Regular readers of my weekly fishing reports know that I didn't publish a report last week. My apologies. I took the week off.....from everything. Turned out it was a good week to be off the water, as it blew like crazy all week.

This week started off on a sour note. My wife's father passed away at his home in Lanai, Hawaii, Saturday night, and I put her on a Delta jet Monday morning. She'll be gone for a couple of weeks. I was forced to cancel a trip with my good friend, and upcoming/freshman Sarasota guide Capt. Tommy Stephens.

The rest of the week offered up great weather and great fishing until Saturday. Tuesday, Frank Argus, of Long Beach, California, drove down from Orlando to find out about the Pine Island Sound he'd read about on my web page. He wasn't disappointed. Frank, who usually fishes tuna, billfish, and all those Pacific critters was amazed at how much fun, and how much of a challenge our snook and redfish offer on light tackle. Cover like mangroves isn't something that usually figures into the Pacific formula, but Frank was a very good angler and quickly adapted. Before the trip was over he had caught in excess of 24 redfish to 30 inches, a dozen or more snook to 27 inches, and 6 trout to 16 inches. Frank is definitely in the hunt for my Angler of the Month.

Jeff Fisher, of Bradenton, Florida, and his visiting mother Margo Lawson, from California, did nearly as well. In fact, if Margo had ever gotten the hang of setting the hook on those fish, they would have really cleaned house. Margo did fine with the fish after it was hooked, but missed untold numbers of fish on the strike. Jeff did just fine, and we all had a lot of fun. They caught lots of trout early in the morning. Later, they landed 3 jacks, 6 snook to 28 inches, and 20 or more redfish. They took home plenty to eat.

That same evening, I had a fantastic "all the lobster you can eat" meal at The Seafood Center and Crabhouse in Iona, with my party for Friday, Mark Gonczkowski, a very talented graphic artist, and his boss Jim, from Pinellas Park, Florida. Mark had found me on the Internet, and thought my web page clearly indicated that I had my sh*t together. He booked a full day, and hoped to learn a lot to take home with him. I think he got what he came for.

When Mark sent me his deposit, he sent it in an envelope on which he had drawn a really cool picture of a snook with a bad attitude. I asked Mark at dinner that night if I could use the picture on my web site, and Mark volunteered to do pictures of redfish, trout, and tarpon, too! The scanned image appears on this report.

Although the action wasn't what I'd call fast and furious, Mark and Jim had a great day of fishing. Fish feed throughout the night on full moon, and have full bellies the next morning. It can be hard to get them to eat. But Mark and Jim caught 15+ redfish to 27 inches and at least as many snook to 27 inches, as well as 20 or more trout and a couple of jacks. Mark said that it was the equivalent to a whole year of snook fishing in Pinellas Park!

Saturday's trip was for the Third Annual Big Brother/Big Sisters Tournament in Ft. Myers, sponsored by our Lee County Professional Guides Association. Last year we raised about $10,000 for BB/BS, and this year the results were about the same.

It was raining as I prepared the boat for the trip at 6:00 AM, as the first cold front of the fall to make it this far south moved in. The forecast called for rain for most of the day. As the sun rose to a cloudy, red sky, one throw of the 10 foot net was all that was needed to fill the wells full of shiners. At least it wasn't blowing, yet.

My party was Ray Antorcha, and his little Brothers Joey and Charlie. My only concern was to give them lots of action. We rode north to a pothole east of Regla Island that always has lots of trout on a low tide, and the kids caught and released trout after trout. In the short time alloted for fishing the kids, they caught more than 30 trout, 7 jacks, and about 5 ladyfish. They had a ball. We all got off the water as the weather really started to get wet. The right front tire on my van went flat as I cleaned the boat. What timing!

This coming week we have some great tides for pothole fishing in the morning. The low tides are right at 0.0', and that means potholes. By the end of the week we'll have enough water on the flats in the morning to catch lots of reds and snook. Let's hope the weather cooperates!

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