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The week started out with my friend Ed Bowerman and his son Joe. Ed and I had tried to fish with a couple of his friends on the 8th, and were rained out by a torential storm. We were once again leaving the dock under the threat of rain.
It took about thirty throws of the castnet, but we gathered enough shiners to fish with. Because I was once again afraid our trip would be cut short by weather, I elected to get on with the fishing once we had about 80 baits. The bait was holding tight to the pilings on the third span of the Sanibel Causeway. More than once I threw too close to the pilings and thought I would lose, or at least destroy my West Coast net, but thanks to Ed's masterful piloting skills, we escaped without so much as a hole in the net.
The weather was kind to us, and let us get our day of fishing in. By morning's end Ed and Joe had bagged 12 or so snook to 24 inches, 4 speckled trout to 20 inches, and 3 flounder. Not the spectacular day common in the warm months, but better than Mother Nature has been giving us lately!
The following day the rains came, and the next couple of days after that it blew like hell. By Friday, the weather was promising to deliver a beautiful day, and I was invited to be the guest on Capt. Al Shank's new 21' Carolina Skiff. Al is a brand new Captain, who is pursueing his life's dream of being a fishing guide. I had the good fortune to meet him last summer while doing a seminar at the Sports Authority. Al is a great guy, and will likely evolve into a great guide. He loves the water, people, and fishing. GeneTomashosky, the manager of the fishing department at Sports Authority in Sarasota, was along on the trip.
Al wanted to show me a place that he'd found that had been giving up some nice redfish. By his description I suspected it was one of my favorite old spots south of Sarasota, that I used to fish often. It was a great spot for redfish and snook, but as the effects of closing Midnight Pass became more noticable, the fishing declined. I hadn't been there in a long time, and it was nice to see that the area is on the improve. We were all over lots of redfish, but they weren't particularly interested in eating. We did catch 3 of around 26 inches.
On the way to that first hole, we stumbled across a large school of maurading jack crevalle. They were feeding heavily on glass minnows or something, and the birds were on the attack from the air. Poor minnows! I suggested we stop and have some serious topwater fun. When jacks are up and in the binge feeding mode, they'll attack about anything you throw at them with reckless abandon. We threw `em, they blew `em. They turned out to be a school of jacks averaging around 10 pounds each. Great fish! The third one I hooked took off like a shot, and soon the line went limp. I had an uneasy feeling that I knew what had happened. Not too long ago I lost a beautiful snook on the same identical kind of plug, a Creek Popper, when the rear hook, which is attached with a splitring, pulled lose. My hunch turned out to be correct as I reeled the plug in to find another hook missing. I'll not buy another one of those plugs. It's a beautifully made wooden plug, that is apparently fitted with inferior hardware. We managed to catch 4 of the big jacks before they got wise to us, and disappeared.
Next, we were off to the north end of the bay to show Al some of my favorite old spots. It wasn't long before we were jigging up some beautiful speckled trout, all over 16 inches, with Bass Assassins rigged on a 1/4 ounce jig head. So, we ended the day with 3 redfish, 1 snook, 1 flounder, and a mess of beautiful trout. The snook gave us our West Coast Slam.
Next week begins the busy season for us here. I'm booked heavily through February. I just pray that the weather will let us all run our trips. It's ironic that it is once again storming as I write this report. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, if you'd like more information or to book a trip with me or Capt. Al, give me a call at 1-800-545-1853, or email me at capt@barhoppr.com.
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