The week began on a sour note with bad weather, and ended on a tragic note with the sinking of BarHopp'R I. That's right! Read on.

Monday belonged to Dave and Anne Kerschner, who have fished with me once before. I had the best time with them, and we really hit it off. I've been eager to see them again. I was really tickled when they met me at the dock last Friday. They were really excited about fishing again. But the weekend brought some God-awful windy weather, and by Sunday night it was becoming apparent that it would indeed be too windy to fish on Monday. I talked to Dave early Monday morning, and he was justifiably disgusted with our weather, and ready to cancel his week and head back to Ohio, which in fact, I believe he did.

Tuesday was my first trip with David Peterson, of Belleville, Illinois, and the wind was down to a gentle roar at 15 to 20 knots! At least we could fish! The best place to hide would be the outside along the beaches. And, that's exactly where we headed after catching bait at Chino Island.

The bite along the beaches should already be fantastic for both snook and big trout by this time of year, but this year is different. I don't know if it's cooler than normal water temperatures, loss of habitat, or what, but the big snook days just aren't happening, yet. We did catch some nice fish, though. Dave bagged 7 or so snook and 8 to 10 nice trout, of which he kept four. Later in the tide we headed back inside into the wind, and tried to get some redfish action going. We only managed to trick one, but it was enough to give Dave the West Coast Slam on a pretty blustery day.

Wednesday, the wind was back up to a steady 20 knots for Tom O'Hara, of New York. Tom is boss to my good customer and friend, Chris "Vinnie" Venezia. Chris and his best bud, Scott Gibney have had some great trips together, and Vinnie had been bragging to Tom about me. Unfortunately, Tom arrived just in time for the weather to shut things down. I should have known when bait was tough that the fishing would follow suit.

We headed back outside for snook and trout action, and to get away from the wind as much as possible, but in all the time we were there, Tom caught one snook of around 25 inches. The fish were lockjawed! They would not eat, period! When we finally gave up and headed back inside, I spotted what I thought was a small pod of tarpon cruising the beach and got position to throw a bait to them. The bait was hammered instantly, and when the fish hit, it turned sideways, and I could see that we had a school of jack crevalle that must have been 30 to 40 pounders. They were huge, and powerful! The hook didn't hold, and the fish got away. We chased the school down again, and presented more baits. They were spookier now, and didn't want to let me get close enough to cast to them. We finally did, and got another bait into the fish, which was eaten instantly. The fish accelerated unbelievably hard at the same instant I went for a hookset, and blew up the 12 pound line. It sounded like a gunshot as it broke. We were not able to get anything going the rest of the morning, and I'll bet Vinnie will think twice before he brags on me, again.

Thursday, the wind was down some for Bob Brockway and his neighbor Vince Gerardi, of Pompano Beach. I hadn't seen Bob in a while, and was looking forward to spending the day with him. We headed to Tarpon Bay to check out the bait situation, and I figured that with the wind down to 15 knots, and not bite on the outside, we'd stay inside and try to get it done there.

Bait was great at Tarpon Bay, and we were soon headed up into the east side of the Sound to a redfish hole. Action was slow until we got later into the tide and went to a different part of the Sound. There we managed to catch 3 nice redfish to 26 inches, and a good dozen snook to 24 inches. All in all, it was a pretty good day, and we had a lot of fun.

After I launched that morning, and was waiting for Bruce to show up, I noticed an occasional short shot of water coming from the twin bilge pumps. I figured that one of the hoses linking the self bailer to the outside had come loose, and I was getting a little water into the hull from the outside. I made a mental note to look at it when we returned. I checked, and there was no water accumulation in the hull.

Bruce, Dave, and I headed to Tarpon Bay to catch bait, and did so very quickly. We were soon headed to the beaches to see if things had improved there, as the wind was back to 20+ knots from the east, and fishing inside would be difficult. The fish were still lockjawed, or perhaps even gone. We caught one trout and one jack, and that was it.

I headed back inside to my favorite redfish flat. The bay was rough as hell, and had been for weeks. Once inside on the flats, and baiting hooks, I noticed the boat felt heavy, and check in the bilge. There was a lot of water in there! The pumps were pumping 1,500 gallons per hour out, and soon kicked off. I thought perhaps we managed to force water in through one of the scupper holes as we were running. But, the pumps kept kicking on and off. Meanwhile, I had pulled up right on top of a great school of redfish, and the first baits in the water were hit. We were on fish! We had great action going, and from one trip back to get bait to the next, the hull had nearly filled itself with water. We WERE sinking. The pumps couldn't keep up. I sounded the alarm, and cranked the Yamaha. I knew I had to get to a shallow bar somewhere quick, or I'd loose everything. The closest bar I could think of was up inside Blind Pass adjacent to Roosevelt Cut, so that's where I headed. The hull was so full of water the motor would barely move it. At this point, water was pumping up out of the rear access hatch onto the motor. I prayed and kept pressing on, determined to get my boat to a bar and ground it before she could sink far enough to submerge my motor.

I don't know how, but we made it. I beached it on a sandbar next to a very small oyster bar inside Blind Pass. The water lever inside the hull assumed the level outside, and didn't change. I turned off the power. I made a few cell calls to some of my friends. I apologized to Bruce and Dave, and Dave assured me that he was having a ball on such an adventure. I told him that BarHopp'R II would probably not be for sale for a while, after all. Before long, my good friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez showed up, and was happy to take Bruce and Dave safely back to the ramp. Later, Capt. Cullen Sanders, one of the best fiberglass men around, showed up, and we loaded everything we could get out of the boat onto his boat, and left the BarHopp'R swamped on the bar. She damned sure wasn't going anywhere, and we certainly couldn't tow her, so I had to come up with another solution.

Back at the BarHopp'R camp, I quickly called my insurance company to see what they wanted me to attempt to do. Unfortunately, I got hold of some young punk that kept telling me I shouldn't have left my boat, and didn't want to listen to what I had to say about the situation. He was only interested in giving me his opinion on things. Shortly after that, Capt. Rey called and said his neighbor was a dock builder, and might have a big gas pump. I had already been on the phone calling all the rental places in Ft. Myers, trying to find a pump, but they were all closed and not open on the weekends. Rey made some calls and arranged for us to go and pick up an 18,000 gallon per hour, 5 inch pump from a jobsite on south Ft. Myers Beach.

Rey would take his boat back across the Sound in darkness back to my sunken boat. I would drive the van/trailer around to the Castaways, and try to find the little ramp there. We would meet there, transfer the pump to Rey's boat, then go and see if we could pump the water out of my boat fast enough to get it floating and off the bar, and back to my waiting trailer. It was our only plan! Would it work?

I had to park and get out and go exploring to find the little ramp tucked away between cottages on narrow dirt roads. Once I did, I pulled the van down to the water so that I could flash my headlights whenever I saw running lights on the water. I sat and waited for a half hour or so before Rey showed up, but he did. We loaded the pump, and were off.

By the time we got to BarHopp'R, the tide was getting high enough to float her, we hoped, once she was empty. We got the pump set up on the bow, primed it, and fired it up. God almighty, what a pump. It emptied my boat of water in less that 30 seconds, and was big enough to keep the hull relatively dry, even with what we later found to be a very large, 12 inch plus hole in the hull!! I pushed her off the bar, cranked the Yamaha, and Rey and I idled off into the darkness back toward Castaways. The trailer was in the water and waiting at the little ramp, and I was able to drive right on to the trailer with pumps a blazin! Our plan had worked. BarHopp'R I was salvaged.

I met Rey back at Punta Rassa ramp, and it was around midnight. We crawled under the hull with a flashlight and discovered that the hull had delaminated in a spot at least a foot across. That boat has probably got at least 2,000 trips on her, so she doesn't owe me anything, but it's odd that it took this long to have a hull failure. Usually, those kinds of things show up early in a boat's life. BarHopp'R II began showing signs of failure in the same place not long after I bought her, and I took her to one of the best glass men around, and had the whole hull redone as part of a remodel to get her the way I wanted her for my purposes. I will never have to worry about that hull breaking.

That was probably BarHopp'R I's last trip. I know what has to be done to properly repair that hull, and I'm guessing it would be a $5,000 repair before it was over. I will probably retire her, strip her of all her goodies, motor, etc., and move them to a new boat. I am looking seriously at the new Talon F-22, the first prototype of which is not even complete as we speak. But, based upon what I've seen of the F-16, it will be one of the most awesome cat boats to ever take to the flats. Another candidate is the Cat Sass, but the owner of the company has not seemed too interested in working with me.

So, what a way to end the week, huh? I'll keep my readers and friends posted as things develop. Meanwhile, BarHopp'R II is on active duty.

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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