After sweating bullets all last week, wondering if my boat renovation and new trailer would come off as scheduled, I'm ready for a busy week on the water.

First up was my Number 1 fishing buddy, Kevin Grover, along with Jim and Mike Meyers, and their friend Jim. While off last week our rainy season officially kicked itself off with a bang. We got on the water Sunday morning to find that all the big beautiful bait we'd been getting was gone. We wound up getting bait at Redfish Pass, but it was very small, and hard to throw. We got a late start on the fishing grounds. From about 9:30 to 2:00 Kevin and crew caught and released 28 snook, and I'm sure they missed twice that many. Kevin is an experienced and accomplished angler, and doesn't miss many, but this was the first time out for his guests, and they had a tough time keeping those wily ole snook on the ends of their lines.

We had to leave the fish biting as thunderstorms threatened. After spending some time on a sheltered dock in Blind Pass we learned that there were many more storms on the way. We decided to make a run for the ramp instead of taking a chance on getting stranded into the evening. We were forced off the water again at St. James City, and spent about an hour at The Waterfront Restaurant, where we had even more fun recounting the mornings antics than we did that morning. It was a great day!

The next morning Tom Stephens Sr., of Sarasota, was down with his son Tom Stephens Jr., and his future son-in-law, Brian. There truck transmission apparently ruptured an artery as they pulled into the Punta Rassa Ramp, and bled to death where it sat. At least they made it, and could go fishing, but would have to deal with it later in the day.

Out on the fishing grounds the bite was a bit slower than usual, but the trio still managed to catch 35 snook up to 9 pounds, 2 trout, 2 snapper, and 5 mackerel. Of course, they lost a lot more than they caught, and I tied lines as fast as I could all morning, but we had a great time. The tow truck had just arrived as I was pulling out.

Stan Houston and his lovely wife Mary, of Taylorsville, Utah, were next to try their luck on the snook. We made an extra run up to Captiva Pass looking for bigger bait, but it was not to be found. The snook don't care about the size, it's just much easier to cast. Small bait forces you to crowd the fish more than I care to. But, they didn't mind being crowded, as Stan and Mary banged over 40 fish before calling it a day.

The next morning Gregg Sawyer and his good friend Tom Mayo were in from Montgomery, Texas, to battle the snook. They have some snook there, but very few and small fish. Tom and Gregg had a blast all morning as they lost fish after fish in the barnacle covered trees, and landed over 30 snook.

The last two days of the week were spent with my buddy Fredrik Wallenberg, of Houston, Texas, along with his boss Bob, and friends Thad and Donna. I took Fredrik out last fall for the first time, and we fished for tailing reds for a good part of the day. They love to wade fish in Texas, and Fredrik loves to fly fish, as well. So, the group came packing lots of tackle including baitcast rigs, fly rods, and lures.

I enlisted my good friend Capt. Mark Bess and his 18 foot Skinnywater to help with the guiding duties, as we were supposed to have a party of six, originally. Mark took Thad and Donna the first day, and I had Fredrik and Bob. Bob was very much under the weather that first day, and spent a lot of time resting. Thad managed two snook and a jack on fly, as well as mackerel. As the tide dropped near its lowest in the afternoon, I took Fredrik and Bob into the backcountry to pothole fish for trout on fly. The first hole I anchored on was slap full of trout, and I don't think a bait was cast that didn't result in a hookup. They were eating mirrorlures, jigs, touts, shiners, and chartreuse clouser minnows. I think Fredrik enjoyed catching those trout on fly more than he did all the snook, mackerel, and snapper on shiners earlier. He says he had never caught a trout on fly back in Texas because the conditions are rarely right for it.

The next day, Bob went house hunting with his wife, and Jeff, a friend from Sarasota, drove down to fish. I had Thad and Donna for day two. We decided to send Mark straight to the snook grounds to stake out the spot we wanted to fish, and I, Thad, and Donna went to catch bait.

I decided to try chumming as deep as I thought my fine mesh net was capable of trapping bait, and sure enough, we caught much bigger bait than we'd been getting all week. Once we were back with Capt. Mark, the snook went crazy for the shiners off one side of the boats, and the mackerel were going crazy for almost anything you dangled in the water off the other. We did a repeat in the backcountry for trout on fly before calling it a day.

So, the week ended with two days of nonstop action no matter where we fished, or what we used for bait. That's hard to beat. Mark and I had also spent a lot of time working with Donna helping her to improve her fly casting and spin casting skills. I think Fredrik went back to Houston with a big smile on his face.

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