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It was a busy week for me, and the waterways. My God, I’ve never seen so many boats on the waterways as during this week. I guess the reduced cost of fuel has got a lot of boat out of their moorings. All the traffic on the waterways always complicates the fishing, but overall, things were better than I would have expected.
It was my good fishing buddy John Hitt and I on Monday. I love to fish with John. We always have fun, regardless of how the catching goes. We had a big low tide right through the middle of the day, which meant pothole fishing for a good part of the day. It was a beautiful weather day with a light east/northeast breeze and a high temperature in the 80’s.
We ran to Tarpon Bay in search of bait, and there was still plenty there for the catching. We took our bait to some potholes up in the Sound and found a real trout bonanza with them. We caught one keeper snook along with some 3 dozen or more nice speckled trout, most of which were around 3 pounds. We also got a few ladyfish and a 3 pound flounder. As the tide finally began to flood, we turned out attention to snook up in the river. There were snook around, but there were also big hungry jack crevalle which were much more eager to eat our baits. We ended the day with a small barracuda and 8 big jacks.
Tuesday’s trip was with Frank Juge, his son Matt, and Matt’s wife Susan. Frank came to me through John Hitt, and also works at the University of Central Florida, over which John Hitt presides. This was to be the first of two trips with Frank and his family members. We had about the same conditions as the day before, and the same boat traffic level. I had heard that bait was plentiful at the Sanibel Causeway, and although I don’t like catching bait there, elected to see if we couldn’t get a lot of bait quickly. The plan worked and we had all the bait we could throw away chumming with two or three throws of the net, without the mess in the boat that comes with chumming on the flats.
The tide was nearly the same as with John, too, and the pothole program had been a good one, so we went for the potholes in the same general area, fishing some of the same ones. We didn’t have quite as good a bite as John and I had, but we still managed to catch quite a few nice trout, and a flounder before the tide moved us on. Later on the tide we missed several snook, but the Juge gang did catch a bunch of big jack crevalle, which are always hard fighting, fun fish to catch. Unfortunately, Susan became ill, probably from too much sun exposure, which cause her some dehydration. We called it a day with that.
For the previous two mornings I had been starting the trips at the bottom of the low tide in order to fish the incoming tide. But, the incoming tides were very poor, to say the least, with not a great deal of height change, and not much movement. The tide was different enough on Wednesday so that I felt comfortable with getting out at first light and fishing the first of the falling tide. I figured we had a good chance of getting a good redfish bite going for an hour or so before the tide dropped out far enough to move them off the flat.
I met Scott Dyer, his brother Mark, and son Eric early and we headed to the causeway in the dark hoping to strike bait very quickly and be on our way. Happily, we again had a ton of bait in three throws, and were off to the flats.
Our first fish was a big 4 pound trout, and then it came, a really good bite. We had a blast for a couple of hours and boated at least a dozen nice redfish, 6 or 7 nice snook, and a bunch of big trout topped off with a ladyfish. Everyone got the Slam! We recapped our day and celebrated the fun with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.
After having Thanksgiving Day off, I was back on the water Friday with Marty Frasier, Norm Anderson, and his son Evan. We were out to try to catch the first of the big falling tide as we had done Wednesday, and I was feeling good about again having bait in the boat very quickly at the Causeway. Out on the flat the redfish, snook, and trout wouldn’t eat, even though we knew they were there. I guess they had just been run over entirely too much, especially on Thanksgiving Day. We couldn’t get them to go, other than one descent snook. As the tide fell, we turned our attention to some pothole fishing to salvage the day with a pretty good trout bite. Once the bite was over we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant to rejuvenate.
Saturday was a day I’ll not soon forget, and neither will my friend Brian Travis and his son Ben. Brian and Ben arrived early, and of course I was ready to go, so we were away from the dock by around 5:30. We headed straight to the causeway to hopefully catch bait once again in a couple or three throws. Brian took the helm after I explained what to do with theboat as I threw the net. We made our first approach and I threw the net. Somehow, Brian got out of shape with the boat and was about to put it into the bridge pilings. I jumped off the deck into the cockpit to take the help and get the boat under control, but in the dark, I forgot that I had just laid my plastic bait tray in the floor, and when my left foot hit it, sitting on top of fiberglass, it was like stepping into a pool of oil. I went down really hard. My cast net went out of the boat and my left knee broke off a Shimano Sustain right at the real seat on the rod! We hadn’t been out there 5 minutes! I laid there for a couple of minutes trying to figure out if I’d broken or sprained anything, or if I was bleeding. My left wrist, which had broken some of my fall, felt as if it were sprained at the least. Thank God there are no sharp edges or objects sticking up from the deck on the Talon.
Once I got my composure and accessed the damage, we headed back to the ramp to get the only other net I had with me, a very fine mess 10 ft. Caloosa that’s good only in the flats. I was more upset about the lost time than anything else. I had a timetable I wanted to stick to, and now we had to go and try to catch bait at Tarpon Bay. Fortunately, the bait was there, and we were quickly on our way.
There was one other boat on the flat, and as I moved in quietly on the trolling motor I saw a good redfish bite beginning to happen. We anchored off some distance away and I began chumming with live and chopped fresh shiners, threadfins, and pinfish. It took about 15 minutes of chumming, and we watched the other boat catch a number of nice fish before the fish came to my chum. I felt sure they would because the other guide was chumming with frozen sardines, and fishing with them. I figured that given the choice, those fish would rather have the fresh stuff, and we’d have a better chance of catching snook and trout there with the live bait. Once our bite began, we had a blast! Brian and Ben boated at least 20 beautiful redfish to 31 inches, 1 snook to 26 inches, and a couple of huge 5 and 6 pound trout. It seemed that the fish completely left the other boat in favor of our live baits, as their bite stopped after a while, and they pulled anchor and left. Several other boats appeared on the flats, but no one caught more than a fish or two before the bite was over. They had come too late. It was a great morning, and both the boys got the Slam. I guess timing is everything!
We finished what had begun as a dubious day and had turned into a great day, with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant. Back at the ramp, Brian presented me with 5 fifths of a great exotic liquor distilled somewhere in a foreign land. He figured if I was going to hurt the next day, he didn’t want me to feel the pain.
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So, come on folks. It's time to get out and enjoy your favorite pastime, in your favorite vacation destination. Let's show Osama Bin Lunatic that he can't beat us with economic terrorism, either.
I have now posted the final thumbnailed pictures on the Talon Page of this website, for those interested in seeing how one of these jewels goes together.
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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