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It was a tough week of fishing. Gabrielle left the water in a mess. It looks like black coffee and is full of seaweed everywhere you go. Plus, there is tremendous fresh water intrusion from the rivers. It may take a while for things to get back to normal.
Monday was a beautiful day for my old friends Giles Boudreau and his partner Dave Hench, of Ft. Lauderdale, and a perfect day for their first ride in a Talon. Giles and Dave wanted to chase redfish, since they don't catch many reds on their own. With reds as our target, I wanted to find some ladyfish to steak up for bait. We went in pursuit of them, but didn't find the first one. With no ladyfish, we had to catch bait, and found plenty of pinfish of all sizes, as well as a handful of shiners at Picnic Island.
Once loaded with bait, we were off to look for redfish. We found the fish, but they weren't in their usual feeding mood for such a good tide. We did catch a few; seven I think, up to 28 inches, as well as a nice trout and a big jack crevalle, but we didn't knock them out. We had fun with them, though.
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We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant. Giles and Dave couldn't say enough good things about the Talon F-16. They were totally impressed with the ultra soft and dry ride, and the enormous amount of deck space and fishability. They both suffer from back problems, and admitted to me that they used to suffer in the old BarHopp'R. Their days of suffering with their backs are over on the Talon.
Tuesday was an equally enlightening day for my old buddy Russ Hubbard. He was over with his son David, and friend Mike. We went looking for ladyfish first thing, and from the time I took off, Russ was beaming from ear to ear over the Talon. We not only didn't find ladyfish, but after gathering bait, we didn't find redfish, or anything else, either. We first fished a spot in Tarpon Bay that has been full of redfish, but on this day there was so much seaweed coming in on the fast moving tide that you could nearly walk across it. It was awful, and made it impossible to fish. We tried bait on the bottom and under corks, and couldn't keep bait clean long enough for it to get eaten. After one big jack, we gave up on the area.
We found redfish, but they refused to eat. We hooked only one, and broke it off on the hookset. It was the same thing everywhere we went. The only thing we could catch was catfish, and we caught plenty of them! We finally tossed in the towel, and headed for the Waterfront. Russ, who has a very bad back and always suffered on our many trips together, was all smiles even without fish, because his back felt just great and he hadn't gotten a drop of water on him all morning. He was just amazed. He congratulated me repeatedly on my choice of boats.
I was supposed to do a fly fishing trip with Howard Salt on Wednesday. He had been scheduled to leave on Tuesday, the day of the terrorist attack on our cities, and was unable to even get here. We rescheduled his trip for next month.
Thursday, I took the Talon to St. James City and picked up my old fishing buddy, Butch Boteler at his back door in Cherry Estates. It was time for him to take a ride on, and fish from the Talon. Butch can be very critical of boats, and I was eager to find out what he would think of the Talon. As I headed for Picnic island to catch bait I took the Mercury to 5,000 RPM, as fast as I had run it to that point. Butch was thrilled with the acceleration and speed of the boat. He was amazed at how the hull seems to get up on top of the chop and gently dance over it like it's riding on a cushion of air. Perhaps it is! When I demonstrated the turning ability of the cat hull I nearly scared Butch to death. I didn't tell him it was coming, and he just couldn't believe a boat could turn that hard, stay perfectly level, not blow the prop out, or try to swap ends.
The fishing wasn't much better than it had been on the last trip. We fished several good areas with both live bait and artificials, and only managed to catch one snook, one redfish, and one jack. We had a great time, though, as good fishing friends always do no matter what. And, Butch Boteler is trying to figure out how he can squeeze a Talon into his new budget.
That was it for the week. My own Talon is supposed to finally be ready on Monday. Here's hoping!
The downturn in business because of the slow economy, and now further because of the tragedy of September 11, has had me and some of my friends brainstorming how we can generate trips, generate cash flow, and therefore stay in business through the tough times we have ahead of us. Here are the first two ideas I will put forward. First, since December and January are normally my only slow months of the year, I am fearful of just how slow they could be this year. I am going to roll back the cost of my half day trip to last year's rate of $325 for anyone booking in December and January. Further, if you would like to prepay your trip, no matter when you have it booked, either in lump sum, or in three or four installments, I will discount the trip by $25. With the market in such a slump and interest rates still declining, that's a much better return on your trip fee than leaving it in the bank until trip time.
So, come on folks. It's time to get out and enjoy your favorite pastime, in your favorite vacation destination. Let's show Osama Bin Lunatic that he can't beat us with economic terrorism, either.
I have posted 12 new thumbnailed pictures on the Talon Page of this website, for those interested in seeing how one of these jewels goes together. I'm hopeful that completion date will be about a week from this writing.
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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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