Larry Wilson, of Sarasota, was first up this week. We went snook fishing in Pine Island Sound. The day started off slow, but finished up pretty well with a total of around two dozen snook, a couple of trout, and a redfish.

A short time later I took Aleda Adams out for a day of fun. The trip served to prefish for a trip with one of my best clients, Kevin Grover of Associated Network Solutions, Inc. the next day. I was very concerned about the prospective fishing because Saturday was a full moon, small craft warnings were forecasted, and there were two fishing tournaments with approximately 100 boats going on at the same time. I really figured it would be a tough trip. Aleda and I worked a lot of the potholes on the low tide, but the fishing was slow. We only managed 3 redfish, 4 snook, 5 trout, and a ladyfish. I figured a change of strategy was in order for Kevin.

Kevin had a large party staying at Tween Waters Inn on Captiva, and I hired Capt. Mark Bess to help with the charter. Saturday morning I took Kevin, his Comptroller Chandler Gingias, and employee Ray Chaple. Mark took the remaining two fellows. We got lots of bait without much trouble, and went our separate ways. Mark went to hit one of his trout holes first. We went hunting snook and redfish. I had decided to hit all new spots, because I figured every hole anyone has ever seen a guide fishing would have a boat on it. I poled onto a flat where tailing redfish are often found on fall low tides. While poling into position I ran across a great looking hole on the point of a mangrove key. I saw several large snook come out of it. We tried in vain to catch tailing redfish with shiners, but it's impossible to keep them from burying in the turtle grass before you can get them close to the fish. I made a mental note to come back to the hole later when the water was up.

A couple of hours later we returned. My hunch was correct. There were now redfish in the hole, and they were holding tight to the bushes. A little chumming got them to come out and eat. An hour or so later, when the action slowed, I moved along on the trolling motor until I found another good looking hole. It was full of redfish, too. After we'd caught a bunch of reds, Mark showed up, and I waved him in. We caught some more.

When it was all over my guys had boated over 24 redfish, 13 snook, and 5 trout. They had broken off quite a few at the treeline. Mark and his crew had caught 5 reds, 11 snook, and 55 trout. The strategy had paid off, and everyone was happy and tired as could be.

Next week we have some super-low tides that should offer up some great pothole fishing for snook, reds, and trout. Stay tuned.

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