Most of this week was spent fighting computer problems which appeared to be software related, but which turned out to be a hardware problem. I was also plagued with the W95.MTX virus, which for a few days, was all over the place. I mention this because virtually everyone out there reading this is a computer user to some degree or other. My Sarasota machine crashed while trying to send the last published fishing report. Suddenly, Windows 98 was trying to install new hardware on my system that didn't exist. It couldn't find drivers, and had things screwed up royally. I discovered the virus during this same time, and didn't know if it was related, or not. After exhausting my ideas, I called my favorite guru and good friend Chuck Freeman, of C & S Computing, in Bradenton, Florida. Chuck started out chasing a software problem, too, but had the good sense to take the cover off the box because the machine seemed to be running hot. Guess what! It was more than hot. It was cooking, and a heat sync on one of the cards had separated from the chip it protected and fallen onto the board below it. Windows was detecting the shorted board and an unknown device and trying to install it.

After installing a second higher output cooling fan in the chassis, and a HP CD-R/W, I was still reluctant to send fishing reports until I was absolutely positive that I had my machine clean of the virus, and no one was sending it to me. My friend and customer David Jaeger alerted me to a site on the net that offered software to clean the virus, which Norton seemed incapable of doing. I had 88 infected files!

I was finally able to get out that Thursday with Art Lewis and his friend Rev. Ward Patton, of Lakeland. This was Art's second BarHopp'R trip. The weather was a far cry from the weather of just a couple of weeks earlier, with light winds out of the east/southeast, temperatures in the 80's, and hardly a cloud in the sky. I picked up Art and Ward at the Waterfront Restaurant. We found good bait along the south side of York Island not far away, and were off.

We first headed to a cut in the 40 Acre Bay area. We found a good snook bite there and the boys caught 9 or 10 snook and a jack crevalle before it slowed. From there we headed to a big pothole on a shallow flat that is often full of trout on low tide. The hole was full of big trout, and the boys had a blast catching 25 to 30 of them. Nearly every fish was in the slot, and we had plenty of trophies over 20 inches. Ward seemed to quickly get the knack of catching those trout on shiners, and caught most of the big fish. We kept a limit of 12 fish, along with two nice flounder. It was a great day, and Art said he'd learned a lot, which was exactly what he wanted.

The following week, I managed to run two trips. The first was on Thursday with Dan and Kathy Mosher, the wonderful couple I first took out back on January 16. This time, Dan brought his 79 year-old dad, Wes. And unlike our first trip, the weather was gorgeous.

I wanted to try for some redfish on the top of the tide, so we first made a quickie trip up the river for some ladyfish bait. We quickly put 3 large ladys in the boat and were off to the flats at Picnic Island to catch shiners. It didn't take too long before we were loaded up and ready for the first stop of the day.

The first stop of the day for snook produced nothing save for one redfish. It was just under the legal limit. The second stop for trout produced lots of nice trout with plenty of keepers, as well as several snook. Kathy really didn't fish because she was exhausted from days of moving into their new vacation home out in Alva. She has almost as much fun just being out there watching her boys have fun. Dan and Wes stayed busy, though, and I think Wes had a blast with the trout.

For the last hour or so, we headed to one of my favorite flats to try for some reds. I found my customer from a few weeks ago, Capt. Bill Liggett, there in his small skiff practicing what I'd taught him. He said he'd caught a few fish, but hadn't boated a red. It was his last day of fun before returning to Washington. He thought the several fish he'd broken off were reds. We pulled along side about 50 yards away, but couldn't get the fish he had chummed up in front of him to spread a little and come to our baits. Eventually, we pulled around on Bill's other side where it was a little deeper, but had the same result. To finish the day we went to a nearby hole and caught a few snook. It had been a great day, even without a redfish bite. Dan did get his Slam, though.

Friday, I met Cooke Bauseman, one of my favorite customers and fishing buddies, at ten o'clock. We were going to fish, then cap the day off with dinner and cocktails at the Seafood Center and Crabhouse. Cooke was going to camp with me at the BarHopp'R fish camp that night. Cooke is an IGFA representative, and has his hands into more businesses than he can keep track of. He loves fishing and being on the water and even gets to Cabo several times a year for tournaments. He's a lot of fun to be with.

We began up river catching enough ladyfish to toss a some redfish later in the day. The ladyfish are running really large right now, and fight like hell. We quickly had 3 big ladys and a jack. We headed back to Picnic to catch shiners, and after an hour or so, were on our way to fish for trout and snook. We opted to catch a few trout first on the lowest part of the tide. We had been plagued with slow moving tides all week, which are not very conducive to good fishing, but had been doing pretty well. Cooke caught plenty of nice trout, with lots of keepers and several trophies. But the biggest trout would come later in the day.

From there we hit several of my favorite snook areas; spots that had recently given me some nice keeping fish. I didn't do a very good job of keeping track, but we caught 3 or 4 in each spot, many after throwing the bait where a fish had blown up on my chum. That's one thing about snook. If one hits a chummed shiner, and you're ready with a bait, and can put it right on his nose, he will almost surely eat again. I'd say we caught a dozen or more snook before turning our attention to redfish.

The area I wanted to fish for reds looked like a parking lot it was so full of boats. So, we headed to another area that is often productive where we'd have no company. We missed several good hits on ladyfish, and broke off two big reds, but Cooke did catch a beautiful trout of 5 pounds. That finished our day, and we headed in dreaming of the Dungeness crabs and margaritas to come.

March has gotten off to a slow start this year, but that's about over. I'm booked pretty solid into June, with very few days left open. So, the reports will soon be longer and hopefully full of tales of great fishing. As I finish this report, we have news of a big front bringing much needed rain and one last blast of cold air before winter is declared DOA. The first half of next week will likely be a weather blow-out, but after that, things should heat up. Stay tuned.

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!

Go to NEXT

Go to PREVIOUS

Or, call 1-239-633-5851.

TRIP INFORMATION [Site Index] [Highlights] [Capt. Butch Profile] [About the Boat] [Kayak Fishing] [Testimonials] [Great Rates] [Booking Tips] [Weekend Policy] [Send Email] [What to Bring] [What to Expect] [Directions to the Ramp]

WHAT WE CATCH [Snook] [Redfish] [Tarpon] [Trout] [Jack Crevelle] [Tripletail] [Customer Tales]

THE CAPTAIN TELLS ALL [Fishing Reports] [Articles] [Newsletters] [Angler of the Month Awards] [Angler of the Year Awards] [Manatee Zones] [Tackle Service Center] [Cool Stuff For Sale] [Hot Links to Cool Sites] [Send Email] [Back to Home]