First up on Sunday was Gordon Perkins, who has recently moved to Ft. Myers, and has his own Native Ultimate 14.5' kayak he brought down from Wisconsin. He used my Ultimate 12 though, as he wanted to try out the trolling motors and see how my boats were rigged. We met at the Circle K at John Morris and McGregor, and headed to Sanibel.
Traffic wasn't bad, and we were in the water by around 9:30 AM. It was a beautiful morning. The tide was running hard. By the time we got to our first stop the water had moved in noticeably. The day began well with a good bite from trout, flounder, and ladyfish. I got several undersized flounder, but Gordon got one large one that he didn't keep. Wish I'd seen him catch it. I love 'em to sashimi them. We put 5 large trout and 1 flounder on the stringer while fishing potholes on that early stage of the tide.
When that action quit, it was like flipping a switch. The water had moved much higher, and the fish were on the move. So, it was time for us to move and change our targets to redfish. We made a move of about a mile on the trolling motors and fished two spots in that area. We found more trout and the redfish that I knew would be there. But, again it was short lived because the water was coming in so hard. We made another move.
Now we were on a shallow flat and the reds were there, and bit well for the rest of the tide. We caught them on DOA Cal 4" shad, and Gulp New Penny jerkbaits. I had one run of 6 reds in a row. I don't remember how many Gordon caught on consecutive casts. Actually, I failed to keep track of how many we caught, like I usually do. We caught plenty of reds though, and had a great time. And, I think Gordon now has an idea of how he wants to rig his Ultimate for fishing here.
Sunday night and morning the forecast was for "Calm. Winds 5 to 15, gusting to 21". I translated that to mean the weather guy that put it together had no idea what the wind was going to do. I headed out to Sanibel and got the boats ready. When I went in to the marina to visit Capt. Ken, the first thing he told me is the forecast is for gusting to 25! But, would it?
Soon my customers John Langford who owns Voyageur Quest and Langford & Co. in Canada, and his son Ben, arrived. I had no more than told them about the revised forecast and as if by some miracle power, the wind began blowing in earnest. John wondered if we could go later in the day, but I assured him that it would not get any better for the rest of that day. We scrubbed, and hoped for a better day on Tuesday.
I got back home at noon, and decided the first thing I would going to do was engineer a bilge pump system in the new Ultimate 12. My plan was to use the ash trolling motor bracket as the mount point for an elbow and hose, and let the two Whale pumps suspend right at the hull, without doing any gluing or hole drilling. I went to West Marine and got the hardware and one more pump, and went to work laying everything out. But, I never got a chance to do the actual installation until Wednesday. After sizing the parts up and putting them together, I hung each unit from the bracket with tie wraps. Then I laced up each harness and added connectors, and it was all set. I'd test it hopefully the first time I washed it down. Not on the water!
I watched the forecast for Tuesday that evening with great interest. They had settled on west wind 5 to 10. Perfect. I called John and we were a go for Tuesday. I was there at the ramp early the next morning. John and Ben arrived with his wife, and his sister and her husband soon followed. Ben's right hand was in a cast, and I wondered how he was going to manage to paddle, or fish. John seemed sure he'd be able to manage. He would be able to use the trolling motor most of the time, but there are still times when you need to paddle. I was also concerned about a rod and reel getting away from Ben if he hooked something that pulled real hard. I reversed the handles on a couple of reels so Ben could reel right-handed, and cast left-handed, and eventually we got everything ready and took off.
The tide was nearly 1.0 ft. when we got to the first stop to fish. Ben immediately hooked a nice trout, but lost it while he struggled with the rod and reel. We got small trout, several flounder, and ladyfish there before the bite abruptly shut down as the tide rose higher. Time to move.
I took them to a spot that has been full of redfish, and got them set up and fishing. But, although they were getting bumps, they fish weren't eating. At least not right away. So, I went hunting for a redfish bite at another hole a couple hundred yards away.
I soon had the first redfish in the boat. The boys reported they hadn't caught any reds yet, but were still getting bumped. I told Ben to come join me, and still figured the reds would bite for John before long. But, shortly after Ben got to me, and we got him staked out, the wind made an abrupt flip, and gave us a sea breeze. By the time Ben had gotten to me I'd caught 3 reds in the hole, and knew there were plenty for him to catch if he could just get his lure far enough in to the hole, and work it properly. It was the best place to have him because it was not what is considered a long cast in flats fishing.
I soon as I had Ben going I made another move to go hunting again. I was immediately in to more reds, and called John to come join me since he still wasn't catching. John and I caught a few redfish there, and Ben finally got his first one where I'd left him. I went to Ben to help him get the fish squared away.
The tide was charging hard and the bite slowed. It was time to move again. We went to what would be the last spot of the day. I tried to set Ben up with a situation that should allow him to catch some redfish without having to make the typical long casts required. John and I were just a few yards away, and immediately in the reds. John and I got more reds, but I don't think Ben ever got one there, even after I brought him next to me in hopes that he could catch there. We finished the day with 15 redfish.
I know it had been a challenge for Ben, but he was a good sport and patient with his predicament, and did catch a few fish, and got to enjoy being out in the kayaks. And, we took home our limit of reds. John was great to be with, and a good natured and funny guy. All in all it was a good day, and I got plenty of video of John and I catching reds.
Wednesday I was off the water with a million things to do. The down side of fishing a lot is getting way behind on everything else. I wanted to get my bilge pump installation done before anything else, so that it would be ready for trial on the next trip. After sizing the parts up and putting them together, I hung each unit from the bracket with tie wraps. Then I laced up each harness and added a wire connector, and it was all set. I'd test it hopefully the first time I washed it down. Not on the water!
That evening I booked a trip with Jay Lawson and his girlfriend Jodi Epley, for Friday. They were referred to me by my friend Mike Burkee, who bought my Talon. Mike and I had lunch together Wednesday, and he told me he and Lindey had met this great couple at Blue Sushi, while talking fishing. He'd told them I would put them on the fish, for sure. Knowing how bad the tide was on Friday, I told Mike he'd dug me a hole I probably wouldn't be able to climb out of. Mike just laughed and said, "You can handle it!"
Friday morning came, and I met Jay and Jodi at the Circle K, as I had done with Gordon, but it was the one on Summerlin and John Morris. They were nice enough to let them leave their truck parked there. We had a good time chatting while on the way to Sanibel, and it was obvious that Jay is an avid outdoors man, who fishes and bow hunts. He's taking Jodi on adventure after adventure, and introducing her to the things he loves. I just hoped Jay was patient, because I knew it was going to be a very slow bite on the sixteen hour tide we had to fish.
It didn't take us long to get the boat into the water and be on our way. It was another JAPDIP (just another perfect day in paradise) day. I had Jay in the new Ultimate 12, and Jodi in the 14.5 Manta Ray. I figured it would be the easiest boat for her to handle, and paddle. But, once we got out of the bayou and put the trolling motors down, she had a terrible time trying to get the Manta Ray to go where Jay and I were going. This was all new to her. She'd never used a trolling motor on a boat, and had some confusion about which direction to turn the handle to go left and right. But, the main thing she was doing that I could see was she was over-steering the motor to the point that it was trying to push her sideways, instead of straight ahead. This was a situation I'd not come across before. No one had ever had a problem steering the Manta Rays with the trolling motor.
Finally, Jay suggested that he and she switch boats. Couldn't hurt. Well, Jodi loved it right from the start, and seemed to have no problem steering the Ultimate. And, Jay had no problem steering the Manta Ray. Jay said he thought the westerly breeze we had was just enough to make the Manta Ray want to slide a little to Jodi's right. When she tried to steer it to the left, she kept over-compensating, which was trying to drive the boat sideways, instead of ahead. It was all very new to Jodi, so it's easy to understand how she would do that. But, the Ultimate being a cat hull, doesn't slide on the wind like the Manta Ray, and she had no problems at all.
Because of the tide, we had a fairly long run to the first fishing hole. By the time we got there Jodi was looking like she'd be running that kayak for years, and he confidence was up. I parked them on the spot expecting at least some redfish action, because I knew the fish were there. But, when the fish weren't quickly biting, I moved a short distance away in search of redfish that would bite.
It took a while but I finally bagged one, and called Jay and Jodi over. They said they'd been getting bumps and bites, but the fish just wouldn't make the commitment and bite. Must have been young males! And, we got more bites where I'd caught the first one, but couldn't catch another redfish. We moved on.
We had to cross a long channel, and I decided I'd troll across it just to see if I could pick anything up. I announced that I was putting a line out, but I don't think they heard me or saw it. I hadn't gone a hundred yards when I snagged something on the bottom that stopped me in my tracks. Jodi, being in a faster boat had been gaining on me, and ran over my line with the trolling motor. Yep! A real mess! I got her along side and worked on it. The line was not going to pull off. So, carefully I removed the prop nut, then the prop, and finally the locking pin without dropping any of it into the water. There was a whole bunch of Power Pro wrapped around that prop shaft, and it was so tight and so far up against the seal that I had a hard time getting it off. I wondered if the seal had been compromised, which often happens to motors and lower units that pick up fishing line. Finally, I had it all off, and managed to get it all back together without dropping anything. We were off.
We made our way to our next stop, a beautiful shallow flat. We were still looking for redfish, and I knew they were there. But, would they eat? We fished it hard. I had the three of us sitting about the length of a cast apart; Jay on my right and Jodi on my left. The fish just didn't want to eat. We had lots of hits and misses, and Jay did bag two redfish, and Jodi a nice trout around 19". But, the fish were just in a funk. I moved to some nearby potholes for a while to see if I could find some trout action, but what I found was small ladyfish and dink trout on every cast. I went back and joined Jay and Jodi.
Finally, with closing time for the ramp fast approaching, it was time to head in. It had been a hard day of catching, but a great day of fishing with a super nice couple. It had still been fun, even with only four fish. And, the ride home off the island wasn't at all bad, as I guess we had already missed the big afternoon migration off the rock. Even though I was pretty sure we'd struggle to get anything to bite, we all agreed that it was a great day on the water, and Jodi came home with memories of an all new adventure.
That night as I was cleaning the boats and everything that had been in them, I kept smelling a strong burning electrical smell. Finally, my nose and I tracked the source of the smell down to Jodi's trolling motor. It stunk badly. I knew it was toast, undoubtedly from the line damaging the seal and letting saltwater inside. I could still turn it with my hand, but it was tight and rough. Oh well. It got us home. Cleaning the Ultimate puts a lot of water in them. They have a great drainage system that quickly evacuates all the water when you stand the boat on it's port side. But, it was a perfect time to check the bilge pumps. I hooked up the battery, and those bilge pumps came on with a force like a guy who'd just drank a case of beer without going to the men's room. It only took about two seconds for those 650 GPH motors to suck that baby dry. Now, it's time to put them in my 14.5 mother ship.
