Well, it's a new week, but nothing seems to have changed much. The wind is now howling at around 20 out of the east/northeast, the barometer is still way up there, and the tides are still later in the day.

Jim Bach, a Publix store manager from Loxahatchee, Florida, was over with his dad Ron, and brother Dan. These guys were great fun. I explained that it might be a tough day, but their spirits weren't dampened.

We got bait off the Sanibel Causeway bar as we have been for the last several weeks. I was hoping that we would still have some big trout action out on the flats as we had last week, and sure enough, we did. It wasn't as crazy as before but we spent the first part of the morning catching nice trout, jacks, and ladyfish while waiting on the tide to get right for redfish. I guess we caught at least a dozen nice trout.

Then we were off to the redfish flats, and the boys would find that setting a hook through a 100 plus ft. of light line is a strong wind wasn't exactly easy if you didn't wait until ALL the slack was out of the line and the line tight, but they finally did get the hang of it. Fortunately, we had some redfish that were willing to play our game, and although Jim, Ron, and Dan missed at least the first dozen or so strikes, they did boat the next dozen or so redfish that ate their baits. The biggest was 28 inches. They also managed a couple of snook.

So, what could have been a tough day, turned out to be a great day. I've since received an email from Jim thanking me for a great time. I'll add it to the Testimonials Section soon.

Tuesday was the first of two trips with Bob Woodward, of Boyds, Maryland. Bob's wife Mary Jane had arranged the first trip for him as a birthday surprise. What a sweet gal! Once Bob knew he was going fishing, he inquired about a second day. I'm glad he did, because Bob turned out to be a hoot! He has a dry sense of humor, and he teased me about being the Fishing Guru of the Internet or something like that, for most of the two days. Bob found me on the internet, and says I have the best site out there. He was very intrigued with the fact that I pop up everywhere when he does a search. He has a professionally built site, and it doesn't come up on the search engines at all. He was anxious to talk to me about that. I was eager to share my knowledge of how to rank on the engines, and hopefully steered him in the right direction.

We had the same conditions, except the wind was down a little bit. We went looking for the big trout bite after catching bait, but only found a few, along with some jacks. They had either moved to another area, or left all together. We eventually made our way to the redfish flats, and did the chumming thing. The reds came, but weren't in much of an eating mood. Bob, who's an experienced angler, found it surprising that he missed the first nine redfish that ate his shiners. It's that same old thing. You gotta wait on a tight line. He got the hang of it though, and once he boated his first redfish, he said we could go home. Of course, he was kidding and we stayed and caught a few more before calling it quits. Bob was fun to fish with, and it's nice to have one angler who takes the pressure off the guide.

Wednesday was a different kind of day for Rich and Candy Ehlers from Bloomington, Minnesota. The wind had laid down to about 5 knots, and the high was forecasted to be back above 90. But, bait was another story. It had all but disappeared. We used a whole 3 gallon bucket full of chum before we had enough bait to go fishing. I was throwing my super-fine, extra-heavy parachute that won't even let glass minnows escape, and by the time we were done, I was worn out.

We headed up the Sound, not in search of fish, but in search of water to fish. The tide was seriously low. I stopped to fish a hole at Clam Key, and before I could get set up, saw a topwater feed going on not far away. We went to investigate, and found lots of small jacks, ladyfish, and trout busting bait about as fast as you could throw it out. I knew this was going to be a tough day for redfishing, so I was glad to have the early action on the low water.

Once the action was over, we checked out a few snook holes, with no success. Eventually, I made my way to my favorite redfish flats in hopes of being able to get some fish to eat. We were early, and I figured I'd have to stay late. The redfish did show, but didn't want to eat. Rich and Candy never had a chance to get the hang of setting the hook on them and missed the only two strikes we had. One even made a good run against the drag, then got away.

I was pretty bummed about the Ehlers not boating any redfish, but they being fishermen, understood that that's the way it goes, sometimes. They were very nice folks, and I hope I'll get another chance to take them out and show them how good the fishing can be.

Thursday, Bob Woodward was back for his second trip, but this time with his lovely 30 year old daughter, Maura, who by the way, loves to fish. What a difference a day can make. After struggling with bait Wednesday, there was plenty of big, beautiful shiners, with very few threadfins to mess up the net. We had a well full of nice snook bait. The wind was back up at 20 knots, and the barometer was shooting upward.

I had also decided after Wednesday, to make a change of tactics until we had better tides. We still had an outgoing tide once we were done with bait, and I figured it was a perfect time to go up the river looking for snook. I decided to check out Shell Creek, which holds lots of snook during fall, winter, and early spring. The time to catch them is on the falling tide. I don't know that I've ever caught anything in the creek on a rising tide other than mangrove snapper.

We had only been anchored for a couple of minutes when Mora struck a nice snook. It was an anxious moment, as she had not had any previous snook experience. Of course, I went into my now famous Bonsai Guide mode, once I saw the snook almost in the mangroves. Between the two of us, we got the snook off the trees, and she landed the fish. It was seven pounds. I knew that in weather like we were fishing, that could be the fish of the day.

I moved several times in the creek before moving on up the river near the other end of the creek. Once anchored on the new spot, our baits were eaten about as fast as we could cast them for a while. We were on big snook and big jacks. Bob and Maura only boated three other snook, and lost 8 or 9. But, the big jacks, which don't automatically head for the mangrove roots, instead staying out and slugging it out with the angler, provided us with lots of action. Maura was amazed at how hard those 5 pound jacks could pull, and I think she went home with a sore arm. She also realized and commented on how lucky we had been to land that first snook, once she saw how they repeatedly won their battles with Bob. Bob had some interesting commentary of his own each time he lost another snook!

It had been a miserably windy day of hard fishing, but it had been a wonderful and fun day. I felt like I'd made friends for life, and I know Bob is home right now working on that web site.

The forecast for Friday was horrible. Winds at 25 knots and gusting higher, and a barometer about to blow its lid off. I called Tony Honour, my Friday customer who hales from West Sussex, England. We decided to give it a go for at least half a day. I didn't have any other days for Tony, and he was flying out on Monday.

When I got to the ramp Friday morning, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. The terrific northeast wind on top of the predicted low tide of 0.1 ft., had the Sound looking like someone had pulled the plug and drained it over night. And, the scheduled low tide was not until almost eleven o'clock. I was wondering as I drove around to Sanibel Harbor Marina to pick up Tony, where in the hell we would fish! At the marina I ran into Capt. Steve Waugh and Capt. John Eaton, who were also foolish enough to be running trips in this mess. We all looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.

I ran immediately to the north entrance of Shell Creek. The first bait Tony pitched was eaten by a 5 pound jack. Yea! Maybe we could make this work. He caught a second big jack. Then the wind tore the anchor loose, and we were almost in the trees before I could get the motor lit. That was it for that spot, which I think could have been a winner if we hadn't had to crank the motor.

I decided to run Shell Creek, casting shiner along the mangroves as we went, in hopes of finding a willing participant or two. We ran the whole length of that creek, all the while the tide still running out. I watched in disbelief as more and more of the root systems were exposed to air by the extremely low tide. It was as low a tide as I've ever seen. I think the fish may have fled the creek, as we didn't hit the first one. I passed Steve and John a couple of time, and they hadn't had the first strike. I was feeling lucky to have caught two jacks.

I took Tony out into the river. It was the only other real choice. I figured we needed to find some water to find some fish. We drifted on the driving wind, while I tried my best to hold the boat in a fishable position with the trolling motor. It was all but impossible. But, we did catch one nice snook. Tony gave it a professional release at boatside before I could get the BogaGrip in its mouth. We watched her swim away. Damn! That was the last fish we saw that morning, and Tony threw in the towel at around noon. I thought that was a very wise decision.

I hate that Tony drew such a terrible weather day to try to fish. He was a great chap, and willing to make the best of it, and never complained once. Hopefully, I'll get to take him out on a nice day next time around, and can show him what fishing the Sound can be like.

On other fronts, BarHopp'R II is still at Jeff Chesnes fiberglass shop in North Ft. Myers. It occurred to me that since this is damage from an apparent impact with something below the surface of the water that it may be covered totally, or in part by my insurance. I have filed a claim with Charter Lakes Insurance which will be handled by CIGNA. I had a boat stolen a number of years ago, and they were absolutely wonderful to deal with. We'll see how this goes.

My new Turbo prop came in Thursday afternoon. When I tried to install it I found that the prop shaft had a very slight bend in it. The prop rubbed the inside of the housing, and I had to put the 3-blader back on. That explains an unusual, but not objectionable vibration I've had in that motor since I bought it. I dropped BarHopp'R I off at Outboard Motor Connection on the way home Friday night, and Craig Wildason cheerfully agreed to replace the shaft. When it's motor time, you need to look Craig up.

So, I'll be taking most of next week off. I've got lots of other things to catch up on while the fleet is laid up.