This was a fantastic week of great fishing, and catching. It was marred only by one mechanical problem, and news of the worst kind.

Monday was reserved for my friend Rusty Holmes, of Clearwater. He's the guy that sold me my new Dodge Van. Rusty is an avid and experienced snook fisherman, and has caught lots of snook in his time, but always with heavy gear in the 25 to 30 pound class. He's been wanting to fish with me since we met, and it finally happened. Rusty came down the night before, and got in real late, so we weren't real alert out there Monday morning.

We got a good load of pinfish at the Hump, and were the third boat on the beach. Jimbo and his son Jim were already there. I don't think Rusty was ready for what was about to transpire. It took him a few short minutes to get the hang of fishing with light spinning gear and 10 pound test, but once he did, he fished like a man possessed! He was determined to beat all other June anglers for the Angler of the Month Award. Rusty was fun to watch, and got no help from me, except with baiting hooks and tying lines. I heard the "awesome" word a lot. When we were out of bait, and concerned about the weather, as well, Rusty had 36 snook and 2 trout in the boat, and had missed much fewer fish than most folks do.

Rusty had only fished for three and a half hours before we closed up shop and headed for the Waterfront Restaurant. Over lunch, Rusty told me that a good day of snook fishing at home is 4 to 6 fish. He just couldn't believe how many snook he'd caught, and I hope he carried a new appreciation for light tackle fishing home with him. Rusty, along with Russ Hubbard, Mike Schwartz, and a few others, is one of the best anglers I've ever fished with. I had a ball watching him have so much fun.

Tuesday was the first BarHopp'R trip for John Leinhauser, of Jacksonville, Florida. I think it will be a memorable one for him, as well. Conditions were again near perfect for beach snookin, with the wind out of the east at 15. We caught plenty of pinfish and some small shiners at the flat in front of Keesel's shack, and were off.

John wasn't an experienced snook fisherman like Rusty, but he was a good student, and got the hang of things pretty quickly. He fished hard, and lost lots of snook, but still managed to boat 27 linesiders up to 7 pounds before we called it quits. We left the beach at around eleven o'clock, concerned that if we waited any longer, by the time we had a Waterfront lunch, the weather would be on us. It was a good call, as we just made it in under the big storms after our lunch.

Wednesday was my 55th birthday. I was going to spend it with Rich Maselli, his dad Bill, and cousin Phil. The trip was a birthday present to Rich from the boys. Rich's birthday was in February. As I waited at the ramp for Rich to arrive, I could see lightning in almost every direction. I wondered if we would even be able to run the trip. The weather was changing from an afternoon to a morning pattern, which happens when the winds shift from the east to a westerly direction in the morning.

We headed to Keesel's for bait, and were loaded with great pinfish and shiners in short order. I was looking for another fantastic morning of fishing for Rich and the boys, and couldn't wait to get to the beach. But, not far from Redfish Pass it happened! In an instant, I heard a scratching sound as the motor overrevved, and I almost went over the handlebars. The boat came to an abrupt stop. I couldn't imagine what could have happened. I thought I'd missed seeing a crab trap buoy, and wrapped rope in my prop. But when I raised the motor, there was nothing tangled in the prop, and I knew immediately what had happened. I had spun the hub in the prop, for no apparent reason. It just let go.

I knew right then there would be no fishing, and I was really concerned about the storms that were all around us, especially one sitting just off Sanibel. If one of the storms moved over us, we could not run from it. We could only make way at idle speed, as the hub would start to slip at around 1,200 RPM. We began the long, anxious trip home, running at around 4 knots.

I was Jonesin for some coffee, so I called ahead to the Waterfront, to see if they would let us in for some fresh brew. They open at 11:00, and we would be showing up at around 8:30. They told us to come on. It seemed like it took forever to get there, but we finally made it without getting wet, and owner Christen Hollway welcomed us with open arms. That morning she was wearing a bright sun dress, and looked as pretty as I've ever seen her. She told us that she and husband J.D. had broken the lower unit on their boat the day before, and were caught in the terrible lightning storms that came through early. I felt lucky to have avoided storms, but our trip was only half over.

We arrived back at Punta Rassa ramp without incident shortly after 10:00. I really hated that Rich's birthday present went up in spinning hub smoke, but hope we can reschedule soon.

Thursday's trip was with my old friends Gilles Boudreau and Dave Hench. They've been BarHopp'R regulars for some time, now, and are both very good fishermen. I always enjoy our trips together. I hope that the great bite would still be on.

We got plenty of pinfish and small shiners at Keesel's, and headed for the outside. The wind was southwest at around 10, which made it a little bumpy, but doable. The bite was not a good one, though. We watched several boats come and go as we waited the snook out, catching for a while, then not. The boys had 19 snook in the boat when we left the beach, which was getting pretty rough, around 10:30. We headed inside to the flats to see if we could find some snook that would eat.

Our first stop was the charm. We had a good bite right from the get-go, but now on the small shiners that were barely large enough to throw. The tide was way up, and the water fairly deep, so I was able to get closer to the fish than usual without spooking them. Gilles and Dave caught another 13 snook there, for a total of 31 fish for the morning. Dave got the best fish at 9 pounds on a tiny little bait. We finished the day at the Waterfront with a great lunch.

Friday was the nearly perfect end to a nearly perfect week. My friend and master angler Russ Hubbard was over with his son David, and his boss Gary and son William. David is eleven. William is six. It would be William's first fishing experience. The breeze was already out of the west at around 10, and I was afraid we'd be kept from the beach. The breeze was still holding steady once we finished catching bait, and the Gulf had a little chop, but was still fishable without discomfort. We headed down the beach.

It's probably a good thing that we didn't have a raging bite that morning. The bite was slow, but just about right for us to handle the young boys. It didn't take long for William to catch what would be his first fish, and first snook. Russ and I were both concerned about him loosing one of my expensive rigs, so we were helping him hold on with one hand, and giving him a big wedgie holding onto his shorts with the other. William was having a blast catching fish, and his dad was having just as much fun watching it all happen. Gary never wet a line, but sure seemed to be having fun watching his young son. David, is quite the fisherman for eleven years old (what would you expect), and we didn't have to worry too much about him.

David hooked the fish of the day, which had to be a monster snook judging by the way it took off. I wanted to help David turn it, but Russ asked me to let him go it on his own. He could only hang on as the snook stripped yard after yard of the 10 pound line until she cut herself to freedom in the sticks. That's snookin!

The boys ended the morning with around 25 snook in the boat, 5 of which Russ had managed to fish enough to catch. We headed to the Waterfront for recap and lunch. It had been a great day with the kids.

Because of an email delivery failure, I didn't learn until the weekend that on that Friday, my long-time close friend Art Sokol had succumbed to cancer. I was shocked, as Art had such a positive, upbeat, it'll never get me attitude, that I thought sure he would win his battle. I'm sorry that careers and so forth, kept me and Art from spending more time together over the last few years. I will miss him, and urge you to find time to spend with your close friends and loved ones, as tomorrow is not guaranteed. I ask that although you didn't know Art, you include him and his wife Lois, and family in your prayers.

Until next week.

Butchie

Note: Those of you who have trips booked in the future, or who may want to book, should note my new phone numbers. Home/office is 941-415-7282, and the new cell phone number is 941-376-2214.