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The big front that passed through last weekend really wrecked the fishing for the tarpon guys, and along with awful inshore tides made things difficult inside, too. I moved my Monday and Tuesday trips to Wednesday and Thursday, choosing very poor tides over big winds, and still moved Thursday to Friday trying to get better conditions.
I couldn't wait to see Bill and Nancy Schrader, of Newark, New York, Wednesday. I hadn't realized it until Bill told me it had been three years since we fished together. But, I felt like I'd know them for many years because we've been steady sending emails back and forth over that time. Just for kicks I went and counted them. 101 emails over three years!
After chatting a few minutes we were off to catch bait. We had a very early incoming tide that would be done at around 10:00 AM. We needed to catch bait quickly and get going to the fish, and try to catch a few before the tide flat-lined. Our plan was a good one. Fish until the bite quits, and the take Nancy to Cayo Costa for shelling. But, the wind would spoil those plans.
We headed over to the B Span flats, and loaded up on bait pretty quickly. I knew we only had a couple of hours of real fishing time after catching bait, and told Bill I thought it would be a good plan to fish close to home in order to avoid wasting valuable fishing time traveling. He deferred to my judgment. As soon as we had enough bait for a couple hours of fishing and a little chumming, we were cleaned up and on our way to the first stop.
The wind was up right out of the west. It wasn't supposed to be, but...... I told Nancy that with the west wind blowing that hard we might want to reconsider the shelling trip. Once settled in on our first spot of the day, Nancy quickly drew first blood with a nice snook that she really seemed to enjoy fighting. She had several under her belt before Bill finally got going, but by the time the bite was over around 10:00 as I had predicted, they were about Even Steven. They'd caught 4 or 5 a piece.
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With the wind howling we were sure we weren't going to cross over the Sound to shell, and Bill recommended we stay close to home. I wanted to try to give Nancy some of what she wanted in sightseeing, and opted to take them across to Tarpon Bay. By this time of year there are usually manatees in there, as well as plenty of porpoise. The ride across to Tarpon Bay was about as exciting as Nancy cared to take!
It was a long, slow, arduous idle into the bay, and although we saw several porpoise, we saw no manatees. We did some fishing around the chain of oyster bars there, but couldn't draw so much as a nibble. The fishing certainly appeared done, for sure. I suggested we go to lunch, and see what the wind was doing once we were done.
Our lunch at the Waterfront was fabulous as always, and once we were done and saw that the wind was still high, I suggested we take a scenic tour up Monroe canal and all the way around to the east side of St. James City into Matlacha Pass. It sounded good to Nancy and Bill, and off we went. I hadn't done that little trip for several years, and I was amazed at how much change I saw. It was a fun ride that took us about forty minutes. Once we cleared the canal, we headed home. Even though Nancy's plans had been foiled, it was a fun day, and great to see my friends, again.
After moving Randy Nation and his son Nick, from Tuesday to Thursday, and then to Friday, trying to get better conditions, we were ready to fish. I was at the ramp very early and had plenty of time to talk to some of the other guides who were also waiting on their customers. The fishing reports for the days I'd been off the water were pretty dismal, but exactly what I would have expected given the wind and tide conditions.
Randy and Nick missed the new fly-over from Gladiolus to Summerlin, and were a few minutes late, but they found me just as I was checking my cellphone for messages from them. We zipped right to the B Span flats where there were a half dozen or so other boats already in progress. Although the changing breeze out of the northwest kept bouncing us around, Nick did a good job of chumming the shiners, and we got plenty of bait. I did work a bit harder than I wanted, but we were set.
I based the choice of my first stop of the day on the tide prediction. But, once I got there the water was far higher than it was supposed to be. It looked like it was high tide, already. I'm guessing that it had been blowing pretty good out of the west earlier in the morning, stacking the water up in the Sound. Although we did have some snook crush our chum, Nick and Randy only managed a fat trout a piece. After giving it more than enough time, we moved on.
I headed to Cork Island, and upon arriving found one of those boats with a fancy wrap on it sitting on the northeast corner of the island. It's a good sized island, so I decided to quietly motor in on the MinnKota to the northwest corner to fish. There's no way we would bother the other angler. But, before we were even close to the island, he apparently became indignant, and cranked up and blasted off, making sure he ruined it for both of us. A perfect I D Ten T! We fished it for a while, hoping the fish would settle down, but apparently the damage was done. We moved on.
I settled in on a small key I hadn't fished in probably five or six years. No reason. I just fell out of my inventory for some reason. But, the wind was perfect to fish the holes on the north side of it. It didn't take long before Randy had his first snook in the boat. Then, Randy landed a beautiful redfish that was off the top of the slot. More came. I think we got 8 reds there at that key, and they were beautiful dark bronze torpedoes. And, Randy had his Slam! Nick lost a nice snook after several nice jumps, and a couple more before it was over.
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We moved to another key not too far away where we bagged one more small redfish, and then it was over as if someone had flipped a switch to the off position. I suggested we go for an early lunch, and then come back out and hit a few more spots afterward. Off we went to the Waterfront.
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Nick and Randy both ordered the big all beef burger that I can't even come close to finishing. But, they both put those big burgers away before I could even eat a plate of fried oysters! Wow! I couldn't do that at gun point!
With lunch under our belts, we headed back out to some spots close by that are always productive for snook. But, even though the tide was running out fairly well, the fish weren't about to eat. Instead they taunted us by scaling every bait we threw their way. They were just letting us know they were there, but not about to eat. After working the area well, we headed back to the ramp. Again, all the catching had happened before the incoming tide quit, just as I had foretold. Nick and Randy were great guys, and had caught some beautiful fish, and it had been a fun day.
I've got a busy week coming up, and more favorable tides. Now, if these late season fronts that are bringing all this wind will go away, we might have some pretty good fishing to talk about next week. Stay tuned.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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