I had scheduled Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off the water to spend with my longtime friend Lee Dugger, of Patrick Springs, Virginia. I thought we'd be too busy to even think about fishing, but as it turned out a couple of things changed that. For one, Lee didn't have nearly as much for us to do as he had predicted, so it appeared we'd have some free time. Also, my wife's uncle Joe Engbino was in town on a surprise visit from Honolulu, Hawaii. I had met Joe some eight years ago at a party at his home in Hono, and we had had a great jam session. Joe plays the wickedest jazz yuke you ever heard. I used to play the guitar pretty good, but I do it so little that I'm losing it over the years. I had told Joe that I'd love to get him to Florida for some fishing, but didn't think it would ever happen. So, of course, we had to take Joe fishing.

It's a long ride down to Lehigh to pick up the boat, then to Punta Rassa to launch, for one day of fishing, but both boats stay in Ft. Myers. So, we were up at 3:30 and on the road before five. After stopping for fuel and supplies, we were finally on the water at eight o'clock. I guess I was way off my usual morning schedule, and went way too long before I ate, because I never was able to get on top of my hunger for the rest of the day. That's one thing I have to try to avoid, as I get cranky as hell when I'm really hungry. I'm sure I must have been a pain in the butt all day.

We had fun, though. Bait was pretty easy, and we were able to get out to the Stickbeach for some snooking. I think Joe was amazed at the fish we had to catch, as most of the fishing, other than bill fishing, has been killed in Hawaii. There aren't many fish to catch, and Joe said he's used to going fishing and catching nothing, or maybe one fish! We're usually fishing around heavy cover, too, so this was a completely new and different experience for Uncle Joe. I found myself instinctively coaching him the way I would a first time customer. Although we all missed our share of fish, we did catch quite a few snook and 6 big trout.

Later, on the flats, we caught a couple of jacks, a ladyfish, one redfish, and some more snook. We got some redfish action going, but missed all but the one hit. Lee always manages to catch the biggest snook every time I fish with him, and this day was no different. Lee hooked a very frisky 30 inch snook on the 8 pound Daiwa Emblem Z, St. Croix Premier combination, and had a great fight on his hands. What was great was the look of excitement on Joe's face as Lee fought and landed the snook. Lee commented that the Daiwa Emblem Z was a real sweet piece for catching those fish on light line.

I think Joe was most amazed at all the shallow water and mangroves we have. I didn't even realize it until Joe told me, but Hawaii does have some very limited flats and mangroves, and even some bonefish, but there's darned little of it, and it's all over-fished. We don't realize how good we've still got it. We've got some of the most beautiful flats in the world, and our fishing is coming on strong.

It was a long day. We didn't get back home until around nine Tuesday night, and I was really needing some food. I hope the trip was worth it for Joe. I guess driving a hundred miles to fish seems odd to someone who lives on an island twenty miles wide and 40 miles long. I was glad that it worked out that we could take him fishing, though.

I was back on the water again Thursday with Doug Anderson, from Colorado Springs, and his good friend Terry Breckenridge, of Denver. They're both retired military officers. First thing I did was check them for guns and explosives!! Just kidding! These guys had been on a couple of bass fishing trip over on Lake Okeechobee, and had been on an offshore trip the day before. I knew that trip had to be a rough one because of all the wind out of the south/southwest. They said it had been, and they very nearly got sick. They had planned to take home some fish from that trip, but it didn't work out. Most of what they caught was too small to keep. They had only caught a couple of 8 pound bass earlier.

Although it was windy as hell out of the south, I figured that if we waited to fish the late day incoming tide, we had a chance to score well. The tide was laying flat through the morning; not a tide I want to fish if given a choice. So, we left the ramp at eleven o'clock, and my biggest concern was catching bait at that hour of the day. I took about an hour and some steady chumming, but we finally loaded the well of BarHopp'R II with about 400 baits. I headed straight for an area that was as out of the wind as you can get, and we spent the day there.

Doug and Terry were a hell of a lot of fun, and eager to learn anything I could teach them. That's the perfect recipe for having a blast, and that's what we did. We started off with snook holes, and caught plenty of snook, most around 23 to 24 inches, but great fun on light tackle. As the tide got higher in the afternoon, we moved to fish the redfish and we caught plenty of reds, too. Most of them were running around eight pounds. So by six o'clock, when we headed back across a choppy Sound, we had bagged a couple of beautiful trout, a couple of jack crevalle, about 13 snook, and 15 redfish. Of course, it's probably safe to say they missed that many fish, too.

The big surprise for Doug and Terry was that they got more than enough fish to feed the gang in the place they least expected to get them......in shallow water. They commented that the fish we caught were bigger and a lot more fun that the fish they caught offshore. that's precisely why I love flats fishing.

I awoke Friday to find BarHopp'R II nearly on fire. The batteries had charged overnight, and the remaining original Trolling Thunder battery had overcharged, was smoking and sizzling, and all blow up out of shape. It was nearly round. The fumes were so noxious I couldn't stand to get close to it for some time. Ron at Smith Marine, had theorized that my other battery charger was defective and had cooked the last battery. Now, I'm not so sure. This was a brand new MotorGuide 15 amp computerized charger. Could it be bad, too? I doubt it!

I was at the ramp at eleven o'clock, ready to meet Doug and Terry again at noon. It was again blowing like hell out of the south/southwest. Many of the guides had canceled. Captains Doug Objartle and Skip Dunn came in as I was getting into the water. They had caught bait, and still had most of it left, and were nice enough to give it to me. That was one obstacle we wouldn't have to hurdle.

The tide was again flat in the morning, and not much better in the afternoon. I told Doug and Terry that if the fish didn't eat it would be because we'd had south and southwest winds almost all week with the slow moving front to our northwest, and the fish had been eating well and finally filled their bellies.

With bait not a worry, we headed straight to our first stop. It didn't take long to realize that what I had predicted may, in fact, come true. We had good water, but the fish just weren't very interested in eating. We did a lot of moving to different spots. I tried live baits and cut baits. We did get the redfish to begin hitting at one spot, but broke off one and missed the rest of the hits before they quit abruptly. The snook were giving us a lot of hit-and-run hits, too. They'd kill the bait and drop it before you could get all the slack out of the line and strike.

In spite of the tough conditions, we still had a great time, and ended the day with 8 snook, 1 redfish, 3 trout, and 2 jack crevalle. So, Doug and Terry had seen some good fishing, and a day of mediocre fishing, but I told them they certainly had not seen the best that it can be. Doug and Terry were a lot of fun to fish with, and I hope to see more of them in the future.

Although it was a short and windy week, it turned out pretty well.