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I ended the month with a slow week, getting on the water Monday and Friday.
Monday was primarily a check ride and launch for the new Boatmaster trailer I put under the Maverick. With the exception of needing a longer bowline to launch, it was perfect. It was blowing like crazy from the south/southwest with the approach of yet another cold front that sent the low temperatures plunging into the 40 for most of the rest of the week, and the highs barely in the 60's until Thursday.
I wanted to do a little fishing from the Maverick, and headed straight up the west side of the Sound along Sanibel to try to keep out of the worst of the rough water. The Maverick really does handle the rough stuff quite well for a light 17 ft. skiff. When I arrived in the Blind Pass area my glasses were pretty nasty with salt spray, and I took them off. That was a mistake! You don't realize how different your view of the shallow water world is without those good polarized lenses. Well, I quickly found the running limit of the Maverick, not realizing the water was as shallow as it was. I stuck it. With my glasses cleaned and back on I was amazed that I had gotten into about 7 inches of water without realizing it. She was floating as soon as I got my big behind out of the boat, and I was able to push her to deeper water.
I was now sitting at the edge of some potholes I've often seen and made a mental note to fish someday, but never had. I decided this was the day to fish them. The first cast with my favorite Stella/Legend Elite combo and a Bass Assassin yielded a 3 pound speckled trout. Nice. Second cast, nothing. Third cast a 4 pound trout. Hum. I was on to something. I spent most of the rest of the morning going from pothole to pothole catching trout one right after the other. I moved to another series of potholes about a mile away and had the same results. Great trout fishing.
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Eventually, the south wind managed to push what was a very low tide up enough to entertain chasing redfish. I eased on to a nearby flat and found myself smack-dab in the middle of a big school of big redfish, not the puppy drum you normally find this time of year. Although they were thick as thieves, they weren't in much of an eating mood, and I only managed to catch half a dozen.
It was a great day of fishing, save for one thing. I hadn't brought the pushpole off the Talon, and unlike most flats boats I've been on, the Maverick does not have the Accon sty pop-up pole holders. They're permanently up. Well, don't you know as I was running quickly back to the stern to anchor with a new gadget I have, I banged the middle pole holder and broke my left index toe. It turned black within a couple hours. See! And you thought I got through a week without hurting myself!!
More about the gadget. My good friend and fellow guide Capt. Bobby Dumont fabricated a thing called a "Cajun Anchor", which is for all intents and purposes, and poorman's Power Pole!! He fabricated a very nice stainless steel rod about 4 feet long, tapered, with a point at one end and knurling and a stainless eyebolt at the other on which to fasten your rope. When you're ready to anchor in the shallows, you simply shove the stainless rod into the mud (just like the Power Pole does), and tie off to a cleat, and you're anchored. I might add that it did a great job of holding the boat in the horrific wind that day. Much better than the old stake some of the guides use.
I was to do my first trip with Todd and Lynn Wallsmith, newlyweds from Knox, Indiana, on Thursday. As the week progressed the weather folks were saying that Thursday would be a cold day, and Friday would be much warmer with the approach of another front. We opted to move our date to Friday, but of course the weather guys got it wrong, and Thursday turned out to be the warmer, dryer day.
We met Friday at eleven o'clock. The plan was to take them to a remote island while the tide was laying flat, and let Todd and Lynn have a private picnic on a remote beach. We would then fish the afternoon, and catch a great sunset as we rode home.
Well, it was sprinkling when I got to the ramp, and the revised forecast was for heavier rain late in the day, early evening. We weren't to be denied, and were off to make the best of the day. Of course, by this time the wind had kicked out of the northwest, and I opted to take them to North Captiva instead of on the outside of Cayo Costa. I dropped my honeymooners off and left them for an hour and a half to enjoy picnicking on the beach.
I spent the time scouting for fish. We had an awful tide, with very little movement, and I knew the northerly winds would cause it to move even less. That's disaster for the fishing. I did manage to catch one redfish off the fallen sticks on the inside of North Captiva, but I didn't see another fish.
After retrieving Todd and Lynn, I decided to take a look at the same potholes I'd had such great success in on Monday. Because the tide was held back, the tide was still fairly low, and I figured the fish would still be staged in the deeper holes. They were. But, it was blowing and raining harder and harder as time slipped by. It was miserable, and we were cold. We again hopped from hole to hole, catching a few here and a few there as we went, but the last hole on the tour was the gravy hole. We caught lots of 3 pound trout from that one. Once we decided to move on to redfish we each had our limit of four nice keepers, each with a fish over 20 inches.
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The water on the flats was very skinny; maybe a foot. We eased onto a nearby flat to see if we could find any redfish. I really wanted Todd and Lynn to experience the great pull of these fish before we tossed in the towel. Well, don't you know I parked right in the middle of them once again. They were all over the place, and they weren't spooked. They were just all around the boat. We had them follow our spoons and jigs, but had not a hit. I had brought along some frozen Spanish sardines, and figured they would surely eat those. I chopped up a bunch and slung them out for chum, and to try to hold the fish there. I put two out on circle hooks and held my breath. Finally, one of the line began to move tight. But the redfish on the other end was just curious. He moved the line around for a good five minutes, and never ate the bait.
We worked them hard until five o'clock, at which point we were all weary of being cold and wet. We headed for home. It was a cold, miserable ride home with the rain stinging wherever it hit our exposed skin. Even in such miserable conditions we'd had a great time. Todd and Lynn were great, and real troopers. They did very well considering the day we had drawn.
Hopefully, this multi-day wet pattern we're in will be out of here by Monday, for my first trip of next week. It's a fairly busy week, and I'd sure like to see some warming weather.
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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