wise. The high barometer persisted, and we were five days away from the full moon, so the nights were getting bright. I expected the fish to eat a little better than they had for the Twiggs, but that didn't turn out to be the case. The fish were pretty well lockjawed.
Braden and James made the best of it, though. They fished hard, and enjoyed the boats. Braden easily stood up in the Ultimate. Well, he's sixteen. Actually, it is pretty easy. You just have to relax, first. The boys managed a few trout including two nice keepers. Later on the tide we managed only two redfish. We also got one flounder and ladyfish.
Braden and James were great, and I had a great time with them. I didn't realize until we were back at the dock and I was breaking the boats down for the ride home, that the battery boxes I had installed with a special epoxy called Gflex, had busted loose. I had been assured it would work, but it didn't. Oh, the epoxy certainly stuck to the battery boxes, but there was no evidence I had ever tried to glue something to the hull. Seems nothing stick to the plastic those kayaks are made of.
So, now I was in a panic about keeping the batteries in place on the remaining trips for the week. I got home late, and emailed and called Brent George, asking him if he could relieve me of taking him and the family out in a rental boat to go shelling and sightseeing the next day.
He wrote me back and said that a life-long friend had just died, and that he was so bummed all day that he'd forgotten all about renting the boat for Tuesday. So, there was no problem. He wasn't really up to it, anyway.
So, I spent half of Tuesday in an ACE Hardware trying to put together the right combination of pieces to bolt the battery trays on to the tunnel of the boats. But, I hadn't thought until I was about ready to undertake the project that the sealant had to set for at least 24 hours, or it would fail. I didn't trust it to hold, anyway. So, the quick fix I came up with was to set the batteries on a piece of soft, sticky cabinet liner that grips anything with weight quite well.
Wednesday, it was Kelly Mack and his son Adam in the kayaks for a day of fishing. Based on the potholes full of seaweed in the nearer areas, I decided to make a longer run and see if we could find some potholes that had not gotten filled with seaweed. We did.
The morning started off with a bang, and some action, when Adam hooked a big redfish on his first or second cast. I was about a cast away off his starboard side, and heard the drag start screaming, and knew what he had. He seemed to be getting the fish under control when he somehow got the hat he was wearing mixed in with the rod and reel, and the fish got away. Bummer. On the very next cast he hooked a big, fat speckled trout, and it managed to get away close to his boat.
We did have a better bite than we'd had the two previous days. We caught a lot of trout and ladyfish, and I spent a lot of time hunting smaller potholes and fish to call the Macks in to. We wound up with five keeper trout, but not the size that we typically catch in my plugged up holes.
Later on the tide we managed to put five redfish in the boats, including one keeper. We all lost some as well. Between us I think we let another five fish get away.
All in all it was a good day. Kelly was a funny guy, and lots of fun. I think it was Adam that did the impossible that day. I turned around to check on him and he was standing up in the Manta Ray 12, which is a SOT (sit on top) kayak, in no way designed to stand up in. He made it look easy, but I asked him to please stay seated until the performance was over so he wouldn't ultimately capsize and ruin everything in the boat. Talk about good balance. I was impressed.
Now, it was Thursday, and time for the first of two trips with Brent George. Since he was staying on Fort Myers Beach, we met at the Circle K on the corner of McGregor and John Morris, and he rode with me to the ramp. I had totally forgotten how funny Brent is. This is no exaggeration. He kept me laughing all the way to Captiva, and then most of the day in the boats on the water, and then on the way home. He's one of those people who are just naturally funny. Everything that comes out of his mouth is funny.
We were greeted at the ramp by a strong north wind. The barometer was still high and steady, the moon nearly full, but a much improved tide, at least. Somehow, I knew that whether we caught the first fish or not, we were going to have fun.
We made an even longer run that morning, in search of good potholes to fish on the low water. I parked Brent on a good looking hole, and moved on down to the next series of holes. Almost immediately I hooked what well could have been the Lockness Monster. Well, I know it was there, but I never saw it. Whatever it was, it was big and powerful, and soon had me wishing I had a bigger reel and more line. I began putting even more serious pressure on the fish than I had been. So far, so good. All the knots held. I was now very low on line, and the fish was still going. I knew that if I pulled my stake out, I'd wind up in Cuba or some other hostile country, so I put even more pressure on the fish. THE HOOK PULLED! Argh!
Through the rest of the day we caught three flounder, some trout, 1 catfish, ladyfish, and three redfish. We kept four trout for the table. And, we caught a ton of laughs!
Friday morning Brent and I were at it again, and met at the same place. This time we caught a break from the wind, and had only a light east breeze. It was a beautiful morning. We fished different holes than we'd fished all week on the early tide. We had a good trout and flounder bite. Right away we had a five pound trout on the stringer. And, later we didn't. Turns out I didn't have the locking clasp on the Sampo stringer all the way locked. Soon as the big trout pulled hard enough to open it, he swam away unnoticed. Guess I have to start wearing reading glasses on the water. NOT!
We caught seven flounder, and lots of trout and ladyfish early, and Brent also had a nice keeper trout and a redfish. Late on the tide we had a pretty good redfish and big trout bite, and put another eleven reds in the boats, and several large trout including another 5 pounder that didn't get away. I did have a large trout jump right out of my lap to its freedom, though. It was a good day with plenty of fish and plenty of laughs.
And, I close this week's report with a new kayak fishing goal; to get my buddy Terry Ryan and Brent George on the same kayak trip. Those are two of the funniest guys I know.
