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The week began with the water temperature at 60 degrees, and the weather warming. By the end of the week the water temp was approaching 70, and the daily highs were nearly 80. My, what a change! Unfortunately, it was a week of very poor tides, which probably negated any benefit that came from the warming water. It was tough.
First up on Monday was my good friend Dr. John Hitt, his son Charles, and grandson Alex. The water temperature was 60 as we left John's dock, and we had a falling tide for the morning. We decided to stop in the river and catch ladyfish, just for the fun of them. Although they have no food value, they are often the most talked about part of a trip because they run and jump all over the place like their bigger cousins the tarpon. They also present a real challenge in getting one to the boat because they are very good at throwing the hook. But, when you're in them good you can easily rack up 60 or so in a fairly short time. Fast action! And, that's what we did before moving on.
Later, up in the Sound, we concentrated on working potholes for trout as the water left the flats. We found plenty of trout, along with several flounder. Unfortunately, we were still a few days away from being able to keep trout, which are one of the favorites on the Hitt table. Of course, with it being a holiday week the traffic on the water was horrendous, but as always, we had a good time.
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Tuesday and Wednesday I was scheduled for my first trips with Kerry Hansen, of North Ridgeville, Ohio. I could tell from our conversations that Kerry had a great sense of humor, and surely had a great attitude about fishing. I knew because of the tides and water temps that fishing would be tough, but Kerry assured me it didn't matter a bit.
Actually, we had a pretty good day considering. We caught lots of trout on the flats in the potholes, had a ball catching about 15 gag grouper on TerrorEyez and Rattletraps, and more trout back in Long Cut. We had a good time, and Kerry was great company. Kerry was also a very skilled caster, and could put his lure right up in close to the mangroves where it needed to be when we were doing that type of fishing. He was rewarded with at least one big snook hit that immediately broke his leader. We concluded that it had probably been nicked while grouper fishing in heavy cover, and we hadn't noticed.
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Wednesday, the tide was even worse for Kerry and me, moving less than half a foot over the whole cycle! I reasoned that if the water would move anywhere, it would be in the river. Kerry was game to fish the river, saying that he hadn't been on a river to fish in a long time. We pitched TerrorEyez, jigs, Bomber Long A's, and Rattletraps until we were blue in the face. Kerry caught a lot of ladyfish, even in places I didn't expect to see them, along with some trout, but no snook. The water was full of big mullet, and we enjoyed watching a commercial boat doing quite well at striking them with their castnets.
Later in the morning we decided to leave the river and try a creek in Ding Darling. We didn't see much in the way of action there, either, but Kerry did accomplish the impossible by catching a small sheephead on a TerrorEyez jig, along with a flounder and a pinfish! We also got a couple od dozen trout. It was a very tough day of catching, but we had a great time. After all, much of the fun is in the challenge of making a great cast, in the anticipation of the hit, enjoying really good equipment, enjoying really good company, and enjoying the wonder of all the nature. Even the tough days are great!
I was off the rest of the week, but it was great to have such nice weather for a change. If the warm will continue we might see bait return to the shallows and might see the snook as well. That will be the subject for next week's report.
May you all have a great 2004!
If you want to be able to continue to fish Florida waters please follow this link, "Manatee Zones: How You Can Help" and please take the time to become involved, even if you don't live in Florida. Let the politicians know WHY you come to Florida on vacation!
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