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As I predicted last week, this was a busy and a productive week. The operative word is "reds". They're everywhere. I you can't catch a redfish in Pine Island Sound right now, something is wrong! I was on big schools every day last week.
My old friend Bill Alexander along with his neighbor Doug Farran, of Orlando, and I, started the week off with a high tide first thing in the morning, and falling for the time we were fishing. Not a scenario I like, as the fish have been eating on the full incoming tide, and with full bellies, can be hard to convince. Kinda like fishing the mornings of the full moon. But, Bill didn't have a lot of options with fishing dates, so we were going to try to make the best of it.
We caught shiners and pinfish on the Picnic flats, and as we headed north, Bill spotted some bird action on the water that promised to be either schooling ladyfish, jacks, or trout. It turned out to be ladyfish, and we put four into the well to round out our choices of baits to present to the redfish.
Once on the flats and anchored, we had a large school of redfish rise immediately behind the boat. I launched a ladyfish cannonball and hooked the first redfish almost immediately. There were lots of reds on that flat, but they didn't want to settle down and eat. They were quite mobile. Bill and Doug hooked six, and boated two 27 inch fish, along with a snook and a trout. We fished until the heat got the best of us, and headed in. Boy! Is it hot!
Tuesday was like a different day for Frank Juge, his daughter Susan, and her friend Anka, of Orlando, also. Frank was sent to me by my good friend and customer John Hitt, of UCF.
We caught bait, mostly pinfish, at Picnic Island, again, but didn't run across any ladyfish schools working. We headed to a flat in search of reds. Did we find them! Redfish were everywhere again, but with the tide slightly better than the day before, they seemed quite willing to eat. Frank and the girls had a big time catching redfish, with many multi-hookups. We didn't get an exact count, but we all agreed that we must have boated 15 to 20 redfish and one very nice trout. The amazing thing is that by their own admission, the gang missed as many fish as they hooked!!
With everyone beat up from the sun and catching those hard pulling reds, we agreed to an early return to the dock, and were back well before noon. We'd all had enough!
After taking Wednesday off, and with the tide getting better daily, I expected big things for my old friend David Bernot and his eleven year old son, Chris, on Thursday. David, Chris, and I have been fishing together for years, and we always have fun no matter how it goes.
We caught great looking shiners and pinfish at Picnic Island, and headed to the flats in search of redfish schools. The first shiner Dave pitched into the water died almost instantly, and then I realized that all our bait was dying very quickly. There was no way to save it. Every critter save for maybe a half dozen pinfish expired!
It took a little while to find the first pod of redfish, and they were upwind from us, and I had a trolling motor on my borrowed BC that had decided not to work at all. I was on the pole. I couldn't get the fish to come to my chum, although I could plainly see them milling and feeding a short distance away. I made a small move with the boat, and threw some more chum, followed by baits. Boom! Boom! Boom! Almost instantly, we had a triple hookup, and a Chinese fire drill!
Although the triple was cool, it was probably our curse. When you're trying to chum up redfish you must keep baits in the water to hold the fish. We had three fish and a bunch of commotion going on, no baits to deploy, and the result was that our fish left us. Although we did catch one more, and there were plenty of reds still around, we never were able to get on a school that would eat, again. I think the midday heat was affecting them, as it was us. We decided to quit early and head for the Waterfront Restaurant for cool down and lunch. We spent a couple of great hours there before heading home.
Friday was another great day for my old friend Bob Brockway, over from Pompano Beach. He had asked if we could fish lures instead of live/cut baits, and that was sure OK with me. First, I love to fish lures, and since it was just Bob and me, I would get to fish. Second, I wouldn't have to throw that castnet and be soaking wet before eight o'clock.
Bob and I headed up the river to see if the ladyfish had reappeared around the Shell Point area. They're fun to play with, and we figured we could keep a few for backup in case we were striking out with artificials. Bob hooked a couple of ladys, and got one into the boat, but it flipped it's way right back out, again. I caught four big speckled trout on the TerrorEyez. Boy, those river trout are about the color of redfish! Just beautiful.
As the tide came to a crawl, we headed up the Sound onto the flats in search of redfish. The plan was to move quietly on the trolling motor and search for redfish, then anchor when hooked up. It wasn't long before we found our first action. I had a whole bunch of fish rise up behind my spoon and follow it. I jerked the spoon one time and let it fall to get the weeds off it, and a red slammed it. I directed Bob to quickly cast to where my fish was. He did and was instantly hooked up. A double right off the bat!
It went like that for the rest of the morning. We threw to pods of reds we could see moving, and would catch several each time. Finally, we anchored in an area where we could see lots of fish working and caught quite a few. I sight cast to two or three passing fish and caught each one. Really cool! By the time we were done, Bob and I had caught easily 15 big reds on gold and silver Johnson Silver Minnows, and a few on the Bass Assassin Crystal Flash, plus the 4 trout. But, as Bob said, the number of fish wasn't important. He just knew he'd had a ball and wanted to come and do it again. We finished the day at the Waterfront.
While we were fishing, Bob kept taunting me to give myself "Fish of the Week" honors for the first time. I told him it wouldn't be right, but he kept at me. Following is an email letter that put me over the edge!
Dear Mr. Capt. Butchie,
Please accept this as offical notification of fish of the week until I see your photo for last week and the Fish of the Week caption.
THIS IS NOT A REQUEST.
It is my opinion based on vast hour or two of experience that when you can see the fish, call the fish and catch the fish, its a no brainier. Besides, I would love to see the reaction.
Bob ( Points Leader For Y3K Honors ) Brockway
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So, there you have it. There are lots of reds around, but you can't always make them eat. Sure is fun trying, though.
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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