January is typical one of the worse months of the year for area fishing guides. Christmas has just come and gone, and the weather is usually some of the worse of the year. This January is no exception.

With some time off, I decided to run up to Bob's Machine Shop, in Ruskin, Florida, to by a replacement control switch for my hydraulic jack-plate. Bob's is the manufacturer of several different jack-plates, as well as lots of other flats boats goodies. His jack-plates are without question the best built anywhere.

While there, Bob was nice enough to give me a quick tour around the small factory. I didn't realize, but Bob's builds every part that goes into that jack-plate right there. He has a very nice shop. While I was there I bought one of his new Tru-Tracker stabilizer plates for my new Yamaha.

The next day I was at Smith Marine to have the new control installed, and while Danny was doing that, I installed the Tru-Tracker. I was eager to try it out.

I had trips scheduled for Thursday and Friday and kept an interested ear on the weather reports Wednesday. There was another large, slow moving front headed our way, with lots of rain. It seemed the unseasonable warm, summer-like weather would soon be gone.

I awoke several times that night to the sound of the wind howling out of the south. I was just hopeful that the front would not arrive until we could get in a morning of fishing, but the morning forecast was for storms at around 8:00 AM. At the ramp that morning, Ed Bowerman, and his friends Gary and John were wondering about the threatening weather. In the predawn darkness we could see lightning far off in the distance, and I knew the front was probably running ahead of schedule.

We decided that Ed and I would go attempt to get bait, while Gary and John waited in the van. There was no sense in everyone getting soaked if the weather blew up on us before we could get back.

Bait was tough, to say the least. I tried anchoring and chumming in several spots, but I think the tide was moving too rapidly and the shiners weren't coming in close enough. The south wind was raising a three foot chop under the causeway where we were trying to catch bait, and I figured anchoring would be safer. I didn't really want to have to negotiate the boat in this mess, but with no takers on the chum, we were forced to change our method.

I turned the helm over to Ed, who is an experienced yachtsman and boater who owns a 44 footer. It was tough, but I managed to catch about 80 shiners in the windy mess, and suggested that we haul butt for the fishing grounds and try to catch some snook before the weather arrived. It sounded like a good plan.

We ran back to the ramp to pick up Gary and John and were off to the Sound. I was sure I could bang some real nice snook quickly if I had the bait, and we had the bait. It was around 8:30 AM, and as we rode the whitecaps through the early morning haze and sea fog, I wondered what was keeping the front. I had figured it would be on us by now, but it wasn't.

Then, as we neared St. James City, the haze suddenly cleared exposing an ominus wall of black, angry storm clouds right on top of us. I motioned to Ed to turn around and look. "Where the hell did that come from?" he asked, shocked to see the wall of weather upon us. There were no arguments when I suggested we take cover at The Waterfront Restaurant just inside of one of the canals. We got there and got tied up just in time, but found the restaurant closed. Fortunately, the new owners, J.D. and his lovely wife Kristin Hollway were inside and let us in. They are just great folks, and warmed us up with hot coffee. All hell broke lose. Man did it rain! In fact, it rained so hard for so long that my bilge pumps couldn't keep up. J.D. came over to me and said, "Captain, something's wrong with your boat. It's sitting funny, and I think it's sinking." I ran to the window to see, and sure enough it was sitting lower in the water than it should be and was listing to starboard. I went to check the situation out, expecting to find the bilge full of water, but it wasn't. I wasn't concerned with the boat sinking because it has full floatation, but I was concerned and puzzled at what was happening. There had to be water in the hull somewhere. I'd have to figure it out after the storm.

Well, we spent nearly five hours at The Waterfront. J.D. and Kristen kept us full of coffee, and we had a wonderful lunch. All the while it rained and stormed like hell. Finally, around 1:30 PM, we decided it had cleared enough for us to either attempt to get back to the ramp, or go fishing. I still wanted to fish. The wind was out of the west, and I figured the fish would still eat. But, the guys were wearied and discouraged by the weather, and wanted to go home.

Normally, once the guide and his party have left the dock, it's a paid trip even if the trip gets weathered out early. But, I didn't have the heart to charge Ed for that trip, even though I worked my buns off for that bait. But Ed was gracious enough to give me a few buck to cover my expenses.

I hung around the docks for a while talking to a bunch of mullet fishermen from Tampa. All the while I kept thinking about that bait I'd had so much trouble catching. I couldn't stand it. I headed up the Sound to find out whether the fish would eat or not.

I guess the birds were having a hard time catching anything else to eat, too. They made it all but impossible to fish. There were half dozen or so gulls that ganged up on me, and I couldn't keep them from getting my shiner most of the time. I got so mad and frustrated that I got out my 9 MM Ruger and fired at them. The crack of the gunshot scared everything within a mile in all directions except the gulls. They were so hungry they weren't even phased by the shots.

I fought and cursed at them for around two hours. In that time, every shiner that managed to make it into the water without being eaten by a seagull or turn, was eated by a snook. I managed to hook 9 snook and a redfish before I gave up in discust. No matter, I had found out what I wanted to know. The boys should have gone fishing.

Later that evening, I found out that my party for the next day had to cancell, because the weather had screwed up their plans and postponed a family function until the next day. So, the week was a bust.

I brought "the BarHopp'R" back to Sarasota that night, with plans of doing some serious research on Sarasota Bay in the coming week.

If you have questions or comments, or would like to book a trip, please email me at capt@barhoppr.com.

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