I had four trips on the books for this week, but only got to run three. I moved my Friday trip to the following Monday because bad weather was threatening that morning.
My first trip of the week on Tuesday was an instructional trip with Mike and Ann Ripley, of Indianapolis, Indiana. We had been scheduled a couple of weeks earlier, but had to cancel because of weather.
We had a nice day to be on the water, but from a report standpoint there's not a lot to tell, as we spent most of our time teaching and learning the what, where, when, and why of fishing in January and February. That means pothole fishing, for sure. Mike has a Carolina Skiff J-16 while he is here, and that will surely float skinny and get to the potholes locked in extremely shallow water on the super-low tides we get this time of year.
I spent a lot of time going from place to place showing Mike and Anne what it was about each spot that made it a good spot that will always have fish on it. We did a little fishing, making a few casts at each spot, but the emphasis was on teaching. A few fish were caught, but with all that's been going on for the last couple of weeks, I don't remember what.
WINTER FISHING IS HERE!
I have heard from Mike in an email titled "Finally some success". Mike wrote:
Hi
I've been hooking some nice reds and snook on the hammered silver spoon. The snook have come in the boat but the redfish kept coming unbuttoned no matter what I did. Switched to a silver spoon with a treble hook and been landing all of them. The highlight was 5 beautiful snook to 30 inches within a half hour just off the North side of JXCYL. Awesome!
I need a power pole!!! Who was the dealer you recommended?
Only 2 weeks left then back North til Thanksgiving. Bummer. Thanks again for all the great info.
Mike and Anne
It's nice to get positive feedback from them!
Next up on Wednesday were Jennifer Miller and her boyfriend Dan, of Chicago, Illinois. I knew from her comments in emails that Jennifer was looking to catch lots of fish. Our water was just reaching the magic 70 degree mark at which things begin to bust loose. I hadn't caught bait in quite some time, but decided to see if we could find it, thinking it would be the best ticket to the fish. Especially snook.
We left the ramp at around 7 AM, and headed over to the flats at St. James Creek. Areas like this, along with Picnic Island and Tarpon Bay flats, are where the bait usually shows up first. After some masterful chumming by Jen, I threw the net the first time, and saw it begin to sparkle when I began to pull it closed. But, the first load was tons of pinfish with about a dozen shiners mixed in. We kept the shiners and a few of the pins.
We knew shiners were there. Jen kept chumming and I threw the net half dozen times. Each time the mix was more shiners and less pinfish. The last throw was a big load of shiners, and we were done and ready to fish.
We had a slow moving front coming our way which wouldn't arrive until Friday, but the wind was already up from a southerly direction. I headed to one of my favorite extreme low water spots, especially with a wind with a southerly component. I felt confident we would find some snook there. And, we did. In fact, Dan and Jen caught a half dozen or more snook, a nice flounder, a redfish, and several big trout to complete the West Coast Slam in that hole, and give them the dinner they wanted for the gang back home. It was a large area that we were fishing, and we worked it over well before the water got high enough to push the fish out.
WINTER FISHING IS HERE!
WINTER FISHING IS HERE!
We were at a kind of halfway point in the tide, and I thought it would be a good time to let Jen and Dan enjoy the hard pull of our gag grouper on light tackle. We made the move to a nearby area that is always full of them, but they weren't about to eat. I don't recall even getting a bite.
At this point I wanted to get to the west side of the Sound so that if the wind kicked any higher, we wouldn't have to face a very nasty ride home. By going to the Sanibel side, we're in the lee of a south wind most of the way home.
Once we got to my chosen flat the water wasn't quite where it needed to be to have the fish ready to bite even with the help of the wind. So, we made our way to a series of potholes that get full of snook once they come out of the backcountry as the weather warms. But, they either weren't there yet, or weren't interested in eating.
By the time we got to our final destination the water was getting right. Jen and Dan caught another half dozen or so snook, but to my astonishment we couldn't get a redfish to eat.
WINTER FISHING IS HERE!
It was time to head home. I had not been an easy day, but certainly a fun day with a great young couple. I had a blast with them, and hope they did, as well.
Friday it was back to the instructional mode with Alan Janousek and his son Jim, of Cape Coral. Since Alan had no interest in throwing a castnet to catch bait, we were back to lures for this trip. Also, Alan fishes from a 21 ft. center console skiff that draws more water than most flats boats, and I had to keep that in mind when showing him places to fish.
We headed into the Sound to an area I love to fish on the winter low tides, that I knew Alan could get in to with his boat. I showed him around the area and we did some casting of Exude RT Slugs, but the fish weren't eating. I think Jim caught a small grouper.
We moved on fishing a number of spots, but not spending a lot of time at any. We spent the most time at a great spot that can be very good on either incoming or falling water, and caught a few fish there. I changed Jim's lure to a Rattletrap. It was a well seasoned one, and when he looked at it he asked me about the lure's condition, and why I gave him that. I told him it was well trained, and that it was full of battle scars. I don't think he had much faith in it, but the next thing you know he had done the impossible, and caught a puffer on a Bill Lewis Rattletrap! I've never seen that, before. A short while later he caught a sheephead on the Rattletrap! Never seen that either. Then he caught a nice snook on it, and became a believer. We lost another snook, and caught some trout.
WINTER FISHING IS HERE!
As the tide neared its highest point, it was barely high enough to have fish moved up to the mangroves and bars. But, I wanted to show Alan a bit about fishing for redfish on the higher part of the tide. We hit several spots without results, but the last one was the charm. The boys caught a couple of redfish, which were our typical winter fish we call puppy drum.
That was the day and the week. Al and Jim were great guys, and fun to spend the day with. I hope he will be able to go out in his boat now, and find some success.
By now the big front was upon us. I checked the radar first thing Friday morning, and found a large area of storms just offshore with lots of lightning in them. They were coming right for us. I tried to call my customer Jed Horwitt, to see if he had an alternate day he could fish. His phone wasn't working. The weather inched closer and closer as I waited on Jed. It was looking very threatening. When Jed and Dorota finally arrived, he told me they could fish on Monday, so we made the call on the side of safety.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!