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Rough weather was again the spoiler for the first part of the week. Seems to be a pattern, lately.
I had a call from a fellow named Ricky Foley on the weekend, and he booked a short notice trip for Wednesday, the 28th. But, come Wednesday morning, he left me sitting at the dock waiting, slapping mosquitoes and no-seeums, silently questioning his ancestry. I just don't understand how people can be so thoughtless.
Thursday dawned a beautiful day, with a nice breeze out of the southeast. My new customers, Mark Ausdenmoore, and his son Mike, of Loveland, Ohio, were greeted with a magnificent sunrise as we chummed for bait at Picnic Island. Bait was plentiful, and within a hour we were off to the first fishing hole of the day.
We began with snook fishing, but were greeted by tight-lipped fish that didn't bite. Without wasting much time on them, I moved a short distance to a spot that has been great for redfish this year. I began with some chum and two rigs with sliced and diced pinfish, and another with a live pinfish under a popping cork. It didn't take long to get the first strike, which resulted in a nice slot redfish perfect for dinner. There was another, and another, and another. Over the next several hours we had steady, if not great action, and by the time we were sure the bite was over Mark and Mike had caught 19 nice redfish.
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Wanting to find more action, we headed to another flat. I knew full well, though, that being late in the morning, it was likely about over for the day. We worked the spot hard, and came up with another redfish and a couple of speckled trout. That was it, but it was certainly better than the previous week, and pretty good fishing for late July. Mark and Mike were a lot of fun, and good students, and we'd had a fun morning together. We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, and by the time we got back to the ramp and got fish cleaned, the storms were on us.
Friday dawned as beautiful and Thursday for David Bond, of Tampa, and his son Ted, up from Miami. The brisk breeze from Thursday was still with us. But, the breeze that had kept me and the Ausdenmoores feeling cool, had left us all cramping by the time we called it quits. Even with the breeze, you're still dehydrating at an alarming rate out there in the heat. You just aren't as uncomfortable in doing it.
Bait was again great at Picnic Island, where my friend Rey Rodriguez joined us. There were plenty of pinfish of varied sizes, as well as shiners from small to mammoth in size, and plenty of them. After a quick cleanup, we were gone fishin!
Knowing that redfish are creatures of habit, we headed back to where the Ausdenmoores had caught 19 of the bronze beauties the day before. I was as sure as I could be the fish would show up there again. And, they did. We weren't there long before we had the first strike. Normally, I will wait until the rods in the rodholders are bent down on the fish, before picking them up to fight the fish. But, the redfish on the day before had been little pigs, and we gut-hooked most of them. Although they're tough as nails, I don't like doing that, so on this day I thought we'd try to set up on the fish a little earlier. The result was that we missed a lot of fish. 11 to be exact. But, Dave and Ted still caught 13 or 14 at that first hole, including a big fish of nearly 13 pounds. It took off like a rocket against the drag on the little Stella 2500, and for a while we thought we might have hooked a big stingray. But, I never saw the telltale white flashes that come from under the wings, and told Dave to just keep pressuring the big fish. It turned out to be a beauty!
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Once we were ready to move on, I moved away from the hole on my trolling motor. When I went to light the fire in the Yamaha, the match was a dud! The motor wouldn't crank. Soon we smelled gas. I had apparently flooded the motor. We were fast blowing out into the Sound, so I anchored the Talon and kept trying to start the Yamaha. It would make a sputter once in a while but refused to start. I realized I was going to have to put a new set of sparkplugs in her, but didn't want to try to do that in six feet of water hanging off the polling platform, so I made my way to a nearby mangrove key. I anchored over the edge of an oyster bar where I could stand on solid ground and work.
As I pulled the plugs, Ted readied the new ones and handed them to me. While we were doing that a boat approached, that turned out to be my friend and customer Eric Fairfield. He asked if he could be of help, and was very nice to stop. I didn't want him to ruin his day out with the family, so he left me with his cell number in case we couldn't get going. Once I was back in the boat, she still wouldn't start! I realized that I should have spun the motor over a few times with the plugs out to dry the cylinders, but hadn't. Back in the water I went. I pulled the new plugs, and Ted dried them. Once all the plugs were out, Dave spun the motor over on the key a few times, and I saw several good puffs of raw fuel coming out. She was BAD flooded!
Plugs reinstalled and back in the boat, she didn't light on the first few spins, so I knew I now had a clean cold motor that needed to be choked. She lit as soon as I gave her some choke, and we all breathed a big sigh of relief. We were on our way to the next hole. We fished several areas in search of snook, but only had kill strikes. Finally, we managed to catch a couple more redfish, and if memory serves, one snook, before it was over.
We finished at the Waterfront, again, rehashing the day. We'd had a lot of fun, and Dave and Ted were great guys. Both of them were pretty blown away by the ride and performance of the Talon. Dave gave me some inspiration. He at age 76 is still out there fishing in his flats boat in Tampa Bay, and going strong. I hope I can follow in his footsteps!
So, there you have it. A short week, but a great one with a couple of great father/son teams, and some great redfishing. I won't be on the water much for the month of August, as I'm taking some time off. I will still be available during the first half of the month, though.
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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