It's Christmas week! In spite of the great weather I took all but Friday off. Friday was forecasted to be around 80 degrees with light and variable winds. Great!

Fredrik Wallenberg, of Houston, Texas, and his good friend Jeff Hare, of Charlotte, NC, had come down for some west coast fishing. I was worried by guide reports of really slow fishing.

We caught bait at the Sanibel Causeway right after a fantastic sunrise, and headed up the Sound. The water was falling fast, and would be right for pothole fishing once again for most of the day. We hit the first couple of holes without any action. I had told the guys that as the water dropped, we would have a good chance of finding some redfish tailing on the flat. As I was poling toward the next hole, I spotted them. Reds were tailing all over the flat to the north and in front of us. I explained to Fredrik that the best way to catch tailers is to get out of the boat and stalk them with Texas rigged shrimp. I also explained that it was not a high percentage fishing method most of the time, but that it was the most rewarding and exciting way I know of to catch a redfish. Fredrik was anxious to get into the water and after the fish, because back home in Texas, all they do is wade fish. Unfortunately, Fredrik said they don't have the right conditions for reds to tail.

We worked our way down the flat to the first fish. I wanted to show the guys how to approach and cast to a tailer, but took my first shot at a fish I saw moving slowly and pushing a wake. I cast the shrimp beyond and in front of the fish, and kept the rod tip high as I reeled the shrimp on top of the water toward the fish. She saw it, and blasted it right away.

We spend at least a couple of hours working our way down that flat, but the reds were extremely spooky in the gin-clear water. Some clown in a dark blue flats boat came motoring onto the flat and went right down the whole flat on his outboard. He pretty much did the tailers in. I did hook one other fish, but it managed to struggle its way off the hook while I was waiting to pass the rod to Jeff.

As the tide began to rise we hit hole after hole, but never found any big aggregations of fish. Fredrik managed 1 redfish, 3 trout, and a flounder. Jeff got 3 redfish, 4 trout, 1 snook, a ladyfish, and a jack crevelle, and I caught 2 reds. Not a great day for our area by any stretch of the imagination, but back at the docks I found that my guys had caught more fish that anyone else I had talked to. In fact, one guide canceled his trip for the following day because the fishing had been so slow.

Fredrik and Jeff had a great time, and said they had learned an awful lot, to boot.

The weather is supposed to be fantastic right on through next week, so I expect the fishing to improve as we go.

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