In a word "trout" was the only thing happening this week. The water is so cold, that even the trout aren't happening well. It's rare in southwest Florida to have extended cold spells. Usually, we'll have a good cold front come rumbling through, then within a couple of days the weather has warmed right back up. The effect is not that significant on the water temperature. But this winter, we had a long, extended periods of cold weather that dropped out water temperature more than 10 degrees. The effect on the fishing has been disastrous.

My wife Jean, and I went to Del Ray Beach over the previous weekend to celebrate my daughter's birthday on Monday, February 7. Monday was a travel day. My party for Tuesday was booked at the last minute, and then couldn't get his buddies to go with him to share the cost, and canceled. So, my first day on the water was Wednesday. My customers were Pastor Lane Houk, of the Tampa Bay Church, a member of the International Churches of Christ, and two of his parishioners Mark Noe, and Bill Dunn. We had already put off our trip once, but based on an encouraging weather report that called for northwest breeze of 10, we decided to give it a go. I didn't have many options for rescheduling.

The morning did start off nice. With Pastor at the helm, he quickly adapted to the BarHopp'R II bridge technique, and we got plenty of beautiful bait without too much ado. We were just coming off a dead low tide, and I decided to hit one of my favorite winter potholes to start the day. To my surprise, we couldn't catch anything there, not even a trout.

I headed across the Sound to one of my favorite winter snook spots, where I know the snook are stacked. There's no question about the fish being there, and before the cold spell there was no question they would eat. They were tearing us up. Along the way, Mark, who at 6 ft. 9 inches, could be a direct descendent of Goliath, told me that he had [promised] his dad a big snook for dinner! Promised! I cautioned Mark that snook had been almost impossible to catch lately, and doubted I could deliver. I was just hopeful that at some point in the incoming tide, the fish would finally decide they just had to eat. To my surprise the wind kicked like crazy as soon as we made our crossing, and blew up to 27 knots for the rest of the day, making things even more difficult.

Lane, Mark, and Bill were super nice guys, and were very patient with the fishing, with the starving birds that all but ruined our chances at fish, and with me. They had obviously fished the mangroves more than once, as they did really well casting right up into the mangrove shoreline. Our patience was rewarded not with quantity, but with quality. We had several double hookups of pelicans and terns, caught 3 big speckled trout up to 5 pounds, and 2 snook. But, one of those snook, the last fish caught, was the answer to Mark's prayer for a big snook for his dad. All the knots held, Mark executed his coaching flawlessly, and the 9 pound snook came to the boat to unwillingly fulfill her destiny as diner for Dad. I don't know who was happier to see that snook, Mark or I. It was a tough day, but we had a good time, and it ended on a high note.

Thursday, it was more of the same for Jon Heck, of Sioux Falls, Iowa, and his wife Kim, who even sans makeup and all bundled up, is quite lovely. We still had a wind, now northeast, but it had calmed down considerably from Wednesday. With Jon and the helm, bait was once again not to tough to come by. I made a change in plans, which basically was a concession to the trout. We just went ahead and trout fished from the get-go.

We were off to one of my favorite winter trout holes with shiners and Bass Assassin jigs, and as usual, the jigs won the day. I gave Kim a quick casting clinic to get her distance up, and she immediately tripled her distance and began catching trout. She was a great student, as most of the gals are. With the water so cold, the action wasn't furious like it can be for trout in winter, but we did manage to boat around 20 before we moved and switched our attention to snook. The snooking was predictably tough, but Jon caught a couple and Kim got one snook and several big trout up to 5 pounds. Kim also hooked a fish that immediately stuck her on the bottom. I was pretty sure it was a gag grouper, and showed her how if we let all the tension off the line for a couple of minutes, the grouper might relax it's gills thinking it was out of danger. Then I hit the fish hard, with several good hard fast pumps and up she came. It was a pretty little gag of around 16 inches.

Even though Kim claimed that Jon was the fishaholic, and Jon was indeed a good fisherman, she was right there with him all day. She never quit fishing, and really did well, especially around the mangroves. The Hecks were wonderful to spend the day with and we had a lot of fun, even though the birds made it next to impossible to fish with live bait, and tried my patience to the limit. I hope they'll be back for some warm weather fishing, sometime.

Friday was an unforgettable day in many respects, although not much of it was because of fishing. My customers were Jerry Bernadotte, of Lakeville, Michigan, and his two good friends, Bob and Mark. These guys were all pretty close to my age, and pretty crazy, and lots of fun. Again, I conceded to the trout fishing, but instead of fishing the incoming tide as I had the previous two days, we were fishing the outgoing tide, looking for a possible snook feed early. Well, it was the same old story. Lots of birds on the line. We did have probably half dozen timid snook hits, enough to leave the characteristic snook signature on the baits, but they just wouldn't hold on to the bait long enough to get a hookup. So, after several hours of trying hard, we conceded, and headed to the trout holes. We did have some trout as big as 5 pounds in the cooler, though. We finished the day fishing trout with jigs, and caught lots of them, but according to the boys' numbers, we only boated 22. We finished up at the Waterfront, to which Jerry is no stranger. He has a property in St. James City, and has enjoyed the Waterfront, before. Again, it had been a fun day with great folks.

Once we said our good-byes, I headed to Smith Marine, where BarHopp'R I was waiting to be finally reunited with her Captain after five months at the boat doctor. She's sporting a complete facelift on the topsides, which includes a new and differently designed fuel tank, which is what necessitated all this work to begin with, a new console, relocation of everything that was previously in the bilge to a dry and easily accessed location under the new console, reinforcement of her bow deck, and a new Awl-Grip finish, which Charles Waddington did a great job on. We'll talk about the things that he didn't do so well on after I see how he takes care of them. For now, I'm not even going to make mention.

I left BarHopp'R II, which has been serving me well as backup boat, which was the whole reason for buying her in the first place, for some much needed maintenance. The Yamaha 150 has a broken skeg, the scuppers are leaking and allowing water into the floor, her lower unit needs a lube change, the trim and tilt motor has a leaking seal, she probably needs plugs, and she needs a battery charging plug installed. I never imagined I'd use her for five months in a row when I bought her, and rerigged her without a trolling motor. I thought it would be great to keep the deck clean for the fly fishermen. I have to say that being without a trolling motor hasn't been so bad.

I arrived home to bad news. First, my mother had fallen the night before and broken her hip and was in the hospital awaiting surgery. Worse, my wife had gotten the results of a third biopsy taken earlier in the week, and it came back positive for breast cancer. I am finishing this report on Monday, and we've just returned from her doctor. She will have a lumpectomy surgery in the next couple of weeks, and then begin radiation treatments. I'm telling my friends, customers, and readers this for two reasons. First, if you believe in the power of prayer, I ask that you include Jean in your prayers. Second, I don't know what lies ahead, but seeing that Jean is taken care of is my only priority. There is a possibility that some of you who have trips booked with me in the next two months may have to be rescheduled with another guide, if that's even possible. I just don't know yet, but those of you who might be affected should know that it looms as a possibility. If it comes down to that, I will greatly appreciate your understanding.

I'll keep you posted.