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It was a busy week, with six trips on the books originally. The weather allowed us to fish four of those days.
First up were my old friends Dave and Anne Kerschner, from Ohio. Last time they were down to fish, the weather turned so awful we couldn't fish a day. I hoped the weather would be kinder this time. I just love to fish with these guys. They're so much fun.
We met early Sunday morning and headed straight to Tarpon Bay for bait. Bait was easy, as it's just everywhere. I think this is the biggest hatch of baitfish I can remember ever seeing. On the way up the Sound, we ran across a big feed of primarily ladyfish. They are always fun, especially the bigger ones, and we stopped and caught them bait and lures until it became boring.
From the ladys we went searching for redfish, and we found them. I lost count, but as best I could figure Dave and Anne caught 15 to 20 redfish, with the best coming in at 27 inches. When that began to slow we headed to a nearby snook hole and managed a half dozen or so snook. Anne got the fish of the day with a 27 inch snook. She was thrilled, and you should have heard her talking to that fish during the fight. It was a great day, and we finished it up rehashing things at the Waterfront over great food.
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Monday, I was supposed to fish Dr. Gary Shierling, a local dentist who I haven't seen in a while. He opted to wait on a day with better weather, and I took my new van in for some tire and brake work.
Tuesday was reserved for my old Bud, Russ Hubbard, and his friend Dave. Russ and I have fished together many, many times and have had some great trips where we've just destroyed snook, redfish, or both. This trips I would learn something new about Russ.
We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait, which was there by the millions. It took a while to sift through the tons of threadfins, sardines, and pinfish to get the shiners I wanted, but I kept some of the others, too. Oddly, another guide not 100 feet away from me was not getting any shiners at all. With out big livewell full, we headed to the flats to find some redfish.
We did find the redfish, and plenty of them, but they weren't in a real eating mood in spite of chum. Russ and Dave caught 8 to 10 of them. As that slowed, I headed to a large area of flats that had been alive with baitfish getting thrashed and slashed from beneath by trout, mackerel, jacks, and ladyfish, and being picked off from above by the flocks of birds there to take advantage of a good situation. We were there to take advantage, too.
It was really something to see. Baitfish were spraying as far as the eye could see as fish blew up in the middle of them. It was topwater time. What fun. We could hardly make a cast without being hit by something, and we spent a good two hours catching fish after fish. I even had a big blacktip shark of around 5 feet smash my Mirrolure Top Pup, and render it useless by the time he got away. By the time we were ready to head home, we had caught too many fish to count. Tons of nice trout, lots of big mackerel up to 5 pounds, lots of jack crevalle, and tons of ladyfish. Russ told me that he just loved catching trout, and that catching those fish on the flat like that with lures was his idea of a blast.
By Wednesday morning a pretty good front had finally managed to push it's way through our area, and the wind was howling out of the northeast at a steady 20+, and I later heard on the news that we had seen gusts to 35 MPH. It was unfortunate for Chris and Sandy Baldwin, of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, on their first trip with me. Those fronts most always kill the fishing. But, I didn't have any other days open, and neither did the Baldwins, so we went out with the attitude of making the best of a bad situation.
There was still plenty of bait around, but you never know what a front will do to bait, either. It didn't take long to fill the well. From there, getting up the Sound with that much wind and 4 foot rollers was somewhat of an adventure. The Talon is a marvelous boat in the rough stuff, but I am to be honest, still learning how to use the hull and the trim tabs and speed to best advantage. I'm sure I must have had Chris and Sandy concerned at one point when I stuffed the bow into a big wave, and we took a wall of water over the bow and had six inches in the cockpit! I think I had the bow down too much, and I was also going to slow. We all got wet, needless to say, but you're not staying dry in anything out there on a day with 30 MPH gusts. The self bailing cockpit quickly drained and we were on our way.
I did a lot more riding than I cared to in such weather looking for fish that would eat, but we never found anything willing to play other that jack crevalle. We caught upward of a dozen of them. In one hole that I hit for the first time this fall, we hooked a monster snook, but it got away from Sandy while it was still a long way from the boat. The hook had pulled.
It was a tough day out there, but you know what? We had fun in spite of it, and Chris and Sandy vowed to return for another shot under better conditions.
Dave and Anne Kerschner were up again for Thursday, but knew it would be miserable out there with poor fishing. Dave was delighted to find that my Friday customer had been forced to cancel at the last minute, and we moved our second trip to Friday. Man, it really blew on Thursday, too.
By Friday morning the wind was down to 15 from the east/northeast. A big improvement over the previous two days. Dave and Anne were ready to go. We had a tough tide to fish, falling for most of the morning. I just don't like falling tides for most situations. Why? Simply because the fish have eaten! I'd much rather be trying to catch when the fish are there to eat.
We hit some fall spots, including the spot where Sandy had lost her monster without any snook action. I decided that any action would be better than none, and went in search of a feed. We found one in the same general area as the last, and had a ball catching tons of trout, jacks, and ladyfish. We worked on those fish until the tide turned and was right for the last spot of the day. I was saving a primo snook hole for last, and was sure I could put Dave and Anne on some big fish there.
It was a long ride to the hole, but well worth it. At first, we only caught a couple of jacks, but once I threw the first bat full of chum the fish turned on and Dave popped his first snook; 27 inches. He was thrilled. Then nothing! I chummed again, and the fish turned on again. And that's the way they were. Every time I chummed them, then turned on for a few minutes. Dave lost a beautiful snook of 12 to 15 pounds when it jumped several feet out of the water and spit the circle hook in the process. But Dave was so excited at seeing the fish, and feeling her speed and power, that he was nearly speechless. He caught several others before we went home. It was the perfect ending to the day.
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So, that was how it went. Pretty much as I had forcasted a couple of weeks ago: a busy week with some great fishing. Who knows what next week will bring?
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. Your trip must be paid at least a month in advance to earn the discount. 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 now 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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