My trip was the first with Jim and Cindy Skarzenski, of Erie, Pennsylvania. Jim's son Josh bought this trip for his for Christmas, and we'd already been forced to cancel once in February, and moved from a day earlier in this week because of horrible weather and a non-existent bite. We were fishing behind the front, and although the weather guys were saying the winds would finally be down, I was reluctant to believe it.
Jim and Cindy arrived well before our scheduled 9:30 departure time, and before a minute had passed I knew we were going to have fun, no matter how the fish bit. With the water temperature at 46 degrees that morning, an early bite was very unlikely. So, in the interest of having fun catching something we opted to head up the river to the ladyfish grounds. But, the water was barely moving and the fish weren't in the least bit interested in playing. We moved on.
Jim and Cindy told me they wanted to try to put some meat into the boat, and right now under the prevailing conditions, that means trout. Although I've had the cold water trout figured out for a while now, I wasn't that confident we'd have a bite in 46 degree water. I hoped that by noon or so, we'd get a degree or two that might trigger that bite.
Well, by 11:30 we'd put two keeper trout into the well of the Talon. It was about then that we had to take care of a personal need that we couldn't take care of on the water, and decided to go to the Waterfront, and have lunch while we were at it. We had decided the night before we would forego lunch because our tide was running through the middle of the day, and we didn't want to waste moving water and a possible bite having lunch. But, our change of plans turned out to be a lot of fun, and worked to our advantage.
I called my long-time close friend Bubba Baker, who was over prefishing for a redfish tournament he and his daughter Shelby would fish on Saturday out of Punta Gorda. They were north of us scouting, and said they'd meet us there. We actually got to the Waterfront a few minutes ahead of them, but I fully expected him to fly by me at any moment while we were under way. Bubba loves the WFO throttle position.
To my glee, JD had Bahamanian Cracked Conch on the special menu, and any time I find it there, my decision is made. It's the best you'll ever eat. But, I started with a big cup of their fabulous hot chocolate to put some warmth back into my bones. The five of us had a great time talking fishing for the next hour and a half, and after a final potty call were ready to go back out and see if the fish were ready for us.
I headed back to the same general area to fish more deep potholes in hopes the trout would finally be ready to snack. They were. It didn't take but a minute or two before Cindy was catching trout with the live shrimp under a popping cork. I was catching bigger trout on the DOA C.A.L. on the bottom. Jim was not connecting on the rig that had been so deadly my last time out; the same DOA suspended below a popping cork. So, I took his cork off and told him to move it along the bottom slowly. He began immediately tearing up the trout. We put plenty of trout into the well, and also realized that we were being shadowed by several guys in a Carolina Skiff. They kept drifting on the now brisk breeze and would pass probably within a hundred feet of us on each drift. We were anchored. They never did. And, I never saw them catch the first fish, while we were steady catching nice trout. I think that if they had mimmicked what we were doing, and gotten on anchor, they would have gotten on some fish, as well. Finally, as I had predicted, the tide stopped moving, and the bite along with it. It was nearing 4:00 PM. The wind was up, and we had a mess of fish to clean. We headed home. At the dock Jim was nice enough to hold the boat off the dock and Cindy went with me to help keep the half starved pelicans, egrets, and turns from stealing my fillets.
It had been a fun, fun day with wonderful people, made even better by the visit from Bubba and Shelby. Cindy said she was sure that Jim had thoroughly enjoyed the day, and was very pleased that we had decided to go before they had to return home, instead of putting the trip off until their next visit. So was I.