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Weather was once again a major factor in fishing the first week, as tropical storm Barry made his presence known with lots of rain and storms. I had three trips on the books for the week, but was only able to run one.
That trip was with my old friend Mark Bess, and his friend Steve, a former fellow sheriff. Steve is legally blind, and can only see light and dark, but that didn't keep him from catching fish. We headed up the river to catch ladyfish to use as redfish bait later in the tide, but the water coming out of the river was absolutely black and fresh, and the tide was laying flat. We did have a few bumps, but the fish just weren't in the mood, and we caught no ladyfish where there are usually thousands. So, we headed back out on the flats to try for bait the old fashioned way. There were no shiners to be found, so we kept the largest of the pinfish to cut for redfish. They're almost as good most of the time.
Finally, we were on the flats and ready to chum for redfish. Pinfish chopped into bite sized morsels would have to do. And, it did. It wasn't long before Steve had the first action, but he let it get away. He missed another hit before he got into the groove, but after that, he was on. Mark, who is a great angler, and used to guide here in the Sound himself, was a little rusty after not being on the water in over a year. He missed several fish, too. So, out of a dozen good hits, we boated at least half a dozen nice reds, and had one triple hookup. We also boated one nice snook.
Once the tide and bite quit, we were content to head back to the ramp early and get out of the heat. The rest of the week was a washout because of the weather.
The following week I only had one trip on the books going into the week, and that was it coming out of the week. I haven't seen business so slow since the early days of my guiding career. The economy and summer doldrums are killing us.
The trip was with Justin and Samantha Shelley, a wonderful young couple from Lakeland, Florida. It was the first descent day after the passing of Barry. Although the weather was nice, the conditions were horrible. We checked the river for ladyfish, but the water was even worse than it had been the week before. The tide was moving out quickly, and normally there would be plenty of fish to catch, but we didn't even get the first bump on several passes.
To my surprise, there was plenty of nice bait out on the Picnic Island flats! I didn't think we'd find anything but pinfish there, but even in the dark, dirty water the shiners were there. Go figure! We also checked out the Tarpon Bay flats, and got some bait there. With bait in the well, I had hopes of finding some fish that would eat somewhere in the murky waters.
I knew fishing for snook on the outside would be out of the question so soon after the storm, and decided to fish Redfish Pass while waiting on some water to flood the flats. That plan didn't work because the Pass was so full of seaweed you could practically walk on it. We tried to get some baits down, but the line immediately became very heavy with grass, and it was impossible to fish.
I headed back inside to the flats, hoping for cleaner water. It wasn't much better, believe me. I figured we had as good a chance of chumming up some redfish on the flats as we did of anything, so I staked us out and began pitching chopped and live shiners and pinfish. We did manage to get a bite going, although not a good one. Justin and Sam did have some good hits, but partly because they had never fished using this technique, and partly because there was so much junk in the water to get on the line, the didn't manage to get a fish to the boat. They jumped three good snook (maybe four), and had four good, solid redfish hits, but missed them all. We hit several other spots later in the tide, but couldn't get anything to happen. The Shelleys were very understanding of the situation, and assured me it wasn't the first time they'd been skunked.
I did manage to get my Boatmaster trailer over to Boatmaster for modifications for the new Talon, after moving what's left of BarHopp'R I to the Float On. Also took BarHopp'R to Smith Marine to have the jackplate removed for a friend that is buying it. If you need stuff for your boat, like pop-up goodies, Trolling Thunder batteries, hydraulic steering, nice Action Craft consoles, aluminum trailer, etc., I have plenty. Check my for sale page.
Well, at least I have a full we on the calendar next week. Hopefully, there will be lots of catching to talk about.
I'll be keeping my readers posted with the progress of the F-16, and will attempt to get some pictures of my boat in various stages of it's construction onto the site. All of you folks who have trips coming up in the fall are in for a treat! Below are some thumbnails you may click to view the full size picture of the new ultra wide ride Talon F-16.
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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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