The first trip of the week was with Paul Dederichs and his partner Jack, from Orland Park, Illinois, who are in the medical management business. It was a pretty nice Sunday with a light northwest wind and temperature forecasted at around 77. My buddy Capt. Mark Bess was running a trip I'd referred to him with Ed and Lynn Byron. We had planned to eventually meet up in one of our favorite places later in the day as the tide got right and see if we could get the redfish going.

After catching bait we headed to one of my favorite early tide snook holes, where we boated a 27 inch snook, lost one, and got a nice 21" trout. After a couple more stops it was about time to head to our final destination. Mark wasn't there yet, but I knew he couldn't be far behind. I started with the chumming, and before we'd caught more than a fish or two, Mark, Ed, and Lynn showed up and took up position about 40 yards to port.

With the two of us chumming it didn't take long to get the fish going, and to find out who the star angler would be. It was no surprise to me, cause the gals always seem to outfish the guys, Lynn was the star of the show. Paul and Jack were having a hard time with the concept of waiting on a tight line to set the hook. I showed them over and over, and nagged them about it as they missed fish after fish. They made a comment about not liking being told what to do because as self employed guys, they weren't used to that. Meanwhile, Lynn and Ed, without the need for any coaching from Mark were landing nearly all the fish that struck their baits. I really wanted Paul and Jack to defend the honor of our boat, but together, they only landed about 7 of the 15 or so redfish that struck. They should have only missed one or two. That's normal. So Mark's boat put a whoopin on our boat. It had been fun, and maybe a little frustrating getting beaten, when it should have been at least an even contest.

Ultimately, I guess Paul's skin was a little thin. He requested to be removed from my fishing reports mailing list. That's unfortunate. Perhaps, he doesn't want to see what I had to say about the trip. I don't know! He paid a premium to fish on the weekend, which I don't like to do. I know what it takes to put fish in the boat. I also know that with a premium paid, they would be expecting results. I will normally coach my customers to whatever degree it is needed to get the job done. It's strictly coaching, nothing more. It's nothing personal. It's rare for a customer to take offense at my coaching, but it looks like this was the exception.

Monday, David Bernot, of Union, New Jersey, was back for a second trip on the BarHopp'R, this time with his nine year old son, Chris. David and I fished the first time together last July, and tore the snook up. David was nice enough to write me a very nice letter after that trip. David is a great guy, and I was looking forward to seeing him again.

We agreed that the best plan of action was to go trout fishing for Chris. We headed out for bait, which had been plentiful in this one spot. I anchored and had David put out a chum. I threw the net, and was surprised to find that it was so full of bait, David had to help me lift it into the boat. I think it was the biggest single strike of bait I ever made!! We picked and sorted until we had the best (smallest) of the shiners, and were off to the trout grounds. The trout were pretty cooperative, and Chris was a pretty good little fisherman. I knew David would probably love to catch a snook or two after all the fun last summer, so I suggested we interrupt the trout action for a while. They weren't biting like I'd hoped, but David managed to boat a couple of snook, and lost one. We finished the day trout fishing, and the boys had boated a couple of dozen trout up to 23 inches, nearly all good keeping size fish. I think David and Chris kept their limit of 10, plus a flounder.

It had been a fun day, and Chris was a very well mannered, well behaved young man. Kids like Chris are always a delight to have around. After David and Chris departed, I realized as I was cleaning up the boat that my camera had disappeared. I couldn't imagine what had happened to it. I thought I must have left it laying somewhere that it could have been blown out of the boat. I couldn't believe that I had lost my new camera that I'd had only a few months. I resolved myself to buying a new one.

My customer for Tuesday was Louis Guirola, a Federal Judge from Hattesburg, Mississippi, and his best friend from college days, Carlos. I was looking forward to meeting Lou, as he seemed very enthusiastic about the fishing, and sounded like a very down to earth fellow.

We went straight back to the same place I'd gotten bait with one throw the day before, and sure enough, did a repeat of the performance. I couldn't believe all the bait in one throw! We were headed for the fishing grounds in no time.

The wind had shifted around to a southerly direction, signaling the approach of yet another front. I anticipated that the fish would eat well, maybe with reckless abandon, but that didn't turn out to be the case.

Working the tide, we first went for trout. We caught at least a dozen or so before I figured it was time to go looking for a few snook. At the snook hole Lou bagged a beautiful 27 inch, 7 pound snook, along with a 25 inch snook, and missed another. Lou and Carlos were a hell of a lot of fun, and told me some great jokes through the course of the morning. We hit a few snook spots and had a lot of laughs, until it was time to move to my favorite redfish spot. I figured we'd have just enough time to catch a few reds before it was time for our trip to end.

The problem with trying to catch the redfish, is that our bait was actually too big, and has been. These are big shiners; far bigger than we're used to seeing, especially this time of year. They're OK for snook, and even for the big ole trout we've got now, but the redfish definitely prefer small baits. They'd have to do. Once I had the boat into position and started chumming, we did managed to get a few fish to eat. We got six good strikes, but the combination of large baits, and adrenaline, made them tough to hook, and the sixth one was the charm. Lou landed a beautiful 28 inch, 7 pound red. So, we got our slam, and some very nice fish, and I hated to see the day end.

Back at my van, I found a nice surprise. David Bernot had left me a note on my windshield telling me that he'd inadvertently packed my camera in his bag the day before, and taken it back to his motel, and that it was on the left front tire of my van. Indeed, it was. What's really funny about this, is that David did the same thing last July when we fished together, and brought it back to me the next day. That's funny! So, I don't have to buy another camera just yet. Thanks, David.

Wednesday, I spent trying to tie up loose ends on the BarHopp'R II. I paid a visit to Action Craft in Cape Coral, and bought a console, switch panel, and door for the console. Walter Wedemeyer was the man I dealt with, and he was very courteous and helpful. The boat should be ready to go back to Smith Marine for rigging next week.

Thursday, Bob Burnett, of Santee, California, was ready for a day of fishing with his dad, Larry. Bob is an experienced angler who fishes Baja a lot, and who's caught many different species of fish, and he was wanting to add our snook, redfish, and trout to his "Angler's Wall of Fame" in his office. He was also wanting some meat for the table.

The wind was around to the north at 15, signaling the passage of a mild front. In addition, we had a slow going, lazy incoming tide all day. I figured the fishing would be tough. Fortunately, bait was still easy.

We fished hard all morning long, and Bob shared some great fishing stories with me. We managed to catch one snook of 3.5 pounds, and some nice trout, but the bite was definitely off. We took a lunch break at the Waterfront Restaurant on the flat part of the tide, and spent a couple hours there relaxing and talking. From there we went to the redfish grounds. Bob had his snook, and a 4 pound trout, but was still wanting that redfish. On the flats, I did what I could with the large bait we had, but the redfish just wouldn't eat. We went home with a redfish, but had one snook and probably 15 to 20 trout. Bob kept 7 nice ones for the freezer.

I had arranged for Bob to fish Saturday with Capt. Skip Dunn since I was already booked. I was hopeful that Skip could put him on his redfish.

Saturday dawned with a southeast wind blowing 15 to 20. Coach Gary Grob of Winona State University, in Minnesota, was down for some baseball and fishing with his brother Ken. I had fished with Gary, Ken, and one of his star pitchers last year, and we had lots of fun. I was looking forward to seeing the guys again. I had also arranged for Capt. Kevin Holley to take out some of the gals from the University.

We got bait at St. James Creek. It took a lot of chumming and throwing, but we got bait a lot smaller than what we've been catching on the causeway and the markers. I was glad for that.

Our first stop produced only jacks. That's OK. Jacks are great fighters! The next spot produced 7 nice snook to 27 inches. I know the boys wanted to keep that 27 inch fish, but they were nice enough to let her go at my urging. We also caught one redfish, and finished out the morning with three nice trout to 4 pounds, for the West Coast Slam.

Back at the docks we learned that the girls had done really well. Kevin had found a hole with lots of snook in it that were willing to eat. I had fished it just a few days earlier with no results. On this day they pulled nearly 20 snook from that hole. Great! Three were keepers. They also caught some jacks. We'd all had a great time. See how the girls always outfish the guys? What's up with that?

When I walked up to get my van I found a nice note from Bob Burnett. He told me he and Skip had only caught one fish all morning, but it was a 28 inch REDFISH. He was thrilled, and got what he wanted. Way to go Bob and Skip.