Since I'm going to wind up working over the Christmas Holidays, I kept some days open during the next couple of weeks for relaxing and working on my website. I only fished twice this week, but the were very enjoyable trips.

Sunday, my old friend Fredrik Wallenberg was in town to visit with his mother, and was anxious to do a kayak fishing trip. Fredrik is a very serious, and very skilled Texas angler, and is the person who is responsible for planting the kayak fishing bug in my head. He was glad to find out that he was actually the first paying kayak fishing trip, since the whole thing was inspired by him.

Capt. Tommy Stephens also came along for the trip. Fredrik had fished with Tommy in Sarasota Bay last time he was in town, after the weather prevented us from fishing the day before. He had a great trip with Tommy that day. We elected to forego the use of the boat since we had a great place to launch on Longboat Key, right next to the Posieden Restaurant. It's about a mile paddle from there to the fishing grounds around Buttonwood Harbor.

Although the fishing was great, as was the weather, the catching was pretty tough. We elected to fish spoons in the shallows of the flats, which are usually very productive lures on our redfish and snook. But probably because of a barometer that was over 30.20, the fish were reluctant to hit our artificial baits with any authority. We did have lots of bumps, but not many hookups. Much to my shegrin, Fredrik only had one redfish on all day, and the line parted above the leader. Not sure why as I always check lines and terminal tackle before a trip, and everything passed the pull test. May have been a nick in the line from something sharp on the flats. There are plenty of things to nick light line on in the shallows. Tommy managed to catch 4 redfish and a couple of trout, and I managed to boat 4 redfish and a jack crevalle.

But, you know what? Even though the catching was slow it was a beautiful day to be out, and the kayaks are a wonderful way to enjoy being on the water and get some exercise, too. Your perspective of things in, on, and above the water is different from a kayak. It's great. Fredrik wasn't the least bit discouraged by the slow action, as he's a true sportsman, and knows the potential risks and rewards of fishing with artificials. It was a fun day, and it was great to spend it with Fredrik and Tommy.

After a few of days off in the office, Thursday I was again the guest of my friends Bunky Bruce and Lew Joseph for a day of offshore fishing. I was looking forward to the day, as I haven't been offshore fishing for some time. I met Lew at McDonalds that morning, and he drove us to Bunky's beautiful home on the water in Tidewater. After some coffee, some chat, and a quick tour of his garage/workshop area, we loaded Bunky's beautiful 26 ft. Scarab and headed out the long creek to Big Carlos Pass. The tide was so low Bunky's motor was bumping bottom even with the jackplate all the way up, but we were able to get out. One out of the pass Bunky headed northwest toward the Edison Reef.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that we were going to be trolling. I wasn't thrilled with the idea, as I've never been a fan of trolling. It's just too passive for me. But, as our trip evolved, I realized several things. First, I'd probably never been out with someone who knew how to troll our waters. I quickly realized that Bunky is an experienced and skilled troller, and we had our first fish on before we got the remaining two of three lines in the water. Bunky was running one bait on a downrigger system just off the bottom, another on a long line about 200 ft. behind the boat from the rocket launcher overhead, and a third line around a hundred feet off the stern from the port side. Our baits were ballyhoo rigged on wire leaders with a short stinger hook to help catch the short strikers. The best thing I realized is that trolling is fun when it's done right, and done from a boat that is properly rigger for it. Bunky's Scarab is a beautiful offshore ride that's rigged for the job, and knifes through the water smoothing out the rough seas like a Lexux does a bumpy road.

Bunky had us on fish all morning, and although it's not the wild and crazy action we often experience on the flats, it's fun and exciting, and if you don't know what you're doing you're going to have lots of messes. Bunky knew what he was doing, as did Lew. I was the beginner here. But, the three of us worked together like a well-oiled reel, working the lines, fish, baits, and wheel to keep things going, and that added to the fun. By the time we had run out of baits and were ready to tie on some of the lure I'd brought along, we'd have a great morning of catching including a barracuda that got away, and one that didn't, several big mackerel, a nice Lil Tunny, and 4 and a half beautiful kingfish. Yes, I said half! The only tangled lines we had all day, came when we managed to run into a crab pot after a kingfish was on. During the excitement of trying to get the rigs off the crab pot without losing the fish, we lost half of it to a shark who wisely seized the opportunity to dine on a kingfish that couldn't run away.

On the way in we trolled some big spoons and picked up a fish or two. Once back inside the backcountry, we stopped to see if we could catch a snook or redfish at one of Bunky's secret spots, where I promptly threw away a big Mirrorlure casting it with my Shimano Sustain 6000. It was the first time I'd used the reel, and when I went to put on brakes with my index finger on the lip of the spool, I realized too late that even my big, fat fingers wouldn't reach. We called it a day, and what a great day it had been spent with a couple of super guys.

Back at Bunky's dock it took us a rum and coke a piece to get all the fish cleaned, and that was some mess of fish.

Friday morning I was off to Burnt Store to deliver a Perception Swing fishing kayak to Jeff Oglevee, senior vice president of Franklin International in Columbus, Ohio, who was renting it for a week of kayak fishing along the Burnt Store shoreline of Charlotte Harbor. I hope to be able to join Jeff for a day of kayak fishing next Thursday. It's a beautiful area, and I'd love to fish it from a kayak. I'll report on how Jeff did in next week's report.