I could wrap up the week in a word! Blowout! Wind. Wind. Wind! I did get to fish Monday and Tuesday. Another big late season front approached on Wednesday, and blew the rest of the week out.

Monday was my first trip with Dave Plunkett, his brother Bill, and step-father Alan, of Henniker, New Hampshire. We headed to the causeway in search of bait, where it had been all last week after the passing of the last big front, and it was nowhere to be found. I didn't see the first bait of any kind. We headed to Picnic Island, and got bait there easily enough.

We went in search of snook. These guys fished hard, and were a lot of fun, too. As they have been for so long, now, the snook struck nearly every bait that hit the water, crippling it and leaving it for dead. But, the boys did manage to boat a dozen or more snook to 28 inches, and a couple of trout to 5 pounds. Not a stellar day by our standards, but not bad considering how tough the fishing has been of late.

Tuesday was reserved for my old friend Tom Smith and his son Stephen, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Tom has become a BarHopp'R regular, and is a great guy. We left the ramp at 11 AM to fish the incoming tide through the afternoon, and headed to Picnic Island. After chumming for a long time, and many throws, we had maybe 4 dozen shiners. They had disappeared. We headed to the causeway, thinking perhaps the approaching front had the bait running for deeper water, again. After lots of chumming and throwing there, we hadn't seen a bait. As I pulled the anchor, I notice tons of bait under the bridge, but couldn't tell for sure what it was. I reanchored up current from the bridge and chummed again. One throw of the net brought more threadfin herring than I could life by myself. We dumped enough to fish with, and decided to make due with our combination of baits.

We first went looking for snook, and found the same situation as the day before, but the fish were not in much of an eating mood. We caught 5 or 6 to 28 inches. Tom agreed to going for redfish, and we headed to a nearby flat where I knew the fish to be. One of the Sanibel guide boats was on the flat with baits out, but nothing going on. We kept our distance, yet managed to get where I usually find the reds. I began chumming with live and chopped threadfins, and put out a couple of live shiners under Cajun floats, and a couple of sliced and diced threadfins. In less than ten minutes we had our first strike, which brough a beautiful redfish to the boat. Then another, and another. The second fish was Tom's, and went nearly 13 pounds. We had a lull in the action after some thoughtless idiot ran right across our fish in front of us, but I was able to chum them back in, again. We also caught a couple of nice sized trout. Tom and Stephen had a ball catching those reds, and after a dozen or so were tired and ready to go home. We had our Slam. The other guide decided to leave after the second fish.

Wednesday, it blew like crazy as the front approached and passed. Thursday, the wind was around to the west, and gusting to 38 MPH. Friday morning it was still gusting to 33 for Dave Tarabcik. He knew we weren't fishing when he pulled in and I wasn't pulling the Talon. We were able to reschedule for Sunday, which gives me a seven day workweek next week.

It's very strange to see late season fronts like this one. I hope this is winter's last gasp. We have good tides next week, so hopefully the weather will behave and the fishing will improve. This front has, however, blown the red tide back inshore, and that remains the big unknown.

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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