Things are still pretty slow around here, and all the other guides I've talked to are filing the same complaint. I only managed to get on the water twice this week, and both days were great fun.

Wednesday, I had a trip with Mike Henry, who is a Canadian fly-in outpost guide. He operates Pipestone Fly In Outposts (www.pfo.net) along with his gorgeous wife, Renee'. I met Mike and Renee for dinner the night before. They are just getting started on the internet with a new website they just had professionally built, and are kind of intimidated by the whole scene. They have already realized that they can't afford to hire someone every time they need something changed, modified, or added to their site. I brought along a few things to show them, and we spent a great evening talking about our businesses and the internet. Mike and Renee are both interesting and fun people, and I knew that our trip the next day would be fun.

And, fun it was! This was Mike's first guide trip here. Since he and Renee now own a home here in Cape Coral, he was eager to learn about how to fish the area. Mike found the bait catching process fascinating, and it was interesting to hear him contrast how we do things to how they do things in Canada. I quickly realized that Mike would rather fish than eat.

We first went up the river in search of snook and anything else that would play. We fished half dozen spots through the morning, and Mike managed to boat about half a dozen snook along with 6 to 8 nice jack crevalle. He missed quite a few fish, and broke off one big snook in the mangroves of Shell Creek.

Finally, it was time to move up into the Sound and fish some potholes for redfish. I was pretty sure they would still be right where I'd found them a couple of weeks before, and they were. The tide was lower than I had expected based upon the NOAA tide prediction. We had tailing redfish on the flats. I really hadn't expected to see that, and didn't have any shrimp in the boat. We'd have to improvise.

Once we got the boat pushed near the first pothole, I left the boat to see if I could catch a red that was tailing nearby. All I had was shiners, so I tied on a 2/0 baitholder hook, put a few shiners in my pocket, and threaded one onto my hook so that it was weedless. I made several perfect casts to my fish, but she just didn't seem interested in my offering. Back at the boat, Mike caught a redfish and a nice flounder out of the pothole.

After moving to another pothole, we notice a bunch of redfish tailing about 75 yards behind and to the right of us. It was too inviting, and to hard to resist. Mike and I took off after them. He took shiners, and I tied on a small jerkbait. I casted to several fish and buzzed the jerkbait across the water quickly. I got two big follows that ended in blowups on the bait, but nothing hooked. Finally, I heard Mike hook into a nice redfish. Mike did a great job of landing the fish without the aid of a net, and took her back to the boat. I met him there for pictures, and we revived and released the beautiful 29 inch redfish. After the excitement of the redfish was over, we realized we had a fish on the rod that we'd left in the bow rod holder with a shiner in the hole. Mike landed a snook of about 23 inches. We decided that was the perfect note on which to end the trip, and headed for the ramp. It had been a great day spent with a super guy.

Thursday morning I met Jeff Oglevee at his Burnt Store condo. Jeff had spent the week fishing from one of my Swing kayaks, and told me that although he'd been having a blast, he'd only managed to catch a few trout. He related that the folks at the Marina said the redfish had just vanished about ten days ago, and that he hadn't as much as seen one. I found that hard to swallow since there are still so many reds in the Sound. I wanted to see for myself.

Jeff and I loaded and launched our kayaks and made the paddle out to the flats. The water was falling off the flats in a hurry, and I fully expected to see tails popping up out of the fertile turtlegrass flat at any time. We paddled what must have been a couple of miles on the flat, watching and exploring each pothole. To my amazement, we didn't see one fish, other that a couple of small mullet. The only thing left thriving on the flat was bluecrabs. They were everywhere, and all the traps we saw were full of them.

I suggested that we move back inside to the canals and try for snook and jacks. We didn't stay with that long, as the wind really kicked as an approaching front grew closer. Jeff and I each had one hit, and that was it. Jeff was anxious to get back and get started on his drive back north before it got too late, so we headed for his dock. After getting everything squared away and the kayaks ready for the ride to Sarasota, Jeff treated me to a quick lunch at the clubhouse. We discussed the day and how much fun it had been even without a fish caught, and how much he had enjoyed the week with the kayak. Jeff said it had been the highlight of the trip. I have to admit that it is great fun, and very relaxing just to go exploring. I suggested that Jeff and I do a kayak trip from the BarHopp'R next time he's down, and he agreed.

I have to share this short story with you, just because it's such a cool thing to have happen. Friday I received an email, from my friend and customer Lew Joseph. The text follows. I hope you get the connection.

Titled: Small World

HI BUTCH,

YOU'LL APPRECIATE THIS. WENT TO ST. JAMES CREEK FOR BAIT THIS AM. THERE WAS ONE OTHER BOAT, ABOUT 50 YARDS AWAY. THE FISHERMAN WAS THROWING A 6FT. NET AND NOT DOING TO WELL. I WAS FILLING UP WITH PINS, AND WENT OVER TO OFFER HIM SOME, AND ALSO TO THROW IN HIS AREA, AND SHARE THE WEALTH. WE GOT TO TALKING, AND I DISCOVERED THAT HE IS AS AVID A FISHERMAN AS I AM. HE IS A WINTER VISITOR, AND JUST BOUGHT A FLATS BOAT. HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT HE WAS OUT WITH A GREAT GUIDE YESTERDAY, HAD A FABULOUS TIME, AND CAUGHT A BUNCH OF FISH. WHEN HE FINALLY TOLD ME THAT HE WAS A PROFESSIONAL FLY IN FISHING GUIDE FROM CANADA, I ASKED IF HE HAD BEEN FISHING WITH YOU YESTERDAY. THAT'S RIGHT, MIKE HENRY. WE FOLLOWED EACH OTHER AROUND ALL DAY, AND HAD A GREAT TIME. WE WILL PROBABLY FISH SOME TOGETHER WHILE HE IS HERE.

REGARDS,

LEW

Lew, Mike, and I are going fishing next Thursday. It really is a small world out there.

Well, that's it, folks. I have a kayak trip scheduled for Monday, a flyfishing trip Tuesday, livebait trip with my old friend Mike Krug Wednesday, and the trip with Lew and Mike Thursday. Looks like we might be looking at some cooler, breezier weather after this front passes.