The week began with a very windy and cool Monday, with wind gusting to 36 MPH out of the northeast! It settled into much better weather with most days beginning on the breezy side, but laying down in late morning. It was a recipe for beautiful days, and save for one trip, it was a filled with good friends and good fishing.

My old friend Dr. John Hitt, of UCF, and I started that windy week off on Monday. It was nasty. But, John hadn't been on the water since July 1st, largely because of the hurricane season claiming so many days, and was ready and willing to go even in the face of the wind and a very poor tide. I had made a note in my records that the July 1st trip had been one of the worst of my guiding career, and sure didn't want a repeat of that. However, the conditions sure favored another stinker day.

We actually managed to get bait on the Picnic Island flat, but had to anchor John's big Coastline the old fashioned way. The waves and wind were just too much for the titanium stake on the Power Pole to deal with. Once we were in one place, we got some descent bait, consisting mostly of pinfish with some shiners mixed in. I knew the problem would be to get something to eat it.

And, we spend most of the morning trying to do just that, with nothing more to show for our efforts than a nice catch of hardhead and gaftop sail catfish! The snook and redfish didn't want to eat. With maybe a couple of hours left to fish, John reminded me that he just loves to trout fish, and we agreed it was time to try to find some trout. One of our problems was that there had been no water in the Sound for most of the day, and there still wasn't. An already low tide was being blown much lower by the mean wind. We were just able to get ourselves through the skinny water and into a favorite winter spot of mine, and that was just what the doctor ordered. It didn't take us long to figure out where the trout were stacked in the hole, and what color they would eat, and the bite was on. We caught trout after trout on Cotee jigs with a white paddle tail body bumped along the bottom. I'm guessing we caught 35 to 40 fish before we called it quits.

Then we had to face the grueling ride home, and what a ride it was. But, as we cleared the manatee zone at Shell Island in the river, we got a real shocker when we found ourselves facing 5 ft. waves rolled up by the tide racing against the strong wind. The hard part was that they were only about 6 ft. apart! Friends, there's just no good way to negotiate a chop like that, but John took off into it. We took a pounding, but except for one time when John tried to slow down and took water over the bow, the Coastline performed flawlessly. It was one of those days when we started off getting wet, and got wet coming home, but we were happy that we had stuck with it and made it work. John and I had fun, and that's what it's all about.

I would have bet my last nickel that Tuesday would be a repeat of Monday, as the weather is usually awful for at least two days after the winter fronts. But, fortunately for Tom Collins and his friend Bill Colson, I was wrong. Oh, it began quite breezy, but nothing like the day before. I hadn't seen Tom in over a year, and he had since moved to Miami, and was over to visit Bill, who lives on Pine Island.

I didn't sleep well at all that night, probably worrying about what in the world I would do if the weather was again awful, and the fish wouldn't eat. So, I climbed out of bed at 4 AM, and got ready. I figured I might as well see if I could find some better bait that John and I had found the day before. Shiners were almost non-existent. So, I was on the water well before the sun came up, and began my quest for bait at Picnic Island. I had a ton of pinfish in the well, but at 7 AM, I still hadn't seen a shiner. But, apparently all they needed was for the sun to come up a bit, as all of a sudden they magically appeared for a friend and me, and we loaded up in just a couple of throws. I had great bait, and was at the Waterfront Restaurant to pick up my guys by 7:45. When I went in for coffee, I found them having breakfast inside.

The day began slowly for Tom, Bill, and me. We still had a lousy tide to deal with, and no water to fish. Our first stops yielded little more than a couple of flounder and a small snook. I figured I could put the boys on some real kick-butt grouper action, especially on the light tackle, as grouper are one of the go-to fish in the winter pattern. So, we were off to one of my favorite areas for fishing gags. We had immediate action, and although Tom and Bill broke off numerous grouper in the rocky bottom, the did manage to boat about half a dozen fish to 20 inches. Boy, are they fun fish in shallow water on light tackle!

I figured our best action of the day would be with the speckled trout, and it certainly was. I had found the trout the day before with John, and knew we could catch plenty of them with the right action and color. I favor matching the water color as nearly as possible, and chose to have the guys fish a couple different shades of green Bass Assassin jigs. It was the right call, and the guys were catching very nice speckled trout on virtually every cast! As the numbers climbed, Bill said he wanted to stay and catch fish until he had beaten Tom's mother's record. Tom had brought his Mom out on a trip with me, and she had caught 59 trout as part of the trip. Bill said he was tired of hearing about those trout and was going to fish until they'd caught 69! And, that's what they did.

And, with that we headed back to the Waterfront for lunch. It had been a fun day, and great to see Tom once again, and to meet Bill.

Wednesday dawned windy, again, for John Hitt and me on our second outing. We were looking at 15 to 20, but it wasn't anything like it had been on Monday. WE had a very short window of opportunity to fish for reds before the tide blew the water off the flats taking the fish with it. We decided that since we both had some ladyfish frozen for a rainy day, we would forego catching bait, and go straight to a flat and chunk ladyfish steaks for redfish. Although we didn't catch a bunch of fish, the plan worked, and John caught a nice red and two snook, including a nice keeper, before the tide forced us off the flat.

We were ready to turn our attention to trout. John loves to fish trout, and for that matter, so do I. It's always fun to catch fish one after the other, no matter what they are. Every man has a little boy inside that loves to do that! So, it was back to the trout flats where John and I caught trout after trout for at least a couple of hours. What fun!

A word about trout fishing. I always try to remember to mash the barbs down on the hooks of my jigs when trout fishing. Trout are very fragile fish, and the less you handle them, the better. With the barb mashed down, you can often drop a little slack to the fish at the boat and watch him swim away without handling him. If not, the hook will be just that much easier to remove, especially if the fish has taken the jig deep. And, if you should have the misfortune of being hooked, if will be much easier to remove from your own hide!

Thursday promised to be a beautiful day for my friend Kathy Gomez, who was over for a visit from Miami. She loves to fish, but hasn't had much opportunity to do so. So, she was really excited about getting out for a day. I knew the tide would be about an hour later, and that we would have a longer window of opportunity for redfish and snook, before the water left the shallows. So, we headed to Picnic Island before the sun was up and caught only what we needed to catch the reds and snook; pinfish. I didn't want to waste value time on the flats trying to catch shiners, which would probably not come until later.

So, we were quickly off to the first stop, and it didn't take long to get the first strike! As the water raced off the flats Kathy caught 4 or 5 nice redfish, 3 snook, including a nice keeper, and also missed several strikes. When it was time to leave the flats or get stranded, we headed to the grouper grounds to let Kathy try her hand with the inshore gags. She had her clock cleaned several times, as there were some really nice fish hiding in them thar rocks, but did manage to land 3 gags before we turned our attention to trout. They left her breathing heavy! At the trout hole, Kathy caught one trout after another. We were again using the Bass Assassins, and the fish were gobbling them up. She finished the day with a good 50 speckled trout. So, it was a great day for Kathy, and she said she couldn't wait to get back to Miami and tell her friends in the Cuda Club about her day.

Friday, I had my first trip with Joe Buglione, of Ft. Lauderdale, and his friends Jim and Dave. I picked them up at the Waterfront Restaurant at 6 AM, as Joe and Jim were over staying with Dave in Bokeelia. I knew as soon as I met these guys it was going to be a fun day. We headed straight back to Picnic Island to catch pinfish for our run at the reds on the flats. Finally, we would have some water on the flats for a while, and I just wanted enough big pinfish to chum and fish them. I would catch shiners and threadfins later in the day as I had done with Kathy the day before.

Once the pinfish were in the well, we were off to do some serious red fishing. Along the way Dave told me he was at the stage of life where he just like to put his baits out and put the rods in the rod holders, and kick back with a cigarette and a beer and wait on a bite. I told him I thought he'd like my style of redfishing, as that's basically how it begins. I also told him that it's a hoot once the fish begin biting.

And, they did bite. We had plenty of action. We even had some snook action, which was great for Jim, who had never caught a snook. It was one of his life's dreams to catch a snook, and he managed to catch three, including a beautiful 30 inch fish. He broke many of my boat rules in the process, and even put one of my Stella 2500's in the water! But, he got his fish! Of course, for the rest of the day we all picked on Jim, and had lots of laughs. Jim also got his share of nice redfish, and a couple of big trout. In all, the boys caught some 20 redfish, 3 snook, and 4 big winter trout to 4 pounds at the first stop. Not a bad beginning.

Once the redfish/snook action was over we headed to the grouper hole. There the boys lost their share, but also boated 6 nice gags. Time was growing short, so we turned our attention to trout. We only made one stop, where the guys caught plenty of trout, as well as a flounder and a ladyfish. By that time everyone was tired and hungry and ready to call it a day. It had been a great day with a great bunch of guys, and I look forward to their return.

Well, that's how it went. Not a bad week considering the tides. The tides will be much better next week, so hopefully I'll be able to put my customers on some nice redfish action before the reds move offshore for the winter. That will be happening soon. Usually, the sexually mature fish migrate offshore to spawn in late November/early December, and for the most part, don't return.

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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