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You see, Bubba is a rabbid fisherman and Florida native like myself. We met back in 1998 at the Punta Rassa ramp. Bubba was over with his wife Barbara, and pulled out about the same time I did. I came over and asked me if I was Capt. Butch. Said he'd been reading my fishing reports for a long time. That was the first day of what I'm sure will be a life-long friendship. Some time later we did our first trip together, and caught a lot of fish. Shelby was about six then. I don't remember how old she was when Dad first brought her along on a trip, but I think she already had her first IGFA world record under her belt.
Bubba got Shelby interested in fishing at an early age. She and Dad fished her first tournament when she was just eight! That was against other kids her age. She began fishing adult tournaments at age fourteen, and on three occasions placed first against adults (Master Angler). She racked up numerous trophies and Savings Bonds while fishing the junior tournaments. For the last two years Shelby has competed in the Professional IFA Redfish Tournament Series against professional guides, some of whom have their own TV shows. But, weighing in two redfish has illuded them. Follows is a recent email I received from Bubba. It tells the story of their most recent IFA tournament better than I could.
Butch
Shelby is always received well.... Its funny how things work...I can probably go to 50 locations in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor to catch Reds, Trout, Snook, and Tarpon...And catch fish nearly 100% of the time...But for some reason the IFA Tournaments were a jinx... We couldn't weigh in a fish no matter what we did...
I have to give much of the credit for my knowledge of Pine Island and Charlotte Harbor to you...Shelby and I have caught tons of fish in your area and have some of our best fishing memories, and have you as a great friend. But, we never could weigh in at the IFA...Shelby and I did great at the Junior Flatsmasters 3 out of 4 years in the top three every time...But again we always struck out at the IFA...Either we caught 27 1/8 inch Reds, Snook and Trout when we didn't need them, the fish were there but too cold, the wind would blow the water off all our spots, or some *#shole Bad Sportsman would purposefully crowd us and spook our fish. We just never could get over the hump at the IFA...
It sure did feel good to weigh in two decent fish at a place we had never fished before (Except for the two pre-fishing days prior to the tournament day..) And most importantly, Shelby had another great adventure. But, what is funny about Shelby is that she had a great time at all the IFAs even though we did not ever weigh in at those prior events...
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I have not known him anywhere near as long as you, but he is a good old southern boy who grew up on those waters...He is like you in that he is just a fun guy to be around...Check out some of his pics...He is known for putting his clients on Reds up to 50 Lbs....
He had a horrible flu and had to work both prefish days until nearly 0500 in the morning, but he still took the time to sit down with us, and also go out one day on our boat to point out where to go and not to go. He is a good old boy just like you...Just a bit younger than both of us... ;)
talk to ya soon...
Shelby now holds one adult women, and four junior female IGFA World Record Certificates. Her last was for a beautiful 30 plus pound permit. She has single handedly whipped sharks over 250 pounds, and tarpon over 150 pounds! Bubba was concerned that Shelby's interest and passion for fishing as she got into here teens. But, he has been delighted and surprised that her passion both fishing and tournaments has actually grown.
The cool thing for me is that I've had the good fortune to be a small part of Bubba and Shelby's lives, and have watched her grow from a cute little girl into a beautiful young lady. I often visit with the Bakers when they come to the southwest coast on vacation for a week during the summer, and have enjoyed some great times with them. I've watched Shelby throw her castnet, put on a shiner, and catch snook after snook on the beach, and often thought to myself, “You tournament guys better look out for this girl. She's really going to be something by the time she's grown!” I know her Mom and Dad are very proud of her.
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By the time I'd ridden my bike down to the boatyard Friday morning in the dark, I was nearly sopping wet. It was muggy and still. It felt like late June or July. The forecast was for a 3 to 8 MPH breeze. I met my customers Hank and Nancy Appleton, of Arlington, Virginia, at 0630 hrs, and it was dead calm. We chatted a little while before departing, and as we idled out to the run zone. I knew going in it would probably be a tough day, but I got the feeling from Hand and Nancy that it would be a fun day regardless of how the catching went.
We headed out to Tarpon Bay for bait, where we found quite a few boats already at work. I picked a spot in about 4 ft. of water, and went to work. Most of the boats were much deeper on the already half-high tide. I began the chumming process to get a bead on what the water was doing. I then turned the chumming over to Hank. We got off to a slow start, with not much showing up in the net on the first couple of throws. There were a few shiners though, and I thought I'd catch more if I switched to my bigger net. From there the bait came well, and after two good strikes, we were loaded for a day of fishing and chumming.
The water was glass slick! If was the first day of water like that I'd been out. Hank had commented he'd seen a couple of snook in the surf at Casa Ybel, where they were staying. I asked him if he wanted to go out Blind Pass and check the beaches for snook, and he was all for it. We headed to the pass. As we approached the bridge, we laid all the rods down to get under. As soon as we'd cleared the bridge, my skeg was touching bottom. The tide was not all that low, but it was very shallow. I tried to make my way toward the jetty on our right, where I figured it would be somewhat deeper. Eventually, we made our way out to some deeper water and to the buoys, and were able to take off.
There was no visibility in the water at all. Although there was no air moving, and the gulf was also slick, there were ground swells rolling up on the beach. They can be very dangerous, especially if they catch a skiff from the side. That foiled my plans to move down the beach using the trolling motor. pitching shiners until we hit a snook or two. We picked a spot and anchored. The swells were enough to make keeping your balance on the bow a bit difficult. Nancy was not along to fish. She was just out to enjoy the water, which she loves. Hank hit a ladyfish early on, but we never saw another hit there or in the next two spots we fished. We saw no activity whatsoever. Not even any bait flipping or being chased. After about an hour of bouncing around, Hank and I agreed it would be much more comfortable inside on flat water.
We headed back to the pass. Once under the bridge, we fished our way along the north shore, pitching to the docks, rocks, and mangroves. We never got a take! We decided to move along and try somewhere else. We settled on an area offering mangroves and deeper depressions that always has snook. We fished a pretty got chunk of it without a hit. We were getting out baits scaled by snook all along though. The fish were there.
We decided to move our attention to redfish. As I made the approach on the trolling motor I began seeing redfish all over in front of us, exactly where I'd left them the last time I fished the area, and where I expected to find them, again. The difference was that we'd caught some the last time I'd been there. We put ballyhoo Slim-Jims, cut pinfish, and live shiners on them, and caught hardhead catfish and gafftop sail catfish! As we fished I kept seeing tarpon rolling off in the distance in the deeper water. Finally, with the reds there but refusing out offerings, I asked Hank if he'd like to go see if we could raise a tarpon or two. He was all for that!
After a short haul we were there. As I made an approach to the area with the Minn Kota, we were first treated to the sight of a juvenile manatee frolicking in about 5 feet of water. Nancy got a kick out of seeing that. But, just beyond, probably not more than 30 ft. from the boat, laid two huge tarpon of at least six feet in length, suspended just below the surface. I urged Hank to drop a bait in front of one of them, but his bait missed the mark. I tossed a shiner just beyond and to the front of one of the poons, and pulled it slowly back at him. I literally bumped the fish in the nose with that shiner, and that sent him off in a panicked tear.
No matter. There were tarpon all around us, rolling, finning, and frolicking. My experience with that area has always been that if they were rolling, they would eat. But, true to form for the day, they absolutely refused to touch anything. In fact, they were so disinterested, the speckled trout came in on our live baits and pushed them to the top and blasted them, but never actually ate one, either. They did that repeatedly, making that sucking sound only a trout can make on top. But, we never got one to actually eat a bait.
Hank finally did catch a jack crevalle, which officially killed the skunk. I told Hank and Nancy that they had seen Grand Slam after Grand Slam, but had actually caught the Trash Can Slam. I apologized for the non-existent bite, for us at least, and Hank assured me that in his 60 plus years he had been with many guides and on many trips without a fish, and knew it was just the way it was. He assured me he and Nancy had thoroughly enjoyed the day, as had I.
But, we had one more chance to get a good bite going. It was my ace in the hole. We went to the Waterfront Restaurant. And, sure enough, we had an awesome bite that went on for nearly two hours. We caught all kinds of good stuff, and ate it all.
Well, I'll tell ya. If we'd done nothing else, we had again proven that you don't have to catch fish to have a great time. Hank and Nancy were just wonderful to be with. It was brutally hot for early May; still and humid. But, Nancy never once whimpered. She enjoyed all there was to see. And, there was quite a lot. And, Hank never once complained because the fish wouldn't bite. He's a long time, experienced angler, and appreciated all that he got to see, even though he didn't get to catch it. It was a wonderful day, and we parted knowing we'd shared the magic of the water, the wonders of nature, and the birth of a new friendship, as only fishermen can. It's a wonderful thing!
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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