Monday was pretty much a complete rain-out for fishing guides, but the rain was badly needed here along the coast where we've had a hard time getting any rainfall for the last month. Tuesday, I had a trip with my friend Scott Covington, who has been having trouble learning to catch anything other than catfish. That's actually a pretty typical situation for most newcomers to our waters.
We headed to Chino Island for bait. I hoped it would still be there. At least enough larger baits to fish with. Once there it was obvious that there were zillions of small baits everywhere you looked. I showed Scott how to distribute the chum, and manned the castnet. The first throw gave us tons of small shiners, threadfins, pinfish, ballyhoo, and a few big shiners. We kept at it, every time getting a smorgasbord of life, including a handful of big shiners. It would take a while but we would be able to get enough good bait to fish with. By the time I'd thrown the net about twenty times, we had enough big bait to fish with, as well as lots of options for redfish, if we could find some.
We headed up the east side of the Sound, and settled on a beautiful spot that has lots of snook. But, we couldn't draw a bite. We moved on further north to another great snook hole. We got the same greeting; lockjaw. Again we moved further north to a large flat that always has redfish cruising it. There were reds there, but scattered out. They would normally have been catchable with nice smelly baits, but all we could get to show any interest were the hardhead catfish.
We made a big move to a different part of the Sound, where we were immediately greeted with more tight lips. We fished several more areas without a hit from anything other than catfish. Geez! By now it was getting late into the tide. Another move finally allowed us to break the ice with a beautiful redfish that ate a pinfish fillet mignon. We had a couple more baits looked at, but the fish wouldn't eat them. Finally, we moved on to see if we could find a snook. After a couple more stops we finally found a snook that would eat. We managed three snook before the heat got to us.
It was near the noon hour, and it was time to turn on the Yamaha air conditioner. Oh, man! It felt good. After a nice ride back toward the ramp, we stopped at the 19th hole to see if we could grab another snook or two. We worked our way down a nice edge where snook love to hang. There was bait everywhere, and there appeared to be small jacks raiding it. We managed to get one snook to eat, but it was way up in the roots when it hit, and managed to cut off the hook very quickly.
We headed home. It had been a very hard day, but we'd had fun, and it was very nice to share the boat with Scott for the first time. I'm sure it won't be the last. Scott said he'd learned a lot, and that was part of our objective.
Wednesday morning I met my old friend Tom Barba, and his lovely wife Carol, from Boca Raton, Florida. Tom is a veteran of many BarHopp'R trips since back around 2000, with his good friend Ed Mahoney, and their friend Mike. We've had some great trips over the years, but have mostly fished in May or very early June before the intense summer heat and freshwater dumping from Lake O get in the way of things.
We got a bit of a late start, and headed up to Chino Island for bait. The water was alive with minnows of every description. And, that is part of what has the fishing so tough right now. There is literally food everywhere one looks, and there's little reason for the fish to run down a bait we're tossing when all they have to do is lay there and open their mouths!
Ed took over the chumming duties, while I threw the net. Again, it took about twenty tosses to gather enough large baits from all the small stuff, and by the time we had done so I would bushed! But, at least we had bait out of the way. Now, would we be able to catch some snook and redfish?
We headed up the east side of the Sound to our first stop. The water was laying still. We did break the ice there, though. The first fish was a nice, fat mangrove snapper. If we'd wanted to re-rig and just catch mangroves I'm sure we could have limited out on them. Seems they're everywhere right now. But, we were looking for snook. A little later we did manage two or three small snook, but that was it. Even once the tide began to move, the fish remained tight-lipped. We moved on, and turned our attention to redfish.
Our next stop was a small flat to the north. There were redfish pushing all over the place, and although they were spread out and moving around in pairs, they were catchable if they would eat. But, they didn't want to eat. They were just laid up for the most part, and would let us get very close with the boat before pushing away. Even then, they didn't bolt, but would just slowly swim away to put a little distance between us and them. After a few catfish, we moved on.
We took a long ride and after checking on one spot, settled on a flat. As I neared the hole we were going to fish we were treated to a school of 30 to 40 redfish pushing right at the hole! We quickly got a piece of cut pinfish in front of them, and within a couple of minutes it was eaten. Tom landed a beautiful 26.5 inch redfish. I hoped we could get the school to eat, and catch a bunch of them, but it again was not to be. We got a few more nudges, but that redfish was the only one that ate. I threw everything we had at them; live bait, cut ballyhoo, pinfish, etc. But, the catfish took over.
It was nearing mid-day, and the heat was getting to us. Carol was going on well done! We hit one more spot looking for snook, and they were certainly there. But, we only got one to eat. It managed to get away about 15 seconds into the fight. That was the only one that ate.
We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch, and the cool-down ride was great. I had the yellow-fin tuna civiche, which was just fabulous. It was a Spanish style civiche, and served with very thinly sliced onion rigs that were out of this world. We enjoyed chatting about the day and old times with Ed and Mike as we ate. What a great lunch.
After Thursday off, I was back on the water again on Friday with my long-time fishing buddies Ed and Dee Mahoney, Tom and Carol's best friends. We got an early start and were on the bait grounds at Chino Island before sunrise. Dee enjoyed the beautiful orange and pink hued sunrise as Ed and I set about catching bait. It was plentiful except for the big shiners, which certainly were harder to come by than they had been on Wednesday. But, the overall average size of the smaller baits was better, so I guess it was a wash. Again, it took a lot of throws to get the larger baits, and we still didn't have very many. Enough to catch some snook, though.
We had a very different tide that we'd had on Wednesday, with Tom and Carol. We had an outgoing tide until around ten o'clock, and then a groaner incoming tide until late afternoon. I knew our best fishing was going to be on the last couple hours of the falling tide, and the passes would be the place to be.
We cleaned up and headed right to our first spot where there would be a multitude of options depending on how many other anglers there might be around. As we arrived I spotted a small boat in the area that I wanted to fish first. But, we spotted a big school of ladyfish on the inside of the pass and decided to stop and see if we could catch a couple of those for the fun and later use as redfish bait. Ed got a nice one before the sounded and disappeared. By that time the boys in the small skiff had pulled out of the spot for some reason. I headed in. The tide was so strong that I soon gave up on the idea of holding position with my trolling motor. We had to just keep the Tuning Forks humming. Problem with that is that you can't take care of baiting and tying lines when you're at the helm is such current. Anchoring is an option, but the crevasses in the rocky bottom like to eat expensive anchors, and I'm not willing to donate my expensive aluminum hook.
Ed and I took turns driving and fishing. I'd take the helm while he fished, and he'd take the helm while I helped Dee fish. Dee even took the helm a time or two while Ed and I were both busy. We made it work, and wound up with 9 snook, maybe 10, 4 or 5 jack crevalle, and a gag grouper. The boys in the small skiff came back and joined us and we shared the spot, keeping a short cast between us. They seemed to do well, too. But, in fishing, as the tide goes, so does the catching. Once the tide slowed the bite fell off noticeably, and eventually stopped. The rest of the day would be hotter and harder.
We headed back across the Sound, stopping along the way to see if we could spot any tarpon. We'd had a couple roll just off our snook hole earlier, but the weren't interested in eating. We didn't see the first fish, and after ten minutes or so, moved on.
We stopped on a nice flat that has been loaded with big redfish for much of the year, and has given my customers some nice redfish on a variety of baits. The reds were there, and pushing all over the place. We also had several tailing in front of us once we were situated. I carved up the large ladyfish Ed had caught and put out three pieces. We sat there watching redfish pushing all around, and tails popping up and down, and kept baits right in the middle of them. But other than a few wiggles, all we caught were catfish, until finally the right rod went off hard, and I knew that was going to be a big redfish. Dee took the rod, and then the fish took her......for a ride. She battled it close in to the boat, and finally gave the rod to Ed to finish off the fish. It was putting a hurt on her shoulder.
We were looking for a fish to take home, but I knew without measuring the fish was going to be too big. Sure enough, it weighed in near 10 pounds, and was 29 inches tail squeezed. It was a beautiful fish, but had to go back. We never got another one to eat before the heat got to us, and we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant with Tom and Carol Barba right behind us in their Action Craft 18, Knumb Knots! That has to be the best boat name I've ever seen, and tells you a lot about how much fun Tom and Carol are. Ed and Dee are just as knutz, and once we were all seated at the Waterfront, the fun began. We were carrying on and laughing so loudly, I'm surprised they didn't move us outside. But, I think everyone else was having just as much fun, and didn't really notice us. Suffice it to say, it was the most I've laughed in quite some time, and the perfect end to a great day and a wonderful week with old friends.