Well, here we go, again! Mother Nature has seen fit to kick the southwest Florida guide community while it's down. I had three trips this week from Wednesday to Friday, and lost Thursday and Friday to the big system that moved in bringing lots of wind and rain.
At least Wednesday did happen with my long-time fishing buddy, Dr. John Hitt. He's been so busy at UCF that we haven't been able to fish together since May. John was way overdue for some R & R! The front was close, and the forecast was for wind to 10 to 15, gusting to 23 MPH from the northeast. That pretty much dictated we'd stay on the east side of the Sound to stay out of the worst of the wind, and to make the ride out and back as comfortable as possible.
John and I left his dock at 0630 hrs. in total darkness. A slow but safe ride down the river deposited us on the B span flats just as it was getting light. There were a number of boats already hard at work, but we weren't seeing any bait in their nets. Thinking the bait situation must be bad, I mixed quite a bit of chum. Before I could get into a groove, the wind had blown us off the PowerPole and out to deep water in a flash. I had to move us back to 3 to 4 ft. and get out the danforth anchor to hold us.
I did enough of the initial chumming to see what the water was doing, and then turned it over to John. By the time I got the net folded, there was bait flipping all out in front of us. Hmmm. All threadfins, I thought. But, the first toss was mostly shiners with a few threadfins and pinfish mixed in. By the time I got those nestled into their new home in the boat there were even more baits flicking everywhere around the front of the boat. I don't think it would have matter much where I tossed the net. And, after two more tosses we had enough bait to choke a porpoise. We were done! We'd barely gotten any seaweed on the deck. A quick cleanup, and we were gone fishing, leaving me wondering why the other boats didn't seem to be doing very well with the bait.
We made a quick stop at Picnic Island to see if we had any ladyfish and/or trout present. I wanted a couple of ladyfish to use for redfish bait, and some trout for the well. John caught one small trout on a jig, but the action was from the ladyfish. We put two nice ones into the well, and caught a few more before heading out. I was concerned that the hard northeast wind might blow all the water off the flats prematurely.
We headed up into the Sound hellbent on redfish. I'd found a big school my last time out, and I know how redfish are. I knew they'd be right where I'd left them, or at least very close by. At our chosen spot, I anchored us quietly after a long, quiet approach on the MinnKota. We were ready. Would the fish eat?
We pitched a shiner, which was immediately eaten. The excitement quickly turned to disappointment when John landed a hardhead catfish. We re-baited and got two baits out, and in less than a minute we had a redfish double! I had thrown a couple of bats full of chum, and that seemed to be just the ticket to get them started. And, once they turned on they were really on. For the next two and a half hours John and I caught redfish after redfish. Well, John caught 'em. I just did my thing keeping the fish chummed up, and lines baited and waiting. Gave John a workout. We did have lots of multiple hookups, which we just left in the bow mounted rod holders for John. As it approached eleven o'clock the bite finally tapered off as I had expected it would as we got well into the outgoing tide. We caught upward of 25 to 30 redfish, best guess, and all but 6 of them were on live shiners.
We decided we'd see if we could find a trout bite as we made our way home, but it was not to be. We hit several flats that normally offer up good trout action, but there was nothing doing. It wasn't a problem, though, as we'd had a fantastic morning of fishing and catching.
John and I knew out Thursday was in jeopardy, as we'd been following the weather closely. The rain chance was to 90% with winds gusting to 32! We waited until after nine o'clock that night to see if that would change, and when it didn't we called the Thursday trip. Need I tell you the weather boys totally blew it? The wind wasn't over 10 until after noon, and it did rain a drop until nearly dark. Neither of us were happy, but.....
My Friday trip was to be with another of my old fishing friends, Mike McMahon. We fish together about this time every year, and last year we'd slayed the redfish just as John and I had done. I know Mike was looking forward to fishing, but when I got us Friday morning the radar was a big blob of yellow and orange, with a sprinkling of red thrown in. It was already raining, and although I couldn't hear thunder, I could hear the lightning making static on the AM band.
I called Mike, and gave him the news. I hoped that maybe it would clear out and let us get out with a late start, but that didn't happen. Mike and I always have a blast together, and I hate that we had to cancel. Next year is tenuous, as Mike told me he has no less than two weddings to deal with in 2009! Ouch!
I've got a full week put together next week. I just pray the weather will behave, and let me and the rest of us guides get out and make a buck or two.