Wind and red tide were again a factor for much of the week.

When I met Jim Dehoop and his beautiful wife Glorida, of Hudsonville, Michigan, at the ramp early Monday morning for their first BarHopp'R trip, it was blowing out of the north/northwest at 15 to 20 knots. That pretty much assures a tough day right off the bat. And, predictably bait was tough at Picnic Island, but we got it.

The first hole was the charm for this trip. In addition to wind, we had an absolutely awful tide, with no moving water for most of the day. It was such a weak incoming tide, that when we arrived at the first stop, the wind was actually overriding the tide, and pushing the water out. It was on that early movement that we got our fish.

Redfish rarely show up at this particular spot, but on this day there were some reds holed up there, and Jim and Gloria caught 7 or 8 of them. They also caught one three pound speckled trout, and completed the West Coast Slam with several snook to 28 inches. And that was the last we saw of fish for the day. The wind kept the tide laying dead for the rest of the day, and we didn't see a fish at the rest of the half dozen or so spots we fished. We had fun, though. And, Jim and Gloria were really great folks.

Tuesday brought almost identical wind and tide conditions for Bill and Pam Jackson, from my old stomping grounds of Sarasota. Thank goodness these guys were good natured and lots of fun, because it was a tough day. They are also serious fishermen on this coast, and they know what a control freak Mother Nature can be.

The first of our problems came with catching bait. We had just joined the fourteen or so other boats at Picnic and gotten a few dozen baits when it suddenly just disappeared. Vanished. Gone. Suddenly, no one was catching bait. We stayed with it for a while, and tried several different parts of the flats, as well as different depths, but all to no avail. We never saw another shiner. We didn't have enough bait to fish with, so I headed north to Chino Island. Bait is usually in there well but this time of year, and stays sometimes as late as November. I hoped it would be there.

It only took a couple of minutes of chumming before I was almost sure I could see some subtle flashes down deep in the dark water. I wasn't sure, so we chummed a bit longer. We got our answer when I threw the net, as it began to sparkle with the tale-tale silver twinkling of struggling shiners. I was a happy camper. We had bait, and were off.

The first stop was once again the charm. Bill and Pam caught several very nice speckled trout, and managed three or so snook to 29 inches. They also let several snook get away, which is quite normal. The frustrating thing was the number of kill hits we had. A kill hit, or instinct strike, is when the snook is not in a feeding mood, but simply strikes the bait to kill it for whatever reason. In the summer it can be to protect the bed. I'm not sure about right now, except that the tide was telling them not to eat. I'd venture to say that most of the shiners we threw all morning long came back with the classic snook bite on them, and Jim, Pam, nor I could feel the hit. It's amazing that a fish can bite a bait hard enough to stun or kill it, and the angler not feel it, but they're masters at doing that when they want to be.

Well, bite or no bite, we had a lot of fun, and proved that you don't have to slay the fish to do so. We finished the day with a great lunch at my favorite place; the Waterfront Restaurant. It lived up to the billing I had given it, as Jim said his burger was the best he'd ever had, and Pam loved her coconut shrimp. At the ramp Jim and Pam vowed to be back for another run at them in the future.

By Wednesday the breeze had turned around to the east/southeast in response to the next approaching front. It was supposed to arrive on Wednesday night. It didn't. I met Jason DeArman and his lovely girlfriend Kara Nelson, whom I had to cancel last week because of the last front, at 6:30. We had traded an ugly weather day with a great tide, hopefully for a good weather day, but with a lousy tide.

We headed straight to Chino Island flats in search of bait, and had plenty to fish with within three throws. As it had been all week, the bite was very early. I feel safe in saying that we probably had 50 baits eaten and never felt more than one or two of the hits. The fish were there. And, they were killing our baits, but.....Jason and Kara boated one snook, and lost three, as I remember. They also caught 8 to 10 nice speckled trout. But, Jason is a Texan who grew up wade fishing for specked trout and redfish, and we wanted snook. It just wasn't to be.

We headed to the Waterfront for lunch, and found a huge crowd, and no place to park the Talon. We elected to move on instead of waiting. Once again, we proved that you don't have to catch a ton of fish to have a good time on the water. Jason is a serious fisherman, and know the pitfalls and realities of fishing. We had a good time, and Jason and I both enjoyed watching how excited Kara got with each fish she hooked. She was really cute.

As I talked with my Thursday customer Bill Smith Wednesday night, I was expecting thunderstorms later that evening. But, they didn't materialize. And, as I lay awake listening to my wind chimes going crazy outside, and the tree limbs beating against the side of the house, I knew the likelihood of getting to fish Thursday was slim. I hit the floor at 4 AM and went straight to the computer to check the radar. Storms were already forming offshore, and it was trying to drizzle.

I readied the Talon and myself, and headed to the ramp. Everyone else was in the water, but with the palm trees bent over from the wind, and the threat of thunderstorms, I knew it would not be a wise decision to fish. I kept the Talon on the trailer, and listen to some taunting from some of the other guys. Shortly after I arrived, Bill and his son and daughter showed up expecting to fish. I explained how rough, nasty, and wet it would be, as well as dangerous if thunderstorms came blowing in on us, and Bill and the kids agreed that calling the trip off was a good call. We had fished last year and had a lot of fun, and I was looking forward to spending another day with them. We agreed to try again next year.

Turned out as Thursday progressed that we made the right call. By 9:30 it was really raining and storming, and we would have been forced off the water.

Friday morning I picked up my friend Don Callen at the Waterfront Restaurant in hopes of having a descent day to make up for the last time we'd been out and couldn't find enough bait to fish effectively with. I was afraid that with the passing of the front on Thursday, it would be blowing out of the north, as it usually would. However, another front was on it's tail, due in here Sunday, and the result was that Friday was a gorgeous day with almost no breeze at all. But, the result was that we had some serious fog develop.

We headed out of the Waterfront, and were soon right in the thick of it. Getting bait at Chino is largely a visual thing; finding birds working, seeing bait flip, picking a certain spot on the flats, or whatever. I was forced to just watch my depth finder and run on instinct until I thought I was in the right area. After chumming for a while without seeing a shiner, I decided to move to shallower water. Within five minutes we had so much bait in front of us that we were loaded up in a couple of throws.

The first couple of stops yielded only some nice trout. I headed farther north into the Sound, and the fog once again enveloped us. I stopped to fish some holes near Demere Key, and Don seemed a big amazed that I had been able to find my way there in the fog. I began chumming, and it wasn't long before we had fish blowing our shiners out of the water. Instead of the snook I was looking for, it was a school of large jack crevalle. Great! They are the hardest fighters in our waters for their size. Don managed to catch 7 or 8 of the hard pulling jacks before it was over. They were running 7 pounds and better.

We decided we'd go and do some poking around to see if we could find some snook or spawning trout. Along the way I decided to check a big flat to see if I could find some schooling redfish. I explained to Don that it was about time for the big reds to be showing up there, anytime now. Well, I had barely gotten on the flat when I was in the middle of a tremendous school of big reds. I had Don stand up as quickly as I could as I settled off plane, and he was treated to the sight of more redfish than he had ever seen.

I was all ready to get positioned on the school, chum them into a frenzy, and catch the heck out of them, and don't you know when I put my trolling motor down, it decided it wasn't going to work! Actually, there were a number of schools of reds milling around on the flat, and we could see them easily as they pushed. I did my best to get them to come to us, but they weren't much interested. Don only managed to catch three of the big reds, giving him a total of 4 along with the small red he'd caught earlier. I worked the fish hard until it was time for us to head home.

I wanted to take one more crack at snook along the way. I wanted Don to have the Slam. We hit a couple of spots along the way, and had a couple of fish bust our chum, but never put a snook in the boat. However, Don did catch the trout of his life before we were done. It was a beautiful 6 pound fish! We finished back where we had started, and over lunch Don told me he'd had a great day. I was very glad.

The front that is now approaching is supposed to bring up winter temperatures and lots of wind for the first of the coming week. Not good. We'll have to see how it plays out.

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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