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It's Thanksgiving week, and a week with much to give thanks for. Four trips, old friends, new friends, and good fishing to name just a few. It was a good week.
I met my good friend Dr. John Hitt at his condo dock Sunday morning at 6:30. We wanted to get a jump on the traffic, and the tide. John struggled to keep his 22 ft. Coastal on step as we negotiated the new, and quite ridiculous in my opinion, 25 MPH speed zone the whole river has become. For one thing, very few boats are actually equipped with speedometers, and even fewer are anything resembling accurate.
We headed straight to Picnic Island, where we were able to load the big well with shiners and pinfish in 4 throws of John's 8 ft. net. After a quick washdown, we were off to find some trout in the potholes. The challenge would be getting to them. We had already challenged John's big boat a few weeks earlier, and knew we could get it pretty shallow. But, on this morning we would be shooting the flat on a -0.6 ft. tide! This was uncharted territory for John and his Coastal. As we approached our chosen area, John and I trimmed the nose down with the tabs, and raised the big Yamaha on the tilt control until the prop was about to blow out. With our speed at about 35, we ran onto the flat and right to our hole. John did a great job of putting the boat down just feet from the hole. We weren't exactly floating, but with my big butt out of the boat, we were able to ease her into the hole and get the position we wanted to fish it.
The hole was good. We caught lots of beautiful trout up to 5 pounds, a nice keeper snook of around 28 inches, and two ladyfish. Once the action slowed at the first hole, we moved to the second, where we managed to catch 2 gag grouper, 1 snook, 1 trout, and another ladyfish. On to the third stop we managed only 3 small snook. After making a serious move to another area, we were in the fish again. At the first stop John got one redfish and 5 snook, including 26 and 28 inch fish. Finally, at the last stop of the morning, we got into our favorite fish, big reds. It was only because we had ladyfish in he boat, too, as the redfish weren't the least bit interested in shiners or pinfish, cut or live. But, they like our ladyfish, and John put 10 beautiful reds in the boat, capped off with a blacktip shark about three feet long. It had been a great day.
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Monday was my first trip with Dr. Chris Fredericks, of Charleston, South Carolina, who is a long time friend of my good friend and customer Dr. Vic Weinstein. Chris had heard a lot about me from Vic, and I hoped I could live up to his expectations. We headed straight to Picnic Island for bait, and were loaded in two or three throws of the net.
We got to our first stop about half hour before the bottom of the tide. We managed to catch about a dozen trout before the tide stopped, but the surprise was that we caught none once the tide began moving in. I had expected a good bite one the water began to move.
At the second hole we managed 6 to 8 snook, mostly small, but again did not find the action I was looking for. We moved to another hole not far away where Chris managed several more snook and 2 gag grouper. After moving to a hole several miles away we again managed several more snook. At the last stop that morning we found redfish. Fortunately, we managed to catch 6 of the big brutes and miss another on live and cut pinfish, as there were no ladyfish in the boat as a backup.
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All in all it was a pretty good day. Chris was really impressed with the pulling power of the snook, grouper, and redfish. We had some great and very enlightening conversation, and he said that I had certainly lived up to his expectations. Whew!
Tuesday morning I was back at John Hitt's dock at around 7:30. We had decided to leave a little earlier than we had first planned so that we could stop at Shell Point and catch some ladyfish. We rigged up a couple of rootbeer TerrorEyez on light rods, and had a good time for about 45 minutes, catching a fish, cleaning the mess out of the boat, catching the fish, cleaning the boat.... Yes, they're as nasty as they can be, but they're a blast to catch, and they're great bait. After a short run from there to Picnic Island, we loaded the boat with shiners and pins in four throws of the castnet.
We were now sitting on a dead low of -0.7, and weren't sure if we could get onto the flats and to a pothole, or not. I decided to introduce John to a nice little grouper hole while we let the tide move in a little. The hole was great, and John caught 10 gag grouper before the action slowed. They are incredibly hard fighters in the shallow waters, and as with snook, you can never be sure the fish is yours until it's in the boat.
At the next stop we had great trout action, and John put a good 20 quality fish into the boat. But, there were also snook there, and John also caught two nice keepers. At our next stop, hunting for redfish, we caught another 2 snook, including another nice 28 inch keeper. We couldn't get a redfish to eat, not even the ladyfish. We had watched a weak cold front pass over us as we fished that morning, and it seemed that once it did, the fishing was pretty much over. The redfish were everywhere, but wouldn't touch a bait! At our final stop John managed several more small snook, and finally the elusive redfish that gave him the Slam. With that, we called it a day.
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After a couple of days off for Thanksgiving, I was back on the water Friday with Jon Waitz, and his son Dan, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was a trip I had been looking forward to for a long time, as Jon had booked in April, and had been trying to fish with me for at least a couple of years. Because of scheduling, we had not been able to get together. This was another trip that I especially wanted to go well.
We had a falling tide all morning; a tide I don't like fishing. But, I knew the water would be a zoo by the afternoon hours, and we also had a big cold front on our doorstep. The wind forecast was for 20 to 30 out of the southwest!! I couldn't' count on even getting to do an afternoon trip. So, we left the dock at 6:30, and my plan was to go and get bait quickly and try to get on a redfish flat for a few reds before all the water left.
We got our bait, and it only took three throws. By the time we got to my chosen flat, the water was already getting pretty low. The Talon was barely floating. The redfish were there; all over the place. We could see them pushing, but they weren't spooked. They were full, though. We threw everything we had at them, and never got more than a wiggle or two on our baits. I worked my way toward deeper water, chumming and fishing as we went. But, we never had a strike.
It was time to move on and change strategies. I moved to a hole about a half mile away looking for snook action. The snook weren't eating, and I had just commented to the boys that I often find trout in the hole when the first one took a bait. It was a nice trout. Jon and Dan caught around a dozen before they left us. The biggest was 3.5 pounds.
We made a major move to another nice trout hole that often gives up snook. The action wasn't fast and furious, but we sure caught some nice fish in that spot. The boys got three keeper snook, including 26, 28, and 29 inch fish. Very nice snook. They also got another dozen or so nice trout to 3 pounds. Once the action slowed there, I took the boys to the grouper. They were blown away that these grouper that are only 16 to 20 inches could pull so incredibly hard. They put 6 in the boat. By the time we headed to the last spot, the wind had begun to kick as had been advertised. We managed another 4 small snook to top off our day, and headed for home. I was also concerned that I might have to sit in line for an hour or longer as I had done so many times in the past when I had worked holidays.
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It had been a great trip. Jon and Dan were both very good students, and great anglers. The caught on quickly and made the hits we had count. They were also great guys, and a lot of fun. They were more than please with the results of the trip, and vowed to return soon. I sense I made some great new friends in Jon and Dan.
That's how it went. The fishing hasn't been spectacular, but it's been pretty darned good. Let's hope this big cold front doesn't upset the applecart too much.
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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