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This was the week of the new moon and great tides, but the great bite I expected to go along with that was slow to materialize.
The first trip of the week was with Dana Anderson, of Ft. Myers, and his new friend Rich Vanderpels, who is just moving here from up north. Dana has been an email friend for at least a year, and I almost felt like I knew him, already. Although Dana has been fishing offshore for some years, his experience on the flats inside is very limited, and he wanted this to be primarily an instructional trip.
There was a pretty strong breeze from the east. We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait, and had plenty in just a few throws. If only the fishing were as easy!! We headed first to an area of potholes to teach the boys about potholes, what to look for, and when to fish them. The water was already high enough to have the fish out of the holes, so it was a lesson, only. Next we covered snook and the kinds of places to hunt for them. We managed to catch half dozen or so. At the end of the trip, as the tide came full high, we covered redfish, and how to chum them up on a flat. We started on them kind of late, but managed to catch 3 or 4, and lost one near the boat. All in all it was a productive day, and I think Dana and Rich went home confident they could turn their new knowledge into fish in the future.
It wasn't nearly as windy Tuesday for Patti Crocker, and her good friend Cathy Rodgers, of Gainesville, Florida, who are veterans of many guided fishing trips around the country. I believe this was their first guided trip in our area, though. The girls fish a lot in their native waters, and catch small reds, but Patti told me she'd never caught one big enough to have to put back. I wanted to put them on some nice reds!
The breeze was strong enough out of the southeast first thing in the morning that I figured fishing outside would be very uncomfortable. We'd have to get it done inside. We got bait at Tarpon Bay again, but it wasn't as easy as the day before. We were off to hunt for snook, first. Man, I don't know where they're at, unless they're all outside already, but we only caught one snook all morning, hitting hole after hole. We didn't get any hits on our live chum, and I was not able to see any fish.
As the tide pushed the water up, I figured it was time to turn our attention to redfish. I positioned the boat on a good flat and began chumming with live and cut pilchards and pinfish. We put two rigs out with cut pinfish on them, and two rigs out with live shiners. It didn't take too long to get the first action, and we had our first nice redfish in the boat. We had lots of hits on both baits, with quite a few misses. By the time the tide was done, the girls had boated 4 nice redfish to 27 inches, Patti's biggest red, missed about 8 more reds, caught a trout for the Slam, and several stingrays and catfish. Yeah, they like the chum, too. Patti and Cathy will be back to try their luck again on Thursday...
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We left Punta Rassa at 8:30 headed for Tarpon Bay and bait, which had been great the day before. But fishin is fishin, and that includes catching bait, and the bait was sparse. So, we headed to Chino, where bait had been great until the previous front had come through. Happily, the bait was plentiful and beautiful at Chino, and it didn't take long for us to load the well and head for the first hole.
We headed for the beaches to see if we could find some snook and trout action there. Although we didn't find the often intense action on the beach, we did find steady action and good fish, and my trio of friends put 10 to 12 snook and a dozen or more big trout into the boat before we decided to head back inside for redfish. Jeff doesn't need coaching at this point. Scottie got into the grove very quickly, and Russ usually helps me with guide duties as much as he fishes, bless him! Back inside on a good flat, it didn't take long to have some nice redfish sniffing out my live and cut chum. Russ, Jeff, and Scott put at least 12 to 15 nice reds in the boat, and even let me catch one. I didn't know how to act!!
So, we had multiple Slams, and had a great day. We finished the day off at the Waterfront Restaurant, and I was glad the boys insisted on going because I've been just too busy to take the time for a while. Back at the ramp, after the fish were cleaned and we had said our good-byes, and I had run off to the restroom, Russ stopped outside the restroom and hollered, "Butchie, you're the greatest!" Damn! Russ sure knows how to make my day!!
Thursday morning, Patti and Cathy were back for a repeat performance. They will be here for another week, yet, with a boat of their own, and I wanted to take them out and teach them how to fish the beaches for snook, trout, and mackerel. A front had passed through during the evening hours on Wednesday, and the wind had moved around to the northeast overnight. I figured that would allow us to get outside if the water wasn't too bumpy from the night before.
We left the dock at 8:30, and headed straight for Chino Island and bait from Punta Rassa. The bait didn't come to the first spot I anchored on, probably because I was a little too deep. But, I saw pelicans diving not far to the north of us and made an adjustment, and we soon had all the bait we could use. We were off to Redfish Pass. We fished until noon on the outside, and the girls boated a dozen or more beautiful trout and 3 snook. We decided to head in to try for some redfish action, and had a pretty slow, bumpy ride back.
Once inside and chumming on the flats, we had a slow reception. We caught one small redfish immediately, and I thought we would have plenty more, but there was nothing. I figured, well, if the reds won't eat, we'll work on snook for a while, and try again later. The girls caught a couple more snook, and then we moved to a different part of the flat, and began our chumming all over, again. This time, the results were different. The reds came to us, and Patti and Cathy caught probably 10 of them, as well as a couple of big rays. All in all, it was a pretty good day. The girls kept 3 nice redfish, and four big trout. They had adapted well to our style of fishing, and had tried hard to execute what I was teaching them.
Back at the ramp I spotted a very pretty gal walking out the dock with her husband, and was sure I knew her. It turned out to be Dave and Anne Kerschner, who had just flown in, and had come down to the dock to see if I might be around. We're fishing Monday, God willing and weather permitting, and I was tickled that they came down to look me up.
Little did I know that the wind kicked something awful out of the east through the night, and was still howling Friday morning when my friend Bruce Heintzman arrived with his friend Dr. Steven Powell and his son Tommy. We elected to fish, but I knew it would be one tough, nasty day!
We headed to Chino for bait, and with Tommy chumming, we were loaded to the gills in two throws of the net. With the wind blowing so hard, I figured the best place for us to be was on the outside, which would be lee shore. Besides, the fishing had been fairly good outside. We headed for the beach. Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct, and the bite was very slow. It was also very hard to keep the boat in fishing position with the combination of wind and current we had. The boys only managed a couple of snook and maybe half dozen nice trout.
We headed back inside around noon to see if we could scare up some reds, but once at the flats, realized that the wind had held the tide back a bunch, and there was not enough water on the flats to bring the reds. I poled across the whole flat we were on without seeing any sign of life other than a stingray and occasional mullet. I advised that we call it a day and adjust the price accordingly, and everyone was agreeable. It had indeed been a tough day.
As I write this I'm listening to a weather report for the coming week, that is currently predicting rain for the first couple of days next week. That could be a problem.
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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