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It was a week of very poor tide, and several days didn't fill. I worked Monday and Friday, and spent the rest of the week networking my computers.
Terry Ryan, and his lovely wife Michelle, of Toms River, New Jersey, were my customers for Monday. Terry had been trying to book with me for some five years, and finally managed to get a day. I had great hopes that when the trip was over he would be able to say it was worth the wait.
We began the day with catching bait up on the flats near Keesel's shack. The bottom there is healthy, and not covered with the green slimy stuff that so many other of our bait spots are, making pulling the net into the boat a much easier task. Once we were loaded we were off to the outside. We had a southeast breeze, which made the beach a bit bouncy, but I knew the best chance of putting Terry and Michelle into great snook action would be on the beaches. The snook population in the Sound is thinned down to the resident fish that don't migrate. Big numbers are hard to come by on the flats, now.
There was already one boat in the chosen area, and another that cut me off as I made my way to where I wanted to fish on the trolling motor. It didn't matter, as the first bait that Terry pitched into the water was eaten by a nice snook, and the action never slowed for the next couple of hours. I put the anchor down, and we stayed right there. Oddly, the boat who had cut me off was a single fly fisherman, who never caught a fish, and eventually left. We never saw the other boat catch any fish, either, but we were a fair distance away, and may not have been able to see well enough. By the time the action slowed, we had some 30 snook landed, and a bunch that were missed and that got away. We also had a couple of trout in the well, and only needed a redfish to complete our Slam.
We headed inside to see if we could find some reds, and set up our chumming operation on a shallow flat. We weren't successful in getting a big bite going, but we did catch 3 nice reds. The largest was 11 pounds, and Terry and Michelle were thrilled with those reds.
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It had been a great day with some great folks, and I couldn't help but feel a strong sense of relief that we had managed to catch lots of fish.
A big cold front that was supposed to make Thursday a wet day, stalled and showed up Friday. I was afraid it would ruin the morning for fishing with my new customers, Elliott and Nancy Danto, of Kendall Park, New Jersey. When I arrived at the ramp I could see a number of the tarpon guys had already cancelled, as the wind was blowing pretty hard out of the south/southeast. It would make tarpon fishing and snook fishing the beaches impossible. The rain and storms were just to our north, and moving slowly. I explained to Elliott that we wouldn't be able to get out to where the big numbers of snook are, and would have to try to catch our fish inside. He was cool with that.
We headed out to Keesel's flat for bait. I notice there were a number of boats looking for bait at tarpon Bay and Chino Island. I kept going. Once we were set up, the bait came quickly, and we were loaded to the gills in three throws.
The sky was looking ever more threatening. I decided to stay on the east side of the Sound, at least for a while, and see what the weather might do. We worked a mangrove key in the now south wind, and had lots of kill strikes from the snook there, and managed to catch a couple. There were plenty of fish there, but they weren't in an eating mode.
The weather seemed to be holding, so I opted to cross the Sound. We worked one of my favorite areas over pretty well, as the wind continued to crawl around to the southwest with the approaching weather. We caught several more snook, and a couple of trout. Then, we were nearly drowned by a fast approaching squall. There was no lightning, so we were good with staying. Nancy, who was reading a book, was a real trooper, and never complained about the weather.
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We only needed a redfish to complete our Slam, so we made a move and began fishing and chumming them with live and cut bait. I sensed we didn't have long to stay on the flats, as we saw several lightning strikes off in the distance. On the third move, a redfish attached a shiner under a popping cork, which was in the rod holder, but he managed to escape the hook. I knew we were finally in the redfish. But, within a minute of that strike, the lightning alarm at a nearby golf course on Sanibel, went off, and we all agreed it was time to head for the ramp. We had to leave the reds for another day.
It wasn't the stellar day of snooking I had envisioned for Ell, but he had gotten his first snook and had caught on quickly. Had we been able to get to the big aggregations of snook, I know he wouldn't have missed many. But, as he said, he has a healthy respect for the sea and the weather, and there's always another day. I look forward to their return in December.
We'd gotten in just before noon, and before I got the boat cleaned and put away the weather was on us. It was an all afternoon affair, and we had made the right decision.
I'm looking at a full week next week with some very good looking new moon tides. Monday is Memorial Day, and will be a tough day to be on the water with my old friend John Hitt, but we always manage to have a great time. The report for next week should be a good one, though, so stay tuned.
Till then, tight lines!
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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