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I probably don't have to tell anyone, anywhere, the weather has been nearly as miserable here in southwest Florida as it has been all across the country. We've had fronts and freezes one right after the other, which has resulted in the coldest waters we've seen in at least eleven years. On top of the weather, the tides this week were poor. Beside being the slowest time of year for us guides, we're losing a lot of time to the weather. Monday, of course, was the holiday, but I did manage to get in two trips this week.
Tuesday, I ran an afternoon trip with Brian Gigliotti and his friend Ken Hilse (spl), of Lawrence, Mass. We had northeast winds at around 15, and were hoping to see a high of around 60. Brian warned me that Ken was a total neophyte, having never fished! I really like going up the river for ladyfish first thing, as it gives everyone a chance to get familiar with the equipment, gives me a chance to teach folks like Ken the essentials to be able to handle new equipment, and it gives everyone lots of action right off the bat. It's always good to start off catching something.
Well, although Ken was a newcomer to fishing, he followed my instruction well, and was a quick study. He was fishing and catching in no time, and looked like he'd been fishing all his life. After many ladyfish and making sure Ken was in the groove, we headed up the sound in search of pothole trout. We found them quickly and caught somewhere between 15 and 20. We went to another area in search of the big winter trout and a shot at redfish, but they weren't playing. We started with a bang, and ended quietly, but had a great time.
Wednesday will probably go down as one of the worst days of the year, and it was only January 3. Didn't take long to get that one out of the way. Jeff Lane, a long time BarHopp'R friend was down from a visit to Sarasota from Maine with his friend Rob. Jeff's wife Peggy wisely decided to stay in the warm at home. We still had northeast wind, and the high was only to be around 50. I guess the cold nights finally got the water temperature to the point where nothing was willing to expend much energy to run down a bait.
Up the river the ladyfish wouldn't even play. Jeff caught the only 3 or 4 that were caught. I couldn't even figure out what they wanted in the way of presentation. I could feel the fish tap the lure very lightly, but couldn't get one to take. Dittos for Rob. it was the same with everything we tried. The trout were lockjawed, too. We had two big winter trout of about five pounds hooked and coming to the boat, but both escaped with their lives. I guess it's hard to get the hook to penetrate a frozen jaw. The only other fish that came to the boat were 2 flounder and a small snapper. Needless to say, the two flounder went home to Jeff's sashimi platter.
Although it was miserably cold, and the fishing sucked, it was great to see Jeff again, and get out with him. We had fun trying! Jeff has seen some great snook fishing, on our last trip together, I believe. So, he knows how it can be.
The weather for the rest of the week was pretty nasty, and that was the last I got out. Our water temperature got all the way down to 56 degrees. That's low enough to make snook comatose, and even shut down grouper fishing. Not good. The worst part is that there are more freezing temperatures on the way for next week. We're going to have to have a pretty good warm spell before things begin to get back to normal. If this keeps up, we'll be drilling holes so we can fish!
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