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It's amasing how different this winter is from last. At the end of January last the water temperature here was 80 degrees. Unbelievable! We didn't even have a winter last year. The bait was plentiful and fishing was great right through the winter.
This year is a stark contrast to last. El Nino is giving us fits. This will probably go down as one of the wettest winters on record for south Florida. It has certainly been unkind to us fishing guides, causing lots of cancellations due to weather, seemingly every week. This week was no different. In addition, it was a week of mostly flat, miserable tides. Not a good combination for producing fish.
Ed and Carol Chromer were down from New York again, staying in Venice. We did our first trip last year in February, down in the Sound, and it was a great trip. Ed and Carol were lots of fun. We decided that since the fishing was currently tough and bait was scarce, we'd stay closer to home and fish artificials in Sarasota Bay. The plan was to spoon-feed some redfish.
Well, at least we had one of the few beautiful days we've had, lately. But the fish didn't care. I guess they were on holiday, as they just wouldn't eat. Ed and Carol only hooked 4 redfish all morning long, and 2 of those got away. Later we tried for trout, but the tide had flattened out, and even they wouldn't eat. But you know what, we had a great time. As the Chromers said, it's just great to be out on the water on such a beautiful day. Also, it gave us plenty of time to visit. We did decide we'd fish back down in Pine Island Sound on the next visit.
The only other trip I was able to run was with my old friends Mark and Linda Goodman. Mark is owner of Green Lion Books of St. Paul, Minnesota. They've been visiting other parts of the country for the last couple years, so I hadn't see them in a while. This year, their 22 year-old daughter, Jenna, a lovely, aspiring writter, was with them.
The Goodmans arrived about a half hour late, so I decided to forego the bait catching part of the trip, which likely would have resulted in no bait, anyway. We only had about an hour and a half of any water movement at all, and I was more interested in being able to fish that moving water. So we went with hand-picked shrimp straight to the first hole. The Goodmans had lots of bites, but had a heck of a time getting anything hooked. I think they caught 2 sheephead, and trout and a flounder before the bite stopped. And, boy, did it stop. Between the east wind, and the flat tide, it was like someone flipped off a switch. We saw lots of fish, but they just refused to eat.
Yep! It was as tough a week of catching as I've ever experienced. But the fishing was great! It was great to be reunited with old friends, the Goodmans and the Chromers. And it was good to actually fish without getting rained on. Speaking of rain; it's raining with the passing of the next front as I pen this report. Oh, well!
If you have questions or comments, or would like to book a trip, please email me at capt@barhoppr.com.
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