The work week began on Sunday this week. Somehow, I let Jay Lawyer, from over in Deland, Florida, talk me into doing a premium trip, with his lovely wife Mo, and friends Rhet and Coleen. I'm glad I did, though, because they were just great folks to spend the day with.

Bait was easy enough at Chino, but we arrived at the Stickbeach to find that a front that had just passed through without being much of a weather even, had none the less, turned the snook down a notch or two. It was not the usual intense action, but it was steady enough. By the time we were ready to head inside to look for some redfish, the group had caught 15 or more snook, and 12 or more nice trout.

On the flats I managed to get the reds chummed up, and as fun as the snook are, the girls decided they like the bulldogish pull of the redfish even more. They were also bigger fish. We boated 5 beautiful redfish to ten pounds (30 inches), and left them biting. I knew that if I didn't get back to the ramp by two o'clock or so, I'd spend an hour or more just trying to get BarHopp'R out of the water.

Jay was paying extra to fish with me, and I'd hoped that the action would be non-stop intense. It wasn't quite that good, but we caught plenty of fish, and had a great time. Jay and Rhet brought their boats down with them, so I should be hearing from Jay on how they did the rest of the week, pretty soon.

Monday, my old friend Mike Schwartz was in from Englewood, Colorado, for a couple of days of fishing. Mike owns Gourmet To Go, a highly successful catering business. Mike is a good fisherman in his own right, but has fished here enough now that he knows how to handle those snook in the rough. That paid big dividends for Mike, as the first cast, first bait in the water was hammered by a beautiful snook. Well, Mike was all over that snook like stink on you know what, and it wasn't long before she was at boatside wondering what the hell had happened to her!! It was a quick and clean release because Mike had done such a good job of subduing her. I forgot to jot it down, but I believe it was 8 or 9 pounds. That's a nice fish on light tackle around that heavy cover.

Mike pulled 21 more snook, a trout, and a jack out of there before we headed inside to chase some redfish. It didn't take too long to get the reds going, fortunately, as Mike wanted to spend the afternoon with his wife Kristie and eighteen month old son Jared. We caught 5 beautiful redfish, and left them biting well. It had been a great morning of fishing.

Tuesday, we were forced to launch at the Sanibel ramp. Lee County had decided to pave and restripe the parking area at Punta Rassa ramp, and with only a couple of days notice, closed the ramp. We were all left wondering what we were going to do about launching and picking up our customers, but Joyce Rehr came to our rescue when she made arrangements for us to display a special sticker on the dash and park at the Sanibel ramp.

I have to say that it's a terrible ramp, though. Obviously designed by some engineer that had never launched a boat. The angle is far too shallow, and contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, a high tide doesn't change that and make it any easier to launch. Everyone I saw launch there Tuesday morning, including me, was having trouble getting their boats off their trailers. I had Wednesday and Thursday scheduled as off days, and after seeing the ramp, was glad of it.

Mike and I did a basic repeat of the day before. I made one serious error; I forgot my sunglasses! That's not something you want to do out here in the summer. I've never been so miserable. In no time, I had a terrific headache from the brilliance of the direct sun, as well as the tremendous glare off the water. I was suffering. The snook were hitting aggressively, but were in a "hit and run" mode, and they were very hard to hook. I think they weren't actually hungry, but were striking the shiners in defense of their beds just to kill it. We got tons of quick hits, but missed the bulk of them. We only boated 10 snook and 2 trout before we headed inside to chase redfish.

As we cruised along the beach near Blind Pass, Mike's wife Kristie spotted us and flagged us down. I got to meet Kristie and Jared, and Kristie saved the rest of the day for me when she loaned me her sun glasses. They weren't polarized, but they saved the day. I know my spirit must have improved drastically once I got those glasses on. Fortunately, the redfish were in a bit more of a playful mood than the snook had been. After some chumming we boated nearly a dozen of the beautiful bronze bulldogs, and left them biting once again. It was tougher fishing that second day, but Mike and I had had lots of fun, and it was great to see him once again.

After my two days off which included a great evening and dinner with my old friend Cooke Bauseman III at the Myakka Oyster House, I was back with another old friend Rick Bardowell, from Weston, Florida, for a Friday trip. Rick brought his two good friends Terry and Andy, who are evangelists, and who he says are the guys who keep him straight. My friend Capt. Mark Bess of Skinnywater Charters was fishing with Larry Haas and a party of four, which is too many folks for his Skinnywater. Mark and the gang were in BarHopp'R II, and I figured we might have a little friendly competition. Mark got about a half hour head start on the bait as Rick hadn't arrived yet. Once we got to the flats with Mark, the bait seemed to leave his chum slick and come to ours. All of a sudden we were catching plenty of bait, and he wasn't. He was already about full with bait, but it was kind of strange. We were soon off to the Stickbeach.

I was concerned that it might be crowded, because on the way to the bait we passed boat after boat headed east. I figured there had to be a tournament going on, and these were the ones who had elected to fish up the river. We got to our destination early enough that we were able to get on our favorite spots, but it wasn't long before the normally quiet Stickbeach was covered with boats about every 50 yards.

We had a good bite almost immediately, but Andy and Terry, although experienced anglers, were newcomers to this brand of fishing, and had their problems trying to keep their fish hooked. Rick, wanting his friends to catch plenty of fish, did most of his fishing off the hole where the real hot action was, but still managed to catch a few fish, and lost two very big fish. The boys had plenty of hits, but only managed to put 15 snook in the boat before the late morning lull in the action.

We headed in to see if we could find some redfish action, but the tide was laying flat and fairly low, and there wasn't a redfish to be seen anywhere. We decided to head to the Waterfront Restaurant for a great lunch and a cool down, then see what the tide looked like when we were done with lunch. Tonya, my favorite waitress, took great care of us, and I think we spent a couple of hours there relaxing and talking. Once back outside, it was pretty obvious that big storms were not too far from hitting. We headed back toward the ramp and stopped at my 19th hole to see if we could scare up a final snook or two. We fished for a few minutes, and caught one more snook. When we heard the rumble of thunder and saw lightning in the distance we all agreed it was time to boogie.

I didn't give the boat the usual washdown at the dock. Rick, Terry, Andy, and I said our good-byes and I got the boat loaded. Not a mile down the road from the ramp all hell broke loose. It rained the thirty miles home, and continued to rain until I got north of Punta Gorda on the way to Sarasota for the weekend.

It was another great week. I made new friends in Jay Lawyer and his crew, and got to renew old friendships with Mike Schwartz and Rick Bardowell. I just wish these winter type weather systems would quit coming through so we can get in to our summer pattern for good.