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It was a fun week with old friends and some good fishing and good times thrown in.
As I mentioned in the last report, my good friends Ron and Pat Kolata came to town for their annual October week on Sanibel on the weekend. Ron and I had three days booked, as well as plans for dinner. One of the days was to be a day for Pat to come along and do some shelling, and take in a lunch at one of the restaurants.
Monday with Ron was a great day. We headed to Picnic Island for bait, and were soon loaded with pinfish and small shiners. We were finally getting into some good incoming tides, and I couldn't wait to get to a flat and start chumming.
On the flat, things went well. Not long after we took up position and began chumming and putting out baits, we had the first strike. It was a nice red. Ron caught redfish after redfish, and eventually boated 20 or more of the beautiful, deep bronze fish. It was a great time, but there was more to come.
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Once we were sure the redfish action was over, we moved to the deep edge of a nearby flat where we saw bait spraying all over the place, and fish busting in the bait. It was a typical fall scenario, but perhaps a bit late this year because of the hurricane season. I knew there would be lots of trout, ladyfish, and probably some jacks in the fray, and we stopped and began to fish. Bait was flashing and spraying for as far as we could see! We began using live bait, but the bite was hot, and the live-baiting was just too slow. So, we tied on some Cotee jig heads and dressed them with Bass Assassin bodies, and were off to the races. For the next couple of hours we caught trout after trout on nearly every cast. What a hoot! There were also a couple of ladyfish, a gag grouper, the ever present gaftop sail catfish, and Ron even caught a big pinfish on the jig! What a day! We topped the day off with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.
Tuesday, Ron and I began the day fishing potholes near Wulfert Keys for trout. The fish weren't in the mood. We moved to another area nearby, and fished the hole there, catching some nice trout. But, the cloudy conditions and deeply tannin stained water made finding the potholes very difficult, if not impossible. Once the tide had moved up some, we turned our attention to redfish. The redfish weren't as hungry or cooperative, but Ron still managed to boat 5 nice fish. There were a couple of nice snook to the boat, as well. Later, Ron and I went back to the scene of all the previous day's trout action, and although the wind had the fish invisible, we still caught plenty. It was another great day topped off with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.
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Wednesday we changed our tact a bit. Ron's wife Pat and her new friend Dorothy were along, and the emphasis was no longer on fishing. Oh, we caught some bait, and did some fishing, but not very much. After bait we fished for a while and Ron caught several trout and one snook. With the action slow, we decided to go ahead and take the girls to North Captiva and drop them for some shelling, and go do some nearby exploration around the new pass at North Captiva.
As we approached the shallow water on the north side of the new pass, the water suddenly erupted with jack crevalle in a feeding frenzy. Ron and I quickly grabbed a couple of the light trout rigs and flipped our Bass Assassins into the school. A fast, steady retrieve soon had two nice jacks on the end of the line. By the time Ron got both of the fish landed, the school was long gone. We dropped the girls on the beach.
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Being that close to Redfish Pass, a drift or two along The Wall seemed in order. We bumped live pinfish along the bottom, with one small gag grouper to show for our efforts. We couldn't draw another bite. So, we soon moved to the area of the new pass, and spent a lot of time crawling along on the trolling motor, exploring.
Eventually, the girls called and were ready to go. We headed to the Green Flash for lunch. The food there is normally quite good, but I have to admit that after bragging to Ron and Pat about the food and view, I was disappointed with it. Perhaps they're not back into the swing of things this soon after the storms. Anyway, that was our day. We headed for the ramp after a very enjoyable day with absolutely no pressure or expectations.
We did have another invite to dinner with the Kolata to help them dispose of their food supplies before the week ended. Pat is a wonderful cook, and makes some unusual and very delicious dishes. We had a great time both nights with them, and I can't thank them enough for their hospitality and friendship.
Thursday was the last workday of the week before heading to Jacksonville on Friday to visit with a life-long friend, Nancy Holley, who recently lost her older sister. It was my second instructional trip with Eric Olauson, of Phoenix, Arizona. Eric had let me know that he was catching more fish than he had dreamed of catching, and had even had a 30 redfish day since our fist teaching trip, but that he wasn't consistent. He suspected that his problem was his lack of understanding of the tides, and their effect on inshore fishing, and he was right. So, since we are on the threshold of winter, it seemed appropriate to make the primary thrust of the trip toward winter pothole fishing, and the tides.
So, after catching bait we headed to the land of potholes while the tide was low. It wasn't as low as we see in the winter, though, and the holes were hard to find in the dark water. But, we found enough to teach Eric about potholes, how the tides affect them, and what makes a good pothole. And, we caught some trout in the process.
Once the tide was too high to concentrate on potholes, we shifted our attention to snook fishing around the myriad oyster bars in the Sound. Eric caught a few nice snook, and even had one run him behind a bar and eventually hang him in some hurricane debris nearby. The line held, and Eric made a slow, careful wade to the fish to free and land it. It was a good day, and Eric went home armed with new knowledge about winter flats fishing in southwest Florida, and a better understanding of the tides. Now he knows what days are the best to be out there.
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And, that was the week. It was another fun week with good friends and good fishing. Next week, the first week of November, is a slow week of poor tides unless something comes along. So, it will be catch up time. But, November is stacking up to be a pretty good month, considering that it is usually a slow month. Stay tuned.
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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