I'm pleased to announce that early this week I met with some folks from a video production company and finalized plans to produce a video tape about how to catch redfish. I will be the featured guide, and will, of course use my boat. We will probably shoot a day in Pine Island Sound and a day in Sarasota Bay. The tape will be marketed through "Florida Sportsman Magazine".

The first trip of the week was to prefish for trips the following two days. I had booked Clem Law of Palmetto, for two days with two boats. I commissioned my good friend and fellow guide Capt. Mark Bess to be the second guide. A tropical storm had just blown through, and now we were looking at an approaching front and knew we were going to be faced with some really windy weather. No one had been able to get out for a number of days, and we didn't know what to expect.

We got on the water very late, and spent a lot of time checking different areas for bait. We wanted to be sure we could find those magic shiners the next day. We didn't even wet a line until early afternoon, and we were looking for snook and redfish. They were both scarce, but we did manage 3 snook. We figured we'd better make sure we could find some trout, and that we did. We figured we were as ready as we could get for the next two days, under the circumstances.

We met Clem and his 82 year old father Bill Law and their friends Erick and Jim from South Carolina, at 7:00 am. It was houling at about 20mph. Clem and Bill elected to fish my boat because it's big and stable. Bill's legs ain't what they used to be, you know! But, you've gotta admire any 82 year old man that can still get out there and fish. Clem and Bill caught around 20 trout, and lost 3 or 4 redfish, but we only came to the dock with 2 keepers. Mark showed up with 10 keeper trout, a small red, and a flounder, and easily won the intra-boat tournament the boys had going.

The following morning was even worse! The wind was blowing a steady 25 mph, and gusting higher. We had to run way up the Sound to Chino Island to get bait. After fishing the sound for a while, Mark and his crew elected to go to fish the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. Clem didn't want to subject his dad to the long, rough, wet ride, so we stayed in the Sound. When we got back to the docks that afternoon Clem and Bill were the clear winners with an 8 pound snook and a 22" trout. They had bagged 2 snook and 12 trout, and lost one big red. Mark's team had gotten 1 red, 2 flounder, 1 small snook, and some trout.

It had been a couple of tough days of fishing with the wind blowing that hard, but everyone had fun, and I think we wore Bill out.

Next week we have some great low tides that should offer up some good pothole fishing, but there's another tropical depression brewing south of Cuba. Oh well, it's a slow week with only one trip booked.

TRIP INFORMATION [Site Index] [Highlights] [Capt. Butch Profile] [About the Boat] [Kayak Fishing] [Testimonials] [Booking Tips] [Weekend Policy] [Great Rates] [What to Expect] [Cheap Accomodations] [Send Email] [What to Bring] [Directions to the Ramp]

WHAT WE CATCH [Snook] [Redfish] [Tarpon] [Trout] [Jack Crevelle] [Tripletail] [Customer Tales]

THE CAPTAIN TELLS ALL [Fishing Reports] [TV Quality Video Clips] [Articles] [Newsletters] [Angler of the Month] [Angler of the Year Awards] [Manatee Zones] [Tackle Service Center] [Cool Fishing Stuff For Sale] [Hot Links to Cool Sites] [Send Email] [Back to Home]

OTHER FUN STUFF TO DO! [Shelling & Sightseeing Trips] [Dolphin/Manatee Watch Trips] [Lunch & Bar Hopping Trips]