Last week, BarHopp'R newcomers and regulars alike enjoyed a fantastic week of redfishing, with lots of other fish thrown in, too. It seems incomprehensible that the reds would disappear over the weekend, but they seemed to do just that.

My good friend and customer Dr. Ron Kolata was down for three days of BarHopp'R fishin Monday through Wednesday. He's a lot of fun, and loves to fish. Ron is great, because he's a no pressure kind of guy. Whatever happens is OK with Ron. I was looking forward to three great days with him. What I didn't expect was a slow bite on Monday.

Ron brought along a friend, John. John admitted to being pretty much a neophyte. I hoped we could get some crazy action going that would hook him on saltwater fishing the first time out. We headed to Picnic Island for bait, and once again got plenty of nice shiners, but had to run to Chino for pinfish. The pins are thick there!

On the first part of the incoming tide I took the boys to a trout hole to give John a chance to get familiar with the open face spinning gear. Trout aren't big fighters until they get to over 20 inches, and are relatively easy to catch. This particular hole is usually full of trout and ladyfish on a good low tide, but we only managed to catch a dozen or so before moving on to the first snook hole.

I wanted to check out one of my favorite winter snook haunts, which was fine by Ron. When the snook move in for the winter, they tend to be big bruisers; more than you can handle on 12 pound gear. The fish weren't there yet, as we only managed one snook and a jack crevalle.

As the water rose, we headed to what I was sure would be plenty of redfish action. I should note that there was plenty of floating seaweed everywhere we fished, and it made it almost impossible to keep a bait clean for more than a few seconds after it was in the water. I worked hard at getting a redfish bite going, but we only got 3 hits, and put 2 reds in the boat. That was it for the day.

Tuesday would require a change of game plan. Ron's lovely wife Pat came along Tuesday. She's a hoot, and although I don't think she even wet a line on this trip, I love having her along. We left Punta Rassa at 10 AM, and first headed out off the causeway for bait. We caught bigger bait there than we've been catching at Picnic, and were soon headed up the river. Ron enjoys catching ladyfish and jacks as much as anything, as do I, so I thought this would be the perfect way to start the day.

I was right! We had a great bite, and Ron and I had a blast catching and releasing ladyfish. We kept about half dozen to use for bait later in the day. We also caught a couple of nice jacks. I thought I might have to drag Ron away from those fish when it was time to move up into the Sound and chase snook, but he went willingly.

Our first stop was the charm. We had constant snook action for at least a couple of hours. Not only did we have action, but we had quality fish. Not long after arriving, Ron and I watched in awe as a behemoth snook slid quietly along the mangroves not 15 ft. away from us and slowly disappeared into the hole we were fishing. I pitched a large bait a short distance to about where I thought the fish should be. It was tagged instantly! I set the hook and stuffed the Shimano Stella 4000/Shimano V Rod combo into Ron's hands and instinctively began coaching Ron. Ron is not only an excellent angler, but listens to his coach. The big snook showed herself early and often as she felt the sting of the small hook. She tried to take Ron to the mangroves, but he masterfully steered her away. She then tried to fight it out in the deeper, open water, but wasn't able to gain her freedom there. That was when she made her fatal mistake! She was more than big and powerful enough to overpower Ron on 10 pound test at close range, but in frustration, she went around the boat and headed for the shallows. The water was barely deep enough to cover her back, and she lost her fighting advantage there. For her, it was the equivalent of being pinned on the ropes. Ron quickly had her at boatside where I got the BogaGrip in her bucket sized mouth and brought her aboard. I don't have to tell you how much celebration went on for the next couple of minutes at the sight of that snook that went just under 15.5 pounds. She was a beauty!

By the time the bite finally slowed there, Ron had put more than 25 snook into the boat, along with a couple of nice trout. He had caught several beautiful keepers in the 27 to 29 inch range, plus a small red! We had slammed in that hole!

We'd had plenty of action, and with more than 50 fish in the first two stops, our day was made. So, we decided to chase redfish again. We fished different areas than we had fished the day before, but with the same result. We didn't catch the first red. Did we care? Heck, no! We'd had our fun. We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant where owner J.D. Hollway had 20 pounds of fresh jumbo stonecrab claws waiting for Ron and Pat. Stonecrabs are Pat's main reason for coming to Florida. That's a pretty good reason, too.

Wednesday morning, Ron and his good friend Dr. Doug, who he'd taught in veterinary med school, left the dock at 10:30, with basically the same game plan, except for the redfish part. That wasn't working. We caught our bait first, off the causeway, then headed up the river for some fast ladyfish action. Although the action was good, it was a bit spottier than the day before. After a few passes, a couple of jacks, and a half dozen ladyfish in the well, we headed to snook country.

Our snook hole wasn't as hot as the day before, either, but warm enough to keep us there. We caught 2 nice trout and 15 or more snook there. We hit a number of other spots looking for more snook, without much happening. As the tide was in it's last stages, I decided to turn our attentions back to redfish, which was OK by Ron and Doug.

Out came the ladyfish. I chummed with the ends, shiners, and pinfish, and we launched ladyfish cannonballs far into the distance. It didn't take too long before we had our first action. We had 6 good hits that produced 2 nice reds in the boat. Yea, it takes a while to get the hang of setting the hook through 150 to 200 ft. of line! But, the fish of the day came on the last bait, and it was the last fish. I happened to be manning my Shimano Stella 2500 when the hit came. I thought it was a big red, and asked the boys if they minded if I catch a fish. They said to go right ahead. It was heavy and solid like a big red while it was way out away from the boat, but once I got her in closer, she began spanking the water with a big green tail, and I knew I had a big snook. The sure tip-off was that she didn't jump. Just like white men, big snook can't jump! As I worked her closer to the boat, she began to really sense that she was in trouble, and gave me a hell of a fight. But all the knots held, the line held, and although I was putting serious spool brakes on her, I managed not to break her off, and finally came alongside. She weighted in at about 14.5 pounds, and measured 35 inches. What a way to end the day! When it was all over, I felt guilty about having landed the fish.

So, that was how Ron and I spent our three days together. We had a blast, and caught lots of quality fish. We had amassed a total of 6 jacks, too many ladyfish to count, 16 trout, 6 redfish, and between 40 and 50 snook. Not a bad three days!

Thursday was the last workday of the week for me. I had a brand new customer, Greg Samuel, and his brother Ron, and son Scott, down from Jacksonville. They were unknown quantities, but I could tell that they were going to be a fun bunch, especially Greg, who Ron called "Sleepy".

After catching bait at the causeway, we headed toward the river. As we rode, I asked Sleepy if he'd rather go catch trout up in the Sound, which would give us a chance of putting some fish in the cooler while everyone was learning. He was more than agreeable, so I headed north through Miserable Mile.

Parked on one of my favorite trout/ladyfish holes, we found plenty of action. We caught more than a dozen trout, and too many ladyfish to count, along with one jack. The odd thing was that we didn't get any keeper trout. They were all just under the 15 inch limit.

As the water ripened for snook, we made our move. To my surprise, we were greeted with a slow, but steady bite, and we managed 15 plus snook to 24 inches.

Having found a few reds at the top of the tide the day before, we decided to try the same pattern again. We loaded our ladyfish cannons, and went redfishing. We had 8 or so good hits, and managed to put 4 nice reds to 28 inches in the boat. Sleepy, Ron, and Scott were great guys, and we had a lot of fun.

So, that's how it went. It was a pretty great four days of fishing. I'm going to take a few days off, and I'll be back at it again.