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Wow! What a week. I ran four trips, and they were all great. Fish are everywhere!
The first trip, on Monday, was my first outing with Russ and Sammie Burleson, of Atlanta, Georgia. We began with catching bait at Chino Island. Once we had plenty of bait in the well we headed over to Regla Island to see if we could catch some trout, jacks, and ladyfish. The fish were all over, and we caught tons of speckled trout, 1 gag grouper, and one ladyfish.
From there, we headed north to see if we could catch some redfish as the tide improved. We left the fish biting at Regla. We settled on a mangrove island and began chumming shiners. Before long we had some redfish biting, and we managed to catch about half dozen of the bronze beauties to 29 inches. That's around 9 to 10 pounds, depending on how broad shouldered they are.
With trout and redfish under our belts, all we needed was a snook to give us the Slam. We headed back south in the Sound looking for snook. We managed 8 or 9 or the stripped racers before the tide quit on us. Once it did, we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a fantastic lunch. We'd had a great day, and I really enjoyed my first outing with Russ and Sammie.
Wednesday morning I was on the water by 5:30, trying to catch bait for the Disable Veterans Tournament our guides association conducts every year. The weather was drizzle, and threatening rain. I went straight to Chino flats, and after some chumming, loaded the boat with beautiful bait on one throw of the castnet. I had some time before picking up my guys, Mike and Bill, and tied on a jig and began casting. I caught trout on almost every cast. I headed back to Punta Rassa at 7:45 to pick up my guys.
Obviously, I took them right back to the Chino flat. We only have three hours in which to fish the Vets. So, most of us try to find action like trout, ladyfish, or jacks, and let the old boys have some fun. We were in the action. Mike and Bill caught many nice trout, as well as 4 or 5 big jacks, several ladyfish, and to Bill's delight, 4 big mackeral. Once things slowed there, we headed over to the flats off Regla Island. My good friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez was there with his guys catching trout on jigs. He waved us in. Mike and Bill and I caught trout after trout with live bait and jigs until the weather began to deteriorate. Two big cells were approaching quickly. We decided to beat feet, since it was almost time to have the boys back to the docks, anyway.
We didn't make it. Somewhere behind McKeever Keys, we ran into torrential rain. I couldn't see the front of the boat. There is an exemption to the manatee zones for bad weather, and we were running the flat behind York Island. I felt like I was in a sandblast machine. The rain was coming in sheets, and stung like hell. I couldn't see. I was running on years of instinct. Somehow, we managed to make it back to the ramp unscathed, and we had no more than gotten there and gotten my Talon trailered, that the cells began spitting lightning. My guys were amazed that I managed to find the ramp! All's well that ends well!
Thursday, it was Willie Vandervorst and his friend Joseph, from Austria. Willie had tried to fish with me a couple of years ago, but things had gotten fowled up and we didn't get to fish. I was looking forward to meeting him. I could tell he had a great sense of humor. The first proof of Willie's sense of humor was that he had brought his friend Joseph, who neither spoke a lick of English, and who at age 68, had NEVER been fishing.
We headed to Chino Island for bait, and for the first bit of fishing. We had another drizzly day, as we now had a tropical storm in the Gulf. It didn't take long to catch bait, and we were off to Regla. Well, to make a long story short, we had an awesome day. Willie and Joseph easily caught more than 100 trout, plus tons of ladyfish and jack crevalle. Once the tide seemed right, and I figured they had had enough of the intense trout action, we headed north into the Sound in search of a redfish and a snook to complete the Slam. At the first stop Willie managed an 11 pound redfish. A stop or two later, we got a snook almost to the boat! Close enough to call it a Slam for the boys from Austria. It was a great day, and I hope it was one that Willie and Joseph will not soon forget.
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But, the best was yet to come. My best fishing buddy, Dr. John Hitt of UCF, was in town, and we were fishing Friday. John loves to trout fish, especially with topwater plugs, as do I. Although it was beginning to move away from us, we still had the cloudy conditions associated with the low pressure, and I figured it would be a perfect day for John and I to do topwater fishing. It was mano e mano! I didn't have to ask John twice if we could skip catching bait, and go lure fishing!
We headed straight to the flats off Regla. At first, John fished a Yozuri Walk the Dog and I fished a jig. We caught and caught trout; on every cast. But, John was having too much fun with the topwater action. So, I tied on a topwater Popper, which proved deadly on the trout as well. As an illustration of how intense the fishing was, we both caught 13 fish on 13 consecutive casts on topwater plugs, without so much as one cast without a fish caught!! It was the most awesome topwater fishing I've ever encountered!!
John and I had a blast! By the time we were done fishing, we had caught in the neighborhood of 150 trout, 4 ladyfish, and several jack crevalle! What a morning. What a week!
This kind of action will probably continue into November. It's easy and fun fishing. It's hard to argue with catching a fish on every cast, no matter what it is!! Stay tuned for next week.
I have posted the final thumbnailed pictures on the Talon Page of this website, for those interested in seeing how one of these jewels goes together.
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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