My God, what a fantastic week of fishing! BarHopp'R customers put 20 snook, 4 big trout, 4 big jacks, 2 snapper, and over 120 redfish into the boat this week. Read on to find out who caught what. The hunt for reds in October is on!

Actually, Monday morning broke with more big northeast winds blowing as a result of yet a second winter type front passing through a couple of months early. My customers were BarHopp'R newcomers Andy Lutkoff, of Realty Executives of Ft. Myers, and his life-long friend Thom Messina, of Total Concept, Inc., a web design company in Cape Coral. Andy called me Sunday night concerned about the wind. I explained to him that things wouldn't get any better during the week, and that I had no alternate days. The decision was to go and try to make the best of it.

My day always starts at Shack Baits, a full service bait, tackle, sandwich, and rental facility right across from the Punta Rassa ramp parking lot. I don't know why it's never occurred to me to mention this place before, but it sure deserves mentioning. They were there for quite a while before I realized it, and you local readers may not realize there's a first rate tackle store there, even now. They've got about everything the fisherman could want. They custom make killer sandwiches by advance order, or while you wait. They're usually open by 6 AM, which is early enough for most of us. They also will save you some money on ice, as they sell it by the 5 gallon bucket instead of by the bag. The staff also offers some nice touches like parking when the ramp lot is full, and they will put you in the water and park your rig for you. When you come in, a cell call will have your tow rig in the water in a jiffy. Now you can't beat that. There have been many businesses come and go at that location, but no one has ever offered such a full service fishing store as this. They deserve to make it, and with help from tourists and locals alike, they'll be around for the long haul.

As I loaded BarHopp'R I in the Shack Bait parking lot Monday morning, I cursed the wind under my breath! It was blowing 20 and gusting higher. Small craft advisory in effect. I was ready for a tough day. Andy, Thom and I headed across the chop to Picnic Island, hopefully to catch bait. Fortunately, we were able to quickly gather plenty of great shiners and pinfish. The shiners would be primarily snook bait, while the pins would be redfish bait.

The tide was low starting out, so I elected to hit a snook hole that I like on the low incoming tide. The fish were there, but probably because of the high pressure and wind, they weren't in a mood to eat. We caught 2 snook and a trout. As the tide flooded, we headed to a nearby redfish hole. I began chumming with live shiners, chopped shiners, and chopped pinfish. I was holding my breath, hoping that the fish accept our invitation to lunch.

Well, it didn't take long to get our answer. We soon had a great bite going. Out of a good 30 hits, Andy and Thom put around 20 reds into the boat. The biggest was 9 pounds, and most of them were slot fish. Needless to say, we had a blast. Although I'm sure they didn't think so while they were fishing, Andy and Thom had a much better than average hookup ratio for first-timers. We rapped the day at the Waterfront, where we heard that only one other guide had been in, and had gone fishless. Andy has since sent me one of the nicest email letters I've received. It is posted in the testimonials section.

My good buddies Scott Gibney and Chris "Vinnie" Venezia flew in from New York early Monday afternoon to spend Tuesday and Wednesday hunting for the October reds with me. They were going to meet us at the dock at 3 PM. I knew Gib and Vinnie would be shocked and concerned when they got off the plane and got slapped in the face by the wind. I told Andy and Thom, both originally also from New York, to tell Gibby and Vinney that we hadn't caught anything all day when they met. Problem was, I didn't see them sitting at the picnic table when we came in and cleaned our fish, so when we tried to sell them a story of doom and gloom they weren't buying!

Monday evening, I prepared the boys salmon sashimi with my secret pepper vinegar and soy sauce dip, followed by broiled spicy redfish and grits. Yes, my New York buds ate grits, and loved it! We spent the evening consuming adult beverages, reliving past trips, and plotting for the next two days. Tuesday morning seemed to arrive with all the surprise of a premature baby. Much too early. To make things worse, the front had really built in on top of us, and it was now howling at a steady 25. That's anchor pulling wind.

We headed to Picnic for bait, and surprising had great bait in short order. That much wind makes a castnet a handful to handle, but our well was full. With a nearly identical tide the plan was the same; to hit snook holes early then fish the reds on the second half of the tide. Our first snook hole gave us 7 snook, a 17 inch trout, and a 6 pound jack crevalle. Frankly, that was better than I had expected. Later in the morning the redfish were less cooperative, but we did manage to catch 6 nice fish to nearly 12 pounds. We were all happy we had pulled off as good a day of catching as we had under such tough conditions. We finished the day with lunch at my favorite place, the Waterfront Restaurant.

Tuesday night Gib, Vennie, and I went to the Seafood Center and Crab House for a fabulous crab dinner. Gib and I had Dungeness crabs, while Vennie had our native stone crab claws. I last saw Gib in the spring, but hadn't seen Vinnie in a year of more. I was stunned when I first saw him, as he has been pumping iron and has muscles on his ears. He looks great, and he's a big boy. Imagine me with less fat and even more muscle (LOL) and you've got the idea. Well, I guess it takes a lot of fuel to run a body like that, cause Vinnie ate two orders of crabs and all the fixins, and looked like he might go for three. We finished a great day watching the World Series. Oh yea, these boys were more than just mildly interested in the outcome. I crashed and burned in the fifth inning.

What a difference a day makes! Wednesday morning the wind was down to around 15 and gusting. Almost calm compared to the two previous days! I had a feeling things would bust loose a bit. The plan was the same; snook early, redfish late. Bait was great at Picnic Island, and it wasn't long before we was a fishin! We did about the same on the early tide, with 5 snook, 2 nice mangrove snappers, and a jack. Once we made the move to the redfish, I was surprised to find none of them accepting our invitation to lunch. Conditions were perfect! I was torn between waiting them out and moving on. My gut said to move on and look elsewhere. Almost immediately after sending out the first chum, the bite was on. We had a good feed, and Gib and Vinnie put at least 20 of the 30 or more hits they had in the boat. It was what the boys had come for, and we all had a hell of a good time; them catching, and me leading the orchestra and watching them make the music. Vinnie got a 12 pounder, Gib a 10, and all the rest were in the slot! I had the Shimano Stella's on board, which make wonderful music, and that made the fish even more enjoyable.

It had been a great two days with good friends. Having them at my fish camp made it even more fun. Fishing with friends also gives me a chance to let my hair down and relax a bit.

Thursday was a makeup trip with George Layton and Ron Hunter, of Bradenton. They are the fellas who had to go home after my shift shaft broke at the ramp not too long ago. George and Ron had anticipated this trip for a long time, and expectations were high. Another disappointment was out of the question.

We caught plenty of beautiful whitebait at Picnic, but the pinfish were conspicuously absent. I headed up to Chino, where a month earlier there had been tons of pinnies, and sure enough, two throws and we had all we could use.

The morning started slowly with only 3 snook in the boat, along with a trout and a big jack. But, one of the snook was around 28 inches, and George quickly demonstrated what I knew would be true; that he was a skilled angler. The snook had every advantage because of our position relative to the mangroves, but George won the battle.

Once we turned out attentions to redfish, all hell broke loose almost from the first cast! The reds went crazy feeding on our shiner and pinfish offerings. They didn't care what we were putting on the plate, they were ready to eat. George was like a little boy turned loose with a credit card at Toy R Us! He proclaimed his glee with hysterically funny sayings I'd never heard before like, "I'm having more fun than a three tailed monkey in a fruit tree!" Ron's angling skills were a little rusty, and I'm sure he thought I was picking on him, as he got most of the coaching. Of course, Ron is a retired military man used to giving orders rather than responding to them, and I think he kind of took exception to my coaching, at least at first. But, as the mayhem went on, Ron began firing shots over my bow, and from there on we had fun with each other. How did George and Ron do? George kept count, and of 45 redfish on the line, they boated 37! We had a total blast, but boy was I glad when it was over. They wore me out! We of course, crawled into the Waterfront to recuperate. There, recounting the day, George told me that it was the most spectacular day of fishing he'd ever had.

Ah, finally Friday arrives, and I'm about shot. But, I've got to get through Friday. The weather was looking good, and the tides were still great! I wondered if I could pull off one more magical day of redfishing for Tom and Jeannie Joseph, of Manatowish Waters, Wisconsin. Jeannie's mom was raised on Captiva, as was I, back in the 30's and 40's, and still has a home there. Tom and Jeannie often vacation there, and Tom has been on many guided fishing trips here.

We started the day with two bait stops; Picnic for shiners and Chino for pins, as on the day before. Again, we fished snook early. We had quite a few hits, but the fish were still in a bump and run mode, and we only boated 3 snook, a trout, and a jack. I turned my attentions to the reds a little earlier in the tide than I usually do. It was a good move.

Once again we got a raging bite going. I could tell by Tom and Jeannie's comments and reactions that they had never experience such a day of fishing. They couldn't even put a rod in one of my bow mounted rod holders after casting before the reds were on the bait. It was bent rods from start to finish. This was Tom and Jeannie's first time at this style of light tackle fishing, and it was very different for them. It took them a while to adapt, and break their old habits. But, but by the time we were done, they had tangled with nearly 60 redfish, and boated 26! They were nice enough to let me catch another 4 reds on my two Stellas. How sweet. Again, except for one or two outsized fish, every single one was in the slot! We left the fish biting and in the hands of a guide friend who had joined us, and was catching them on spoons. We ended the day at the Waterfront filling our tummies and resting our sore arms.

What a week, huh! The tides next week aren't nearly as favorable for my style of redfishing, but I'm hoping I can pull off a few more days of great fishing. Probably within another month, the reds will be moving offshore to spawn, and it will be time to turn my attention to snook and big trout.