It's Saturday now, and the front has passed. We now have a northeast wind at 25 knots, and the expected high is 45 degrees. For us here in Florida, it's a recipe for a nasty day of lousy fishing.

But, Gary Buschman and his thirteen year-old son Brandon were game to take on the day. Looking back, I wouldn't have given the day much of a chance at being productive, but Mother Nature doesn't always do what you expect.

It blew like hell until around noon, and suddenly, the wind laid. It turned into a beautiful day. The only problem was that the tide would lay flat from around noon, on! But, Gary and young Brandon managed to catch 7 snook, 8 to 10 trout, 2 flounder, and a jack before the witching hour. We didn't catch doodley after around one o'clock, but it was just great to be out there when the weather was nice.

But that beautiful afternoon was just the calm before the storm. The next morning, Mike Perrotta, a New York attorney, and his lovely girlfriend Kirsten, cancelled and rescheduled for Friday under the threat of rain. It was a good call, as we had plenty of rain throughout the day. Kirsten would have been miserable. I pulled the boat and headed to Sarasota to take care of some pressing business.

I had Jerry Schmidt, of Baton Rouge,Louisiana, scheduled for the next day. He'd booked way back in August. I had a message from him on my Sarasota answering machine, in which he voiced concern about the weather, and he also left a message on the Ft. Myers machine, but he failed to leave me a phone number to call him back at. I tried information several times, thinking there must be some mistake, but they told me there was no listing for the name of the place Jerry was staying. Then, I learned from my cousin Terry, who is a Lee Country Sheriff, that the place closes its switchboard on weekends, holidays, and daily at 5:00 PM. I was unable to contact him, and he never called back on my 800 number. It seems to me that if he was serious about fishing the next day, he would have made more than one attempt to reach me. After all, the call is free.

There's a lesson here, folks. Make sure you can get in contact with your guides a day or two before your trip to wrap up the details. It wouldn't have mattered if I were on the water, or taking care of other business that day, because by the time I got the message, the switchboard was already closed. I wouldn't have been able to reach Jerry even if I'd had a telephone number. I'm not going to take the wrap for that one.

The final trip of 1997 belonged to Matt Cicero, of Miami. The original plan was to bring the boat to Sarasota after my trip with Jerry Schmidt. But because I was weather cancelled the day before, and never hooked up with Jerry, I wound up in Sarasota without "the BarHopp'R". I had already invited my friend and young guide, Capt. Tommy Stevens, who runs Top Notch Charters here in Sarasota, to come along on the trip. Tommy offered his boat and we split the trip.

Tommy and I knew it was going to be a tough day before we left the dock. The wind was out of the north/northwest at around 15 knots with the passing of the front, and the high was to be in the low 60's. We vowed to do our best. This last front proved to be the kiss of death on the bait. It disappeared without a trace from Sarasota Bay. I soon found out it had vanished from Pine Island Sound, too. Suspecting this would happen, we'd stopped at Hart's Landing and bought 6 dozen hand-picked shrimp for backup.

We had an extremely low tide pushed even lower by the north wind. We decided to fish the deeper cuts and holes in the Buttonwood Harbor area. We worked it hard that morning, hitting lots of spots, but the only fish we could find were trout. Fortunately, the trout were quite willing participants in our sport, and were eating the shrimp and Slimmy Slugs equally well. By 11:30 Matt had boated 30 or more trout, and we headed in. Tommy had another trip to run that afternoon. I hope that next Matt is over our way, I'll be able to introduce him to Pine Island Sound.

January 1st, was of course, National Hangover Day for many people, and I didn't work. Friday, Mike Perrotta and his girlfriend Kristen were ready for a day of fishing. I thought we were going to have a good weather day, but as the day arrived it didn't look very good. The wind was blowing hard out of the northeast at 20 plus, and the temperature struggled to make it to the middle 60's. To top it off, the strong wind had forced the already low tide lower than I've ever seen it. I mean, the Sound was empty like someone had pulled the plug and drained it overnight. In addition, there was no bait. Mike and I chummed numerous spots heavily, and never got anything but pinfish. So, we were fishing with shrimp again.

I knew there wouldn't be any action until at least noon, when the water would finally start moving. I was right. We hit hole after hole without so much as a hit. Mike was growing a little impatient, and was thinking of calling the trip early, but I convinced him to stick it out and wait on the tide. Before it was over, we were both glad we did. Once the tide started in, just as if someone had thrown a switch, the fish started to eat. We had a lot of trouble with small fish trying to steal our shrimp, but by trip's end Mike and Kristen had caught 4 redfish, 5 small snook, 1 trout, 1 flounder, 4 mangrove snappers, 1 gag grouper, and a ladyfish. By late afternoon, the wind even laid down some and it turned into a halfway descent day. We all had a good time.

At the moment, the outlook for the coming week isn't too bad. It looks like it's going to get back into the 80's for a good part of the week. If it does, the bait might even show up.

Send your questions or comments to me at capt@barhoppr.com.

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