FLORIDA FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 3/22/08
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
It was another week of windy days. I did manage to fish the last two days, after some juggling.
After moving Jeff Howe and his father, Gary, of Polk City, Iowa, from Wednesday to Thursday to avoid the big wind in front of the approaching cold front, we still had weather and wind to deal with Thursday morning. The front had slowed down and not yet passed, and there was a long line of squalls due in around 9 AM. We had no more options, so we went.
With the wind still out of the south, I opted to go to Tarpon Bay for bait. There were a few other boats scattered about the flats, and none seemed to be doing much. For a while we caught mostly pinfish and the awful green snot that's all over the place right now, but eventually the bait began to come. As we were about to finish off our chum, we made a good strike, and were ready to go fishing.
But, as I swabbed the decks of the Talon in preparation for the ride, I could see that the front was about on us. After studying the front for a minute and pondering what I had seen on radar, I decided to head back across the Waterfront Restaurant in St. James, where I'd picked up Jeff and Gary earlier. We'd be safe there if the weather got wild and woolly.
J.D. and a couple of the crew were there getting things set up, and had the weather radar on. We drank coffee and watched with great interest as it rained. But, the lightning never materialized. Well, better safe than sorry. Once we headed back out, the wind was howling from the northwest signaling that the front had moved through. The barometer would now be shooting up, and the fish's mouths would be closing up. And, we'd lost at least an hour of the best part of the tide.
We headed on into the Sound, and as we cleared the Mail Run Cut, we had some wicked waves to deal with, as the tide and the wind fought each other. As quickly as I could I turned and put the big chop on my port side and ran to shallow water, where we got away from the nasty stuff. But, we would have a good 25 MPH NE wind to deal with.
There isn't much to tell for the first few stops except that they gave us goose-eggs! I wasn't a bit surprised. All you can do is keep at it when the fish are lockjawed. We were not only fighting the effects of the front, but of the full moon and the lockjaw it usually brings. I just hoped that if and when the fish decided to eat, which is often a very narrow window of about an hour before the tide quits, I'd be in the right place.
The place I chose to be is a favorite snook and redfish haunt on the east side. There's not a lot to it; just a nice trough along a shoreline where the snook get right along the shore, and the reds lay off in the trough. I was beginning to wonder if we'd draw a skunk for the day, but that was quickly put to bed when Jeff stuck his first redfish ever. It was a nice one, and went into the well. Shortly after that, we missed another red.
IS SPRING FINALLY HERE?
Then, the Stella 3000 Jeff was using went off like a siren on a fire truck. You should have seen the look on Jeff's face. He'd never experienced anything like that. I told him to just hang on and enjoy the music until the fish stopped running. She finished her first run near an oyster covered shoreline. I had Jeff put his rod high into the air and pump and reel on high until the fish was clear of the hazard. Now, he had a shot at finishing the fish off. The last test would be right at the boat. There were some anxious moments when Jeff failed to put his rod down to the water so that he could steer the fish, and she wrapped around the trolling motor. But, luckily by then she was too pooped to pop.......his line! We got her off and into the boat. It was a beautiful snook just short of the new 28" limit. She was a keeper last year! After a quick revival of the non-religious variety, she swam away no worse for ware. She'll fight again another day.
IS SPRING FINALLY HERE?
Shortly after that, Gary bagged a smaller snook, but we were getting some bites. We also caught a very nice speckled trout, and a few hard-head catfish on the cut bait rig I had off to the side looking for redfish. But, I knew that once you begin catching cats on your cut bait, it's a signal that the tide is coming to a stop. So, once we were sure the fish had quit, we moved on to one more hole.
IS SPRING FINALLY HERE?
That hole has served me well over the years, and it didn't fail me on this day. Jeff and Gary bagged another four snook and a beautiful four pound trout to end the day, and fill the food order for the gals.
IS SPRING FINALLY HERE?
Safely back at the Waterfront dock we off-loaded the fish and we recapped the day. It had been a fun day of adventure, laughs, and some very nice fish with a couple of great guys. We'd made it work, and were glad we had gone.
Friday morning at the ramp waiting on my party, Randy Miller and his father-in-law Don Everly, I would have bet that it would be another day of lockjaw. The high pressure had set in and the wind was howling out of the east/northeast as the full moon set on the western horizon. I wondered if I'd even be able to find bait.
As soon as Randy and Don arrived, we were cutting up and laughing, and I knew that no matter what the fish did, we were going to have fun. And, then 78 year-old Don literally bounced right down to the Talon from a very high dock on a very low tide, like he was a kid. Wow! I was impressed. And, he had the coolest handlebar mustache rolled into loops at the ends and waxed. It was sharp, but I teased him that I was going to blow the loops right out of that mustache as we rode.
But, the 40 MPH ride into a 25 MPH wind up the river didn't phase his mustache. Talk about good wax. We landed at the Engineer's House where there were a handful of other boats already working on bait. The verbal reports were that it was very hard.
And it was. But, as much as anything, the new growth of slime and seaweed on the bottom were the villains. When the net fills up with all that stuff, it also holds a lot of water and the weight of the net increases many-fold. It's back breaker if you have to throw the net a lot. And, I did. The incoming tide was being blown back and forth by the north wind that was trying to turn it around and blow it back out. The water waffled back and forth, as did the boat, and made bait very hard to catch. It was two here, five there, one, seven, none, and so on. But, we finally adjusted the chum to very close to the boat so that no matter what the water did, I could see it and adjust my throw, and we got somewhere between a hundred and a hundred-fifty pieces of bait. We were set. Now, would the fish eat, or would we release 99 pieces of bait at the end of the day?
The boys told me they had a meat order from the women folk, and had to feed six people. There was also some money and honor on the line. So, we needed some fish in the well. The best way to do that is with trout. We settled on a great pothole and went to work, but they didn't want our hard-earned minner-dinners. So, I switched us to jigs with Exude RT Slugs, and we went to town on the trout. We caught plenty, and about had our meat order filled by the time things slowed.
We moved to another hole that usually has snook and trout in it this time of year, but all we got were baits scaled by rogue snook. We couldn't even get a trout to eat. It was the same thing at the next stop, and I was beginning to wonder if we'd caught all the fish we were going to catch.
I made another move to a spot that is always full of snook. As we made our approach I told the boys that when the snook are biting you can sit right there and catch forty or more snook without moving. Considering how the last two holes had gone, I figured they were thinking I was full of it. But, it was true.
Well, as soon as the water really started to move we had a great snook bite. And, I and the boys were delighted. The wind made it tough as it howled at 25 in one direction, and the water fought to run against it at a good 5 knots. But, the fish were eating, and Randy and Don were having a big time. They caught snook after snook and we stayed there until the tide was nearly done. They had bagged at least 40 snook, and a few more nice trout, and every single bait we'd tossed had been eaten.
IS SPRING FINALLY HERE?
We had finished the day in great fashion, and now had to face the ride home, with a run right into a 25 MPH wind once we turned the corner at York Island. I wanted to get there while the tide was either still moving in with the wind, or was at rest before beginning to move out. Once it began to go out, it would be moving against the wind, and things would get double ugly. I was pleased to see that our timing was good. It was choppy, but nothing the Talon can't run right over, and we were getting home faster than anyone else I could see. I wicked the Talon up to 50 plus into that wind, giving us about a 75 MPH wind on Don's mustache. Damn! That mustache never even wiggled in the wind. Don won that deal! I'm not sure a hundred mile per hour bass boat could straighten that mustache out!
Safely back at the ramp the boys wouldn't let me clean the fish because they wanted to take them home whole to show the kids. It had been a fantastic day, especially considering the conditions, and Don, who only fishes for sheephead while he winters here, had quite a time of it catching all those snook and trout. It was the first time catching snook for Randy, too. We'd had a blast, and to my amazement the boys only gave me two tangled lines to deal with all morning long. And, I got them both untangled. We said our "good-byes" with both of the guys vowing to be back. Randy said he'd probably be back during the summer. Boy! Wait 'till he does some summer snooking! Some 'er snookin, some 'er knot!
I've got another full week again next week. Sure would be nice to get to work it all. The tides aren't too bad, and if the weather cooperates, the fishing should be pretty good.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!