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I ran three trips this week, and save for still fighting off the flu, it was a great week with old friends, and the fishing was pretty good with Slams all round!
First up on Tuesday was my old friend Jim Turman, of Manchester, Iowa. Jim and I have been fishing together for five years or so, and he is one of my favorite fishing buddies. He is usually here earlier in the year, while it's still very cold back home, and Slams aren't as important as catching fish because it's winter here, too. We were fishing together Tuesday and Wednesday, and the one thing Jim wanted was a Slam!
We headed toward Chino Island for bait with dawn just breaking behind us. It was a beautiful morning. I felt like a lump of crud, but it was good to be out of the house, after being housebound and in bed for the better part of the previous week.
As I got the boat set up we already had bait flicking everywhere. I was happy to see it, and hoped we'd be done with bait quickly. With Jim disbursing the chum, it only took me about four throws to load the boat with beautiful bait, and we were ready to fish.
We headed to Ding Darling to see if we could roust a big snook or two from a beautiful spot that has been very consistent for me this spring. But, after spending a good hour working it over, all we had was scaled baits. I was quite surprised we couldn't get the snook to eat. We moved on.
We settled at another spot that has been consistently been giving me keeper snook this spring, and with the same result. We couldn't buy a bite. Hmmm. Time to make a change.
I decided to work on redfish, and go back to snook later on the tide. We made a move to a big flat on the east side, and I found the fish there. We were near a pothole that had a nice finger off one side of it. I threw some chum, and then tossed a tail-hooked shiner into the finger. It was immediately crushed by a snook! And, then another, and another, and another. We had a snook bite going in my redfish hole! We caught quite a few snook, but also caught several nice trout. Suddenly, we were two thirds of the way to Jim's Slam.
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By this time our tide was out of gas, as was I. Jim and I headed for the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch before heading in. As much as I love it, I couldn't even finish my calamari. Jim observed that I must not be well if I couldn't finish my food at the Waterfront! After cleaning a nice mess of fish I went home and crashed.
Wednesday morning Jim and I were back at Punta Rassa at 6:30 ready to do it, again. We'd had a great time the day before, and were ready to try to Slam again. After a nice ride to Chino, the bait was even better than on Tuesday. It came quickly, and we really loaded up. I think we had enough for a couple days of fishing. My long-time friend and customer Mike Howard, was on the flat in his Skinnywater already catching bait when we arrived. He left as we were cleaning up.
Jim and I headed to a favorite low-incoming tide spot to see if we could find some snook and trout action there. As we neared, I could see that Mike was there in the area, but not where I wanted to fish. We took up position, did some chumming, and were immediately on a good snook and trout bite. Jim also caught a big flounder and a nice sized mangrove snapper. We didn't find a redfish in the hole, so we didn't yet have our Slam. I told Mike about the redfish and snook action we'd had the day before, and invited him to join us there if he wanted.
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It had been a great two days with Jim, and I really love it when he comes down. And, I think now that he's had a taste of May fishing he's going to be coming more in May. It is different from February and March fishing.
Thursday, I slept most of the day!
Friday morning I met Scott Nelson and his friend “Doc” John, down from Atlanta. I'd fished with Scott and his Dad around this time last year, but Scott has let his big redfish and his Slam get away. We'd had a great time, and Scott was a blast. As soon as I met Doc, I knew I was in for a fun day no matter how crummy I felt. These two were a hoot together. I was at the Waterfront Restaurant dock to pick them up at around 6:20, and we were off to Chino for bait.
Fortunately, the bait was again thick, and flicking everywhere. I didn't think it would take too long to load up, and it didn't. I think we were done in 3 throws. Bait was easy, but I had watched the nearly full moon set as I rode in the darkness to pick the boys up, and figured we were in for a tough bite until late in the tide. That became a self fulfilling prophecy!
With the well loaded, we headed to the first spot in search of snook. The snook were certainly there, because I had seen plenty as I made my approach. But, what we caught were several very nice trout and a ladyfish. We had some baits scaled by the persnickety snook, but never got one to the boat. We moved on in favor of chasing redfish.
At our next stop we put out nose and tail-hooked shiners, and a ladyfish steak. I chummed with live and cut shiners in an effort to get the redfish interested. Our first take-down came on the ladyfish, and Scott put a beautiful 30 inch, 10 pound red in the boat. The boys caught 4 redfish there. One was under the slot limit, one was in, and two were over the limit. We were two thirds of the way to Scott's Slam. I figured it should be a done deal before the morning was over. We moved on to renew our search for snook that would eat.
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The wind continued to bounce around for the next several spots. Between the changing wind and the full moon induced lockjaw we saw no action for while. But, finally we got the snook to eat, more because they were finally ready than anything else. We had a pretty good bite, and Scott and Doc caught some nice snook. We stayed there until we were sure we'd caught every fish that was going to eat, and the tide was done. We headed back to the Waterfront Restaurant with Slams under Scott's and Doc's belts.
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That's how it went. I should be back out for another three days next week. The tides aren't the greatest, especially later in the week. But, at least it seems that all these late season fronts are finally behind us.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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