Winter fishing in southwest Florida is speckled trout fishing. There's trout fishing on the flats for small trout, and then there's fishing the potholes for the big boys! It was a great week of pothole trout fishing and the fish were to six pounds! That's big trout for southwest Florida.

A big front turned the weather sour for the first part of the week, and brought the coldest temperatures we've seen in five years. As you might expect, the schedule for early in the week was rearranged. I also had to take the Talon to my friend Danny Fowler at Fowler Marine to have a scary problem checked out. The news was not good.

Last week, while out with my friend Ed Regan, I thought I smelled a faint whiff of gasoline on a couple of occasions. I didn't see anything obvious, and the smell was very faint. But, that afternoon, after Ed had gone home and I had cleaned the boat and was putting her away, I removed the right rear storage box to get to the power switch, and was hit right in the nose with the strong smell of gas. I didn't see any evidence of gas anywhere on that side, so I removed the box from the port side. Damn! There was actually gas floating on the little bit of water left in the bilge. We were potentially riding a bomb. Thank God, there is virtually nothing in the bilge to make sparks, short of wiring shorting out, or something. I couldn't find anything obvious, so I took the Talon down to Danny on the cold Monday morning.

Danny is good, and quick. It didn't take him long to find that the hose from the filler pipe on the port side had been leaking, and running down the filler neck on the tank, and down the edge of the aluminum tank. It had to be a leak amounting to not much more than a very slow ooze, as I never smelled gas at any time I removed the box to turn the power on or off. But, it was enough to cause condensation which caused the aluminum to develop pinholes. At least, that's one theory. The other is that the tank fabricator (not Talon) used a piece of aluminum on the filler neck that already had flaws. Who knows?!

The Maverick Master Angler had not been performing well coming out of the hole since I had discovered the prop had severe fractures on all three blades. It was apparently a cheap stainless prop fitted by the dealer, as there was no damage to any of the edges indicating it had ever struck anything. I had installed the only prop I had left laying around, a 4-blade Turbo 18 pitch. The Mav ran fine once it was up on step, but took forever to get on step. I thought it was just too much prop for the 130 Yammie.

So, while I was at Danny's, I asked him if he had any props laying around I could try. Danny gave me a 21 pitch prop with funky, modified bladetips, and a 19 pitch similar to the one that had fractured. I went back to the camp and installed the 21 pitch. I didn't have a chance to try it before my trip on Wednesday. I went to the ramp early so I could try it out and perhaps change to the 19 if it was too much prop. A quick run in the Maverick seemed to be OK. But, a test run one-up is far different that running with three passengers and a full baitwell!

I headed to the Waterfront Restaurant to pick up my friend Bill Odell, and his lifelong friend Gary Meade. As we cleared the manatee zone and I rolled on the throttle, it was obvious there was a problem. I thought the 21 prop was just too much prop, as the Mav just didn't want to get up on plane. With a little help from trip tabs, and some patience, we were off. It was the same thing every time we moved for the rest of the day. I was convinced the 19 pitch prop would cure the problem. The motor was bogging badly, but I thought it was just because of too much load on the motor.

Bill, Gary and I fished potholes on the super-low tide and spanked the big trout. We started off very slowly. The fish were probably still digesting their eats on the bright night. But, we stayed with it and kept moving from hole to hole, and finally we were in fish. The biggest trout of the morning was 5+ pounds. Bill and Gary put around 40 big trout in the boat, and there wasn't a fish that wasn't at the high end of the slot. The guys have caught lots of trout, but were just amazed at the quality and quantity of the fish they were catching. They were caught on Exude RT Slugs in various colors. Color didn't really seem to make much difference. The main thing was the retrieve had to be slow.

Once things finally slowed down there, we headed to a spot on the other side of the Sound, where we were greeted with more big trout and lots of flounder. We hooked about 20 flounder, lost a few, and put six nice fish in the well. It was a great day of fishing.

That afternoon after cleanup, I changed props, installing the 3-blade 19 pitch, feeling certain that's what the Maverick wanted to run nicely. The next morning I met Don Spencer and his son David, from Orlando, for our first trip together. Once we'd cleared the causeway I rolled the throttle on, and the Maverick jumped out of the water and on plane. Ah-ha! It seemed the prop was the problem.

We headed out for another morning of big trout fishing, in the same general area as the day before. But, the fish had other ideas. They weren't in much of an eating mood. We found the fish, but instead of a hot bite, we had a slower, steady bite. Don and David caught lots of beautiful trout, and both said it was the best fishing they'd ever done. Later, we again went for flounder and caught more trout and several flounder. The total trout count was about the same as the previous day, and the boys brought two limits home to feed the family. It was another great day, but I wasn't happy with the Maverick. After thinking I had the prop problem licked, I again had the same problem of bogging down when trying to get going, for the rest of the day. Obviously, something was up with the motor. Probably a fuel delivery problem. The odd thing is that it idled fine, and ran out fine once I got it up on plane. Well, she'd have to get me through one or two more days before I could do anything about it!

Friday was an awesome day with my old friend Bruce Boardman, of St. Claire Shores, Michigan, and his best friend Bill. I hadn't seen Bruce in a couple of three years or so, and hadn't met Bill, before. They've done a lot of fishing together, and been out with quite a few guides in this area in years past.

As we cleared the causeway that morning, the Maverick seemed to be running perfectly as I shot the juice to her. She jumped out and we were off. Humm! Intermittent problem, for sure. I hate those. It was blowing pretty well, but the Maverick handled the rough water with relative ease. It has a very respectable ride for a 17 ft. modified vee hull flats skiff. It's not a soft a ride as the Talon, but pretty darned good. And, dry!

We returned to the same general area once again, but I chose a totally different series of potholes to fish. They were larger holes than I usually fish. The wind made it impossible to float along on the tide until we found fish, and I was forced to Power-Pole, fish, move, etc. I took maybe forty minutes to get the first hit, but once we found them, we found them big time.

For the rest of the morning, Bruce and Bill were like kids in a candy store. They couldn't believe the quantity and quality of the trout. They also loved fishing those trout on my Stella 2500 FA/St. Croix Legend Tournament rods. They caught countless trout that were at five pounds, and plenty three pounds and more. We hit one spot where we caught some smaller fish, but for the most part it was big trout. By the time we were done, the boys had racked up a total of 80 or more trout, catching them two and three at a time all morning long. We topped that with one flounder.

It was a great day of fishing with Bruce and Bill, and the Maverick ran fine all day long until we left to head home. Again, it bogged down, and didn't want to go. I had to use the tabs to get her on plane. Danny seems to think it's something simple, and I'm sure that by Monday evening he'll have her sorted out and running fine.

I'm not sure yet what the disposition of the Talon is. The fuel tank fabricator is on vacation until Monday, but his office said he has a technique for welding aluminum tanks in the boat that he has used many times. Humm. To say the least he's very brave, and is either very good or very stupid. I hope it's the former. I have decided that if the tank can't be welded in-boat, I'm going to leave it as is, and run on the right-side tank. The only other option is to have the cap removed to access removal of the tank, and that's a very long, expensive proposition. I still have a good tank, and although I will only have half the range, it seems a much more viable option for now. Might as well wait until I have a problem that forces the removal of the cap! Hopefully, the tank can indeed be repaired in the boat. We'll see.

I had a trip scheduled for today, Saturday, with a customer I've fished before. The trip was to be for two anglers, but last night I got an email from them saying there would be a third. In the Talon it wouldn't be an issue. But, the Maverick does not benefit from the massive front deck of the Talon. I really can't imagine trying to do a skinnywater, trip using artificial bait with three anglers and myself aboard. There's just not enough deck, and I'm not sure I would have even been able to get through the inches of water to the potholes with four people aboard. Then there's the issue of the extra weight. I don't think I'd have been able to get her up on plane with another angler aboard, with the motor acting up. I told my folks we couldn't take a third person, and they of course, canceled. Obviously they found someone who could accommodate their party of three!

So, three trips was it for the week. What a great week of fishing with great folks it was! There are currently three trips on tap for next week. But, the tides are pretty funky, so who knows how it will go. Find out next week.

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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